While government enforcement of laws and regulations to control the production of chloroflurocarbons in 1987 has been hailed as exemplifying the precautionary principle, for almost two decades US companies failed to take precautionary measures to prevent chemical emissions, despite the probable risk of stratospheric ozone loss. As a result, human harms in the form of skin cancer have reached epidemic proportions globally and in the United States where, today, one person dies every hour from skin cancer. This book reviews U.S. laws, regulations, and policies, as well as case law regarding similar toxic tort cases to consider whether companies can and should be held legally liable under tort common law theories and related tort justice theories for having contributed to increased risks of skin cancer.

While government enforcement of laws and regulations to control the production of chloroflurocarbons in 1987 has been hailed as exemplifying the precautionary principle, for almost two decades US companies failed to take precautionary measures to prevent chemical emissions, despite the probable risk of stratospheric ozone loss. As a result, human harms in the form of skin cancer have reached epidemic proportions globally and in the United States where, today, one person dies every hour from skin cancer. This book reviews U.S. laws, regulations, and policies, as well as case law regarding similar toxic tort cases to consider whether companies can and should be held legally liable under tort common law theories and related tort justice theories for having contributed to increased risks of skin cancer.

For two decades, scientists have been warning that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons (bromine-containing fluorocarbons) may deplete the stratospheric ozone shield that screens out some of the Sun's harmful ultraviolet rays and thus regulates the amounts which reach the Earth's surface. CFCs have been used as refrigerants, solvents, foam blowing agents, and outside the United States, as aerosol propellants; Halons are used primarily as fire-fighting agents. Increased radiation could result in an increase in skin cancers, suppression of the human immune system, and decreased productivity of terrestrial and aquatic organisms, including some commercially important crops. This book deals with implementation, policy issues and phase out of methyl bromide. In September 1987, 47 countries (including the United States) agreed to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, which first required controls on the world's consumption of ozone depleting substances. Over 160 countries have signed on to the Protocol, whose phasedown schedule for developed countries was accelerated twice and completely phased out Halon production at the end of 1994 and CFC production at the end of 1995. The Protocol's coverage has also been extended to include hydrochlorofluorocarbons and other chlorine- and bromine-containing substances such as some solvents and methyl bromide, a widely used soil fumigant.

This study details the most current knowledge about stratospheric ozone depletion and provides an objective look at current debates surrounding the research, the technological developments, and the policymaking aimed at eliminating ozone-depleting substances.--From publisher description.

The ecosystem approach embodies a concept of the environment which emphasizes the integrated components of nature as complex adaptive systems. This book examines the relationship between the architecture and design of environmental law and the implementation of the ecosystem approach as a means to maintain ecological integrity. The main issue addressed is: in which manner and to what extent does fragmentation and administrative discretion in environmental law impede the implementation of an ecosystem approach? This is explored through analysis of several questions: what is an ecosystem approach and how could it be implemented; how can economic evaluation of ecosystem services contribute to the debate; to what extent is environmental law fragmented and how does this affect the implementation of the ecosystem approach; to what extent does environmental law contain administrative discretion and how does this affect the implementation of the ecosystem approach; is there a need for greater consistency, coherence and a stronger rule of law in environmental law in light of the ecosystem approach? The main focus is on Europe, with additional international comparisons where appropriate. The book concludes by providing a normative portrayal of future environmental law as protective, systemic and predictable.

Human activities are depleting ecosystems at an unprecedented rate. In spite of nature conservation efforts worldwide, many ecosystems including those critical for human well-being have been damaged or destroyed. States and citizens need a new vision of how humans can reconnect with the natural environment. With its focus on the long-term holistic recovery of ecosystems, ecological restoration has received increasing attention in the past decade from both scientists and policymakers. Research on the implications of ecological restoration for the law and law for ecological restoration has been largely overlooked. This is the first published book to examine comprehensively the relationship between international environmental law and ecological restoration. While international environmental law (IEL) has developed significantly as a discipline over the past four decades, this book enquires whether IEL can now assist states in making a strategic transition from not just protecting and maintaining the natural environment but also actively restoring it. Arguing that states have international duties to restore, this book offers reflections on the philosophical context of ecological restoration and the legal content of a duty to restore from an international law, European Union law and national law perspective. The book concludes with a discussion of several contemporary themes of interest to both lawyers and ecologists including the role of private actors, protected areas and climate change in ecological restoration.