Showing papers on "Environmental law published in 2003"

Principles of International Environmental Law

Abstract: This new and fully updated edition of Principles of International Environmental Law offers a comprehensive and critical account of one of the fastest growing areas of international law: the principles and rules relating to environmental protection Introducing the reader to the key foundational principles, governance structures and regulatory techniques, Principles of International Environmental Law explores each of the major areas of international environmental regulation through substantive chapters, including climate change, atmospheric protection, oceans and freshwater, biodiversity, chemicals and waste regulation The ever-increasing overlap with other areas of international law is also explored through examination of the inter-linkages between international environmental law and other areas of international regulation, such as trade, human rights, humanitarian law and investment law Incorporating the latest developments in treaty and case law for key areas of environmental regulation, this text is an essential reference and textbook for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students, academics and practitioners of international environmental law

Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights

Abstract: Transnational corporations and other large businesses have acquired a significant amount of power since the trends of globalization started to develop. With this increase in power comes an increase in responsibility. The UN Human Rights Norms for Transnational Corporations and Other Businesses help fill a major gap in the international human rights system, which already addresses the responsibilities of governments, individuals, and armed opposition groups, but has not yet focused on one category of powerful nonstate actors, businesses. The Norms provide companies that want to be socially responsible with an easily understood and comprehensive summary of their obligations under such systems as human rights law, humanitarian law, international labor law, environmental law, consumer law, and anticorruption law. Accordingly, the Norms help to establish a level playing field for competition. Further, the Norms can strengthen the will of governments to insist that businesses avoid human rights abuses. Implementation remains a key issue in the future development of these standards.

Unnatural Law: Rethinking Canadian Environmental Law and Policy

Abstract: Foreword by Thomas R. Berger, O.C., Q.C. Preface and Acknowledgments Acronyms Part One: Examination 1. Canada's Environmental Record 2. Water 2.1. Drinking Water 2.2. Water Pollution 2.3. Water Use and Conservation 2.4. Water Exports 3. Air 3.1. Ozone Depletion 3.2. Climate Change 3.3. Air Pollution 4. Land 4.1. Pesticide Regulation 4.2. Forest Management 4.3. Environmental Assessment 5. Biodiversity 5.1. Parks and Protected Areas 5.2. Endangered Species 5.3. Marine Biodiversity Part Two: Diagnosis 6. The Strengths and Weaknesses of Canadian Environmental Law and Policy 7. Reasons for Environmental Progress 8. Systemic Weaknesses 9. Obstacles to Further Progress 10. Root Causes of Environmental Degradation Part Three: Prescription 11. New Directions for Canadian Environmental Law and Policy 12. A New Role Model for Canada 13. Reducing Consumption 14. Population Growth and Sustainable Development 15. Conclusion Notes References Index

Environmental Regulation: Law, Science, and Policy

Abstract: As the Obama administration and the courts change the course of federal environmental law and policy, this best-selling casebook has been updated comprehensively to include the latest legal and policy developments. Each chapter includes new material exploring contemporary developments including the challenges climate change is posing to nearly every aspect of environmental law. The revised Sixth Edition includes: Ten New Case Excerpts, including new decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court on CERCLA, the Clean Air Act, NEPA, environmental standing and the Clean Water Act Four New Problem Exercises, including exercises on cap-and-trade versus a carbon tax, the application of NEPA to climate change, who should be prosecuted for criminal violations, and negotiation of a post-Kyoto regime to control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions "Midnight Regulations" by the Bush administration and the Obama administration's response New emphasis on Environmental Standing, including the Supreme Court's Massachusetts v. EPA and Summers v. Earth Island Institute decisions The new approach to CERCLA "arranger" liability and apportionment embodied in the Supreme Court's Burlington Northern decision EPA's new definition of "solid waste" and judicial decisions altering the agency's new source review program and programs for controlling interstate air pollution and hazardous air pollutants EPA's Clean Air Act "Endangerment" Finding for Emissions of GHGs, reversal of the California waiver denial, and California's controls on GHG emissions from mobile sources The relationship between the Clean Water Act's 404 and 402 permit programs, including the Supreme Court's June 22, 2009 Coeur Alaska decision Climate Change and NEPA, including the 9th Circuit's Center for Biological Diversity v. NHTSA decision on the environmental impact of national fuel economy standards Remedies for Claims of NEPA Violations, including the Supreme Court's Winter v. NRDC decision Climate change and the Endangered Species Act, including the impact of the polar bear listing on agency consultation under 7 and 9's prohibition of "takes" The latest scientific evidence concerning global warming and climate change, as well as material on the development of carbon trading markets, adaptation strategies, and carbon disclosure

The international yearbook of environmental and resource economics 2003/2004 : a survey of current issues

Abstract: This major annual publication provides a state-of-the-art survey of contemporary research on environmental and resource economics by some of the leading experts in the field. The critical issues addressed in this year's volume include: the management of high seas fisheries choosing environmental risks the stability and design of international environmental agreements managing environmental risk through insurance motor vehicles and the environment recreation demand models stated preference methods for environmental valuation pollution control policy in developing countries.

Environmental protests in rural China

Abstract: The problems of air pollution, soil erosion and fouled water in China have become so grave that they are reported in the Chinese press practically every day, often accompanied by announcements of government plans to combat one ecological failing after another. What the Chinese news media rarely mention, however, is how ordinary people are reacting to the country’s deepening environmental crisis. This question is addressed here by looking at environmental protests in rural China, focusing on two specific cases. Environmental protests in the People’s Republic are a relatively recent phenomenon. The promulgation of China’s first environmental law, in 1979, has not only provided a legal basis for environmental protection but also enhanced the public’s sense of basic rights in favour of justifying forceful, sometimes even violent, environmental protests. Such protests embody a rich, culturally informed repertoire of social movements with roots in Chinese history. Specifically, kinship, popular religion, moral concerns and ancient tales of justice serve as important institutional and symbolic resources in the mobilization of protesters at the grassroots level. The interplay of these issues informs the social and cultural context in which rural environmental protests take place and are organized, usually with an emphasis on ecological improvements essential for people’s well-being rather than on trying to save the natural environment for its own sake.

Differential Treatment in International Environmental Law

Abstract: Contents: International environmental law, sustainable development and differential treatment: an introduction A conceptual framework for differential treatment Differential treatment in international law Differential treatment at the implementation level: technology transfer and implementation aid Differential treatment in practice: the case of plant variety protection The future of differential treatment Bibliography Index.

Environmental Issues and the Criminological Imagination

Abstract: This article provides an exploration of how the criminological imagination can provide particular insights into the nature of environmental issues. To illustrate the contribution of criminology to such discussions, the article provides a case study of the social, political and economic dynamics surrounding the provision of drinking water. The article demonstrates the complexities in determining the character, extent and impact of environmental harm. It furthermore identifies diverse and at times competing approaches to environmental regulation and to the prevention of environmental harm.

Conflicts in International Environmental Law

Abstract: I - Conflicts between Environmental Agreements.- II - Approaches to the Coordination of International Environmental Agreements.

An explanatory guide to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

Abstract: This guide has been prepared by the IUCN Environmental Law Programme and the Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD), in cooperation with the World Resources Institute (WRI). The main goal of the guide is to facilitate the understanding of the obligations of Parties to the Protocol, by providing an information base on the content and origin of the Protocol provisions, accessible to the non-specialist and useful for those who will be involved in the development and implementation of national safety frameworks.

EC Environmental Law

Abstract: Objectives, principles and conditions Actors, instruments, decision-making procedures Community power and Member State powers Horizontal measures Biodiversity and nature conservation Products Water protection Air pollution Climate change and ozone depletion Waste Legal aspects of integrating environmental requirements Implementation Environmental law and policy.

Environmental Science : Understanding, protecting and managing the environment in the Baltic Sea Region

Abstract: CONTENTSPart A Understanding the EnvironmentChapter 1. Discovering the Environmental DilemmaChapter 2. How the Environment Works - Turnover of Matter and EnergyChapter 3. Ecology and EcosystemsChapter 4. The Baltic Sea Basin - Nature, History, and EconomyChapter 5. The Baltic SeaChapter 6. Life in the Baltic SeaPart B Environmental ImpactsChapter 7. Society and Landscape - Space Intrusion and Habitat DestructionChapter 8. Changing the Living World - Shrinking BiodiversityChapter 9. A New Regime for Nutrient Turnover - EutrophicationChapter 10. Impacts on the Global Atmosphere - Climate Change and Ozone DepletionChapter 11. Air Pollution - Acid Rain and Radioactive FalloutChapter 12. Metal Flows and Environmental ImpactChapter 13. Industrial Society and Chemical PollutionChapter 14. How Pollutants Affect Life - Toxicology and Human HealthChapter 15. The Damaged Environment - Distribution, Interaction, and Longevity of Environmental ImpactPart C Society and EnvironmentChapter 16. Environmental Engineering and the Technology of Clean AirChapter 17. Resource Management and the Technology of Clean WaterChapter 18. Soil Protection and Solid Waste ManagementChapter 19. The Cost of Pollution - Environmental EconomicsChapter 20. Legal Protection of the EnvironmentChapter 21. Behaviour and the Environment - Ethics, Education, and LifestyleChapter 22. Making and Implementing Environmental PolicyChapter 23. International Co-operation for the EnvironmentPart D Managing the EnvironmentChapter 24. Environmental ManagementChapter 25. The Prospect of Sustainable Development

The economic dynamics of environmental law

Abstract: Bearing in mind that Serbia is dealing with serious and challenging development issues, especially scarce of financial resources, it is extremely important to establish institutional and legal framework for drawing financial means from European Union regional policy funds. The importance and potential support of these funds for Serbia is visible through the fact that European Union financial capacity for the purposes of the equal regional development is more ten times bigger than Serbian yearly GDP. One of basic prerequisites for stable and continuous social and economic development is equal regional growth of all parts of country and as one of basic European values should contribute to planning and application of development policy. As of 2010 Serbia has 5 statistical regions with strong multilevel disparities. One of the key challenges in the future will be to find the way to mitigate differences and European Union regional funds will play inevitable roll. The authors are trying to identify, to analyze and to emphasize decisive obstacles in drawing and exploiting recourses from regional funds. These obstacles are particularly present in facilitating development of under- and undeveloped areas, old and mainly devastated infrastructure, ecological policy matters and extremely low employment rates.

The Economic Dynamics of Environmental Law

Abstract: In this book David Driesen shows in detail how the concept of economic dynamics can reshape thinking about environmental law and policy. He argues that environmental policymaking in the United States has been poorly served by the dominant, static view of the relationship between environmental regulation and the economy, technology, and business. Basing public policy on the concept of economic efficiency, he claims, warps our sense of what is necessary and achievable in environmental lawmaking. According to Driesen, environmentally beneficial technological innovation would be a more effective public policy goal than economic efficiency because it could better keep pace with private-sector innovations that create new forms of pollution and resource destruction. His arguments provide a corrective to the free-market and cost-benefit analysis approaches common to most proposals for regulatory reform. Those who believe that environmental law should focus on economic efficiency assume that efficiency and innovation coincide. But static efficiency may detract from, rather than stimulate, creativity in the real world. Cost-benefit analysis may discourage innovation by adding delay and uncertainty to government decisions. Economic incentives such as emissions trading may facilitate better use of existing techniques rather than bring about fundamental changes in technology. Driesen suggests ways that the regulatory system could better foster environmentally beneficial technological innovations. Using the theory of economic dynamics, he discusses privatizing environmental law, reforming administrative and international legal processes, and improving regulation design. He also explains the significance of economic dynamics for legal theory in general.

Reinventing Environmental Enforcement and the State/Federal Relationship

Abstract: Most federal environmental statutes currently operate under a framework known as "cooperative federalism", in which states receive primary authority to implement the requirements of federal laws, under EPA supervision. Over the years, states have gradually assumed "primacy" in more and more areas; they now have authority to implement approximately three-quarters of the major federal environmental programs that can be delegated to them, and carry out in the neighborhood of eighty percent of the enforcement actions under the federal statutes. While states have long resented aspects of EPA oversight, some states traditionally relied on the presence of the federal "gorilla in the closet" to motivate compliance by regulated entities. But in the 1990's, tensions between EPA and the state grew considerably. States began vigorously pressing for increased autonomy and flexibility from the strictures of EPA oversight. They formed a highly effective organization of environmental commissioners (the Environmental Council of States, or ECOS) in 1993 to represent their interests in Washington, D.C. As a result, EPA embarked on efforts to rethink how its relationship with the states should be structured, leading in 1995 to the creation of the National Environmental Performance Partnership System ("NEPPS"), described as "the most substantial reform in the EPA-state relationships since those relationships were first established over twenty-five years ago".This book provides an in-depth examination of the evolution of environmental enforcement policy and federal-state relations, beginning with the cooperative federalism model, first formalized in the mid-1980's, up through the current period of ongoing change and reevaluation. Our focus is on the fundamental questions at stake in the continuing and vigorous reinvention debate: Is deterrence-based enforcement, the prevalent societal approach for enforcing the law, best suited for ensuring compliance with environmental requirements? How well are the states performing their roles as the primary implementers and enforcers of federal environmental law? What does the "new relationship" between EPA and the states look like and can it be successfully integrated into EPA's traditional approach for evaluating state programs?

The Economic Analysis of Environmental Policy and Law: An Introduction

Abstract: Although many books focus on law and economics, and environmental economics, this is one of the first to combine the two topics in a fully integrated and comprehensive manner. The authors successfully bridge the gap between the disciplines of environmental law and traditional economics in a lucid and highly accessible style. The Economic Analysis of Environmental Policy and Law covers many of the recent advances in the field and attempts to integrate some of the most crucial legal and economic instruments which, in the authors' view, have not yet been subjected to proper analysis. These include zoning, expropriation, licensing, third party liability, safety regulation, mandatory insurance and criminal sanctions. The authors pay particular attention to the interrelationships of these instruments and their various economic effects. Using a comparative law and economics methodology, they are also able to incorporate environmental law with international policy and investigate the many diverse rules of the legal system and their implementation in different countries. Crucially, the authors do not consider economics as the exclusive determinant in legal rule-making. They also highlight the need for ethical considerations and illustrate the potential limitations of pure economic analysis. The book assumes no prior knowledge of economics and will prove informative and rewarding for students of law and the social and natural sciences, especially those with an interest in environmental policy. With an extensive reference list and detailed notes on further reading material, this book will also serve as a stimulating introduction to the discipline of law and economics for environmental, political and legal practitioners.

Global governance for the environment and the role of Multilateral Environmental Agreements in conservation

Abstract: The role of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Ramsar Wetlands Convention, and the Barcelona Convention on the Mediterranean has grown increasingly important, in the context of conservation management, during the last decade as human impacts intensify and cross national boundaries more often. In resorting to MEAs it is important to maintain a clear focus on their opportunities and limitations. They are a means to resolve transboundary problems with neighbouring states and adopt harmonized approaches, they increasingly offer access to worldwide knowledge, tools and financial resources, and they can give conservation agencies a stronger mandate domestically. But they are specialized instruments focused on particular problems or sectors. The threats they address and the solutions they outline have to be evaluated in relation to overall environmental and socio-economic priorities. This entails linkages among different problems and sectors at various scales. Regional and ecosystem-level approaches are most appropriate for sorting out linkages and priorities. Extensive capacity building is needed at these levels to foster the requisite skills for integrated approaches. In addition, new mechanisms may be required at these levels to coordinate diverse specialized regimes. This does not require a monolithic, top-down approach but rather ongoing flexibility and responsiveness informed from the bottom up. We should take advantage of the new directions highlighted by the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, in 2002 and other recent international conferences to build these abilities into international governance. Conservation managers have an important role to play. By working nationally and internationally they can inform and influence the shift towards integrated and coordinated efforts, suggesting ways to accomplish this on a larger, international scale based on concrete experience in situ.

Science, Politics, and Persistent Organic Pollutants: The Role of Scientific Assessments in International Environmental Co-operation

Abstract: International measures to address environmental problems increasingly rely on scientific information, and a growing number of international agreements require periodic scientific re-assess- ments. However, the arena of scientific assessment, governed by a combination of scientific criteria and political interests, is not well-understood, and few case studies have mapped the influence of scientific assessment on the birth and development of environmental policy issues. This article examines the role of scientific assessments and the science-politics interplay in international attempts to regulate persistent organic pollutants (POPs), focusing on the processes within the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The study shows that scientific and political activities are intrinsically linked in international POPs work. Scientific and political agendas are co-constructed with no clear boundary between the science and politics spheres. Scientific assessments played a prominent role in constructing POPs as an issue of international concern, setting agendas and shaping policies.

Forest certification as environmental law making by global civil society

Abstract: Forest certification programs are schemes methodically crafted by transnational networks of policy actors to define and implement the rules under which forest management enterprises are to operate. They undertake to verify not only that the standards under which certified enterprises operate are appropriate, but also that they are being met. Thus, certification programs take on policymaking and enforcement roles more typically performed by governments. A companion paper (Meidinger 2003) argues that forest certification programs may usefully be understood as an emerging form of governance by ‘global civil society,’ and seeks to describe key characteristics of global civil society and its governance structures. ‘Governance,’ however, is generally closely related to law; law making is a typical function of governance systems. Moreover, the methods used by certification programs closely resemble law, since they rely on the public promulgation of generalized rules and the definition of special organizational responsibilities for determining compliance. In this paper, therefore, I take the next step, and argue that forest certification programs may usefully be seen as a form of law making by global civil society. The primary advantage of this strategy is that it makes available to discussions of forest certification the experience and analytical methods of legal and socio-legal analysis. This should enrich forest certification, and help its

Environmental Politics and Policy in Industrialized Countries

Abstract: The world's industrialized nations are the major consumers of the Earth's resources and major sources of environmental pollution. Environmental protection plays an important role in the politics of most of these nations. Although a large and growing body of literature exists on environmental problems and policies in the developed world, most of it focuses on government policy in individual nations. A smaller body of literature compares specific environmental policies in two or more nations. Taking a broader approach, this book examines the environmental policy process in seven major industrialized nations: Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Each chapter discusses one country's major environmental problems and determinants of its environmental politics and policy. It also analyzes the interplay between politics and policy and offers suggesions for developing effective policy.The book analyzes the role of institutions, interests, and values in shaping policies in each of the seven countries. An institutional perspective provides a common framework, focusing on three kinds of institutions: business and industry; federal and provincial governments; and international organizations. The final chapter offers hypotheses concerning institutions and environmental policy as a basis for further research.

Transboundary damage in international law

Abstract: The Chernobyl disaster, the Amoco Cadiz oil spill and the Colorado River dispute are examples of an activity conducted by one state which has serious adverse effects in the territory of another, or in global common areas. This book details the international rules and compensation procedures and is intended for use by governmental officials, international lawyers and jurists. It discusses existing laws on international liability and considers the underlying legal issues that require further development. It is one of the few books on the subject written from the perspective of a developing country with rapid economic and social development.

The Common Heritage of Mankind: an Adequate Regime for Managing the Deep Seabed?

Abstract: [The concept of the 'common heritage of mankind" governs the deep seabed However. the principle of the common heritage of mankind has differing interpretations and consequently lacks legal force. This article attempts to give content to the common heritage of mankind principle, as it applies to the deep seabed, by examining existing principles in international law. It also draws analogies with the principle of the common heritage of mankind as it applies to Antarctica and outer space. The development of international environmental law is considered as a potential model by which the common heritage of mankind principle can develop further legal content.] CONTENTS I Introduction II The Evolution of the Common Heritage of Mankind Principle A Initial Proposal B General Assembly Resolutions 1 Moratorium Resolution 2 Declaration of Principles C UN Convention on the Law of the Sea D Reciprocating States' Regime E The 1994 Agreement F Conclusion III Legal Application of the Common Heritage of Mankind Principle A Prohibition on the Acquisition of the Deep Seabed 1 Traditional Sovereign Claims 2 The Compatibility of Sovereign Claims with the Common Heritage of Mankind Principle B The Use of the Seabed for Peaceful Purposes 1 Definitions of Peaceful Purposes 2 Peaceful Purposes in Analogous Treaties 3 Peaceful Purposes and the Deep Seabed C Equitable Sharing of Benefits D International Management Regime E Conclusion IV Global Commons and the Common Heritage of Mankind Principle A Outer Space Law B Antarctica 1 Sovereign Claims 2 Ban on Mineral Exploitation 3 Exclusive Membership 4 Conclusion V International Environmental Law and the Common Heritage of Mankind Principle A Development of International Environmental Law B Negotiation Methods in International Environmental Law C Existence of 'Soft Law' D Judicial Consideration E Precautionary Principle F Conclusion VI Conclusion I INTRODUCTION In the late 19th century, scientists discovered polymetallic nodules on the deep seabed. (1) The quantities found were large enough to enable commercial mining operations, (2) and in the 1960s, developments in technology meant that accessing these new mineral resources became a real and imminent possibility. (3) The problem, however, was that the deep seabed did not lie within the jurisdiction of any state. Consequently, to regulate access to these resources, a legal regime had to be established. The regime adopted was the 'common heritage of mankind'. The common heritage of mankind principle consists of four elements. It prohibits states from proclaiming sovereignty over any part of the deep seabed, and requires that states use it for peaceful purposes, sharing its management and the benefits of its exploitation. (4) Due to the ideological differences of developed and developing states, the common heritage of mankind principle has been interpreted in various ways. (5) These interpretations have not been reconciled and there has been no juridical consideration of the common heritage of mankind principle to clarify them. (6) Therefore, the precise legal requirements of the principle of the common heritage of mankind remain undefined. Although commercial deep seabed mining is unlikely to commence in the near future, there is still a need to establish an effective legal regime for the deep seabed. This need is demonstrated by, among other issues, the discovery of hydrothermal vents and the potential for military-based activities to occur on the deep seabed. Hydrothermal vent sites are located on the seabed in areas within and beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. (7) Each site consists of chemical rich waters that support a diverse range of micro-organisms and marine species. …

Fairness Versus Efficiency in Environmental Law

Abstract: Like many other areas of law, the development of environmental law has been strongly influenced by notions of fairness. This should not be surprising, since environmental law has been developed by lawyers, who are self-selected to be fairness-oriented and trained to think in terms of fairness. While large environmental gains have been achieved in the thirty-year history of environmental law, progress seems to have reached a plateau. Partisanship has poisoned the debate on how best to proceed in making further environmental progress. I attribute the failings and the current stalemate in environmental law to our obsession with fairness. Fairness-thinking has created a culture where stakeholders are conditioned to make self-serving arguments, not considered judgments about the public interest. While this is true in many areas of law, this has become especially troubling in environmental law. I propose that environmental law and policymakers pay more attention to efficiency arguments and efficiency-thinking. While I do not propose a tyranny of economists to supplant fairness-thinking, I argue that efficiency-thinking can provide an important complement to the fairness-thinking that has dominated environmental law and policy. This article explores the theoretical arguments for fairness-based and efficiency-based programs, and examines the empirical support for some of these arguments. The theoretical arguments for an increased role for efficiency-thinking are quite clear. The evidence for more efficiency-based environmental regulation is somewhat thin, but with some important caveats, vindicates the economic theory in support of efficiency-based regulation.

Using the World Bank Inspection Panel to Defend the Interests of Project-Affected People

Abstract: On the banks of Argentina's Parana River, local brickmakers took advantage of the unique qualities of the river's sand and mud to build sustainable, small-scale businesses. Over time, the brickmakers built networks of clients and suppliers-a social fabric that allowed them to carve out comfortable lifestyles. In the 1980s, this social fabric was destroyed, inundated by the rising waters behind the massive Yacyreta Dam.1 For centuries, thousands of impoverished people scraped out a living on the shifting sand islands (known as chars) located in Bangladesh's Jamuna River. The so-called Char people are among the poorest in Bangladesh. Although under normal circumstances, chars might remain for years or decades, in 1999 thousands of the Char people faced losing their homes due to flooding caused by the construction of the Jamuna Bridge project. None of the Char people was scheduled to receive any compensation for the loss of their homes.2 In a remote village one thousand kilometers from Delhi, thousands of rural farmers who live in the Singrauli coal-mining region have seen their villages uprooted and resettled, sometimes more than once. Resistance has been met with police brutality and violence.3 What these communities have in common is that their misfortune resulted from development projects funded by the World Bank-projects ironically aimed at benefiting just such poor and disempowered communities. None of these rural communities was informed of, or allowed to participate in, the decisions that would fundamentally change their lives. The underlying Bank projects were typically designed in closed consultations between their country's finance ministries and World Bank economists. These communities also have another thing in common: they organized against these development projects, seeking the support of the international activist community, and ultimately bringing claims before the World Bank Inspection Panel ("Panel"). These communities benefited from remarkable local activists who ably linked these communities with international nongovernmental organizations ("NGOs") active in reforming the World Bank. Oscar Rivas and Elias Dias Pena in Paraguay, Majibul Huq Dulu in Bangladesh, and Madhu Kohli in India were key links in the chain of support that allowed the local communities first to learn about their rights under World Bank policies and then to assert those rights at the Panel. My work at the Center for International Environmental Law ("CIEL") privileged me to be another link in that chain. My colleague Dana Clark and I advised these and other similarly affected people on how to file claims with the Panel. This Essay reflects my experience as an NGO lawyer in pushing for the creation of the Panel, supporting project-affected people in bringing their claims, and then defending the Panel against attacks emanating from inside the World Bank. At times this work has seemed far from the realm of public international law, but that is in fact the point of the Panel-it is a substantial departure from traditional public international law. Operationalizing the Panel took the active participation of many different players, but the original vision and conceptualization of the Panel came from outside the World Bank-from critics who were looking for ways to make the Bank accountable to the poor communities it was created to serve.4 The Panel was thus created to bridge the gap between international institutions and the people they serve. It was the first international institution that allowed citizens to bypass their national governments in lodging formal complaints that addressed how an international institution affected their lives. Citizens, and the lawyers that represented them, were given direct access to an international forum to press rights-based arguments regarding whether the institution had met its responsibilities. The Panel, then, reflects a citizen advocacy model that has no precedent in international law, outside of a few human rights tribunals. …

A Critique of the Environmental Sustainability Index

Abstract: The Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) has been proposed by collaboration of the World Economic Forum, Geneva, Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Columbia University, and Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, New Haven as a measure of the overall state of the environment. This paper argues that the basic design of the ESI leaves much to be desired. It has conceptual problems in its visualization of environmental degradation and sustainability. The choice of variables as well as the statistical methodology of compiling the index is also found to be wanting. The paper then proposes an alternative methodology using Principal Components Analysis and argues that this is an improvement upon the ESI methodology. Given the likely use of aggregate environmental indexes in future environmental management, the critique advanced in this paper is of considerable significance.