Showing papers on "Environmental law published in 2008"

Who Governs, at What Scale and at What Price? Geography, Environmental Governance, and the Commodification of Nature

Abstract: Geography has much to offer a world in which environmental change is widespread and where new actors, scales, and metrics are transforming environmental decisions. With a disciplinary core that emb...

Sustainable Practices in the Built Environment

Abstract: List of Contributors, Foreword to the first edition, Foreword to the second edition, Introduction, Part One: Environmental Quality: The planet in crisis, Sustainable development, Accounting for the environment. Part Two: Development Controls, Environmental law, Environmental impact assessment, Environmental policies and strategies. Part Three: Analytical Tools: Environmental economics, Cost-benefit analysis, Estimating social costs and benefits. Partt Four: Project Feasibility, Project selection criteria, Intergenerational equity, The measurement of sustainablity. Part Five: Design Considerations Environmental impact of buildings, low energy design, embodied energy and recycling. Part Six: Energy Conservation: Energy quality, Renewable energy, Energy regulation and policy. Part Seven: Life-cost Studies: Life-cost planning and analysis, Determination of the discount rate, Occupancy costs. Part Eight: Asset Management: Post-occupancy evaluation, Environmental auditing, Facility Management

The Human Right to a Green Future: Environmental Rights and Intergenerational Justice

Abstract: 1. Environmental human rights and intergenerational justice 2. Emergent human rights, identity, harms and duties 3. Reflexive reciprocity and intergenerational environmental justice 4. Cosmopolitan ethics, communal reciprocity, and global environmentalism 5. Toward a global consensus on environmental human rights 6. Human rights as inheritance: instituting intergenerational environmental justice 7. Conclusion: environmental justice and the emergent future of human rights.

Making Markets Work: A Review of CDM Performance and the Need for Reform

Abstract: The Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is the fi rst global market mech- anism in international environmental law. It has been much lauded for its success. However, doubts whether the CDM governance structure is robust enough to meet the challenges of regulating an international market mechanism in the long term are emerging. The Execu- tive Board (EB) ' s decision-making practice is often not predictable and many of its decisions have come as a surprise to project participants and technical project experts. Members of the EB often have multiple responsibilities which result in a complicated situation of confl icting interests. Finally, private sector participants in the CDM who have been aversely affected by EB decisions have no right of recourse and essentially little if any due process rights. This article argues that incorporating mechanisms to promote procedural fairness and creating an appeals process for aggrieved CDM participants will promote transparency and accountability in the CDM decision-making processes. This is essential for the sound operation of the CDM regulatory regime which will have a direct positive effect on the international carbon market. After conducting a comparative analysis of other regimes in which international bodies take decisions that directly affect individuals, most notably the system of targeted sanctions of the UN Security Council and the Anti-Doping Regime, as well as examining the World Bank Inspection Panel and the European Ombudsman as models of international review mecha- nisms, the authors set out proposals for reform of the CDM, including professionalizing the EB and the panels, securing better and more consistent funding, the elimination of political interference, and the introduction of administrative law-like processes.

Panarchy, Adaptive Management and Governance: Policy Options for Building Resilience

Abstract: Environmental law plays a key role in shaping policy for sustainability. In particular, the types of legal instruments, institutions, and the response of law to the inherent variability in socio-ecological systems are critical.1 Environmental protection has typically involved a command-and-control approach that is implemented in response to specific environmental problems.2 Often the response is reactive and applied to crisis situations. Ruhl contends that command-and-control approaches to environmental problems have been very successful at dealing with air and water pollution, because the regulations were able to address the “low-hanging fruit” (e.g., point-source pollution, waste disposal) problems which are relatively easy to address.3 The next wave of environmental challenges (e.g., cross-boundary water disputes, climate change) are not so easily addressed within the current law and policy framework, because although the problems may be easily identified, the solution requires frequent recalibration of the policy used to address the environmental issue. Sustainability, one of the new wave of environmental issues, must occur via the institutions we have in place, combined with alterations in policy and regulation within the context of these institutions.4 Hence, the shift to a sustainability paradigm cannot occur without

Socially Responsible Investment Law: Regulating the Unseen Polluters

Abstract: This new book argues that environmental law must target the financial sector, which sponsors and profits from environmental pillage. The rise of a system of finance capitalism has made the financial sector a crucial economic sector. A long-standing movement for socially responsible investment (SRI) has recently begun to advocate environmental standards for financiers. While the SRI movement has gained more influence in recent years, it has come at the price of jettisoning its former emphasis on ethical investment in favour of an instrumental business case approach. Some modest legal reforms to improve the quality and extent of SRI have yet to make a tangible difference. An alternative legal strategy to promote SRI for environmental sustainability is suggested based on reforming the fiduciary duties of financial institutions. Fiduciary duties tied to concrete performance standards such as sustainability indicators provide a way to restore the ethical imperatives of SRI.

Water is Security

Abstract: Reasonable and equitable water resource decision-making is at the core of good governance around the world. Sustained water collaboration is an antidote to foreign relations disintegration. Lack of water quality and quantity policies can lead to water insecurity for everyone, yet bureaucratic obstacles such as inertia and corruption must be averted in altering water governance schemes. There are multiple ways to lower transaction costs and strive for optimal water use. Several ingredients of good water governance include: (1) broad participation through the entire decision-making process; (2) transparent flow of information; (3) equitable opportunities to increase well-being; (4) accountability from governments, the private sector, and civil society; (5) coherency of water resource measures; (6) responsiveness to changing water conditions and societal factors; (7) integrative approach to water basin management; and (8) ethical principles that resonate with varying societies based upon inclusive dialogues. Reasonable and equitable use of transboundary water resources can help sustain local, regional, and international peace and security.

EU regulation of GMOs : law and decision making for a new technology

Abstract: 'Maria Lee's work is a successful attempt to illustrate the "big legal issues" behind the regulation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). This study, which is thorough and well documented, is particularly welcomed in view of the need for a dialogue between different legal specialisms for which GMOs are a relevant area of research. . . [The] book provides a very interesting and insightful examination of the legal problems raised by GMOs. I would warmly recommend its reading to academics and practitioners who are interested in European risk regulation law, environmental law, biotechnology and trade law.' © Maria Lee 2008. All rights reserved.

Harnessing the Power of Information through Community Monitoring: Insights from Social Science

Abstract: I. Introduction Industrial and other polluters in the United States release enough hazardous pollution into the air to place over 92% of the U.S. population at an increased risk of developing respiratory disease, while 17% of the population is at an even higher risk of toxic respiratory exposures.1 Federal monitoring of hazardous or toxic air pollutants occurs under the Clean Air Act (CAA); however, the monitors used to create regional estimates of air quality are limited in number and provide only rough estimates over large areas.2 This level of resolution does not inform communities living near industrial emitters of hazards in their neighborhoods. Lack of site-specific information hampers individuals and nongovernmental organizations' (NGOs) ability to understand the risks they face from industrial activity. This asymmetry in information between firms and community groups decreases the likelihood of social mobilization and limits communities' ability to motivate stricter enforcement. However, environmental law has paid insufficient attention to the important role of information and the effect that information asymmetry has on citizens' and NGOs' framing of environmental problems, their mobilization of resources, and their capacity to demand accountability from regulators and polluting firms. In this Article, we observe that several local antitoxic organizations have realized the importance of collecting and diffusing site-specific information for influencing the responsiveness and accountability of firms and regulators. By incorporating the production of self-collected monitoring data as part of their tactical repertoire, or store of strategic tactics, these grassroots organizations seek to overcome-and in the process point us toward-the limits of the current federal air-quality regulatory regime. In better understanding this development of civil-society strategies to collect and disseminate these groups' own environmental-monitoring information, we are able to advance our theoretical perspectives on the role of information in the next generation of environmental policy. To contribute to this developing literature on the role of information in the next generation of environmental law, Part II briefly reviews the socialscience literature on information and examines when and how citizen-based air monitoring and information diffusion are likely to be successful in influencing private firms and regulatory actors to address hazardous levels of air pollution. Part III utilizes the case of what activists have termed "bucket brigades" to examine attempts from civil society to address information asymmetry and motivate accountability. Bucket brigades are campaigns in which local citizens living along the fence lines of industrial emitters use inexpensive but technically validated plastic buckets to measure air quality near industrial pollution sites.3 Named after the use of common plastic containers in place of expensive professional air-monitoring equipment and recalling collective efforts to fight fires by uniting together as a community, bucket brigades represent forms of local collective action. Their unique property is the gathering of monitoring data through air-quality sampling and the use of that data along social channels or points of influence, such as the media, the regulatory community, firms, and other nongovernmental organizations. This case study suggests how engaging citizens and NGOs in community data-collection roles can enhance information availability and accountability. However, in Part IV, we also advocate for a meta-regulatory role for the federal government. We argue for the importance of government facilitation, oversight, and monitoring of civil society and call for more creative strategies to encourage and support civil-society regulation. Our analysis suggests that an approach that collects and diffuses information at multiple levels and that includes civil society engenders a more adaptive approach and functions more robustly in a climate where complexity and dynamism render complete information impractical. …

Environmental Law, Policy, and Economics: Reclaiming the Environmental Agenda

Abstract: The past twenty-five years have seen a significant evolution in environmental policy, with new environmental legislation and substantive amendments to earlier laws, significant advances in environmental science, and changes in the treatment of science (and scientific uncertainty) by the courts. This book offers a detailed discussion of the important issues in environmental law, policy, and economics, tracing their development over the past few decades through an examination of environmental law cases and commentaries by leading scholars. The authors focus on pollution, addressing both pollution control and prevention, but also emphasize the evaluation, design, and use of the law to stimulate technical change and industrial transformation, arguing that there is a need to address broader issues of sustainable development. Environmental Law, Policy, and Economics, which grew out of courses taught by the authors at MIT, treats the traditional topics covered in most classes in environmental law and policy, including common law and administrative law concepts and the primary federal legislation. But it goes beyond these to address topics not often found in a single volume: the information-based obligations of industry, enforcement of environmental law, market-based and voluntary alternatives to traditional regulation, risk assessment, environmental economics, and technological innovation and diffusion. Countering arguments found in other texts that government should play a reduced role in environmental protection, this book argues that clear, stringent legal requirements -- coupled with flexible means for meeting them -- and meaningful stakeholder participation are necessary for bringing about environmental improvements and technologicial transformations. This book is regularly updated online at http://mitpress.mit.edu/ashford_environmental_law

Law and practice of EU external relations: salient features of a changing landscape

Abstract: Part I Constitutional and Institutional Questions: 1 Direct effect and interpretation of international agreements in the recent case law of the European Court of Justice Francis Jacobs 2 Defining competence in EU external relations: lessons from the Constitutional Treaty Marise Cremona 3 Article 47 TEU and the relationship between first and second pillar competences Alan Dashwood 4 EC Law and UN Security Council resolutions - in search of the right fit Piet Eeckhout 5 Fundamental rights and the interface between second and third pillar Eleanor Spaventa 6 The EU as a party to international agreements: shared competences? Mixed responsibilities? Ramses Wessel 7 Will the common commercial policy be impeded by non-ratification of the Constitutional Treaty? Peter-Christian Muller-Graff 8 The extent to which the EC legislature takes account of WTO obligations: jousting lessons from the European Parliament Jacques Bourgeois and Orla Lynskey Part II Bilateral and Regional Approaches: 9 The relations between the EU and Switzerland Christine Kaddous 10 The relations between the EU and Andorra, San Marino and Monaco Marc Maresceau 11 The EU's Neighbourhood Policy towards Eastern Europe Christophe Hillion 12 The four common spaces: new impetus to the EU-Russia strategic partnership? Peter Van Elsuwege 13 The EU's Strategic Partnership with the Mediterranean and the Middle East: a new geopolitical dimension of the EU's proximity strategies Erwan Lannon 14 The EU's transatlantic relationship Gunter Burghardt Part III Selected Substantive Areas: 15 With eyes wide shut: the EC strategy to enforce intellectual property rights abroad Inge Govaere 16 EU environmental law and its green footprints in the world Kirstyn Inglis

Beyond Public Particpation: The disjuncture between South Africa\'s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Law and Sustainable Development

Abstract: One of the key strategies for achieving sustainable development is the use of the process of evaluating the potential environmental impacts of development activities. The procedure of environmental impact assessment (EIA) implements the principle of integration which lies at the core of the concept of sustainable development by providing a process through which potential social, economic and environmental impacts of activities are scrutinised and planned for. Sustainable development may not be achieved without sustained and legally mandated efforts to ensure that development planning is participatory. The processes of public participation play a crucial role in ensuring the integration of the socio-economic impacts of a project into the environmental decision-making processes. Public participation is not the only process, nor does the process always ensure the achievement of sustainable development. Nevertheless, decisions that engage the public have the propensity to lead to sustainable development. The public participation provisions in South Africa’s EIA regulations promulgated under the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 show a disjuncture between the idea of public participation and the notion of sustainable development. The provisions do not create a framework for informed participation and leave a wide discretion to environmental assessment practitioners (EAPs) regarding the form which participation should assume. In order for environmental law, specifically EIA laws, to be effective as tools to promote sustainable development the laws must, among other things, provide for effective public participation. The judiciary must also aid in the process by giving content to the legal provisions on public participation in the EIA process.

Environmental Protection and Ecology

Abstract: This article explores the meaning of environmental protection and the mechanisms and governance structures that are used to achieve environmental objectives. A taxonomy of domestic environmental policy instruments is provided, along with a discussion of the efficiency, effectiveness, and equity issues associated with the different approaches. The article also reviews the international governance system that has been established to facilitate environmental protection. Readers are provided with a brief introduction to international environmental law, the international environmental bureaucracy, and international environmental financial mechanisms and their role in protecting the environment.

The Public Trust Doctrine, Environmental Human Rights, and the Future of Private Property

Abstract: A dynamic tension has long existed between those who would circumscribe the Earth's bounty for private use and those who would carefully allot and safeguard Earth's riches to satisfy human needs. The 1500-year old Public Trust Doctrine, and the much more recent movement to protect Environmental Human Rights, both express in law a belief that some resources should never be sequestered for private use, must be left for the public’s enjoyment, and must be stewarded by those in power. This paper explores the differences and synergies between the Public Trust Doctrine and Environmental Human rights, and explores how these doctrines constrain what counts as “private,” “property,” and “ownership,” with extensive analysis from the doctrines' uses in India, South Africa, California, and Pennsylvania.

China's Energy and Environmental Problems and Policies

Abstract: This paper describes China's energy and environmental degradation problems in terms of air pollution, water pollution, CO2 emission and shortage of energy. It discusses the laws, agencies established and policies introduced to solve the energy-environment problems as well as the practical difficulties in the implementation of government environmental policies. Finally it presents two proposals to improve the protection of China's environment.

Good Climate Governance: Only a Fragmented System of International Law Away?

Abstract: Fragmentation is the hallmark of international environmental law—it is both the key to its success and the pathway to its unraveling. Recognizing that law is an essential component of systems of supranational climate governance, addressing gaps between international legal systems is fundamentally important to the legitimacy of international law and to on-going attempts to use international law as a central component in efforts to address climate change. This article analyzes developments in international environmental law with a view towards suggesting how efforts to develop an international climate change legal regime—and a broader system of global climate governance—highlight the pressing need to look more closely at the linkages between climate change and other areas of international law and to begin thinking about ways to minimize gaps and maximize cooperation among international environmental institutions and between international environmental law and other spheres of international law.

International Economic Law

Abstract: As conflict and cooperation among states turn to an ever greater extent on economic issues, this fully updated and expanded second edition presents a comprehensive exploration of the legal foundations of the international economy. It not only examines the current status of the law, but also explores the origins, political tensions and development of outcomes that are often difficult to comprehend. Lowenfeld examines the major elements of economic law in the international arena including the World Trade Organization and its antecedents; dumping, subsidies, and other devices that alter the market; the International Monetary System, including the collapse of the Bretton Woods system; the debt of developing countries; the law of foreign direct investment, including changing perceptions of the rights of host states and multinational enterprises; and economic sanctions. The book also contains chapters on competition law, environmental law, and new chapters on intellectual property and the various forms of arbitration; demonstrating how these subjects fit into the framework of international economic law. Professor Lowenfeld brings to his task a lifetime of practice and teaching experience to produce a book that will be of use to international lawyers and non-specialists alike.

European Environmental Human Rights and Environmental Rights: A Long Time Coming?

Abstract: This paper deals with the area of rights and environmental law focusing on procedural environmental rights and substantive human rights to the environment in a European context. The paper asserts that while international developments in this area have generally ceased, two strong trends are emerging in Europe. First, a strong focus on procedural environmental rights (a right to access to environmental information, a right to public participation and a right to access to justice) is in place in Europe. This part of the paper is based on an analysis of a number of European legal instruments and regimes, including the European Convention on Human Rights and the case law from the European Court of Human Rights, the 1998 UNECE Aarhus Convention as well as environmental law and policy from the European Community. It is argued that the strong focus on these procedural rights in Europe have led to such norms reaching a level regional customary law with the potential to influence international legal developments. In relation to a substantive human right to the environment, which the paper argues is currently lacking on the international level, it is argued that recent tentative approaches on a European regional level to a substantive right may further add to the precarious status of a substantive right under international law. Here, European developments have the potential to add to other regional instruments in, for instance, Africa and Latin and Southern America. In addition, recent constitutional changes in domestic European law has led to a wide range of national constitutions containing provisions on a right to the environment, which again have the potential to add further weight to the development of an international right.

International Law and the Third World : Reshaping Justice

Abstract: 1. Reshaping Justice: International Law and the Third World: An Introduction Richard Falk, Balakrishnan Rajagopal and Jacqueline Stevens 2. What may the 'Third World' Expect from International Law? Upendra Baxi 3. International Law and the Future Richard Falk 4. The Evolution of International Law: Colonial and Postcolonial Realities Antony Anghie 5. Recreating the State Jacqueline Stevens 6. Counter-hegemonic International Law: Rethinking Human Rights and Development as a Third World Strategy Balakrishnan Rajagopal 7. Why should Muslims Abandon Jihad?: Human Rights and the Future of International Law Abdullahi Ahmed An-na'im 8. Poverty, Agency and Resistance in the Future of International Law: An African Perspective Obiora Chinedu Okafor 9. Between Civilisation and Barbarism: Creole Interventions in International Law Liliana Obregon 10. 'I Heard it All Before' Egyptian Tales of Law and Development Amr Shalakany 11. The Civilised Self and the Barbaric Other: Imperial Delusions of Order and the Challenges of Human Security Ikechi Mgbeoji 12. Political Asylum and Torture: A Comparative Analysis Wadie E. Said 13. International Environmental Law, Water and the Future Hilal Elver 14. Resistance in the Age of Empire: Occupied Discourse Pending Investigation Vasuki Nesiah 15. Exiled to a Liminal Legal Zone: Are we all Palestinians now? Laurie King-Irani 16. Building Women into Peace: The International Legal Framework Christine Chinkin and Hilary Charlesworth 17. Third World Approaches to International Economic Governance James Thuo Gathii

Constitutional environmental rights: an under-utilised resource

Abstract: This article supports the principled proposition that all human beings have a fundamental right to an environment that is ecologically sound and does not threaten health or well-being. It also takes the position that we need a solid and detailed understanding of the content of the environmental right in the South African Constitution. It is particularly imperative that such content reflect the particular context within which the right operates. The article argues, however, that the content and value of South Africa's environmental right, remains largely undefined. It reviews a number of decisions which have provided opportune moments to give content to the right, and in this regard focuses on two areas where jurisprudence may enhance the application of an environmental right. These developing principles of environmental law and interrogating the relationship between the environmental right and other constitutionally-entrenched rights.

Regulating Plastics Waste, Stakeholder Engagement and Sustainability Challenges in South Africa

Abstract: In May 2003, the South African government enacted regulations banning the production of thin-film plastic shopping bags. The government advocated that such thin-film plastic shopping bags were indiscriminately discarded because they had no economic and recycling value. However, in as much as the regulations led to significant reductions in plastic shopping bags in the environment, the law resulted in severe unintended negative consequences, as jobs were lost with some businesses in the plastic shopping bag manufacturing sector closing down. The paper also reveals that key stakeholders, such as industry, business and labour, lobbied against the introduction of the regulations but without success. On average, business went down by about 83% with a conservative 25% reduction in employment. Drawing insights from the Irish and Australian experiences, this paper critically reviews sustainability debates and responses surrounding environmental regulation and business, with a special focus on the Plastic Bag Regulations in South Africa. Lessons learnt are presented with the intention to provide insights for future waste product or other environmental regulation initiatives in South Africa and elsewhere in the region.

Climate Change and Carbon Sequestration: Assessing a Liability Regime for Long-Term Storage of Carbon Dioxide

Abstract: As the world struggles with how to address climate change, one of the most significant questions is how to reduce increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. One promising technology is "carbon capture and sequestration" (CCS) which consists of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants and industrial sources and sequestering them in deep geologic formations for long periods of time. Areas for potential CO2 sequestration include oil and gas fields, saline aquifers, and coal seams. As Congress and the private sector begin to spend billions of dollars to research and deploy this technology, there has been insufficient attention paid to how to structure legal liability for the short-term or long-term risks associated with the geologic sequestration of CO2 in connection with CCS. Until now, federal and state legislators, when they have acted at all, have appeared to be in a rush to limit corporate liability for potential harm in order to encourage the development of CCS. We take a different approach. In this Article, we survey the existing environmental law and tort law liability regimes that may cover potential harm from escaping or migrating CO2. We conclude that while existing liability regimes are insufficient on their own to govern the CCS industry, existing federal and state environmental and tort liability can provide important risk management tools and serve as safeguards to private parties and state and local governments in the event of harm. Thus, state and federal legislation specific to CCS should leave in place this basic liability for full-scale commercial CCS projects. We also propose an adaptive governance model at the federal level for integrating several different compensation mechanisms including bonding, insurance, and pooled federal funding into commercial CCS project management to better provide financial security to investors without destroying existing liability protections for those who may suffer harm from CCS. This proposal offers a starting point for developing a model to integrate and manage liability for the nascent CCS industry.

Regulation, enforcement and governance in environmental law

Abstract: Legal and policy analysis focussing on major themes of regulation, instituional arrangements, and enforcement which underlie substantive environmental law

Environmental Law and Policy

Abstract: This casebook emphasizes environmental policy, as well as the structure and details of the federal environmental statutes. It focuses students' attention on how tradeoffs between environmental goals and social goals are resolved in different and difficult contexts. The book pays close attention to the political context in which regulation takes place, looking at the impact of federal government, interest groups, and administrative agencies in the regulatory process. It examines current efforts to address climate change and regulate greenhouse gases through existing statutory frameworks. The casebook includes substantial introductions and extensive notes and questions to guide classroom discussion. The book has been updated primarily to underscore the importance of the regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

European Environmental Human Rights and Environmental Rights: A Long Time Coming?

Abstract: This paper deals with the area of rights and environmental law focusing on procedural environmental rights and substantive human rights to the environment in a European context. The paper asserts that while international developments in this area have generally ceased, two strong trends are emerging in Europe. First, a strong focus on procedural environmental rights (a right to access to environmental information, a right to public participation and a right to access to justice) is in place in Europe. This part of the paper is based on an analysis of a number of European legal instruments and regimes, including the European Convention on Human Rights and the case law from the European Court of Human Rights, the 1998 UNECE Aarhus Convention as well as environmental law and policy from the European Community. It is argued that the strong focus on these procedural rights in Europe have led to such norms reaching a level regional customary law with the potential to influence international legal developments. In relation to a substantive human right to the environment, which the paper argues is currently lacking on the international level, it is argued that recent tentative approaches on a European regional level to a substantive right may further add to the precarious status of a substantive right under international law. Here, European developments have the potential to add to other regional instruments in, for instance, Africa and Latin and Southern America. In addition, recent constitutional changes in domestic European law has led to a wide range of national constitutions containing provisions on a right to the environment, which again have the potential to add further weight to the development of an international right.

The law and economics of environmental federalism: Europe and the United States compared

Abstract: This article describes the evolution and key features of the centralized environmental regulatory systems that emerged in the United States and Europe during the latter half of the twentieth century. It applies insights from the positive economic analysis of regulatory centralization in an attempt to explain a striking paradox found in both the European and American centralized environmental regulatory regimes: the fact that in both systems, centralized environmental regulation has been adopted not as a solution for transboundary pollution (interjursidictional externalities), but rather for pollution that is primarily local. The paper develops a positive account that explains the tendency of centralized environmental regulation to focus so paradoxically on localized pollution as due to inherent pressures for regional protectionism and redistribution within a (federalized) political system. Normatively, we provide an up-to-date survey of the theoretical and empirical work on the race-to-thebottom story, and then apply normative economics to develop insight into the relative normative desirability of environmental regulatory centralization in the U.S. versus Europe. We believe that the relatively less centralized European system may have economic justification. On the other hand, the enlargement and increased economic integration of Europe raise some interesting questions, both normative questions regarding the desirability of centralized European environmental regulation, and positive questions regarding the future of European environmental law.

The Contribution of the International Court of Justice to the Development of International Environmental Law: A Contemporary Assessment

Abstract: The article provides a detailed and up-to-date assessment of the contribution of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to the development of International Environmental Law (IEL), including the potential in this respect of the cases currently pending before the Court The author argues that the ICJ's contribution to IEL can be organized in two main waves of cases The legacy of the first wave, which covered essentially the Corfu Channel and the Nuclear Tests cases, as well as an important obiter dictum made in the Barcelona Traction case, was the confirmation of previous case-law on transboundary damages as well as the introduction of the concept of obligations erga omnes, potentially applicable to some environmental norms The second wave, constituted mainly by the Nauru and the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros cases, the Advisory Opinion on the Legality of Nuclear Weapons, and a number of separate/dissenting opinions, was important in consolidating the previous achievements and pointing to a number of interconnections between IEL and other sub-fields of international law such as boundary delimitation and international humanitarian law In this context, the Pulp Mills and Aerial Herbicides cases, currently pending before the ICJ, could potentially pave the way for a third wave, providing much needed clarifications of issues such as the specific contents of IEL as well as the hierarchy and enforceability of its principles

The Judiciary, the Environmental Right and the Quest for Sustainability in South Africa: A Critical Reflection

Abstract: The 1996 Constitution of the Republic of South Africa explicitly provides for a comprehensive environmental right. The environmental right is part of the supreme law of the country and the entire environmental law regime. South Africa also has a vigilant judiciary, which has had various opportunities to interpret and give meaning to the environmental right. This article explores the manner in which the environmental right has been interpreted, translated and applied by the judiciary over the past 10 years. The article briefly analyses the environmental right, investigates recent judgments that reflected on the right, and concludes with a critical survey and suggestions as to future developments in this regard.