Stratospheric Ozone Damage And Legal Liability

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.

The mountain of information coming out of the respective regimes on climate change, ozone depletion and air pollution is monumental

The first edition of Professor Yoshida’s monograph, The International Legal Régime for the Protection of the Stratosphere Ozone Layer, provided a renowned and comprehensive contemporary study of the international ozone régime. In the second revised edition, the author analyses important developments in the ozone treaty régime.

The first edition of Professor Yoshida's monograph, The International Legal Régime for the Protection of the Stratosphere Ozone Layer, has been the most comprehensive contemporary study of the international ozone régime. In the second revised edition, he analyses important developments of the ozone treaty régime.

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.