Transboundary Pollution

This important new book provides a comprehensive overview of the international legal principles governing transboundary pollution. In doing so, the experts writing in this book examine the practical applications of the State responsibility doctrine in

This book is the first collection of international legal documents related to the new, highly controversial & politically sensitive issue of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes & their disposal. It will be of invaluable assistance to practicing lawyers & other experts, academics as well as students, concerned with the rapid developments in international environmental law. The global instruments cover the basic system of the UNEP Basel Convention/IAEA Code & the documents of various United Nations organizations, whose interest with hazardous waste movements has increased considerably due to the preparations for the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment & Development (UNCED). Numerous regional instruments included are: those of the UN ECE, OECD, EEC & other organizations of the industrialized states; instruments related to Antarctica; & to the major developing state regions (Africa, Latin America & the Caribbean, South Atlantic Zone, Asia & the Pacific), including the 1998 ACP-EEC Lome IV Convention & the 1991 OAU Bamako Convention. Two US treaties on hazardous waste export controls with Mexico & Canada form notable instances of bilateral measures. Some documents of Greenpeace & other non-governmental organizations are also added. An incisive Editors' Introduction & a comprehensive general index provide the reader with easy access to these vital instruments. This timely work aims to clarify & aid the increasingly intricate international debate on hazardous waste production & disposal, & reduce the conflict between North & South on the export of such waste to Third World countries. In addition, the prospects of South-South traffic, as developing states push towards industrialization, underline the urgent need for prompt & tough action. The Editors Barbara Kwiatkowska & Alfred Soons, both experienced authors on international law issues have been guided in the preparation of this unique collection by several outstanding experts, members of the Volume's Advisory Board, including Francis Njenga, S ecretary-General, Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee , New Delhi, Peter Sand, Principal Legal Officer, UNCED-Geneva, Henri Smets, Environment Directorate, OECD, Paris, Lee A. Kimball, Senior Associate, World Resources Institute, Washington, D.C. , Hans Lammers, Deputy Legal Adviser, Netherlands Foreign Office, The Hague & Iwona Rummel-Bulska, Chief, Environmental Law & Institutions Unit & Coordinator of the Basel Convention, UNEP-Nairobi/Geneva. The leading role of UNEP in seeking satisfactory solutions to the new environmental problems raised by hazardous wastes is accentuated in the Preface to the book by the honourable Dr Mostafa K. Tolba, E xecutive-Director of UNEP. The 'collective approach is' as he rightly put it 'our only option to care & share the only one Earth'.

This book reveals the many harms which flow across the ever-more porous sovereign borders of a globalising world. These harms expose weaknesses in the international legal regime built on sovereignty of nation states. Using the Trail Smelter Arbitration, one of the most cited cases in international environmental law, this book explores the changing nature of state responses to transboundary harm. Taking a critical approach, the book examines the arbitration's influence on international law generally, and international environmental law specifically. In particular, the book explores whether there are lessons from Trail Smelter that are useful for resolving transboundary challenges confronting the international community. The book collects the commentary of a distinguished set of international law scholars who consider the history of the Trail Smelter arbitration, its significance for international environmental law, its broader relationship to international law, and its resonance in fields beyond the environment.

This is a handbook for policy makers and environmental managers in water authorities and engineering companies engaged in water quality programmes, especially in developing countries. It is also suitable for use as a textbook or as training material for water quality management courses. It is a companion volume to Water Quality Assessment and Water Quality Monitoring.

This book focuses on how public and private international law address civil liability for transboundary pollution. In public international law, civil liability treaties promote the implementation of minimum procedural standards in domestic tort law. This approach implicitly relies on private international law to facilitate civil litigation against transboundary polluters. Yet this connection remains poorly understood. Filling the gap, this book engages in a meaningful dialogue between the two areas and explores how domestic private international law can reflect the policies developed in international environmental law. It begins with an investigation of civil liability in international environmental law. It then identifies preferable rules of civil jurisdiction, foreign judgments and choice of law for environmental damage, using Canadian private international law as a case study and making extensive references to European law. Liability for transboundary pollution is a contentious issue of the law, both in scholarship and practice: international lawyers both private and public as well as environmental lawyers will welcome this important work.

The third edition of this well-received textbook delivers a concise overview of global and individual environmental pollution for undergraduate courses, presenting students with the tools to assess environmental issues. With more than thirty percent new material, Hill assesses pollution from an international perspective, including air and water pollution, global warming, energy, solid and hazardous waste, and pollution at home. Both the sources and impacts of pollution are addressed, as well as governmental, corporate, and personal responsibility for pollution, and pollution prevention is emphasized throughout. Non-technical language encourages greater understanding of these often complex issues, and thought-provoking 'Delving Deeper' exercises are included, increasing engagement with the text and enabling students to apply what they have learned. A new chapter on the chemistry basics of pollution links to sections on toxicology and risk assessment, helping students understand concerns over chemicals and their regulation. An essential review of environmental pollution for environmental science students.

Toxic Airs brings together historians of medicine, environmental historians, historians of science and technology, and interdisciplinary scholars to address atmospheric issues on a spectrum of scales from body to place to planet. The chapters analyze airborne and atmospheric threats posed to humans, and contributors demonstrate how conceptions of toxicity have evolved and how humans have both created and mitigated toxins in the air. Specific topics discussed include medieval beliefs in the pestilent breath of witches, malarial theory in India, domestic and military use of tear gas, Gulf War Syndrome, Los Angeles smog, automotive emissions control, the epidemiological effects of air pollution, transboundary air pollution, ozone depletion, the contributions of contemporary artists to climate awareness, and the toxic history of carbon “die”-oxide. Overall, the essays provide a wide-ranging historical study of interest to students and scholars of many disciplines.

This book focuses on how public and private international law address civil liability for transboundary pollution. In public international law, civil liability treaties promote the implementation of minimum procedural standards in domestic tort law. This approach implicitly relies on private international law to facilitate civil litigation against transboundary polluters. Yet this connection remains poorly understood. Filling the gap, this book engages in a meaningful dialogue between the two areas and explores how domestic private international law can reflect the policies developed in international environmental law. It begins with an investigation of civil liability in international environmental law. It then identifies preferable rules of civil jurisdiction, foreign judgments and choice of law for environmental damage, using Canadian private international law as a case study and making extensive references to European law. Liability for transboundary pollution is a contentious issue of the law, both in scholarship and practice: international lawyers both private and public as well as environmental lawyers will welcome this important work.