Hardback

Implementing Environmental Law

9781783479290 Edward Elgar Publishing

The IUCN Academy of Environmental Law series

Edited by Paul Martin, Director of the Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law, University of New England, Australia, and co-chair of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Research Committee and Amanda Kennedy, Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Publication Date: August 2015 ISBN: 978 1 78347 929 0 Extent: 384 pp

At the Rio +20 conference attention was focused upon the variable effectiveness of a large range of international instruments. The IUCN too has recently began to focus upon the effectiveness of legal arrangements for environmental governance. Both of these developments are representative of an increasing awareness that legal environmental governance arrangements frequently fail to achieve the desired outcomes, or give rise to perverse and unexpected effects. The reasons why this may be so include issues such as the limited commitment of the responsible government or its agents, issues of corruption or incapacity, problems arising from the choice of the governance instrument, or the design of the law. This book tackles the challenges of implementation of environmental law, drawing upon the expertise of an international cast of contributors and investigations across a range of jurisdictions.

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Critical Acclaim

Contributors

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This insightful book explores why implementation of environmental law is too often ineffective in achieving effective environmental governance. It provides careful analysis and innovative proposals to help improve the practical effectiveness of legal instruments for environmental governance.

A growing number of organisations including the IUCN, UNEP and the Organisation of American States have voiced concerns that legal instruments that were developed to pursue more convincing environmental governance over the last 40 years are not creating a sufficiently potent system of environmental governance. In response to this challenge, this timely book explores how to bridge the significant implementation gap between the objectives of environmental law and the real-world outcomes of its application. Expert contributors discuss different forms of law, from international conventions down to inter-parties agreements, and non-government codes and standards. The overarching discussion highlights the diverse factors that impact upon implementing environmental law in practice, and considers the limitations and opportunities for constructive innovation in legal governance.

This book is a comprehensive reference point for scholars and policy-makers, shedding light on how to achieve significant improvements in the effective application of environmental law.

Critical Acclaim

''The effective implementation as distinct from the enforcement of environmental laws depends upon a range of discrete factors. These include institutional, cultural, social, economic, political as well as traditional legal influences and perspectives. This series of essays explains and analyses the theoretical underpinnings of the relationship between all of these factors and the methodology appropriate to determining in practice whether environmental laws are being implemented so that their objectives are being achieved. This involves a review of the growing theoretical literature and a discussion of a significant number of examples, international, regional, national and local, which assess the extent of effective implementation of the relevant legal rules. The strength of these essays is two fold: the depth of the theoretical discourse and the breadth of the indicative practical examples. These essays will add considerable grist to the intellectual mill of those interested in the perception of environmental governance as an emerging global system.''
– Douglas Fisher, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Contributors

Contributors: R. Bartel, A.K. Butzel, D. Craig, J. de Cendra, M. Doelle, J. Gooch, W. Gumley, C. Holley, T. Howard, A. Kennedy, W. Lahey, A. Lawson, E. Lees, P. Martin, M. Masterton, P. Noble, R.L. Ottinger, O.R. Owina, L. Paddock, J.L. Parker, W. Pianpian, G. Pink, A. Rieu-Clarke, N.A. Robinson, G. Rose, T.L Rucinski, S. Teles Da Silva, R.R. Valova, X. Wang, M.E. Wieder, W. Xi

Contents

Contents:

Introduction: A Jurisprudence of Environmental Governance?
Paul Martin and Amanda Kennedy

1. Accelerating the Evolution of Environmental Law through Continuous Learning from Applied Experience
Paul Martin and Donna Craig

2. Assessing Environmental Governance of the Hudson River Valley: Application of an IPPEP Model
Wang Xi, Richard L. Ottinger, Nicholas A. Robinson, Albert K. Butzel, Marla E. Wieder, John Louis Parker, Taryn L. Rucinski, Radina R. Valova and Wang Pianpian

3. Putting the Train of Environmental Protection on Track: Nova Scotia''s Experiment in Using Legislation to Strengthen Environmental Law
Meinhard Doelle and William Lahey

4. Has Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Lost Credibility? Recent Concerns from Australia and Canada
Wayne Gumley

5. Contamination and the Polluter Pays Principle
Emma Lees

6. Possible Legal Obligations to Consult
Tanya Howard and Solange Teles Da Silva

7. Implementing International Water Agreements
Alistair Rieu-Clarke and Josefin Gooch

8. Fouling Adam''s Eden: A Legal Analysis of the Collective Action Challenge in Lake Victoria
Omondi Robert Owino

9. Marine Protection Treaties in Antarctic Waters: Fragmentation or Coordination in International Treaty Implementation
Gregory Rose

10. The Effectiveness of Instrument Mixes in Environmental Law: Insights from Ship-source Pollution
Javier de Cendra

11. Implementing Environmental Law and Collaborative Governance
Cameron Holley and Andrew Lawson

12. Private Environmental Enforcement: Using Supply Chain Requirements to Achieve Better Environmental Outcomes
LeRoy Paddock and Molly Masterton

13. Hybrid Governance and ‘Wicked’ Natural Resource Risks
Paul Martin and Peter Noble

14. Regulators Networks: Collaborative Agency Approaches to the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law
Grant Pink and Robyn Bartel

Index