Environmental law

Environmental law is a complex and interlocking body of statutes, common law, treaties, conventions, regulations and policies which, very broadly, operate to regulate the interaction of humanity and the rest of the biophysical or natural environment, toward the purpose of reducing or minimizing the impacts of human activity, both on the natural environment for its own sake, and on humanity itself. Environmental law draws from and is influenced by principles of environmentalism, including ecology, conservation, stewardship, responsibility and sustainability. From an economic perspective it can be understood as concerned with the prevention of present and future externalities.

Areas of concern in environmental law include air quality, water quality, global climate change, agriculture, biodiversity, species protection, pesticides and hazardous chemicals, waste management, remediation of contaminated land and brownfields, smart growth, sustainable development, impact review, and conservation, stewardship and management of public lands and natural resources.

While many countries worldwide have since accumulated impressive sets of environmental laws, their implementation has often been woeful. In recent years, environmental law has become seen as a critical means of promoting sustainable development (or "sustainability"). Policy concepts such as the precautionary principle, public participation, environmental justice, and the polluter pays principle have informed many environmental law reforms in this respect (see further Richardson and Wood, 2006). There has been considerable experimentation in the search for more effective methods of environmental control beyond traditional "command-and-control" style regulation. Eco-taxes, emission trading, voluntary standards such as ISO 14000 and negotiated agreements are some of these innovations. [Environmental Law overview - Legal Information Institute http://topics.law.cornell.edu/wex/Environmental_law]

Education

Environmental law is offered as an elective course in the second and third year of JD study at many American law schools. Some U.S. law schools also offer an LLM or JSD specialization in environmental law.

The IUCN Academy of Environmental Law [ [http://www.iucnael.org IUCN Academy of Environmental Law] ] is a network of some 60 law schools worldwide that specialise in the research and teaching of environmental law.

Outside the U.S.?

List of environmental law reviews and journals

ee also

*Canadian Environmental Law Association
*Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy
*Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)
*Clean tech law
*Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) (in New England in the US)
*Earth jurisprudence
*Ecojustice Canada
*Energy Lobby
*Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR)
*Environmental compensation
*Environmental contract
*Environmental crime
*Environmental criminology
*Environmental_economics
*environmental engineering law
*Environmental justice
*Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW)
*Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC)
*Environmental Law Institute (ELI)
*Environmental Law Service (ELS) (a Czech non-governmental organization of lawyers)
*Environmental vandalism
*International environmental law
*List of environmental agreements
*List of environmental lawsuits
*List of ministers of the environment
*Timeline of major U.S. environmental and occupational health regulation
*Toxic tort
*United States environmental law
* [http://www.vermontlaw.edu/Environmental/index.cfm Vermont Law School Environmental Law Center]
*War and environmental law
*Western Environmental Law Center
*Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy

References and bibliography

* Menell, P.S. (ed), "Environmental Law" (Ashgate Publishing, Burlington, 2003).
*Clayton, Susan. 2000. Models of justice in the environmental debate. Journal of Social Issues 56 (3): 459 – 474.
* Croci, E. (ed), "The Handbook of Environmental Voluntary Agreements" (Springer, New York, 2005).
* Freeman, J. and Kolstad, C.D. (eds), "Moving to Markets in Environmental Regulation" (Oxford University Press, New York, 2006).
* Lans, C. 2007. Politically incorrect and bourgeois: Nariva Swamp is sufficient onto itself. Lulu.com.
* [http://www.hartpub.co.uk/books/details.asp?sc=1-84113-544-5 Richardson, B.J. and S. Wood (eds), "Environmental Law for Sustainability" (Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2006)]
* Saxe, D., "Environmental Offences: Corporate Responsibility and Executive Liability" (Canada Law Book, Aurora, 1990).
*Stone, Christopher, D. 1974. Should trees have legal standing? Toward legal rights for natural objects. California: William Kaufman, Inc.

External links

*http://www.ecojustice.ca
* [http://www.unep.org/law/ UNEP Environmental Law Programme]
* [http://www.ciel.org/ Centre for International Environmental Law]
* [http://www.eelpj.org Environmental & Energy Law & Policy Journal]
* [http://www.elaw.org/ Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide(E-LAW)]
* [http://www.eli.org/ Environmental Law Institute (ELI)]
* [http://www.ielrc.org/ International Environmental Law Research Centre (IELRC)]