Environmental law is the law concerned with environmental problems. It is a vast area of law that operates from the local to the global, involving a range of different legal and regulatory techniques. In theory, environmental protection is obvious and ethically desirable. Yet, in practice, environmental law is a messy and complex business fraught with conflict. Environmental Law: A Very Short Introduction discusses the nature and practice of environmental law, and explores the role of lawmakers, courts, and regulators. It analyses why environmental law is both a fundamental and controversial area of law, dealing with multiple interests, socio-political conflicts, and the limits of knowledge about the environment, using examples from across the globe.
Keywords: international agreement, anthropocene era, environmental law, environmental protection, international law, tragedy of the commons
Elizabeth Fisher, author Professor of Environmental Law, Corpus Christi, University of Oxford
international agreement
anthropocene era
tragedy of the commons
1. Troubles
2. Environmental problems
3. The substance of environmental law
4. The history of environmental law
5. Expanding legal imagination
6. The significance of nation states
7. Power and accountability in environmental law
8. Ensuring the effectiveness of environmental law
9. The many forms of environmental justice