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In Southern Europe the environment as a policy sector has evolved along four dimensions, namely, regime change, economic development and social change, cultural patterns and public awareness, and international pressures. Compared to Northern European countries, the four countries of Southern Europe have made environmental policy a priority only very recently. Across the four countries, in the long run the priority on economic growth has brought about environmental damage. Democratization has favored environmentalism, through constitutional recognition of environmental issues, new policy structures, and the emergence of environmentalist groups, but environmental concerns have not flourished to a large extent. However, Italy is more advanced than the rest of South European countries in growth of environmental awareness. The chapter analyzes four themes: the responsiveness of the democratic regimes to environmental problems, policy priorities, and the handling of environmental issues; the contribution of public concern regarding the environment to the legitimacy of new regimes; and the relationship between environmental policy and international factors.

Most commentators on the work of the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) agree that the Commission and its law-making record were rather unique in international law, both in terms of institutional and procedural characteristics, and in terms of the substantive legal rules applied. Within the Commission's range of work in turn, there is a distinct segment that stands apart from the general context of the UNCC ‘regime’; namely the system of compensation for environmental claims, referred to as the ‘F4’ category. This chapter seeks to clarify the question as to why and how, or to what extent, the rules applied to environmental claims were indeed different, or sui generis, as compared with the rest of the UNCC. It is only after this kind of analytic clarification that the ulterior question can be asked as to whether the UNCC/F4 experience may hold any precedential lessons for other claims proceedings in the future.

This chapter examines the concept of environmental damage in a number of international liability regimes, both in existence and under development, and considers whether those regimes adequately address the problem of damage to the environment per se. It begins with a summary of domestic US law and practice. US legislation and international regimes appear to have developed in different directions, with the former focusing on damage to natural resources and the latter focusing on damage to persons and property, while viewing the US regime with suspicion and even hostility. The chapter considers how far these differences are real and suggests the basic elements of an ‘ideal’ international regime to address the issue of liability and compensation for environmental harm.

This chapter examines the relationship between environmental damage and pollution in the marine sphere. It begins by tracing the evolution of the legal definition of marine pollution from its scientific origins. It then examines various examples of this definition to understand their implications for the legal definition of marine environmental damage. It presents a case study of marine pollution laws in Malaysia and Singapore to illustrate how the concepts of marine pollution and marine environmental damage are interpreted and applied to these two nations.

This chapter addresses issues regarding the use of cost-benefit analyses in shaping environmental policies. It defines an ecological discount rate compatible with social welfare when the representative agent cares about both the economic and ecological environments faced by future generations. This ecological rate at which future environmental damages are discounted may be much smaller than the economic rate at which economic damages are discounted, because of the integration of a potentially increasing willingness to pay for the environment into the ecological discount rate. This increased interest in environmental assets is modeled in this chapter by the potential for increased scarcity of these assets, which drives their value upward through time. The chapter shows that the uncertainties surrounding the future evolution of environmental quality and the economy tend to reduce the discount rates, in particular if they are positively correlated.

This chapter deals with compensation for environmental damage under the legal systems of the Nordic countries and Germany. It covers the main general laws on (civil) environmental impairment liability. It discusses the characteristics of the liability systems, the notion of environmental damage, and reparation for environmental damage.

Are there systematic associations between environmental conditions and development strategies? This chapter approaches this question from different angles. It starts by reviewing the types of environmental damage in developing countries, followed by a discussion of the likely environmental impacts of development strategies. Interaction between energy consumption and trade strategy are examined using cross-country regressions. An alternative model, a simulation model of economy wide effects of energy use, is discussed with the example of Mexico. This discussion is extended using a micro-economic model of the likely impact of agricultural intensification on the economy of a village in a Sub-Saharan African country in the peanut basin of Senegal. This model indicates the severity and pervasiveness of environmental degradation and of its deleterious effects on the poor in a village economy. It is argued that environmental concerns should play a central role, along with income distribution concerns, in the design of development strategies.

This chapter focuses on the risks posed by genetically modified crops. It argues that many of the risks which are likely to materialize fall comfortably within traditional heads of damage such as personal injury or damage to property. There is also, however, a risk of environmental damage per se, which legal systems may find more problematic. In particular, the notion of damage to ‘biological diversity’ requires careful consideration, especially in light of the definition in the Biodiversity Convention. In the same context, while compensable damage should include the costs of preventive measures and reasonable measures of reinstatement, it should not be so limited, since it may well no longer be feasible to recall the GMO in question.

This chapter analyzes some key issues of environmental damage. It first examines the main provisions of the Environment Act of 1983 by comparing it with the conventional rules of tort law. It highlights the commitments in the face of international conventions which Turkey has signed and/or ratified. Finally, the chapter evaluates the shortcomings, ongoing developments, and future expectations with regard to the definition of and liability for environmental damage.

This chapter discusses environmental damage remediation in the Caribbean region. It argues that Caribbean jurisprudence appears to be at a crossroads on the issue of valuation of ecological damage. Traditional approaches which omitted the environment from economics are now being challenged by several legislative provisions and administrative opportunities that allow for the accounting of ecological damage. From this perspective, it appears that the integration of environment and economics is a done deal. The only remaining question is the speed in which this recognition will take hold in those responsible for statutory interpretation and administration, and the manner in which integration will proceed.

This chapter provides an overview of the processing and valuation of the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) environmental claims. The discussion is preliminary in nature since the Panel of Commissioners tasked with reviewing environmental claims has not yet issued any recommendations on 107 claims for monitoring and assessment of environmental losses in March 2001, and plans to issue its reports and recommendations by December 2004.

This chapter examines the Polish system of environmental liability and evaluation of damage. It argues that the Polish system is both confusing and rigid. Some of the confusion stems from the unclear system of liability of environmental damage which encompasses different branches of law. The lack of clear division between these types of liability influences evaluation.

This chapter addresses the question of what environmental damage is and how far the law of Scotland recognizes the concept at all. It considers the part played by the ‘common law’ of Scotland and the impact of legislation in this field. It argues that Scots law is a hybrid system that does not, of itself, assist in the definition and evaluation of environmental damage.

This chapter begins with an overview of the manner and extent to which the legal provisions inherited since the beginning of the 19th century provide for liability and recovery of environmental damages in Mauritius. It then addresses a number of difficulties which have been, and were bound to be encountered, through the use of these provisions and the rules of standing, in defining and evaluating environmental damage. Finally, the chapter focuses on the emergence of a specific liability and compensatory statutory regime which, ex post facto, encompasses comprehensive elements for the evaluation of environmental damage and provides elements for a definition thereof, though this regime is of limited application.

This chapter examines environmental damage valuation in Brazil. Brazilian law allows for the use of five autonomous and immediate techniques, some of them general and direct, other special and direct, for dealing with environmental damage responsibility. These are rights of neighbourhood, extra-contractual civil responsibility based on guilt, objective civil responsibility under the National Environmental Policy Law, objective civil responsibility under the Consumer Defence Code in cases involving consumer relations, and special civil responsibility in the case of mining, forestry, or nuclear activities, as well as the use of toxic products in agriculture.

This chapter provides an overview of egregious cases of corporate environmental damage and the day-to-day negative impacts of the private sector. It then addresses recent initiatives at the international level based on the desirability of the private sector's proactive contribution to the attainment of internationally agreed goals and the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements. It briefly discusses the role of the private sector in relation to ecosystem services. The chapter aims at providing the pragmatic and ethical justification for the study.

This chapter explores whether and to what extent the common law makes provisions liability for and recovery of environmental damage. The chapter is organized as follows. First, it examines the traditional common law doctrine involving cases of action for injury to land: nuisance, trespass, negligence, and strict liability. It then discusses common law doctrine directed more precisely at the use and protection of natural resources: the public trust doctrine. Thirdly, recent statutory rights to recover environmental damages under American law are summarized. With this, it is possible to draw some conclusions about environmental damage and the common law that are relevant to international practice.