Routledge Handbook on Environmental Law and Sustainable Development in South Asia

Sumudu Atapattu is Teaching Professor, Director, Global Legal Studies Center, Executive Director, Human Rights Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA & Lead Counsel, Center for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL)Cynthia Farid is an advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and an affiliated researcher, Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Center for Asian Studies in Africa (CASA), the University of Pretoria, South Africa Usha Natarajan is Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law and SALISES Honorary Research Fellow, University of the West IndiesShyami Puvimanasinghe is a Human Rights Officer, Right to Development Section, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland.

This Handbook makes a compelling case that environmental law cannot be understood in isolation from human rights, development justice, and institutional capacity. Written from within the South Asian context but with global resonance, it offers essential frameworks for anyone working at the intersection of law, rights, and sustainable development. At a time when legal systems and multilateral frameworks struggle to close the gap between environmental regulation and ecological degradation, this volume provides both rigorous analysis and comparative insight that practitioners and scholars beyond the region would do well to consult."Antonia Urrejola Noguera, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile; Former Commissioner and President of Inter-American Commission on Human Rights“Environmental Law and Sustainable Development in South Asia offers a rigorous, insightful examination of how legal frameworks can advance ecological protection and social justice in a rapidly changing region. Combining comparative analysis with practical relevance, this essential volume informs scholars, policymakers, and practitioners committed to sustainable futures across South Asia.”Professor Serges Djoyou Kamga, Dean, Faculty of Law, University of the Free State, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa“This Handbook offers a broad overview of environmental law in the different countries of South Asia and at the regional level. Its conceptual framing around sustainable development, environmental justice and environmental rights allows chapters to engage with broader analytical issues that are interdisciplinary in nature. Researchers, students and policymakers will appreciate the diversity of analytical and geographical entry points around which chapters are framed, helping them grasp the extent of the disconnection between worsening environmental quality in the region and the role and capacity of the law in addressing them.”Professor Philippe Cullet, Professor of International and Environmental Law, SOAS University of London, U.K.“This Routledge Handbook explores multifaced intersections of environmental law and sustainable development in South Asia, a region with about 25% of the world’s population. It is a must read for researchers and policy makers to understand the potential and limits of (environmental) law in achieving sustainable development amidst the worsening triple planetary crisis, growing inequalities and the declining multilateralism.”Professor Surya Deva, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development “Atapattu, Farid, Natarajan, Puvimanasinghe, and their distinguished collaborators have produced a field-defining handbook on environmental law and sustainable development in South Asia. Arriving as the region faces mounting ecological pressures, the volume exposes the gap between legal frameworks and lived realities with exceptional clarity. Drawing on detailed country profiles that resist treating South Asia as monolithic, cross-cutting analyses, and conversations with leading practitioners and scholars, the Handbook reveals who bears the heaviest costs of environmental crises and what meaningful reform requires. This is essential reading for anyone seeking to advance sustainability and environmental justice in South Asia.”Professor Smita Narula, Haub Distinguished Professor of International Law, Director, Global Center for Environmental Legal Studies, Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, New York, USA

• 1. Environmental Law and Sustainable Development in South Asia: Frameworks and Intersections Part 1: Country Profiles 2. Environmental Law and Sustainable Development in Afghanistan 3. Environmental Law and Sustainable Development in Bangladesh 4. Environmental Law and Sustainable Development in Bhutan 5. Environmental Law and Sustainable Development in India 6. Environmental Law and Sustainable Development in the Maldives 7. Environmental Law and Sustainable Development in Nepal 8. Environmental Law and Sustainable Development in Pakistan 9. Environmental Law and Sustainable Development in Sri Lanka Part 2: History, Frameworks and Agendas 10. Ecologies of Empire: The Environmental Legal History of British India and Ceylon 11. Constitutionalism, Public Interest Litigation and Environmental Rights 12. Women and Ecocide Law: Consequences and Pathways to Justice 13. Sustainable Development Goals Part 3: Regional Challenges, Marginalized Communities and Responses 14. Climate Change Through a Lens of Equity and Justice 15. Oceans, Seas and Marine Resources 16. At the Crossroads of Climate Crisis and Gender Inequality: Reflections on Gender-Based Violence 17. Regional Cooperation 18. Access to Freshwater and Human Rights 19. Energy and Renewables Part 4: Globalization, Business, and Trade 20. Globalization and International Trade 21. Climate Finance 22. Intellectual Property Rights and Traditional Knowledge: New Challenges for the Environmental Protection Regime Part 5: Bridging Scholarship With Practice 23. Environmental Activism and Democratic Ecological Governance 24. Lessons From the Ground Up and Future Directions: Sustainability, Environmental Justice and Environmental Rights