World Public Order of the Environment

This is an important contribution to the development of international environmental law, a field which as yet has no comprehensive codification but has been evolving through many treaties, state practice, regional arrangements, and doctrinal development by tribunals. The book combines a complete and lucid exposition of the current state of environmental law and organization with a cogent argument for the direction they must take in the immediate future. There are, Dr Schneider suggests, central normals which must evolve in the balance with one another: the principle of environmental integrity as an aspect of sovereignty or ''sovereign rights''; the principles of state environmental responsibility and liability within (and potentially beyond) the limits of national jurisdiction as an increasingly critical aspect of international law; and the right and duty of the state to take environmental measures in its capacity as ''custodian'' for its own people and the world community.

This persuasive and compelling study is of an issue of crucial importance, in international environmental law, or related subjects.