Abstract

In recent decades, environmental law has become a field of fundamental importance in the management of natural and cultural resources and the protection of human and environmental health. This is particularly so since the passing of the US National Environmental Policy Act and the catalytic Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment in the early 1970s. Since then, there has been a growing awareness that all regions of the world suffer from similar environmental problems, especially of pollution, the loss of biodiversity and the effects of climate change. However, from one region and country to another, there are significant differences in approach with respect to legal, policy and institutional arrangements to address these issues. In general terms, the seriousness with which individual countries take their environmental responsibilities is reflected in the quality and sophistication of the national and sub-national laws, policies and institutions that they host.