State Responsibility for Transboundary Air Pollution in International Law systematically analyses the unique nature of problems that transboundary air pollution presents in international law. Although an attempt is made to present transboundary air pollution as a unified field, a distinction is made between pollution from industrial and related sources, and those from nuclear operations, given the very serious nature of risks that nuclear pollution presents.
The book extensively considers existing regulatory frameworks as found in treaty regimes and non-binding instruments. The role as well as the shortcomings of traditional international law, especially the application of principles of state responsibility to problems involving multiple actors, and which cannot therefore be easily accommodated within the present bilateral framework of dispute resolution in international law is given extended treatment. The potential role of institutions charged with supervising compliance is also undertaken and the status of emergent principles is critically assessed.
The issues examined in this book are of much contemporary relevance and will appeal to those interested in the legal aspects of transboundary air pollution as well as those concerned with the general issues surrounding the application of international law to environmental problems.