1st Edition
Environmental Law and Governance in the Pacific Climate Change, Biodiversity and Communities
This volume examines environmental law and governance in the Pacific, focusing on the emerging challenges this region faces. The Pacific is home to some of the world’s most astonishing biological and cultural diversity. At the same time, Pacific Island nations are economically and technically under-resourced in the face of tremendous environmental challenges. Destructive weather events, ocean acidification, mining, logging, overfishing, and pollution increasingly degrade ecosystems and affect fishing, farming, and other cultural practices of Pacific Islanders. Accordingly, there is an urgent need to understand and analyse the role of law and governance in responding to these pressures in the Pacific. Drawing on academic and practitioner expertise from the Pacific region, as well as Europe and the United States, this unique collection navigates the major environmental law and governance challenges of the present and future of the Pacific. Environmental Law and Governance in the Pacific discusses 21 Pacific Island countries and territories, including Cook Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Samoa, and a broad range of themes, such as deep-sea mining, wetlands and mangroves, heritage, endangered species, human rights, and access to justice, are addressed, thus providing a comprehensive and state-of-the-art overview of environmental law and governance within specific jurisdictions as well as across the Pacific region as a whole.
This volume will be essential reading for students and scholars interested in environmental law and governance in the Pacific region, as well as policy-makers, practitioners and NGOs involved in the development and implementation of environmental law and policy.
Part 1 Overview and Context
1. Introduction
Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh and Evan Hamman
2. Environmental Law in the Context of Legal Pluralism
Sue Farran
Part 2 Climate Change
3. Climate Change Law in the Pacific Islands
Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh and Sarah Mead
4. Traditional Customary Law Responding to Climate Change
Kirsten Davies
5. Customary Land in Pacific Island Countries: Laws and Threats
Joseph Foukona
Part 3 Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management
6. The International Institutional Framework for Seabird Conservation in the South Pacific
Eduardo Gallo-Cajiao, Evan Hamman and Bradley Woodworth
7. Endangered and Invasive Species: Pacific Island Legal Responses to Complex Environmental Challenges
Erika Techera
8. Mining in the Pacific: Principles and Practices for Environmental Regulation
Evan Hamman, Aline Jaeckel and Calvy Aonima
9. Wetlands of the Pacific: Towards Effective Law and Governance
Evan Hamman and Vainuupo Jungblut
Part 4 Communities
10. Heritage Law in Pacific Island States: the Legacies of Colonialism and the Elusive Possibilities of Cultural Emancipation
Lucas Lixinski
11. Human Rights and the Environment in Pacific Island States
Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh, Tammy Tabe, Hansdeep Singh and Jaspreet Singh
12. Access to Environmental Justice for Pacific Islanders
Elaine Johnson, William Kadi and Evelyn Wohuinangu
Biography
Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh is an Assistant Professor of Public International Law at Leiden University, the Netherlands, and an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Environmental Law at the University of the South Pacific.
Evan Hamman is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Law at Queensland University of Technology, Australia.
"For the first time, this book brings together a wealth of legal expertise on the greatest challenges facing the Pacific Islands region: environmental degradation and climate change. The analysis of various dimensions of law and governance, including custom and culture, will be useful to anyone engaged in understanding and tackling these challenges." — Morgan Wairu, Acting Director of the Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development, University of the South Pacific, Fiji
"This unique collection addresses key issues and themes relating to environmental law and governance in the Pacific, with specific attention to the diversity of laws and normative systems that characterise the region. On the heels of the Worldwide Voyage (Mālama Honua, or to care for the Earth), this collection represents another inspiring journey beyond our respective horizons to connect and learn with others in the spirit of Pacific voyaging traditions." — David Forman, Director of the Environmental Law Program, Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law, William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawai’i at Mañoa, U.S.A
"All readers with an interest in the environmental challenges facing the Pacific Islands region will find this an excellent resource. Its breadth and scope, along with the attention to communities, culture and legal pluralism make it an ideal starting point for research, teaching and practice." — Shaista Shameem, Dean of the Justice Devendra Pathik School of Law, The University of Fiji, Fiji
