Finding Solutions for Environmental Conflicts

Book excerpt: Environmental conflicts over sustainability, EIA, biodiversity, biotechnology and risk, chemicals and public health, are not necessarily legalistic problems but land use problems. Edward Christie shows how solutions for these conflicts can be found via consensual agreement using an approach that integrates law, science and alternative dispute resolution (ADR). This book assesses the key unifying principles of environmental and administrative law in Australia, the UK/EU and USA, together with accepted scientific concepts of environmental management and protection. By doing so it provides a cross-disciplinary approach to collaborative problem-solving and decision-making, using ADR processes to resolve environmental conflicts and will be valuable to any environmental professional. This book has been written to meet the requirements of any environmental professional - lawyer, scientist, engineer, planner - who directly, or indirectly, may be involved in development or planning conflicts when the environment is in issue. For the lawyer, this book, with its focus on understanding and integrating unifying legal principles and scientific concepts, consolidates opportunities for assessing and resolving environmental conflicts by negotiation. For the environmental professional, the book provides opportunities for managing environmental conflicts. In addition, opportunities are identified for resolving environmental conflicts by negotiation, but in quite specific situations i.e. when the interpretation and application of questions of law are not in issue and only factual (scientific) issues are in dispute. It will also of course strongly appeal to academics and researchers of environmental studies and environmental law. It will also appeal to the indigenous community and environmental groups who are seeking more direct and effective inputs into resolving environmental conflicts.