Book Addresses Environmental Law and Enforcement in the Asia-Pacific Rim
Environmental Law and Enforcement in the Asia-Pacific Rim (2002), edited by Terri Motthershead, is a comprehensive guide to the environmental laws of 16 countries across the region. A team of highly respected authors summarizes and reviews environmental regulation in the region, focusing on the impact that these laws have upon stakeholders.

They further identify the agencies responsible for environmental protection in each country, the procedures that need to be followed to avoid infringement and the likely consequences of any infraction. Their local expertise enables them to offer invaluable advice on the regulatory and legal regimes in each country - information that cannot, in many cases, be found elsewhere.

Each country-specific chapter provides:

• An incisive introduction.
• An overview of the legal system.
• A detailed evaluation of environmental policy.
• Analysis of both the methods and effectiveness of environmental enforcement.
• A review of civil actions and environmental law.
• An exploration of the expertise of those involved in the environmental protection regime.
• Summarizing conclusions.

The book also reviews civil actions and environmental law and explores the expertise of those involved in the environmental protection regime.

The text addresses the following jurisdictions: Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United States, and Vietnam. For ordering information, visit https://www.smlawpub.com.hk/products.

Text Discusses Using Financial Organizations to Regulate Environmental Protection
Environmental Regulation through Financial Organizations: Comparative Perspectives on the Industrialized Nations, by Benjamin J. Richardson, examines the emerging role of banks, insurers and institutional investors as organizations for articulating and strengthening environmental law and compliance in the industrialized nations. Taking a comparative perspective of practice in the European Union, North America, Japan and Australasia, the book argues that existing legal reforms to promote sustainable development are unlikely to be successful unless environmental policy can be diffused and embedded in the financial services sector. This sector plays a crucial role in creating the financial conditions that allow much economic development to proceed. Financial markets are already highly regulated in pursuance of various public policy objectives, and there is scope to adapt existing regulation to incorporate environmental aspects into the financial services sector. In terms of specific reforms, the book focuses on the role of corporate environmental reporting, economic instruments and liability rules to provide a proper context for engaging financial organizations with the environment, as well as reforms to the system of prudential regulation that currently governs this sector. Beyond the focus on the financial services sector, the book raises complex questions regarding the relationship between the state and market institutions in environmental policy, and will appeal to scholars from a wide range of disciplines interested in problems of environmental governance. This book is the second volume in Kluwer's Comparative Environmental Law and Policy Series and can be ordered at http://www.kluwerlaw.com.

International Reports Track Environment and Development Issues

Three annual reports were recently released that are required reading for those interested in international and domestic environmental policy.

The Global Environmental Outlook: 3, published by the United Nations Environment Program, is an overview of major developments between 1972 and 2002 that highlights significant milestones and integrates environmental, economic and social factors within a unified worldview. The report presents a global overview and also directs a spotlight onto two or three key issues that are considered paramount in each of the seven regional arenas under each of eight environmental themes in turn: land, forests, biodiversity, freshwater, coastal and marine areas, atmosphere, urban areas and disasters. Global Environmental Outlook: 3 is available at http://www.unep.org/geo.

The Human Development Report 2002, commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme, explores major issues of global concern. This issue analyses the role that politics play in achieving human development. It emphasizes the importance of political freedoms as a goal of human development, and explores how democratic institutions help promote equitable social progress and economic growth. The report also tracks Human Development Indicators. A copy of the report is available at http://www.undp.org/hdr2002.

The World Development Report 2003, published by the World Bank, examines the relationship between competing policy objectives of reducing poverty, maintaining growth, improving social cohesion, and protecting the environment. The Report reviews institutional innovations that might help overcome these barriers and stresses that ensuring economic growth and improved management of the planet's ecosystem requires a reduction in poverty and inequality at all levels: local, national, and international. As in previous editions, the World Development Report 2003 contains an appendix of selected indicators from the World Development Indicators. The report is available for purchase at http://publications.worldbank.org/ecommerce.