Liability for Environmental Harm to the Global Commons
Cambridge Studies on Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Governance Series

This book examines liability for environmental harm in Antarctic, deep seabed, and high seas commons areas, highlighting a unique set of legal questions: Who has standing to claim environmental harms in global commons ecosystems? How should questions of causation and liability be addressed where harm arises from a variety of activities by state and non-state actors? What kinds of harm should be compensable in global commons ecosystems, which are remote and characterized by high levels of scientific uncertainty? How can practical concerns such as ensuring adequate funds for compensation be resolved? This book provides the first in-depth examination and evaluation of current rules and possible avenues for future legal developments in this area of increasing importance for states, international organizations, commercial actors, and legal and governance scholars. This title is part of the Flip it Open Programme and may also be available Open Access. Check our website Cambridge Core for details.

1. Introduction; 2. Purposes of, and approaches to, international liability; 3. Definition and valuation of compensable environmental damage; 4. Allocation of liability for environmental harm in areas beyond national jurisdiction; 5. Standards of liability; 6. Standing to bring claims for environmental harm in areas beyond national jurisdiction; 7. Access to remedies; 8. Insurance and compensation funds; 9. Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

Neil Craik is Professor of Law at the Balsillie School of International Affairs at the University of Waterloo, Canada. He has published widely in the fields of international and Canadian environmental law and the law of the sea and is co-editor of Global Environmental Change and Innovation in International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2018).
Tara Davenport is an Assistant Professor at National University of Singapore where she teaches Principles of Property Law, Law of the Sea and International Regulation of Shipping. Her research interests are in law of the sea, the global commons, and maritime disputes.
Ruth Mackenzie is Reader in International Law at the University of Westminster, where she teaches and researches in the fields of international environmental law, law of the sea, and international courts and tribunals. Ruth is a Member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law.