Comparative Law Yearbook of International Business

Book excerpt: Climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic have brought into focus how vulnerable our “normal” lives are. More than ever, there is a need to regulate the competition for and exploitation of increasingly scare natural resources. But how are the competing interests to be balanced? And who is to undertake the regulation? The air, the climate, and the seas escape national boundaries. And while the reset of the pandemic may have alleviated some of the pressure, it has also highlighted how health and hygiene regimes are of global importance. The present volume does not capture the breadth or depth of current concerns of international environmental law. However, it does offer eight amuse-bouches to whet readers’ intellectual appetites: EU perspectives on habitat protection and risk management in times of climate change and health crises; WTO perspectives on the renewable energy sector and the protection of marine habitats; a discourse on how international law imposes environmental responsibilities with regard to disputed maritime areas; a comparison of national regulations against each other and the international framework for dealing with plastic waste; a look at Kuwait’s evolving approach to waste disposal and management; an examination of Brazil’s legal framework for dam safety in the wake of recent catastrophic events; and finally, a pioneering Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) in regard to destruction of the Amazon