Transboundary Air Pollution

This important new book provides a comprehensive overview of the international legal principles governing transboundary pollution. In doing so, the experts writing in this book examine the practical applications of the State responsibility doctrine in

This book is the first collection of international legal documents related to the new, highly controversial & politically sensitive issue of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes & their disposal. It will be of invaluable assistance to practicing lawyers & other experts, academics as well as students, concerned with the rapid developments in international environmental law. The global instruments cover the basic system of the UNEP Basel Convention/IAEA Code & the documents of various United Nations organizations, whose interest with hazardous waste movements has increased considerably due to the preparations for the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment & Development (UNCED). Numerous regional instruments included are: those of the UN ECE, OECD, EEC & other organizations of the industrialized states; instruments related to Antarctica; & to the major developing state regions (Africa, Latin America & the Caribbean, South Atlantic Zone, Asia & the Pacific), including the 1998 ACP-EEC Lome IV Convention & the 1991 OAU Bamako Convention. Two US treaties on hazardous waste export controls with Mexico & Canada form notable instances of bilateral measures. Some documents of Greenpeace & other non-governmental organizations are also added. An incisive Editors' Introduction & a comprehensive general index provide the reader with easy access to these vital instruments. This timely work aims to clarify & aid the increasingly intricate international debate on hazardous waste production & disposal, & reduce the conflict between North & South on the export of such waste to Third World countries. In addition, the prospects of South-South traffic, as developing states push towards industrialization, underline the urgent need for prompt & tough action. The Editors Barbara Kwiatkowska & Alfred Soons, both experienced authors on international law issues have been guided in the preparation of this unique collection by several outstanding experts, members of the Volume's Advisory Board, including Francis Njenga, S ecretary-General, Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee , New Delhi, Peter Sand, Principal Legal Officer, UNCED-Geneva, Henri Smets, Environment Directorate, OECD, Paris, Lee A. Kimball, Senior Associate, World Resources Institute, Washington, D.C. , Hans Lammers, Deputy Legal Adviser, Netherlands Foreign Office, The Hague & Iwona Rummel-Bulska, Chief, Environmental Law & Institutions Unit & Coordinator of the Basel Convention, UNEP-Nairobi/Geneva. The leading role of UNEP in seeking satisfactory solutions to the new environmental problems raised by hazardous wastes is accentuated in the Preface to the book by the honourable Dr Mostafa K. Tolba, E xecutive-Director of UNEP. The 'collective approach is' as he rightly put it 'our only option to care & share the only one Earth'.

Anthropogenic emissions of ammonia cause a host of environmental impacts, including loss of biodiversity, soil acidification and formation of particulate matter in the atmosphere. Under the auspices of the UNECE Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution, around 80 international experts met to review the state of scientific knowledge. This book reports their analysis. It concludes that threshold levels for ammonia effects have been underestimated and sets new values, it assesses the independent evidence to verify reported reductions in regional ammonia emissions, and it reviews the uncertainties in modelling ammonia, both in "hot spots" and at the regional scale.

The summary report focuses on the reduction of air pollution from heat and electric energy production.

Recent advances in air pollution monitoring and modeling capabilities have made it possible to show that air pollution can be transported long distances and that adverse impacts of emitted pollutants cannot be confined to one country or even one continent. Pollutants from traffic, cooking stoves, and factories emitted half a world away can make the air we inhale today more hazardous for our health. The relative importance of this "imported" pollution is likely to increase, as emissions in developing countries grow, and air quality standards in industrial countries are tightened. Global Sources of Local Pollution examines the impact of the long-range transport of four key air pollutants (ozone, particulate matter, mercury, and persistent organic pollutants) on air quality and pollutant deposition in the United States. It also explores the environmental impacts of U.S. emissions on other parts of the world. The book recommends that the United States work with the international community to develop an integrated system for determining pollution sources and impacts and to design effective response strategies. This book will be useful to international, federal, state, and local policy makers responsible for understanding and managing air pollution and its impacts on human health and well-being.