Prof. Neil Craik Publishes Book on the International Law of Environmental Impact Assessments

University of New Brunswick law professor, Neil Craik, has recently published The International Law of Environmental Impact Assessment: Process, Substance and Integration. The book is published by Cambridge University Press as part of its prestigious Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law Series.

The book examines the structure and role of international legal commitments to perform environmental impact assessment and the impact these commitments have on compliance with international environmental law.

The central idea that animates environmental impact assessment (EIA) is that decisions affecting the environment should be made through a comprehensive evaluation of predicted impacts. Notwithstanding their evaluative mandate, EIA processes do not impose specific environmental standards, but rely on the creation of open, participatory and information rich decision-making settings to bring about environmentally benign outcomes.

In light of this tension between process and substance, Neil Craik assesses whether EIA, as a method of implementing international environmental law, is a sound policy strategy, and how international EIA commitments structure transnational interactions in order to influence decisions affecting the international environment.

Through a comprehensive description of international EIA commitments and their implementation with domestic and transnational governance structures, and drawing on specific examples of transnational EIA processes, the author examines how international EIA commitments can facilitate interest coordination, and provide opportunities for persuasion and for the internalization of international environmental norms.

Professor Craik joined UNB, Faculty of Law in 2004. Professor Craik's teaching and research interests are broadly in the areas of public and regulatory law, with a focus on international environmental law, domestic and comparative environmental law, natural resources law and municipal and planning law. His current research examines bi-lateral and tri-lateral environmental governance structures in North America. Professor Craik holds research grants from Genome Atlantic and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and he is a recipient of a Harrison McCain Young Scholar Award (2007).

Posted February 26, 2008 at 12:40 PM