Research Handbook on International Law and Natural Resources

The Research Handbook on International Law and Natural Resources provides a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the role of international law in regulating the exploration and exploitation of natural resources. The book covers overarching and sectoral, as well as traditional and emerging, legal issues in natural resource development. The book illuminates interactions and tensions between international environmental law, human rights and economic law, as well as the law of the sea, tracing their evolution and identifying critical areas for further investigation. It also discusses the relevance of soft law and international dispute settlement, as well as of various unilateral, bilateral, regional and transnational initiatives in the governance of natural resources. Analysis of historical and current policy debates, including the incipient negotiations of a new international legally binding instrument on marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction and the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change, are included. While the Handbook is accessible to those approaching the subject for the first time, it identifies pressing areas for further investigation that will be of interest to advanced researchers and practitioners of international environmental, economic and human rights law.