No description available.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

Contaminated land can pose risks to human health, buildings and the environment. In principle, the regulatory mechanisms already exist in the UK to minimize the risks that can arise from the redevelopment and use of contaminated sites. However there is known to be wide variation in way the redevelopment of contaminated land has been controlled by various regulatory authorities. This thesis examines the control system for the redevelopment of contaminated land in the UK and assessesh ow and why variation in regulatory standards occurred. The empirical investigation is based on a comparative case study methodology. Four regulatory regimes, representing contrasting standards of regulation have served as case studies. The focus of the study is the redevelopment of former gasworks sites as it is common for such sites to be contaminated with harmful substances such as coal tar, phenols, spent oxide, cyanide, sulphur and asbestos. The recommended procedures and activities presented in official policy and guidance notes provide a benchmark for the assessment of regulatory practice. For an analysis of variation this thesis uses a theoretical framework developed from a critical review of the main approaches within the policy implementation literature and insights from organizational studies. The regulatory regime is complex and effective regulation requires input, and action, by various technical experts. For this reason the research, empirically and theoretically, focuses primarily on the linkage, and/or relationship between expert knowledge, communication and action for explanations of variation. The thesis argues that the level of commitment by individual regulatory experts and officers to the policy aims was a critical factor in explaining the variation in the standards of regulation. Moreover, for those redevelopments where contaminated land had been raised as an issue by certain institutional actors then regulatory performance was good

No description available.

Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy has burst upon the psychotherapeutic scene as a time-limited, cost-contained, and efficacious treatment for anxiety, stress, and psychological trauma. Although this therapy has been pronounced as revolutionary by its inventor, Francine Shapiro, it has distinct historical precedents. The explanatory models of pathogenic memory and dissociation theory, and the reliance on mechanical inference for objectivity make EMDR therapy familiar and salient. Notions of suggestion and hypnosis, and the eye-movement component of therapy are presented as discontinuous with clinical and theoretical practice, in order to free them from the tainting associations of pseudo-science and quackery. By connecting the current EMDR movement with the conceptual and practical history of traumatic memory, dissociation, and suggestion, I argue that EMDR is not revolutionary. It is a powerful technology of the self, normalizing and valourizing certain ways of behaving and thinking. Shapiro's implicit assumptions that psychological suffering is pathological, and that early traumatic events are indelibly encoded, stored and dissociated in the brain are problematized. A brief commentary on the moral, political, and psychotherapeutic implications of EMDR therapy is provided.

There could hardly be any doubt that the pursuit of development objectives, especially in a developing country such as Nigeria, is a legitimate and in fact necessary path for economic, social and political advancement. Within the decades of the 1970s and 1980s however, increased concern about the adverse environmental and socio-economic effects of certain specific development activities have necessitated a search for appropriate development paradigms that would enable the attainment of development objectives with as little environmental and socio-economic adversity as possible. A concept that has so far become very popular in this quest for a development paradigm is that of "sustainable development" which, in simple terms, could be described as a paradigm which seeks to integrate the objective of protection of the environment with the traditional objectives of development. Furthermore, law is being increasingly considered an important tool in the provision of the framework for the pursuit of development and environmental management as whole; and recent international events, such as the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development for example, have placed a big emphasis on the possible contribution which could be made by law in the move towards the attainment of sustainable development. The development of water resources has for a long time occupied a priority position in the development programmes of Nigerian Government and various water resources projects have in the past resulted in serious environmental, social and economic problems. This thesis examines how the principles of sustainable development could actually be translated into specific legislative provisions with special emphasis on the development and management of water resources in Nigeria.

The cornerstone of modern International Environmental Law is the prohibition of transfrontier pollution, according to which States have the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States, or of areas beyond national jurisdiction. In addition, there is now a substantial body of international treaties laying down detailed regimes for various environmental sectors. Recent international conflicts have raised fundamental questions about the relationship between International Environmental Law and armed conflict. The notion that the rules of general International Environmental Law continue to apply during armed conflict is now well accepted. But the principles which are usually cited, remain at a very high level of abstraction. This thesis examines the extent to which international law has developed more detailed rules to protect the environment in international armed conflict. After a discussion of the main legal issues, the thesis concentrates on the marine environment, examining the relationship between naval warfare on the one hand, and multilateral environmental treaties on marine safety and prevention of marine pollution on the other. It concludes that the majority of these treaties do not apply during armed conflict, either because war damage is expressly excluded, or because the treaties do not apply to warships. As for the treaties that are in principle applicable during armed conflict, the analysis shows that, under international law, belligerent and neutral States have the legal right to suspend those treaties, wholly or partially. Finally, the author concludes that very few of the treaties considered take the new law of armed conflict into account, and that there remains a need for more detailed rules on environmental standards for military operations.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this thesis is to determine the extent to which it is possible to develop an environmental role for the law of tort. To date, the role of tort has been limited in this context by procedural and substantive difficulties in establishing liability (known as transaction costs). Furthermore, whereas environmental protection is a public interest objective, the law of tort is primarily a means of resolving private disputes. The common law has traditionally regarded private rights as being divisible from public interest issues such as environmental protection. The current debate has been prompted by a number of European Union and Council of Europe initiatives on the subject which consider developing tort in this manner by the introduction of a specialist environmental liability regime. However, much of the current debate lacks an appreciation of a fundamental issue, namely purpose of tort in contemporary Western society. This research seeks to make a valuable contribution by assessing the extent to which it is possible to ground an environmental application of tort in a sound conceptual basis. The thesis commences with an overview of the main torts which are relevant in an environmental context and the difficulties which have been experienced by plaintiffs in establishing liability. Given that the main limitation of tort is that it focuses on private interests; it is considered whether it is possible to develop a public interest model of tort which admits wider issues such as the desirability of environmental protection. This involves consideration of a range of issues, including the `philosophy' underpinning tort, the economics of tort, property law and insurability of environmental liability. It is concluded that it is possible, both in conceptual and practical terms, to develop a public interest model of tort and that, furthermore, there are potential benefits with such an approach. The principal advantage of tort is that it allows private individuals to participate in the policing of the environment. An analysis of EC policy on this subject demonstrates that this may provide the rationale for EC intervention in this field. In the light of these theoretical and policy objectives, the EC proposals, alluded to above, are discussed in depth. These initiatives are compared with solutions adopted by individual Member States which have already implemented their own environmental liability regimes. Conclusions are drawn regarding the extent to which such developments may succeed in increasing the efficacy of tort as a means of environmental protection and the wider implications of such an approach. It is concluded that a specialist environmental liability regime may be instrumental in developing a concept of `stewardship', in which proprietary interests in natural resources entail both rights and responsibilities.