State Accountability for Environmental Damage in International Armed Conflict

The book comprehensively analyses whether a state may be held responsible for environmental damage resulting from its wrongful conduct in international armed conflict.

Focusing on elements of state responsibility’s main elements, obligations, damage and standard of conduct, under the law of armed conflict (LOAC), the book covers war and occupation, and other relevant applicable laws. This extends to international environmental, water, or human rights law. It presents techniques to resolve conflicts of norms from different law branches, when simultaneously applied, and incorporates latest legal developments and potential impact on the subject. Engaging with detailed analysis of legal rules, the book highlights weaknesses within the law alongside proposing new interpretations of outdated notions. Practical application of the rules is illustrated by two cases of damage to land, Mediterranean Sea and air pollution in the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon (2006) and to the Occupied Palestinian Territory’s natural resources, mainly land, water and quarries. It concludes by examining mechanisms to enforce state responsibility.

The book will be of interest to graduate law students, researchers and practitioners in the field of international law, the law of armed conflict, environmental, water and human rights law.