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Frontiers in International Environmental Law explores how law and legal scholarship has responded to some of the most important oceans and climate governance challenges of our time. Using the concept of the frontier, each contributor provides a unique perspective on the way that we can understand and can shape the development of law and legal institutions to better protect our marine environment and climate system, and reduce conflicts in areas of legal uncertainty. The authors show how different actors influence legal development, and how legal transitions occur in marine spaces and how change influences existing legal regimes. They also consider how change creates risks for the protection of vulnerable environment, but also opportunities for creative thinking and better ways of governing our environment.

Tropical coral reefs are important ecosystems. They are economically important to coastal communities living in predominantly developing countries, and also provide shoreline protection, catalyse land formation enabling human habitation, act as a carbon sink and are a repository for genetic and species diversity rivalling rainforests. In the face of mounting man-made pressure from pollution, climate change and over-exploitation, these ecosystems increasingly need action to be taken to ensure their conservation and long term sustainable development. International Environmental Law and the Conservation of Coral Reefs breaks new ground by providing the first in-depth account of the ways in which multilateral environmental treaty regimes are seeking to encourage and improve the conservation of tropical coral reef ecosystems. In so doing, the work aims to raise the profile of such activities in order to reinforce their status on the environmental agenda. The book also has wider implications for international environmental law, arguing that sectorial legal action, provided it remains co-ordinated through a global forum that recognises and reflects the inter-connections between all elements of the natural environment, is the most effective way for international law to enhance the conservation of certain habitats. This book will be invaluable to environmental lawyers, legal researchers, marine conservationists and other stakeholders in coral reefs.