Environmental Law: Global and Bangladesh Context, by Abdullah Al Faruque, is an attempt to explore both the international and national legal framework on protection and conservation of the environment. Considering the dearth of literature on environmental law in Bangladesh, as well as some other countries, including the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and India, this book is a valuable addition. To a large extent this book covers the curriculum of environmental law at both undergraduate and graduate levels in these countries. To some extent this book may be useful to environmental law educators. The author has also included some recent environmental laws and environmental-related treaties in the appendix. The book addresses and meticulously analyses contemporary global, regional and national perspectives of environmental law, and it will be a handy reference book for the students, environmental activists, teachers, researchers, attorneys, judges and policy makers of Bangladesh and other countries.

From the discussion of the author, a noted law professor and researcher, it is evident that environmental law is a relatively new domain of public international law. Environmental law is changing rapidly at both international and national levels to reflect the development of the global environmental crisis and new scholarship about such a crisis. There are a number of books written about this field; however, most of these simply scratch the surface. This book, alternatively, provides an in-depth analysis and is noteworthy in its ability to help students and educators to understand the norms and principles of environmental law in both national and international aspects. This book reveals that there are around 200 national laws directly or indirectly linked with the environment of Bangladesh. As environmental law is a cross-cutting discipline, its utility is heightened in the present world, and it has immense possibility for further extension. The author has broadly highlighted the norms, standards, rules, regulations, and policies and judicial decisions on diverse environmental issues such as natural resources, air and water pollution, forests and wildlife, hazardous waste, agricultural practices, wetlands, the ozone layer, biodiversity, and climate change. The growth of environmental law has grown exponentially from the second half of the 21st century. But this branch of law is changing rapidly with the changing pattern of environmental threats and damage and deterioration combined with fluctuating attitudes and commitments of environmentalists and global leaders. Global and transcendental ramifications of environmental concerns may be addressed toward amelioration and betterment if unity, cooperation and collaborated efforts are taken by world community. As the prominent American environmental lawyer and legal scholar Edith Brown Weiss (Reference Weiss2011) aptly notes in her article ‘The Evolution of International Environmental Law’, no one country or even group of countries has the capability to protect the environment over time by its own isolated efforts.

In Environmental Law: Global and Bangladesh Context, Abdullah Al Faruque also discusses the environmental issues of Bangladesh along with many other countries, especially about sources and principles of environmental law, the legal regime of protection, implementation mechanisms, and the institutional framework for promotion, protection and conservation of environmental issues.

The book is divided into five parts. The first part highlights the historical evolution, sources and principles of environmental law. The second part examines the legal framework of global environmental problems, such as conservation of diversity, climate change, marine pollution, hazardous waste management, and protection of the ozone layer. The third part of the book addresses some emerging but contemporary issues, such as linkage of environment with human rights, trade, nuclear energy, and corporate accountability. The fourth part analyses compliance mechanisms of environmental law at the international and national levels. Part five of this book illuminates the legal and institutional framework for the protection of the environment in Bangladesh. The author shares that Bangladesh is a party to most of the global environmental agreements, conventions, and protocols, which shows its respect for shared responsibility of environmental protection and conservation. But in reality, economic capacity, political will and the mindset of industrialists are the major causes of concern in Bangladesh. Two chapters of this book have been reprinted from earlier articles published in an international journal and an edited book. In the appendix, the author has focused on some environment-related policy instruments, including the Vienna Convention, 1985, for the Protection of the Ozone Layer; Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992; Climate Change Convention, 1992; Kyoto Protocol, 1999, Convention on Persistent Organic Pollution, 2001; Convention on Nuclear Safety, 1994; Statute of International Atomic Energy Agency, 1957; Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, 1968.

This book has just come out in its first edition, and there are few unintentional spelling errors. The author has attempted to cover every aspect of environmental law, which is neither possible nor desirable in one book. At least the writer could have focused on the best practices of environmental governance and justice in some South Asian countries. However, the contribution of the author is certainly admirable for its report of the growth of environmental jurisprudence in Bangladesh and some other countries, such as the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and India.