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Chapter 5 examines the regimes for the international trade in dangerous chemicals and in hazardous and radioactive wastes. Wastes are not prima facie a global common resource but rather a negative resource produced by industries and households. Wastes are usually viewed as a burden, an externality, and the question has been how to share the costs associated with such an externality. In the late 1980s, the not-in-my-back-yard (NIMBY) syndrome in the developed world drove up waste disposal costs, which, in turn, motivated states and waste generators to find cheaper disposal options in the developing world. As a result, wastes were transferred to states with no infrastructure to deal with them. The outcry generated by such transfers led to the adoption of an international regime based on the forced enclosure of wastes according to the principles of self-sufficiency and proximity. This forced enclosure has been contributing to illegal waste trade conducted by criminal networks. Other issues that we examine in this chapter are the legality of nuclear weapons testing, the international regulation of nuclear power plants, and the international response to nuclear accidents.
Chapter 11 examines issues of private liability and state responsibility for environmental harms inflicted on third-party states due to a hazardous activity undertaken by a state or by its nationals. We analyze the liability of private enterprises for oil spills, hazardous waste transfers, and nuclear accidents. We scrutinize how the strict but limited liability regime has come under fire, owing to environmental damage that exceeds the liability limits provided for by international conventions. States have tried to address the limitations of private liability regimes by establishing international funds put together by industry associations or the states themselves to supplement the compensation made available by the operators of hazardous activities. This chapter further explains how states can be held internationally liable for hazardous activities that take place within their territory because of their failure to meet the standard of due diligence; and how they can be held responsible for wrongful activities.