ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the broad category of environmental legal instruments that cover a range of topics, from pollution control to natural resources management. Developing these instruments requires considering a number of policy decisions, including natural resource management and ownership, legal pluralism, resource sharing, transparency, gender, and sustainability. The chapter explains a broad overview of the possible alternatives in the process of reforming environmental laws. It also explains a discussion of different types of environmental legal instruments, illustrating the breadth of instruments and approaches. The chapter explores the some common policy issues that, in course of reforming environmental laws, often determine how legislation is developed and shape final legal framework. It identifies several substantive and procedural dimensions for developing and reforming environmental law in post-conflict countries. The chapter describes how legal reform can contribute to improved natural resource laws, institutions, and practices—that is, governance—and thus to post-conflict peacebuilding.
