ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part identifies and evaluates mechanisms for ensuring accountability and compensation for environmental and natural resource-related crimes. Imposing liability for crimes related to natural resources can be problematic: damage can be slow to manifest, indirect or attenuated in causation, and difficult to value economically. But ignoring environmental and natural resource-related crimes can have devastating impacts on human health, security, livelihoods, economic development, governance, and society. The part illustrates a permanent international transitional justice mechanism for addressing wartime environmental damage could help resolve some of the problems confronted by existing transitional justice institutions. Transitional justice mechanisms designed to address crimes committed during armed conflict have only recently begun to consider environmental and natural resource-related crimes. Although the imposition of liability for wartime environmental crimes is still rare, an increasing number of cases involving natural resource-related damage during conflict have been brought before international and domestic tribunals.
