The first chapter introduces the problem to which the book responds: the ongoing exclusion of indigenous groups in many parts of the world from legal and policy frameworks determining the right to use water on their lands. The chapter presents the problem using academic and policy debates about indigenous water rights and the regulation of water while explaining how the comparative experiences considered in the book provide new perspectives on the reasons why indigenous water rights are needed, and the role law might play to provide for them.

Under existing international and domestic law, governments and private actors have obligations to individuals and communities affected by climate change impacts on public health. This chapter discusses such obligations and the legal authorities – international, constitutional, statutory, and common law – under which they arise.

This chapter describes the prospects for reducing the impact of aviation on the environment through operational changes, new airframe and engine technologies, and biofuels. The focus is on the in-flight impact on the environment with particular emphasis on climate change impact. Examples of operational changes include optimized profile descents, reduced vertical separation, multistage long-distance travel, formation flight, and large aircraft for short ranges. New airframe technologies described include active laminar flow control and novel aircraft configurations such as the double bubble and the blended wing-body. Various possible approaches to improve the efficiency of jet engines are described as well as means of reducing nitrogen oxide emissions, such as lean premixed combustion. Prospects for large-scale use of biofuels are discussed and the technical path that should be taken in developing and adopting alternative jet fuels is presented.