This book examines environmental law and sustainable development in South Asia with a focus on Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It also explores regional and cross-cutting issues through the frameworks of sustainable development, environmental rights and environmental justice, and interviews with pioneers in the field discussed through a “scholactivist” lens.

The first volume to look at environmental and cross-cutting issues regionally, the handbook brings together scholars and practitioners from across South Asia and highlights the paradox of expanding environmental regulation alongside continuing environmental decline, offering both constructive critique and grounded insight into the region’s evolving institutional, judicial, and legal landscape. It sheds light on the remarkable environmental jurisprudence in the region. In addition to providing a grounded, practical account and a glimpse into the paradox of environmental law in the region, the handbook suggests topics for future research.

The handbook will appeal to students, practitioners and scholars alike and will be particularly useful for those who are working on environmental law, sustainability, political science, international law, international relations, constitutional law, South Asian studies, and environmental studies

Sumudu Atapattu is Teaching Professor, Director, Global Legal Studies Center, Executive Director, Human Rights Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA & Lead Counsel, Center for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL)

Cynthia Farid is an advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and an affiliated researcher, Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Center for Asian Studies in Africa (CASA), the University of Pretoria, South Africa

Usha Natarajan is Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law and SALISES Honorary Research Fellow, University of the West Indies

Shyami Puvimanasinghe is a Human Rights Officer, Right to Development Section, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland.