Environmental law

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Contents
Environmental Law
Eco-taxes
Environmental impact assessment
Intergenerational Equity
International environmental law
Polluter pays principle
Precautionary principle
Public trust doctrine
Sustainable development


Environmental law is a body of law, which is a system of complex and interlocking statutes, common law, treaties, conventions, regulations and policies which seek to protect the environment which may be affected, impacted or endangered by human activities. Some environmental laws regulate the quantity and nature of impacts of human activities: for example, setting allowable levels of pollution or requiring permits for potentially harmful activities. Other environmental laws are preventive in nature and seek to assess the possible impacts before the human activities can occur.[1]

While many countries worldwide have since accumulated impressive sets of environmental laws, their implementation has often been woeful. In recent years, environmental law has become seen as a critical means of promoting sustainable development (or "sustainability"). Policy concepts such as the precautionary principle, public participation, environmental justice, and the polluter pays principle have informed many environmental law reforms in this respect (see further Richardson and Wood, 2006). There has been considerable experimentation in the search for more effective methods of environmental control beyond traditional "command-and-control" style regulation. Eco-taxes, emission trading, voluntary standards such as ISO 14000 and negotiated agreements are some of these innovations. [2]

The IUCN Academy of Environmental Law [3] is a network of some 60 law schools worldwide that specialise in the research and teaching of environmental law.

In his book “Should trees have legal standing” Stone (1974:11) argues that nature should count jurally – to have a legally recognised worth and dignity in its own right, and not merely to serve as a means to benefit “us.” He claims that for a thing to be a holder of legal rights an authoritative body must review the actions and processes of those who threaten it and three additional criteria should be satisfied. The thing can institute legal actions at its behest; second, that in determining the granting of legal relief, the court must take injury to it into account; and; third, that relief must run to the benefit of it. The problem with this argument is that for nature to have legal standing it must have a lawyer; and would therefore be dependent on the cultural values, wisdom and competence of the lawyer(s) chosen to represent it and those of the court of law with jurisdiction. Clayton (2000) claims that justice becomes more relevant in circumstances in which a desired response is scarce and in which there are citizens who ascribe moral significance and values to the environment. She goes on to state that since many resources are not renewable within reasonable time frames, this makes people more aware of the ways in which those resources are distributed. Stone (1974:16) claims that in the past natural objects have had no standing in their own right; their unique damages do not count in determining outcome; and they are not the beneficiaries of awards, but are objects for man to conquer and master and use.

[edit] Environmental law reviews and journals

Main article: List of environmental law reviews and journals

[edit] See also

[edit] References and bibliography

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Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2008)
  1. ^ Environmental Law Statutes and Regulations http://www.megalaw.com/top/envt/envtact.php
  2. ^ Environmental Law overview - Legal Information Institute http://topics.law.cornell.edu/wex/Environmental_law
  3. ^ IUCN Academy of Environmental Law
 This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations.
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  • Menell, P.S. (ed), Environmental Law (Ashgate Publishing, Burlington, 2003).
  • Clayton, Susan. 2000. Models of justice in the environmental debate. Journal of Social Issues 56 (3): 459 – 474.
  • Croci, E. (ed), The Handbook of Environmental Voluntary Agreements (Springer, New York, 2005).
  • Freeman, J. and Kolstad, C.D. (eds), Moving to Markets in Environmental Regulation (Oxford University Press, New York, 2006).
  • Lans, C. 2007. Politically incorrect and bourgeois: Nariva Swamp is sufficient onto itself. Lulu.com.
  • Richardson, B.J. and S. Wood (eds), Environmental Law for Sustainability (Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2006)
  • Saxe, D., "Environmental Offences: Corporate Responsibility and Executive Liability" (Canada Law Book, Aurora, 1990).
  • Stone, Christopher, D. 1974. Should trees have legal standing? Toward legal rights for natural objects. California: William Kaufman, Inc.

[edit] External links