Environmental Policy and Law

This study examines the role of international courts and tribunals (ICTs) as important agents for the peaceful settlement of international disputes through the instrumentality of law. The rapid upswing in the number of specialised international courts and tribunals (in areas such as trade, human rights, law of the sea, criminal justice and environment) can be perceived as an attempt by sovereign States to maintain the viability of ICTs in light of perplexity in international relations, growing recognition of peaceful co-existence, quest for institutionalised cooperation and emergence of some of the “common concerns of humankind”, as well as the “duty to cooperate”. The article has sought to make sense of the emergence of ICTs as the “New Environmental Sentinels” and what it portends for our common future. Do we need a specialised international environmental court?

This paper examines the process towards a Global Pact for the Environment (GPE), launched by the UN General Assembly on 10 May 2018, and the extent to which it still could be instrumental in strengthening the normative and governance system of response to the challenges posed by environmental degradation in the context of sustainable development. The paper reviews the origins, evolution and current status of the process for a GPE, noting a setback to the process, which occurred in Nairobi on May 2019. Arguments stressing the value of a normative approach to the governance of the Earth system are weighed against States’ preference for political action to ensure better implementation of existing norms. In its conclusive section, the paper makes the case for an integrative approach of policy and law in a global pact for the environment expressing the State’s firm commitments to protect and restore the integrity of the Earth system.

This article addresses the continuing quest for effective sustainable development laws, policies and other measures, in the context of the international objective of achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. It addresses these issues both in general and in the specific context of climate policy. It focuses on exploring the results presented by other authors that discuss these matters in depth, with particular attention to the five problem areas: uncertainties in dealing with concerns of precaution and possible future impacts; the role of nature in society; international treaties; interlinkages among the SDGs; and the challenges of evaluation and feedback.

The article describes the results of a study of environmental problems that intensely limit socio-economic development in Central Asia. In the authors’ analysis, the most pressing current environmental problems are the loss of biodiversity and the complexity of the network of protected natural areas; insufficient levels of municipal solid waste processing; energy efficiency problems, in particular, the deterioration of the energy production and supply system; the imbalance between hydropower, irrigated agriculture and the environment; and problems of the Aral Sea. The article proposes solutions, including amendments to the legislation, the adoption of managerial decisions, and strengthening judicial control over compliance with the law. This article examines gaps in the legislative regulation of environmental safety and in policies at the national, regional and international levels. It also identifies future trends in the distribution of global resources that will be effective in protecting the environment, including the activities of the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC). It also analyses the basic environmental rights of citizens as well as cases and consequences of violation of such rights, focusing on the need to inform citizens about the state of the environment and existing environmental problems, which is now the aim of the regional environmental remediation programme, led by the EU.

The government of Ethiopia introduced environmental impact assessment (EIA) by proclamation in 2002. The overall objective of this study is to critically and qualitatively assess the implementation of that proclamation, considering the level of public participation and the adequacy and effectiveness of legally established laws in the EIA process. This study revealed that the role of public participation in the entire EIA stages is weak. The study also identified that both the legal and institutional frameworks have remained inadequate to ensure full effectiveness of the EIA system. Moreover, this study describes the existence of weak coordination among or between federal, regional, zonal and other sectoral units. Hence, this study recommends that its effective implementation necessarily requires involvement of the public and the issuance of more specific subsidiary instruments.

Humanity is slowly waking up to the challenges posed by climate change. The world has already warmed by 1.0°C since pre-industrial levels, and it continues unabated. Although climate change impacts everyone, its worst impacts are born by the poor and marginalised who are surviving in multidimensional poverty and facing acute deprivation. Climate change not only exacerbates their existing inequalities, but it leads to disproportionate sharing of climate change risks, necessitating a move beyond mere climate change mitigation towards climate change adaptation and recognition that the involvement of all the government levels, especially the local governments, has become a sine qua non for climate change adaptation to work because the impacts of climate change are manifestly local.

This article addresses the elephant in the room and argues that Indian urban local governments must inhabit a definitive role in the Indian multilateral climate change governance framework. It argues that despite the important role played by urban local governments in combating climate change through adaptation strategies, the multi-level governance framework is completely skewed in favour of the dominant and decisive role played by national governments.

Certain lands in the Parigi district of the Pangandaran Regency are dominated by karst (both exokarst and endokarst). The study focuses on the use of land in the karst area of Parigi, a district in the Pangandaran Regency, and how karst areas are used for agriculture and tourism, seeking to identify the synchronisation of the regulations of both. The method of study was the juridical normative method and descriptive qualitative approach. Secondary data was obtained from regulations, while the primary data was obtained from field observation and interviews with the community, local government officials and staff at the West Java Geological Institute. The study showed that Pangandaran karst lands used for agricultural and tourism purposes are not yet regulated by the law although they generate economic benefits for local government. New regulation is needed, which should also cover the unused karst lands that generate intangible benefits as conservation areas.

The article discusses the legal protection of the environment from pollution by industrial and consumer waste, focusing on typical problems experienced by the Russian Federation and other post-Soviet States. It builds on the studies of the legal basis for management of industrial and consumer waste, and the economic opportunities of recycling. The authors analyse the effectiveness of administrative mechanisms for preventing pollution; the differences in the relevant powers of federal, regional and local authorities; and the need for authorities to better coordinate their work in this area.

With regard to the Russian Federation, it assesses the municipal solid waste management reform that commenced on 1 January 2019, encompassing the principles and mechanisms for waste collection, sorting, processing and disposal, as well as its efforts to create a new household culture and to improve environmental wellbeing. It notes that the high cost of the reform has thus far mainly been borne by the population, giving rise to serious discontent, and proposes to reduce these negative financial consequences through better organisation of the country’s system of environmental payments as applied to industrial and consumer waste, i.e., by employing the “polluter pays” principle. It also recognises and discusses the need to develop fiscal mechanisms aimed at encouraging the use of waste and secondary resources.

Marine environmental pollution caused by plastic wastes has been studied for 50 years, although that research has produced limited recommendations regarding reduction, prevention and control of such wastes. The large annual volume of such pollution enters the marine environment in many ways and lasts a long time, causing harm to marine fauna through entanglement and ingestion of toxic components, which can affect their reproductive capacity and the food chain, and negatively impact human health as well. Viet Nam is fourth in the list of the 20 countries discarding the greatest amounts of plastic waste into the sea on an annual basis. This paper provides an overview of research on the sources of marine plastics pollution, and analyses of its impacts on marine life, marine ecosystems and human health. It briefly reports about the quantity of marine plastic waste that washes up in the coastal region of Viet Nam and offers recommendations to help minimise and manage plastic waste generated by ships.

Unbalanced exploitation of renewable and non-renewable resources by industrial, agricultural, and other economic sectors are depleting these resources across the world. Environmental pollution and degradation are adversely affecting socio-economic conditions. Thus, an urgent and ambitious action is required to rehabilitate nature by striking a balance between environmental quality and human uses of natural resources. To relieve the unsustainable practices, decoupling nature from growing demands for economic exploitation has been proposed. However, a feasible procedure is required to decouple unsustainable economic practices from the environment. This article illustrates the complexity of applying decoupling in the context of discharging hazardous chemicals in transboundary water resources, and more specifically in the Great Lakes, between Canada and the United States. Furthermore, the article argues that “environmental impact assessment” should be reinforced in regulatory measures to apply the decoupling idea practically.