Enviromental L PDF
Enviromental L PDF
Enviromental L PDF
The next issue is verifying whether currently there is a body of law more specifically aimed at protecting
the environment or not?
A study of contemporary international environmental law thus requires us to consider both this new body
of specifically environmental law and the application of general international law to environmental
problems. Moreover, international environmental law also includes not only public international law, but
also relevant aspects of private international law, and in some instances has borrowed heavily from
national law.
International Environmental law is thus used simply as a convenient way to encompass the entire corpus
of international law, public and private, relevant to environmental issues or problems, in the same way as
the use of the terms law of the sea, Human Right law, and International Economic Law is widely
accepted.
It is not intended thereby to indicate the existence of some new discipline based exclusively on
environmental perspectives and strategies, though these have played an important role in stimulating legal
developments in this field, as we shall observe. It has become common practice to refer to international
environmental law in this way.
To have a full picture of environmental problems, it is also noteworthy to take notice of environmental
problems arising apart from development activities, which are deliberate actions aimed at destroying
the human being and the environment. it is tantamount to a crime against humanity, perhaps to a
greater extent than genocide
Today, environmental problems are serious and imminent threats, which suggest a need for
drastic or emergency action. To this effect, therefore, human beings are now being called upon
to save the future.
There is thus no single sense in which an environmental issue can be described as international, regional
or national; rather it could be global, regional, trans-boundary, domestic, or a combination of all or any
of these. What must be appreciated, however, is that the law governing these rather different contexts is
likely itself to differ, both in the content of any applicable rules, and in the form they take.
Private nuisance is defined as unlawful and continuing interference with a persons use or enjoyment of
land and possibly, physical damage to that property. whereas, public nuisance is a crime as well as a
tort, and for any action to lie it must interfere with the use and enjoyment of property by the public in
general or by a sufficiently large number of public.
Accordingly, a proper classification of damage to the environment is imperative because there is a
fundamental difference between the environment-related type of damages [private nuisance], on the
one hand, and damage to the environment per se [public nuisance] on the other hand in relation to the
scope of the traditional tort law.
So much so that the scope of the traditional tort law covers only the environment related type of
damages which could result in personal injury or pure economic loss.
For the above reason, when damage is done to the environment per se, it does not fit properly in the
traditional legal concept of tort law.
To achieve a more comprehensives environmental protection a new category of damage should be
introduced in addition to and separate from property damage, personal injury and pure economic loss.
This category extends traditional tort law to cover damages to the environment per se, that is, it would
extend its scope to encompass natural resources that have direct or indirect interest to the public at
large.
Other specific reasons for the liberalization of standing to include certain publicly owned but privately
possessed natural resources are the following:
The first reason is the plaintiffs reluctance to take care about the pollution.
Second, the merit of the case is decided only to the interest of some one who is competent and
willing to establish legal standing. In this case, the system protects only the rights of the
property owning human without giving due consideration to public interest, and intrinsic natural
values.
Third, under traditional tort law, even if a plaintiff wins a pollution suit for damages, no money
goes to the benefit of the environment itself to repair its damages.
Forth, the measure of damage is another reason for including certain publicly owned but
privately possessed natural resources that have ecological value, and publicly owned natural
resources. Application of the traditional measure of damages rule may prevent full restoration
of the damaged natural resources. As a general rule, under the traditional tort law the costs of
such measures are not to exceed the lost market value of the property. This may have the effect
that the natural resources which lack a direct market value are not fully restored.
a new and additional category of damage to the environment per se in the tort law is a corollary to the
liberalization of standing.
The ff environmental rights are recognized under both national & international laws
1. The Right to Information:
Access to environmental information is a prerequisite to effective
public participation in decision-making and to monitoring
governmental and private sector activities.
It also can assist enterprises in planning for and utilizing the best
available techniques and technology.
the right of individuals, groups, and organizations to obtain, publish
and distribute information on environmental issues.
the right of individuals and non-governmental organizations to be
informed of environmental problems relevant to them, to have the
necessary access to information, and to participate in the
formulation and implementation of decisions likely to affect their
environment.
2. Public Participation
Public participation is emphasized throughout international and national
environmental law. Public participation is based on the right of those who
may be affected to have a say in the determination of their environmental
future.
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and groups such as trade unions or
manufacturers associations are an organized means of public participation
in environmental decision-making.
Depending on the jurisdiction, this may include foreign citizens and
residents. In the EIA context, the public typically incorporates all
stakeholders
3. Access to Justice
The right to a remedy is not necessarily limited to nationals of a state.
The right to an effective remedy, meaning access to justice and redress, can be found in
both human rights law and in environmental law. ICCPR calls for states to provide a
remedy whenever rights protected under national or international law have been
violated.
4. Environmental Quality
Almost every constitution adopted
State practice is divided over the issue of the justiciability of the right to a safe and
healthy environment. Some courts have allowed lawsuits to enforce the right, while
others have not.
International Law; At present, no global human rights treaty proclaims a right to
environmental quality, although UDHR and other human rights instruments contain a
right to an adequate quality of life and a right to health. African Charter on Human and
Peoples Rights was the first international human rights instrument to contain an
explicit guarantee of environmental quality. Subsequently, the Protocol on ESCR to the
American Convention on Human Rights included the right of everyone to live in a
healthy environment.
Chapter 4
Two primary, common regulatory systems aim to prevent environmental harm by anticipatory action.
The first is a system that attempts to establish individualized pollution controls and mitigation measures
through environmental impact assessment based on the character of the activity and environment
surrounding the facility. The second system relies on a permit or licensing regime that requires
adherence to pre-established norms (quotas, bans on the use of certain substances).
1. Prohibiting and Restricting Activities and Substances; Environmental laws often call for
restricting or banning (complete prohibition) hazardous products, processes or activities.
2. Product and Process Standards; Nowadays national and international laws establish standards
for products and processes that impact the environment. Generally, standards are prescriptive
norms that govern products or processes or set limits on the amount of pollutants or emissions
produced. Standards may be set for production processes, emission levels, product
characteristics and ambient quality standards for a given environmental milieu.
Process Standards:
Sometimes, a particular production process or techniques is imposed on operations, such as the
installation of purification or filtration systems in production facilities. Process standards specify
design requirements or operating procedures applicable to fixed installations such as factories
or may designate permissible means and methods of activities like hunting or fishing.
Product Standards:
Product standards are used for items that are created or manufactured for sale or distribution.
Such standards may regulate:
CHAPTER 5
In case of legal personality in relation to environmental proceeding, one of the fundamental distinctions
that can be made in the world view that people have is, whether they focus on human beings,
anthropocentrism, or on other entities, ecocentrism. The world view someone has can have a major
influence on how he deals with bioethical dilemmas. That is, whether legal personality should be
bestowed to the environment as a separate legal entity or not depends on the type of theory which
orient the legal system of a country, so much so that, before we embark on the concept of legal standing
in relation to environmental proceeding in Ethiopia, at this juncture, it is important to have a clear
picture on the environmental theories that could shape or orient a legal system in favor of one or the
other.
To start with the Anthropocentric Theory, it refers the relationship between human beings and the
environment, as a relationship in which environment is valuable only to the extent to which they can
be used and exploited by human beings. This view considers nature as an instrument [as merely a
means] instead of having any intrinsic values in its own self [an end in itself]. This essentially shows that,
environmental concern according to this theory is, addressing the interest of human beings by pointing
out the direct link between harm done to the environment and harm done to the human community.
From the above points, we can inter the fact that anthropocentric view considers humans and nature
as separate, and human beings placed in the center; such that, the environment being instrumental to
the interest of man, legal personality can be bestowed only to human beings where and when their
interest is at stake. In other words, they deny legal personality to the environment because they
consider it as contingent/ accessory to the human element.
Environment is a thing for the use of us, that is, those of us who are holding then the legal personality
Concerning legal personality in relation to environmental proceeding, the extension for good and
sufficient reasons, of the conception of personality beyond the class of human beings is one of the most
noteworthy features of legal imagination. In this respect, a movement to confer rights on to some new
entity is bound to sound odd. This is partly because until a non-legal entity is bestowed with legal
personality and receives its rights, we cannot appreciate it as having its own interest as anything but as a
thing for the use of us, that is, those of us who are holding then the legal personality.
In line with the above argument, in some legal systems animals have been regarded as having legal
personality. A typical example in this respect is the case entertained in Germany, during the Middle
Ages, in which a cock was tried for contumacious crowing.
When we come back to the legal orientation of the Ethiopian environmental law, it sounds haphazard
and thus ambiguous; while the right to live in a clean and healthy environment under Art.44 of the
constitution is entrenched under chapter three, part two of the constitution which provides for group
rights as a fundamental rights and freedoms, thereby bringing into the forefront the anthropocentric
approach, the environmental policy recognizes that the species and their variants have the right to
continue existing, and are, or may be, useful now and/or for generations to come. In this respect even in
the policy stipulation there is confusion in that, the first line clearly shows that the approach is
ecocentric; whereas the second refers to anthropocentric approach for it refers to utility aspect of the
environment. Furthermore, the Biological Diversity Convention of 1992, which Ethiopia has ratified and
which recognizes the intrinsic value of the environment, including ecosystem and species or its
components which in turn led to the issue of awarding rights to subjects other than man, shifts the
position of the law once more to the ecocentric approach. To uphold the right of the environment, the
Draft Bio-safety proclamation may also show the trend of the law in that it entitles any person, group of
persons, or any private or state organization to bring a claim in the name or on behalf of the
environment. Thus, the Ethiopian environmental law to a degree falls in line with the above declared
international norm whereas part of the same law holds the contrary position, that is, that of
anthropocentric approach. As a result, it is creating confusion between the law and the policy, and also
in the policy itself which furthermore brings the question. Shouldnt laws be reflective of policies or vice-
versa?
In spite of the above wavering in the law, with the increasing awareness of the interconnectedness of
human beings with the environment, and of the intrinsic value that has to be attached to the latter
through international instruments like the BioDiversity convention to which Ethiopia is a party, and the
environmental policy which Ethiopia has enacted, it is unlikely that the recognition of a right to a clean
and healthy environment for human being under the constitution will have as its corollary the denial of
rights to the environment as a legal entity in itself. Here, the recognition of the right to a clean and
healthy environment to human beings does not necessarily imply the exclusion of recognition of right
to the environment per se as a legal entity in itself. In fact, it should be taken as a corollary position
which would have a paramount importance.
On the basis of the above logic, the writers favor striking the balance between the interests of human
beings on the one hand, and that of the environment on the other. To this effect, the researcher favors
bestowing legal personality to the environment so long as it does not go against the rights of human
beings whose interests are maintained by the exercise of personal and citizen standing.
intergenerational equity. Intergenerational equity exists only when there is sustainable development,
that is, when the development in any form meets the needs of the present generation without
compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs.
the principle of intergenerational equity is potentially the most useful concept with respect to the
question of standing.
When we come to the Ethiopian situation, intergenerational equity is clearly stipulated in different legal
instruments. In the FDRE constitution,Art.43(1) it is implicitly provided under the principle of sustainable
development. Under the Environmental policy, it is explicitly provided
intergenerational equity is recognized under the Ethiopian legal system, so much so that, it is possible to
argue that there is a lee-way to entertain the interest of future generations by bestowing them legal
personality to have standing before a court of law.
Art.44 0f z cons; All persons have the right to a clean and healthy environment.( the third
generation human right)
the right to a clean and healthy environment is a right which the government has the obligation
to respect as per article 10 (2) of the constitution.
Where a concerned citizen [or voluntary organization] sues, not as a representative of others
but in his or her own right as a member of the citizenry to whom a public duty is owned, it is
termed as citizen standing
Standing Before International Courts and Tribunals
The doctrine of exhaustion of local remedies; the injured citizen should have exhausted all the
domestic administrative and judicial remedies available within the state that is alleged to have
injured him. Otherwise a claim will not be admissible on the international plane
The principle of exhaustion of local remedies is a method which gives states the first opportunity
to resolve their own internal problems in accordance with their domestic legal procedures
before they proceed to accept international standards.
At the international level, the formal opportunity for individuals and non-governmental
organizations to play an enforcement role is extremely limited
Judicial Activism: the concept is defined as the practice in the judiciary of protecting or
expanding individual rights through decisions that depart from established precedent or are
independent of or in opposition to supposed constitutional or legislative intent. Alternatively
the concept is also defined as a philosophy of judicial decision making whereby judges allow
their personal views about public policy, among other factors, to guide their decisions, usually
with the suggestion that adherents of this philosophy tend to find the constitutional violations
and are willing to ignore precedent.
Summary
HPR has recently enacted Environmental pollution control proclamation with a liberalized standing.
According to this proclamation, any person can bring legal action without the need to show any vested
interest when actual or potential damage is done to the environment.
When we analyze the legal personality to the environment as a separate legal entity, different positions
emanate from the fundamental distinctions that can be made in the world view. That is, if the legal
system follows anthropocentric view, it would consider human and nature as separate, and human
beings placed in the center. This means it considers the environment instrumental to the interest of man
denies legal personality to the environment per se as a legal entity. In contradistinction to the
anthropocentric view, a legal system that follows ecocentric view seeks a fundamental shift in
consciousness from human domination of nature to a perception of human and non-human life as
having equal intrinsic values. For this reason, it acknowledges the conferring of legal personality to each
distinct part of the environment to exercise their own right on their own behalf.
When we come to the legal orientation of the Ethiopian legal system, however, it sounds haphazard in
that it recognizes both anthropocentric and ecocentric views in different legal instruments.
In respect to the Ethiopia legal system, since the FDRE constitution, international legal instruments
ratified by Ethiopian, and the Ethiopian environmental policy and environmental laws give cognizance to
intergenerational equity, it is tenable to argue that there is a leeway to entertain the interest of future
generations by bestowing them legal personality to have standing before a court of law on their own
behalf.
Under the Ethiopian legal system, personal right to clean and healthy environment is recognized in the
FDRE constitution, and environmental policy and laws, so that, in Ethiopia, public interest action by alert
citizens could certainly be manipulated in case when damage is done to the environment per se.
Nuisance
2, Private
Public nuisance is an act affecting the public at large or considerable portion of it; and it must interfere
with the rights which members of the community might otherwise enjoy.
we can safely say that in case of public nuisance the damage to the environment could be manifested by
affecting both private interests and diffused public interests. In such a case, the private parties would
enforce their rights to the extent that they are especially and differently aggrieved, and the public
interest groups could enforce the remedy as to the diffused interests that could affect the interest of the
public at large, the interest of the future generation, and the intrinsic value of the environment.
Private Nuisance
Private nuisance is using or authorizing the use of ones property or of anything under ones control so
as to injuriously affect an owner or occupier of property by physically injuring his property or by
interfering materially with his health, comfort or convenience. Winfield has defined Private Nuisance as
unlawful interference with a persons use or enjoyment of land or some right over or in connection with
it
CHAPTER 6
1, abatement,
2. damages; The damage due by the person legally declared to be liable shall be equal to the
damage caused to the victim by the act giving rise to the liability.and
3, injunction