Transcript LR 27.ppt
Lecture No 27
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY,
LAW, AND PLANNING
OBJECTIVES
Understand the cycle by which policy is
established.
Follow the path of a bill through the
legislature.
Explore the differences between civil, criminal,
and administrative law.
Judge the effectiveness of litigation in
environmental issues.
Consider the reasons that
international treaties and global
institutions have or have not been
successful.
Appreciate the importance of
wicked problems, resilience, and
adaptive management in
environmental planning.
Scrutinize collaborative, communitybased planning methods.
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the policy cycle, and how does it work?
2. Describe the path of a bill through Congress. When
are riders and amendments attached?
3. What are the differences and similarities between
civil, criminal, and administrative law?
4. List some of the major U.S. environmental laws of
the past 30 years?
5. Why have some international environmental
treaties and conventions been effective while most
have not? Describe two such treaties.
6.
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•
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Define globalization and describe how it impacts
environmental quality?
What are wicked problems? Why are they difficult?
What is resilience? Why is it important?
What is collaborative, community-based planning?
What is unique about the Dutch green plan?
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY:
POLICY is a plan or statement of intentions- either
written or stated – about a course of action or
inaction intended to accomplish some end.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY will be taken as those
official rules and regulations concerning the
environment that are adopted, implemented, and
enforced by some governmental agency as well
as general public opinion about environmental
issues.
Incorporating different policies makes environmental
policies
Ecosystem
Health policies
Human needs policies
Environmental
Policies
Sustainable
Economic policies
POLICY FORMATION FOLLOWS
PREDICTABLE STEPS:
POLICY CYCLE is the cycle by which
problems are identified and acted upon in
the public arena.
There are two different routes by which this
cycle is carried out:
Special Economic Interest
Groups
Public Interest Groups
POLICY
CYCLE
Policy Cycle
in Pakistan
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW:
Environmental Law constitutes a special body
of official rules, decisions, and actions
concerning environmental quality, natural
resources, and ecological sustainability.
Mainly there are three types of laws;
Statute law
Case law
Administrative law
STATUTORY LAW: the legislative branch
Federal laws (statutes) are enacted by
Congress and must be signed by the
president.
They originate as legislative proposals
called Bills, usually drafted by the
congressional staff, often in consultation
with representatives of various interest
groups.
A Convoluted Path
Each bill is referred to a committee or
subcommittee for hearing and debate.
A bill that succeed in the full committee
is reported to the full House or Senate
for a floor debate.
The final bill goes to the president, who
may either sign it into law or veto it.
Legislators who can’t muster enough
votes to pass pet projects through
regular channels try to add authorizing
amendments called Riders.
These Riders are sometimes used by
antienvironmental forces to roll back
environmental protection and access
to natural resources.
CASE LAW: the judicial branch
The judicial branch of govt. establishes ental
law by ruling on the constitutionality of
statutes and interpreting their meaning.
CRIMINAL LAW:
Criminal law derives from those federal and
state statutes that prohibit wrongs against the
state or society, such as arson, rape, murder,
and robbery.
In 1975, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
corporate officers can be held criminally liable
for violations of environmental laws.
In 1982, EPA created an office for criminal
investigation.
Under Bill Clinton, prosecutions for
environmental crimes rose to nearly 600 per
year but fallen by 75% under George W. Bush.
The European Union has called for Global
Environmental Crime Intelligence Unit, to
investigate transborder crimes like illegal
logging and waste dumping.
CIVIL LAW:
Defined as a body of laws regulating relations b/w
individuals or b/w individuals and corporations.
Issues such as property rights, personal dignity, and
freedom are protected by civil law.
Civil law can be decided on a “preponderance of
evidence”, which makes civil cases easier to win
than criminal cases.
Civil judgments can be costly.
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW: the executive
branch
In the federal Govt., most executive agencies
come under the jurisdiction of cabinet- level
departments such as agriculture, interior or
justice.
In 1994, President Bill Clinton issued executive
order 12898 requiring all federal agencies to
collect data on effects of pollution on
minorities, and to develop strategies to
promote ental justice.
List of U.S. ental. laws:
1.
2.
3.
4.
NEPA was introduced in Congress in 1969.
U.S. Clean Air Act of 1970.
U.S. Clean Water Act of 1972.
American Convention on Human Rights in
1988.
Why International Environmental Treaties are Mostly
Ineffective?
Over the past 25 years, more than 170 conventions
and treaties have been negotiated to protect the
global environment.
The solutions generally rely on moral influence
and public compliance.
International agreements must be unanimous.
Most nations are unwilling to give up
sovereignty.
There is no body that can enforce
environmental laws globally.
Some Treaties are Effective....
• Some treaties incorporate innovative voting
mechanism.
• Trade sanctions can be an effective way to
compel compliance with international
treaties. E.g. Montreal Protocol.
• Public opinion and NGOs pressure can some
time be helpful in the implementation of
environmental treaties.
GLOBALIZATION
The
revolution
in
communications,
transportation, finances and commerce that
has
brought
about
increasing
interdependence of national economies.
International cooperation is essential for
conserving resources and maintaining a
healthy environment.
The Aarhus Convention of 1988, which is now
ratified by 40 countries in Asia and Europe
enhances global environmental governance.
WICKED PROBLEMS
Environmental scientists describe problems with no
simple right or wrong answers as being wicked
problems.
They can’t be solved by simple rules and
regulations, more scientific work, or appeals to
ethics.
Different people come to different conclusions
even if they share the same information about a
wicked problem.
The best solution comes from community based
planning and consensus building.
RESILIENCE
The ability of a natural System to recover
from disturbance.
Resilience comes from adaptation to stress,
from survival of the fittest in a turbulent
environment.
As more homogenous ecosystems develop
over a landscape scale, resilience decreases,
and it becomes more likely that the system
will flip suddenly into a new regime.
COLLABORATIVE AND
COMMUNITY-BASED PLANNING
Collaborative is a formal partnership created
between two grantees having mutual desires.
Reasons to use collaborative approaches are;
Wicked problems cab be solved.
People have more commitment to plans they have
helped develop.
“two heads are better than one” involving multiple
stakeholders enriches the process.
A good example of Community-based planning can
be seen in the Atlantic Coastal Action Programme
(ACAP) in eastern Canada.
DUTCH GREEN PLAN
Among different national green plans so far, the most
effective one is that of the Netherlands, called Dutch Green
Plan.
It contains 223 policy changes aimed at reducing pollution and
establishing economic stability. The principles of the plan are;
The “stand still” principle that says environmental quality
will not be deteriorate.
Abatement at source rather than cleaning up afterward.
The “polluter pays” means that users of a resource pay for
negative effects of that use.
Prevention of unnecessary pollution and controlled waste
disposal.
Motivating people to behave responsibly.
Between 1980-1990, emissions of CO2 , NO2, NH3, and volatile
organic compounds were reduced 30%.
By 1995, pesticides use had been reduced 25% from 1988
levels and CFC’s use had been virtually eliminated.
Thank You