Important principles[edit]
Environmental law has developed in response to emerging awareness of and concern over issues
impacting the entire world. While laws have developed piecemeal and for a variety of reasons, some
effort has gone into identifying key concepts and guiding principles common to environmental law as
a whole.[1] The principles discussed below are not an exhaustive list and are not universally
recognized or accepted. Nonetheless, they represent important principles for the understanding of
environmental law around the world.
Sustainable Development[edit]
Main article: Sustainable development
Defined by the United Nations Environment Programme as "development that meets the needs of
the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs," sustainable development may be considered together with the concepts of "integration"
(development cannot be considered in isolation from sustainability) and "interdependence" (social
and economic development, and environmental protection, are interdependent). [2] Laws
mandating environmental impact assessment and requiring or encouraging development to minimize
environmental impacts may be assessed against this principle.
The modern concept of sustainable development was a topic of discussion at the 1972 United
Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm Conference), and the driving force
behind the 1983 World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, or Bruntland
Commission). In 1992, the first UN Earth Summit resulted in the Rio Declaration, Principle 3 of which
reads: "The right to development must be fulfilled so as to equitably meet developmental and
environmental needs of present and future generations." Sustainable development has been a core
concept of international environmental discussion ever since, including at the World Summit on
Sustainable Development(Earth Summit 2002), and the United Nations Conference on Sustainable
Development (Earth Summit 2012, or Rio+20).
Equity[edit]
Further information: Intergenerational equity
Defined by UNEP to include intergenerational equity - "the right of future generations to enjoy a fair
level of the common patrimony" - and intragenerational equity - "the right of all people within the
current generation to fair access to the current generation's entitlement to the Earth's natural
resources" - environmental equity considers the present generation under an obligation to account
for long-term impacts of activities, and to act to sustain the global environment and resource base for
future generations.[3] Pollution control and resource management laws may be assessed against this
principle.
Transboundary responsibility[edit]
Defined in the international law context as an obligation to protect one's own environment, and to
prevent damage to neighboring environments, UNEP considers transboundary responsibility at the
international level as a potential limitation on the rights of the sovereign state.[4] Laws that act to
limit externalities imposed upon human health and the environment may be assessed against this
principle.
Public participation and transparency[edit]
Identified as essential conditions for "accountable governments . . ., industrial concerns," and
organizations generally, public participation and transparency are presented by UNEP as requiring
"effective protection of the human right to hold and express opinions and to seek, receive and impart
ideas," "a right of access to appropriate, comprehensible and timely information held by
governments and industrial concerns on economic and social policies regarding the sustainable use
of natural resources and the protection of the environment, without imposing undue financial
burdens upon the applicants and with adequate protection of privacy and business confidentiality,"
and "effective judicial and administrative proceedings." These principles are present
in environmental impact assessment, laws requiring publication and access to relevant
environmental data, andadministrative procedure.
Precautionary principle[edit]
Main article: Precautionary principle
One of the most commonly encountered and controversial principles of environmental law, the Rio
Declaration formulated the precautionary principle as follows:
In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by
States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible
damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing costeffective measures to prevent environmental degradation.
The principle may play a role in any debate over the need for environmental regulation.
Prevention[edit]
The concept of prevention . . . can perhaps better be considered an overarching aim that
gives rise to a multitude of legal mechanisms, including prior assessment of environmental
harm, licensing or authorization that set out the conditions for operation and the
consequences for violation of the conditions, as well as the adoption of strategies and
policies. Emission limits and other product or process standards, the use of best available
techniques and similar techniques can all be seen as applications of the concept of
prevention.[5]
Polluter pays principle[edit]
Main article: Polluter pays principle
The polluter pays principle stands for the idea that "the environmental costs of economic
activities, including the cost of preventing potential harm, should be internalized rather than
imposed upon society at large."[6] All issues related to responsibility for cost
for environmental remediation and compliance with pollution control regulations involve this
principle.