Environmental Law

 Basic consideration of WHO

Common Legal Mechanisms of Environmental

Protection
Introduction
• The Law and the courts regulate environmental
pollution using various mechanisms.

• The regulatory mechanisms of law deliver

environmental protection.

• There are many regulatory systems that aim to

prevent, reduce or control environmental harm.
Basic consideration of WHO
WHO- world health organization
function of WHO
 Core function is explicitly provide for its work in
promoting and maintain global health security.
 Health in this context is
a state of complete physical, mental and social well
being and not merely the absence of disease or
infirmity.
 World Health Organization

Flag of the World Health Organization

WHO
Abbreviation
OMS

Formation 7 April 1948

Type Specialized agency of the United Nations

Legal status Active

Headquarters Geneva, Switzerland

Head Margaret Chan

Parent organization United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

Website [Link]
WHO consideration
• evidence shows that environmental risk
factors play a role in more than 80% of the
diseases regularly reported by the World
Health Organization
Why Is Environmental Health Important?
• Maintaining a healthy environment is central
to increasing quality of life and years of
healthy life. Globally, nearly 25 percent of all
deaths and the total disease burden can be
attributed to environmental factors
 Environmental factors are diverse and far
reaching. They include:
• Exposure to hazardous substances in the air,
water, soil, and food
• Natural and technological disasters
• Physical hazards
• Nutritional deficiencies
• The built environment
The role of WHO in public health
WHO fulfils its objectives through its core functions
• providing leadership on matters critical to health and
engaging in partnerships where joint action is needed;
• shaping the research agenda and stimulating the
generation, translation and dissemination of valuable
knowledge;
• setting norms and standards and promoting and
monitoring their implementation;
• articulating ethical and evidence-based policy options;
• providing technical support, catalyzing change, and
building sustainable institutional capacity; and
• monitoring the health situation and assessing health
trends.
 …CTD

What are the Common Legal

Mechanisms for Environmental
Protection?
 1. Prohibiting and Restricting
Polluting Activities
• If an activity causes a significant risk of
environmental harm, the law will restrict or
prohibit it to reduce or eliminate the harm.
• When the likelihood of risk is too great, a
complete prohibition of the activity can be
enacted.
• When the risk is not significant, the polluting
activity will be restricted, not prohibited.
 …CTD
What is prohibited or restricted by law?

1. Polluting products,

2. Polluting Processes,

3. Polluting Activities, and

4. Polluting Substances .
 2. Use of Biological Resources
• Laws also regulate the use of some biological
resources.
• Some laws can prohibit or restrict the use of
some or all wild plants and animals.
• There are many hunting and collecting
restrictions that are used to prohibit the
killing or capturing specimens of wildlife.
• For example, some laws regulate hunting,
capture and fishing.
 …CTD
• Migratory species are also subject to special
protection by law.
• All States are obliged to ban or restrict the
killing or use of these migratory animals in
cases where they are endangered.
• Finally, temporary suspensions and bans on
imports and exports are commonly used for
the protection of wild flora and fauna.
• For instance, there is a prohibition on import
and export of endangered species (fauna and
flora).
 3. Product Standards
• National and international laws establish
standards for products that affect the
environment.

• Product standards are used for items that are

created or manufactured for sale or
distribution.

• Product standards may regulate the

following:
 …CTD
 The physical or chemical composition of the
product
• Items such as pharmaceuticals or detergents,
the sulphur content in fuels, the presence of
mercury in pesticides, etc…
 The technical performance of products
• Maximum levels of pollutant or noise
emissions from products.
 Packaging regulations
• The handling, presentation and packaging of
products may cause environmental harm.
 …CTD
 Labeling requirements
• Labeling helps consumers to be aware of the
contents and the permissible uses of products.

• It help to avoid environmental harm through

misuse or improper disposal of the product.

• When we apply product standard; the

production, distribution, use and disposal of
the product should be environmental friendly.
 4. Process Standards
• Process standards specify design or operating
procedures applicable to produce something.
• It may refer permissible means and methods
of activities like hunting or fishing.
• Process standards often are used to regulate
the operations of hazardous activities posing
a risk of accidents or other dangers.
• In some systems, all types of operations are
required to install “Best Available Pollution
Control Technology” (BACT) as part of their
processes.
 5. Emission Standards
• Emission standards specify the quantity of
pollutants that can be emitted in discharges
from a specific source.

• Emission standards apply to fixed installations,

such as factories, industries and homes.

• The emission standard will set the quantity of

pollutant discharged in to groundwater, air or
soil.
 …CTD
Question

• Why the law permits certain level of

pollution to be emitted in to the
atmosphere or water?
 …CTD
• Emission standards are based on the
assumption that:

 Certain levels of some contaminants will not

produce any undesirable effect:

 There is some capacity of that the

environment can accommodate pollutants
without great harm.
 6. Ambient Quality Standards
• Ambient quality standards fix the maximum
allowable level of pollution in environmental
sector during normal periods.
• For instance:
• A quality standard may set the level of
mercury permissible in rivers,
• The level of sulfur dioxide in the air or
• Noise level of airplanes in the near residential
areas.
 …CTD
• Quality standards often vary according to the
particular use of the environmental resource.

• For example, different water quality standards

may be set for-
Drinking water and
Waters used for bathing and
Water used for fishing.

• In all cases, the water quality standard is vary.

 7. Prior Licensing and Permits
• Government officials can authorize, certify or
issue or deny permits or licenses to projects
or factories or that poses threats to the
environment or that use natural resources.
• For example, “Taking permits” regulate the
numbers of wild plants or animals that may
be used for private purpose.
• The number of fish to be appropriated by a
fisherman per a day is good example of taking
permit.
 …CTD
• Some activities involve a very strict licensing
requirement, whereas, others don't.

• Hazardous installations such as nuclear

plants, mines, natural gas or petroleum
works have more strict licensing
requirements.
• For industrial chemicals, pesticides or
pharmaceuticals, authorizations may be
required for the manufacture, use,
importation and exportation of the product.
 …CTD
• Which organ give or grant the prior
license/permit?

• The decision making organ is central

authorities, regional or local bodies.
• The decision is typically based-
 Information supplied by the applicant,
 An environmental impact assessment of the
activity and
 A description of the planned activities.
 …CTD
• Article 3 of the Environmental Impact
Assessment Proclamation No. 299/2002
clearly stated that:

• “Without authorization from the Authority or

from the relevant regional environmental
agency, no person shall commence
implementation of any project that requires
environmental impact assessment”.
8. Environmental Impact Assessment
and Monitoring
• Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is “a
procedure for evaluating the likely impact of
a proposed activity on the environment”.
• According to the Environmental Impact
Assessment Proclamation No. 299/2002;
• “EIA means the methodology of identifying
and evaluating in advance any effect, be it
positive or negative, which results from the
implementation of a proposed project ”.
 …CTD
• What are the benefits of EIA?
• EIA has many benefits. These are mainly 3.

1. EIA provide information to the decision-

makers about possible environmental effects
when they decide to give or deny prior
license or permit.
2. EIA seeks to prevent or minimize
environmental harm, or
3. EIA is crucial to promote sustainable
development.
 …CTD
EIA Vs Monitoring?

• EIA is forecasting (predicting) environmental

harms of a proposed project before it began.

• Monitoring is generally undertaken after the

project has begun in order to check initial EIA
predictions and to determine whether further
measures are needed in order to abate or
avoid pollution.
What Type of Projects Require an EIA?
• Not all type of proposed project requires an
environmental impact assessment.

• “EIA shall be undertaken for proposed

activities that are likely to have a significant
impact on the environment and are subject to
a decision of a competent national
authority”.
 …CTD
• EIA help the governmental authorities to
grant or refuse permission to the project.

• In international law, EIA is the obligation and

duty of States.

• When States conduct a project on

international rivers or lakes, they are obliged
to conduct an EIA, if their project is likely to
cause significant trans-boundary harm on
other States.
 …CTD
• However, EIA is a process which is-
 Cumbersome,
 Expensive, and
 Cause delays.

• But, EIA help to foresee and avoid

environmental disasters or harmful
consequence of any project.
• Even lending institutions like the World Bank
requires an EIA of the proposed project
before they lend the money to States.
 Some Issues on EIA
 What range of impacts must be discussed?
 Any threats to the health of living organisms,
air, water, soil, social and cultural impacts
must be discussed in the IEA.

 What severity of impacts must be discussed?

 The law can demand assessment of everything
from small to big harms.
 …CTD
 What degree of certainty is required?
 Environmental impacts must be supported by
“credible scientific evidence”

 How should magnitude and probability of

harm (risk) be evaluated?
 The likely harm of the proposed project should
be very significant one.
 9. Land Use Regulations
• Land use controls play a major role in
environmental law for both urban and rural
areas, through
1. Zoning and
2. Physical planning.

• Zoning helps distribute environmental

harmful activities in to different regions in
order to limit potential damage.
• What is the reason behind Zoning?
 …CTD
• Zoning can help to implement environmental
justice by ensuring that the benefits and
burdens of resource use are shared
throughout society.

• Physical Planning is classifying a city, a

region or a country into broad land use
categories such as Residential, Industrial,
Agricultural, Forest, or nature conservation.

• Then areas may be given special legal

protection for conservation.
 …CTD
• Physical planning and zoning regulations may
be expressed in forms of prohibitions or
restrictions to use or change the use of the
area.

• For instance, an area may be protected to

protect the endangered species living there.

• A lake may be protected from any fishing

activity to conserve endangered fish and
other aquatic lives.
 …CTD
• However, zoning and physical planning must
be done for:

1. For a public purpose;

2. In a non-discriminatory manner;

3. With fair compensation.

 End
of chapter two