Environmental law
Environmental law is a branch of law, which is an organization of complex and interlocking statutes, common law, treaties, conventions, regulations and policies which seek to defend the natural environment which may be affected, impacted or endangered by human behavior. Several environmental laws control the amount and nature of impacts of human activities: for example, setting permissible levels of contamination. Other environmental laws are precautionary in nature and seek to evaluate the probable impacts before the human activities can occur. Federal environmental law contains the rules and regulations governing the renovation and destruction of buildings and the potential tort responsibility faced by building owners for personal damages caused by exposition to these harmful materials.
Environmental law as a different system arose in the 1960s in the major industrial economies. While many countries worldwide have since increased extraordinary sets of environmental laws, their execution has often been woeful. In current years, environmental law has become seen as a critical means of promoting sustainable progress (or "sustainability"). Strategy concepts such as the precautionary principle, public participation, environmental justice, and the polluter pays principle have informed much environmental law reorganization in this respect. There has been substantial testing in the search for more successful methods of environmental control beyond traditional "command-and-control" style regulation. Eco-taxes, tradable production allowances and negotiated accords are some of these innovations.
The IUCN Academy of Environmental Law is a network of some 60 law schools worldwide that specialize in the research and teaching of environmental law.
|
|
|
Law schools