Lecture No 27Lecture No 27

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, LAW, AND PLANNINGLAW, 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, community-based 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. 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

EcosystemHealth policies

Sustainable Economic policies

Human needs policies

EnvironmentalPolicies

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 InterestGroups

Public Interest Groups

Identify Problem

Set Agenda

Develop Proposal

Enact Law

or Rule

Evaluate Results

Suggest ChangesBuild support

Implement policy

POLICY CYCLE

Policy Cycle in Pakistan

Policy fo

rmatio

n

Decision-making

Policy

impl

emen

tatio

n

Agenda setting (Problem identification)

Policy analysis and evaluation

(continue or terminate)

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. NEPA was introduced in Congress in 1969.2. U.S. Clean Air Act of 1970.3. U.S. Clean Water Act of 1972.4. 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.

GLOBALIZATIONThe 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 PROBLEMSEnvironmental 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.

RESILIENCEThe 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 ANDCOMMUNITY-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