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What Is Environmental Law
What Is Environmental Law
With the growing public awareness of the importance of the environment and
environmentally friendly procedures, the discipline of environmental law has
emerged as a key area of study in the legal field. This has opened up a new
realm of possibility for upcoming lawyers and law aspirants, owing to the
increasing need for stringent rules and procedures that regulate, mitigate
and plan for the effective regulation of natural resources as well as everyday
interactions with our environment.
This refers to the measures adopted to maintain safe air standards. That is,
enforcing rules and regulations after determining what is the safe level of
emission in terms of motor vehicles, industrial emissions and common
everyday usages. The most common example of these is the emission tests
and regular cyclic vehicle safety tests.
Water Quality
Water quality laws are primarily concerned with the release of pollutants into
the various water bodies. Across nations, water quality laws list the various
pollutants that must be treated before they are released into water bodies
and also the substances that have to be chemically altered and rendered
inert before disposal. Some of these include raw sewage, agricultural waste,
industrial waste and also the liquid waste from construction sites.
Waste management
Chemical safety
The safe use of chemicals also falls under the ambit of environmental law. It
primarily concerns itself with the correct storage of chemicals, their use, use
of appropriate safety equipment, and also ensuring the legitimate licensing
and sale of the various chemicals. All of this is with the eventual goal of
preventing environmental threats that may arise due to poor management.
This form of law is relevant to a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from
repair garages to sophisticated testing labs.
Sustainability of resources
It was the first major environmental conference and set the framework for
discussions on the environment and the need for some form of regulation.
The Stockholm declaration along with its 26 principles was formulated at this
conference. This conference also marked the creation of the United Nations
Environment Programme.
Vienna convention
Kyoto protocol
Here are some of the different areas in which environmental lawyers are
normally employed.
Conclusion
Given the increasing importance that the world community gives to the
environment and its protection, there will be an increasing need for a stable
legal framework to facilitate any potential growth or change. This, of course,
means the establishment of more conventions, legislation, and rules in the
sphere of environmental law. To facilitate this demand we will need more law
professionals that are well versed in the intricacies of environmental law and
the various rules and principles that it has been built on. As a result,
environmental law will be a good area for up and coming lawyers to look
into, especially in countries such as ours where the more traditional
disciplines are fast filling up.