23rd/01/2024

The scope of environmental law. (parameters)

Environmental law is a system of using all the environmental laws within the system to minimize,
prevent or remedy the consequences of actions that result into damage or threaten the environment,
public health and safety. We are basically talking about human health, quality if the air we breathe,
quality of water bodies and the water we drink, protection against contamination of soil, protection
action noise, the prudent use of natural resources, the preservation of natural habitats, the
management and utilization of flora and fauna, the management of landscapes and climate, the quality
of residential areas and many others. Each can be looked at a macro(community), micro(household) or
even at national and international level.

The environmental law system has about 9 general compliance obligations or regulatory approaches.
Almost all environmental laws at whatever level adopts any of these approaches;

1. Notification requirements. Environmental laws may require an organization to notify

designated authorities or agencies about the actual or prospected release of some
pollutants or the beginning of some activity that may have or is likely to have significant
environmental impact.
2. Point of discharge ‘waste end’ control. These are laws or regulations that require the
prevention or minimization of release of pollutants. Such laws also cause what is called
emission limits.
3. Process oriented control and pollution prevention. This approach is designed to reduce
the quality, prevent the release and minimize the hazardous characteristics of generated
waste. Its applied throughout the entire production chain of a production process.
4. Product oriented control. This is where the law is designed to assure that products are
designed, formulated, packaged or used that they themselves do not present
unreasonable risks to human health or the environment. (produce in reusable
packaging)
5. Regulation of activities. In this case, the law is designed to protect resources, species or
eco systems such as wetlands, forest reserves, game parks, in that should they be
tampered with, there will be a significant change in the environment
6. Safe transportation requirements. This approach focuses on minimizing the risks
inherent in transportation of hazardous wastes or materials, oil or other potentially
harmful substances.
7. Response and remediation requirements. In this case, the law provides for the cleanup
of pollutants released within the environment. The law can also provide for prevention
of release as well as payment of costs for cleanup.
8. Compensation requirements. The law can be used or maybe used to make responsible
parties pay private parties of groups for damages done to their health or environment.
9. Litigation. In all cases, when all approaches have failed, the law provides for different
parties to eek judicial redress by way of litigation.

*read the various litigations on petroleum

Functions of environmental law.

  Prevention of harm or damage to environment
 Setting environment quality standards
 Cleanup or remediation after damage has been occasioned.

Overtime, environmental law has evolved into a specialized discipline of law and there are at least 5
characteristics that define it;

I. It grew in response to problems of pollution and public health

II. It has its distinct sources
III. It has been evolving an adapting largely changing from being reactive to being proactive
IV. It can take both a command and control approach or deliver or use a package of incentives and
other instruments to enlist compliance.

*read the history of international environmental law.

Significant events in the environmental law development.

*silent spring by Rachel Carson (1968) documented the negative use of pesticides on birds and the
environment. It’s the latest documented evidence especially on the DDT pesticide.

*Stockholm conference on human environment (1972). It was done at Stockholm that produced the
produced the Stockholm declaration of 1972.

*1983, the world commission on environment and development or Brundtland commission

1987, the publication of the commission’s report entitled our common future.

This was followed by the un conference on environment and development (UNCED) in 1992 in Rio de
Janeiro. It produced 3 important documents that continue to define the scope of the law, that is,

1. the Rio declaration

2. Agenda 21, which is the programmatic action plan from the conference

3. the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

In the absence of consensus on the subject of climate change, the proposal to adopt what later came to
be known as the UN Frame work Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was pushed to 1994.

Another important outcome of the conference was the Rio forest principles.