Environmental Law Commons^™

Ecosystem Services And Sustainable Development: Creating An Integrated Governance Approach: Critical Reflections On The New European Strategy On Biodiversity, Nathalie Herve-Fournereau

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

“Biodiversity is also our natural capital, delivering ecosystem services that underpin our economy.” According to the European Strategy on Biodiversity, EU commits to halt the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem service by 2020 in the light of the transition towards a resource efficient and green and sustainable economy. As defined in Directive 2004/35/EC on environmental liability, the concept of ecosystem service (« functions provided by a natural resource for another natural resource or for the public») enjoys a broad conception that differs from the definition used by the Millenium ecosystem assessment report (« the benefits that …

The Emerging Institutional Risks From Widespread Adoption Of An Ecosystem Services Market Approach To Environmental Governance, Paul Martin, Jacqueline Williams, Amanda Kennedy

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

Best practice commercial management involves two distinct mindsets, harnessed for separate purposes. The innovative mindset is concerned with the creative side of enterprise – entrepreneurship, innovation, strategising and commercialisation). However this is also married to a more pessimistic mindset focused on the identification and avoidance of what might go wrong- (risk management).

The modernist paradigm for environmental governance stresses scientific model-based estimation to determine resource use-limits, legally specified property rights to fractions of the environment, market or market like mechanisms for allocation of interests, and scientific methods of performance of the strategies. These elements exist in varying forms regardless of …

Law, Ecosystem Valuation And Risk Allocation, David Hodas

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

Assigning a precise economic value to a non-market ecosystem service or environmental externality that damages an ecosystem or human health and welfare is challenging. However, if we tie fairness and equity to getting the “prices” exactly right, the best will become the enemy of the good and we will sacrifice ecosystem services on the alter of excessive exactness. In terms of equity and ecosystem services, the precision of any particular monetized value is less important than that there be a value, and that the value is incorporated into legal and policy decisions. Existing legal models and institutional frameworks were not …

Forests, Protected Areas And The Payment For Ecosystem Services: Reserva Do Juma (State Of Amazonas- Brazil), Solange Teles Da Silva, Danielle De Ouro Mamed

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

In the State of Amazonas, the Climate Change, Environmental Conservation and Sustainable Development Policy Act adopted by State Law n. º 3.135/2007 has created a Program called “Bolsa Floresta”. In a pioneering way, this program was established with the aim of starting the payment for environmental services and products to traditional communities for the sustainable use of natural resources, conservation, environmental protection and encouragement of voluntary policies to reduce deforestation. This Program of “compensation” - “Bolsa Floresta” - is divided into four types: a) “Bolsa Floresta” Family b) “Bolsa Floresta” Association c) “Bolsa Floresta” Social and, d) “Bolsa Floresta” Income. …

Payment For Ecosystems Services: A Pathway For Environmental Conservation In Uganda, Emmanuel Kasimbazi

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

Ecosystem services are components of nature, directly enjoyed, consumed, or used to yield human well-being. They occur wherever plants, animals and people have interdependent relationships within the context of their physical environment. Payment for ecosystem services (PES) is a developing system which refers to payment for economic value of ecosystems. It is a scheme designed to provide incentives to individual landowners and local communities to conserve the environment. PES schemes seek to formulate a certain value to environmental services and establish appropriate pricing, institutional and redistribution systems that will lead to sustainable and socially optimal land use practices. These schemes …

The Relationship Of Ecosystem Services Valuation, Protection And Distribution With The Polluter-Pays Principle And The Provider-Gets Principle, Blaise-Pascal Ntirumenyerwa Mihigo, An Cliquet

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

This paper discusses the environmental, economic and social aspects of ecosystem services (ES) and their interactions with the polluter-pays principle and the provider-gets principle. The paper ends with observations concerning the theoretical and practical relationship of those principles with ES and Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) programs.

ES have attracted increasing interest through PES as a mechanism which translates external, non-market values of the environment into real financial incentives for local actors to provide ES. The PES approach has inspired new incentives, innovative financing for ecosystem protection. The PES seeks to internalize what would otherwise be an externality. Here, we …

The Connection Between Natural Capital Productivity And Intergenerational Equity: Focus On Ecosystem Services, Laurel Pentelow

Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads

This paper will discuss measurement options and new policies that can contribute to the incorporation of ecosystem service values into economic measures, in particular productivity. Further, this work will highlight the linkage between such outcomes and the principle of intergenerational equity. A discussion of the challenges and ethical considerations which arise when dealing with valuing ecosystem services will also be included.

Despite an increasing trend towards considering and valuing ecosystem services in environmental policy decisions, there has been less movement towards including ecosystem service values within national measures of economic progress. Most discussion to date has focused on the inclusion …

What Hath Lynn White Wrought?, John Copeland Nagle

Journal Articles

Lynn White’s 1967 article on “The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis” famously blamed Christianity for modern environmental problems. White’s historical analysis viewed Christianity for cultivating a dismissive view toward nature and for embracing technology in a way that resulted in unchecked pollution and extinctions. Since White wrote his article, Christian scholars have accepted the challenge that White’s diagnosis presented. Other nations, perhaps most notably China, have experienced crippling environmental destruction even in the absence of a legacy of Christian thought. More positively, White’s thesis has encouraged a generation of scholars to explore the positive aspects of Christian thought for …

Agenda: A Low-Carbon Energy Blueprint For The American West, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center, University Of Colorado Boulder. Renewable And Sustainable Energy Institute, Western Resource Advocates, Rocky Mountain Research Station (Fort Collins, Colo.)

A Low-Carbon Energy Blueprint for the American West (Martz Summer Conference, June 6-8)

The future of the planet may depend upon our ability to increase energy supplies even as we reduce carbon emissions. This conference will address how a low-carbon energy program might evolve with a particular focus on the American West. It will focus on the future of energy in the West--on a “managed transition” to a different energy mix, on the need to nest this effort in a framework that acknowledges interconnections, and on identifying the most salient opportunities to consider the legal, political, financial, and technical challenges.

The Continuing Burden Of Short-Sighted Nuclear Waste Policy. Dominion Res., Inc. V. United States, Mark D. Godfrey

Journal of Environmental and Sustainability Law

No abstract provided.

A Case For Cooperation Between The Environmental Protection Agency And The United States Department Of Agriculture In Order To Achieve Federal Environmental Quality Goals. National Pork Producers' Council V. Epa, James D. Boresi

Journal of Environmental and Sustainability Law

No abstract provided.

Defogging The Future: The Effect Of American Electric Power On Future Lawsuits. American Electric Power Co. Inc. V. Connecticut, Marriam Lin

Journal of Environmental and Sustainability Law

No abstract provided.

Environmental Justice Issues In Sustainable Development: Environmental Justice In The Renewable Energy Transition, Uma Outka

Journal of Environmental and Sustainability Law

No abstract provided.

Dam Complications In Senegal: How River Dams May Hurt More Than Help Vulnerable Populations In Water-Stressed Regions, Colleen Diessner

Journal of Environmental and Sustainability Law

No abstract provided.

The New Nuclear Power Generation Licensing Scheme In Its Defining Moment: A Regulatory Vessel Equipped To Support A Thriving Industry Or Drifting Towards Stormy Waters Capable Of Running The Nuclear Revival Aground?, Anna Knecht

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

This Student Note assesses Congress and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s “new” nuclear licensing scheme by way of comparison with the old, two-step process under which the industry endured an era of dormancy lasting nearly forty years. With a focus on the novel ITAAC review process, this Note argues that while the Part 52 process is superior to its predecessor, certain significant issues (articulated herein) must be resolved before the new regulatory framework can support the economic, environmental, safety, and other advantages it aims to achieve.

The Regulation Of Mining And Mining Waste In The European Union, Yvonne Scannell

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

This article reviews EU law relating to the regulation of mining and mining waste, liability for environmental damage caused by mining, remedies for environmental damage caused by mining, mine closure obligations and the nature of financial guarantees required to ensure the proper performance of environmental obligations, as well as developments in EU law which have resulted in the elucidation of human rights available at a supranational level to those subjected to severe pollution from mining activities. It notes that much of the world’s mineral resources are located in developing countries which have less sophisticated environmental regulations and greater potential to …

Lessons Unlearned: The Legal And Policy Legacy Of The Bp Deepwater Horizon Spill, Mark Davis

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

The explosion and blowout of the BP Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico dominated much of the news and public discussion during the late spring and summer of 2010. The size and scale of the blowout and its effects on people, communities, and the environment produced loud calls for deep changes in the nation’s energy and environmental laws and policies. While some things have changed, the wide ranging changes that many expected have not yet come to pass; indeed if anything the momentum has shifted to letting aggressive oil and gas development resume and to leave the fundamental …

Table Of Contents

Journal of Environmental and Sustainability Law

No abstract provided.

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Journal of Environmental and Sustainability Law

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Sustainability As A Means Of Improving Environmental Justice, John C. Dernbach, Patricia E. Salkin, Donald A. Brown

Journal of Environmental and Sustainability Law

No abstract provided.