Environmental law

Environmental law is the body of law that seeks to protect or enhance the environment. It is nothing new.

How did it start?

There have been laws aimed at protecting or improving the environment since at least Old Testament times (Deuteronomy 23: 12-13, which concerns sewage disposal).

From such beginnings a wide variety of laws have been developed to protect the environment. Early laws, often focused on the protection of rights associated with the ownership of property could, indirectly, protect the environment. More recent laws have been made to protect the environment itself. Globally, environmental laws apply in many countries and states and grant wide rights (such as the right to a clean and healthy environment which is, for example, part of the Indian Constitution). Environmental laws cover a huge variety of issues from the local (e.g. noise control) to the global (e.g. climate change control).

How does it work in the UK?

Law and Your Environment public information website

Law and Your Environment, is the online guide to Environmental Law, mainly covering England and Wales. Have you got an environmental problem? The kind of problems covered are: fly tipping; noisy neighbours; graffiti; litter; dog mess; pollution; planning; wildlife; rights of way. You can find out where to go for help, who the regulator is and how to approach them, how the legal system works, and follow links to the original laws. The website aims to improve access to environmental law information and empower more people to participate in environmental matters in line with the objectives of the Aarhus Convention 1998. It also promotes a culture of environmental citizenship by providing information on rights and responsibilities.

Law and Your Environment public information website

Some History

In the UK the first systematic attempts to control the polluting effects of the industrial revolution were made by the Alkali Acts in the 19th Century. Later legislation addressed pollution of water and land (see the ill-fated Deposit of Poisonous Wastes Act 1972). These laws to control one problem have now become part of complex laws which cover potentially the most polluting industrial activities. In parallel, controls were imposed on the use of land through the planning system.

The role of Europe

Since the UK joined the European Community in 1972 European environmental legislation has increasingly shaped domestic environmental laws. A series of single issue Directives were made but have increasingly been replaced by “framework” and “daughter” directives (e.g. the Waste Framework Directive and the daughter End of Life Vehicles Directive). The framework directives aim to take a more integrated approach to environmental protection. As technology has advanced sometimes new environmental laws have evolved in parallel – e.g. laws on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).

International agreements

Some UK environmental laws come from international Conventions and Agreements. International Treaties seek to regulate issues as diverse as Climate Change, International Waste Shipments and Public Access to Justice, Access to Environmental Information and Participation in Environmental Decision Making.

How things are changing

Increasingly the fixed emission limit controls that dominated the last century have been replaced or complemented by voluntary and market based approaches to controlling pollution and protecting the environment (e.g. the Packaging Waste Regulations and the Emissions Trading Regulations). As we move into the 21st Century, environmental laws which are enforceable against a relatively small industry sector, for example, waste management, will indirectly affect everyone. Operators in such sectors seeking to comply with environmental laws will place restrictions on their customers and this will affect the marketplace, and so influence many day to day decisions, e.g. the ban on ozone-depleting CFCs led to changes in the design of fridges and aerosols.

Environmental law was one of the faster developing areas of law at the end of the last century. It is difficult to find an area where rules do not apply. Such laws are often very detailed, sometimes deeply technical, at times over-complicated and arguably in places the framework appears incoherent. Despite this, the environment in the UK is highly regulated, arguably better protected and appears in many areas to be in a better state than it was 25 years ago. A question that has yet to be satisfactorily answered is whether the same or better environmental outcomes can be achieved in a more efficient manner. The European Commission and the UK Government are increasing looking at whether the burden and design of environmental regulation is appropriate. There have been a number of recent reviews and consultation papers on these issues but with the exception of the environmental permitting programme in England and Wales neither body has yet to make significant progress in this area.

Ultimately it would be foolish to suggest that many environmental issues can be satisfactorily addressed by environmental laws alone. The issue of what to do with waste is a good example. There are laws at every level to address the waste problem yet too much waste is produced and not nearly enough is recovered. We are running out of room for landfill. Incineration or using waste as a substitute fuel are deeply unpopular. Everyone – from trans-national corporations to the individual consumer - has a part to play in solving this challenge, which the astonishingly complex web of environmental laws cannot solve alone.