Unit III

Pre-reading task

Discuss the following questions:

1. What problems are there for the law in stopping environmental pollution?

2. What is the scope of legal intervention in environmental problems in your jurisdiction?

Task 1. Read the text to understand what information is of primary importance or new for you.

Enviromental law

International environmental law is a fast-developing area affected by scientific discovery and opinion. It includes both international treaties (and conventions) incorporated into national law, and international customary law (general practice accepted as law).

These constitute the law that national states are obliged to follow or otherwise suffer sanctions from the international legal community. There is also international diplomacy and non-binding instruments which create guiding principles, such as the 1972 Stockholm Declaration and the 1992 Rio Declaration.

The main principles framed in international environmental law are:

• polluter pays principle – the cost of damage is carried by the party responsible

• precautionary principle – to act carefully where knowledge is not certain

• sustainable development– to act in the best interest of future generations

• environment impact assessment principle – to use rational planning before carrying out changes to the environment and to consider the costs of ecological effects

• common but differentiated responsibility principle – for countries to have shared but different responsibilities for the environment.

The critical issues of implementation, monitoring, compliance, and enforcement have to be examined within legal frameworks. The current impulse to protect the environment at a global as well as a local level means that domestic law in this area has an important interaction with international law. Many jurisdictions have a body of pollution control laws as well as town and country planning law. In the UK, planning law consists of: a regulatory mechanism with a developed process of application for and grant of permission; attaching conditions to development; a system of appeal; rights of public access to information; and rights of public participation.

Planning law has also been used to pursue environmental objectives with the control of development and land through statutory regulations.

Statutory regulation and the role of the various institutions and procedures of legal regulation are frequently complex. The advice of a legal specialist is essential. Due to the potential extent of environmental protection there can be implications for a wide range of transactions. Taken into account that environmental liability can have significant financial implications, such as damages or injunctions, or may even result in criminal prosecutions, lawyers dealing in property transactions or the acquisition of a business will wish to ensure that:

• the due diligence process includes a review of any relevant environmental licenses;

• relevant audits are instructed;

• details of any potential, current, or pending enforcement proceedings involving environmental issues are disclosed.

In other circumstances, a client personally affected by pollution or environmental damages may wish to take civil action in tort to remedy the situation.

Task 2. Find in the text above the English equivalents for the following words and expressions. Memorize them. Use them in the context of your own.

міжнародний договір, отримати санкції, міжнародна спільнота, договори, не обов’язкові до виконання, в правовому полі, захищати навколишнє середовище, національне законодавство, закони щодо охорони навколишнього середовища, надання дозволу, громадський доступ до інформації, законодавчі акти, фінансові наслідки, судова заборона, майнові угоди, шкода, завдана навколишньому середовищу, деліктний позов, виправити ситуацію.

Task 3. Give the Ukrainian equivalents for:

environmental law, guiding principles, monitoring, domestic law, pollution control laws, public participation, to pursue environmental objectives, environmental licenses, a system of appeal, environmental liability, enforcement proceedings, property transactions, acquisition of a business, environmental issues, to remedy the situation, to disclose.

Task 4. Answer the following questions:

1. What does environmental law deal with?

2. What are the main principles of environmental law?

3. What does planning law include?

4. What advice can be given by legal specialists?

5. What actions may a client affected by pollution take?

Task 5. Сomplete the sentences with the principles of environmental law from the text.

1. If you aim to meet the needs of the present without making it difficult or impossible to meet the needs of the future, this is known as the …... .

2. If you make the individual or the organization that caused the environmental damage cover the cost, this is known as the ….. .

3. When all countries are expected to make a contribution to environmental protection, but according to their circumstances, this is known as ………………………………………………. .

4. If you act to protect the environmental in the case of serious harm, even though clear scientific proof of damage is not yet available, this is known as …………………………………… .

5. If you evaluate the suitability and implications of the planned development of land, this is known as ……………………….. .

Task 6. Replace the underlined words and phrases in the letter with words from the text. There is more than one possibility for two of the answers.

Cassandra,

You said you were interested in getting an overview of international environmental law. You could take a look at Principles of International Environmental Law. It’s a reasonably comprehensive reference book on regulations relating to environmental defence and the conservation of natural resources. It covers the institutional and legal structure, the written and signed legal agreements between countries, customary law, and all the new case law, as well as issues like agreement to carry out what is ordered, implementation, ensuring that the law is obeyed, and dispute settlement. There’s a breadth of topics: conservation of biological diversity, genetically modified organisms, damage through contamination control, hazardous substances and activities, waste management and disposal, the Kioto protocol, and techniques for the fulfilment of principles and rules such as environmental impact assessment, liability, and compensation for environmental harm.

Task 7. Discuss the following questions with your partner and prepare 3-minuet presentation on these issues:

1. How will technology change our lives in the next 20 years?

2. How will global warming change the way we live in the future?

Task 8. Translate the following words and phrases. Use them to translate the text:

independent branch of legislation, body of ecological rules, rational management of nature, favorable environmental conditions, prevention of environmental damage, humanity, natural resources, ecological balance, free access to information, violation of environmental laws.

Екологічне право – це самостійна галузь права, що поєднує сукупність еколого-правових норм, які регулюють суспільні екологічні відносини з метою охорони життя і здоров'я громадян, захисту їхніх екологічних прав і свобод, раціонального природокористування і забезпечення якості довкілля в інтересах сьогодення і майбутніх поколінь.

Екологічне право та екологічне законодавство базуються на таких принципах:

- право на сприятливі умови навколишнього середовища;

- запобігання шкоди навколишньому середовищу;

- охорона життя та здоров’я людини;

- демократизація екологічного права;

- гуманність;

- забезпечення раціонального використання природних ресурсів;

- збереження та захист екологічної рівноваги;

- вільний доступ до екологічної інформації;

- відповідальність за порушення вимог екологічного законодавства.