The growing awareness of the inadequacy of international law as a means of addressing current environmental problems has led to calls for a new approach. In view of the links between the protection of the environment and the protection of human rights, according to the Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference 1972, one such approach has been to focus on the development of international human rights law concepts and mechanisms to address environmental concerns. This thesis assesses the possible approaches and the limitations of the protection of the human rights to a healthy environment under the International Bill of Rights. The current international human rights law does not expressly provide for the human rights to a healthy environment. The thesis considers how the environment may be protected both through the application of presently accepted human rights and through the establishment of new human rights to a healthy environment. This thesis goes on to discuss the relationship between the international human rights law and the international environmental law, thereby giving an example of regime interaction. This is of strategic importance to understanding the meeting point of the two areas of law in this thesis. The need for sustainable development and the challenge of climate change have come to the fore and they both give urgency to the need for a human rights approach for the protection of the environment. There are concerns about whether there is a need for the provision of the human rights to a healthy environment in the international human rights law as existing rights are considered robust in themselves to protect the environment. This thesis will investigate the claim whether there are currently binding human rights to a healthy environment under the international law while building a solid argument on the need for a Convention on the human rights to a healthy environment. The thesis addresses the doctrinal and conceptual issues challenging the institutionalisation of the human rights to a healthy environment in the international human rights law. The thesis makes a case on the need for a Convention on the Human Rights to a Healthy Environment. It bolsters the point that the human rights to a healthy environment are long due; however what is lacking, is the doctrinal precision on the best way to institutionalise these rights. The research will attempt to proffer a proposal on the way forward by providing the institutional framework of the rights in a Convention. Before that, there is the need to discuss and settle several other possibilities and their limitations for the protection of the said human rights to a healthy environment. The proposed Convention could serve as a channel to offer a more coordinated, detailed, and well-documented approach for dealing with the linkages between human rights and the environment, as opposed to the fragmented approaches adopted across national and regional levels.

This thesis provides a comprehensive overview of international environmental law as it relates to plants. In doing so, it offers new perspectives on some of the key debates in the law, as well as on humanity's relationship with the natural world. The first part of the thesis looks at the philosophical rationales for giving legal protection to plants. Drawing on the literature relating to value, different interpretations of the value of plants are identified, including instrumental, intrinsic and ecological. Each interpretation is then tracked in international conservation law and policy. An almost exclusively anthropocentric picture is revealed, and the implications of this for conservation policy and practice are discussed. Attention then turns to global and regional approaches to protecting plants. First, the construction and content of key legal agreements are assessed against a range of criteria for effectiveness. Second, an analysis of the design and form of conservation mechanisms is conducted, focussing on the extent to which protected areas reflect the ecological needs of plants and the representativeness of lists of protected and endangered species. In each case the law is found to fall short, and proposals on how to address this are given. In the third part of the thesis, how the law responds to some of the main threats to plants, namely climate change, international trade and alien/invasive species, is considered. Each impacts on plants in different ways and has been subject to very different legal responses. In each case, however, weaknesses can be identified that undermine the law's ability to adequately protect plants. Finally, the extent to which the law supports and frustrates the work of conservation practitioners is examined. As well as offering practical reforms to make the law a better tool for practitioners, consideration is given to wider governance reforms to international environmental law.

<p>The purpose of environmental impact assessments (EIA) is to increase the consideration for environmental matters and management of resources in the decision-making through a regulated process of consultation, irrespective of whether they are about projects of environmentally hazardous activities and water activities or plans of physical planning (land planning of natural and agricultural landscapes). The clarifcation of consultation in the environmental code connected to Legislation the planning and building Act, as well as its practical application in cases of significant impact, has catched my interest in environmental policy. The consultation should enable insight and influence from the ones particularly concerned, as well as the public and other actors that are to strive toward a sustainable development alongside the developer. Through systematically retrieving data from literature, practical application by authorities, and case studies, several important problems have been discerned in the consultations since the environmental code was introduced. The intention is to augment the public's insight and influence in the process by means of clarificationed in the environmental code, which is connected to the Legislation the planning and building act and the regulation of environmental impact assessment since 2004/ 2005.</p><p>The clarification involves that concerns should be entered on an early stage, for instance already in stages where location and design are surveyed, and be included in the basic data for decision-making during the entire process up to a decision. Above all, it is important that standpoints are observed before projects and plans are fully developed, in order for proposed locations to be changed to alternative locations before the proceedings become too lengthy and the costs unreasonably high.</p><p>The consultation-related problems may also be solved by creating a democratic collaboration from the start through planned communication planning. This will provide the conditions for a constructive and durable dialogue between different interested parties in the process and favour the environmental concerns, as well as saving costs up to the decision. In Legslation the planning and building Act, it is important to already in ”program consultation” discuss if the implementation of the plan may entail significant impact, in order for the consultations about EIA and plan to take place in a context in ”the plan consultation”. This makes it easier for interested parties in the consultation to understand the significance of the interference with the environment from the start, and thus counteracts conflicts. What has been found in the case studies by EIA:s from the time after the alteration of consultation, is that the wider stakeholder analysis is introduced earlier and that they have a clearer process and a shorter decision-making timeframe. In some project–EIA:s, however, the application made by the authorities is not fully clear in the environmental assessment process. This may entail that different interested parties in the consultation will not come in from the start, and/or that the project will not receive the environmental assessment process that is necessary. The actual consequences of the fact that environmental impact are being made visible through follow-up of the consultation and environmental impact in the EIA, is that the experiences are returned to monitoring and that the need of additional measures may be detected.</p>

I den industrialiserade delen av världen är luftföroreningar ett allvarligt miljö- och hälsoproblem. Det har resulterat i att man i EU och Sverige har tagit fram normer för att skydda människors hälsa. Normerna benämns miljökvalitetsnormer för utomhusluft och de fastställer nivåer för vilken luftföroreningsmängd som är tillåten. Nivåerna sätts utifrån vad som människor och naturen beräknas tåla. Det är främst urban miljö, d.v.s. i stadsmiljöer, som problem med höga halter av luftföroreningar uppstår och utsläpp från trafiken utgör en stor del av luftföroreningarna. Hur städerna är planerade påverkar den föroreningsmängd som människor utsätts för eftersom att täta gaturum och stadsmiljöer medverkar till att luftföroreningarna inte sprids. Därför är stadsplanering ett viktigt verktyg för kommunerna i arbetet med att förbättra luftkvaliteten. God stadsplanering kan bidra till mindre trafik samt till en utformning av stadsbebyggelsen som inte stänger inne luftföroreningar. Huvudsyftet med denna uppsats är att genom intervjuer studera vilken hänsyn två svenska kommuner tar till miljökvalitetsnormerna för utomhusluft i planeringsarbetet av externhandelsområden. Uppsatsens syfte uppfylls genom en kvalitativ intervjustudie av kommunala politiker och tjänstemän. Slutsatserna av studien är att arbete och förhållningssätt till miljökvalitetsnormerna skiljer sig åt mellan de studerade kommunerna. Kommunernas organisationsstruktur upplevs av intervjuade politiker och tjänstemän i studien påverka arbete och hänsyn till miljökvalitetsnormerna i planeringsarbetet. De intervjuade upplever en tydlig eller mycket tydlig målkonflikt mellan externhandeln och arbetet med att säkerställa en god luftkvalitet. Det finns en rädsla i kommunerna för att luftmätningar ska visa på höga föroreningsnivåer i och med att luftförbättrande åtgärder medför stora kostnader. Större ansvarstagande och ekonomiska resurser från nationell nivå efterfrågas av kommunerna.

The purpose of environmental impact assessments (EIA) is to increase the consideration for environmental matters and management of resources in the decision-making through a regulated process of consultation, irrespective of whether they are about projects of environmentally hazardous activities and water activities or plans of physical planning (land planning of natural and agricultural landscapes). The clarifcation of consultation in the environmental code connected to Legislation the planning and building Act, as well as its practical application in cases of significant impact, has catched my interest in environmental policy. The consultation should enable insight and influence from the ones particularly concerned, as well as the public and other actors that are to strive toward a sustainable development alongside the developer. Through systematically retrieving data from literature, practical application by authorities, and case studies, several important problems have been discerned in the consultations since the environmental code was introduced. The intention is to augment the public's insight and influence in the process by means of clarificationed in the environmental code, which is connected to the Legislation the planning and building act and the regulation of environmental impact assessment since 2004/ 2005. The clarification involves that concerns should be entered on an early stage, for instance already in stages where location and design are surveyed, and be included in the basic data for decision-making during the entire process up to a decision. Above all, it is important that standpoints are observed before projects and plans are fully developed, in order for proposed locations to be changed to alternative locations before the proceedings become too lengthy and the costs unreasonably high. The consultation-related problems may also be solved by creating a democratic collaboration from the start through planned communication planning. This will provide the conditions for a constructive and durable dialogue between different interested parties in the process and favour the environmental concerns, as well as saving costs up to the decision. In Legslation the planning and building Act, it is important to already in ”program consultation” discuss if the implementation of the plan may entail significant impact, in order for the consultations about EIA and plan to take place in a context in ”the plan consultation”. This makes it easier for interested parties in the consultation to understand the significance of the interference with the environment from the start, and thus counteracts conflicts. What has been found in the case studies by EIA:s from the time after the alteration of consultation, is that the wider stakeholder analysis is introduced earlier and that they have a clearer process and a shorter decision-making timeframe. In some project–EIA:s, however, the application made by the authorities is not fully clear in the environmental assessment process. This may entail that different interested parties in the consultation will not come in from the start, and/or that the project will not receive the environmental assessment process that is necessary. The actual consequences of the fact that environmental impact are being made visible through follow-up of the consultation and environmental impact in the EIA, is that the experiences are returned to monitoring and that the need of additional measures may be detected.

<p>I den industrialiserade delen av världen är luftföroreningar ett allvarligt miljö- och hälsoproblem. Det har resulterat i att man i EU och Sverige har tagit fram normer för att skydda människors hälsa. Normerna benämns miljökvalitetsnormer för utomhusluft och de fastställer nivåer för vilken luftföroreningsmängd som är tillåten.</p><p>Nivåerna sätts utifrån vad som människor och naturen beräknas tåla. Det är främst urban miljö, d.v.s. i stadsmiljöer, som problem med höga halter av luftföroreningar uppstår och utsläpp från trafiken utgör en stor del av luftföroreningarna. Hur städerna är planerade påverkar den föroreningsmängd som människor utsätts för eftersom att täta gaturum och stadsmiljöer medverkar till att luftföroreningarna inte sprids. Därför är stadsplanering ett viktigt verktyg för kommunerna i arbetet med att förbättra luftkvaliteten. God stadsplanering kan bidra till mindre trafik samt till en utformning av stadsbebyggelsen som inte stänger inne luftföroreningar.</p><p>Huvudsyftet med denna uppsats är att genom intervjuer studera vilken hänsyn två svenska kommuner tar till miljökvalitetsnormerna för utomhusluft i planeringsarbetet av externhandelsområden. Uppsatsens syfte uppfylls genom en kvalitativ intervjustudie av kommunala politiker och tjänstemän. </p><p>Slutsatserna av studien är att arbete och förhållningssätt till miljökvalitetsnormerna skiljer sig åt mellan de studerade kommunerna. Kommunernas organisationsstruktur upplevs av intervjuade politiker och tjänstemän i studien påverka arbete och hänsyn till miljökvalitetsnormerna i planeringsarbetet. De intervjuade upplever en tydlig eller mycket tydlig målkonflikt mellan externhandeln och arbetet med att säkerställa en god luftkvalitet. Det finns en rädsla i kommunerna för att luftmätningar ska visa på höga föroreningsnivåer i och med att luftförbättrande åtgärder medför stora kostnader. Större ansvarstagande och ekonomiska resurser från nationell nivå efterfrågas av kommunerna.</p>

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Graduate School of the Environment, 2001. / Bibliography: p. 10-1 to 10-23.

No description available.

Environmental degradation is one of the most important problems facing by Chinese people. This unsatisfactory situation majorly lies in the weak implementation of environmental laws. The essential reason causing the ineffective enforcement of Chinese environmental law is people’s distorted cognition about the relation between human being and the environment. As an important principle of international environmental law, the sustainable development principle emphasizes intra-generational and intergenerational equality, aiming to realize a balance of environmental interest and socie-economic interest, which could become the guideline of the reformation of Chinese environmental law enforcement mechanism. At last, this paper analyzes the solutions to appeared problems, which are underpinned by the sustainable development principle. The ultimate purpose is to promote rational policies and responsible conducts of governments, to foster enterprises’ voluntary compliance with environmental law and to foster citizens’ environmental awareness.

Environmental degradation is one of the most important problems facing by Chinese people. This unsatisfactory situation majorly lies in the weak implementation of environmental laws. The essential reason causing the ineffective enforcement of Chinese environmental law is people’s distorted cognition about the relation between human being and the environment. As an important principle of international environmental law, the sustainable development principle emphasizes intra-generational and intergenerational equality, aiming to realize a balance of environmental interest and socie-economic interest, which could become the guideline of the reformation of Chinese environmental law enforcement mechanism. At last, this paper analyzes the solutions to appeared problems, which are underpinned by the sustainable development principle. The ultimate purpose is to promote rational policies and responsible conducts of governments, to foster enterprises’ voluntary compliance with environmental law and to foster citizens’ environmental awareness.