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Together with an internationally praised Constitution, South Africa can pride itself in having one of the best sets of environmental laws in the world, and since EIAs have become mandatory for projects that negatively affect the environment, our track record with respect to environmental protection has substantially improved from the Apartheid days. But as the integrated and proactive approach to environmental management has seemingly been established, a new provision was introduced: Section 24G of NEMA (“Rectification of unlawful commencement of activity”), allowing for retrospective authorisation of unlawful activities (i.e. activities identified in terms of S24 of NEMA). Six years after the introduction of the S24G rectification provision in NEMA, its ability to bring about increased levels of compliance is being questioned. The findings of this research show that in Gauteng S24G has had an ambivalent effect on compliance: while on one hand it has artificially increased compliance by rendering illegal activities legal, on the other, it has seriously undermined the overall compliance and enforcement effort by opening the door to abuse and effectively providing an escape route for potential criminals. It is argued that the schizophrenic character of S24G is at the heart of this dilemma. This research presents theoretical and practical perspectives on non-compliance and analyses data collected on S24G applications in Gauteng in order to determine the effect of S24G on compliance. It also identifies key factors influencing effectiveness of S24G, and derives from the above key performance areas to improve effectiveness of S24G. / Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

The safe extraction of shale gas resources has become a controversial issue in the energy sector and within energy law and policy circle. These issues have transcended to other areas of the society such as the environment, public health, and geopolitics. In fact, in environmental issue and regulation, it has become a norm in the minds of many that finding a model individual to do the right thing is a onerous task. One solution to this problem currently would be to realise the benefits energy resource extraction presents by devising the right regulatory strategies to improve the compliance level of those operating such risky activity to do the right thing. However, the strategic solutions to achieve the benefits are not that complex when compared with the strategic measures for achieving compliance to set regulatory standards for mitigating risks from energy extraction activity. This thesis argue for a complementary regulatory instrument mix (self-regulation and command & control regulatory strategies) to improve effective compliance for mitigating risks associated with energy extractive and consumption activities. One fundamental problem for this disparity is that the available regulatory strategies and approaches are fraught with diverse limitations that makes it unable to accommodate the dynamic of energy resource extraction. Also, industry and regulators of such activity's dependence on regulatory approaches has been centred on command and control regulation that inhibits the incentive for the operator to go beyond the set standards. Hence, the urgency to devise an effective framework to balance costs that comes with the quest to relaise the benefits from resource extraction activities and the need for the preservation of the environment and health. Though achieving full compliance is far-fetched but optimal compliance is achievable within the context of collective participation amongst all industry players. One pragmatic means of achieving these conflicting interests within the global energy sector is through alternatives or a combination of regulatory instrument mixes (self-regulation and command and control regulation). This thesis intends that these alternatives should serve as complements to the command and control regulation and not to replace them. Such alternatives to regulation which this thesis argue and formulate that can help mitigate especially water contamination risk which has an increased frequency of occurrence is what it calls: 'the risk/segment based strict liability rule.' In addition, 'self-regulation' as a complement to command and control environmental regulation. While self-regulation helps to address the problem of information asymmetry that regulation grapple with, the risk based strict liability rule helps to address risks that have a highly probable or increased frequency level of occurrence. By risk based strict liability rule being proposed in this thesis, it means a risk from an activity can be subject to a strict liability cause of action without necessarily subjecting the entire activity to stricter environmental laws. This is based on the legal rationale that where particular risks' has an increased frequency level of occurrence or the impacts could lead to transgenerational harm, it should be classified as abnormal. Therefore, should be subject to strict liability cause of action. Thus, the philosophy behind this thesis is to see how regulation can deal with particular risks under strict liability when they have an increased frequency to occur and not necessarily the entire activity. Thus, the significance of this thesis is that it resonates the ability of self-regulation and liability systems to direct the costs of the harms to those who create them. More so, these innovative policy options embedded in the properties of self-regulation and liability system will force operators to incur additional costs needed to forestall or control their actions that might result in externalities beyond the socially optimal level. Thus, environmental governance through self-regulatory and risk/segment liability rule systems as alternatives to command and control regulation will erode that complacency on the part of the creators of such possible negative impacts to act sustain-ably. These alternatives to command and control regulation are cogent in mitigating risks associated with shale gas as an energy source on two grounds. Based on the above problems, this thesis shall examine the critical question of whether stricter environmental liability and regulatory approaches is required to achieve a sustainable shale gas extraction. Also, what other features should be included in these environmental protectionist tools to achieve effectiveness in managing water contamination and dispersed risks associated with fracking activity. This thesis, argue for a stricter liability and regulatory approach as a complement to the limitations of command and control regulation with some added features to address dispersed harms associated with energy extraction activity especially the risk of water contamination.

Together with an internationally praised Constitution, South Africa can pride itself in having one of the best sets of environmental laws in the world, and since EIAs have become mandatory for projects that negatively affect the environment, our track record with respect to environmental protection has substantially improved from the Apartheid days. But as the integrated and proactive approach to environmental management has seemingly been established, a new provision was introduced: Section 24G of NEMA (“Rectification of unlawful commencement of activity”), allowing for retrospective authorisation of unlawful activities (i.e. activities identified in terms of S24 of NEMA). Six years after the introduction of the S24G rectification provision in NEMA, its ability to bring about increased levels of compliance is being questioned. The findings of this research show that in Gauteng S24G has had an ambivalent effect on compliance: while on one hand it has artificially increased compliance by rendering illegal activities legal, on the other, it has seriously undermined the overall compliance and enforcement effort by opening the door to abuse and effectively providing an escape route for potential criminals. It is argued that the schizophrenic character of S24G is at the heart of this dilemma. This research presents theoretical and practical perspectives on non-compliance and analyses data collected on S24G applications in Gauteng in order to determine the effect of S24G on compliance. It also identifies key factors influencing effectiveness of S24G, and derives from the above key performance areas to improve effectiveness of S24G. / Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

The promulgation of the minimum emission standards for the list of activities resulting in significant air pollution under the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act, 2004 (Act No.39 of 2004) introduces a command – and – control regulation, in which the listed activities are required to obtain atmospheric emission licenses prior to operation. Under this regime, the listed activities are required to demonstrate compliance with the concentration-based minimum emission standards incorporated into their license, by conducting emission monitoring. Effective emission monitoring is dependent on the systematic implementation of a number of processes, procedures and protocols for emissions sampling, analysis and reporting. This study focused on development of a system for emissions monitoring, by establishment of the best practice on sampling procedures; criteria for emission measurement methods selection; quality assurance and quality control procedures; as well as data handling, reporting and compliance assessment procedures. The study recommends a model of emissions compliance monitoring system for South Africa, comprising of processes and procedures required for the acquisition of good quality, credible data to support effective implementation of the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act, 2004. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2015. / Chemical Engineering / Unrestricted

Cette étude porte sur la conformité environnementale, une politique juridique au service de la performance globale de l’entreprise. Il s’agira de démontrer que les réglementations environnementales et les normes environnementales volontaires auxquelles tentent de se conformer les entreprises et les États, peuvent améliorer à la fois leur protection de l’environnement, leur compétitivité, et dans une certaine mesure leur performance sociale. Cette conformité environnementale a pris un essor particulier depuis les grands phénomènes économiques induits par la mondialisation. La mondialisation se caractérise depuis les années 1970 par l’avènement d’une économie de marché ouverte dans laquelle les entreprises circulent librement d’un pays à un autre. Cette économie repose notamment sur le libre-échange des biens, des services, des technologies, des capitaux, ainsi que sur libre circulation des entreprises elles-mêmes. La mondialisation se caractérise également, du fait de l’ouverture de cette économie, par la mise en concurrence des États et des entreprises à l’échelle internationale. Ce phénomène économique de la mondialisation a toutefois entraîné une dégradation majeure de l’environnement au fil des années. Afin de répondre à ces différents enjeux, les États ont mis en place des mécanismes réglementaires ainsi que des mécanismes volontaires de protection de l’environnement destinés à encadrer les activités des entreprises, qui forment le socle de la politique juridique de conformité environnementale menée par ces entreprises. Les entreprises tentent alors de s’adapter à ces mécanismes juridiques afin de mieux protéger l’environnement, mais aussi afin de devenir plus compétitives. / The aim of the thesis consists of wondering how companies lead their legal politics to get a global performance. In other words, it will be advisable to demonstrate that environmental regulations and voluntary environmental standards which companies and States try to conform, can improve at the same time their environmental protection, their competitiveness, and to a lesser extent their social performance. This environmental compliance has taken a particular development since the big economic phenomena led by the globalization. The globalization is characterized since the 1970s by the advent of an opened market economy in which companies circulate freely from a country to another. This economy is particularly based on free trade of properties, services, technologies, capital, as well as on free circulation of companies themselves. But globalization had led to a serious environmental degradation. In order to meet these challenges as operationally as possible, countries have put regulations and voluntary standards with a view to regulating firms’ activities, that form the basis of a environmental compliance legal policy undertaken by these companies. These companies are trying to adapt to those legal mechanisms in order to better protect the environment, but also to become more competitive.

There is an increased public pressure on clothing brands to consider environmental and social issues when sourcing from suppliers in developing countries, and to ensure that their supply chain partners do the same. However, social, and environmental issues within the clothing industry are complex with many actors involved. Avoidance of compliance with social and environmental requirements are not uncommon and contributes to the continuing exploitation of humans and environment in the country of production, thus hindering the possibility of social change. This study investigates the perceived challenges with sustainability initiatives in supply chains within the global clothing industry and takes on a qualitative research approach with an interpretive basis. This study investigates the barriers to achieve social and environmental compliance through a content analysis of four global clothing brands supply chain governance strategies, and by interviews with two NGOs. The empirical findings shows that suppliers face increase compliance requirements with additional costs on their side, but with no financial support from clothing brands. Consequently, the perceived injustice between input costs and gains contribute to that suppliers avoid compliance to balance their additional costs.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T18:55:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5378.pdf: 1999499 bytes, checksum: 4f2d0064e5ecde21b9a55e4f5d04f1e2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-06-26 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / The constant changes of the forest legislation in Brazil show the complexity in its interpretation and application by the farmers in their properties. Since the first Forest Code (FC) through the decree no. 23.793 from 1934, going through the creation of the New FC through the Federal Law no. 4.771 from 1965 to the Federal Law no. 12.651 from 2012 which formulated the previous one, there were significant changes on the concepts, parameters and on the application way on those standards according to the preservation and the natural sources management of the farms, however, for their regularization should be observed basically two kinds of restriction of the soil usage proposed by the forest law: the permanent preservation area (PPA) and the legal reserve (LR). Thus, the aim of this work was to analyze the transition of the scenes according to the environmental regularization of the farms of the FC from 1965 and FC from 2012, besides to create a timeline from 1934 to 2012, analyzing the main legislations about the creation of the FC diagrams from 1965 and FC from 2012, analyzing the actions which should be done to regulate the farm. It was verified that the FC from 1965 was effective for 47 years, but it had gone through more than 80 modifications in its original text being more constant in the 90 s and 2000 s, nevertheless more than 90% of the farms didn t respect it. The reform of the FC from 1965, consolidated only by the end of 2012 through the Federal Law no. 12.727 which converted the MP no. 571 changing definitely the Federal Law no. 12.651 from May, 25th aimed to modernize trying to pair the FC from 2012 to the new reality of the Brazilian agriculture, bringing new mechanisms and tools to make its application easier. Although these devices should be applied in a practical and simple way to attend the 5.175.636 farms in a two year deadline, taking the risk of disuse like the previous FC. / As constantes mudanças na legislação florestal no Brasil refletem a complexidade na sua interpretação e aplicação por parte dos produtores rurais em suas propriedades agrícolas. Desde o surgimento do primeiro Código Florestal (CF) através do Decreto n0 23.793 de 1934, passando pela criação do Novo CF através da Lei Federal n0 4.771 de 1965 até a Lei Federal n0 12.651 de 2012 que reformou a anterior, houve significativas alterações nos conceitos, nos parâmetros e nas formas de aplicação das referidas normas quanto a preservação e gestão dos recursos naturais nas propriedades agrícolas, sendo que, para a regularização das mesmas, deve-se observar basicamente dois tipos de restrições do uso do solo imposto pela lei florestal: a área de preservação permanente (APP) e a reserva legal (RL). Assim o objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar a transição de cenários nas formas de regularização ambiental das propriedades agrícolas do CF de 1965 e do CF de 2012, além de criar uma linha do tempo de 1934 até 2012 com análise das principais legislações à respeito e a criação dos diagramas do CF de 1965 e do CF de 2012 com análise das ações que devem ser tomadas para regularização da propriedade agrícola. Verificou-se que o CF de 1965 vigeu por 47 anos, mas passou por mais de 80 modificações em seu texto original sendo mais constante na década de 1990 e 2000, e mesmo assim, não foi respeitada por mais de 90% das propriedades agrícolas do País. A reforma do CF de 1965, consolidada somente no final do ano 2012 através da Lei Federal n0 12.727 que converteu a MP n0 571 alterando definitivamente a Lei Federal n0 12 651 de 25 de maio buscou modernizar-se tentando emparelhar o CF de 2012 à nova realidade da agricultura brasileira, trazendo novos mecanismos e ferramentas para facilitação de sua aplicação. Contudo, tais dispositivos deverão ser aplicados de forma prática e simples para atender no prazo de 2 anos os 5.175.636 de estabelecimentos agropecuários, sob risco de cair em desuso como ocorreu com CF anterior.

In the past few decades, there has been increasing concern towards the potential effects of industrial pollutants on our eco-system. Each country has developed and enacted stringent environmental regulatory standards to address this concern. Several studies conducted in the general area of regulatory impact show significant direct impact of these regulations on organizations. Pharmaceutical industry in particular, due to the generation of variety of hazardous waste during operations, is one among the highly regulated industrial sector globally. The financial liabilities and resource shortages associated while incorporating abatement technologies and related procedural changes make Pharmaceutical Small and Medium Enterprises (PSMEs) highly vulnerable to these regulatory compliance standards. This study aims to investigate two aspects of environment regulation compliance in the PSMEs, namely To identify the nature and magnitude of vulnerabilities encountered by the PSMEs in India while complying with environmental regulations, and To explore and to analyze the adaptation mechanisms followed by the PSMEs in India, while complying with environmental regulations. Literature explorations in the area of environmental regulation, enforcement, compliance, pharmaceutical industry and SMEs, gave limited studies with focus on India. Hence a questionnaire based survey was administered online and face to face. The sampling design followed was stratified random and the total sample size taken for the final analysis was 71. The survey targeted the senior executive officers of pharmaceutical firms across India. Unstructured discussions and interactions with experts in the field were also carried out to understand the gravity of each concern. Data was analyzed using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for exploring and prioritizing vulnerability concerns, factor analysis for identifying the general adaptation mechanisms and systems practiced, and cluster analysis for assessing the underlying relationship among vulnerability concerns and adaptation patterns of firms under study. Findings of the analysis highlighted several significant drivers of the interaction between the PSMEs and the environment regulations. Some of them are as follows: One, conforming to literature finding, our study also found manufacturing related problems as the most significant concern for the PSMEs. However, unlike the Western countries, it was the poor quality of raw material available in the market that causes the main concern, and not the need for intensive capital investment in abatement technologies. Investigations revealed the steady global market decline for this sub-sector and the need for new innovations to meet the changing global trends. Two, marketing was a significantly higher concern for the PSMEs than regulator and regulatory management. Marketing has special relevance in the pharmaceutical industry as it deals with health and life saving issues for the people, and this got highlighted in our results. Three, the study found external management factors as the most followed coping / adaptation mechanism pursued by the PSMEs. Conforming to literature findings, our study also demonstrated smaller firms as significantly more vulnerable to adaptation in comparison with medium scale firms. The study also highlighted the attempt at balancing the local and global by the Indian PSMEs. While the process orientation was towards meeting international standards, the management of resources, marketing and regulatory requirements had a focus on the local pressures. The study provides some insight into the vulnerabilities and adaptation efforts of the Indian PSMEs and brings out the relevant strategic interventions needed from government, regulatory organizations and industry associations to develop a more sustainable business environment for the Indian PSMEs.

Svenska kraftnät is the Swedish transmission system operator, responsible for the national electrical grid with power lines of 220 kV and 400 kV, and the electrical substations of the grid. In this master thesis an old substation located in a sensitive environmental area is inspected and its environmental risks defined and assessed. From this “worst case scenario” measures are recommended, that should be applicable on other existing substations, and for new constructed substations. This thesis is limited to a more detailed analysis on how oil spill can be handled. The insulating oil is used in different machines and equipment on the substation to avoid electrical charges. The inspected substation has a special feature; a pipe system that connects wells on the substation area, water pipes from the substation house, and transformer pits to an oil-water separation house. The oil pits are made of concrete and placed under machines with large amounts of oil to capture the oil in case of a breakdown or leakage. In the oil-water separation house oil is separated from water and the clean water is sent to a lake in the vicinity. The most severe environmental risks found are the filter in the oil-water separation house and the risk of oil leakage from the open water-cooling system of the synchronous generator. In addition, there is no way to catch oil spill from current and voltage transformers and it is not known if the pipe system that transports water and oil spills is completely sealed. Finally, there is no permanent installation to catch spills from tank filling areas and Svenska kraftnät does rarely follow up the environmental work of the entrepreneurs. Svenska kraftnät is recommended to use the products and services from the companies Qlean Scandinavia AB and TTL Miljöteknik AB to attend to the noted environmental risks. Qlean Scandinavia AB offers an environmental friendly cleaning procedure with ultraclean water and sealing of concrete, which can be used for the transformer pits and oil-water separation house. They also sell profile planks as a fire-extinguishing layer for transformer pits. These are considered better and safer than the conventional stones used. The price is almost the same, however the maintenance costs are lower for the profile planks, since they are easier to clean and do not require heavy transports to landfill. They also require less space than the stones, therefore a smaller transformer pit can be built, and cost savings can be made on concrete. TTL Miljöteknik AB has products based on environmental friendly oil solidifying polymers placed in different textiles and filters. They let water and other substances pass, but react with hydrocarbons, like oil, forming a tight rubberlike mass. These installations are new to Europe, but more than 12 000 installations have been made, mainly in the United States and Australia. For the inspected substation in this thesis it is recommended to manage oil spill at each machine and to clean the pipe system. An HFF-filter should be installed in cleaned and sealed transformer pits. The filter lets water from precipitation pass, but binds oil, thanks to the solidifying polymers. The clean water is further transported through the pipe system to the oil-water separation house and from there water is pumped to the lake. Wells must be sealed and the pipes from the substation house led to a septic tank. Agent X, a type of filter mat, should be placed on the substation area to catch oil spills from current and voltage transformers, since previous breakdowns show that oil can be spread over a large area. For plants without a pipe system the water will be released outside the transformer pits. For new constructions it is suggested that transformer pits are built with a polyvinyl mat in the bottom and a filter on the sides, which will capture the oil. A concrete fundament still needs to be built to support the machine; therefore the price will almost be the same as for the conventional transformer pit in concrete, although less concrete is needed. However, with this technique the transformer pit will not require any maintenance.