This paper argues that “enlightened shareholder value” (“ESV”) offers a “third way” between the shareholder primacy and stakeholder theories of the corporation; one that maintains the creation of shareholder value as the corporation’s primary function, but requires directors to take into account the environmental impact of the corporations’ operations. ESV requires directors to “have regard to”, among other things, “the impact of the company’s operations on…the environment.” The obligation to “have regard to” should be interpreted as a procedural duty requiring directors to inform themselves as to the environmental impact of the corporation’s operations, which may in itself cause directors to reallocate corporate resources to environmental protection. ESV may also improve corporations’ environmental disclosure and impact social norms of corporate behaviour with respect to the environment. Any negative impact of ESV on present shareholder returns is justified by the obligation to avoid imposing foreseeable severe or irreparable environmental harm on future generations.

Sammanfattning Geocaching är en sport och hobby som blir allt mer populär i Sverige. Antalet användare ökar ständigt och det finns inget som tyder på någon avtagande trend.  I Sverige finns Allemansrätten, som ger alla rätt att fritt röra sig i skog och mark. Den fria rörligheten gör att aktiviteter och sporter så som geocaching utövas på platser långt ut i skog och mark. Utövandet av geocaching har nu blivit så omfattande att det finns behov av vetenskapliga studier. Behovet av fler studier kring ämnet geocaching belyses genom avsaknaden på publikationer samt att det uttrycks ett behov i de få skrifter som redan finns.  För att undvika framtida konflikter, på grund av nedskräpning i vår omgivning, i samband med utövandet av geocaching, syftar studien till att undersöka huruvida en geocache kan bedömas som nedskräpning eller ej. Studien baseras på en analys av relevanta rättsfall i ett nedskräpningssammanhang.  I ett fall har propositionen till nedskräpningsbestämmelsen för mindre nedskräpning utgjort grunden då det saknas relevanta rättsfall.    Studien visar att det föreligger flertalet prövningar bakom en nedskräpningsbedömning. Det visade sig att tillträde och insyn till nedskräpningen var viktig samt placeringen. En nedskräpning på känsliga och skyddsvärda platser där nedskräpning sker som dessutom inbjuder till ytterligare nedskräpning bedöms hårdare än annars. Den slutliga bedömningen var att en geocache inte kan räknas som en straffbar nedskräpning. Varje geocache är unik och rättslägen kan ändras därför kan inte slutsatsen appliceras likgiltigt i alla situationer och tider. / Abstract Geocaching is a sport and hobby that is becoming more and more popular in Sweden. The number of users is steadily increasing and there are no signs of any downward trend. In Sweden the Right of Public Access (Allemansrätt) is giving everyone the right to move freely in the nature. The free movement means that activities and sports such as geocaching can be practiced in places far out into the woods and fields. The practice of geocaching has now become so extensive that there is a need for scientific studies. The need for more studies on the subject of geocaching is illustrated by the lack of publications, and that is also expressed in the few already existing papers. To avoid future conflicts, due to littering of our environment, in practicing geocaching, the study aims to investigate whether a geocache can be considered as littering or not. The study is based on an analysis of relevant case law in a litter context. In one case, the proposition for littering provision for minor littering provided the basis in the absence of relevant case law.   The study shows that there are several evaluations behind a litter assessment. It turned out that access and transparency to the littering was important and the location of it. Littering in sensitive and places worthy protection which also invites further littering is considered harder than usual. The final conclusion was that a geocache can not be counted as a criminal littering act. Each geocache is unique and legal position may change therefore the conclusion can not be applied indifferently in all situations and times.

<p>I Sverige är hållbar utveckling ett övergripande mål för regeringens politik. Alla politiska beslut som fattas ska i ett längre tidsperspektiv ta hänsyn till ekonomiska, sociala och miljömässiga aspekter. Hållbar utveckling återkommer i Miljöbalkens första paragraf. Miljöbalkens syfte är i första hand att generellt skydda människors hälsa, främja tillkomsten eller bevarandet av stabila ekosystem och att ge förutsättningar för att naturresurser ska kunna användas på ett sätt som är hållbart. Strandskyddet regleras i miljöbalkens 7 kapitel 13-18 §§ och dess syfte är att trygga förutsättningarna för allmänhetens friluftsliv och bevara goda livsvillkor på land och i vatten för djur- och växtlivet.</p><p>Strandskyddsbestämmelserna gäller på samma sätt i hela Sverige och innebär att det är förbjudet att bygga inom 100 meter från strandlinjen vid hav, sjöar samt vattendrag. Dock kan dispens från dessa bestämmelser sökas om särskilda skäl föreligger. De flesta kommuner i Sverige har via delegation från länsstyrelsen ansvar för prövning av dispensärenden gällande strandskyddsbestämmelserna.</p><p>Syftet med denna studie är att ge en inblick i hur kommuner idag tolkar och fattar beslut om dispens utifrån strandskyddsbestämmelserna samt att diskutera hur aspekterna inom hållbar utveckling påverkas av kommunernas tolkningar och beslut. För att uppnå studiens syfte har textanalyser genomförts på Miljöbalkens 7 kapitel, 13–18 §§, propositionen till Miljöbalken (1997/98: 45) samt dispensbeslut från fyra utvalda kommuner. För att ta reda på hur lagen används i praktiken genomfördes kvalitativa intervjuer med tjänstemän från samma kommuner.</p><p>Under studien framkom det bland annat att det finns en problematik i och med att strandskyddsbestämmelserna gäller på samma sätt i hela Sverige samt att det finns svårigheter vid bedömning och tillämpning av särskilda skäl.</p><p>De slutsatser som dras är bland andra att strandskyddsbestämmelserna ger utrymme för tolkningar vilket leder till att de kan användas för att passa olika intressen i samhället och därigenom gynnar samt missgynnar olika aspekter inom hållbar utveckling.</p>

Water is essential for our daily life. Despite this, much of our water has become polluted and nutrient-enriched. One main factor contributing to the problem are private sewers. In total, there are nearly 1 million private sewers in Sweden, which represent one of the largest point sources of nitrogen and phosphorus. A survey was carried out to investigate the status of private sewers at Källsjön, Sollefteå municipality. In addition, four municipalities around Sollefteå have been interviewed about the implementation of legislation concerning private sewers. The study shows that sewers around Källsjön are seemingly in relatively good condition. However, 36% of the polled property owners have drains that are over 20 years old, and the function of these drains can be questioned. Interestingly, many of the surveyed property owners do not even know how old their drains are and what type of facility they have. Three of four interviewed municipalities are currently not performing any active control of private sewers. All municipalities provided information to property owners regarding current legislation. The study suggests that municipalities should act proactively to establish comprehensive inventories, a first step towards raising the standard of the individual sewers.

This dissertation closely examines the merits, weaknesses, and potential of decentralized environmental regulation. I examine three areas of particular concern in the structure of environmental regulation. In the first chapter, I examine how information problems resulting from incorrectly specified atmospheric models are likely to affect economic efficiency in a permit market. While permit markets have been heralded as a promising solution for controlling environmentally damaging emissions, there is no formal research linking the atmospheric model, which directly affects permit prices, with economic outcomes. In the chapter, I develop a generalized theoretical model that demonstrates the problems that are likely to arise when there is uncertainty in the underlying atmospheric parameter estimates. As it turns out, permit markets operating with incorrectly specified atmospheric models may result in large losses in economic efficiency, even if the permit market is operating ideally in an economic sense. The second chapter analyzes a much broader issue, that of state versus federal environmental regulation. The chapter focuses on the methods used by states attempting to control interstate water pollution in the Ohio Valley in the early 1900s. The time period was chosen to predate federal intervention into environmental regulation and, hence, allows for a clean test of how states might be expected to address difficult pollution problems under a system of state regulation. Using a simple game theoretic model, the paper explores interstate water pollution control compacts and their uses in addressing interstate water pollution. I find that states were able to overcome significant bargaining difficulties in formulating the compacts, which ultimately led to effective control of interstate water pollution. The final chapter focuses on voluntary overcompliance by firms facing environmental standards. The paper models environmental regulation according to the EPA's Best Available Control Technology (BACT). The model predicts voluntary overcompliance by firms as they attempt to raise the (endogenous) environmental standard and, in the process, raise their rivals' costs. The paper also demonstrates the merits of nonuniform environmental standards. In attempting to elicit efficient levels of R&D investment, the regulatory authority may discourage socially wasteful overinvestment in pollution technology through the use of nonuniform standards.

Within the context of UK company law, this thesis proffers a robust solution to the problem of: (1) corporate shareholders utilising the limited liability attained from their shareholding in a subsidiary; and (2) group companies utilising the separate legal personality of an affiliated company, to avoid financial liability under EU environmental law. Analysis is confined to the framework of environmental liability implemented by the Environmental Liability Directive (the ‘ELD’). The ELD is based on the polluter-pays principle. This principle seeks, inter alia, to ensure that the person(s) responsible for environmental damage or the imminent threat of such damage bear the costs of remedying and preventing it. Perversely, two doctrines of UK company law may hinder this and may even incentivise UK companies to externalise their ELD-related costs to society. First, each company is treated as a separate legal person with its own rights and obligations, distinct from those of its shareholder(s). Secondly, under the doctrine of limited liability, when the assets of a company are exhausted, generally, the liability of the shareholder(s) is limited to the amount, if any, unpaid on the share(s) in the company held by them. It is concluded that UK group companies engaged in the most environmentally dangerous activities could be prevented from avoiding financial liabilities arising under the ELD by mandating that they deposit unencumbered assets into an Environmental Damage Trust Fund in favour of the relevant competent authority as security and where funds remained insufficient, attributing the remaining costs to any entity within the corporate group which participated in, or constrained the decision-making of the polluter in relation to the environmentally damaging activity. It is contended that the proposed framework may establish a network of: (1) self-monitoring companies within the corporate group; (2) companies from which funds may be obtained for the satisfaction of the financial liability. This may have two self-perpetuating effects: first, it may promote the prevention of environmental damage by incentivising potentially responsible group members, through the threat of financial liability, to monitor the activity of a high-risk group entity so as to ensure that the activity is conducted in a safe manner. Secondly, it may aid the private remediation of environmental damage by expanding the pool of funds available to meet the financial liability.

published_or_final_version / Law / Master / Master of Laws

Working at the nexus of environmental, cultural, and Borderlands history, my research, "Smoke and Mirrors: Smelter Pollution and the Cultural Construction of Environmental Narratives in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands," follows the evolving late 20th-century debates over transnational smelter pollution in southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico. The region has pivoted around copper mining since the late 19th century and by the mid-1900s, the transnational copper industry, concentrated in Douglas, Arizona, and Cananea and Nacozari, Sonora, coupled with the prevalence of maquiladoras in Agua Prieta, produced a severe air pollution problem. In reaction to environmental damage and public health problems, concerned citizens on both sides of the border organized to legally enforce existing environmental regulations and improve local conditions. The ensuing struggle over local air quality in the small towns of Douglas, Cananea, and Nacozari--coined the "Gray Triangle"--quickly escalated to national environmental and economic conversations, and resulted in international cooperation and legislation.

Biological diversity is defined in Article 2 of the Convention on Biological Diversity as the variability among living organisms from all sources including terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part. This, includes diversity within species and of ecosystems. Biological diversity and its components is valuable in meeting the social, economic, scientific, educational and other human needs. Biological diversity is also important for revolution and maintaining of life sustaining systems of the biosphere. For many years biological resources were treated as coon heritage of mankind; free access was consequently accepted. Most of the genetic resources used for developing new products originated from developing countries in the South; on the other hand research and development in respect of new technologies is carried out mostly by firms in developed countries in the North. New products resulting thereof are subsequently protected by the intellectual property rights (IPR). It is now recognised that new products using biological resources benefit directly or indirectly from indigenous knowledge. Such knowledge is of significant value for the understanding of the natural environment and for sustainable use of natural resources. However, the contribution made by these communities does not receive the same recognition or protection as products which benefit from their knowledge. Existing IPR systems were not designed to extend benefits to indigenous knowledge. Changes in this area were necessitated by concerns about the significant reduction of biological diversity due to certain human activities. These concerns coupled with the recognition that issues of conservation of biological resources cannot be dealt with without addressing issues of equity in access to and sharing of both genetic resources and technologies, recognition of the role of indigenous and local communities, eradication of poverty and international co-operation among others. The Convention on Biological Diversity entered into force in 1993 as a global effort into addressing these issues. It is recognised in the Convention that access to and transfer of technology among members are essential elements for the attainment of its objectives. Parties are therefore called upon to facilitate access and transfer technologies that are relevant to conservation and sustainable use. Protection to IPR holders is provided by the requirements that access to and transfer of technology which is subject to patents and other IPR is to be provided on terms which recognise and are consistent with the adequate and effective protection of IPR. The relationship between environmental protection and IPR is thus made an important issue which may influence implementation of the Convention. This thesis focuses on the study of national and international IPR regimes and their role in implementation of the provisions of the convention. Limitations of these regimes are identified, recent developments in addressing these limitations are analysed and possible alternatives are proposed. This study purports to supplement global efforts to effectively implement provisions of the Convention. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1999.

This work will investigate the implementation of plant variety protection obligations that African states, and in particular South Africa, have to undertake under the various relevant international agreements, especially the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and the Convention on Biological Diversity. The property rights regimes set up in the different international instruments do not necessarily culminate in a coherent whole. While a trend towards the privatisation of plant genetic resources is evident and notable, continuous upholding of the sovereign rights of states over their natural resources is also present. In particular, this work will investigate the question of whether intellectual property rights support or undermine the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Article 27.3(b) of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights provides for the mandatory patenting of micro-organisms and microbiological processes. This provision has, however, been the source of much controversy and was inserted under the proviso that it be reviewed four years after the coming into force of the Agreement (i.e. 1999). To date, such review has not occurred. Accordingly, it will be argued that the obligation to implement the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights in African Member States should be suspended pending the outcome of the review. This work will critically consider the effects that the introduction of patents over plant varieties are likely to have in Africa, focusing on the fulfilment of basic food needs for all individuals and the sustainable management of biological resources in African countries. It will be argued that African states should take advantage of the possibility of devising a property rights system adapted to their needs and conditions and should avoid any system involving the introduction of monopoly or exclusionary rights, such as patents or plant breeders' rights. / Thesis (LL.M.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.