Mirror of Justice

Environmental Issues

July 16th, 2009 at 04:37pm Under Environmental Law

Anything that surrounds us and affects us directly or indirectly is the part of environment. It includes air, water, land, soil, flora, fauna & other organisms. Today, the declining environment is an alarming issue the world as a whole faces. This is a global phenomenon, nobody is untouched or unaffected by it’s hazardous results.

The environment is degrading at an unprecedented rate. All the natural resources are under threat. The forests are being chopped off thereby causing deforestation which leads to soil erosion, increase in global warming, decrease in precipitation and loss of habitat for the wildlife. The industrialization and urbanization has manifolded the air pollution. Air pollution has serious consequences like asthma, eye irritation, lung cancer and can be even fatal. According to a survey, around 2 million people die every year due to causes directly attributed to air pollution. The scene is unchanged in case of water, soil, noise and land pollution. This all has led to environmental detoriation and degradation.

Now coming to the nature and its boundaries, environmental pollution knows none of them. The whole world faces this crisis today. The polar icecaps and glaciers are rapidly turning to water. The Brazilian forests have been reduced to half. The nuclear tragedy in Russia and Bhopal gas tragedy in India are shocking examples of how the environment is affected by human activities. Many species of animals have become endangered.  The average temperature of earth has gone up. The ozone layer is depleting. The whole balance and composition of environment has been put at stake. The problem of environment has a global scope and hold.

It is true that no politician, no war or no philosopher can bring the world as close and together as this problem. It is time for the mankind to rise from their slumber of ignorance and cooperate to solve this menace. Everybody has to stand united and make sleepless efforts to solve these problems. People should spread awareness regarding environmental issues. Role of individual is important. Earth day and environmental day should be celebrated with zeal and vigor and people all over the world should take active part in it. It is time when we should forget the boundaries of countries and religion. As said, it’s a global problem.

Even now if people choose disunity and disharmony, the mankind is sure to doom. What is important is that people should understand that if there is environment, there is life. Environment should be our top priority. Global acts and policies should be formed and environmental laws need to be stringent. United we stand, divided we fall. Let us all irrespective of our nations, take a pledge and protect our environment.

A Critical Look at Environmental Destruction and Man

July 14th, 2009 at 10:37am Under Environmental Law

A Critical Look at Environmental Destruction and Man

by

A. J. Uisso (Research Officer)

Tanzania Forestry Research Institute (TAFORI)

P. o Box 1854 – Morogoro Tanzania

(uissoaj@yahoo.com)

Introduction

Environment is an encompassing phenomenon, which include a lot of things like land, water, air and human being among other things. There are always interactions between these individual components. Over the course of this century, the relationship between man and the environment that sustain it has undergone a profound change. When the century began, neither the human numbers nor technology had power to radically alter the systems of the planet. As the century closes, not only the vastly increased human population and their activities have hat power, but major unintended changes are occurring in the atmosphere, soils, in waters, among plants and animals and in the relationship among all of these. This article, however, discusses the relationship between environmental destruction and man, and the way forward to rescue our deteriorating environment.

Environment destruction and man

In the course of our development activities, our natural capital stocks continue to suffer considerable depletion and digression. Much of what are called natural disasters such as floods, area result of our mismanagement of the environment.

Industrialization and poor management and utilization of natural resources surrounding human being plays key roles in causing environmental damages and degradation. It is apparent that environment has a role to play in our day to day life in that it forms one of the components leading to basis and foundations for our lives. Therefore, its deterioration affects our very lives. It is a reality that in a bid to search for development and ensure natural resources in an uncontrollable manner man in turn, either knowingly or unknowingly adversely affects the environmental base.

The growing urban population is largely depend on fuelwood or charcoal for energy, on local water supplies and is directly affected by growing urban environmental problems of land, water, air and noise pollution. Urban industries have little pollution control, waste disposal is organized only for a few, and unplanned urban growth now occurs in several parts of the country.

In these ways the whole world particularly developing countries are directly affected by the environmental issues which have now assumed proportions that threaten the foundations of human life and development. Among the environmental issues due to human activities are, land degradation, air pollution, solid and liquid waste management, deforestation, wetland degradation, fresh water access and quality, loss of biodiversity and introduction of alien species.

Way forward

From this line of argument therefore, it remains upon the man himself to have sense of responsibility and see an utmost importance of protecting the environment. Needless to emphasize, our lives depend much on the environment surrounding us. Hence we are forced to utilize the natural resources obtaining there from properly. As such we have the same time to conserve, promote and protect it. Conclusively, there should be a controlled system of harvesting the resources and these should be enforced by environmental laws. For effective enforcement of environmental laws /policies, the following areas must be improved:

• Ensure fairness (avoid biases) of the laws.

• Use appropriate language to ensure maximum communication, thus making it easier to understand.

• Create laws that emphasize decentralization of powers to local leaders, which may be used to report any intention and give power to coordinate all functions and activities geared towards the protection of environment within their areas.

• Promote compliance through education and incentives.

• Ensure consistency of environmental laws with any existing laws in other sectors.

• Ensure that environmental laws requirements are enforceable and that there are adequate funds for their implementation.

• Provide the authority necessary for to enforce environmental laws.

California’s Water Bank and the Drought in California – a California Water Law Attorney Conclusion – We’re Dry Out Here

July 12th, 2009 at 10:37am Under Environmental Law

Here in the desert cities of Palm Springs, CA, Joshua Tree, Palm Desert, Cathedral City, Indian Wells, Yucca Valley, Rancho Mirage, Desert Hot Springs, Twentynine Palms, Thermal, Indio, Coachella, La Quinta, Victorville, Hesperia, Apple Valley or Barstow, in the somewhat greener areas of Southern California such as Newport Beach, Buena Park, Anaheim, Irvine, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Carlsbad, Mission Viejo and in other cities in San Diego,Orange County, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Cambria, agricultural areas such as the central valley of Fresno and the Imperial Valley, the drought in California is a serious problem for all of us in this State.

 

After the driest spring in 88 years, in June 2008 Governor Schwarzenegger formally declared California to be in a drought and nine counties in the Central Valley to be in a state of emergency after two years of below-average rainfall and six dry years that have killed off fish populations, driven down agricultural land values and required severe reductions in water usage in the Central Valley. The declaration, while bad enough, still stops short of a statewide water emergency which, if declared, will likely carry with it mandatory water rationing.

 

Efforts to capture water have been hampered by evaporation of snow packs due to climate change, but snowpack water content this winter was only 67 percent of average. California’s water shortage was compounded by a federal court order limiting the pumping of water from the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta to protect a species of fish.

 

And so in June 2008 the State of California formed a Water Bank to buy water from farmers upstream from the Delta and from local water agencies and to make it available for sale to public water systems and private water systems who may otherwise run short of water next year. Agencies buying the water will have to agree to a 20 percent reduction overall in water usage. It is believed that the Water Bank will stave off mandatory water rationing.

 

Under the plan, water purchased from northern farmers and water agencies will be shipped south via the State’s canals.

 

Currently, there is no end in sight to California’s dry conditions. While there is a $9.3 billion plan in the State legislature to address the state’s delta environmental problems and expand the state’s water works, it has been tied up while the legislators haggled over a budget.

 

A bill to require Californian’s to cut water usage by 20 percent recently passed the Assembly and the bill puts the onus on residents as opposed to farmers.

 

In the midst of this water crisis, an amazing 100 facilities are bottling water in California, using California’s precious water supply. An Assembly Bill to measure the amount of water being bottled is an attempt to learn just how bad the abuse of these water supplies is on top of the pollution and harm to the environment caused by these facilities and the plastic water bottles, most of which are not recycled.

 

The Department of Public Resources estimates that more than 1 billion gallons of bottled water are sold in California each year. 

 

If you have a water law issue in San Diego, Newport Beach, Irvine, Orange County, La Jolla, in the Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Palm Springs or anywhere in Southern California, we have the knowledge and resources to be your California Water Lawyer and your Santa Barbara Environmental Attorney. Be sure to hire a California law firm with environmental law experience who can serve areas such as Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Anaheim, Irvine, Beverly Hills, Malibu, Newport Beach, Carlsbad, Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, Santa Ana, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Fullerton, Del Mar, San Diego, Orange County, San Luis Obispo, Buena Park, La Jolla, Oxnard, Ventura, La Quinta, and Santa Barbara so you are properly represented.

 

If you have a water law or environmental dispute of any kind, call the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson, or visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com  and learn how we can assist you.

Environmental Law

July 12th, 2009 at 04:37am Under Environmental Law

         ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

                             Environment comes as a basic necessity in the day-to-day life. The existence a better than good atmosphere is quite needful in the present existing era. Environment in itself contains regime-law of public nuisance, conservation of forest and various other important resources. Environment comes as a basic backbone for every single living being.

                            Environment plays a pivotal role in human life as well as in the development of society. With growing technological advancement and industrialization, the purity of the environment has been threatened to an appalling extent. The need to protect and improve the environment is so compelling for the peaceful survival of mankind and other life forms on planet Earth that right to environment has emerged as a human right.

                            The word “Environment” is of broad spectrum, which brings within its ambit, Hygienic atmosphere and Ecological balance. It is therefore not only the duty of the State but also the duty of every citizen to maintain hygienic environment. Many are the noteworthy judicial decisions that touched upon the various aspects environmental pollution and degradation and all these development have found an echo in India too.

                            The world has always been ruled by the formula of “might is right”, but in today’s modern democratic and so called civilized society there comes in the legislation of those ‘laws’. All the democratic societies of 21st century has drafted and setup some codified norms over the protection of rights of the common man in regards to the environment. Such law is said to be known as the Environmental Law.

                            “Environmental Law is perceived as one of the most important tools of environmental management. Until very recently, it was a part of various civil and criminal laws specifying rights of individuals groups of people and the state over the nature (land, water, air, plants, wild life, etc.)”

                            “With the emergence of environmental destruction as a major threat to human survival, the development scope of environmental law has emerged as the most important tool of promoting development without destruction. The volume aims at focussing on global environmental concerns and the Indian response as evident from legal measures attempted to meet the growing demand for economic development without sacrificing the environmental goals and objectives.”

                                 In the Constitution of India it is clearly stated that it is the duty of the state to ‘protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country’. It imposes a duty on every citizen ‘to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers, and wildlife’. Reference to the environment has also been made in the Directive Principles of State Policy as well as the Fundamental Rights. The Department of Environment was established in India in 1980 to ensure a healthy environment for the country. This later became the Ministry of Environment and Forests in 1985.

                            Article 21 of the Constitution of India envisages right to life as a fundamental right and therefore enjoyment of life and its attainment including the right to life with human dignity encompasses within its ambits. The protection and preservation of environment, ecological balance free from pollution of air and water, sanitation without which life cannot be enjoyed. Pollution of environment, ecological, air, and water regarded as violation of Article 21. Therefore hygienic environment is an integral facet of right to healthy life. Recently, Supreme Court had made many land mark judgments for the preservation of environment, ecology, wildlife, forests, etc.

                            The constitutional provisions are backed by a number of laws – acts, rules, and notifications. The EPA (Environment Protection Act), 1986 came into force soon after the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and is considered umbrella legislation as it fills many gaps in the existing laws. Thereafter a large number of laws came into existence as the problems began arising, for example, Handling and Management of Hazardous Waste Rules in 1989.