Lecture 9: Environmental Protection

**[LECTURE 9]** **[ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION]** The environment is extremely important for human beings because it provides resources for socio-economic development and other important environmental services. No other living beings on the planet interferes with nature as destructive as we humans d...

**[LECTURE 9]** **[ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION]** The environment is extremely important for human beings because it provides resources for socio-economic development and other important environmental services. No other living beings on the planet interferes with nature as destructive as we humans do. Thus, issues like world hunger, global warming, increasing natural disasters, polluted air, water and soil, pesticide use in the fields, Species extinction , crop failures etc would remind us not to believe that we are the only living beings on a sick planet remaining healthy. It should be note that every developmental activity affects the environment to some extent. Let us think of a scenario where there are no controls or guidelines in the use of environmental resources for development. Let us then ask ourselves, what would happen under such a scenario? What that scenario will mean is that human beings would use any resource in any quantity, discharge any type and quantity of waste into any medium (air, land or water body) and use any space for any purpose in pursuit of socio-economic development. The end result is that such a development path will not be sustainable; hence there is the need to regulate human activities. That is, there is the need for environmental regulations. In general, regulations consist of principles or rules for controlling, directing or managing a system, organization or activities. They may or may not have the coercive power of law. Regulations can also be seen as rules meant to carry out a specific piece of legislation. Regulations are usually enforced by a regulatory agency formed or mandated to carry out the provisions of the legislation. For our discussions we would adopt the following definition: **a regulation encompasses any administrative measure taken by government which has the backing of law (Jacobs, 1991).** **The principal purpose of environmental regulations is to compel developers to operate within environmental capacity in order to protect the environment from destruction. Thus, environmental regulations regulate the impact of developmental activities on the environment. They seek to prevent pollution of the environment, depletion of resources and damage to life and property that can result from human activities.** Environmental regulations make public interest take precedence over private interest. It has been noted that environmental regulations lead to a wiser use of resources. This is because it leads to technological innovations. Regulations come in different forms. For instance, some come in the form of development control or land use control and building codes. Others operate in the area of consumer safety, banning certain chemicals in food products. Some are specified as permitted emission levels of different pollutants. In all cases environmental regulations offer no legal choice. Offenders are punished by the law courts by the payment of a fine or imprisonment or both. Thus, for environmental regulations to be successful in environmental management, they should be accompanied by enforcement and punishment. Regulations operate at different geographical scales, such as **global, regional, and national or district levels**. Let us consider some of the regulations at the various levels. [INTERNATIONAL REGULATIONS] International regulations operate at either the global level or regional level. Such regulations are made in the form of agreements among nation-states. The United Nations Treaty Collection identifies the following international instruments binding at international law: a\. Treaties b\. Agreements c\. Conventions d\. Charters e\. Protocols f\. Declarations g\. Memoranda of Understanding h\. Modus Vivendi i\. Exchange of Notes The definitions of these terms, as used in the UN, will be provided in Box 1 for your general Information. [NATIONAL R EGULATIONS] National regulations relating to environmental management can be found in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. They are also presented in the form of Acts, Legislative Instruments, Environmental Standards, and Guidelines. Currently, there is an on-going project to develop a national database to enhance access to environmental law information in Ghana. The project is called the Ghana Legal Information (GHANALEX) Project. It is being implemented by the EPA. It provides ready information for the academia, legal practitioners, government officials, civil society and the general public. Some of the environmental regulations of Ghana affect all sectors of the economy. Others relate to specific sectors such as mining. If we take the mining sector of Ghana for example, the laws and regulations that have been put in place to promote or regulate the extraction and marketing of minerals include the following: 1\. The 1992 Constitution of Ghana 2\. Additional Profit Tax Law, 1988 3\. Diamonds Decree, 1972 4\. Mercury Law, 1989 5\. Minerals and Mining Law, 1986 6\. Rivers Ordinance 7\. Small-scale Gold Mining Law, 1989 In addition to sector related regulations, there are national guidelines for specific environmental components. For instance, the EPA has developed guidelines such as: - - Such guidelines provide standards and targets that have to be met with respect to gaseous discharge into the air (Guidelines for Ambient Air) or generation of noise (Guidelines for Ambient Noise Level). The principal subject matter of this course concerns environmental planning and environmental management. There are regulations governing the conduct of environmental planning and environmental management in Ghana. The principal regulations are: - - - The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Act, Act 490 established the Agency and its mandate. For instance, one of the functions of EPA in the act is: *'to ensure compliance with* *any laid down environmental impact assessment procedures in the planning and execution of* *development projects, including compliance in respect of existing projects'*. The Act gives EPA the power of enforcement and control. For instance, Section 12 Subsection 1 states: *'the Agency may by notice in writing require any person responsible for* *any undertaking which in the opinion of the Agency has or is likely to have adverse effect on* *the environment to submit to the Agency in respect of the undertaking an environmental* *impact assessment containing such information within such period as shall be specified in the* *notice'.* [LOCAL REGULATION] The Local Government Act, 2003, Act 462 empowers local authorities, such as metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana to formulate bye -laws for protecting the environment. When these bye-laws are gazetted, they have legal backing and therefore offenders can be prosecuted. Almost every MMDA in Ghana has sanitation bye-laws that address environmental sanitation, especially waste management, within the built environment. They all have land use plans and development control guidelines, particularly in the urban areas, to guide the location of development activities. Some MMDAs have formulated bye-laws for protecting the natural environment. For instance, some have bye-laws relating to bush fires. However, in general, many MMDAs have not been able to formulate bye-laws for the protection of the natural environment. In 1992, the then Environmental Protection Council (now EPA) published Guidelines on Environmental Management for District assemblies in Ghana. However, these Guidelines have not been implemented fully.