Regulatory Tools in

Environmental Law

Natural Resources and Environmental Law

 Available Policy
Instruments

(The 5 Ps in Environmental Law)

Property Rights

The Approach: take away public

access to the resources and
privatize it or create ownership
rights

Premise: People will take better

care of their private property

In the Problem of the Commons

therefore, a non-owner can no
longer use the formerly common
land. Instead, use will be limited
to the owners
Property Rights
Can also be used in regulating
fishing
Limited people can exercise
fishing rights
Fishermen will not be
pressured into getting as
much as they can, while
they can
Overfishing can be
prevented by pre-
determining fishing quotas
Property Rights
Challenges:

How to allocate the

resources? Who gets what,
and why?

How to exclude others from

common resources?

What to do when efficiency

conflicts with social goals?
 Prescriptive Regulation
(Command and Control)
Approach:

Regulators direct behavior of

regulated party

Premise:

Regulators know best, has the

most accurate information, will
not give in to pressure groups
or politics and has the
monitoring and enforcement
capacity
 Prescriptive Regulation
(Command and Control)
Applied to the problem of the
commons
Regulators determine, based
on available science the
carrying capacity of the land
All grazers are then required
to abide by the grazing limit
and other rules
All those who violate
prohibition will be punished
 Prescriptive Regulation
(Command and Control)
Challenges:

Premises not true in the

Philippines
Regulators do not know
best; have no information
Regulators subject to
pressures, political or
otherwise
No monitoring and
enforcement capacity
 Property Rights and Prescriptive
Regulation hybrid

Permit Trading

Approach :

Create property rights, prescribe

regulations, create market
Maximum emissions per
installation set
Owners of emission
permits can trade
The ownership of rights
and the privilege to trade
gives incentives to
develop new technology
Permits Trading
 Penalties

(Internalizing
Externalities)
Approach:

Make the polluters/destroyers

absorb the environmental
costs

Premise:

If actual costs to the

environment are passed on
to those who will degrade it,
they will avoid degrading
the environment
 Penalties 

(Internalizing
Externalities)
As applied to the commons:
Each grazer will be
taxed equivalent to his/
her share in the cost of
damage to the
environment
They may graze as much
as they want but they
will have to pay the
taxes
 Penalties

(Internalizing
Externalities)

Challenges:

Calculating costs to the

environment
Value of ecosystem
services
Mismatched scales and the
resulting “race to the bottom”
Enforcement and
monitoring capacity
Payments
Approach:

Pay/reward environmentally
friendly behavior

Premise:

If environmentally friendly
practices are rewarded in an
amount more than an individual
can earn from overusing the
resources, environmentally friendly
behavior can be shaped
Payments
As applied to the commons
Grazers who limit their
animals to a definite
number will get
government subsidies
As a result, there will be
more incentive not to
overuse the grazing field
as revenues will be
“guaranteed”
Payments

May also be applied to air

pollution
Government subsidizes
those who do not use coal
fired power or those who
use electric cars
Payments
Challenges

Where would the government

source the funds to
subsidize particular groups

Possible conflict with socio-

economic objectives

How to choose which

activities to subsidize and
once chosen, how to
prioritize
Public Disclosure
and Persuasion
Approach:

Make the public themselves choose to

be environmentally friendly by
educating them and giving them
direct access to relevant information

Premise:

An educated and informed

citizenry will decide to do what
is best
Public Disclosure
and Persuasion
As applied to the commons
All grazers/shepherds will be
required to report the number
of sheep they bring
Those who “abuse” the commons
will be known to everyone,
based on the information
With an educated public
informed of “abusers”,
consumers will reject products
of the abusers
Public Disclosure
and Persuasion
Challenges:

Economic needs/ social

pressure may outweigh
“intelligent choices” in day
to day decision-making

Monitoring labels and

information that may
mislead the public

Scientific uncertainty