Chapter 3

Principles and Concepts of

Environmental Law
Introduction
Environmental law has many principles at present and
most of these principles are developed at international
level.
The principles are increasing in number and in depth
from time to time.
Many countries have included these principles into
their national environmental laws or even into their
constitutions.
Most of the principles, which are going to be
discussed in this Chapter, are also parts of the
Ethiopian environmental legislation.
1. Sustainable Development
The international community recognized sustainable
development as the overarching paradigm for
improving quality of life in 1992, at UNCED.
There are different definitions for SD but we use the
1987 Brundtland Commission’s definition:
“Development that meets the needs of the present
without
compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs.”
Do future generations have rights?
Can a non-existent being be holder of rights?
The constitution recognizes Ethiopia’s right to
sustainable development. (Art. 43 (3))
The Environmental Policy of Ethiopia states that:

“The overall policy goal is to improve and enhance

the health and quality of life of all Ethiopians and
to promote sustainable social and economic
development through the sound management and
use of natural, human-made and cultural
resources and the environment as a whole so as to
meet the needs of the present generation without
compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs.” (§ 2.1)
 • Sustainable development includes four elements as
reflected in many international agreements:
1. the need to preserve Nature for the benefit of future
generations (the principle of intergenerational
equity);
2. the aim of exploiting Nature in a manner which is
‘sustainable’, or ‘prudent’, or ‘rational’, or ‘wise’ or
‘appropriate’ (the principle of sustainable use);
3. the ‘equitable’ use of natural endowments, which
implies that use by one state must take account of the
needs of other states (the principle of equitable use,
or intra-generational equity); and
4. the need to ensure that environmental
considerations are integrated into economic and
other development plans, programs and projects,
and that development needs are taken into account
in applying environmental objectives (the principle
of integration).
Many binding and non-binding instruments now deal
with the idea of sustainable development;
 Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration, the 1995
Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development,
Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable
Development, SDGs, etc.
Principle 4 of the Rio Declaration provides:
“In order to achieve sustainable development,
environmental protection shall constitute an integral
part of the development process and cannot be
considered in isolation from it.”
Principle 25 states that:
“Peace, development and environmental protection
are interdependent and indivisible.”
Is SD a dream or a reality?
2. Polluter Pays Principle (PPP)
The polluter pays principle basically means that the
producer of goods or other items should be
responsible for the costs of preventing or dealing with
any pollution which the process causes.
This includes environmental costs as well as direct
costs to people or property and the costs incurred in
avoiding pollution.
As experience suggests, the polluter usually resorts to
superficial and inexpensive remedy and tries to
persuade the relevant authority to accept his remedy.
Many of the polluters tend to act as free riders.
A free rider is the one who does not pay for the cleaning
cost of his/her pollution but gets benefit from what
others pay.
This is particularly true when the pollutant is a diffused one.
Another problem with this principle is that — before the
polluter makes efforts to clean up the pollutant, a
significant portion of the pollutions may be cleaned by
natural processes.
A cradle-to-grave (beginning of development projects
until its closure or liquidation) liability may be imposed
on projects to make them responsible for even past
pollutions.
Cradle-to-grave also may mean that from product until
the waste is properly managed.
For some products there is another principle 
cradle-to-cradle (Efficient reuse and recycling) (E.g.
Lead acid batteries)  Zero waste
Principle 16 of the Rio Declaration provides for the
PPP.
§ 3.8 (b) of the Environmental Policy of Ethiopia also
deals with PPP.
According to the PPP, the environmental costs of
economic activities, including the cost of preventing
potential harm, should be internalized rather than
imposed upon society at large.
3. Principle of Preventive Action
(Prevention)
“Golden Rule” for the environment, for both
ecological and economic reasons; Why?
It is nearly impossible to remedy environmental
injury once it is seriously affected. (e.g. a species
gone extinct cannot be reversed.)
The preventive approach was endorsed, directly or
indirectly, by the 1972 Stockholm Declaration, the
1978 UNEP Draft Principles and the 1982 World
Charter for Nature.
It is also included in many binding environmental
treaties.
The preventative principle is the notion that states,
corporations, or individuals have an obligation to take
steps to avoid causing environmental damage,
including the environment beyond their own territory
or property ownership.
In The Trail Smelter Arbitration [1941] – a case
arising from crop damage to property in the US
resulting from emissions from a Canadian smelter –
the tribunal concluded that under the principles of
international law no State has the right to use or
permit the use of its territory in such a manner as to
cause injury by fumes in or to the territory of another
or the properties or persons therein.
The preventive principle is supported by an extensive
body of domestic environmental protection
legislation as well as the adoption of international
commitments on environmental standards, access to
environmental information, and the need to carry out
environmental impact assessments in relation to the
conduct of certain proposed activities.
The preventive principle may, therefore, take a
number of forms, including the use of penalties and
the application of liability rules.
It is meant to prohibit or control infliction of serious
impacts on the environment.
Examples of serious impacts
The extinction of a species
Dumping of persistent pollutants into the sea,
for example, may cause irreversible damage.
 Even when harm is remediable, the costs
of rehabilitation are often prohibitive.
Emission limits and other product or process
standards, the use of best available techniques and
similar other techniques can all be seen as applications
of the concept of prevention;
One obligation that flows from the concept of
prevention is prior assessment of potentially
harmful activities;
4. Precautionary Principle
In general the precautionary principle applies when it
is uncertain, on available information, if an impact
will be detrimental to the environment or not.
The principle is based on the premise that the impact
will be detrimental when the available information is
uncertain.
The principle needs avoidance of potential adverse
long-term effects of future developments that are not
expected, contemplated or foreseen when projects are
launched.
The precautionary principle is based on the premise
that action should be taken even if there is a lack of
total scientific certainty, often reversing the burden of
proof on those who claim that an activity is not
damaging.
In some cases, the existence of an environmental
problem is evident, e.g., ozone layer depletion.
In most cases, however, especially those that have to
do with the impact of hazardous substances on human
health or the environment, the scientific evidence may
not be conclusive. (E.g. Use of GMOs).
6.2.2. Differentiated Responsibilities

Economically rich countries should bear bigger

responsibility.
Their historic position;
Their capacity to cope up with changing
circumstances;
Economically poor countries are less responsible
Their contribution to the environmental problems;
Their capacity to adapt to the changing circumstances.
7. Good Governance
The concept implies, among others, that states and
international organizations should:
adopt democratic and transparent decision-making
procedures and financial accountability;
take effective measures to combat official or other
corruption;
respect due process in their procedures and observe
the rule of law more generally;
protect human rights; and (e) conduct public
procurement in a transparent, non-corrupt manner.