SOURCES AND FUNDAMENTAL

PRINCIPLES OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

UNIT TWO
 National Law
• The sources of Environmental law in Zambia are found in:

• i)The Constitution

• ii)Environmental Laws and Legislation

• iii)Common Law principles

• iv)Judicial Precedents
• Constitution :

• Article 43(1)(c)(d) of constitution Act no 2 of 2016

• Article 151(2)(f) of constitution Act no 2 of 2016

• Article 255 to 257 of constitution Act no 2 of 2016

• Environmental Laws or Legislation:

• This is the principle source of Environmental law in Zambia as

provided by section 3.

• The main piece of Environmental Legislation is the

Environmental Management Act No. 12 of 2011 which
according to section 76 of the said Act is administered in
conjunction with other Acts.
• Judicial Decisions:

• The decisions of the Supreme Court and High Court in Zambia provide a
source of Environmental law by the creation of legal precedents that are
binding. Therefore, where the Court is faced with a dispute relating to
environmental issues, they will be guided by legal precedents as such, any
decision passed by the court will become a source of environmental law.
• Common Law Principles and Traditional Customs:

• Common law principles are those that have been used by

courts of chancery and have achieved common usage over
time. In the same vein, a custom that has been widely
accepted and used to deal with environmental matters will
qualify as a source of Environmental law.
• Regulations:
• Much of the detail of environmental obligations is set out in statutory
instruments.

• The Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) provides as

follows:

• s30 (1) “the minister may by statutory instrument, on the advice of the
Agency, make regulations for the effective administration of strategic
environmental assessments and environmental impact assessments.”
 INTERNATIONAL LAW
• The sources on international Environmental Law are generally the same
as those of international law, because it is a branch of international law.
The Sources of international Law are listed under Article 138 of the
Statute of the international Court of Justice and includes the following:
• i)International Conventions or treaties
• ii)International Customs ( Customary international law)
• iii)General Principles of Law recognised by civilized nations
• iv)Judicial Decisions and Qualified Teachings
• International Conventions:

• Most international Environmental Law is to be found in conventions

(also known as treaties) aimed at resolving particular environmental
problem. Conventions create obligations and norms of behaviour for
the states which are party to them. In essence, they are binding only
on the signatory states.
• Customary international law:
• Rules of customary international law arise where there is a general
recognition among states that certain practices and norms of behaviour
are obligatory. In order to show that a rule of customary law is in
existence, there must be:

• The uniformity and consistency of usage

• The length of time during which that practices has been adhered to.
• General Principles of Law:
• There is no universally agreed upon set of general principles and
concepts. However, these include both principles of international
legal system as well as those common to the major national legal
systems of the world.
• Judicial Decisions and Qualified Teachings:

• Decisions of the ICJ and academic commentary play a much greater role
in international environmental law than it does in most domestic legal
systems. Decisions of the ICJ itself or of other international tribunals, and
writings of publicists are considered if :

• There is no treaty on a particular contentious issue

• There is no customary rule of international law

• There are no applicable general principles of international law.

• Non binding international instruments and declarations [soft law
instruments] such as the Stockholm and Rio Declarations, including
United Nations General Assembly Resolutions are also sources of
international environmental law. Though these principles and
declarations strictly speaking are legally non binding, they are not
devoid of normative content and help the expectations of the
international community.