Dealing with these IEL problems

Question 1

What are 3 options to dealing with uncertainty in international environmental law?

(P.I.K) (think: pick an option when uncertain)

Answer 1

1. PRECAUTIONARY principle
2. INCORPORATING uncertainty into the decision making process
3. Gain more KNOWLEDGE
   (Environment Impact Assessments)

Question 2

What are 3 regulatory options for addressing environmental issues (commonly seen at an international level)

3 options (C.I.E) (think: the ‘key’ to addressing issue)

Answer 2

1. COMMAND and control measures
2. INFORMATION based approaches
3. ECONOMIC instruments systems

Question 3

What is the jist of adopting the precautionary principle when faced uncertainty?

Answer 3

Be cautious in the face of uncertainty

Idea: when information is uncertain, we have a natural tendency to take risks. Cf the PP encourages us to err on the side of caution – to acknowledge such uncertainty and take a careful approach

Question 4

How can you incorporate uncertainty into the decision making process?

Answer 4

Continual (on-going) questioning so as to be aware of what is happening to the environment as things move along

Question 5

What is the key instrument used to gain more knowledge when a decision maker is faced with uncertainty?

Answer 5

Environment impact assessments
-EIAs provides helpful information to the decision maker that might not have been available in the past, and raises knowledge of issues generally

Question 6

Who has the onus of producing an EIA? Why is this an issue? And how can this issue be mitigated?

Answer 6

Onus on the person proposing the activity to demonstrate what potential impact it could have on an environment

Criticism: potential to hire a corrupt scientist to give an assessment in favour of your goals.

BUT could be mitigated with fail safes such as peer reviews, or being made available to the public

Question 7

How might the nature of the problem affect the choice of environmental regulatory instruments?

(1 example)

Answer 7

E.g. if it is nationwide, then maybe an economic approach, but if State to State then maybe something like a treaty would be better
-NB: Most international treaties expect States to create a command and control system to control their citizens (C&C allows for State participation)

Question 8

What is the best environmental regulatory instrument to induce state participation?

Answer 8

Command and control

Question 9

What are 2 other considerations that a State might seek when choosing the best environmental regulatory instrument?

Answer 9

1. Desire for choice in how States implement international obligations
2. Need for ongoing decision making capability

Question 10

How might poor domestic implementation of a treaty affect the implementation of international norms/ regulatory options?

Answer 10

A treaty will have little impact unless the State plays its role
-I.e. can it actually achieve this regulation? If not, the treaty regime as a whole might suffer

Question 11

What is the jist of a ‘command and control’ regulation?

Answer 11

Regulation from a central authority (e.g. State level) requiring change of behaviour by an organisation or person.

Question 12

What are 3 examples of a command and control regulation?

Answer 12

1. Limitations on the amount of pollution or resource use
   - Govt. passes a law banning a certain toxic substance, or a limitation on the amount of impact it can have
2. Prohibition on the discharge of certain pollutants
3. Adoption of product and processing design standards, thus determining how the activity is conducted
   - E.g. oil-tanker accidents led to the changing of regulations as to how oil is to be transported in order to minimise risk to the environment

Question 13

What are 2 advantages of a command and control regulation?

Answer 13

1. Can be clear and concise

2. Can be easily enforced; easier to put a system in place

Question 14

What are 3 disadvantages of a command and control regulation?

Answer 14

1. Typically high cost
2. Can be highly complex, depending on the nature of the environmental issues
3. Offers poor flexibility
   - I.e. if there is a change in technology, you might not be able to utilise this because the activity itself is banned.

Question 15

What is the jist of ‘economic instruments systems’ regulation?

Answer 15

Imposing a price or opportunity cost for units of waste or resource consumption
-Price used as a motivation to change behaviour

Question 16

What are 5 examples of economic instruments systems regulation?

(T.T.S.S)

Answer 16

1. TAXES or fees on units of pollution or resource consumption
   - Increase in cost of pollution to motivate people to become more environmentally friendly
2. TRADABLE pollution or consumption quotas
   - I.e. making pollution/consumption a tradable commodity
   - Idea: if you have a property right in something, you will have a bigger incentive to maintain the resource, and can earn money from selling residue
3. Pure SUBSIDIES
   - E.g. subsidies for solar panels
4. STRICT liability for harm
   - Required to pay for the impact, so will be encouraged not to do so

Question 17

What are 3 advantages for economic instruments systems?

F.I.E) (think: fee

Answer 17

1. Provides greater FLEXIBILITY for actors themselves
2. Provides an INCENTIVE for INNOVATION
   - Incentive to look for new processes (e.g. something not involving sulphites to prevent you from incurring a sulphite charge)
3. Cost EFFECTIVENESS

Question 18

What are 2 disadvantages for economic instruments systems?

Answer 18

1. Can lead to undesirable outcomes due to market operation
2. Could be problems if not set up correctly,
   - E.g. if low tax then there is no incentive to change behaviour (think carbon trading)

Question 19

What is the jist of ‘information based approaches’ regulation?

Answer 19

Providing information about environmental behaviour of actors
-Thus allowing individuals to change behaviour, and allowing decision maker to change decisions

Question 20

What are 5 examples of information based approaches regulation?

(P.E.E.R) (think: peer review)

Answer 20

1. PUBLIC disclosure of POLLUTION discharges
   - E.g. the palm oil scandal with Cadbury – everyone switching to Whittakers until Cadbury sorted their shit out
2. ENVIRONMENTAL impact assessments
3. ECO-labels
   - E.g. carbon neutral labels, or dolphin friendly cans of tuna – providing the consumer with information to make their own choice
   - Thus giving suppliers an incentive to become more eco-friendly
4. Environmental goal setting, auditing, and REPORTING requirements
   - Reporting back on how well goals are being met
   - Even more powerful if such reports are made public

Question 21

What is the main problem facing information based approaches regulation?
And one other possible problem?

Answer 21

The ability to influence the activity here depends on engagement of the community (which can be hard to measure in terms of impact)
-E.g. if nobody gives a shit about dolphin friendly tuna, then an eco label won’t do much

Could also be a problem if someone has a monopoly on a product- consumers left with no other option than to buy theirs

Question 22

Is information based approaches regulation likely to be more useful at the national or international level?

Answer 22

National