Environmental Protection and Ecology

C. Hamilton, A. Macintosh, in ​Encyclopedia of Ecology​, 2008

Conclusion
Environmental protection has always been practiced by humans in one form or another.
However, as anthropogenic pressures on the environment have escalated over the past century,
the need for systematic environmental protection has increased. This has led to considerable
experimentation with the domestic and international measures that are used to achieve
environmental protection objectives. Some of these have been successful, but the overall picture
is one of failure.

Due to the failings of the past and greater awareness of the complexity of environmental
problems, there is a growing acceptance that environmental protection is best achieved through
the use of a multipronged approach. This requires the use of a combination of regulatory,
economic, voluntary, and information instruments, where the policy mix is determined on the
basis of the available evidence regarding cost-effectiveness.

The international challenge lies in the development of effective and equitable approaches to
global environmental problems that are supported by a well-resourced bureaucracy and
appropriate financial mechanisms. The threat posed by climate change has added greater urgency
to the push for effective international ​environmental governance​ arrangements.

Environmental Regulation and Litigation

Timothy C. Wolfson, ... Brad Gilmour, in ​Environmental Forensics for Persistent Organic
Pollutants​, 2014

CEPA​ is the Government of Canada’s primary federal tools for achieving sustainable
development and pollution prevention. Its main objective is the prevention and management of
risks posed by harmful substances. CEPA provides for the assessment and/or management of the
environmental and human health impacts of new and existing substances. This includes products
of biotechnology, marine pollution, disposal at sea, vehicle, engine and equipment emissions,
fuels, ​hazardous wastes​, environmental emergencies, and other sources of pollution. The Act is
composed of 12 parts with 356 sections.

Regulations, political and societal aspects, toxicity limits

Gilmar S. Erzinger, Donat-P. Häder, in ​Bioassays​, 2018

The Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People’s Republic of China (MEP), as an

institution to formulate environmental protection guidelines, policy, and law, is an important
government authority to deal with global affairs of environmental protection. The Ministry of
Environmental Protection of the People’s Republic of China was established in March 2008 to
replace the State Environmental Protection Administration of China (SEPA) in accordance with
the Government Reshuffle Plan of the State Council approved by the First Session of the 11th
National People’s Congress (NPC). It is in charge of environmental protection work under direct
administration of the State Council [22–24].

Table 4.4 shows some examples of legislation and regulation of Acute Toxicity Testing in
Sectors in different sectors of the economy in China.

Table 4.4. Regulatory drivers for acute toxicity testing across agrochemicals, biocides,
chemicals, cosmetics and medicinal products sectors in China

Agrochemical Biocides Cosmetics Chemicals

Regulation on pesticide Regulated Regulations Measures for the
administration (SC, as concerning the hygiene environmental
2001); regulation on industrial supervision over regulation on
pesticide administration chemicals cosmetics (MPH, pesticide
(revised in 2012); 1989); regulations administration (SC,
enforcement measures of concerning the hygiene 2001); regulation on
the regulation on supervision over pesticide
pesticide administration cosmetics [1990]; administration
(MOA Decree 9, 2007); detailed rules for the (revised in 2012);
data requirement on implementation of the enforcement
pesticide registration regulation on the measures of the
(MOA Decree 010, hygiene supervision regulation on
2007); measures for the over cosmetics [2005]; pesticide
administration of hygienic standard for administration
pesticide labels and cosmetics [2007]; the (MOA Decree 9,
manuals; measures on measures for the 2007); data
disinfectant administration of requirement on
administration issued by hygiene license for pesticide registration
the Ministry of Health cosmetics (revised in (MOA Decree 010,
(MOH) in 2002; 2010); guideline for 2007); measures for
guidance on application risk evaluation of the administration of
of administrative substances with the pesticide labels and
approval; license of possibility of safety manuals; measures
disinfectants and risk in cosmetics on disinfectant
disinfecting apparatuses [2010]; standard administration issued
[2006]; administrative Chinese names of by the Ministry of
licensing procedure for international cosmetics Health (MOH) in
health-related products ingredients inventory 2002; guidance on
[2006] [2010]; cosmetics application of
technical requirement administrative
standard [2011]; approval license of
guidelines for the disinfectants and
registration and disinfecting
evaluation of new apparatuses [2006];
cosmetic ingredients administrative
[2011] licensing procedure
 for health-related
products [2006]

Source:​ Adapted from Seidle T, Robinson S, Holmes T, Creton S, Prieto P, Scheel J, et al.
Cross-sector review of drivers and available 3Rs approaches for acute systemic toxicity
testing. Toxicol Sci 2010;116:382–396.

Environmental Protection and Ecology☆

Clive Hamilton, ... Simone Bastianoni, in ​Encyclopedia of Ecology (Second Edition)​, 2019

Conclusion
Environmental protection has always been practiced by humans in one form or another.
However, as anthropogenic pressures on the environment have escalated over the past century,
the need for systematic environmental protection has increased. This has led to considerable
experimentation with the domestic and international measures that are used to achieve
environmental protection objectives. Some of these have been successful, but the overall picture
is one of failure.

Due to the failings of the past and greater awareness of the complexity of environmental
problems, there is a growing acceptance that environmental protection is best achieved through
the use of a multipronged approach. This requires the use of a combination of regulatory,
economic, voluntary, and information instruments, where the policy mix is determined on the
basis of the available evidence regarding cost-effectiveness.

The international challenge lies in the development of effective and equitable approaches to
global environmental problems that are supported by a well-resourced bureaucracy and
appropriate financial mechanisms.

However, in the last few years, a new initiative has come out bringing together recent scientific
advancements in our knowledge of the Earth System functioning, environmental and ecological
law as well as economic instruments to propose a new global governance system aimed at
favoring environmental protection. In 2009 a group of scientists developed the “Planetary
Boundaries” framework to measure and monitor the state and functioning of the Earth System
(Rockström ​et al.​ 2009; Steffen ​et al​. 2015). The framework, has been developed to define a
planetary safe operating space within which humanity can survive and thrive, and to highlight
risks that ​destabilization​ of the system creates for human well-being. The identification of such
safe operating space for humanity has then helped to recognize the need of an evolution of the
current international legal system. In this light the concept of “The Common Home of
Humankind” has been proposed as a social construct, based on legal solutions to represent the
global natural reality (Magalhães ​et al.​ , 2016). The legal recognition of a specific, functioning
state of the Earth System (i.e., a Holocene-like state, as defined by the planetary boundaries
framework) as a common natural intangible heritage of mankind would allow to include all
positive and negative externalities in the governance and maintenance of the Earth System thus
possibly constituting a new legal environmental protection framework.

That legal systems are not ready to face these challenges is shown also by the fact that a group of
law experts have launched the Ecological Law & Governance Association (ELGA) to reframe
law according to ecological limits. In their ​Oslo Manifesto​ it is reported that “Ecological Law
requires human activities and aspirations to be determined by the need to protect the integrity of
ecological systems. Ecological integrity becomes a precondition for human aspirations and a
fundamental principle of law. In other words, ecological law reverses the principle of human
dominance over nature, which the current iteration of environmental law tends to reinforce, to a
principle of human responsibility for nature. This reversed logic is arguably the key challenge of
the Anthropocene”.

ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS

R. Sandford, P.J. Worsfold, in ​Encyclopedia of Analytical Science (Second Edition)​, 2005

Environmental Legislation
Environmental protection is a global issue with a plethora of protective legislation, enacted as
transnational and national regulations and guidelines, aimed at sustainable use of water, soil, air,
and biomass. These laws apply not only to the polluter but also to governments, national
institutions, and individuals. They are designed to protect human health and ecosystems from the
effects of chemical contaminants, to guarantee the quality of natural resources, e.g., ​potable
water​ and to facilitate the recovery of degraded environments, e.g., contaminated land.

Within Europe, European Council Directives and Regulations form an overarching legislative
framework that requires Member States to take preventative action and specifies that
environmental damage should, as a priority, be rectified at source and that the polluter should
pay. Importantly, environmental protection is also required to be integrated into other European
Community (EC) policies, emphasizing its pervasive nature. Thus, Member States have a strong
impetus to enact environmental legislation that incorporates the concepts of responsibility and
control. Directives formally bind Member States and specify the outcomes and deadlines but the
exact form of the legislation is at the discretion of the individual member country. However,
delays in implementation have led to the increased use of ​EC regulations​ that bind individual
states directly, without requiring national implementation. The principles of subsidiarity and
harmonization also apply to environmental law within the EC. Individual Member States have
responsibility for enforcement, although overall policing is by the EC and, increasingly, by the
European Environment Agency​ (EEA) and the ​European Court of Justice​.

Within the UK, environmental protection is embodied in overarching statutes, e.g., the
Environmental Protection Acts of 1990 and 1995, which require both an integrated approach, as
embodied in the European Community Water Framework Directive, and a precautionary
approach, as embodied in the 1999 Pollution Prevention and Control Act. Statutes are supported
by Government Circulars and statements of policy, codes of practice, and orders and policies
from agencies such as the Environment Agency and the Health and Safety Executive.

In the USA, 12 major statutes covering, e.g., Pollution Prevention, Clean Air, Clean ​Water, and
Toxic Substances​ form the basis of an overarching legislative environmental protection policy
generally administered by the US ​Environmental Protection Agency​ (EPA). The statutes either
set, or require to be set by the EPA, emission, quality, discharge, disposal, and testing standards
with the intention of safeguarding the environment while enabling economic and social
development.

International agreements and conventions, e.g., OSPAR and the Rio Summit, define a framework
for transnational cooperation on many environmental issues such as sustainable development,
biodiversity, protection of endangered species, ​tropical rain forests​, the ozone layer, and means
to combat global warming. The establishment of, and compliance with, environmental protection
legislation/polices provides a major driving force for many analytical science developments.
There is a demonstrable need for highly accurate and precise analytical techniques with
increasingly low detection limits for an increasing number of chemicals. This has given impetus
to the development of novel environmental analytical methodologies, clean sampling and
analytical protocols, and continuous/​in situ​ monitors.

Prospect for Environmental Change

Gerrit Vonkeman, in ​Environmental Policy in an International Context​, 2003

Environmental protection was not initially one of the EC’s formal policy areas. The EC was,
however, able to give effect to an environmental policy through one of two roundabout routes.
The first was article 100 of the Treaty of Rome, which empowered the Council to take decisions
in areas that were not mentioned in the treaties, provided that such measures were in line with the
spirit of the treaties and did not counteract any official goals. Secondly, where any domestic
measures inspired by a country’s national environmental policy damaged that country’s domestic
industry by reducing its ​international competitiveness​, the Council could use article 235 to
harmonise legislation at a Community level.

Greening the national accounts

Magnus Lindmark, in ​Handbook of Green Economics​, 2019

Reconstructing historical environmental goods and services sector accounts for Sweden
Similar to how traditional consumption is classified in the National Accounts, environmental
protection activities are classified according to their main purpose in a system called the
Classification of Environmental Protection Activities​ (CEPA), whereas resource management
activities are classified according to the ​Classification of Resource Management Activities
(CReMA). Table 1.1 provides an overview of CEPA including comments on the historical data
availability from 1970.