Environmental laws are laws that protect the environment. Environmental law is the collection of laws, regulations, agreements and common law that governs how humans interact with their environment. This includes environmental regulations; laws governing management of natural resources, such as forests, minerals, or fisheries; and related topics such as environmental impact assessments. Environmental law is seen as the body of laws concerned with the protection of living things from the harm that human activity may immediately or eventually cause to them or their species, either directly or to the media and the habits on which they depend.
The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, also known as the Madrid Protocol, is a complementary legal instrument to the Antarctic Treaty signed in Madrid on 4 October 1991. It entered into force on 14 January 1998.
This is an index of conservation topics. It is an alphabetical index of articles relating to conservation biology and conservation of the natural environment.
Environment and Climate Change Canada is the department of the Government of Canada responsible for coordinating environmental policies and programs, as well as preserving and enhancing the natural environment and renewable resources. It is also colloquially known by its former name, Environment Canada.
Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, groups and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, where it is possible, to repair damage and reverse trends.
The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regional seas and estuaries, rivers, lakes, groundwater systems (aquifers), and wetlands.
The Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora is a set of environmental protection measures which were accepted at the third Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Brussels in 1964. The Agreed Measures were formally in force as part of the Antarctic Treaty System from 1982 to 2011, when they were withdrawn as the principles were now entirely superseded by later agreements such as the 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. The Agreed Measures were adopted in order to further international collaboration within the administration of the Antarctic Treaty System and promote the protection of natural Antarctic ecological systems while enabling scientific study and exploration.
The Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter 1972, commonly called the "London Convention" or "LC '72" and also abbreviated as Marine Dumping, is an agreement to control pollution of the sea by dumping and to encourage regional agreements supplementary to the convention. It covers the deliberate disposal at sea of wastes or other matter from vessels, aircraft, and platforms. It does not cover discharges from land-based sources such as pipes and outfalls, wastes generated incidental to normal operation of vessels, or placement of materials for purposes other than mere disposal, providing such disposal is not contrary to aims of the convention. It entered into force in 1975. As of September 2016, there were 89 Parties to the convention.
War can heavily damage the environment, and warring countries often place operational requirements ahead of environmental concerns for the duration of the war. Some international law is designed to limit this environmental harm.
The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission is an intergovernmental organization governing the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area. A regional sea convention and a platform for environmental policy making at the regional level, HELCOM works for the protection of the marine environment of the Baltic Sea. HELCOM consists of ten members – the nine Baltic Sea countries Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden, plus the European Union.
The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic or OSPAR Convention is the current legislative instrument regulating international cooperation on environmental protection in the North-East Atlantic. Work carried out under the convention is managed by the OSPAR Commission, which is made up of representatives of the Governments of the 15 signatory nations, and representatives of the European Commission, representing the European Union.
The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean, originally the Convention for Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution, and often simply referred to as the Barcelona Convention, is a regional convention adopted in 1976 to prevent and abate pollution from ships, aircraft and land based sources in the Mediterranean Sea. This includes but is not limited to dumping, run-off and discharges. Signers agreed to cooperate and assist in dealing with pollution emergencies, monitoring and scientific research. The convention was adopted on 16 February 1976 and amended on 10 June 1995.
Belonging to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP) is a cooperative framework where countries co-sharing Northwest Pacific are grouped for region-suited solutions to deteriorating coastal and marine environment, in the context of an UNEP' global initiative, the Regional Seas Programme (RSP).
The Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment Working Group (PAME) is one of six working groups encompassed by the Arctic Council. Founded as part of the 1991 Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy, it assimilated into the structure of the Council following the signing of the 1996 Ottawa Declaration by the eight Arctic states. The Working Group claims to operate across the domains of Arctic shipping, maritime pollution, marine protected areas, ecosystem approaches to management, resource exploitation and development, and associations with the marine environment. Where necessary, it is tasked with producing guidelines and recommendations for policy improvement, with projects approved every two years by the council.
Ocean governance is the conduct of the policy, actions and affairs regarding the world's oceans. Within governance, it incorporates the influence of non-state actors, i.e. stakeholders, NGOs and so forth, therefore the state is not the only acting power in policy making. However, ocean governance is complex because much of the ocean is a commons that is not ‘owned’ by any single person or nation/state. There is a belief more strongly in the US than other countries that the “invisible hand” is the best method to determine ocean governance factors. These include factors such as what resources we consume, what price we should pay for them, and how we should use them. The underlying reasoning behind this is the market has to have the desire in order to promote environmental protection, however this is rarely the case. This term is referred to as a market failure. Market failures and government failures are the leading causes of ocean governance complications. As a result, humankind has tended to overexploit marine resources, by treating them as shared resources while not taking equal and collective responsibilities in caring for them.
International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation (OPRC) is an international maritime convention establishing measures for dealing with marine oil pollution incidents nationally and in co-operation with other countries. As of November 2018, there are 112 state parties to the convention.
Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, 1992 is an international convention encompassing various measures for the prevention and elimination of pollution of the Baltic Sea. The convention is implemented by the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM).
Waste management in Kazakhstan is an important concern within the country, considering the billions of tons of industrial waste produced yearly, the currently less-than-optimal state of solid waste management, and existing toxins remaining from both pollutants and Kazakhstan's historical position as the USSR's testing grounds for rockets and nuclear weapons. Kazakhstan has very few services for recycling solid waste, and waste management is currently dealt with using regional programs.
Located in the Middle East, Kuwait is a relatively small country that has been the center of many political and economic issues over the past few decades. Stemming from these tensions, Kuwait as well as other countries in the region, including Iran, Iraq, and Qatar face threats from environmental issues. A loss of agriculture due to climate change, pollution from the country's oil industry and Oil Fires of 1991 as well as damages to agriculture and biodiversity are just some of the common environmental issues. The Kuwaiti government has worked to mitigate and adapt to these issues through policy and the creation of agencies to research, educated and inform about environmental problems, their sources, and their effects.
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