midterm

• Environmental Law


  Variety of protections that share the goal of protecting the environment
• Environmental Law


  Network of regulations and customary laws that address the effects of human activity on the natural environment
• United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) recognized the need to clarify some aspects of the human rights obligations relating to the environment
• Special rapporteur, Mr John H Knox

  Submitted his report in 2018 proposing 16 principles related to human rights and the environment based on existing work of the human rights system
• 16 Framework Principles


  • State should ensure a safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights
  • Ditto
  • States should prohibit discrimination and ensure equal and effective protection against discrimination concerning the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment
  • State should provide a safe and enabling environment in which individuals, groups, and organs of society that work on human rights/environmental issues can operate free from threats, harassment, intimidation and violence
  • State should respect and protect the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly concerning environmental matters
  • States should provide for education and public awareness on environmental matters
  • States should provide public access to environmental information by collecting and disseminating information and by providing affordable, effective, and timely access to information to any person upon request
  • States should require a prior assessment of the possible environmental impacts of the proposed projects, and policies including their potential effects on the enjoyment of human rights
  • States should provide for and facilitate public participation in decision-making related to the environment, and take the views of the public into account in the decision making process
  • 10. States should provide access to effective remedies for violations of human rights and domestic laws relating to the environment
  • 11. States should ensure the effective enforcement of their environmental standard against public and private actors
  • 12. States should cooperate to establish, maintain, and enforce effective international legal frameworks to prevent, reduce, and remedy transboundary and global environmental harm that interferes with the full enjoyment of human rights
  • 13. States should take additional measures to protect the rights of those who are most vulnerable to, or at least risk from, environmental harm, taking into account the needs, risks, and capacities
  • 14. States should ensure that they comply with their obligations to indigenous people and members of traditional communities
  • 15. State should respect, protect, and fulfill human rights in the action they take to address environmental challenges and pursue sustainable development
• Sovereignty over Natural Resources and the obligation not to cause harm


  Rights of the states to be free from external interference
• Precautionary principle


  Advocates that the potential harm should be addressed even with minimal predictability at hand
• Intergenerational equity


  Each generation's responsibility to leave an inheritance of wealth no less than what they themselves inherited
• Principle of prevention


  Aims to stop environmental damage even before it occurs or when it is critical and potential damage may already be irreversible
• Principle of sustainable development


  Addresses the need to reconcile issues of development and environmental protection
• Rights-based approach


  Reflected in various international instruments, Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides for the right to a standard of living adequate for health and wellbeing
• EO 192/ the Reorganization Act of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (1987) provides for the reorganization of the Department of Natural Resources. It renamed the Department of Environment, Energy and Natural Resources as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
• Objectives of DENR


  • Assure the availability and sustainability of the country's natural resources through judicial use and systematic restoration or replacement, whenever possible
  • Increase the productivity of natural resources to meet the demands for forest, mineral, and land resources of a growing population
  • Enhance the contribution of natural resources for achieving national economic and social development
  • Promote equitable access to natural resources by the different sectors of the population
  • Conserve specific terrestrial and marine areas representative of the Philippine natural and cultural heritage for present and future generations
• Powers and Functions of DENR

  • Advise the president on the enactment of laws relative to the development, and the control of pollution
  • Formulate, implement, and supervise the government's policies, plans, and programs about the management, conservation, development, use and replenishment of the country's natural resources
  • Promulgate rules and regulations by law governing the exploration, development, conservation, extraction, disposition, use and such other commercial activities tending to cause the depletion and degradation of our natural resources
  • Exercise supervision nd control over forest lands, alienable and disposable lands, and mineral resources and impose appropriate payments, fees, charges, rentals, and any such form of levy and collect such revenues for the exploration, development, utilization or gathering of such resources
• Forest Management Bureau


  Headed by a director and assisted by an assistant direction, advises the DENR secretary on matters about forest development and conservation, provides technical guidance to the central and field offices for the effective protection, development, and conservation of forest lands and watersheds
• Mines and Geosciences Bureau


  Headed by a Director and assisted by an assistant director, advises the DENR Secretary on matters about geology and mineral resources exploration, development, and conservation
• Environmental Pollution is the addition of any substance (solid, liquid, gas) or any form of energy (heat, sound, or radioactivity) to the environment at a rate faster than it can be dispersed, diluted, decomposed, recycled, or stored in some harmless form
• Pollutants


  The introduction of harmful materials into the environment
• Types of Pollution


  • Air Pollution
  • Water Pollution
  • Land Pollution
• Air Pollution


  • Carbon Monoxide
  • Nitrogen oxide
  • Sulfur Dioxide
  • Ozone
  • Particular Matter
  • Lead
• Water Pollution


  • Domestic Sewage
  • Solid waste
  • Toxic Waste
  • Sediment
  • Thermal Pollution
  • Petroleum/Oil Pollution
• Land Pollution


  • Deforestation
  • Agricultural activities
  • Mining Activities
  • Overcrowded Landfills
  • Industrial activities
  • Urbanization
• Environment


  Surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant resides or operates
• Common environmental issues that require urgent attention

  • Climate Change
  • Global Warming
• Climate Change


  When weather conditions deviate from the norm for an extended period of time, impacts all, effects evident in temperature swings and rise in extreme natural disasters
• Global Warming


  Increase in the planet's surface temperature caused by greenhouse gas pollution, combustion of fossil fuels, vehicle waste, and chlorofluorocarbons contribute to increase in greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere
• Global Warming


  Increase in the planet's surface temperature caused by greenhouse gas pollution
• Causes of greenhouse gas increase

  • Combustion of fossil fuels
  • Vehicle waste
  • Chlorofluorocarbons
• Greenhouse gas increase


  • Earth's temperature increase
  • Environmental changes
• Ozone Layer Depletion


  Ozone layer = a dense layer of ozone gas that protects us from the dangerous ultraviolet rays of the sun
• Biodiversity


  The degree to which organisms differ in an ecosystem
• Biodiversity which encompasses everything from humans to microorganisms is important for ecosystems and civilization to survive
• Biodiversity plays a crucial role in ecosystem functions and adds to the natural capital that humans depend on. If we want to enjoy a healthier life and live in a healthy environment, reduce our contribution to the extinction of species and invest in biodiversity
• Deforestation


  The rapid loss of trees and vegetation as well as the underlying habitats that make up forests
• Desertification


  The erosion of arid soil which makes the arid land becomes much drier resulting in the extinction of both fauna and flora
• Scientists: over 5 trillion plastic fragments are floating in the ocean = threat in humanity's health
• Causes of water pollution


  • Agricultural operations
  • Oil
  • Wastewater
• Coral Reefs


  Have more habitat than rainforest. But they are still more vulnerable to global warming
• Coral reef conservation is an investment not only in the environment but also in human wellbeing and long term survival
• Air Pollution


  The product of factory pollution, vehicle emissions, and the increased use of fossil fuels