Research Reports

Paying landowners not to pollute, providing free technical advice, and relying on voluntary adherence to BMPs has proven to be an incomplete strategy in many cases. Gradually, states are turning to enforceable mechanisms – including discharge prohibitions, direct enforcement of water quality standards, pollution abatement orders, required operating practices, nuisance and misdemeanor prosecutions, and civil and administrative penalties -- to supplement other approaches.

The Chesapeake Bay region has experienced significant growth during the past 30 years and continues to grow at a rapid rate. The population of the region increased 26 percent between 1970 and 1994 and is now expected to increase by an additional 3 million people by the year 2020. The resulting demand for new development, often low-density and single-use, has led to a significant loss of open land and the emergence of new pollution concerns.

This article, which originally appeared in the May 21, 2000, issue of Environment Reporter, examines data from the first four years of the Acid Rain Program as to the effects of trading on localized pollution levels. These indicate that the effects of trading have been minimal in regards to hot spots, and likely even positive. On a regional level, no significant trends can be discerned in the flow of trade allowances, and net interregional trades of allowances constitute only 3 percent of all allowances used.

This research report explores how African constitutional provisions can be utilized to create real, enforceable environmental rights. African countries do have different legal traditions, namely, common law, civil law, and Islamic law, as well as some hybrid systems. Nevertheless, these legal systems share many common underlying principles and values, particularly fundamental human rights that are embodied in their respective constitutions.

There are compelling reasons for Inter-American collaboration in developing a hemispheric framework for pollution prevention in hard rock mining. Trade and investment in this sector are expanding. Many of the natural resources potentially threatened by mining have common characteristics or are shared by countries. Mining companies are operating as multinationals. An Inter-American approach to environmental regulation helps to set a common playing field as well as avoids the complexity of having different standards in different regions.