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Framework Laws

Evolution of environmental legislation
The evolution of environmental legislation can be traced from early resource exploitation legislation through later resource management legislation to more recent legislation conceived primarily from the perspective of environmental management. This has resulted in many of the provisions relating to natural resource conservation, pollution control and protection of historical and cultural sites being scattered among a wide range of statutes and in some instances, the common and customary laws of countries, developed at different times and in vastly different political, economic and social contexts. Achieving the necessary contextual change and harmonising these provisions is one of the difficult challenges of developing an effective legal and institutional regime for environmental management in the context of sustainable development.

Earlier response ...legislative enactment
Early governmental responses to the problems of environmental pollution took the form of legislative enactments to deal with the causes of environmental impacts, particularly industrial effluents and nuisance. Thus, in addition to new sectoral legislation to fill the more apparent gaps in national frameworks, countries in the region began to enact comprehensive anti-pollution laws, commencing from early seventies. The main focus of the legislation was however on pollution control. Environmental quality and anti-pollution regulations are still the most widely used legislative technique for pollution control, though several new approaches are evident in contemporary state practice. These laws usually deal with air and water quality, marine pollution, solid waste disposal, toxic materials management, and establish meet of quality criteria, definition of pollutants, setting permissible limits, and regulating control, compliance and enforcement methods. One of the most widely used techniques for environmental control is the system of authorisations (by permit, certification, licence) administered by government institutions.

Umbrella laws..
A more recent legislative technique for environmental management is the "umbrella" of framework law. Framework environmental laws are enacted to cover the entire spectrum of cross-sectoral environmental issues and to facilitate a more cohesive, coordinated and holistic approach to environmental management. Such legislation lays down the basic legal principles without any attempt at codification. It normally entails the declaration of environmental objectives and policies, the establishment of the related environmental institutions, and the definition of the common procedural principles for environmental decision-making applicable to all sectors. In this latter respect, the legislation often covers such cross-sectoral issues as environmental impact assessment, environmental quality criteria, and public participation in decision-making and implementation.