ISHAYA AJET HOSEA 130151 CPBLG Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers

ISHAYA AJET HOSEA 130151 CPBLG Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers ISHAYA AJET HOSEA 130151 CPBLG Investing in Africa's Future College of Business, Peace, Leadership and Governance Ethics and Natural Resource Management ( PEP515 ) Lecturer: Mrs. Bere Question: Using a case study of your choice examine the strengths and weaknesses of state environmental agencies in enforcing environmental policies Due Date: 2 April 2018 Introduction The activities of human beings in their pursuit for development in every field of existence have impacted on the environment adversely negative. The by-product of these activities has led to a reduction in the quality of the land, air and water of which the environment generally consists of. The activities of human beings pollute the environment and these pollution effect need to be checked in order to prevent the destruction of the environment and Extinction of the human race from the face of the earth. These human activities, left unchecked, could also endanger the continuation of life earth. This can be done through an effective enforcement of environmental protection laws (Dimowo, 2010). However, these environmental protection laws do not function independent of challenges. Therefore, the protection and preservation of the environment is here and now perceived as being of crucial importance to the future of mankind (Allison-Kulo, 2017) The situation at hand has made many organizations, foremost imperatives to the trend of law and change. Among some of the foremost organizations is the United Nations. The United Nations has the sole proprietorship rights "to enact" numerous legislations and conventions meant to protect the environment. However, the lack of enforcement of these laws stands out as the most fundamental cause of the inability of the legislations to protect the environment. Therefore, this paper seeks to examine the enforcement of environmental regulatory laws with emphasis on Nigeria. It will also examine the problem associated with enforcement with a view to making necessary recommendations that could ultimately enhance the protection of the environment. Environmental Law Like many other legal terms, the term "environmental law" may be seen as having a central core of meaning surrounded by what may be termed as partial-shade of uncertainty (Blawell, 1961). Within the core are to be found those laws which relates to fortification of natural resources and peoples gratification of them. Natural resources include air, land, water, fauna, and climate . Just outside the "core" of environmental law, are laws designed to protect the quality of life of particular group of people. These laws, for example, relate to sanitation in dwelling. According to (Blawell, 1961:95), such laws are more usually categorized as environmental health laws. Further still outside the core, but within the partial shade are laws which protect the society generally such as laws relating to road traffic or vandalism (Thornton, 1996) . At the very edge of the cloudiness, are laws designed to protect and augment people's commercial activities such as those relating to carriage of goods by road, rail, and sea. These, although not generally thought of in any sense as environmental law, can have profound impact on the protection and enjoyment of the natural resources. Going with Thornton's, the most effective definition of environmental law then is perhaps one that is all encompassing. However, environmental law has been defined as comprising "legal strategies and procedures intended to fight the pollution, abuse and neglect of air, earth, and water resources (Thornton, 1996) ." BACKGROUND Beliefs behind Environmental Regulation As a organization of law, environmental law originated as a collection of rules that grew up at irregular intervals, as a random and a little at a time response to specific environmental problems, but has currently pull off a certain degree of consistency, in the sense that it has a clear and unified rational foundation. The above statement is also a true assertion of the progressive development of environmental law in Nigeria. However, the theoretical basis of environmental law in Nigeria may not be easily associated. Some of these theories include: Anthropocentric Beliefs This view was postulated by an Australian philosopher John Passmore, who wrote out a sense of alarm that "man cannot continue to live as predators on the biosphere and if contemporary civilization is to survive, it must, in important respect, change its way (John, 1974) . This theory posits that