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12 Ecology L.Q. 997 (1984-1985)
Environmental Legislation in Developing Countries: Some Parameters and Constraints

handle is hein.journals/eclawq12 and id is 1007 raw text is: Environmental Legislation in Developing Countries: Some Parameters and Constraints .faro Mayda * INTRODUCTION Environmental laws are not always regarded as useful or effective by decision makers in the fields of resource management and international economic aid. Some critics suggest that environmental laws do not make any difference, while others argue that these laws do not respond to the needs of individual countries and that legislation can be an obstacle to progress rather than a useful instrument for environmental management. These criticisms are not entirely undeserved. Can environmental legislation actually help solve environmental problems, especially in less developed countries (LDCs)? The argument here is that it can, but that officials who draft and implement environmental legislation in LDCs need to examine carefully both their conceptual approach to environ- mental legislation and the practical application of these laws to environ- mental problems. The primary problem with environmental legislation is not the great variety of human or natural resource systems. In most jurisdictions, the major constraints are conceptual and structural. Environmental law should not be understood as just another new system of rules and agen- cies. Rather, it must be viewed as part of ecomanagement-a compre- hensive process of resource management, informed by ecosystemic knowledge, and progressively integrated with economic development planning. This conception of environmental law provides a general refer- ence model for drafting and implementing legislation.1 Less developed countries suffer from indigenous constraints beyond Copyright © 1985 by ECOLOGY LAW QUARTERLY * Professor of Law and Public Policy, School of Law, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. Consultant on environmental policy, law, and ecomanagement to vari- ous United Nations agencies, 1971 to date. Author of the UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME'S MANUAL ON ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION (1979). Part of the material used in the preparation of this Article was collected in the course of research supported by a grant from the Dana Fund for International and Comparative Legal Studies. 1. For a detailed exploration of this conception of environmental law, see UNITED NA- TIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME (UNEP), MANUAL ON ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION (1979) (prepared by J. Mayda).

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