THE ENVIRONMENTAL LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS: ASSESSING FAIRNESS AND EFFICIENCY

摘要

Since the 1970s, countries have protected the environment by means of various legal instruments, includingenvironmental approvals and licensing. An environmental task force created under the HydropowerAgreement was appointed by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to determine the efficiency andeffectiveness of such mechanisms as they apply to each phase of hydropower development (policy level,project planning, project implementation, plant operation and plant upgrading, relicensing anddecommissioning). It also examined whether legal mechanisms respected ethical principles as well as theprotection of the environment, human rights and the right to economic development. This paper reports onthe essential findings outlined by the task force. It discusses common deficiencies in national legalmechanisms relating to hydropower development and also proposes practical solutions and potentialimprovements. The main conclusion of this study is that environmental approval and licensing processeshave become excessively rigid and cumbersome in many countries and that governments need to pave theway for change by rethinking the approval process and reforming the legal and regulatory frameworks.Governments should consider a mechanism such as a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) (this referalso to strategic impact assessment (SIA)) implemented at the policy level and processes that systematicallyintegrate information gathered by previous monitoring and follow-up studies. Furthermore, sincehydropower development raises ethical dilemmas that often cannot be reconciled, we believe that certaindecisions should be made by the legislative branch and not by the executive branch or a decision-makingbody, and that proponents should adopt a code of conduct based on ethics and principles of internationalenvironmental law.