ABSTRACT
To stop pollution that has a very unacceptable impact on nature and humans, health environmental legislation may be a very effective method. When we consider the value of ecosystems’ services, it is obvious that the cost of pollution abatement easily can be profitable for the society and that such a cost is compensated by the value of the ecosystems’ services that are maintained. In such cases, an environmental legislation that stops pollution-driven deterioration will with high probability be introduced, since it is the type of environmental legislation that is beneficial for the society to launch. Another question is who is paying for the cost of the pollution abatement. The general principle that the polluter should pay for the reduction or elimination of the pollution is often but not always applied, particularly if the society considers the activity that must pay for the pollution as very important for the society in general and eventually is decisive to create employment. Typical for this type of environmental legislation is the rules for treatment of wastewater discharged from industries or rules for the use of toxic substances, for instance, laws and regulation of pesticides. The legislation is based on environmental considerations and sometimes an ecological model is used to assess the applied rules.
