ABSTRACT
The law sections of this book are there not to provide the last word on the law but to draw out the basics of the regulatory regime and to guide the user to where the details of the law can be found.1 It is also the aim to show the general trends in environmental law, where it is going and what the issues may be in the future. It is based upon fundamental principles: that the highest level of environmental protection should be humanity’s goal and that the precautionary principle should always apply. The issues raised in relation to the environment are fundamental to our survival and are relevant not just to legal practitioners, students or academics, but to us all, as humans; we are all part of the problem as well as the solution. This book is an attempt to put the problem of environmental degradation into perspective. It is a problem that often seems to be beyond our capacity or capability to do anything about or even to understand, but, as Albert Einstein said, ‘The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible’. If we can comprehend how the law has responded to this problem, then we are at least someway towards its solution. The key idea to remember is that law is a balance between utopian ideas and practical reality, so what has and will influence the development of environmental law depends upon the political/philosophical/social and economic debates taking place, as well as solving the practical legal problems.
