Innovative Regulatory Frameworks Promoting Green Economy for Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication in Europe

The political Rio 20 Declaration challenges lawyers and legal professionals around the world to think creatively about the legal preparedness for the green economy. To this end, this study focuses on highlighting the legal changes that are being adopted in Europe, at national and regional levels, to facilitate the transition to a greener economy. The purpose is thus to point out the challenges that domestic governments face in transitioning to a greener economy and to research the means by which these challenges can be met. This compendium gathers recent practices in legal and institutional reform that exemplify promising methods of addressing green economy measures

The Mechanics of Virtue: Lessons on Public Participation from Implementing the Water Framework Directive in the Netherlands

Public participation is often presented as a virtue (a normative good), but the strategy comes with its own mechanical flaws. Policy debates and the literature have for a long time been dominated by this idea of public participation as a virtue, but recently the literature has become more critical, addressing the instrumental and substantive aspects of public participation. This article engages with and adds to the literature by presenting the use of public participation in implementing the European Water Framework Directive in the Netherlands. The study traces and discusses a number of mechanistic issues related to public participation

The EC Water Framework Directive and its implications for the Environment Agency

The bulk of the European Community's water policy legislation was developed between the mid 1970s and the early 1990s. These directives addressed specific substances, sources, uses or processes but caused problems with differing methods definitions and aims. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims to resolve the piecemeal approach. The Environemnt Agency (EA) welcomes and supported the overall objective of establishing a coherent legislative framework. The EA has been discussing the implications of the WFD with European partners and has developed a timetable for the implementation and a special team will commission necessary research

Regulating sustainable construction in Europe: An inquiry into the European Commission's harmonization attempts

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is first, to gain insight into how the European member states have addressed the concept of sustainability in their building regulatory frameworks; and second, to gain insight in the effects of harmonization attempts o

Coping with Mandated Public Participation: The Case of Implementing the EU Water Framework Directive in the Netherlands

An important aspect of contemporary European policy-making is public participation. The European Commission increasingly mandates its member states to involve the general public in policy-making through public participation. Public participation is gener

European Union Water Policy: Key Issues and Challenges

Water resources are among the most valuable resources of the natural environment. The sustainable and integrated management of these resources is the basis of European water policy. Pursuant to the Water Framework Directive, all waters in the European Union should achieve a state considered at least good by the year 2015. Just how this objective can be met continues to be a topic of discussions in some of the Member States. There exist serious problems and delays in performing and implementing the provisions of the Directive in most EU countries. What is more, the state of the water economy in several countries, including Poland, has been criticized by the European Commission. Many challenges stand before European water policy. They require solutions on a global and local level. This article presents current key problems and planned directions for EU water policy development, subjected to analysis and assessment. Note is taken on the newest initiative of the European Commission in the area of water policy, especially the plan for protecting Europe’s water resources-the Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Water Resources.Zasoby wodne należą do najcenniejszych zasobów środowiska naturalnego. Zrównoważona i zintegrowana gospodarka tymi zasobami stanowi podstawę Europejskiej polityki wodnej. Zgodnie z Ramową Dyrektywą Wodną do 2015 roku wszystkie wody w Unii Europejskiej powinny osiągnąć co najmniej dobry stan wód, co jest nadal przedmiotem dyskusji w niektórych państwach członkowskich, w jaki sposób osiągnąć ten cel. Istnieją poważne problemy i opóźnienia w realizacji i wdrażaniu zapisów Dyrektywy w większości krajów członkowskich UE, a w kilku krajach, w tym także i w Polsce, stan gospodarki wodnej został krytycznie oceniony przez Komisję Europejską. Przed Europejską polityką wodną stoi wiele wyzwań, które wymagają rozwiązania na szczeblu globalnym oraz lokalnym. W artykule przedstawiono aktualne kluczowe problemy oraz planowane kierunki rozwoju polityki wodnej UE, poddając je analizie i ocenie. Zwrócono uwagę na najnowsze inicjatywy KE w zakresie polityki wodnej, a w szczególności na plan ochrony zasobów wodnych Europy

The role of economics in ecosystem based management:The case of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive; first lessons learnt and way forward

The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) sets out a plan of action relating to marine environmental policy and in particular to achieving ‘good environmental status’ (GES) in European marine waters by 2020. Article 8.1 (c) of the Directive calls for ‘an economic and social analysis of the use of those waters and of the cost of degradation of the marine environment’. The MSFD is ‘informed’ by the Ecosystem Approach to management, with GES interpreted in terms of ecosystem functioning and services provision. Implementation of the Ecosystem Approach is expected to be by adaptive management policy and practice. The initial socio-economic assessment was made by maritime EU Member States between 2011 and 2012, with future updates to be made on a regular basis. For the majority of Member States, this assessment has led to an exercise combining an analysis of maritime activities both at national and coastal zone scales, and an analysis of the non-market value of marine waters. In this paper we examine the approaches taken in more detail, outline the main challenges facing the Member States in assessing the economic value of achieving GES as outlined in the Directive and make recommendations for the theoretically sound and practically useful completion of the required follow-up economic assessments specified in the MSFD