Bargaining and Precaution

Question 1

What is Coase Theorem?

Answer 1

Where there are complete competitive markets with no transaction costs, an efficient set of inputs and outputs to and from production to optimal distribution are selected, regardless of how property rights are decided

Question 2

What is a tort?

Answer 2

Wrong doing by one party against another

Question 3

What 3 elements must be present in the law of torts?

Answer 3

Tortfeaser (defendant) has a duty to behave in a certain way
Plaintiff must prove that their behaviour did not conform to the duty owed to the plaintiff
Plaintiff had suffered loss or injury

Question 4

What are the 3 types of entitlements?

Answer 4

Protected by property laws
Protected by liability laws
Inalienable

Question 5

What are the limitations of the Coase Theorem?

Answer 5

Independent bargaining positions are needed
Clear pathway from polluter to abstractor needed
Transactions costs must be low
Difficulty of proving harm (PP)
Non-rival consumption

Question 6

What is the precautionary principle?

Answer 6

In cases where there are threats to human life/environment, the fact there is scientific uncertainty over those threats should not be used as the reason for not taking action to prevent harm

Question 7

Who first suggested the precautionary principle?

Answer 7

Fisher 2001

Question 8

What is a type 1 error?

Answer 8

Rejection of a true null hypothesis

Question 9

What is a type 2 error?

Answer 9

Acceptance of a false null hypothesis

Question 10

What is the Maastricht treaty?

Answer 10

Community policy on the environment shall aim at a high level of protection, taking into account diversity of situations

Question 11

What were the problems with the Kyoto Protocol?

Answer 11

No global methods of enforcement
Development of environmental law can be restricted by development of international law
How to persuade governments to agree to potentially costly actions

Question 12

Where is the stratosphere?

Answer 12

16-18km above the polar regions, 25km above equator where high concentrations of ozone absorb incoming UV radiation

Question 13

What are chloroflurocarbons (CFCs)?

Answer 13

Used in aerosols, refrigerators, manufacture of foam for fast food containers

Question 14

What happened to global production of CFCs 1960-1990?

Answer 14

180 million kg/year to 1100

Question 15

What happens to CFCs in the atmosphere?

Answer 15

The diffuse up into the stratosphere, UV radiation breaks them down into chlorine, which returns to the troposphere and returns as HCl in rain

Question 16

What as the Montreal Protocol?

Answer 16

Created at the UNEP Vienna ‘Ozone Convention’ in 1985
Enforced from Jan 1989
Recognised that global CFC emission was destroying the ozone layer
Controlled emissions until total elimination

Question 17

What is the persisting problem with CFCs and the Ozone layer?

Answer 17

CFCs remain in the atmosphere for year - it wont be until the middle of the 21st century that Cl drops to below pre Ozone hole levels
CFCs are a cheap and useful cooling agent that developing countries could have made use of like we did
Should chemical companies pay for the assumed health effects of the higher UV radiation due to the ozone hole - difficulty proving harm

Question 18

What are the 8 parts of an Environmental Impact Assessment?

Answer 18

1. Status, scoping, data assembly
2. Consideration of alternatives
3. Review of proposed mitigation measures for alts
4. Screening costs and benefits of alt
5. Public consultation
6. Decision
7. Integration into project cycle
8. Post Project Analysis

Question 19

What are the criticisms of an EIA?

Answer 19

Neglect of key issues
Failure to measure explanatory variables
Failure to undertake field surveys
Over reliance on descriptive and subjective methods
Bias towards easily surveyed and charismatic taxonomic groups
Failure to estimate ecological significance

Question 20

How many mammal species have been lost to human activity?

Answer 20

Over 300

Question 21

What does research calculate as the lost evolutionary history?

Answer 21

2.5 billion years

Question 22

What is the prognosis for species recovery if humans changed their actions?

Answer 22

Even if harmful practices e.g. poaching, pollution, ended within 50 years it would still take 5-7 million years for the natural world to fully recover

Question 23

What is the concept proposed that is needed to prevent more animal extinction

Answer 23

‘Half Earth’ - we must conserve half of the planets resources and capacity