Bargaining and Precaution Flashcards
What is Coase Theorem?
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
What is a tort?
Wrong doing by one party against another
What 3 elements must be present in the law of torts?
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
What are the 3 types of entitlements?
Protected by property laws
Protected by liability laws
Inalienable
What are the limitations of the Coase Theorem?
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
What is the precautionary principle?
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
Who first suggested the precautionary principle?
Fisher 2001
What is a type 1 error?
Rejection of a true null hypothesis
What is a type 2 error?
Acceptance of a false null hypothesis
What is the Maastricht treaty?
Community policy on the environment shall aim at a high level of protection, taking into account diversity of situations
What were the problems with the Kyoto Protocol?
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
Where is the stratosphere?
16-18km above the polar regions, 25km above equator where high concentrations of ozone absorb incoming UV radiation
What are chloroflurocarbons (CFCs)?
Used in aerosols, refrigerators, manufacture of foam for fast food containers
What happened to global production of CFCs 1960-1990?
180 million kg/year to 1100
What happens to CFCs in the atmosphere?
The diffuse up into the stratosphere, UV radiation breaks them down into chlorine, which returns to the troposphere and returns as HCl in rain
What as the Montreal Protocol?
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
What is the persisting problem with CFCs and the Ozone layer?
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
What are the 8 parts of an Environmental Impact Assessment?
- Status, scoping, data assembly
- Consideration of alternatives
- Review of proposed mitigation measures for alts
- Screening costs and benefits of alt
- Public consultation
- Decision
- Integration into project cycle
- Post Project Analysis
What are the criticisms of an EIA?
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
How many mammal species have been lost to human activity?
Over 300
What does research calculate as the lost evolutionary history?
2.5 billion years
What is the prognosis for species recovery if humans changed their actions?
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
What is the concept proposed that is needed to prevent more animal extinction
‘Half Earth’ - we must conserve half of the planets resources and capacity
