Foreword to Volume VI

It is a true pleasure for me to introduce this fascinating volume on the principles of environmental law. To assemble a volume on a topic which seems at first blush more theoretical, or even abstract, is by no means an easy task. Yet the editors and contributing authors have created an excellent collection of essays covering all relevant aspects of the principles of environmental law. Dealing with those principles is undoubtedly complicated. On the one hand, principles are by nature vague and not always concrete; on the other hand the principles of environmental law also constitute the foundations, the true backbone, on which the entire environmental legal system is built. In their Introduction the editors rightly mention that not only is environmental law a relatively young and new discipline, but the same is undoubtedly the case for environmental principles. A few decades ago, most of the principles were unheard of. As a result, it is only relatively recently that those principles have been elaborated and developed, largely as a result of legal doctrine, but partially also via case law from numerous jurisdictions. The present volume demonstrates the existence of no less than 25 principles of environmental law. For good reasons the editors did not limit themselves to such traditional and more familiar principles as prevention at source, or polluter pays, but also drew upon related domains including international cooperation and good governance, which have also contributed principles of crucial importance for environmental law and policy. The editors and contributors have, in the first instance, provided legal interpretation of the specific principles addressed in the volume. But they have gone further to present the principles in a broader context and to relate, for example, the polluter-pays principle to economic analysis and interpretation. Similarly, the precautionary principle is presented in the context of risk analysis. It is precisely through such a multi-disciplinary approach towards environmental law principles that a richer interpretation can be provided. The principles of environmental law can be found in various legal sources. To an important extent they have been incorporated in international environmental agreements, as is made clear in the chapters contained in Part 4 of this volume. Treaty makers appear to attach great attention to the principles in the context of international conventions. But in addition, as is made clear in Part 3, principles of environmental law can also be found at the domestic level. Valuable examples from six jurisdictions are provided to show how the principles have also been integrated in national settings. Critical voices could always ask to what extent principles are at all able to shape environmental policy in a concrete manner. The problem is that to a large extent environmental principles may guide the policy-maker in creating specific obligations in environmental law, even when no explicit reference to environmental principles is included in the relevant text or legal instrument. Environmental legal principles may therefore often play an important, although largely hidden, role. That may be the case, for example, for the important shift from a fault-based approach towards a strict liability framework for