Introduction

• Author: Jamie Benidickson
• Profession: Faculty of Law University of Ottawa
• Pages: 1-11

1

INTRODUCTION

A. LAW AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Environmental protection is always a subject of serious and persistent

concern to Canadians, and often ra nks ahead of other social and eco-

nomic issues on t he priority list. Evidence of environmental deterior-

ation in the forms of harmf ul pollution, re source depletion, and the

decline or even extinction of species i s readily apparent at the national

and internat ional levels, despite sometimes signif‌icant attempts to ad-

dress these challenges. Explanations for these disturbing developments

vary, with some pointing to the incess ant pressure of tech nology or to

the uncontrolled expansion of human population as culprits; others

blame deeply entrenched attitudes to nature and long-established pat-

terns of human relationsh ips with the environment and resources.

The suggested response s are equally diverse and occasiona lly con-

troversial. Mea ns to promote env ironmental protection include public

education, greater spending and investment to safeguard environment-

al functions, f‌inanci al incentives and property r ights to stimulate indi-

vidual action, continued technological i nnovation, and a legal regime

designed to prohibit env ironmentally detrimental activity and to en-

courage benef‌icial initiatives. Environmental law is thus a subject of

profound importance to a remarkable number of people whether t hey

are concerned indiv iduals, members of environmental public-interest

groups, civil servants, corporate off‌icials, technical and scientif‌ic ex-