January-June 2018
ISSN 2516-1210 (Print), 2515-9887 (Online)
The environmental impact assessment (EIA) regime has become the standard procedure for implementing the public participation concept based on Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment adopted at the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, as a strategy for preventing environmental harm. Even though this paper accepts the basic premise of the concept of public participation and its acclaimed virtues, it is argued that the EIA regime is an unreliable procedure for implementing the concept in developing markets. This is because of the fundamentality of access to justice to effective participation. The weak and inefficient justice systems in developing markets is unlikely to be able to effectively support the EIA process to ensure effective and meaningful participation of the public or the potential victims of environmental harm. Since meaningful participation of the public and interest groups in the process is the major driver of the public participation concept, the paper concludes that participation at a more fundamental level of corporate decision-making will be more appropriate for developing markets to obviate the need to rely on their weak and inefficient judicial systems.
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3 Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment (1972), UN Doc. A/CONF/48/14/REV.1; World Charter for Nature, 22 October 1982, (1983) 22 ILM 455; Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992), adopted by the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), UN Doc. A/CONF. 151/26 (Vol. 1) (1992).
4 Entered into force on March 23, 1976, G.A. Res. 2200A, 21 U.N GAOR Supp. (no 16) at 52, U.N Doc. A/6316 (1966).
5 See Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), arts 19 and 21; 1969 Inter-American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR), art 23; the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, (ACHPR), art 13.
6 Shelton, ‘Introduction’ in Shelton (ed), Human Rights and the Environment Volume 1 (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited 2011) x.
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9 See the OECD Guidelines, 20, para 14; UNGPs, Principle 18(b).
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11 United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (1998) 38 ILM (1999) 515.
12 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), UN Doc. A/CONF.151/26 (Vol. 1) (1992).
13 Etemire, Law and Practice on Public Participation in Environmental Matters: The Nigerian Example in Transnational Comparative Perspective (Abingdon: Routledge 2016) 7.
14 Giuliani and Macchi, ‘Multinational Corporations’ Economic and Human Rights Impacts on Developing Countries: A Review and Research Agenda’ (2014) 38 Cambridge Journal of Economics, 479, 482-90.
15 Ibid., 479-90.
16 Frynas, ‘The Oil Industry in Nigeria: Conflict between Oil Companies and Local People’ in Frynas and Pegg (eds), Transnational Corporations and Human Rights (Palmgrave Macmillan 2003) 99; Vogel, The Market for Virtue: The Potential and Limits of Corporate Social Responsibility (Washington D.C.: Brookings Institute Press 2006) 140-4.
17 Peter H. Sand, ‘The Evolution of International Environmental Law’ in Bodansky, Brunnee and Hey (eds), The Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2008) 31.
18 Philippe Sands et al, Principles of International Environmental Law (3rd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2012) 22.
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid., 23-25.
21 It is important to note that most of the developing world were colonies of European powers during this period. In fact, the first regional conservation treaty of general scope in Africa, the 1902 Convention for the Protection of Birds Useful to Agriculture (102 BFSP 969), was adopted by the major powers controlling the countries of Africa with a view to regulating the exploitation of wildlife and encouraging the creation of nature reserves in the continent. See Bowman, Davies and Redgwell, (eds), Lyster’s International Wildlife Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2010), 5. 2273 BFSP 323 231882, UN Doc. ST/LEG/SER.B/6, 1957, 695. 2425 IPE 200, this followed, earlier, bilateral, arrangements; cited by Bowman, Davies and Redgwell (n 18), 4. 258 IPE 3682.
26 Adam Roberts and Benedict Kingsbury, United Nations, Divided World (2nd ed, Oxford: Clarendon Press 1996) 1.
27 Sands et al, 26-7.
28 Ibid.
29 Art. 1 (3) UN Charter, 26 June 1945, entered into force 24 October 1945, 1 UNTS xvi.
30 Sands et al, 27.
31 See for example, (FAO) the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (2001), especially the Preamble and article 2. ; see also (UNESCO) Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972), especially article 2. .
32 Sands et al, 28.
33 Moscow, 5 August 1963, entered into force 10 October 1963, 480 UNTS 43.
34 1954 International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil, London, 12 May 1954, entered into force 26 July 1958, 327 UNTS 3.
35 Sands et al, 28.
36 For example, the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, Washington, 1 December 1959, entered into force 23 June 1961, 402 UNTS 71; the 1968 African Nature Convention, Algiers, 15 September 1968, entered into force 16 June 1969, 1001 UNTS 3; 1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, Ramsar, 2 February 1971, entered into force 21 December 1975, 996 UNTS 245. However, for a more comprehensive listing and detailed discussion on environmental instruments developed during this period, the reader is referred to Sands et al, ibid., particularly to chapters 7, 9, 10 and 11.
37 UN Doc. A/CONF.48/14 at 2-65, and Corr. 1 (1972), 11 ILM. 1416 (1972).
38 Ellis and Wood, ‘International Environmental Law’ in Richardson and Wood (eds), Environmental Law for Sustainability (Portland: Hart Publishing 2006) 343.
39 Blanco and Razzaque, 1.
40 P H Sands, 35.
41 Pring and Noe, 26.
42 Stockholm Declaration, Principle 1.
43 Collins, ‘The United Nations, Human Rights and the Environment’ in Grear and Kotze (eds), Research Handbook on Human Rights and the Environment (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited 2015) 225.
44 Ibid., 222.
45 Boyd, The Environmental Rights Revolution: A Global Study of Constitutions, Human Rights, and the Environment (Vancouver: UBC Press 2012) 20
46 Anderson, ‘Human Rights Approaches to Environmental Protection: An Overview’ in Boyle and Anderson (eds), Human Rights Approaches to Environmental Protection (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1996), 3.
47 Ibid.
48 Anton and Shelton, Environmental Protection and Human Rights (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2011) 131.
49 Basel Convention, 22 March 1989 (1989) 28 ILM 657.
50 Biodiversity Convention, 5 June 1992 (1992) 31 ILM 818.
51 Ellis and Wood, 357.
52 Stockholm Declaration, Report of the United Nations Conference on the Environment, Stockholm, 5-6 June 1972 (UN Publication No E.7311A14 and corrigendum), ch. 1.
53 Environmental impact assessment is referred to as environmental principle advisedly. It is not an environmental principle in a strict sense, but it is so referred because it is part of the body of domestic environmental legislation that support the preventive principle. See Sands et al, 200-203
54 Ellis and Wood, 355-6.
55 UN Doc. A/CONF. 151/26 (Vol. 1) (1992).
56 Birnie, Boyle and Redgwell, International Law and the Environment (3rd edn, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2009) 112
57 Pring and Noe, 32.
58 Agenda 21 chapter 23.2.
59 Birnie, Boyle and Redgwell, 116-123.
60 Birnie, Boyle and Redgwell, 117.
61 Shelton, x.
62 Kameri-Mbote and Cullet, ‘Biological Diversity Management in Africa: Legal and Policy Perspective in the Run-up to WSSD’ (2002) 11 (1) RECIEL 38, 51
63 See, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) Act, Cap. F10 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004; Environmental Impact Assessment Act, Cap E12 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
64 Dinah Shelton, ‘Human Rights, Environmental Rights and the Right to Environment’ (1991) 28 Stan Envtl L. J. 103, 117.
65 Blanco and Razzaque, 226.
66 Birnie, Boyle and Redgwell, 270.
67 See the comparison on oil spill in European and what is happenning in Nigeria by Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty International Global Issues Director, accessed 13 February 2017.
68 Pring and Noe, 38.
69 Agenda 21, 23.2 (1992), Approved by the UNCED, Rio De Janeiro, 13 June 1992, UN Doc. A/CONF.151/26 (vols. I-III) (1992).
70 UNECE Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (1991)
71 Birnie, Boyle and Redgwell, 293.
72 Stec and Casey-Lefkowitz, The Aarhus Convention: An Implementation Guide (New York: UN, 2002) Forward.
73 Ebbesson et al, The Aarhus Convention: Implementation Guide (2nd edn, New York: United Nations 2014) Foreword.
74 UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), ‘Rio Principle 10 National Profile and Action Plan Project’, .
75 Etemire, 11.
76 Aarhus Convention, arts. 6 and 7. A complete list of those activities which must be subject to the requirements under article 6 is listed in Annex I.
77 Bruch and Filbey, ‘Emerging Global Norms of Public Involvement’ in Carl Bruch (ed), The New “Public”: The Globalization of Public Participation (Washington DC: Environmental Law Institute 2002) 3.
78 See public authorities as defined under Article 2 (2) and covers any government body or any natural or legal persons performing public administrative functions, and may include privatised companies providing public services. Stec and Casey-Lefkowitz, 44.
79 Arts 4 and 5.
80 Aarhus Convention, Article 7 deals with plans, programmes and policies and Article 8 deals with public participation during preparation of executive regulation.
81 Article 2 (4) and (5).
82 Pring and Noe, 38.
83 Ibid.
84 Birnie, Boyle and Redgwell, 166.
85 See for example, Human Rights Watch & Center for Human Rights & Global Justice, On the Margins of Profit: Rights at Risk in the Global Economy (February 2008), (hereinafter On the Margins of Profit), accessed 26 January 2017.
86 Emphasis added.
87 Hunter, Salzman and Zaelke, International Law and Policy (3rd edn. New York: Foundation Press 2007) 534.
88 Hunter, Salzman and Zaelke, 367.
89 Abbot, ‘Environmental Command Regulation’ in Richardson and Wood (eds), Environmental Law and Sustainability (Portland: Hart Publishing 2006) 74.
90 Ibid. See also Nigeria’s EIA Act s 4 and Article (6) Aarhus Convention.
91 Nigerian EIA Act, ss 7, 21(3), 24, 33(1) and 36 (b); Aarhus Convention, Article 6(2).
92 Nigerian EIA Act, s 36(b); Aarhus Convention, Article 6.
93 Aarhus Convention, Article 6(8)
94 Spain ACCC/C/2008/24, ECE/MP.PP/C.1/2011/8/Add.4.
95 Dutch ACCC/C/2008/25, ECE/MP.PP/C.1/2011/8/Add.3.
96 Anderson, 27-8.
97 See generally, Boyle, ‘Human Rights and the Environment: Where Next?’ (2012) 23(3) The European Journal of International Law 613-642.
98 See Human Rights Council Resolution 7/23, UN Doc. A/HRC/RES/7/23 (28 March 2008); Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on human rights and the environment, UN Doc. A/HRC/19/34 (19 December 2011); Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the relationship between climate change and human rights, UN Doc. A/HRC/10/61 (15 January 2009).
99 UN Human Rights Council, ‘The Human Right to Water and Sanitation’ A/HRC/RES/15/9, (June 2010); UN Human Rights Council, ‘The Human Rights to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation’ A/HRC/RES/24/18 (12 July 2013).
100 UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Human Rights Indicators: A Guide to Measurement and Implementation (2012).
101 Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria Ltd v Chief Joel Anaro & Ors, (2015) LPELR -24750 (SC).
102 Ade Adesomoju, ‘Oil Spill: 32 Years After, Supreme Court Orders Shell to Pay N30m Compensation’ The Punch (Lagos, 6 June 2015).
103 EIA Act, s 62.
104 Tari Dadiowei, ‘Environmental Impact Assessment and Sustainable Development in the Niger Delta: The Gbarian Oil Field Experience’ (2009) Niger Delta Economies of Violence Working Paper No. 2.
1 PhD Candidate (University of Nottingham), LLM (University of Western Ontario), LLB (Lagos State University), BL, email: samojogbolaw@yahoo.ocm; sojogbo@biu.edu.ng.
(2018). Public Participation and Environmental Degradation in Developing Markets: The Challenges in Focusing on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in Nigeria. Legal issues Journal, 6 (1), https://www.legalissuesjournal.com/article/06-01-16012018/
