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p. 27 of 57 BACK | NEXT I. The Changing Environment II. Driving Forces of Change III. Options and Opportunities Adoption of Proven Policy Alternatives Development Investment Opportunities New Urban-Industrial Investment Opportunities Development and Deployment of New Technologies Advances in Energy Use and Supply Strengthening the Societal Drivers of Improved Environmental Performance Civil Society and Public Pressure Globalization and Environment Courts Enhanced Inclusive Governance and Institutional Reform Regional and International Governance Building Opportunities for Policy Integration IV. Toward Policy Integration V. Call to Action

Asian Environment Outlook 2001 : III. Options and Opportunities

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Courts

Courts can play a central role by ensuring that the stated rights of review and redress of citizens under recent environmental legislation in many Asian countries are actually respected. For example, in 1996 in Malaysia, a court quashed a ministerial order exempting a hydroelectric project from conducting an EIA as required by law (Bruch and others 2000). Even when the legal framework governing environmental issues does not offer an explicit and comprehensive system of environmental guarantees, courts have derived them from general principles such as the right to life and freedom of expression contained in most national constitutions.

In a number of Asian countries, the courts have emerged as an important player in environmental and natural resource disputes. Since the late 1980s, India’s Supreme Court has ruled on a number of cases arising from the construction of large dams. Although the Supreme Court has not consistently opposed such projects, it has generally proven more sensitive to the interests of the communities they threaten than have India’s state and federal governments (Mehta 2000).

It should be noted, however, that a number of conditions must be satisfied if courts are to fulfill their promise in ensuring environmental justice for disempowered social groups. First, the administration of justice must be independent of political pressures and private influence. This is not the case in a number of countries in the region. In others, this may be the case in the higher courts more than in the lower courts. Second, national legislation, constitutions, and jurisprudence must adopt a sufficiently liberal interpretation of standing to sue to allow suit to be brought by third-party organizations (such as environmental law associations) because these organizations are generally best placed to represent ecological or social interests. The regions’ record is more positive in this respect. A number of Asian countries have been at the forefront of the general worldwide movement toward such an expanded definition of standing to sue in public interest cases (E-Law 1998).

The opportunities for DMCs are to (i) strengthen the court system by enforcing laws, (ii) respect basic human rights protected by most nations constitutions, (iii) rid court system of outside special interests, and (iv) empower disadvantaged social groups by providing standing to third-party lawsuits.

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