Environmental laws are laws that protect the environment. Environmental law is the collection of laws, regulations, agreements and common law that governs how humans interact with their environment. This includes environmental regulations; laws governing management of natural resources, such as forests, minerals, or fisheries; and related topics such as environmental impact assessments. Environmental law is seen as the body of laws concerned with the protection of living things (human beings inclusive) from the harm that human activity may immediately or eventually cause to them or their species, either directly or to the media and the habits on which they depend. Examples include economic development, wildlife conservation, and international relations.

Air quality laws govern the emission of air pollutants into the atmosphere. A specialized subset of air quality laws regulate the quality of air inside buildings. Air quality laws are often designed specifically to protect human health by limiting or eliminating airborne pollutant concentrations. Other initiatives are designed to address broader ecological problems, such as limitations on chemicals that affect the ozone layer, and emissions trading programs to address acid rain or climate change. Regulatory efforts include identifying and categorizing air pollutants, setting limits on acceptable emissions levels, and dictating necessary or appropriate mitigation technologies.

Air quality index (AQI) is used to identify contaminants present in the air that would result in affecting public health.^[1] They test among contaminants and high levels of the major six pollutants, including nitrogen dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide.^[2] The impacts on air quality reflect on the safety behind what contaminants are safe enough to breathe in. The high levels of pollutants can vary based on seasonal changes and what is more likely to cause an issue with air quality at its peak.^[1] Exposure to dangerous pollutants can adverse health effects over time, and can be a potential threat to a decline in population over time.^[3]

Waste management laws govern the transport, treatment, storage, and disposal of all manner of waste, including municipal solid waste, hazardous waste, and nuclear waste, among many other types. Waste laws are generally designed to minimize or eliminate the uncontrolled dispersal of waste materials into the environment in a manner that may cause ecological or biological harm, and include laws designed to reduce the generation of waste and promote or mandate waste recycling. Regulatory efforts include identifying and categorizing waste types and mandating transport, treatment, storage, and disposal practices.

Consuming less waste can heavily reduce the amount of energy used in products and help minimize consumption of goods over time.^[1] Waste separation could potentially lead to having additional resources and filter out waste during that process. Ways to reduce the amount of waste include green purchasing and reducing disposable products that contribute to climate change.^[1] Wealth has led to increase in environmental risks with waste produced including corporations, thus limiting the amount of regulation.^[2]

Environmental cleanup laws govern the removal of pollution or contaminants from environmental media such as soil, sediment, surface water, or ground water. Unlike pollution control laws, cleanup laws are designed to respond after-the-fact to environmental contamination, and consequently must often define not only the necessary response actions, but also the parties who may be responsible for undertaking (or paying for) such actions. Regulatory requirements may include rules for emergency response, liability allocation, site assessment, remedial investigation, feasibility studies, remedial action, post-remedial monitoring, and site reuse.

Sewage treatments are used for filtering out any contaminants that are present to ensure water quality remains clean and safe to consume.^[1] If left untreated for long period of time, antibiotic resistance may occur and will eventually cause health problems as the treatment plants won't get filtered easily.^[1] Government officials would need to test often to check the filtering system for efficiency. Wastewater and river ecosystems can effectively remove heavy metals such as lead and cadmium by using sea cucumbers, algae, and decayed plants to reduce the amount of heavy toxins that may be in water.^[2]

Chemical safety laws govern the use of chemicals in human activities, particularly human-made chemicals in modern industrial applications. As contrasted with media-oriented environmental laws (e.g., air or water quality laws), chemical control laws seek to manage the (potential) pollutants themselves. Regulatory efforts include banning specific chemical constituents in consumer products (e.g., Bisphenol A in plastic bottles), and regulating pesticides.

Safety regulations including the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) determine the chemicals that are considered harmful from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but end up placing restrictions to several chemicals per year as opposed to finding many other chemicals that would be considered harmful if exposed.^[1] According to the EPA, only 200 out of the 84,000 chemicals used in 2013 were used for testing purposes, raising concerns on whether TSCA would be up to date in their database.^[1] Chemicals would need to be tested for toxicity, instability, and flammability when coming into contact with other chemicals.^[2] It is essential to identify and analyze the different types of chemicals for its potential risks or it could have dangerous outcomes.^[2]

Water resources laws govern the ownership and use of water resources, including surface water and ground water. Regulatory areas may include water conservation, use restrictions, and ownership regimes.

Such laws include the right to be provided clean water at the bare minimum, according to the United Nations Committee.^[1] Water resources should be safe, clean, accessible, and affordable for human concern.^[1] This also means having facilities that operate in combatting water pollution and provide clean sources of water for maintenance.^[1][2] Duty dumping may occur if one is not held responsible for fulfilling their obligations in attempt to reduce environmental impact.^[2] Financial obligations are required for reaching quality standards to avoid risk of contamination that would raise public health concerns.^[1] An economic approach is made to provide a budget for having running water regulated normally and varies among countries distribution systems in efforts to reach human standards.^[1] Involvement is crucial for helping with water safety concerns, gaining attention of communities to help support programs established to further regulate water consumption.^[2]

Mining law is the branch of law relating to the legal requirements affecting minerals and mining. Mining law covers several basic topics, including the ownership of the mineral resource and who can work them. Mining is also affected by various regulations regarding the health and safety of miners, as well as the environmental impact of mining.

Managing mineral resources can be challenging to maintain as supply chains have lower chances of traceability with importing goods from their designated spots for mining.^[1] Sustainability and quality processes can be done through regulatory obligations for ensuring the source of importing goods are taken responsibility.^[1] The risks that may be involved can include unsafe working conditions as mining is labor-intensive and workers' rights since environmental risks are likely to occur when mining, such as water contamination and ingesting minerals when exposed in the air.^[1] Mining conditions can vary by country as some prohibit mining if there are unsafe working conditions while some are likely to be interested as it adheres to investments for mining industries growing in the future.^[2]

Wildlife laws govern the potential impact of human activity on wild animals, whether directly on individuals or populations, or indirectly via habitat degradation. Similar laws may operate to protect plant species. Such laws may be enacted entirely to protect biodiversity, or as a means for protecting species deemed important for other reasons. Regulatory efforts may include the creation of special conservation statuses, prohibitions on killing, harming, or disturbing protected species, efforts to induce and support species recovery, establishment of wildlife refuges to support conservation, and prohibitions on trafficking in species or animal parts to combat poaching.

Illegal wildlife trade has become an organized crime, and has led to tracking down poachers through law enforcement and high-level security approaches.^[1] Criminal activity involving animals have undergone pressure once regulation standards are established, having activities happen in other places to avoiding law enforcement.^[1] Conservationists may argue that it is risky that poachers are likely to be armed with weapons when law hunting down animals, leaving no choice but to recruit armed rangers for stopping their crimes.^[2] Tackling illegal wildlife crime would require involvement and support from international policies and law enforcement such as INTERPOL and EUROPOL.^[2] EUROPOL had to deal with political pressure to combat environmental crime, making it a priority to focus on.^[2] Ecological changes pertaining to human activity caused a decline in wildlife population over time.^[3] Relationships between humans and species result in negative outcomes of economic development and cultural significances.^[3]

Fish and game laws regulate the right to pursue and take or kill certain kinds of fish and wild animal (game). Such laws may restrict the days to harvest fish or game, the number of animals caught per person, the species harvested, or the weapons or fishing gear used. Such laws may seek to balance dueling needs for preservation and harvest and to manage both environment and populations of fish and game. Game laws can provide a legal structure to collect license fees and other money which is used to fund conservation efforts as well as to obtain harvest information used in wildlife management practice.

Illegal fishing often gets unreported with little to no regulation for transporting goods in facilities.^[1][2] Overfishing has impacted fisheries with a decline in economic growth and destruction of ecosystems.^[2] Marine resources would cause pressure among other countries relying on fishing for providing food in communities if illegal fishing isn't managed carefully.^[3] Another issue is an increase in marine pollution that has a decline of fish population with ocean disposals of toxic waste and lack of oxygen produced, which makes harvesting fish difficult to accomplish.^[4]

Defined by UNEP to include intergenerational equity – "the right of future generations to enjoy a fair level of the common patrimony" – and intragenerational equity – "the right of all people within the current generation to fair access to the current generation's entitlement to the Earth's natural resources" – environmental equity considers the present generation under an obligation to account for long-term impacts of activities, and to act to sustain the global environment and resource base for future generations. Pollution control and resource management laws may be assessed against this principle.

Equity is approached by combatting social justice for the sake of reaching climate goals in having more sustainability.^[1] International law decided to shift from equality to equity in hopes of acknowledging the needs and provide fair share of resources.^[2] The CBDR principle had been established back in 2015, but was modified by the Paris Agreement regarding climate change.^[2]

Defined in the international law context as an obligation to protect one's own environment, and to prevent damage to neighboring environments, UNEP considers transboundary responsibility at the international level as a potential limitation on the rights of the sovereign state. Laws that act to limit externalities imposed upon human health and the environment may be assessed against this principle.

Community participation is analyzed through international law that looks into environmental law and cases such as genocide and providing aid.^[3] Such laws include heritage laws that describe the cultural aspect and property rights of others.^[3] Responsibilities include pollution damage among two states, leading to calamities for countries to deal with.^[4] Some countries contribute to transboundary pollution and pass on to other places to clean up, establishing laws to decide on holding countries liable on causing damage to resources.^[5] Having strict liability depends on negotiations done in international court and what values are held for environmental reasons.^[5]

Identified as essential conditions for "accountable governments,... industrial concerns", and organizations generally, public participation and transparency are presented by UNEP as requiring "effective protection of the human right to hold and express opinions and to seek, receive and impart ideas,... a right of access to appropriate, comprehensible and timely information held by governments and industrial concerns on economic and social policies regarding the sustainable use of natural resources and the protection of the environment, without imposing undue financial burdens upon the applicants and with adequate protection of privacy and business confidentiality," and "effective judicial and administrative proceedings". These principles are present in environmental impact assessment, laws requiring publication and access to relevant environmental data, and administrative procedure.

Participating has shown to be more effective when trying to reach a point and use strategic matters for implementing action within policies.^[1] Public policies that are managed for sustainability would need financial incentives since the work put into these cases require lots of support and looking into ecological systems.^[1] International relations will need a relationship between participating in policy changes and TGI governance involvement.^[2] Debates with international relations still occur, focusing on the importance of participating in protecting natural resources by being involved with government policies.^[2]

One of the most commonly encountered and controversial principles of environmental law, the Rio Declaration formulated the precautionary principle as follows:

In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation. The principle may play a role in any debate over the need for environmental regulation. Precautions are done in regards of having higher levels of protection among resources such as human health concerns and conservation for protecting the environment.^[1] According to the EU, it has not properly defined the meaning of precautionary principle since it depends on protection of resources and policies implemented.^[1] The CJEU expressed the concern of “where there is uncertainty as to the existence or extent of human health, the institutions may take protective measures without having to wait until the reality and seriousness of those risks become fully apparent."^[1] Budgets are proposed for recovering any damages to resources done to communities in relation to water, air, and soil that may be impacted as a result of natural causes such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, and wildfires.^[2]

The concept of prevention can perhaps better be considered an overarching aim that gives rise to a multitude of legal mechanisms, including prior assessment of environmental harm, licensing or authorization that set out the conditions for operation and the consequences for violation of the conditions, as well as the adoption of strategies and policies. Emission limits and other product or process standards, the use of best available techniques and similar techniques can all be seen as applications of the concept of prevention.

Prevention is necessary to avoid resources destroyed and the amount of budgeting needed to recover from incidents so communities don't fall apart.^[1] Natural disasters are unavoidable by taking action before the incident happens can result in safe evacuations.^[1][2] They can be predicted based on people who had previously encountered with a natural disaster.^[2] Prevention from pollution can happen if policies are made to either ban substances or reduce the intake of contaminants in air, water, and soil for healthy conditions. Wildlife can be conserved through foreign aid and taking further action through funding programs that protect against poachers who may be armed and affiliate with an organization.^[3]

The polluter pays principle is the idea that "the environmental costs of economic activities, including the cost of preventing potential harm, should be internalized rather than imposed upon society at large." All issues related to responsibility for cost for environmental remediation and compliance with pollution control regulations involve this principle.

The rise of carbon emissions have resulted from corporations and facilities that fail to acknowledge the potential risks of climate change over time.^[1] Policies that cause environmental damage needs action done in hopes of preventing harm form happening again.^[1] Evidence of harm would need to be shown to see the damages done and how those get resolved.^[1][2] Government regulations may set aside the idea of conserving resources for their own benefit and not acknowledging those suffering from it.^[2]