When we refer to environmental law, we are talking about a complex area from its object and definition, even the doctrine is not completely peaceful with regard to its own denomination. But despite this and leaving aside semantic discussions, we can state that the environment is a system where biotic and antibiotic components interact, regardless of genus and species, in which the human being is included and takes part.
22 september 2020
Title: Access to environmental justice in Peru: analysis from environmental law and its main institutions
Author: César Alonso Palacios López
It is precisely the participation of the human being in relation to the environment that is of interest for the law and, in particular, for the branch of environmental law, given that it seeks to regulate the interactions of the human being with the environment, but being its ultimate aim to preserve it, in order to guarantee the preservation of the species.
Additionally, its greater complexity lies with its technical nature. Therefore, the environment cannot be understood from the viewpoint of the law if it is not understood from the viewpoint of other sciences, such as biology, chemistry, environmental engineering, zoology, and any other science that studies any particular component of the environment.
This represents a challenge by itself and means that law must be adapted to respond to current needs, and that the regulation in the area must, of course, have a preponderant technical or scientific content. Thus, mechanisms and tools must be reinforced to allow both citizens and justice workers to know about environmental law.
Environmental law and environmental protection are relatively new areas in Peru. Therefore, the treatment of environmental issues and the implementation of regulations that use constitutional provisions, or those derived from international treaties signed by the Peruvian state, such as the 1993 Declaration of Rio de Janeiro, are still in an initial stage.
By this we mean that the Peruvian state has developed policies, issued regulations, created institutions and initiated the process of exploitation of environmental protection, which include strengthening mechanisms of education, communication and access to information. However, these together have not been implemented for more than fifteen years and we can only find tangible results in recent years.
Likewise, due to the intrinsic complexity of the environmental area, access to environmental justice is a complex area since, in general terms, the environment as a legally protected interest is of ownership of all citizens. This must be analysed towards the interest and legitimacy to act in a determinate way, taking into account the nature of this certain legal asset.
Although there is no an ad hoc process in environmental issues, and each access to environmental justice is independent of each other, with its own budgets, the Peruvian legislation provides, in general terms, effective jurisdictional protection and appropriate safeguard for this type of cases.
Finally, as mentioned above, the process of advance in guaranteeing the environmental protection in the country is sustained, but still in an initial stage of the process.
