Summary
The environment of the entire planet is altered by the predatory behavior of human beings; biotic and abiotic elements have always been used by man as if they were infinite, but from the second half of the 20th century these abuses have had an adverse impact worldwide, modifying climates, soil chemistry and the atmosphere; thaws in the Arctic and Antarctic; pollution of continental waters and seas, etc. As a result of the foregoing, throughout the world the UN, NGOs, governments of different countries and the world population, have demonstrated against the predatory and polluting behavior of companies, and in favor of defending the global environment, so that moral persons responsible for ecological imbalance and environmental degradation,assume the environmental costs for the deterioration of the natural elements that are common to all living beings, internalizing the externalities at their expense, either with the intervention of the State, applying the law (the polluter pays) or by consensus with the individuals.
Abstract
The environment of the entire planet is affected by the predatory behavior of human beings biotic and abiotic elements man has used them forever like infinite, but from the second half of the twentieth century these abuses have impacted adversely globally changing climate, the chemistry of the soil and the atmosphere, melting in the Arctic and Antarctica, pollution of inland waters and seas etc. Consequence of this, all over the world the UN, NGOs, governments of various countries and world population, have demonstrated against predatory behavior and contaminate companies, and for the defense of the global environment, so that the entities responsible for ecological imbalance and environmental degradation, take the environmental costs of natural elements that are common to all living things, internalizing externalities at their expense,either to the intervention, applying the law (the polluter pays) or through consensus with individuals.
1. Introduction
The human being, from its origin, has adapted to the environment of any ecosystem and climate on the planet, with relatively few environmental problems until the first half of the 20th century; but from the decade of the 60s, the biotic elements (vegetable kingdom and animal kingdom -marine and terrestrial-) have been affected in their existence by the activities of man; Faced with this problem, scientists discovered that ecosystems were altered because abiotic elements (hydrosphere, lithosphere and atmosphere) were saturated with chemical, biological and physical pollutants (dust and carbon particles suspended in the atmosphere, etc.); Recently, scientists from around the globe worked to carry out the "Indian Ocean Experiment" (INDOEX) reporting the presence of a physical phenomenon,called global darkening:
Global warming is a phenomenon well known to all, but other lesser-known phenomena, such as global darkening, proceed silently, modifying the planet's climate. The researchers reveal that the amount of sunlight reaching the earth's surface has been reduced considerably, almost 4% between 1970 and 1990. This phenomenon could modify the hydrological cycle throughout the globe. Many scientists in Europe and the United States have confirmed, using different methods, the progress of global darkening. This phenomenon occurs because thanks to industrial activity and the combustion of fossil fuels, polluting particles are released into the atmosphere, these particles modify the normal process of cloud formation, promoting the accumulation of small drops in the troposphere,which increase the power of clouds to reflect solar rays and reduce the number of photons that reach the Earth's surface.
The above phenomenon, among others, is due to the fact that homo sapiens uses and abuses nature, because the capitalist economic system seeks to satisfy unnecessary needs, created to satisfy the human ego, generating adverse consequences, known as externalities in the human environment.; Agustín Basave, on the matter says:
Referees of our destiny, men can command the animals and impose our will on things. No other visible figure. "The person," said Saint Thomas, "is the most perfect thing that exists in all of creation." Only man is able to rise to the highest speculative truths and to reproduce, intellectually, the order of the universe and its causes. We dominate our strength and transform the natural environment that surrounds us; we are hungry for eternity and we nurture sublime feelings.
Leff comments:
The environmental crisis of the 1960s showed the ecological irrationality of the dominant patterns of production and consumption, and marked the limits of economic growth. From there arose the theoretical and political interest in valuing nature in order to internalize the environmental externalities of the development process. Thus, the Ecological Economy emerged as a new paradigm.
Chang explains that the environment has been included in the market, so economic science values abundance or scarcity and, depending on this, a price is incorporated, considering the environment as an economic good by speaking as follows:
It should be made explicit that environmental economics is not the application of economic sciences in general to environmental problems. This is the name given to the interpretation of a school of economic thought, namely the neoclassical one, which began to incorporate the environment as an object of study. Environmental economics is based, then, on the same basic concepts and assumptions of neoclassical theory, which concentrates the analysis on scarcity, and where goods are valued according to their abundance, rarity, such that when it comes to scarce goods, These are considered economic goods, while when they are abundant goods, they are not economic. The environment has been acquiring economic good status because many natural resources, such as water and some non-renewable energy sources,they are becoming scarce and have predictable horizons of exhaustion. At the same time, these natural goods, even though they are essential inputs to the production process, present characteristics of non-economic goods, because they do not have a price or an owner. For this reason, the environment is external to the market. The incorporation of the environment into the market would take place through the procedure of internalization of these externalities, awarding them a price. Therefore, environmental economics is primarily concerned with monetary valuation of the environment. Once internalized, the environment has the characteristics of an economic good, that is, it has a price and / or property rights.Even when they are essential inputs to the production process, they present characteristics of non-economic goods, because they do not have a price or an owner. For this reason, the environment is external to the market. The incorporation of the environment into the market would take place through the procedure of internalization of these externalities, awarding them a price. Therefore, environmental economics is primarily concerned with monetary valuation of the environment. Once internalized, the environment has the characteristics of an economic good, that is, it has a price and / or property rights.Even when they are essential inputs to the production process, they present characteristics of non-economic goods, because they do not have a price or an owner. For this reason, the environment is external to the market. The incorporation of the environment into the market would take place through the procedure of internalization of these externalities, awarding them a price. Therefore, environmental economics is primarily concerned with monetary valuation of the environment. Once internalized, the environment has the characteristics of an economic good, that is, it has a price and / or property rights.The incorporation of the environment into the market would take place through the procedure of internalization of these externalities, awarding them a price. Therefore, environmental economics is primarily concerned with monetary valuation of the environment. Once internalized, the environment has the characteristics of an economic good, that is, it has a price and / or property rights.The incorporation of the environment into the market would take place through the procedure of internalization of these externalities, awarding them a price. Therefore, environmental economics is primarily concerned with monetary valuation of the environment. Once internalized, the environment has the characteristics of an economic good, that is, it has a price and / or property rights.
2. Externalities
Environmental problems are currently transboundary, as they affect globally, climate change, the destruction of the ozone layer, air pollution, etc., or local problems such as changes in land use, loss of biodiversity, etc.., in this regard the Iberoamerican University Foundation explains that:
The dynamics of the deterioration of the ecosystem caused by production and consumption decisions, occurs mainly because the market does not always efficiently fulfill its function of allocating resources from a social point of view. Some decisions made with private criteria do not always correspond to the social optimum, which is due to the fact that there are externalities in the production and consumption processes.
It is understood that an external effect occurs when the actions of an economic agent (A) affect, through different mechanisms to market prices, the decisions or welfare of another agent (B). Depending on how this effect is, two types of externalities can be distinguished:
Positive externality (positive external effect, external benefit or external economy). If B benefits.
Negative externality (negative external effect, external cost or external disecotomy) if B is harmed. This is the case of contamination.
On the other hand, physical contamination does not always imply a negative externality or external cost, since there must also be another circumstance: that the loss of well-being is not compensated. For example, if agent (A) produces negative pollution for agent (B), but adequately compensates agent, then this pollution is not considered an externality; what is taking place then is an internalization of externalities.
In short, a negative externality exists when the following two conditions exist:
- An activity by one agent causes a loss of well-being by another agent. That loss of well-being is not compensated.
Four types of negative externalities can be distinguished:
- Effects of production on production: the performance of one producing agent (A) negatively influences another producing agent (B). Example: (A) is a cement factory that emits pollutants into the atmosphere and (B) is an agricultural company that grows spinach. As a result of the smoke emissions of (A), spinach (output of B) lose quality and weight.Effects of production on consumption: the performance of a producing agent (A) negatively influences a consuming agent (B). Example: (A) is a cement factory that emits pollutants into the atmosphere and (B) is a person who eats spinach grown in the field next to the cement factory. As a consequence of the smoke emissions of (A), the spinach that it consumes (B) has a lower quality (causing a loss of well-being to B).Effects of consumption on consumption: the action of a consuming agent (A) negatively influences another consuming agent (B). Example: (A) is a hiker who does not collect the garbage he produces and leaves it abandoned on the mountain and (B) is another hiker. As a consequence of the incivism of (A) there is a deterioration in the enjoyment of (B). Effects of consumption on production: the action of a consuming agent (A) negatively influences the producing agent (B). Example: (A) is a hiker who does not collect the rubbish he produces on the mountain and (B) is a cement maker who gets the sand from this mountain. As a consequence of the incivism of (A), (B) has to screen the waste of the sand to be able to use it as a raw material, causing a problem.the action of a consuming agent (A) negatively influences another consuming agent (B). Example: (A) is a hiker who does not collect the garbage he produces and leaves it abandoned on the mountain and (B) is another hiker. As a consequence of the incivism of (A) there is a deterioration in the enjoyment of (B). Effects of consumption on production: the action of a consuming agent (A) negatively influences the producing agent (B). Example: (A) is a hiker who does not collect the rubbish he produces on the mountain and (B) is a cement maker who gets the sand from this mountain. As a consequence of the incivism of (A), (B) has to screen the waste of the sand to be able to use it as a raw material, causing a problem.the action of a consuming agent (A) negatively influences another consuming agent (B). Example: (A) is a hiker who does not collect the garbage he produces and leaves it abandoned on the mountain and (B) is another hiker. As a consequence of the incivism of (A) there is a deterioration in the enjoyment of (B). Effects of consumption on production: the action of a consuming agent (A) negatively influences the producing agent (B). Example: (A) is a hiker who does not collect the rubbish he produces on the mountain and (B) is a cement maker who gets the sand from this mountain. As a consequence of the incivism of (A), (B) has to screen the waste of the sand to be able to use it as a raw material, causing a problem.(A) is a hiker who does not collect the garbage he produces and leaves it abandoned on the mountain and (B) is another hiker. As a consequence of the incivism of (A) there is a deterioration in the enjoyment of (B). Effects of consumption on production: the action of a consuming agent (A) negatively influences the producing agent (B). Example: (A) is a hiker who does not collect the rubbish he produces on the mountain and (B) is a cement maker who gets the sand from this mountain. As a consequence of the incivism of (A), (B) has to screen the waste of the sand to be able to use it as a raw material, causing a problem.(A) is a hiker who does not collect the garbage he produces and leaves it abandoned on the mountain and (B) is another hiker. As a consequence of the incivism of (A) there is a deterioration in the enjoyment of (B). Effects of consumption on production: the action of a consuming agent (A) negatively influences the producing agent (B). Example: (A) is a hiker who does not collect the rubbish he produces on the mountain and (B) is a cement maker who gets the sand from this mountain. As a consequence of the incivism of (A), (B) has to screen the waste of the sand to be able to use it as a raw material, causing a problem.the performance of a consuming agent (A) negatively influences the producing agent (B). Example: (A) is a hiker who does not collect the rubbish he produces on the mountain and (B) is a cement maker who gets the sand from this mountain. As a consequence of the incivism of (A), (B) has to screen the waste of the sand to be able to use it as a raw material, causing a problem.the performance of a consuming agent (A) negatively influences the producing agent (B). Example: (A) is a hiker who does not collect the rubbish he produces on the mountain and (B) is a cement maker who gets the sand from this mountain. As a consequence of the incivism of (A), (B) has to screen the waste of the sand to be able to use it as a raw material, causing a problem.
3. Some effects of air pollution
The effects of air pollutants on human health have been the main reason for the action of public authorities regarding air pollution; Moreno Molina explains:
- Effects on human health: The human organism reacts globally to the exposure of polluting agents whose synergistic effects in certain cases can be tremendously harmful to human health (for example, the combined effect of SO2 and suspended particles., produce an increase in chronic respiratory diseases and risk of more serious respiratory diseases, the most exposed population are children and the elderly). Effects on vegetation and animals: atmospheric pollutants affect plants by penetrating the leaves and / or by the roots when they become solid or wet deposits in the soil. They affect photosynthesis, reduce enzyme levels and can alter agricultural yields (cereals for example).The main phytotoxic air pollution agents are ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, fluorine and peroxide-acetyl-nitrate (PAN). Animals are also affected by air pollution at the respiratory level, like humans, but above all by the ingestion of agents that contaminated their food and, in particular, the grass on which they feed. These agents can be found in meat and especially in milk that can be consumed by humans. The same applies to fluorine that can be ingested by herds that live near the factories that emit this agent (manufacture of fertilizers, aluminum,…). Effects on materials and structures: the main effect of air pollution on Metals is corrosion, particularly in a smoked atmosphere.The levels of corrosion observed in industrial sites in England were 100 times more important than those observed in the arid African zones. Acidic agents also attack construction materials (limestone and marble, in particular). The costly and increasingly frequent cleaning of city monuments is the proof of this aggression (example from Athens, in particular).Other effects: air pollution also alters visibility, contributing to the formation of mists, in particular Photochemical mists characteristic of the city of Los Angeles in summer.– Finally, in the form of dry or wet acidic repercussions, air pollution acidifies lakes and rivers, and can alter certain types of soils sensitive to acidification (critical loads and contamination acidic).6
4. Internalization of externalities
Environmental externalities can be corrected, not in their entirety, but it is possible to mitigate the social unrest caused by individuals with negotiations between the parties involved or with government intervention, as suggested by Pigou in his work The Welfare Economy, in which It proposes solutions to reduce the negative impacts on the environment derived from economic activity, stopping those activities whose social costs ostensibly exceed private costs, giving rise to strong negative externalities or to incentivize those activities in which the opposite occurs, benefiting from subsidies to agents that do not pollute or tax polluting activities with the Pigouvian tax.
The Pigouvian tax is a tax per productive unit whose amount coincides with the value of the externality evaluated at the optimum point; that is, it consists of applying a tax to the polluter in accordance with the external cost it imposes on others. What is intended is that the company, having to pay a tax per unit of product equal to the value of the external effect it generates, is forced to choose the socially desirable level of production and produce wherever it sees its benefits maximized.
In practice, the Pigouvian tax has some flaws, sometimes producing effects contrary to what was originally intended. This is due to the fact that there are certain situations in which its application deviates from its theoretical behavior: In reality it is difficult to attribute costs to environmental damage and it does not adequately adapt to environmental changes, etc.
The case of pollution control, even through the application of Pigouvian taxes, requires state intervention, that is, government action, through the following mechanisms:
- The establishment of taxes on pollution or on the activity causing environmental degradation. For example, in the case of gasoline with the aim of preventing contamination. The establishment of contamination standards, combined with penalties for non-compliance. Negotiable contamination permits. Through this mechanism, the competent environmental authority establishes a maximum level of contamination and assigns polluting agents pollution rights. Each agent is granted rights for a certain amount; the sum of these permits must not be greater than the maximum allowable level. Agents can negotiate those rights. In this way, an agent can pollute more as long as he buys rights from another agent, who therefore would stop polluting and at the same time be compensated for it.
Ronald Coase, British economist, in 1960 published his work entitled "The Problem of Social Cost"; document in which he argues that the problem lies more in legal than economic terms and that mainly, under certain ideal conditions, free competition would lead directly to internalizing externalities, solving the economic problem without the need for taxes or other administrative interventions (Theorem of Coase), thus criticizing Pigou.
The "Coase Theorem" consists of the faculty of being able to "internalize externalities" in the market, under certain assumptions and defining property rights well under an institutional framework. Therefore, the first thing to establish is the legality of externalities, so that they can be regulated by the State and there can be a market where those affected by externalities can market and negotiate, so that it continues to be the mechanism for allocating resources.
Internalizing the externalities consists, under free market assumptions, adding to the market price the contamination made by the production of the good or service, through a design of the property rights on the market, as long as they can be freely exchanged; transaction costs are nil; and they can be exchanged in a perfectly competitive market. This assigns a minimal role to the State, in which it should act only on issues of regulation, imposition of economic sanctions, subsidies for corrective measures and the creation of a market for marketable permits for externalities.
“It is generally thought that (A) causes damage to (B) and that what must be decided is knowing how to prevent (A) from producing such damage; however this is false. It is a problem of a reciprocal nature. Avoiding damage to (B) will cause damage to (A). The real question to be decided is: should (A) be allowed to cause harm to (B) or is it (B) who should have the premise to harm (A)? ”
On the other hand, it considers that a clear attribution of property rights over environmental goods would allow the market to function properly. This would mean that it was possible to negotiate between the cause of the externality and the person affected by it, so that a point was reached where the volume of activity was at a socially optimal level of production. In this case, public intervention would not be necessary.
However, the negotiated solution proposed by Coase has some limits, since it cannot always be applied, as we will see below:
- The participants are required to be well defined: it is necessary to know who causes the externalities and who are the disadvantaged. This is not always evident, for example, in the case of air pollution in an industrial area, it is not easy to distinguish who is causing the externality, since the emitted compounds can react with each other and produce synergistic effects. Negotiations should be few: it is assumed that there are few agents that cause externality and few agents that suffer from it, which is not always true; As in most cases, as the number of participants increases, the negotiations become more complicated, so a solution cannot always be reached. The negotiation occurs on equal terms: this situation is not always fulfilled;A very common case is that the pollutant has a much greater political, social or economic influence than those affected, so that the criteria of the former end up being imposed above the interests of those affected.The theorem does not allow reaching the optimal level of production and externality in cases where the company is a monopoly.8
The consequence of these limitations to the Coase Theorem is that it can only be applied in a few real cases of contamination, and that it is not easy to reach a negotiated solution, so in most cases the intervention of the federal, state or municipal will be justified.
5. International genesis of public control of environmental externalities.
Concern about environmental problems at the global level, led to the June 5 to 16, 1972, in the city of Stockholm, Sweden, dictated the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment; proclaiming, among other matters, that:
1.- Man is both the work and the architect of the environment that surrounds him, which gives him material support and gives him the opportunity to develop intellectually, morally, socially and spiritually. In the long and tortuous evolution of the human race on this planet, a stage has been reached in which, thanks to the rapid acceleration of science and technology, man has acquired the power to transform, in innumerable ways and on a scale unprecedented, everything that surrounds it. The two aspects of the human environment, the natural and the artificial, are essential for the well-being of man and for the enjoyment of fundamental human rights, including the right to life itself.
In 1982 a document known as the “Brundtland Report” (Our Common Future) was published, prepared by the World Commission on Environment and Development, created by the United Nations and chaired by Gro Brundtland, the Prime Minister of Norway.
The Brundtland Report consolidates a critical vision of the development model adopted by industrialized countries and imitated by developing nations, highlighting the incompatibility between the production and consumption models in force in the former and the rational use of natural resources and the capacity of Ecosystem support In this report, the term sustainable development was used for the first time, defined as one that meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations. ”
The Brundtland Report, from its publication, became a world reference for the elaboration of eco-compatible development strategies and policies that stop the degradation of ecosystems.
That is why the need for another development model arises, sustainable development.
“This development implies limitations, and requires the first most equitable distribution of resources and requires great political support for it. Satisfy human needs. Carry out two types of restrictions: ecological, that is, the conservation of our planet Earth; morals: giving up levels of consumption to which not all individuals can aspire. Economic growth in places where previous needs are not met, that is, in poor countries. Demographic control, mainly referred to birth rates. Do not compromise the natural systems that support life on Earth. The conservation of ecosystems must be subordinated to human well-being, since not all ecosystems can be conserved in their virgin state.The use of non-renewable resources must be as efficient as possible ”.
From June 3 to 14, 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, better known as the "Earth Summit" was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; The 178 participating countries agreed to adopt a development approach that would protect the environment, while ensuring economic and social development; proclaiming the following:
Reaffirming the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment; and trying to build on it, with the aim of establishing a new and equitable global alliance by creating new levels of cooperation between States, key sectors of societies and people; seeking to reach international agreements in which the interests of all are respected and the integrity of the global environmental and development system is protected; recognizing the integral and interdependent nature of the earth, our home proclaims that: Principle 16. National authorities should seek to promote the internalization of environmental costs and the use of economic instruments, taking into account the criteria that the polluter must, in principle, bear the costs of pollution,taking due account of the public interest and without distorting international trade or investment.
6. Economic and environmental policy in Mexico.
Environmental policy uses a series of mechanisms or instruments to solve or internalize externalities, and thus be able to influence the environmental behavior of individuals; In Mexico, the General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection, in Chapter IV: Instruments of Environmental Policy, includes to be regulated: Economic Instruments, Self-regulation and Environmental Auditing; as disclosed in the Official Gazette of the Federation published on December 13, 1996, in the explanatory memorandum that the LGEEPA reformed, and which is transcribed below:
The initiative defines economic instruments as regulatory and administrative mechanisms of a fiscal, financial or market nature, through which people assume the environmental benefits and costs that their economic activities generate and are encouraged to carry out actions that favor the ambient. Likewise, the power of the Federation, the States and the Federal District to design, develop and apply economic instruments that encourage the fulfillment of the objectives of environmental policy is determined.
Economic instruments constitute an ideal mechanism to give effect to the principles of environmental policy: the one that indicates that whoever contaminates, makes excessive use of natural resources, or alters ecosystems, must assume the costs inherent in their conduct; and the one who points out that whoever conserves resources and invests in ecological conservation, rebuilding the nation's environmental capital, should therefore receive a stimulus or compensation. ”
The federal environmental standard establishes the following:
Article 22.-… Fiscal stimuli that encourage the fulfillment of the objectives of the environmental policy are considered economic instruments of a fiscal nature. In no case, these instruments will be established for exclusively collection purposes.
Credits, bonds, civil liability insurance, funds and trusts are financial instruments, when their objectives are aimed at the preservation, protection, restoration or sustainable use of natural resources and the environment, as well as the financing of programs, projects, studies, scientific research, technological development and innovation for the preservation of the ecological balance and protection of the environment.
Market instruments are concessions, authorizations, licenses and permits that correspond to pre-established volumes of pollutant emissions in the air, water or soil, or that establish the limits of use of natural resources, or construction in protected natural areas or in areas whose preservation and protection is considered relevant from an environmental point of view.
The prerogatives derived from the economic market instruments will be transferable, not taxable and will be subject to the public interest and the sustainable use of natural resources.
In the matter of administrative sanctions, the assumptions are established through which the authority may reduce or condone the fines imposed on the offenders when they comply with the deadlines established by the authority with the corrective measures to correct the detected irregularities, or when they guarantee that the amount of the fine will be applied in actions tending to prevent environmental contamination or protect natural resources, as the case may be.
It also establishes the possibility that the authority, under certain assumptions, gives violators the possibility of covering the fine imposed on them, or making equivalent investments in the acquisition or installation of equipment that improves their environmental performance; privileging with this the conducts that have direct effects on the conditions of the environment.
The fines charged for violations of environmental regulations will be used to reinforce the inspection and surveillance programs of said regulations.
ARTICLE 171.- Violations of the precepts of this Law, its regulations and the provisions that emanate from it will be administratively sanctioned by the Ministry, with one or more of the following sanctions:
I. Fine for the equivalent of thirty to fifty thousand days of general minimum wage in force in the Federal District at the time of imposing the sanction.
II.- Temporary or definitive closure, total or partial, when:
a) The offender has not complied with the terms and conditions imposed by the authority, with the corrective measures or urgently ordered;
b) In cases of recidivism when the infractions generate negative effects on the environment, or
c) It involves repeated disobedience, on three or more occasions, to the fulfillment of one or some corrective measures or urgent application imposed by the authority.
III. Administrative arrest for up to 36 hours.
IV.- The confiscation of instruments, specimens, products or by-products directly related to infractions related to forest resources, species of wild flora and fauna or genetic resources, in accordance with the provisions of this Law.
V.- The suspension or revocation of the corresponding concessions, licenses, permits or authorizations.
If once the term granted by the authority to correct the infraction or infractions that have been committed has expired, it appears that said infraction or infractions still subsist, fines may be imposed for each day that passes without obeying the mandate, without the total of the fines exceeds the maximum amount allowed, pursuant to section I of this article.
In the case of recidivism, the amount of the fine may be up to three times the amount originally imposed, as well as the final closure.
The offender is considered to be a repeat offender who engages in conduct that involves infringements of the same provision more than once, in a period of two years, counted from the date on which the act in which the first offense was recorded, provided that it had not been distorted.
Regarding environmental crimes, the Criminal Code for the Federal District in matters of common jurisdiction and for the entire Republic in matters of Federal Jurisdiction, environmental crimes are typified in Title Twenty-Fifth. Crimes Against the Environment and Environmental Management; and for the case at hand we transcribe only the First Chapter: Of the technological and dangerous activities:
Article 415.- A penalty of one to nine years in prison and a fine of three to three thousand days will be imposed on those who, without applying prevention or security measures:
- Issue, dismiss, discharge into the atmosphere, authorize or order it, gases, fumes, dusts or contaminants that cause damage to natural resources, fauna, flora, ecosystems or the environment, provided that such emissions come from fixed sources of federal jurisdiction, in accordance with the provisions of the General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection, oGenerate emissions of noise, vibrations, thermal or light energy, originating from emission sources of federal jurisdiction, in accordance with the order indicated in section above, causing damage to natural resources, flora, fauna, ecosystems or the environment.
The same penalties will be applied to those who unlawfully carry out the activities described in the preceding sections, that cause a risk to natural resources, flora, fauna, ecosystems or the environment.
In the event that the activities referred to in this article are carried out in a protected natural area, the prison sentence will be increased by up to three years and the economic penalty by up to a thousand days fine.
Article 416.- A penalty of one to nine years in prison and a three hundred to three thousand days fine will be imposed on those who unlawfully discharge, deposit, or infiltrate, authorize or order, wastewater, chemical or biochemical liquids, waste or contaminants in the soils, subsoils, marine waters, rivers, basins, vessels or other deposits or streams of federal jurisdiction, which cause a risk of damage or damage to natural resources, flora, fauna, and water quality, to ecosystems or to the environment.
In the case of waters that are deposited, flow into or into a protected natural area, the prison will be increased up to three more years and the economic penalty will be up to a thousand days fine.
6.1 The environmental decision
The Spanish environmental researcher, José Luis Serrano comments that: “Environmental law is not a classic matter of law, but still only environmental policy in the form of law” 7 In this sense, the Mexican researcher from the Autonomous Metropolitan University José Antonio Serratos Hernández thinks than:
Environmental policy in Mexico is limited by several factors: 1) changes in government that affect its continuity and the possibility of achieving programmed objectives, affect legal regulations, harm the permanence of the institutions responsible for implementing them, and make management positions a power quotas; 2) the substitution of the public interest for the business one, which has implied a source of economic and socio-political conflicts; 3) the permanence of the authoritarian functioning of the presidential system that guarantees the subordination of the legislative and judicial powers and of social organizations to the executive, the imposition of policies lacking consensus and antisocial, the absence of the rule of law, where the executive is the first violator of legality, questionable handling of the budget,corruption or non-compliance with official programs in the absence of legal mechanisms for accountability and sanctions against public officials; 4) the subordination of public programs and programmable spending as adjustment variables to achieve the budgeted fiscal balance as an extreme macroeconomic objective; 5) the lower economic intervention of the State, which has affected the efficiency of the institutions and their guiding and regulatory capacity.5) the lower economic intervention of the State, which has affected the efficiency of the institutions and their guiding and regulatory capacity.5) the lower economic intervention of the State, which has affected the efficiency of the institutions and their guiding and regulatory capacity.
The current political decision on environmental matters is found in the National Development Plan. Mexico 2013-2018, in item IV.1. Diagnosis: Sustainable development, where the Mexican government recognizes that:
Over the past decade, the effects of climate change and environmental degradation have intensified. The droughts, floods and cyclones between 2000 and 2010 have caused around 5,000 deaths, 13 million affected and economic losses of 250,000 million pesos (mmp).
The world begins to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels by promoting the use of alternative energy sources, which has fostered innovation and the market for technologies, both in the field of energy and in the sustainable use of natural resources. Today, there is a recognition by society that the conservation of natural capital and its environmental goods and services are a key element for the development of countries and the level of well-being of the population.
In this sense, Mexico has demonstrated a great commitment to the international environment and sustainable development agenda, and participates in more than 90 agreements and protocols in force, being a leader in issues such as climate change and biodiversity. However, the country's economic growth continues to be closely linked to the emission of greenhouse compounds, excessive generation of solid waste, pollutants to the atmosphere, untreated wastewater and loss of forests and jungles. The economic cost of exhaustion and environmental degradation in Mexico in 2011 represented 6.9% of GDP, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI).19
7. Conclusions
- The problems of the environment, as time passes, increasingly influence the social consensus. The environmental problems between the growth of the economy and the protection of the environment must be resolved politically, without omitting the legal application of the Pigouvian Tax, in the cases that the authority considers it so. Common goods of a collective nature such as water, air, flora and fauna, must be claimed for the well-being of living beings, through political intervention, internalizing externalities. Three levels of government have not included, as an alternative solution to environmental externalities, the consensus between the population centers affected by some negative externality and their generators (Coase theorem).
8. Bibliography
- Basave Fernández Valle del, Agustín. Theory of the State. Foundations of political philosophy. Mexico. Threshing. 2005.Calva, José Luis. Et al. Climate change and sustainable development policies. Strategic analysis for development. Volume 14. Mexico. Juan Pablos Editor. 2012.UN. United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, UN. United Nations Conference on Environment and Development Chang, Man Yu. The environmental economy. (Consultation: May 2, 2013). Available at: http://www.MY Chang - Sustentabilidad, 2001 - meme.phpwebhosting.com Iberoamerican University Foundation. Natural resource economics. Market failures and externalities. (Online). (Consulted: May 19, 2013). Available at: http://www.funiber.org.mx/FUNIBER. The impact of global darkening. (Consulted: April 13, 2013).Available at: global-darkening-impact /? Utm_source = Funiber & utm_medium = Noticia_boletin & utm_campaign = Boletin_medioambienteInporte Brundtland. Our common future. (Consultation: April 30, 2013). Available at: http: // www.iesalandalus.org/…/INFORME_BRUNDTLAND.docLeff, Enrique. Environmental rationality: The social reappropriation of nature. Mexico. XXI century Editors. 2004.Pajo Alfonso, Luciano. et al. European Union environmental law. Madrid Spain. Ed. Mc Graw Hill. 1996.Serrano, José Luis. Principles of environmental law and legal ecology. Madrid Spain. Editorial Trota. 2007.iesalandalus.org/…/INFORME_BRUNDTLAND.docLeff, Enrique. Environmental rationality: The social reappropriation of nature. Mexico. XXI century Editors. 2004.Pajo Alfonso, Luciano. et al. European Union environmental law. Madrid Spain. Ed. Mc Graw Hill. 1996.Serrano, José Luis. Principles of environmental law and legal ecology. Madrid Spain. Editorial Trota. 2007.iesalandalus.org/…/INFORME_BRUNDTLAND.docLeff, Enrique. Environmental rationality: The social reappropriation of nature. Mexico. XXI century Editors. 2004.Pajo Alfonso, Luciano. et al. European Union environmental law. Madrid Spain. Ed. Mc Graw Hill. 1996.Serrano, José Luis. Principles of environmental law and legal ecology. Madrid Spain. Editorial Trota. 2007.
Legisgraphy
- Federal penal code. Published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on August 14, 1931. Last reform published DOF: June 7, 2013. (Consulted: June 10, 2013). Available at: http: // www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/9.pdf Congress of the United Mexican States. Statement of reasons for the decree that reforms, adds and repeals various provisions of the General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection. Published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on December 13, 1996. (Consulted: May 7, 2013) Available at: http://dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=4906682&fecha=13/12/1996Ley General of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection. Published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on March 1, 1988. Last reform published in DOF: June 7, 2013. (Consultation:June 10, 2013). Available at: SEGOB. National Development Plan 2013-2018. Published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on May 20, 2013. (Consulted on June 2, 2013).
