Fundamentos y cuantificación económica de la evaluación de impacto ambiental

Abstract

La Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental es el instrumento técnico jurídico de mayor relevancia para hacer realidad, y de la mejor manera posible los principios preventivo y precautorio. Este instituto del derecho ambiental no se ha desarrollado aún en todas sus potencialidades, por diversas razones que veremos a lo largo de este trabajo. No obstante, desde su aparición en la década de los años 70 en Estados Unidos, ha venido generando una frondosa jurisprudencia, que hemos intentado ordenar y sistematizar. Esta labor se ha desarrollado en el marco del programa doctoral de la UCM “Sistemas Jurídicos Comparados”, y el trabajo presenta básicamente la evolución jurisprudencial, con la interpretación de los Tribunales, tanto en Argentina y España; como en el ámbito de la Comunidad Europea y en Latinoamérica. El instituto presenta una inescindible vinculación con los principios de solidaridad, equidad intergeneracional, progresividad y subsidiariedad, entendidos estos como fundamento de su existencia. Se ha puesto especial énfasis en la valoración de los bienes ambientales como una herramienta que no puede faltar dentro del proceso de la EIA, formulándose los diferentes componentes con los cuales se debe realizar tal valoración. A la vez, se establecen las diferentes relaciones que la EIA tiene con todos aquellos convenios, tratados y nuevas tecnologías que aparecen en el mercado, donde la EIA debe evaluar nuevamente las tecnologías que se presentan...

Environmental Impact Assesment is the most relevant of all the technical legal instruments to make the preventive and precautionary principles come true. The Institute of Environmental Law has not developed all its potential yet due to the various reasons that we will discuss throughout this work. However, since its appearance in USA in the seventies, it has been producing extensive case-law, which we have tried to order and systematize. This work has been developed within the framework of the UCM doctoral program “Compared Legal Systems” and it basically presents the evolution of jurisprudence, with the interpretation of Law Courts, not only in Argentina and Spain, but also within the scope of the European and Latin American communities. The institute presents a tight connection with the principles of solidarity, intergenerational equity, progressiveness and subsidiarity, which are understood as the foundations of its existence. Special emphasis has been laid on the appraisal of environmental goods as a tool that cannot be missing within the EIA process, so as to design the different components of such an evaluation. At the same time, we have established the different relationships of the EIA with all those agreements, treaties and new technologies that appear on the market, where the EIA must reassess the new technological developments. The intimate relationship of the EIA with human rights and with the interpretation of the courts that safeguard these rights, has been studied in depth, through the court sentences themselves; which allows a better understanding of the Institute. In turn, we have especially stressed the views of human rights courts in relation to the link between the EIA and its impact on human rights. At the same time, we have analyzed the development of the Institute in national systems, where a clear alignment with the rulings of international courts in general, can be seen...