Government
Discussion concerning environmental protection often focuses on the role of government, legislation and law enforcement. However, in its broadest sense, environmental protection may be seen to be the responsibility of all people and not simply that of government. Decisions that impact the environment will ideally involve a broad range of stakeholders, including industry, indigenous groups, environmental group and community representatives. Gradually, environmental decision-making processes are evolving to reflect this broad base of stakeholders and are becoming more collaborative in many countries.
Many constitutions acknowledge the fundamental right to environmental protection, and many international treaties acknowledge the right to live in a healthy environment. Also, many countries have organizations and agencies devoted to environmental protection. There are international environmental protection organizations, as the United Nations Environment Programme.
Although environmental protection is not simply the responsibility of government agencies, most people view these agencies as being of prime importance in establishing and maintaining basic standards that protect both the environment and the people interacting with it.
Read more about this topic: Environmental Protection
Famous quotes containing the word government:
“The government is us; we are the government, you and I.”
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)
“Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“[F]rom Saratoga [N.Y.] till we got back to Northampton [Mass.], was then mostly desert. Now it is what 34. years of free and good government have made it. It shews how soon the labor of man would make a paradise of the whole earth, were it not for misgovernment, and a diversion of all his energies from their proper object, the happiness of man, to the selfish interests of kings, nobles and priests.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)