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The article analyzes the transformation of administration unilateral decisions, based on the incidence of participation principle in the formation process of administrative decisions, in order to contribute to the understanding of an adaptable administrative act theory in the colombian legal system. Methodological recourse, is based on the dogmatic revision of Administrative Law, and the contributions of the special part of Administrative Law as a way for the reconstruction to general theory. thus, the study of the special administrative procedure for the granting of environmental licenses in Colombia is proposed as a 'reference sector', that allows according to the findings, the analysis of the administrative act elements and the dogmatic consequences regarding its validity, beyond the vice for irregular issuance due to affectation of its formal element. It generates the possibility of proposing the configuration of other vices related to the competency, objective or finalistic elements, when the administrative acts are issued without the standards of participation from environmental justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China, la nación con mayor emisión de gases de efecto invernadero, camina rápidamente en dirección a un liderazgo ambiental global. Este artículo busca establecer la situación ambiental del país y algunas de las medidas que pretenden combatir la degradación ambiental y la intensificación del cambio climático. La adopción de políticas nacionales y el cumplimiento de las metas establecidas internamente convierten a China en uno de los principales países efectivamente comprometidos en la lucha a favor del ambiente, aun cuando deba intensificar la implementación de leyes ambientales, modificar su matriz energética y reducir sus emisiones. El ideal de una civilización ecológica y de una sociedad armónica es un elemento capaz de dirigir la toma de decisiones, iluminando el camino a ser recorrido hasta alcanzar el equilibrio entre el hombre y la naturaleza. Rápidamente China se ha posicionado como líder en la esfera internacional, influenciando la dirección de las políticas climáticas, expandiendo su dominio económico y tecnológico, a partir del uso del llamado soft power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of an empirical study that systematized environmental judicial opinions handed down by Colombia's highest administrative Court --Consejo de Estado-- over a 17-year period (1998-2015). Thanks to a research grant, the authors and a team of coders systematized, using state-of-the art content analysis methodologies, more than 250 opinions handed down by Colombia's highest administrative Court. The results presented in this paper show the most important trends of collective environmental litigation in Colombia: types of plaintiffs and defendants; type of environmental resources involved in the case; plaintiffs' success rates; most litigious regions and cities; overall effects of economic incentives on the type of litigation, among several other subjects. This paper concludes that collective environmental litigation has been instrumental to protect environmental resources in Colombia, one the most biodiverse countries in the world. Finally, the paper concludes that the elimination in 2011 of the economic incentive in favor of litigants did not favor public interest litigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decentralization of environmental management implies the transfer of power and responsibilities at the local level. Although there are bibliographic reviews dealing with decentralization and the environment, there is a gap in the specific case of Latin America. Through the Systematic Quantitative Literature Review technique, we observed that the literature patterns reveal territorial and thematic imbalances in the analysis. Said results correspond to a majority of studies that have focused on Bolivia and Brazil. These approaches, their focus on decentralization of forest management and their dissimilar result-which are within the domain of Anglo-Saxon academics-depended, in turn, on the country being reviewed and the disciplinary approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two complementary studies, in which experts, technicians and citizens are consulted regarding communication campaigns and environmental management conducted by the City Council of Madrid. A mixed method is developed (qualitative and quantitative techniques) with interviews, educational campaigns and review of citizens' complaints to the municipality (N = 932). The results highlight some problems within local management and communication that maintain environmental conflicts. The conclusions seek to increase the value of environmental education and their different strategies, consistent in complementarity with other mechanisms inherent to public administration (management, legislation, investment). Some proposals are delivered to improve the management of resources and increase efficiency by the development of educational campaigns and communication with the citizens of this government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the recurring environmental conflict associated with the products derived from logging. It takes as reference the confrontations for the monopoly of the cinchonas in western Santander and southern Bolivar, specifically from the perspective of the struggle between the federal and state political elites that took sides in the conflict for extraction starred by foreign executives allied to each of these sides during a time of transition between political regimes. This irregular war from 1878-1882 prevented each opponent to have full control of empty lands and the compliance of their contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays public policies are insufficiently ambitious in order to reverse the environmental damage generated by man. Most of the literature that analyses policy changes tends to explain the incentives but do not give clear explanations about the limitation factors. We develop in this paper a reflection on policy change from the notion of transaction costs. Following a review of the three main approaches --sustainable development, ecological modernization and democratization-- we expose ten theses on the role of transaction costs in the policy change from the case of the Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the role of public institutions in environmental management, and the application of the National Environmental Audit Programme in the Mexican tourism sector. The research recognizes the role of the hoteliers in the development of tourist zones, and in the alteration of the natural environment. This is an exploratory study of the general perception of management of 28 hotels in the Cancún area regarding the environmental management of their businesses, the factors which limit implementation, the benefits obtained, and commitment to public policy. The results show that the effects of policy on environmental management are mildly positive. For future research, the proposal is to replicate the analysis in other tourism zones, and to quantify the effects of environmental management and performance, profitability and competitiveness of the businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ship ballast water is considered to be like the most important vector for the transoceanic displacement from coastal native organisms of superficial waters to new marine environments. It has been believed that annually there are transferred over 3 to 5 billion tons of ballast water on a global scale. It raises a serious environmental international risk. Nevertheless, countries have adopted different policies to attend to the problem. Consequently, this article wonders why of the states negotiating positions and for the factors that realize the results obtained concerning the construction of the international ballast water regime. By focusing on the interest-based explanation of international environmental policy proposed by Sprinz and Vaahtoranta (1994), it explains why some countries act as pushers for reducing the marine bioinvasion problem while other countries act as draggers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Aarhus Convention, as well as envisages a minimum of internal enforcement of the public participation in environmental matters, has enabled the establishment of an innovative compliance mechanism in which the public can bring communications on the noncompliance of the Parties. In this paper, afterwards a succinct exposition of the foundation of the public participation in environmental matters and its form of address in Aarhus Convention, it is explained the domestic enforcement therein prescribed and the aforementioned accomplishment mechanism. As soon as this basis were set up, the noncompliance cases involving public participation settled by the compliance mechanism are analyzed, from which is determined its efficiency in the enforcement of the public participation in environmental matters at the international level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses the problems of environmental degradation through the phenomenon of globalization, establishing that the allocation of global environmental goods such as water systems, which are wetland ecosystems, are directly related to local environmental problems. First, it addresses all the theoretical debate on globalization from the three major schools: hyperglobalistic, skeptical and transformationalist. The latter considers the structures of global governance and the strengthening of international regimes as an alternative to solve global problems. In this sense, the wetland protection established in the Ramsar Convention allows evaluating the functionality of environmental governance, at global, national and local levels, especially in relation to the application of the rules issued in accordance with the international regime for protection of these ecosystems. In this context, it is evident that in Valle del Cauca a range of difficulties for the effective preservation of wetlands exist, leading to a systematic failure of the international regime in Colombia and, consequently, the vulnerability of these ecosystems, threatening with its disappearance, the extinction of biodiversity and increased global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is the result of a study carried out by the Environmental law Research Area of Universidad del Rosario, within the project of environmental conflicts applied to international decisions. One of the topics discussed in this research is the analysis of relationships between Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and the Free Trade Agreement, or Trade Promotion Agreement, which was entered into by Colombia and the United States of America (Col-USA FTA) with the purpose of determining the applicable norms and the possible conflicts that may arise between these treaties. The work will analyze the legal framework of international and environmental commercial law, environmental norms applicable to the FTA and the construction of the various agreements, so as to identify the main issues and the possible mechanisms to solve conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Around the world, liberalization and deregulation processes have created new kinds of electrical power markets where each one has its own identity due to supply, demand, and regulation idiosyncrasies. The next step in this process is the integration of regional markets to obtain increased energy efficiency, complementariness, and energy source diversity. The Andean region is not foreign to this phenomenon and there is already interest in commencing an integration process. However, the aspects related to such a process have not been analyzed. This article is a reflection on the main trends in the evolving Andean region countries' markets; it propos- es an approach based on using influence diagrams for the results obtained from a search by means and validates the identified trends with experts. The main trends found suggest a strong possibility of international electrical power exchange, technology ownership, demand growth, changes in market regulations, and greater environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Se discuten la evaluación y el análisis de las políticas y programas de desarrollo rural y ambiental. En particular, se enfoca en el impacto que generan en la calidad de vida y en el manejo de servicios ambientales. Se presentan seis artículos sobre las experiencias de productores y productoras en Venezuela, Costa Rica, Colombia, México y Argentina.

Se discute la regulación colombiana respecto a la protección del medio ambiente marítimo. La explotación de los recursos naturales a través de los años ha presentado daños irreversibles en el ecosistema. Países como Colombia han empezado a iniciar programas de regulación, vigilancia y prevención de desastres, particularmente en relación con el ambiente marítimo. Se discute las sanciones en contra de violadores que contaminan el mar y, también, se analiza las consecuencias de los daños causados. El objetivo del trabajo es estudiar los fuentes doctrinales acerca de este tema y, también, intentar a entender el impacto de la contaminación ambiental.

The article begins with an examination of the economic instruments that, according to the doctrine, should be part of climate policies, some of which have been created in Chile, such as the green tax and others in the process of being studied, such as the emissions markets. It addresses the legal foundations of these tools in climate contexts and reviews the climate architecture to characterize it briefly based on the main adaptation and mitigation measures that are part of this environment. It examines the most well-known emissions market, the European (European Union Emissions Trading System, EU ETS); to concentrate on this mechanism in order to consider the main challenges that Chile faces in order to implement them and make recommendations on legal regulation of how it should be incorporated into the Chilean reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyzed the discursive and relational effects of the pilot project 'Reduction of Emissions due to Deforestation and Forest Degradation' (REDD+) in domestic units both entitled and not entitled to land access in the common land Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Quintana Roo. Based on semi-structured surveys and interviews, we identified those mechanisms favoring the adoption of preservation practices by the common land owner-residents while restricting the traditional forest management. These dynamics bring about changes in the subsistence strategies of the domestic units and limit the participation and benefit distribution to women, the youth, and settlers who do not own the land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]