Enhancing Environmental Governance: A Global Comparative Analysis Of Legal Frameworks And Best Practices

Abstract

The environmental governance is a major factor in dealing with growing environmental crises but its effectiveness is highly diverse across jurisdiction varying due to legal, institutional, and socio-political variations. The research seeks to understand the effect of various legal frameworks on environmental governance through a global comparative study of five countries that include United States, Germany, India, Brazil, and South Africa, which are representative of different legal traditions, developmental experiences and environmental challenges. The research is based on international treaties, national laws, judicial decisions, and policy sources, which are being used by the replication of a qualitative comparative legal research design. The use of structured analytical framework has been used to assess the issues based on legal instruments, enforcement mechanisms, public participation, institutional structures as well as integration with international obligations. The results indicate that international arrangements establish the normative basis but effective government necessitates healthy national legal systems with support of environment in the Constitution and ease of enforcement procedures. There are also countries, where the preservation of the environment through the specialized environmental courts and open participatory procedures, as well as the integration of technology, shows a more positive result. Nevertheless, governance continues to be impeded by enforcement gaps, disjointed institutions, and capacity limitations especially in the developing countries. The results of such research result in the realization of the importance of reforming the law and institutional development based on culture. It provides participatory implications in advancing environmental governance on national and international level by consolidating informed global best practices.