El daño ecológico puro. La responsabilidad civil por el deterioro del medio ambiente

by Ruda González, Albert

ABSTRACT Private law comes up against difficulties when confronted with pure ecological damage. It is damage hard to define, which affects the environment per se, i.e., not any goods belonging to private parties or the Public Administration, but things belonging to anyone (res communes omnium) or which do not belong to anybody (res nullii). It is difficult to prove and to be attributed to a specific author. It is often irreparable in kind and money only captures the value of natural resources in an imperfect way. The potential magnitude of pure ecological damage may be enormous so liability becomes hardly insurable. Existing compensation funds compensate for pure ecological damage in a very limited manner. Therefore, it seems necessary to define legal standing to sue in such a way that the State, as a guardian of the environment, as well as environmental organizations can bring a claim in tort to obtain compensation.