A study of Islamic environmental ethics, policies, and laws

A lack of knowledge concerning the appropriate ethical and religious values relating to environmental protection and conservation have led to their limited application in addressing environmental problems. This research addresses this issue by studying the ethical, religious, and legal bases for environmental protection and conservation from an Islamic perspective in order to promote their application in managing environmental problems. An Islamic Environmental Action Model (IEAM) is described that presents a system of individual and governmental environmental responsibilities. A survey of the environmental laws and regulations in Islamic countries is presented as well as a summary of the environmental conditions and problems they face. This summary covers laws which were written in English and others which were translated from Arabic to English. It is found that Islamic guidelines were reflected in few of these laws, which generally follow Western models. Since other scholars estimate that approximately 60 percent of the disputes in Islamic countries are settled according to common Islamic law, there is a reason to be optimistic that the IEAM could be effectively applied in these countries.