環境法的實效：實證證據說明什麼？

The Effectiveness of Environmental Law: What Does the Evidence Tell Us?

在制定環境法以及選擇環境政策時，環境法學者期望尋求可以促進永續發展的環境法制及具體政策，然而，那些被選中的方法是否真的有效？本文將先提出一些關於各種環境法制及政策實效的實證結果，並在眾多研究中做適當的選擇，使讀者能夠對這些實證研究有所感覺，接著處理並詮釋這些實證研究結果。本文探討的面向有四：（1）決定環境品質的概括研究；（2）關於特定環境法制及政策的具體手段；（3）環境法制的執法；（4）實證研究帶來的機會與挑戰。本文認為實證研究可為環境法學者提供機會，同時也提出挑戰，但只要依照正確的背景情況，謹慎詮釋實證研究結果，即可發揮其應有效用。

Legal scholars pursue various environmental instruments (laws and policies) to reduce environmental harm and to promote sustainable development. The question is to what extent the theoretical assumptions, on which much of our environmental governance is based, in fact work in practice. This article integrates two approaches: First, the author briefly looks at what theory tells us about how environmental law should work. Second, the author spends most of time at looking at the empirical evidence and makes the deep insight into the environmental law effectiveness through plenty of empirical evidences. There are four main parts in the article, including environmental quality determination studies, environmental policy instruments researches, environmental law enforcement and empirical research opportunities and challenges. Finally, this article argues that empirical research does provide many opportunities and useful information for environmental lawyers, but has to be interpreted with caution.