The document discusses Slovenia's national light pollution law from 2007 and its effects. The law placed restrictions on light pollution such as limiting light above the horizontal and setting illumination limits. It has helped reduce light pollution and energy waste but faced some implementation challenges from lobbying groups. The document proposes developing an international standard called the Light Pollution Law Efficiency Index to measure laws, and an International Association of Dark Sky Parks to further light pollution restrictions globally.

1. Reducing light pollution (inter)nationally:
Slovenia’s revealing experience

2. Content
 A very brief introduction to light pollution
 Slovene light-pollution law
- reasons
- content
- implementation: success & problems
 Spreading the good practice: Light-Efficiency
Law Index

3. Light pollution: What is it?
 What is ‘light pollution’
 Introduction of any artificial light into the natural
environment.
 Effects
 Biological
 Health
 Waste of energy
 Aesthetic (Dark-sky as natural & cultural heritage)

4. Light pollution: What causes is?
 Unshielded lighting
 Lack of spatial planning
 Excess of lighting (sources of light & levels of
illumination)
 Marketing (illuminated billboards)

5. Efforts to reduce light pollution
 Beginning of the problem: 1970a
 1988: Canary islands, Chile
 1990: International Dark-Sky Association established
 1997: Law region Veneto
 2000: Law region Lombardija
 2001: Catalonia, 2002: Czech republic, do 2007: 17
regions in Italy
 2007: Slovenia
1. specific, national law

6. Slovene light pollution law
All photos: A. Mohar

7.  Decree on limitation of light pollution of the environment,
Sept. 2007
 Similar to the laws in several Italian regions; copied
good practice from them
 0% above the horizontal
 45,5 kWh / capita  active implementation, dimming,
planning

8.  No sky-beamers
 Billboards - illuminated
from above

9.  Cultural monuments and industrial buildings 1 cd/m2

10. Effects of the law

11. 250 W 150 W (FCO)
+20 %
Higher levels of road illumination
From 1970 to 2007 2008

12. 2007 2008

13. New luminaires Old luminaires

14. Problems with implementation
 Lobbies:
 marketing lobby
 those who sell luminaires also do the planning
 mutual benefits in illuminating the roads (business/soft
forms of corruption?)
 Deeply embedded culture of illumination
 Safety issues
 Municipalities are short-sighted in their investments

15. International context
 Do all light pollution laws protect dark-skies?
 Internationally agreed model
Internationally respected standard
 Light-Pollution Law Efficiency Index
 Proposals to be worked upon

16. A. Mohar: LEX – Light-pollution Law Efficiency indeX
70 Slovene law
60
50
Lombardy law Protection
40
Degradation
30
20
10
0
-10
-20
-30
-40
-50
-60
-70
-80
-90
Catalonian law
-100
-110
-120
-130 Flanders law
UK nuisance

17. Initiative for an International
Association of Dark-sky Parks
http://www.darkskyparks.org

18. …Implementation of the Starlight
Declaration (2007)
“
Control of obtrusive light must be a basic element of
nature conservation policies and should be implemented in
the management plans of the different types of protected
areas to fulfil their mission in protecting nature and
biological diversity.”
(Principle 5)
 “…all those protected areas which combine exceptional
landscape and natural values relying on the quality of
their night sky, are called to include the protection of clear
night skies as a key factor strengthening their mission in
conserving nature.”
(Principle 10)

19. The idea
 The purpose of protected areas
 Influence urban areas
 Professionals are needed
 Not an organisation yet!
 To include large circles, consensus, strong committment

20. Summary / Issues
 How to be changing the habits (the ‘culture’) and the
associated practices and even legal norms (laws)?
 How to challenge the notion that more is not
necessarily good? (The case in many other
environmental problems)
 How to get the wheel running on the international
plane? (Export the good practice while protecting the
accomplishments at home)