indira gandhi national open university mle-021 school of...

UNDERSTANDING ENVIRONMENTUNIT 1What is Environment? 5

UNIT 2Nature and Ecosystem 32

UNIT 3Environment and Law 54

UNIT 4Origin of Environmental Law 73

MLE-021Introduction to

Environment

Indira GandhiNational Open UniversitySchool of Law

Block

1

Expert Committee

Block Preparation Team

Material ProductionMr. Yashpal Cover Design Word ProcessingSection Officer (Publication) Mr. Tamal Basu Mr. Yougesh DawarIGNOU, New Delhi

September, 2010

© Indira Gandhi Naitonal Open University, CEL, WWF-India, 2010

ISBN-978-81-266-4843-6

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph or anyother means, without permission in writing from the copyright holder.

Further information on the Indira Gandhi National Open University courses may be obtainedfrom the University’s office at Maidan Garhi, New Delhi-110 068 or the official website ofIGNOU at www.ignou.ac.in

Printed and published on behalf of Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi byDirector, SOL, IGNOU, New Delhi-110068.

Laser Composed by : Tessa Media & Computers, C-206, A.F.E-II, Jamia Nagar, Okhla, NewDelhi-25

Programme Coordinator : Ms. Mansi Sharma, School of Law, IGNOUMs. Moulika Arabhi, Centre for Environmental Law, WWF

Unit Writers : Kaustubh Verma, CEL, WWF– India (Unit 1 & 2)Ms. Gurmeet Kaur, IGNOU (Unit 3)Ms. Priyanka Singh, CEL, WWF-India (Unit 4)

Content Editor : Ms. Moulika Arabhi, CEL, WWF-India

Language Editor : Ms. Mansi Sharma

Format Editor : Ms. Mansi Sharma

Prof. N.R. Madhava MenonChairman, Former DirectorNational Judicial AcademyBhopal Member,Commission on Centre-States Relations, New Delhi

Prof. B.B. Pande FormerProfessor of CriminologyDelhi University

Justice Madan B. Lokur ChiefJustice, Guwahati High Court,Guwahati

Dr. Luther RangrejiSenior Legal OfficerLegal & Treaties DivisionMinistry of External Affairs

Prof. Venkata RaoVice-ChancellorNational Law School Bangalore,Karnataka

Dr. K. Vijaya LakshmiAssistant Vice President(Environment), DevelopmentAlternatives

Dr. R.D. JakatiDirectorIndira Gandhi National Forest Academy

Dr. Vinod B. MathurDean, Wildlife Institute of India

Mr. Samir SinhaHead, Traffic – India

Mr. Raj PanjwaniSenior Advocate, Supreme Court

WWF-IGNOU EC Members:

Mr. VN Rajasekharan PillaiVice-Chancellor, IGNOU

Mr. Ravi SinghSG & CEO, WWF-India

Prof. Srikrishna Deva RaoFormer Director (2nd May, 2007 to 1st

May 2010), School of Law, IGNOU

Ms. Mansi SharmaAsst. Prof., School of Law, IGNOU

Ms. Moulika ArabhiProgramme Coordinator, Centre forEnvironmental Law, WWF-India

MLE-021 INTRODUCTION TOENVIRONMENT

“For strengthening the professional and educational support base forenvironmental law and policy”

One of the principle features of School of Law, IGNOU and Centre forEnvironmental Law, WWF-India’s educational activities is the Post GraduateDiploma Programme in Environmental Law. Jointly being launched in 2010, theDiploma is the first such comprehensive programme for enviro-legal educationcatering to India and International students and professionals. Special emphasisis on conservation and environmental issues, which lie at the core of allenvironmental law, the study of which enables participants to determine theeffectiveness or ineffectiveness of the respective law.

MLE-021– Introduction to Environment

We welcome you to start your journey by understanding ‘What is Environment’.Before you dwell into the major aspects of Environmental Law, here is an attemptto introduce the basics first.

‘Environment’ is a very comprehensive term. It includes within its ambit a widevariety of phenomenon. It is a dynamic term that may be used to describe alimited area on one hand, and the entire planet on the other. The term Environmentmay be perceived in different connotations. There numerous definitions of theterm as provided by different National and International legal instruments.

Generally speaking, Environment includes the external conditions, resources,stimuli etc. with which an organism interacts. The Preamble of the United NationsDeclaration on Human Environment, adopted in Stockholm in June 1972 states,“Man is both creature and moulder of his environment, which gives him physicalsubstance and affords him the opportunity for intellectual, moral, social andspiritual growth”.

The environment is clearly at risk from a variety of sources of harm, mostly ofhuman origin. In order to tackle this problem it is important that we developstrategies for modifying human behavior towards environmentally benignpractices and away from environmentally damaging ones.

Through MLE-021, we attempt to make you ‘Understand about Environment’,take you through best practices of ‘Environment Management’ and finally toleave our future generations a better world it is important to understand the subject-‘Environment and Sustainable Development’.

We wish you get the best from MLE-021 and also urge you to join the communitythinking and acting for environment well being.

Best Regards and Happy Reading!SOL-CEL Team

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UnderstandingEnvironment BLOCK 1 UNDERSTANDING

ENVIRONMENT

Of the several processes that all human societies in all ages have had in common,none has been more fundamental than their continual interaction with their naturalenvironment. In fact, more than any other aspect of human endeavor, the diversemodes of human societal interaction with the larger ecological setting providethe basis for a genuinely global history of humanity. But, unlike so many of theother themes and patterns from which world history can be constructed,environmental history transcends the human experience. Due to the profoundtechnological and scientific transformations that have occurred over the pastmillennium, it has come to effect – often fatally in recent centuries – every speciesof living creature on earth.

Following Units will be dealt in Block 1

Unit 1 – What is Environment: The attempt would be, to make you understandthe basics of environment, how some of the environment concepts emerged andhow society adapted to those concepts.

Unit 2 – Nature and Ecosystem: Without understanding how the fragile linkbetween Nature and Ecosystem existed from time immemorial it would bedifficult to move forward into the subject of Environment.

Unit 3 – Environment and Law: Law is important as it creates a frameworkwithin which our entire society operates. In this unit we attempt to explain howenvironment and law emerged and coexisted.

Unit 4 – Origin of Environmental Law: Every subject has to evolve somewhere,in this Unit we explain the Origin of Environmental Law. Source back to allthose era’s where an attempt was made to understand our Environment.

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What is Environment?UNIT 1 WHAT IS ENVIRONMENT?

structure

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Objectives

1.3 The Indian Environment: A Historical Perspective

1.4 The World Environment: A Timeline

1.5 The Crisis

1.6 Summary

1.7 Terminal Questions

1.8 Answers and Hints

1.9 References and Suggested Readings

1.10 Bibliography

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Of the several processes that all human societies in all ages have had in common,none has been more fundamental than their continual interaction with their naturalenvironment. In fact, more than any other aspect of human endeavour, the diversemodes of human societal interaction with the larger ecological setting providethe basis for a genuinely global history of humanity. But, unlike so many of theother themes and patterns from which world history can be constructed,environmental history transcends the human experience. Due to the profoundtechnological and scientific transformations that have occurred over the pastmillennium, it has come to effect – often fatally in recent centuries – every speciesof living creature on earth.[1]

The environment is a whole, albeit a complicated one, with many interfacingcomponents. The wise management of the environment depends upon anunderstanding of its components: its rocks, minerals and waters, its soils andtheir present and potential vegetation, its animal life and potential for livestockhusbandry, and its climate. Positive and realistic planning is needed to balancehuman needs against the potential the environment has for supporting theseneeds.[2] Environmental studies deal with every issue that affects a livingorganism. It is essentially a multidisciplinary approach that brings about anappreciation of our natural world and human impact on its integrity. It is anapplied science, as it seeks practical answers to the increasingly important questionof how to make civilisation sustainable on the Earth’s finite resources.

If we study the natural history of the areas in which we live, we would see thatour surroundings were originally a natural landscape, such as a forest, a river, amountain, a desert or a combination of these elements. Most of us live inlandscapes that have been profoundly modified by human beings. Our dependenceon nature is so great that we cannot continue to live without protecting the Earth’senvironmental resources. Most traditional societies have learned that respectingnature is vital in protecting their own livelihoods. This had led to many culturalpractices that have helped traditional societies protect and preserve their naturalresources. Respect for nature and all living creatures is not new to India; all our

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UnderstandingEnvironment

traditions are based on these values. Emperor Ashoka’s edict proclaimed that allforms of life are important for our well-being, and this was as far back as the 4th

century BC.

1.2 OBJECTIVESAfter studying the unit, the learners should be able to:

• study the meaning of the natural environment;

• throw light on the evolution of environmental awareness and conservationefforts across India and the world from a historical perspective;

• examine the various environmental crises the world faces today;

• study the concept of sustainable development and its relevance in today’sage; and

• examine environmentalism and its contribution in conservation of theenvironment.

MeaningThe word “environment” is most commonly used to describe the naturalenvironment and means the sum of all living and non-living things that surroundan organism, or group of organisms.[3] Environment includes all elements, factors,and conditions that can have an impact on the growth and development of acertain organism. Environment includes both biotic and abiotic factors thatinfluence an organism. Abiotic factors include light, temperature, water,atmospheric gases etc., while biotic factors include all surrounding living species.The environment often changes after some time and therefore many organismshave the ability to adapt to these changes.

The environment is the totality of all the external conditions affecting the life,development and survival of an organism.[4] It consists of the naturally producedphysical surroundings on which humanity is entirely dependent in all its activities.The various uses to which these surroundings are put for economic ends arecalled environmental functions. The natural environment, commonly referredto simply as “the environment”, encompasses all living and non-living thingsoccurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof.

The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished by components:

• Complete ecological units that function as natural systems without massivehuman intervention, including all vegetation, animals, microorganisms, soil,rocks, atmosphere and natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries.

• Universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear-cutboundaries, such as air, water, and climate, as well as energy, radiation, electriccharge, and magnetism, not originating from human activity.

The natural environment is contrasted with the built environment, whichcomprises the areas and components that are strongly influenced by humans.

Self Assessment Question

1) What is environment? What is the Concept of natural environment?

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What is Environment?Biogeochemical cyclesChloroplasts conduct photosynthesis and are found in plant cells and othereukaryotic organisms. These are Chloroplasts visible in the cells of Plagiomniumaffine — Many-fruited Thyme-moss.

Global biogeochemical cycles are critical to life, most notably those of water,oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus.[29]

The phosphorus cycle is the movement of phosphorus through the lithosphere, hydrosphere,and biosphere. The atmosphere does not play a significant role in the movements ofphosphorus, because phosphorus and phosphorus compounds are usually solids at the typicalranges of temperature and pressure found on Earth.

The nitrogen cycle is the transformation of nitrogen and nitrogen-containing compoundsin nature. It is a cycle which includes gaseous components.

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The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among thebiosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth.

The oxygen cycle is the movement of oxygen within and between its three main reservoirs:the atmosphere, the biosphere, and the lithosphere. The main driving factor of the oxygencycle is photosynthesis, which is responsible for the modern Earth’s atmospheric compositionand life.

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What is Environment?

The water cycle, is the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface ofthe Earth. Water can change states among liquid, vapour, and ice at various places in thewater cycle. Although the balance of water on Earth remains fairly constant over time,individual water molecules can come and go.


2) Draw Water Cycle and explain it.

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1.3 THE INDIAN ENVIRONMENT:A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Flora and forestsThe forests of India were some of the richest resources in the British colonies.The value of forests was realised very early and forest management was introducedearly on the sub-continent. The links between water, climate and forest coverwere noted particularly early and warnings on deforestation were sounded asearly as 1840 by surgeons in the East India Company like Edward Balfour.[5] Thiswas to lead to forest conservation measures although the later policies of forestmanagement were aimed at the production of commercial products such as teaktimber.

The post of a conservationist was created and this term was related to the patchesof forests that they managed, called conservancies, and was not related tobiodiversity conservation. Even today, vast tracts of Indian forests are coveredwith teak plantations, low in biodiversity and seasonally ravaged by forest fires.The first foresters in India were highly influenced by forest management in

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Germany and many forest officers in India were trained in the German School ofThought brought into India by Dietrich Brandis (1824-1907)–the father of tropicalforestry.[6]

Numerous officers including James Sykes Gamble (1847-1925), AlexanderGibson and Hugh Francis Cleghorn in the Indian Forest service added informationon the flora of India. Several amateurs also worked alongside from other civilservices and they were assisted by professional botanists such as Joseph DaltonHooker (1817-1911), John Gerard Koenig (1728-1785), Robert Wight (1796-1872), Nathaniel Wallich (1786-1854) and William Roxburgh (1751-1815), theFather of Indian Botany.[7] Another area of interest was the introduction of plantsof economic importance to India. Many of these introductions were tried inbotanical gardens at Sibpur, Poona, Madras and Saharanpur.[8]

The Chinese monopoly on tea was ended when tea was introduced in Darjeelingand Sri Lanka through the work of Robert Fortune (1812-1880). The botanicalgarden at Sibpur in Calcutta was started in 1787 by Col. Robert Kyd (1746-1793). Sir George King (1840-1904) who was in charge of the garden from 1871was instrumental in the creation of a herbarium at the garden and founded theBotanical Survey of India[9] in 1890. Later botanical workers include thepaleobotanist Birbal Sahni (1891-1949).

Some of the other prominent names associated with botany and forests of Indiainclude William Carey (1761-1834), Sir Henry Collett (1836-1901), EthelbertBlatter (1877-1934), T. F. Bourdillon, Sir Harry Champion and his brother F. W.Champion (1893-1970), A. A. Dunbar-Brander (Conservator of Forests in theCentral Provinces), Sir Walter Elliot (1803-1887), Henry Thomas Colebrooke(1765-1837), Charles McCann (1899-1980), Hugh Falconer( 1808-1865), PhilipFurley Fyson (1877-1947), Lt. Col. Heber Drury, William Griffith (1810-1845),Sir David Prain (1857-1944), J. F. Duthie, P. D. Stracey, Richard Strachey (1817-1908), Thomas Thomson (1817-1878), J. E. Winterbottom, W. Moorcroft andJ.F. Royle (1799-1858).

Naturalists associated with the Bombay Natural History Society[10] like W. S.Millard (1864-1952) helped popularise the study of trees with books such asSome Beautiful Indian Trees (co-authored with Ethelbert Blatter). Similar attemptswere made by civil servants like Alexander Kyd Nairne in his Flowering plantsof Western India (1894).

Fauna

India has some of the world’s most biodiverse regions. The political boundariesof India encompass a wide range of ecozones — desert, high mountains,highlands, tropical and temperate forests, swamplands, plains, grasslands, areassurrounding rivers, as well as island archipelago. It hosts three biodiversityhotspots: the Western Ghats, the Eastern Himalayas, and the hilly ranges thatstraddle the India-Myanmar border. These hotspots have numerous endemicspecies[11].

India, for the most part, lies within the Indomalaya ecozone, with the upperreaches of the Himalayas forming part of the Palearctic ecozone; the contours of2000 to 2500 m are considered to be the altitudinal boundary between the Indo-Malayan and Palearctic zones. India displays significant biodiversity. One ofeighteen megadiverse countries, it is home to 7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of

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What is Environment?all avian, 6.2% of all reptilian, 4.4% of all amphibian, 11.7% of all fish, and6.0% of all flowering plant species.[11]

Tiger Asian Elephant

Asiatic Lion

Indian Rhinoceros

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The region is also heavily influenced by summer monsoons that cause majorseasonal changes in vegetation and habitat. India forms a large part of theIndomalayan biogeographical zone and many of the floral and faunal forms showMalayan affinities with only a few taxa being unique to the Indian region. Theunique forms includes the snake family Uropeltidae found only in the WesternGhats and Sri Lanka. Fossil taxa from the Cretaceous show links to the Seychellesand Madagascar chain of islands.

The Cretaceous fauna include reptiles, amphibians and fishes and an extant speciesdemonstrating this phylogeographical link is the Purple Frog. The separation ofIndia and Madagascar is traditionally estimated to have taken place about 88million years ago. However there are suggestions that the links to Madagascarand Africa were present even at the time when the Indian subcontinent metEurasia. India has been suggested as a ship for the movement of several Africantaxa into Asia. These taxa include five frog families (including theMyobatrachidae), three caecilian families, a lacertid lizard and freshwater snailsof the family Potamiopsidae.[12]

A fossil tooth of what is believed to be of a lemur-like primate from the BugtiHills of central Pakistan however has led to suggestions that the lemurs mayhave originated in Asia. These fossils are however from the Oligocene (30 millionyears ago) and have led to controversy. Lemur fossils from India in the past ledto theories of a lost continent called Lemuria. This theory however was dismissedwhen continental drift and plate tectonics became well established.

The flora and fauna of India have been studied and recorded from early times infolk traditions and later by researchers following more formal scientificapproaches (See Natural history in India). Game laws are reported from the thirdcentury BC.[13] A little under 5% of this total area is formally classified underprotected areas.

India is home to several well known large mammals including the Asian Elephant,Bengal Tiger, Asiatic Lion, Leopard and Indian Rhinoceros. Some of these animalsare engrained in culture, often being associated with deities. These large mammalsare important for wildlife tourism in India and several national parks and wildlifesanctuaries cater to these needs. The popularity of these charismatic animalshave helped greatly in conservation efforts in India. The tiger has been particularlyimportant and Project Tiger started in 1972 was a major effort to conserve thetiger and its habitats. Project Elephant, though less known, started in 1992 andworks for elephant protection.

Most of India’s rhinos today survive in the Kaziranga National Park. Other wellknown large Indian mammals include ungulates such as the Water Buffalo, Nilgai,Gaur and several species of deer and antelope. Some members of the dog familysuch as the Indian Wolf, Bengal Fox, Golden Jackal and the Dhole or Wild Dogsare also widely distributed. It is also home to the Striped Hyaena. Many smalleranimals such as the Macaques, Langurs and Mongoose species are especiallywell known due to their ability to live close to or inside urban areas.


3) Explain Flora and Fauna?

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What is Environment?Biodiversity

There is insufficient information about the invertebrate and lower forms of Indiawith significant work having been done only in a few groups of insects notablythe butterflies, odonates, hymenoptera, the larger coleoptera and heteroptera.Few concerted attempts to document the biodiversity have been made since thepublication of the Fauna of British India series.

There are about 2546 species of fishes (about 11% of the world species) found inIndian waters. About 197 species of amphibians (4.4% of the world total) andmore than 408 reptile species (6% of the world total) are found in India. Amongthese groups the highest levels of endemism are found in the amphibians. Thereare about 1250 species of birds from India with some variations depending ontaxonomic treatments accounting for about 12% of the world species. There areabout 410 species of mammals known from India which is about 8.86% of theworld species.

1.4 THE WORLD ENVIRONMENT: A TIMELINE

Ancient Civilisations

Babylonian sewer system

• Air pollution was common in large towns long before the industrialrevolution. The pollution came from dust, wood smoke, tanneries, animalmanure and other things.

• Water pollution was less severe in some civilisations. Israeli and Hindu citiestended to have less water pollution due to strict religious codes aboutcleanliness. On the other hand, ancient Rome was notorious for sewage-filled streets.

• Timbering stripped the forests of Babylon, Greece, Phonecia (Lebanon) andItaly with the rise of civilisation. The wood energy crisis led Greeks to usepassive solar energy by orienting their cities and houses toward the sun.Romans made some use of solar energy but imported wood for timber andfuel from as far away as the Black Sea. Both Greeks and Romans kept sacredgroves of trees from being timbered.

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• Soil conservation was not widely practiced in the Mediterranean, but culturesin China, India and Peru understood the long term impact of soil erosion andtried to prevent it.

• Lead poisoning was common among upper class Romans who used lead-sweetened wine and grape pulp sweetened with “sugar of lead” as acondiment.

Middle Ages and Renaissance

Detail from a Peter S. Bregel painting shows arich man standing near an outhouse whichempties directly into the river

• Plague devastates Europe but leads to the beginnings of a public healthsystem.

• Water pollution tends to be less of a problem for dispersed populations thanit would later become.

• Timbering in the forests of England, France, Germany leaves large tractstotally denuded by around 1550 in England and the 1600s in Europe, forcinga switch to coal.

• Soil conservation was not widely practiced in the Mediterranian, but culturesin China, India and Peru understood the long term impact of soil erosion andused terracing, crop rotation and natural fertiliser to prevent it.

• Occupational diseases are investigated by Bernardo Razzimazi and begin tobe recognised as public health problems.

Progressive Era

A young Teddy Roosevelt

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What is Environment?• Reform was the common concern. Reform of working conditions, slumhousing, food adulteration, sanitation, drinking water, polluting industriesand more.

• Teddy Roosevelt and his forester Gifford Pinchot characterised the era withideas about conserving large tracts of land and putting other forests to “wiseuse”.

• John Muir opposes the “wise use” idea and fights for outright preservationof unspoiled wilderness.

• Social activists and reformers like Ellen Swallow Richards, Jane Addams,Florence Kelly and Alice Hamilton innovate and find limited success. Neworganisations like the womens clubs and the Sierra Club help championnatural preservation, conservation and municipal reform.

The Era of Enlightenment• Reason begins to be better appreciated as an

antidote to superstition. Ben Franklin’s fightagainst water pollution, James Lind’s fight againstscurvy, and the movement to clean up waterways,slums and prisons — all begin with anenlightenment philosophy that values individualcitizens and believes progress is possible. Therewere, as Rumford said, “other kinds of glory thanthat of victory in battle”.

• Thomas Malthus predicts that eventually, food andresources will run out as populations explode. Newtechnologies create new pollution, — Town gas from coal drips tar into therivers. Vulcanised rubber plants discharge noxious chemicals directly intothe streams. Coal smoke chokes the air in big cities. Chemical factoriesoperate without thought to people downwind.

Industrial Revolution

Woman looking through microscope is amazed at bacteria in water in a 19th century Britishcartoon.

Ben Franklin in hisprinting office

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• Living conditions in urban areas horrify reform minded commissions inLondon in the 1840s and America in the 1850s and 60s. Progress is slow butthe common interest in pure drinking water and sanitation is spurred byepidemics of typhoid and cholera.

• Smog episodes begin killing residents of large cities like London.

• Conservation of wilderness areas begins with the felling of an enormoustree, called the “Mother of the Forest” in 1851. The outrage over the actleads to calls for a national park system.

Roaring Twenties and the Depression

Alice Hamilton (Library of Congress)

• National Coast Anti Pollution League is formed by municipal officials fromAtlantic City to Maine who are concerned about oil and sewage pollutiondetracting from tourism. Led by Gifford Pinchot, Teddy Roosevelt’s forester,the league succeeds with an international oil dumping treaty passed byCongress in 1924.

• “Nothing but a murderer” is the way Harvard M.D. Alice Hamilton privatelydescribes Charles Kettering of General Motors, the inventive genius behindleaded gasoline. Hamilton’s fight to point out alternatives does not succeedand leaded gasoline becomes the standard fuel for most of the world.

• The Radium Girls are dying of radiation induced cancer and court delaysseem outrageous to crusading journalist Walter Lippmann who works withAlice Hamilton to bring their case to the public. A settlement at least givesthem medical care and compensation for their families.

• Civilian Conservation Corps is founded by FDR during the depression.

• Chemurgy movement is a Midwestern populist and scientific phenomena.Demands include replacement of petroleum with farm alcohol and otherindustrial uses for agricultural crops. Movement suffers when leaders dieand new leaders with secret ties to the oil industry take over.

World War II and the 50’s

• A full marriage designed to outlast the war. This was the relationship betweenAmerican auto, chemical and oil companies and Germany’s I.G. Farbenexposed by Sen. Harry Truman in 1942. American development of synthetic

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What is Environment?rubber was blocked and leaded gasoline technology was handed over to theNazis during the pre-war honeymoon. (Stephenson, 1976). The lesson ofhistory? Only the government can secure the long-term public interest. Privateindustry cannot.

London Fog of 1956 was so thick that walking bus escorts were needed at 10 a.m.

• Midwestern corn, not oil industry synthetics, helped roll allies to victoryover the Nazis. Synthetic rubber and chemicals from renewable resourcesproved vital to winning WWII. (Bernton, 1982)

• Sand County Almanac by forester Aldo Leopold, published in 1948 justafter his death, expresses the expanding sense of human responsibility, notonly for each other but also for the earth. .

• Deadly smog episodes in Donora Penn. (1948), London (1952, 1956), NewYork (1953), and Los Angeles (1954) create the perception that an air pollutioncrisis is underway. In 1955 the first international air pollution conference isheld.

• Increasing CO2 buildup is one surprising conclusion of ScrippsOceanographic Institute scientists working on International Geophysical Yearprojects 1957.

The Sixties (1960-70)

Rachel Carson (Yale University library)

• Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring strikes a deep chord in the rapidlygrowing concern about the environment when published in 1962.

• General Motors and Standard Oil (Exxon) sell off the Ethyl Corp., the childof their partnership in leaded gasoline, in 1962. Senate hearings in 1965reveal decades of falsified lead industry research.

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• A burning river ends the decade as a dramatic symbol of an environment onthe brink. On June 22, 1969, oil and chemicals in the Cuyahoga River inCleveland, Ohio catch fire. Flames top five stories.

• UNESCO conference on Man and His Environment takes place in SanFrancisco in 1969, sparking hope for international cooperation onenvironmental issues.

• The tragedy of the commons strikes a nerve. The Garrett Harden essay arguesthat just as unrestricted grasing could turn a common pature into a wasteland,unregulated industry could do the same to the planet.

The Seventies (1970-1980)

Greenpeace captures the world’s attention with its dramatic tactics in protecting whales(Photo by Rex Weyler, Greenpeace, 1977)

• A decade of awakening and cleanup begins with the birth of theEnvironmental Protection Agency and ends with the Appropriate CommunityTechnology demonstration on the Washington mall.

• Air pollution is cut back dramatically through use of catalytic converters onnew cars that use only unleaded gasoline. But the predicted “pollution freecar” proves to be chimerical.

• Water pollution is greatly decreased through a massive sewage treatmentexpansion programme. Rivers which were once sewers now begin a gradualreturn from the grave. Still, the “national pollution discharge eliminationsystem” does not actually eliminate discharges.

• Toxic chemicals become more troubling. Corporations like Allied(manufacturer of Kepone) seem to have deliberately endangered employeesand the public for minor increments of profit. Love Canal and other incidentslead to new regulations in the 1980s.

• Nuclear power safety is increasingly suspect after the Three Mile Islandaccident.

• Energy crisis in oil supply leads to reversals of some restrictions on refineryand oil pollution.

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What is Environment?1980-1990

• Disasters show the tenuous and fragile side of industrial technology. Amongthem are the Bhopal mass poisoning in India; the Chernobyl nuclear reactordisaster in Ukraine; and the Challenger shuttle and Exxon Valdez oil spillsin the U.S.

• Ozone depletion from fluorocarbons is finally taken seriously, even byconservatives like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher of Britain, whojoin others in signing the Montreal Protocol in 1987.

• More good news: Legislation for cleaning up toxic waste passes Congress.But by the year 2002, the Superfund will be broke.

• Environmental reform gathers momentum, but environmentalists mourn theloss of the Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace ship bombed by French secretservice agents in New Zealand in 1985.

• Warnings about global climate change become more convincing as evidencemounts.

1990-2000

Windmills in California

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• Persian Gulf War creates environmental disaster with thousands of burningoil wells.

• Ken Saro Wiwa, journalist and environmental activist, is executed in 1995for his outspoken opposition to oil industry practices in Nigeria. Thedictatorial government of Nigeria, and its partner Shell Oil, is held responsibleby the international community.

• Political standoff between conservative and liberal factions in Congress endedmore or less in a draw, with strong national opinion polls favouringenvironment over economic development. A Gallup poll finds 76 percent ofAmericans call themselves “environmentalists”.

• China’s Three Gorges Dam continues on schedule, despite internationalprotests.

• MTBE may fight air pollution, but water pollution turns out to be the majorside effect of the fuel additive. It’s another example of the law of unintendedconsequences.

The new millenium

Scientist works with experimentalfermenter at the National RenewableEnergy Lab in Golden, Colo.

• US leadership changes from president Bill Clinton, a devoted conservationist,to George Bush in 2001, who eases environmental regulation on behalf ofindustry, to Barack Obama in 2009, who restores environmental andconservation missions for US regulatory agencies.

• Global climate change becomes a pressing priority, as scientists issueincreasingly serious warnings about their observations of the changingclimate; but the scientific process stumbles over relatively minor mistakesmade under increasing media scrutiny. Attempts at international agreementsfail at Copenhagen in 2009, but world leaders continue attempting to bridgegaps in policy approaches.

• Coal mining especially in the US Appalachian region continues to sparkcontroversy over serious environmental impacts. A disaster at the TennesseeValley Authority shows how serious the waste products of coal combustioncan be. Coal mine disasters continue to haunt the US and China.

• Toxic Waste dumping in developing nations continues to be an urgentproblem.

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What is Environment?1.5 THE CRISIS

List of Environmental Crises

This is a list of environmental issues that have arisen due to human activities(Anthropogenic effects on the natural environment).

• Anoxic waters — Anoxic event • Hypoxia • Ocean deoxygenation • Deadzone

• Climate change — Global warming • Global dimming • Fossil fuels • Sealevel rise • Greenhouse gas • Ocean acidification • Shutdown of thermohalinecirculation

• Conservation — Species extinction • Pollinator decline • Coral bleaching •Holocene extinction • Invasive species • Poaching • Endangered species

• Dams — Environmental impacts of dams

• Energy — Energy conservation • Renewable energy • Efficient energy use •Renewable energy commercialisation

• Environmental degradation — Eutrophication • Habitat destruction • Invasivespecies

• Environmental health — Air quality • Asthma • Electromagnetic fields •Electromagnetic radiation and health • Indoor air quality • Lead poisoning •Sick Building Syndrome

• Genetic engineering — Genetic pollution • Genetically modified foodcontroversies

• Intensive farming — Overgrasing • Irrigation • Monoculture • Environmentaleffects of meat production • Slash and burn • Pesticide drift • Plasticulture

• Land degradation — Land pollution • Desertification Soil — Soilconservation • Soil erosion • Soil contamination • Soil salination

• Land use — Urban sprawl • Habitat fragmentation • Habitat destruction

• Nanotechnology — Nanotoxicology • Nanopollution

• Nuclear issues — Nuclear fallout • Nuclear meltdown • Nuclear power •Radioactive waste .

• Overpopulation — Burial • Water crisis • Overpopulation in companionanimals • Tragedy of the commons

• Ozone depletion — CFC

• Pollution — Light pollution • Noise pollution • Visual pollution • Nonpointsource pollution • Point source pollution

• Water pollution — Acid rain • Eutrophication • Marine pollution • Oceandumping • Oil spills • Thermal pollution • Urban runoff • Water crisis •Marine debris • Ocean acidification • Ship pollution • Wastewater • Fish kill• Algal bloom • Mercury in fish

22


• Air pollution — Smog • Tropospheric ozone • Indoor air quality • Volatileorganic compound • Particulate matter • Sulphur oxide

• Resource depletion — Exploitation of natural resources • Overdrafting

• Consumerism — Consumer capitalism • Planned obsolescence • Over-consumption

• Fishing — Blast fishing • Bottom trawling • Cyanide fishing • Ghost nets •Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing • Overfishing • Shark finning •Whaling

• Logging — Clearcutting • Deforestation • Illegal logging

• Mining — Acid mine drainage • Mountaintop removal mining • Slurryimpoundments

• Toxins — Chlorofluorocarbons • DDT • Endocrine disruptors • Dioxin •Toxic heavy metals • Herbicides • Pesticides • Toxic waste • PCB •Bioaccumulation • Biomagnification

• Waste — E-waste • Litter • Waste disposal incidents • Marine debris • Medicalwaste • Landfill • Leachate • Recycling • Incineration • Great Pacific GarbagePatch

1.6 SUMMARY

Future of our planet lies in our hands

Environmentalism is a political and social movement with the goal of protectingthe natural environment. It emphasizes the importance of nature in the protectionof the environment and combines with it various policies and efforts which assistin conservation. The main proponents of this movement are environmentalscientists who have laid down a few basic goals. Some of these goals include:

• Reduction in the world consumption of fossil fuels.

• Clean-up of areas affected by various kinds of pollution (air, water, etc.)with a future goal of achieving zero pollution.

• Laying emphasis on clean, alternative energy sources which result in lesscarbon emissions.

• Sustainable use of water, land, and other scarce resources.

• Preservation of existing endangered species.

• Protection of biodiversity

23

What is Environment?Firstly, reducing the world consumption of fossil fuels is very important in thefight against climate change and global warming. Fossil (non renewable) fuelsare mainly responsible for global warming as during the combustion of fossilfuels carbon dioxide (one of the greenhouse gases) gets released into theatmosphere. In fact reducing the emission of carbon dioxide is the most importantthing if we want to successfully fight global warming.

Secondly, reducing and cleaning up pollution is also a very important task. Everyday we hear of large-scale pollution of air, seas, rivers etc. Pollution creates anunhealthy environment and often causes many health problems and differentdiseases. Thirdly, the world needs a lot of energy and if we want to reduce theuse of fossil fuels then we should have other alternative energy sources to inorder to satisfy the growing energy demands. These alternative energy sourcessuch as wind energy, solar power and hydro energy, have all great potential, andare also ecologically acceptable. However their use is on a very small-scale ascompared to fossil fuels which are still the dominant sources of energy.

Fourthly, we need to focus on sustainable development as the cost of progressmust not be damage to the environment. Sustainable use of water, land and otherresources is therefore vital to enable future life of our planet. Fifthly, the numberof endangered species is lately increasing rapidly and many species have becomeextinct in the last 50 years or so. Preservation of endangered species is importantto save a number of ecosystems and to protect the biodiversity of our planet.Lastly, biodiversity is very important in enabling life since all species areconnected in a perfectly balanced cycle, each having its own unique role.

The natural resource of wind powers these 5MW wind turbines on this wind farm 28 kmoff the coast of Belgium

24

UnderstandingEnvironment 1.7 TERMINAL QUESTIONS

1) What is the importance of Nitrogen cycle in Environment? Please show apictorial depiction.

2) How did the study of Environment emerge?

3) List the Environmental Crisis? Quote one example of worst environmentdisaster known in India.

4) How are Environment and Science related? Is Environment based on Scienceor some other factors govern them?

1.8 ANSWERS AND HINTS

Self Assessment Questions

1) Refer to Section 1.2



Terminal Questions

1) The nitrogen cycle is the set of biogeochemical processes by which nitrogenundergoes chemical reactions, changes form, and moves through differencereservoirs on earth, including living organisms. Nitrogen is required for allorganisms to live and grow because it is the essential component of DNA,RNA, and protein. However, most organisms cannot use atmospheric nitrogen,the largest reservoir. The five processes in the nitrogen cycle — fixation,uptake, mineralisation, nitrification, and denitrification — are all driven bymicroorganisms. Humans influence the global nitrogen cycle primarilythrough the use of nitrogen-based fertilisers.

2) Modern thought surrounding human-environment relations is traced back toCharles Darwin. Darwin’s concept of natural selection suggested that certainsocial characteristics played a key role in the survivability of groups in thenatural environment. Although typically taken at the micro level, evolutionaryprinciples, particularly adaptability, serve as a microcosm of human ecology.Work by Humphrey and Buttel (2002) traces the linkages between Darwin’swork on natural selection, human ecological sociology, and environmentalsociology. It became recognised in the latter half of the 20th century thatbiological determinism failed to fully explain the relationship betweenhumans and the environment. As the application of social determinismbecame more useful, the role of sociology became more pervasive in analysingenvironmental conditions. At first, classical sociology saw social and culturalfactors as the only cause of other social and cultural conditions. This lensignored the concept of environmental determinism or the environmentalfactors that cause social phenomena. The works of William R. Catton, Jr.and Riley Dunlap challenged the constricted anthropocentrism of classicalsociology. In the late 1970s, they called for a new holistic, or systemsperspective. Since the 1970s, sociology has noticeably transformed to includeenvironmental forces in social explanations. Environmental sociologyemerged as a coherent subfield of inquiry after the environmental movement

25

What is Environment?of the 1960s and early 1970s. It has now solidified as a respected,interdisciplinary subject in academia.

3) Worst Environmental Disaster : Bhopal Gas Tragedy

December 3, 1984 has become a memorable day for the city of Bhopal inMadya Pradesh county, India. Shortly after midnight, a poisonous gas cloudescaped from the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide factory.The cloud contained 15 metric tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC), coveringan area of more than 30 square miles. The gas leak killed at least 4,000 localresidents instantly and caused health problems such as oedema for at least50,000 to perhaps 500,000 people. These health problems killed around15,000 more victims in the years that followed. Approximately 100,000people still suffer from chronic disease consequential to gas exposure, today.Research conducted by the BBC in 2004 pointed out that this pollution stillcauses people to fall ill, and ten more die every year. This event is nowknown as the worst industrial environmental disaster to ever have occurred.

The cause of the accident has been researched after the disaster. Apparentlywater ended up in MIC storage tanks, causing an exothermal reaction thatreleased an amount of poisonous gas large enough to open the safety valves.Normally scrubbers would intercept escaping gas, but these were temporarilyout of order for repair.

Research showed that factory personnel neglected a number of safetyprocedures. There were no valves to prevent water from entering the storagetanks. The cooling installation of the tanks and the flaring installation thatmight have flared the gas that was released were out of order (Fig. 1).

Safety was very low in this factory of Union Carbide, compared to its otherlocations. The safety procedures were neglected because of budget cuts.

Figure 1: Overview of events that led to the Bhopal disaster (Bhopal Medical Appeal, 2002)

26


Union Carbide was accused of deliberate evasion of regular safety procedures.During lawsuits where victims demanded compensation, documents wererevealed which proved that Union Carbide regularly used untested technologyin the Bhopal factory. When the gas leak occurred doctors were not informed ofthe nature of the gas. This caused the correct treatment and emergency measuresto be held off.

The manager of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson, was accused of culpablehomicide. However, he did not occur in court and both the Indian andAmerican government did not take adequate measures to make sure thisman was tried. This led to a series of protests organised by environmentalorganisations, such as Greenpeace.

Union Carbide denied responsibility for the accident on their website, statingthat: “The Bhopal plant was owned and operated by Union Carbide India,Limited (UCIL), an Indian company in which Union Carbide Corporationheld just over half the stock. The other stockholders included Indian financialinstitutions and thousands of private investors in India. The plant wasdesigned, built, and managed by UCIL using Indian consultants andworkers.”

4) Environmental science came alive as a substantive, active field of scientificinvestigation in the 1960s and 1970s driven by (a) the need for a multi-disciplinary approach to analyse complex environmental problems, (b) thearrival of substantive environmental laws requiring specific environmentalprotocols of investigation and (c) the growing public awareness of a needfor action in addressing environmental problems. Events that spurred thisdevelopment included the publication of Rachael Carson’s landmarkenvironmental book Silent Spring[2] along with major environmental issuesbecoming very public, such as the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, and theCuyahoga River of Cleveland, Ohio, “catching fire” (also in 1969), and helpedincrease the visibility of environmental issues and create this new field ofstudy.

1.9 SUGGESTED READINGS• Butti, Ken, and John Perlin, A golden thread : 2500 years of solar architecture

and technology (Palo Alto : Cheshire Books; New York : Van NostrandReinhold, 1980).

• Glacken, Clarence J, 1973, Traces on the Rhodian shore; nature and culturein Western thought from ancient times to the end of the eighteenth century(Berkeley: University of California Press).

• Grove, Richard H, 1995. Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, TropicIsland Edens and the Origins of Environmentalism (Cambridge, UK:Cambridge University Press).

• Hughes, J. Donald, 1994, Pan’s Travail: Environmental Problems of theAncient Greeks and Romans (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,1994 reprint).

• Hughes, J. Donald, 1975 Ecology in Ancient Civilisations. (Albuquerque,N.M.: University of New Mexico Press, 1975).

27

What is Environment?• Nriagu, J. Lead and Lead Poisoning in Antiquity. (New York: WileyInterscience, 1983).

• Perlin, John: A forest journey : The role of wood in the development ofcivilisation (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1991)

• Worster, Donald, Nature’s Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1977).

• Tuchman, Barbara, A Distant Mirror : the calamitous 14th century, NewYork : Alfred Knopf, 1978.

• Lansdown, R. and W.Yule, eds. Lead Toxicity: History and EnvironmentalImpact. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986.

• Leff, S., and Vera Leff, From Witchcraft to World Health, New York:MacMillan, 1956.

• Sigerist, H. E. 1945. Civilisation and Disease. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell UniversityPress.

• Brimblecombe, Peter, 1988 The Big Smoke, London:, Routledge.

• Cronon, William, 1985. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and theEcology of New England. New York: Hill and Wang.

• Kolodny, A. 1984. The Land Before Her: Fantasy and Experience of theAmerican Frontiers, 1630-1860. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of NorthCarolina Press.

• Markham, Adam, 1994 A Brief History of Pollution, New York: St. Martin’s.

• McMahon, Michal, 1994 “Publick Service versus Mans Properties: DockCreek and the Origins of Urban Technology in Eighteenth CenturyPhiladelphia,” in Judith A. McGaw, ed., Early American Technology: Making& Doing Things from the Colonial Era to 1850, Chapel Hill, N.C. Universityof N.C. Press.

• Nash, R. 1982.Wilderness and the American Mind. 3rd ed. New Haven:Yale University Press.

• Marsh, G. P. 1869. Man and Nature; or, Physical Geography as Modified byHuman Condition. rev. ed. New York: Scribner & Co.

• Marx, Leo, 1964, The Machine in the Garden (NY: Oxford University Press).

• Melosi, M. V., ed. 1980. Pollution and Reform in American Cities, 1870-1930. Austin: University of Texas Press.

• Mumford, Lewis 1961 The City in History, NY: Harcourt, Brace & World.

• Thoreau, Henry David, 1854, Walden and other writings, NY: Bantam.

• Cohen, M. 1984. The Pathless Way: John Muir and American Wilderness.Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. Also see Cohen’s History ofthe Sierra Club, 1988, San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books.

• Clements, K. A. 1979. Politics and the Park: San Francisco’s Fight for HetchHetchy, 1908-1913. Pacific Historical Review. 48: 184-215.

28


• Hays, Sameul P., 1959. Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

• Isenberg, Andrew, 2000, The Destruction of the Bison: An EnvironmentalHistory 1750-1920, Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press.

• Jones, H. R. 1965. John Muir and the Sierra Club: The Battle for Yosemite.San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books.

• Merchant, Carolyn, 1981. Earthcare: Women and the EnvironmentalMovement. Environment 23:5 (June): 6-15, 38-40.

• Mowry, G. E. 1958. The Era of Theodore Roosevelt, 1900-1912. New York:Harper.

• Muir, John. 1991. Our National Parks. San Francisco CA: Sierra Club Books.

• Tarr, Joel, 1996 The Search for the Ultimate Sink: Akron, Ohio: Universityof Akron Press.

• Turner, Frederick Jackson, 1920. The Frontier in American historyHuntington, N.Y. : R. E. Krieger Pub. Co., 1976, c1920.

• Twain, Mark, 1896, Life on the Mississippi, NY: Harper Brothers.

• Goldmark, J. 1953. Impatient Crusader: Florence Kelly’s Life Story. Westport,Conn.: Greenwood Press.

• Kovarik, W., 1996, Henry Ford, Charles Kettering and the Fuel of the Future,paper to the Society of Automotive Historians, Dearborn, Mich., reprintedin Automotive History, spring 1998.

• Kovarik, W. 1994. Charles F. Kettering and the Development of TetraethylLead in the Context of Alternative Technologies. Proceedings of the Societyof Automotive Engineers, Paper 943924, Baltimore, Maryland. (24 October).

• Rosner, D. and Markowitz, G. 1989. Dying for Work: Workers Safety andHealth in Twentieth Century America. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana UniversityPress.

• Sicherman, Barbara. 1984. Alice Hamilton: A Life in Letters. Cambridge,Mass.: Harvard University Press.

• Borkin, Joseph, 1978. The Crime and Punishment of I.G. Farben. New York:Free Press (Borkin was the deputy attorney general under Thurmond Arnoldin charge of prosecuting the oil and chemical companies for treasonousconnections to the Nazis at the opening of WWII. )

• Bernton, Hal, 1982, and William Kovarik and Scott Sklar, The ForbiddenFuel: Power Alcohol in the 20th Century, New York: Griffin.

• Stevenson, William, 1976, A Man Called Intrepid, New York : HarcourtBrace Jovanovich.

• Leopold, Aldo, 1948 A Sand County Almanac.

• Carson, Rachel, 1962. Silent Spring. NY: Houghton Mifflin.

29

What is Environment?• Ellul, Jacques, The Technological Society, NY: Alfred Knopf. (Originally1954 La technique ou l’enjeu du siecle, Max Leclerc, et Cie, Paris).

• Lear, Linda, 1997, Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature NY : H. Holt, 1997.

• Marx, Leo, 1964, The machine in the garden; technology and the pastoralideal in America NY, Oxford University Press.

• Wadsworth, Ginger 1992, Rachel Carson, voice for the earth Minneapolis,MN: Lerner Publications.

• Abbey, Edward, 1975, The Monkey Wrench Gang, NY: J.B. Lippincott.(fiction).

• Brown, Michael and John May, 1991. The Greenpeace Story New York:Dorling Kindersley.

• Dillard, Annie, 1974, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, NY: Harper & Row.

• To Save a Whale, photographs (Chronicle Books, 1978; Heinemann, UK,1978; Kubler Verlag, Germany, Rettet die Wale, 1979).

• Song of the Whale (Doubleday, 1986): The discoveries of whale researcherDr. Paul Spong and a history of the Greenpeace campaign to stop internationalwhaling.

• Blood of the Land (Everest House, 1982; Random House, Vintage paperback,1983; New Society Publishers, 1992): A history of native American culturesand their 500-year clash with European cultures, nominated for a PulitzerPrise in 1982. An updated edition, published by New Society in 1992, remainsin print.

• Hayes, Dennis, 1977, Rays of Hope: The Transition to a Post PetroleumWorld, Worldwatch / W.W.Norton.

• Ward, Barbara and Rene Dubois, 1972: Only One Earth: The Care andMaintenance of a Small Planet, New York: Norton. This was the book thatsummarised the UN Conference on the Environment of Stockhold, 1972.

• Daly, Herman E., 1980, Economics, Ecology, Ethics: Essays toward a steady-state economy NY: W.H.Freeman & Co.

• Fowler, John, 1986, Energy and the Environment, NY: McGraw Hill.

• McKibben, Bill 1989, The End of Nature New York: Random House.

• Reisner, Mark. 1986. Cadillac Desert: The American West and ItsDisappearing Water. New York: Viking.

• Rose, Chris 1990 The Dirty Man of Europe: The Great British PollutionScandal London: Simon and Schuster.

• Schell, Jonathan, 1982, The fate of the earth New York : Knopf.

• Seed, John, 1988, Thinking Like a Mountain: Towards a Council of AllBeings, Philadelphia, PA: New Society Publishers.

30


• Short, C. Brant (Calvin Brant),1989 Ronald Reagan and the public lands :America’s conservation debate, 1979-1984 College Station : Texas A&MUniversity Press.

• Udall, Stuart. 1988.The Quiet Crisis and the Next Generation. Salt LakeCity: Gibbs-Smith.

• Teich, Albert, Ed., Technology and the Future. 1986, NY St. Martin’s Press.

• Adler, Jonathan, 1995, Environmentalism at the Crossroads, Capital ResearchCenter (Competitive Enterprise Institute).

• Chapman, Graham, and others, Environmentalism and the mass media: theNorth-South Divide, London, Routledge (Indian Institute of Advanced Study,Shimla).

• Dwyer, William. O., and Frank Leeming, 1995, Earth’s Eleventh Hour:Environmental Readings from the Washington Post, Boston, MA: Allyn andBacon.

• Gore, Albert, 1993, Earth in the Balance : Ecology and the Human SpiritN.Y : Plume.

• Gottlieb, Robert 1993, Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of theAmerican Environmental Movement, Washington, DC: Island Press.

• LaMay, Craig and Everette Dennis, Eds., 1991, Media and the Environment,Washington DC: Island Press.

• Levy, Walter, and Christopher Hallowell, 1994, Green Perspectives: Thinkingand writing about nature and the environment, NY: Addison WesleyLongman.

• Mark Neuzil and William Kovarik, 1996, Mass Media and EnvironmentalConflict: America’s Green Crusades, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage.

• Pepper, David, 1996, Modern Environmentalism, London, Routledge.

• Postman, Neil, 1992, Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology,NY: Random House.

• Shabecoff, Phillip, 1993. A Fierce Green Fire: The American EnvironmentalMovement. NY: Hill and Wang.

• Slovic, Scott H., and Terrell Dixon, 1993, Being in the World: AnEnvironmental Reader for Writers, NY: McMillan Publishing Co.

• Guha, Ramachandra, 2000 Environmentalism, A Global History New Delhi,Oxford University Press.

• Perlin, John, 1999, From Space to Earth: The Story of Solar Electricity, AnnArbor, Mich., AATEC Publications.

• Warren, Christopher, 2000, Brush with Death: A Social History of LeadPoisoning, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

31

What is Environment?1.10 BIBLIOGRAPHY1 Michael Adams, Series Editor’s Preface, pg. vii, in: Ramchandra Guha,

Environmentalism – A Global History. Oxford University Press (2000).2 Datuk Amar Stephen K. T. Yong, Opening Address, pg. 8, in: Sunderlal

Bahuguna, Vandana Shiva and M. N. Buch, Environment Crisis & SustainableDevelopment. Natraj Publishers (1992).

3 http://ecological-problems.blogspot.com/2008/08/environment-definition-and-meaning.html

4 United Nations, European Commission, International Monetary Fund,Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, World Bank , 2005,Handbook of National Accounting: Integrated Environmental and EconomicAccounting 2003, Studies in Methods, Series F, No.61, Rev.1, Glossary, UnitedNations, New York, para. 7.31

5 Grove Richard, Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edensand the Origin of Environmentalism, pg. 1600-1860. Cambridge UniversityPress (1995).

6 Gregory Allen Barton, Empire Forestry and the Origins of Environmentalism.Cambridge University Press (2002).

7 P. V. Bole, Review of Flora Indica (1976); William Roxburgh and WilliamCarey, Descriptions of Indian Plants in: The Quarterly Review of Biology,51(3):442-443.

8 Jayeeta Sharma, British Science, Chinese Skill and Assam Tea: Making Empire’sGarden in: Indian Economic Social History Review 43; 429. (2006).

9 Perlin, John, 1999, From Space to Earth: The Story of Solar Electricity, AnnArbor, Mich., AATEC Publications

10P. V. Bole, Review of Flora Indica (1976); William Roxburgh and WilliamCarey, Descriptions of Indian Plants in: The Quarterly Review of Biology,51(3):442-443.

11 Dr S.K.Puri, Biodiversity Profile of India.12J.C. Briggs, The Bio-geographic And Tectonic History of India in: Journal of

Biogeography, 30:381–388. (2003).13P.R. Krausman & A.J.T. Johnsingh, Conservation and Wildlife Education in

India, in: Wildlife Society Bulletin, 18:342-347. (1990).

32

UnderstandingEnvironment UNIT 2 NATURE AND ECOSYSTEM

Structure

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Objectives

2.3 India’s Natural History (Ancient and Medieval)

2.4 Natural Resources

2.5 Natural Resource Management

2.6 Ecosystem

2.7 Biodiversity and Natural Resources

2.8 Biodiversity Hotspots

2.9 Threatened and Extinct Species

2.10 Summary




2.14 Bibliography

2.1 INTRODUCTION

The word nature is used in a good many senses and it includes ideas that varywidely according to the educational background of those using it and the amountof scientific training they have had, especially in biology. The concept of naturegenerally held by the non-specialist, the politician or the technocrat is undoubtedlyonly distantly related to that held by the ecologist. For that reason, it is sometimesmore convenient to use the terms biosphere and ecosphere, since these indicatethe two regions of our planet which contain everything ordinarily understood as‘nature’.1

The biosphere can be simply defined as that part of the Earth in which life ispermanently possible and which contains all living organisms. It consists of theterrestrial oceans and the surfaces of the continents, together with the adjacentatmosphere (that is, the troposphere), with the exception of the polar ice capsand the higher mountain slopes above the snow line. These latter regions,described as parabiospheric, are included along with the biosphere itself in alarger system, the ecosphere, which also embraces the upper layers of thelithosphere and the whole of the atmosphere above the troposphere.

The aim of ecology is to investigate the relation of living organisms to eachother and to their surroundings and it thus provides, more than anything else, anessential basis for any rational approach to the study of the biosphere. Since theecosphere is the origin of all natural resources except solar energy, it is easy toappreciate the importance of ecological science to the understanding of problemscaused by the consumption of such resources in our present technologicalcivilisation.

The natural resources of the ecosphere are being wastefully consumed at an

33

Nature and Ecosystemincreasing rate under the combined effect of population pressure and the dramaticincrease in industrial production. The current rate of use takes absolutely noaccount of the real size of available reserves of minerals or fossil fuels, nor doesit concern itself with the rate of renewal of plant or animal resources. The needsof future generations are similarly ignored. In addition to that, malnutrition isspreading in the Third World and, in a future that is closer than some peoplethink, the industrialised and overpopulated countries of Europe and othercontinents will no longer be protected from shortages of animal protein.

Like all other living beings, humans require matter and energy. They are animalsand are therefore heterotrophic organisms.2 As such, their metabolic requirementsare met by the air they breathe and by the water and organically derived foodthey ingest. Like other living species, they depend on the cosmic system fromwhich they have descended: essentially the sun together with the ecosphere, thesuperficial part of our planet where the environmental conditions exist that makelife possible.

2.2 OBJECTIVES

After studying the unit, the learners should be able to:

• examine India’s natural history;

• study the meaning and classification of natural resources;

• throw light on the concept of ecosystems;

• study the concept of sustainable development and its relevance in today’sage; and

• examine environmentalism and its contribution in conservation of theenvironment.

2.3 INDIA’S NATURAL HISTORY (ANCIENT ANDMEDIEVAL)

Natural history in India has a long heritage with a recorded history going back tothe Vedas. Natural history research in early times included the broad fields ofpaleontology, zoology and botany. These studies would today be considered underfield of ecology but in former times, such research was undertaken mainly byamateurs, often physicians, civil servants and army officers.

9000 year old rock painting from Bhimbetka showing a hunt.

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Although the growth of modern natural history in India can be attributed to Britishcolonialism and the growth of natural history in Britain, there is considerableevidence to suggest that India with its diverse landscapes, fauna and flora alongwith other tropical colonies helped in creating an increased interest in naturalhistory in Britain and elsewhere in the world.1 [1] Natural history in India wasalso enriched by older traditions of conservation, folklore, nature study and thearts.2 [2]

Indus Valley Civilisation

Clay tablets from Lothal showing various animals

Over a thousand sites of the Indus Valley civilisation across North West Indiabefore 1700 B.C. have been studied to date. A large number of animal boneshave been found at these sites; one-fifth of these comprising bones of wild fauna,such as the jackal, hare, chital, rhinoceros and elephant. Most seeds found in thedwellings of some Western Indian sites are of wild plants now extinct to theregion.1 [7]

The fauna and flora of those times are richly represented in the clay pottery andtablets excavated from these sites. Clay tablets document many species of nowlocally extinct wildlife including Rhinoceros and Elephant. A tiger seal has beenfound in Harrappa dating back to 3000 B.C.[7]

The Swamp Deer or Barasingha was found in Mehrgarh in Baluchistan till 300B.C. and probably became locally extinct due to over-hunting and loss of riverinehabitat to cultivation.[7] A species of wild cattle, Bos primegenius nomadicus orthe zebu vanished early on from its range in the Indus basin and western India,possibly due to inter-breeding with domestic cattle and resultant fragmentationof wild populations due to loss of habitat.[7]

The first recorded domestication of the elephant was in Harappan times and theanimal ultimately went on to serve as a siege engine, mount in war, status symbol,work animal, and an elevated platform for hunting.[8]

Vedic times

The Vedas represent some of the oldest historical records available (1500-500BC) and they list the names of nearly 250 kinds of birds besides many othernotes on various other fauna and flora.[3] In the vedic texts, Aryavarta, the land

35

Nature and Ecosystemof the Aryans, was considered to be co-terminous with the range of the Blackbuck.Sometimes, these referred to the lands North of the Vindhyas; at others times, itincluded lands to the South.[4] A notable piece of information mentioned in theVedas is the knowledge of brood parasitism in the Indian Koel, a habit knownwell ahead of Aristotle (384-322 BC). This is possibly because both the IndianKoel and its host the House Crow were common and easy to observe.2 [3]

The medical treatises of Charaka and Sushruta mention wildlife from the pointof view of the meats the forests yielded and their associated attributes. Thestratification of Hindu society into the caste system saw the warrior caste orkshatriya setting itself apart on hereditary lines; one assertion of which was theright to eat certain animals. The treatises espoused rules as to when, and whocould or could not eat flesh of particular animals; for example, the flesh of thelion and tiger were to be consumed solely by regents and that too on rareoccasions.[5]

The elephant was another well studied wild animal and the capture, training andmaintenance of elephants was documented in the 2000 year old text Gajashastrawritten in the Pâli script.[6] The Tamil literature of the Sangam period, depicts aclassification of land into 5 eco-types; ranging from the littoral to wet paddyfields.[4]

The Maurya Period

The protection of animals became serious business by the time of the Mauryadynasty in the fourth and third centuries B.C. The first empire to provide a unifiedpolitical entity in India, the attitude of the Mauryas towards forests, its denisensand fauna in general is of interest.

The Mauryas firstly looked at forests as a resource. For them, the most importantforest product was the elephant. Military might in those times depended not onlyupon horses and men but also battle-elephants; these played a role in the defeatof Seleucus, Alexander’s governor of the Punjab. The Mauryas sought to preservesupplies of elephants since it was more cost and time-effective to catch, tameand train wild elephants than raise them. Kautilya’s Arthashastra contains notonly maxims on ancient statecraft, but also unambiguously specifies theresponsibilities of officials such as the Protector of the Elephant Forests:3 [9]

On the border of the forest, he should establish a forest for elephants guarded byforesters. The Superintendent should with the help of guards...protect theelephants whether along on the mountain, along a river, along lakes or in marshytracts...They should kill anyone slaying an elephant.

— Arthashastra

The Mauryas also designated separate forests to protect supplies of timber, aswell as lions and tigers, for skins. Elsewhere the Protector of Animals also workedto eliminate thieves, tigers and other predators to render the woods safe for grasingcattle.

The Mauryas valued certain forest tracts in strategic or economic terms andinstituted curbs and control measures over them. They regarded all forest tribeswith distrust and controlled them with bribery and political subjugation. Theyemployed some of them, the food-gatherers or aranyaca to guard borders and

36


trap animals. The sometimes tense and conflict-ridden relationship neverthelessenabled the Mauryas to guard their vast empire.[10]

The Mauryan emperor Ashoka (304-232 BC), embraced Buddhism in the latterpart of his reign and brought about significant changes in his style of governance.He provided protection to fauna and even relinquished the royal hunt. He wasperhaps the first ruler to advocate conservation measures for wildlife and evenhad rules inscribed in stone edicts. The edicts proclaim that many followed theking’s example in giving up the slaughter of animals; one of them proudly states:[10]

Our king killed very few animals.

— Edict on Fifth Pillar

However, the edicts of Ashoka and the contents of Arthashastra reflect more thedesire of rulers than actual events; the mention of a 100 ‘panas’ fine for poachingdeer in royal hunting preserves shows that rule-breakers did exist. The legalrestrictions conflicted with the freedoms exercised by the common people inhunting, felling, fishing and setting fires in forests.[10]

Chalukya Period

Arguably, the best treatise on hunting in Sanskrit was the Manasollasa composedin the times of the Chalukyas, the twelfth century rulers of the Deccan.[11] Anotherwork from this period was Mriga Pakshi Shastra, a treatise on mammals andbirds written in the 13th Century by a Jain poet, Hamsadeva. The accuracy of thecontent has however been critiqued by many including Salim Ali.4 [3][12][13]

Mughal Period

Babur hunting rhino near Peshawar

37

Nature and EcosystemThe Mughal emperors not only led a leisurely life but also pursued gardeningand art. They decorated their gardens with their private zoos and hired artists topaint many subjects including plants and animals. Hunting and falconry werealso extensively practised.1 [14] They also employed scribes and were among thefirst to document their observations of nature in India. The foremost of theobservers were Jehangir (1569-1627) and Babur (1483-1530).2 [15]

Babur

The notes of Babur for instance indicate the former distribution of the Rhinocerosas far west as the Indus:

The Lesser Rhinoceros is found at present in the Bengal Sunderbuns, and a veryfew individuals are stated to occur in the forest tract along the Mahanuddy river,and extending northwards towards Midnapore; and also on the northern edgeof the Rajmahal hills near the Ganges. It occurs also more abundantly in Burmah,and thence through the Malayan peninsula to Java and Borneo. Several havebeen killed quite recently within a few miles of Calcutta. One of these speciesformerly existed on the banks of the Indus, where it was hunted by the EmperorBaber. Individuals of this species are not unfrequently taken about the countryas a show.

— Thomas C. Jerdon, 1874. Mammals of India

Jehangir

Painting of a Dodo attributed to Ustad Mansur

Jehangir also kept detailed records to hunts. From the age of twelve (1580) to 48years he had 28,532 animals had been hunted with 17,167 by himself. Theseincluded 86 Tigers (and lions), 9 Bears, leopards, foxes, otters (ubdilao) andhyaenas, 889 - Blue bulls (Nilgai) and 35 Mhaka. Salim Ali suggests that theMhaka must refer to Swamp deer.1 [16]

38


Ustad Mansur, a 17th century court artist of Jehangir,2 [17] was the first man toaccurately paint the Siberian Crane.[18] The Dodo was brought to Jehangir’s courtvia Portuguese controlled Goa and an unsigned painting of it in the HermitageMuseum is attributed to Mansur.3 [19][20][21]

2.4 NATURAL RESOURCES

A resource can be defined simply as any form of energy or matter necessary tosatisfy the physiological needs of humanity or to sustain all the various activitiesleading to production. The flow patterns of such resources through humancivilisation are very complex and so can be studied from several different angles.Between the stage at which the resource is extracted and that of its use by aconsumer, it undergoes many transformations, and these often have an impacton the overall functioning of the ecosystems in which the processes occur.

A classic distinction is frequently made between non-renewable and renewableresources. Potential sources of energy such as hydrocarbons and fissile materialsclearly come into the first category. But for other types of resources the distinctionis often difficult to make. Even minerals could be allocated to the second categorysince they can theoretically be recycled from both domestic and industrial wasteand this would circumvent the problem of their exhaustion. Non-renewableresources are those dependent on a finite stock and not reproducible – like fossilfuels, or raw materials whose usage involves dispersal (e.g. phosphate fertilisers).

Renewable resources are those that are reproducible: in other words, obtainedfrom the biomass of living organisms. Water and all resources of a biologicalorigin are usually classified as renewable. Even when polluted, water is notchemically modified in any way by being used and so can be recycled afterpurification. Plant and animal resources, on the other hand, although potentiallyrenewable, are very often so overexploited that the possibility of regeneration inmany parts of the world has been greatly reduced and sometimes completelycompromised by the destruction of the ecosystem on which they depend. Solarenergy is a special case, and although it has a fixed rate of flow (the intensity ofsolar radiation) it can be classified roughly as a renewable resource inasmuch assolar ‘reserves’ are inexhaustible on a human scale.

A resource can be most simply defined as a form of energy and/or matter whichis essential for the functioning of organisms, populations and ecosystems. In theparticular case of humans, a resource is any form of energy or matter essentialfor the fulfilment of physiological, socio-economic and cultural needs, both atthe individual level and that of the community.

When the functioning of natural ecosystems or of technological civilisations isanalysed, it is found that their usage of natural resources involves a permanenttransformation of matter (in living organisms, through their metabolic activity;in human societies, through industrial processes). This transformation is the resultof a continuous flow and consumption of energy (originating from the sun asregards the biosphere or from fossil fuels as regards technological civilisation).

Such considerations lead us to another definition of the term ‘resource’. As alreadymentioned, a resource may consist of one of the various forms of primary energypresent in the ecosphere. In addition, however, it may be defined as anything

39

Nature and Ecosystemneeded by a living organism such that an increase in its availability leads to anincrease in energy flow through the organism, and thus a greater rate of energyconversion. In this definition, the term ‘living organism’ may be interpreted atany level of complexity; from the individual, through a given population, to acomplete ecosystem.

On the basis of origin, resources may be divided into:

• Biotic - Biotic resources are obtained from the biosphere, such as forestsand their products, animals, birds and their products, fish and other marineorganisms. Mineral fuels such as coal and petroleum are also included inthis category because they formed from decayed organic matter.

• Abiotic - Abiotic resources include non-living things. Examples include land,water, air and ores such as gold, iron, copper, silver etc.

Considering their stage of development, natural resources may be referred to inthe following ways:

• Potential Resources - Potential resources are those that exist in a region andmay be used in the future. For example, petroleum may exist in many partsof India, having sedimentary rocks but until the time it is actually drilled outand put into use, it remains a potential resource.

• Actual Resources are those that have been surveyed, their quantity and qualitydetermined and are being used in present times. The development of anactual resource, such as wood processing depends upon the technologyavailable and the cost involved. That part of the actual resource that can bedeveloped profitably with available technology is called a reserve.

With respect to renewability, natural resources can be categorised as follows:

• Renewable resources are ones that can be replenished or reproduced easily.Some of them, like sunlight, air, wind, etc., are continuously available andtheir quantity is not affected by human consumption. Many renewableresources can be depleted by human use, but may also be replenished, thusmaintaining a flow. Some of these, like agricultural crops, take a short timefor renewal; others, like water, take a comparatively longer time, while stillothers, like forests, take even longer.

• Non-renewable resources are formed over very long geological periods.Minerals and fossil fuels are included in this category. Since their rate offormation is extremely slow, they cannot be replenished once they getdepleted. Of these, the metallic minerals can be re-used by recycling them.4 [1]

But coal and petroleum cannot be recycled.5 [2]


1) Why is it important to protect natural resources?

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40

UnderstandingEnvironment 2.5 NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Natural resource management is a discipline in the management of naturalresources such as land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particular focus onhow management affects the quality of life for both present and future generations.Natural resource management is interrelated with the concept of sustainabledevelopment, a principle that forms a basis for land management andenvironmental governance throughout the world.

In contrast to the policy emphases of urban planning and the broader concept ofenvironmental management, Natural resource management specifically focuseson a scientific and technical understanding of resources and ecology and thelife-supporting capacity of those resources.

Depletion

In recent years, the depletion of natural resources and attempts to move tosustainable development have been a major focus of development agencies. Thisis of particular concern in rainforest regions, which hold most of the Earth’snatural biodiversity — irreplaceable genetic natural capital. Conservation ofnatural resources is the major focus of natural capitalism, environmentalism, theecology movement, and green politics. Some view this depletion as a majorsource of social unrest and conflicts in developing nations.

Mining, petroleum extraction, fishing, hunting, and forestry are generallyconsidered natural-resource industries. Agriculture is considered a man-maderesource. Theodore Roosevelt, a well-known conservationist and former UnitedStates president, was opposed to unregulated natural resource extraction. Theterm is defined by the United States Geological Survey as “The Nation’s naturalresources include its minerals, energy, land, water, and biota.”6 [4]

Protection

The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless wesolve that problem, it will avail us little to solve all others.7 Conservation biologyis the scientific study of the nature and status of Earth’s biodiversity with the aimof protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates ofextinction.8 [6][7] It is an interdisciplinary subject drawing on sciences, economics,and the practice of natural resource management.9 [8][9][10][11] The term conservationbiology was introduced as the title of a conference held University of Californiaat San Diego in La Jolla, California in 1978 organised by biologists Bruce Wilcoxand Michael Soulé.

Habitat conservation is a land management practice that seeks to conserve, protectand restore, habitat areas for wild plants and animals, especially conservationreliant species, and prevent their extinction, fragmentation or reduction inrange.10 [12] It is a priority of many groups that cannot be easily characterised interms of any one ideology.

2.6 ECOSYSTEM

An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms (biotic factors) in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical (abiotic) factors of the environment. [27]

41

Nature and EcosystemCentral to the ecosystem concept is the idea that living organisms are continuallyengaged in a highly interrelated set of relationships with every other elementconstituting the environment in which they exist. Eugene Odum, one of thefounders of the science of ecology, stated: “Any unit that includes all of theorganisms (ie: the “community”) in a given area interacting with the physicalenvironment so that a flow of energy leads to clearly defined trophic structure,biotic diversity, and material cycles (i.e.: exchange of materials between livingand nonliving parts) within the system is an ecosystem.”[28] The human ecosystemconcept is then grounded in the deconstruction of the human/nature dichotomy,and the emergent premise that all species are ecologically integrated with eachother, as well as with the abiotic constituents of their biotope.

A greater number or variety of species or biological diversity of an ecosystemmay contribute to greater resilience of an ecosystem, because there are morespecies present at a location to respond to change and thus “absorb” or reduce itseffects. This reduces the effect before the ecosystem’s structure is fundamentallychanged to a different state. This is not universally the case and there is no provenrelationship between the species diversity of an ecosystem and its ability to providegoods and services on a sustainable level.

Humid tropical forests produce very few goods and direct services and areextremely vulnerable to change, while many temperate forests readily grow backto their previous state of development within a lifetime after felling or a forestfire. Some grasslands have been sustainably exploited for thousands of years(Mongolia, European peat and moorland communities). The term ecosystem canalso pertain to human-made environments, such as human ecosystems and human-influenced ecosystems, and can describe any situation where there is relationshipbetween living organisms and their environment. Fewer areas on the surface ofthe earth today exist free from human contact, although some genuine wildernessareas continue to exist without any forms of human intervention.

Wilderness

Wilderness is generally defined as areas that have not been significantly modifiedby human activity. The WILD Foundation goes into more detail, definingwilderness as: “The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet— those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developedwith roads, pipelines or other industrial infrastructure.” Wilderness areas can befound in preserves, estates, farms, conservation preserves, ranches, NationalForests, National Parks and even in urban areas along rivers, gulches or otherwiseundeveloped areas.

Wilderness areas and protected parks are considered important for the survivalof certain species, ecological studies, conservation, solitude, and recreation. Somenature writers believe wilderness areas are vital for the human spirit andcreativity,[42] and some Ecologists consider wilderness areas to be an integralpart of the planet’s self-sustaining natural ecosystem (the biosphere). They mayalso preserve historic genetic traits and that they provide habitat for wild floraand fauna that may be difficult to recreate in zoos, arboretums or laboratories.

42

UnderstandingEnvironment Self Assessment Question

2) Why its important to have wilderness as part of nature?

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Life

Although there is no universal agreement on the definition of life, scientistsgenerally accept that the biological manifestation of life is characterised byorganisation, metabolism, growth, adaptation, response to stimuli andreproduction.[43] Life may also be said to be simply the characteristic state oforganisms.

Properties common to terrestrial organisms (plants, animals, fungi, protists,archaea and bacteria) are that they are cellular, carbon-and-water-based withcomplex organisation, having a metabolism, a capacity to grow, respond to stimuli,and reproduce. An entity with these properties is generally considered life.However, not every definition of life considers all of these properties to beessential. Human-made analogs of life may also be considered to be life.

The biosphere is the part of Earth’s outer shell – including land, surface rocks,water, air and the atmosphere – within which life occurs, and which bioticprocesses in turn alter or transform. From the broadest geophysiological point ofview, the biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beingsand their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of thelithosphere (rocks), hydrosphere (water), and atmosphere (air). Currently theentire Earth contains over 75 billion tons (150 trillion pounds or about6.8 x 1013 kilograms) of biomass (life), which lives within various environmentswithin the biosphere.[44]

Over nine-tenths of the total biomass on Earth is plant life, on which animal lifedepends very heavily for its existence.[45] More than 2 million species of plantand animal life have been identified to date,[46] and estimates of the actual numberof existing species range from several million to well over 50 million.[47][48][49]

The number of individual species of life is constantly in some degree of flux,with new species appearing and others ceasing to exist on a continual basis.[50][51]

The total number of species is presently in rapid decline.[52][53][54]

Biomes

Biomes are terminologically similar to the concept of ecosystems, and areclimatically and geographically defined areas of ecologically similar climaticconditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soilorganisms, often referred to as ecosystems. Biomes are defined on the basis offactors such as plant structures (such as trees, shrubs, and grasses), leaf types(such as broadleaf and needleleaf ), plant spacing (forest, woodland, savanna),and climate. Unlike ecozones, biomes are not defined by genetic, taxonomic, or

43

Nature and Ecosystemhistorical similarities. Biomes are often identified with particular patterns ofecological succession and climax vegetation.

2.7 BIODIVERSITY AND NATURAL RESOURCES

The use and conservation of biodiversity and natural resources is of increasingimportance at the national and international levels. A number of legal instrumentsdeal with the various facets of biodiversity. The central treaty is the 1992Biodiversity Convention which provides an overall legal framework foraddressing biodiversity management, supplemented by the Cartagena Protocolon Bio-safety. A number of other treaties address some aspects of biodiversitymanagement: these range from the 1946 International Convention for theRegulation of Whaling to the 1973 Convention on International Trade inEndangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the 2006 InternationalTropical Timber Agreement.

The prominence of law and policy concerning the use and conservation ofbiological resources is due in part to the increased economic value of biologicaland genetic resources in the wake of the rapid development of genetic engineering.A number of non-environmental law treaties, such as trade and intellectualproperty rights treaties are thus of considerable importance in the study ofbiodiversity.

The skewed distribution of biological resources between tropical (mostlydeveloping) and temperate (mostly developed) countries implies that most ofthe debated legal issues have a strong North-South component. This is generallya consequence of the fact that developing countries hold most biological resourceswhile developed countries hold most of the technologies needed forcommercialising them.

India’s Water Resources

India’s total renewable water resources are estimated at 1,907.8 km3/year.11 Itsannual supply of usable and replenishable groundwater amounts to 350 billioncubic metres.12 Only 35% of groundwater resources are being utilised. About 44million tonnes of cargo is moved annually through the country’s major riversand waterways. Groundwater supplies 40% of water in India’s irrigation canals.56% of the land is arable and used for agriculture. Black soils are moisture-retentive and are preferred for dry farming and growing cotton, linseed, etc.Forest soils are used for tea and coffee plantations. Red soil has a wide diffusionof iron content.13

Most of India’s estimated 5.4 billion barrels (860,000,000 m3) in oil reserves arelocated in the Mumbai High, upper Assam, Cambay, the Krishna-Godavari andCauvery basins. India possesses about seventeen trillion cubic feet of natural gasin Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Orissa. Uranium is mined in Andhra Pradesh.India has 400 medium-to-high enthalpy thermal springs for producing geothermalenergy in seven “provinces” — the Himalayas, Sohana, Cambay, the Narmada-Tapti delta, the Godavari delta and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (specificallythe volcanic Barren Island.)14

India is the world’s biggest producer of mica blocks and mica splittings. Indiaranks second amongst the world’s largest producers of barites and chromites.

44


The Pleistocene system is rich in minerals. India is the third-largest coal producerin the world and ranks fourth in the production of iron ore. It is the fifth-largestproducer of bauxite and crude steel, the seventh-largest of manganese ore andthe eighth-largest of aluminium. India has significant sources of titanium ore,diamonds and limestone.15 India possesses 24% of the world’s known andeconomically-viable thorium, which is mined along shores of Kerala.16 Goldhad been mined in the now-defunct Kolar Gold Fields in Karnataka.17

2.8 BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS

The Western Ghats

The Western Ghats are a chain of hills that run along the western edge of peninsularIndia. Their proximity to the ocean and through orographic effect, they receivehigh rainfall. These regions have moist deciduous forest and rain forest. Theregion shows high species diversity as well as high levels of endemism. Nearly77% of the amphibians and 62% of the reptile species found here are foundnowhere else.18 [12]

The region shows biogeographical affinities to the Malayan region, and theSatpura hypothesis proposed by Sunder Lal Hora suggests that the hill chains ofCentral India may have once formed a connection with the forests of northeasternIndia and into the Indo-Malayan region. Hora used torrent stream fishes to supportthe theory, but it was also suggested to hold for birds.19 [13] Later studies havesuggested that Hora’s original model species were a demonstration of convergentevolution rather than speciation by isolation.

More recent phylogeographic studies have attempted to study the problem usingmolecular approaches.20 [14] There are also differences in taxa which are dependenton time of divergence and geological history.21 [15] Along with Sri Lanka thisregion also shows some faunal similarities with the Madagascan region especiallyin the reptiles and amphibians. Examples include the Sibynophis snakes, thePurple frog and Sri Lankan lizard genus Nessia which appears similar to theMadagascan genus Acontias. Numerous floral links to the Madagascan regionalso exist.

An alternate hypothesis that these taxa may have originally evolved out-of-Indiahas also been suggested.22 [18] Biogeographical quirks exist with some taxa ofMalayan origin occurring in Sri Lanka but absent in the Western Ghats. Theseinclude insects groups such as the zoraptera and plants such as those of the genusNepenthes.

The Eastern Himalayas

The Red Panda or Firefox is native tothe Himalayas in India and Nepal andsouthern China.

45

Nature and EcosystemThe Eastern Himalayas is the region encompassing Bhutan, northeastern India,and southern, central, and eastern Nepal. The region is geologically young andshows high altitudinal variation. It has nearly 163 globally threatened speciesincluding the One-horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis), the Wild AsianWater buffalo (Bubalus bubalis (Arnee)) and in all 45 mammals, 50 birds, 17reptiles, 12 amphibians, 3 invertebrate and 36 plant species.1 [19][20] The RelictDragonfly (Epiophlebia laidlawi) is an endangered species found here with theonly other species in the genus being found in Japan. The region is also home tothe Himalayan Newt (Tylototriton verrucosus), the only salamander species foundwithin Indian limits.


3) List some of the biodiversity hotspots and comment?

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2.9 THREATENED AND EXTINCT SPECIES

Extinct and fossil forms

During the early Tertiary period, the Indian tableland, what is today peninsularIndia, was a large island. Prior to becoming an island it was connected to theAfrican region. During the tertiary period this island was separated from theAsian mainland by a shallow sea. The Himalayan region and the greater part ofTibet lay under this sea. The movement of the Indian subcontinent into the Asianlandmass created the great Himalayan ranges and raised the sea bed into whatare today the plains of northern India.

Elephas ganesa a fossil elephant from the Siwaliks

Once connected to the Asian mainland, many species moved into India. TheHimalayas were created in several upheavals. The Siwaliks were formed in thelast and the largest number of fossils of the Tertiary period are found in theseranges.1 [22]

The Siwalik fossils include Mastodons, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, Sivatherium,a large four-horned ruminant, giraffe, horses, camels, bison, deer, antelope, pigs,chimpanzees, orangutans, baboons, langurs, macaques, cheetahs, Sabre-toothedtigers, lions, tigers, sloth bear, Aurochs, leopards, wolves, dholes, porcupines,rabbits and a host of other mammals.[22]

46


Many fossil tree species have been found in the intertrappean beds2 [23] includingGrewioxylon from the Eocene and Heritieroxylon keralensis from the middleMiocene in Kerala and Heritieroxylon arunachalensis from the Mio-Pliocene ofArunachal Pradesh and at many other places. The discovery of Glossopteris fernfossils from India and Antarctica led to the discovery of Gondwanaland and ledto the greater understanding of continental drift. Fossil Cycads3 [24] are knownfrom India while seven Cycad species continue to survive in India.4 [25][26]

Titanosaurus indicus was perhaps the first dinosaur discovered in India by RichardLydekker in 1877 in the Narmada valley. This area has been one of the mostimportant areas for paleontology in India. Another dinosaur known from India isRajasaurus narmadensis, a heavy-bodied and stout carnivorous abelisaurid(theropod) dinosaur that inhabited the area near present-day Narmada river. Itwas 9 m in length and 3 m in height and somewhat horizontal in posture with adouble-crested crown on the skull.

Some fossil snakes from the Cenozoic era are also known.5 [28] Some scientistshave suggested that the Deccan lava flows and the gases produced wereresponsible for the global extinction of dinosaurs however these have beendisputed.

Himalayacetus subathuensis the oldest-known whale fossil of the familyProtocetidae (Eocene), about 53.5 million years old was found in the Simla hillsin the foothills of the Himalayas. This area was underwater (in the Tethys sea)during the Tertiary period (when India was an island off Asia). This whale mayhave been capable of living partly on land.6 [31] [32] Other fossil whales from Indiainclude Remingtonocetus approximately 43-46 million years old.

Several small mammal fossils have been recorded in the intertrappean beds,however larger mammals are mostly unknown. The only major primate fossilshave been from the nearby region of Myanmar.

Recent extinctions

Illustration of a Himalayan Quail from A. O. Hume’s work. (Last seen in 1876)

The exploitation of land and forest resources by humans along with hunting andtrapping for food and sport has led to the extinction of many species in India inrecent times. Probably the first species to vanish during the time of the IndusValley civilisation was the species of wild cattle, Bos primegenius nomadicus or

47

Nature and Ecosystemthe wild zebu, which vanished from its range in the Indus valley and westernIndia, possibly due to inter-breeding with domestic cattle and resultantfragmentation of wild populations due to loss of habitat.[33]

Notable mammals which became or are presumed extinct within the countryitself include the Indian / Asiatic Cheetah, Javan Rhinoceros and SumatranRhinoceros.1 [34] While some of these large mammal species are confirmed extinct,there have been many smaller animal and plant species whose status is harder todetermine. Many species have not been seen since their description. Hubbardiaheptaneuron, a species of grass that grew in the spray zone of the Jog Falls priorto the construction of the Linganamakki reservoir, was thought to be extinct buta few were rediscovered near Kolhapur. [35]

Some species of birds have gone extinct in recent times, including the Pink-headed Duck (Rhodonessa caryophyllacea) and the Himalayan Quail (Ophrysiasuperciliosa). A species of warbler, Acrocephalus orinus, known earlier from asingle specimen collected by Allan Octavian Hume from near Rampur inHimachal Pradesh was rediscovered after 139 years in Thailand.[36][37] Similarly,the Jerdon’s Courser (Rhinoptilus bitorquatus), named after the zoologist ThomasC. Jerdon who discovered it in 1848, was rediscovered in 1986 by Bharat Bhushan,an ornithologist at the Bombay Natural History Society after being thought to beextinct.

An estimate of the numbers of species by group in India is given below. This isbased on Alfred, 1998.2 [38]

Taxonomic Group World Indian % inSpecies Species India

PROTISTA

Protozoa 31250 2577 8.24

Total (Protista) 31250 2577 8.24

ANIMALIA

Mesozoa 71 10 14.08

Porifera 4562 486 10.65

Cnidaria 9916 842 8.49

Ctenophora 100 12 12

Platyhelminthes 17500 1622 9.27

Nemertinea 600

Rotifera 2500 330 13.2

Gastrotricha 3000 100 3.33

Kinorhyncha 100 10 10

Nematoda 30000 2850 9.5

Nematomorpha 250

Acanthocephala 800 229 28.62

Sipuncula 145 35 24.14

48

UnderstandingEnvironment Mollusca 66535 5070 7.62

Echiura 127 43 33.86

Annelida 12700 840 6.61

Onychophora 100 1 1

Arthropoda 987949 68389 6.9

Crustacea 35534 2934 8.26

Insecta 6.83

Arachnida 73440 7.9

Pycnogonida 600 2.67

Pauropoda 360

Chilopoda 3000 100 3.33

Diplopoda 7500 162 2.16

Symphyla 120 4 3.33

Merostomata 4 2 50

Phoronida 11 3 27.27

Bryozoa (Ectoprocta) 4000 200 5

Endoprocta 60 10 16.66

Brachiopoda 300 3 1

Pogonophora 80

Praipulida 8

Pentastomida 70

Chaetognatha 111 30 27.02

Tardigrada 514 30 5.83

Echinodermata 6223 765 12.29

Hemichordata 120 12 10

Chordata 48451 4952 10.22

Protochordata 2106 119 5.65(Cephalochordata+Urochordata)

Pisces 21723 2546 11.72

Amphibia 5150 209 4.06

Reptilia 5817 456 7.84

Aves 9026 1232 13.66

Mammalia 4629 390 8.42

Total (Animalia) 1196903 868741 7.25

Grand Total (Protosticta+Animalia) 1228153 871318 7.09

49

Nature and Ecosystem

Deccan Mahseer Tor khudreeInvertebrates

• Molluscs

o List of non-marine molluscs of India

• Arachnids

o Spiders of India

• Insects

o Coccinellidae

– Ladybird beetles of India

o Odonata

– Dragonflies and damselflies of India

o Lepidoptera

– Butterflies of India

– Papilionid butterflies of India

– Pierid butterflies of India

– Nymphalid butterflies of India

– Lycaenid butterflies of India

– Hesperid butterflies of India

– Riodinid butterflies of India

– Moths of India

o Hymenoptera

– Ants of India

Threatened plant species

Threat Category (IUCN) Number of Species

Extinct 19

Extinct/Endangered 43

Endangered 149

Endangered/Vulnerable 2

Vulnerable 108

Rare 256

Indeterminate 719

Insufficiently known 9

No information 1441

Not threatened 374

Total 3120

50


Threatened Animal species

Number of species per group according to IUCN threat categories (1994)

2.10 SUMMARY• Everything in the natural world is connected. An ecosystem is a community

of living and non-living things that work together. Ecosystems have noparticular size. An ecosystem can be as large as a desert or a lake or as smallas a tree or a puddle. If you have a terrarium, that is an artificial ecosystem.The water, water temperature, plants, animals, air, light and soil all worktogether. If there isn’t enough light or water or if the soil doesn’t have theright nutrients, the plants will die. If the plants die, animals that depend onthem will die. If the animals that depend on the plants die, any animals thatdepends on those animals will die. Ecosystems in nature work the sameway. All the parts work together to make a balanced system!

• A healthy ecosystem has lots of species diversity and is less likely to beseriously damaged by human interaction, natural disasters and climatechanges. Every species has a niche in its ecosystem that helps keep the systemhealthy. We are learning about new species every day, and we are just figuringout the roles they play in the natural world. By studying and maintainingbiodiversity, we help keep our planet healthy.

2.11 TERMINAL QUESTIONS

1) Give an overview of India’s Ancient and Medieval History.

2) Comment on Natural Resource Management.

3) Why do certain species become threatened and extinct?

4) What is the relation between Nature and Ecosystem?




51

Nature and Ecosystem2) Refer to Section 2.6


Terminal Questions

1) Natural history in India has a long heritage with a recorded history goingback to the Vedas. Natural history research in early times included the broadfields of paleontology, zoology and botany. These studies would today beconsidered under field of ecology but in former times, such research wasundertaken mainly by amateurs, often physicians, civil servants and armyofficers. List and explain: Indus valley civilization etc.

2) Natural resource management is a discipline in the management of naturalresources such as land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particularfocus on how management affects the quality of life for both present andfuture generations. Natural resource management is interrelated with theconcept of sustainable development, a principle that forms a basis for landmanagement and environmental governance throughout the world. In contrastto the policy emphases of urban planning and the broader concept ofenvironmental management, Natural resource management specificallyfocuses on a scientific and technical understanding of resources and ecologyand the life-supporting capacity of those resources. Further explain Depletion,Protection etc.

3) The exploitation of land and forest resources by humans along with huntingand trapping for food and sport has led to the extinction of many species inIndia in recent times. Probably the first species to vanish during the time ofthe Indus valley civilization was the species of wild cattle, Bos primegeniusnomadicus or the wild zebu, which vanished from its range in the Indusvalley and western India, possibly due to inter-breeding with domestic cattleand resultant fragmentation of wild populations due to loss of habitat. Listout the reasons and explain like poaching, over extraction etc.

4) Explain Nature, define how nature has been defined. Explain how ecosystemsare formed and protected, draw a linkage between nature and ecosystem.The heat and light from the sun are critical parts of an ecosystem. The sun’sheat helps water evaporate and return to the atmosphere where it is cycledback into water. The heat also keeps plants and animals warm. Without lightfrom the sun there would be no photosynthesis and plants wouldn’t have theenergy they need to make food. Elaborate on other things.

2.13 REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS• Allaby (1998), Floods, Facts on File.

• Balfour (1976), Encyclopaedia Asiatica: Comprising Indian Subcontinent,Eastern and Southern Asia, Cosmo Publications.

• Nash, JM (2002), El Niño: Unlocking the Secrets of the Master WeatherMaker, Warner.

2.14 BIBLIOGRAPHY1 François Ramade, Ecology of Natural Resources, Pg. 1. Wiley (1981).

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2 Heterotroph: A living organism that needs an external supply of organicsubstances to synthesise its own organic requirements. All animals, fungi andcertain bacteria are heterotrophic.

3 Schiebinger, Londa and Claudia Swan (Eds.) 2004 Colonial Botany Science,Commerce, and Politics in the Early Modern World. 352 pages. University ofPennsylvania.

4 Archer, Mildred & W. G. Archer (1955) Natural history paintings. In Indianpainting for the British 1770-1880, pp. 91-98. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

5 Rangarajan, M. (2001) India’s Wildlife History, pp 4.6 Salim Ali, Bird study in India : its history and its importance. ICCR, New

Delhi (1979).7 Rangarajan, M. (2001) India’s Wildlife History, pp 7.8 Sundaracharya, H. (1927), Mriga Pakshi Shastra by Hamsadeva (English

translation); Shankar, Darshan, Current Science 96 (2): 292 (2009).9 Delme-Radcliffe, Lt. Col. E., Notes on the Falconidae used in India in Falconry.

Standfast Press, 1971.10 Blunt, Wilfrid, The Mughal Painters of Natural History. Burlington magazine

90 (539): 49-50 (1948).11 Salim Ali, The Moghul Emperors of India And Naturalists and Sportsmen.

Part 1". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 31 (4): 833–861 (1927).12 Verma, S. P., Mughal Painter of Flora and Fauna - Ustad Mansur. Abhinav

Publications (1999).13 Das, A.K., Ustad Mansur, Lalit, 17, 1974. p. 37 (1974).14 “Earth’s natural wealth: an audit”. New Scientist. May 23, 200715 “Peak Everything?”. Reason Magazine. April 27, 201016 “Natural Resources”. U.S. Geological Survey. http://www.usgs.gov/themes/

resource.html.17 Theodore Roosevelt, Address to the Deep Waterway Convention Memphis,

TN, October 4, 1907.18 M. E. Soulé and B. A. Wilcox. 1980. Conservation Biology: An Evolutionary-

Ecological Perspective. Sinauer Associatess. Sunderland, Massachusetts; M.E. Soule. (1986). What is conservation Biology? BioScience, 35(11): 727-734.

19 Soule, Michael E. (1986). Conservation Biology: The Science of Scarcity andDiversity. Sinauer Associates. pp. 584; Hunter, M. L. (1996). Fundamentalsof Conservation Biology. Blackwell Science Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts;Groom, M.J., Meffe, G.K. and Carroll, C.R. (2006) Principles of ConservationBiology (3rd ed.). Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA; van Dyke, Fred (2008).Conservation Biology: Foundations, Concepts, Applications, 2nd ed.. SpringerVerlag. pp. 478.

20 Habitat Conservation Planning Branch. “Habitat Conservation”. CaliforniaDepartment of Fish & Game. http://www.dfg.ca.gov/habcon/.

21 http://www.eoearth.org/article/Water_profile_of_India#Water_Resources J.K.Jain; Farmer, B. H.; Rush, H.; West, H. W.; Allan, J. A.; Dasgupta, B.; Boon,

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Nature and EcosystemW. H. (May 1977). “India’s Underground Water Resources”. PhilosophicalTransactions of the Royal Society of London 278 (962): 507–22.

22 http://www.krishiworld.com/html/soils10.html23 http://www.eoearth.org/article/Energy_profile_of_India. Retrieved 2008-11-

2024 D. Chandrasekharam. “Geothermal Energy Resources of India”. Indian Institute

of Technology Bombay. http://www.geos.iitb.ac.in/geothermalindia/pubs/IBC/IBCTALKweb.htm

25 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html26 http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf62.htm. Retrieved 2006-06-01.27 http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/may/08gita.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-2128 Daniels, R. J. R. (2001) Endemic fishes of the Western Ghats and the Satpura

hypothesis. Current Science 81(3):240-244.29 Ripley, Dillon S. (1949) Avian relicts and double invasions in Peninsular India

and Ceylon. Evolution 2:150-15930 Karanth, P. K. (2003) Evolution of disjunct distributions among wet-zone

species of the Indian subcontinent: Testing various hypotheses using aphylogenetic approach Current Science, 85(9): 1276-1283.

31 Biswas, S. and Pawar S. S. (2006) Phylogenetic tests of distribution patternsin South Asia: towards an integrative approach; J. Biosci. 31 95–113.

32 Bajpai, S. and Gingerich P.D. (1998) A new Eocene archaeocete (Mammalia,Cetacea) from India and the time of origin of whales Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.USA 95:15464–15468.

33 http://www.cepf.net/xp/cepf/where_we_work/eastern_himalayas/eastern_himalayas_info.xml;http://assets.panda.org/downloads/final_ehimalayas.

34 Prater, S. H. (1971) The Book of Indian Animals. BNHS.35 Stewart R. Hinsley, Notes on fossil wood.36 Robert Buckler, A brief review of the fossil cycads (1999).37 http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/cycadpg?region=ind; Singh, Rita, P.

Radha (2006) A new species of Cycas from the Malabar Coast, Western Ghats,India. Volume 58(2):119-123.

38 Rage J.-C., Bajpai S., Thewissen J. G. M. & Tiwari B. N. 2003. Early Eocenesnakes from Kutch, Western India, with a review of the Palaeophiidae.Geodiversitas 25 (4) : 695-716.

39 Bajpai, S. and Gingerich P.D. (1998) A new Eocene archaeocete (Mammalia,Cetacea) from India and the time of origin of whales Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.USA 95:15464–15468.

40 Vivek Menon (2003). A field guide to Indian mammals. Dorling Kindersley,Delhi.

41 Alfred, J.R.B. (1998) Faunal Diversity in India: An Overview: In FaunalDiversity in India, i-viii, 1-495. (Editors. Alfred, JRB, et al., 1998). ENVISCentre, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta.

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UnderstandingEnvironment UNIT 3 ENVIRONMENT AND LAW

Structure

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Objectives

3.3 Nature of Environmental Laws

3.4 Environment Laws

3.4.1 Environmental Legislations (from 1853 to 1980)

3.5 Environmental Act, Rules and Notifications in India (from 1980-tilldate)

3.5.1 Water Pollution

3.5.2 Air Pollution

3.5.3 Environment Protection

3.5.4 Noise Pollution

3.5.5 Ozone Layer Depletion

3.5.6 Coastal Regulation Zone

3.5.7 Environment Impact Assessment

3.5.8 Animal Welfare

3.5.9 Bio Diversity Conservation

3.5.10 Forest Conservation

3.5.11 Wild Life Protection

3.5.12 Hazardous Substances Management-12 Rules till 2007

3.5.13 National Environment

3.5.14 Public Liability Insurance

3.6 Five Year Plans on Environmental Issues3.6.1 Sixth Plan (1980-1985)

3.6.2 Seventh Plan (1985-1990)

3.6.3 Eighth Plan (1992-1997)

3.6.4 Ninth Plan (1997-2002)

3.6.5 Tenth Plan (2002-2007)

3.6.6 Eleventh Plan (2007-2012)

3.7 National Policies Related to Environment

3.8 International Agreements on Environmental Issues

3.9 Summary




3.1 INTRODUCTION

Today the need is to evolve a new jurisprudence of striking balance betweengrowth, development and the ecosystem. Paul Harrison, (in Third worldtomorrow) has stressed that there is need for over all development of humanbeings with due respect to nature, “The final principle is respect for the nature.Growth that does not respect the natural world, its complexity and its sensitivity,limits itself. Resources are exhausted, eco-systems collapse, species disappear

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Environment and Lawand our own physical and mental health and even our survival are threatened.”In this unit the emphasis is on the Laws and polices existing in India forenvironment protection, the various aspects of environmental law of publicnuisance, conservation of forest and other resources, coastal zone management,constitutional mandates for environmental protection, international conventions.

3.2 OBJECTIVES

After studying this unit, you will be able to:

• discuss nature, of environmental laws;

• know the various Acts– in India for protection of environment; and

• know national policies on Environment.

3.3 NATURE OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS

The concept of environment is very wide, it includes land, water air, flora, fauna,natural resources and human habitation. There, are number of Acts direct andindirect relating to various aspect of environment. There are various protectiveLaws for human beings relating to air, water, land, noise, nuclear, thermalpollution and also for other living specifies of wild, marine life, flora andfauna. The focus of environmental law in India should move from protectionto management of the environment and from reactive to proactive legalmechanisms.

Many Constitutions in the world acknowledges the fundamental right toenvironmental protection and many international treaties also acknowledge theright to live in a healthy environment.The constitution of India provides thatevery person has right to life as enshrined in Article 21, on the other hand it alsoimposes duty on the Citizens to protect the environment (see Articles 51 A(g)(ii), 39(b),(c),19(e)). Similarly the government departments also have dutiestowards protection of environment, Article 48A directs the government to protectand improve the environment and to safeguard the forest and wildlife of thecountry, Article 31 A and 31C gives eminent powers to the government toacquire forest, lands, estates and other natural resources however the acquisitionmust be done equitably for common good (Article 39(b)and (c) of directiveprinciples).

The IX schedule of the constitution gives powers to the center, over the state andjudiciary to declare numerous land related Laws as unreviewable in any court.The VII schedules (list 1, entries 52-58) places some environmental issues incentre’s power alone, Atomic energy, oil fields and resources, mines, interstaterivers and valleys and fishing in territorial waters are subjects related oenvironmental protection in union list and fall within subject of union list (list I,entries 6,53,54,56 and 57). public health and sanitation, agriculture land andfisheries with in state territories and water fall under state subjects ( list II entries6,14,18,21 and entry 17) however certain subjects like forest, wildlife andpopulation control falls under list III, entries 17 A,17 B, the concurrent listwhere both center and state can legislate. Nomadic tribes, social and economicplanning, monopolies, factories and electricity, having close connection withenvironmental protection also falls within concurrent list (list III, entries 15, 20,21, 29, 36, 37, and 38.)

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UnderstandingEnvironment 3.4 ENVIRONMENT LAWS

The focus on environmental protection is not new and has been an integral partof the Indian culture. The need for conservation and sustainable use of naturalresources has been expressed in ancient India and is also reflected in theconstitution and are backed by a number of laws – acts, rules, and notifications,i.e., legislative and policy framework and is also in the international commitmentsof the country. Let us see below the various pre-independence environmentallegislation that existed in India on water pollution, air pollution wildlife protectionand forest conservation indicating the nature and levels of governmentalawareness towards environmental issues.

3.4.1 Environmental Legislations (from 1853 to 1980)

Water Pollution The Shore Nuisance (Bombay and Kolkata) Act, 1853. Itefforts to remove any nuisance below the high water mark.

The Oriental Gas Company Act, 1857 - to control waterpollution specially from discharge of oriental gas company.

Indian Penal Code of 1860.

The Indian Easement Act, 1882 allows private rights touse a resource that is, groundwater, by viewing it as anattachment to the land. It also states that all surface waterbelongs to the state and is a state property.

The Indian Fisheries Act, 1897 - Killing of fish by poisoningwater or by explosives was banned under the act

The Indian Ports Act, 1908 - prohibits discharge of oil inport areas

The Indian Forest Act, 1927 - prohibits poisoning ofwater within forest.

The factories Act, 1948

The River Boards Act of 1956 - enables the states toenroll the central government in setting up an AdvisoryRiver Board to resolve issues in inter-state cooperation.

Air Pollution Bengal Smoke Nuisance Act, 1905 - to prevent airpollution in Calcutta and to protect marble structure ofVictoria memorial.

Bombay smoke nuisance Act, 1912 - to prevent airpollution in Bombay.

Wild Life The Madras Wild Elephant Act, 1873 - was firstConservation wildlife Act to protect wild Elephants.

The Elephant Preservation Act, 1879 - Act to protect wildElephants.

The Wild Bird Protection Act, 1887 - prohibit trade inwild birds in notified closed season for breeding.

The Wild Birds and Animal Protection Act, 1912 -Regulated hunting of listed species and closed seasonbut it ignored the need for control in wildlife trade.

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Environment and LawThe Hailey National Park Act, 1937 - to protect theunique ecosystem of Western Himalayas in CorbettNational Park then Hailey National Park

Forest Indian Forest Act, 1865Conservation Indian Forest Act, 1878

Forest Policy of India, 1884

Indian Forest Act, 1927- It was enacted to ‘consolidatethe law related to forest, the transit of forest produce,and the duty levied on timber and other forest produce’

Analysis of Environmental governance in pre independent India clearly showsthat there was genuine concern for improving air and water quality. However allforest related acts and policies increasingly monopolies common property resourceinto State controlled resource (Ghosh, Ashiesh (2007).

Environment, as rightly said by patrica, H Mische, knows no political boundaries,and accepts only bio-regional or eco boundaries . The problem of environmenthas become issue of concern both at national and International level. The problemsrelated to environment received Government’s attention for the first time inIndia’s Fourth Plan (1969-74). This document has laid down:

“Planning for harmonious development recognises the unity of nature and man.Such planning is possible only on the basis of a comprehensive appraisal ofenvironmental issues. There are instances in which timely, specialised advice onenvironmental aspects could have helped in project design and in avertingsubsequent adverse effect on the environment leading to loss of invested resources.It is necessary, therefore, to introduce the environmental aspect into our planningand development”(http://www.envfor.nic.in/unccd/annex-05.pdf).At Internationallevel, the united nations, conference on the human environment , held inStockholm in the year 1972 was a landmark event for the protection ofenvironment. This Stockholm conference suggested that developing countriesmust direct their efforts towards balancing their population growth. The 42nd

Amendment to the constitution of India, in 1976 introduced significant provisionsin constitution relating to the environment protection and has been alreadydiscussed earlier in this unit. Following the Stockholm Conference, to identifyand investigate the problems of preserving or improving the human environmentin the country as well as to propose a solution for environmental problems theNational Committee, on Environmental Planning and Coordination (NCEPC)was set up in 1972, under union department of science and technology. ThisHigh-level advisory body was charged, among others, with reviewing policiesand programmes which have a significant bearing on quality of environmentand advise Government on environmental management and to improve the humanenvironment in the context of population growth and economic development. Itwas to advise and suggest on existing legislation and regulation and administrativemachinery and also for promoting and strengthening environmental research,education and awareness. The NCEPC in its existence of eight years (1972-80)provided a major thrust in environmental planning, approval of projects in selectedsectors, human settlement planning, surveys of wetlands and spread ofenvironmental awareness and research (see the Tiwari Committees Report, 1981.)7

The Indian wildlife (protection Act,) was passed in 1972 under article –252 ofthe constitution on the requests from states. The water prevention and control of

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pollution Act, 1974 and the rules 1975 laid down the foundation of new era inIndian environmental law. The central pollution central board was set up to overseeimplementation of the provisions of the act. The separate statutory bodies likeforest department to oversee compliance of law related to state level to overseecompliannce of law on water pollution were set up. Sec 24 of the act prohibitsdisposal of polluting matter to a steam or well or on land. However it allowsdischarge of sewage or trade effluent after treatment. After the StockholmConference, constitutional sanction was given to environment protection throughthe 42nd Amendment in 1976, as incorporated into the Directive Principles ofState Policy and Fundamental Rights and Duties.

In 1980, the first National Committee, The Tiwari Committee was formed toconsider the issues relating to environmental legislation. It enlisted about 200add Laws, pertaining to environmental protection. The main recommendationare: (Uberoi, N.K. (2003). In : Environmental Management).

• Comprehensive reviews and reformation of some of the prevalent Centraland State Acts such as the Insecticides Act, 1968; the Water (Preventionand Control of Pollution) Act, 1974; and the India Forest Act (1972).

• New legislation for areas of action not covered by the present laws (such asthose concerning toxic substances). The introduction of “EnvironmentProtection” in the Concurrent List of the seventh Schedule. The committee,inter alia, recommended to establish of a separate Department ofEnvironment.


1) What is the main objective of NCEPC?

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3.5 ENVIRONMENT ACTS, RULES ANDNOTIFICATION IN INDIA (FROM 1980- TILLDATE)

Government of India has done many efforts for environment protection and thelist of environmental Acts, Rules and Notifications in India from 1980 to tilldate are briefly discussed below :

3.5.1 Water Pollution

Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, amended 1988- The Actprohibits the discharge of pollutants into water bodies beyond a given standard,and lays down penalties for non-compliance.

Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977, amended 1992,2003, The Act provides for a levy and collection of a cess on water consumed by

59

Environment and Lawindustries and local authorities and aims at augmenting the resources of thecentral and state boards for prevention and control of water pollution.

The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Rules 1978 - definesstandards and indications for the kind of and location of meters that everyconsumer of water is required to install.

3.5.2 Air PollutionAir (Prevention and Control of Pollution)Act, 1981- prohibits the use of pollutingfuels and substances and regulates appliances that give rise to air pollution. Itentrusts the power of enforcing this act to the CPCB (Central Pallution ControlBoard), for establishing or operating any industrial plant in the pollution controlarea the consent from state boards is required. The board has to test the air in airpollution control areas, inspect pollution control equipment, and manufacturingprocesses.

The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Rules, 1982, amended has definedthe procedures for conducting meetings of the boards; the powers of the presidingofficers, about the decision-making, the quorum and manner in which the recordsof the meeting were to be set. They also prescribe the manner and the purposefor which assistance can be taken from specialists and the fee to be paid to them.

3.5.3 Environment Protection

Environment Protection Act (EPA), 1986 is enacted under Article-253of theconstitution in pursuant need for the general legislation for environment protectionand to fill in uncovered gaps in areas of major environmental hazards. Underthis Act, the central government is empowered to take necessary measures forprotecting and improving the quality of the environment, it can set standardsfor emissions and discharges; regulation of the location of industries; managementof hazardous wastes, and for protection of public health and welfare.

Environment Protection Rules 1986- It

• lays down procedures for setting standards of emission or discharge ofenvironmental pollutants.

• Prescribes the parameters for the Central Government under which it canissue orders of prohibition and restrictions on the location and operation ofindustries in different areas.

Environment (Siting for Industrial Projects) Rules, 1999- it provides forProhibition for setting up of certain industries; for establishment of New Unitswith certain conditions; puts Restrictions on the units in Taj Trapezium; laysconditions for establishment of New Units around Archaeological Monuments.

3.5.4 Noise Pollution

Noise pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 formed under EPA,Amended, 2002 and 2006.- it provides for such terms and conditions as arenecessary to reduce noise pollution.

• The use of loud speakers or public address systems is permitted duringnight hours (between 10:00 p.m. to 12:00 midnight) or on during any occasionof cultural or religious festival.

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3.5.5 Ozone Layer Depletion

Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000- the Ruleshave been laid down for the regulation of production and consumption of ozonedepleting substances.

3.5.6 Coastal Regulation Zone

CRZ Notification, issued by central government by virtue of its power underEPA it declares limits of and prohibitions in coastal regulation zones; there are30 notification’s from 1997-2009. The notifications puts regulations on variousactivities, including construction. It also provides for some protection to thebackwaters and estuaries.

3.5.7 Environment Impact Assessment

Notification, 1994, amended 2006- lays down some projects or activities thatrequire prior environmental clearance from the concerned regulatory authority.The stages of prior Environment Clearance (EC) for new projects is also laiddown. There is provision for constitution of State Level Environment ImpactAssessment Authority (SEIAA).

3.5.8 Animal Welfare

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and Rules (18), 1965-2006- the actwas passed to prevent the infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering on animalsand for that purpose to amend the law relating to the prevention of cruelty toanimals. For the promotion of animal welfare generally and for the purpose ofprotecting animals from being subjected to unnecessary pain or suffering, inparticular, Animal Board of India has been established by the Central Government.

3.5.9 Bio Diversity Conservation

Biological Diversity Act, 2002- provides for the conservation of biologicaldiversity, sustainable use of its components, and fair and equitable sharing of thebenefits arising out of the use of biological resources and knowledge associatedwith it; Rules, 2004.

3.5.10 Forest Conservation

Forest Conservation Act, 1980, amended 1988, Rules, 1981, amended 1988,1992, 2003- provides for the protection of and the conservation of the forests.

3.5.11 Wild Life Protection

The Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, amended 1993, The Wildlife(protection) Amendment Act, 2002 and set of 9 Rules, 1973-2003- The actprovides for the protection of birds and animals and for all matters connected toit, whether it is their habitat or the waterhole or the forests that sustains them.

3.5.12 Hazardous Substances Management-12 Rules till 2007

• The Batteries (Management and Handling) Rules, 2001- it is applicable toevery manufacturer, importer, re-conditioner, assembler, dealer, auctioneer,consumer, and bulk consumer who are involved in the manufacture,processing, sale, purchase, and use of batteries or components so that it canbe regulated and to ensure the environmentally safe disposal of used batteries;

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Environment and Law• The Municipal Solid Waste Management and Handling Rules, 2000- it makesevery municipal authority responsible for the collection, segregation, storage,transportation, processing, and disposal of municipal solid wastes;

• The Recycled Plastics Manufacture and Usage Rules, 1999 amended Rules,2003- it puts restriction on manufacture, sale, distribution, and use of plasticcarry bags and containers less than 8´12 inches (20´30 cms) in size and havingminimum thickness of 20 micron;

• The Rules for the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardousmicro-organisms Genetically engineered organisms or cells, 1989, Amended2006, 2007- it was introduced with a view to protect the environment, nature,and health, in connection with the application of gene technology andmicroorganisms.

• The Manufacture, Storage and import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989,Amended 2000- it sets up an authority to inspect, once a year, the industrialactivities connected with hazardous chemicals and isolated storage facilities;

• The Hazardous Wastes (Management, Handling and TransboundaryMovement) Rules, 2008, 2009 - The insertion of the word transboundarymovement is a euphemism for hazardous waste trade by terming it asrecyclable metal scrap trade or commerce in end-of-life products. Part B ofthe Rules provides elaborate list of hazardous wastes applicable for importand export not requiring prior informed consent. The list includes metal andmetal bearing wastes under which Iron and Steel Scrap, Thorium scrap,Chromium scrap, rare earth scrap, Zinc scrap; scrap assemblies from electricpower generation and several others;

• Biomedical Waste Management and Handling Rules, 1998 amended 2003-the health care institutions are legally abided to streamline the process ofproper handling of hospital waste such as segregation, disposal, collection,and treatment.

3.5.13 National Environment

The National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995- It has been created to awardcompensation for damages to persons, property and the environment that hasarised from any activity involving hazardous substances.

The National Environment Appellate Authority Act,1997- has been created tohear appeals with respect to restrictions of areas in which classes of industriesetc. are carried out or prescribed subject to certain safeguards under theEnvironment protection act.

3.5.14 Public Liability Insurance

The Public Liability Insurance Act 1991, amended in 1992 - provides for publicliability insurance with the purpose to provide immediate relief to the personsaffected (injured or in case of death) by accident while handling any hazardoussubstance. The Act was amended in 1992, and the Central Government wasauthorised to establish the Environmental Relief Fund, for making relief paymentsand The Public Liability Insurance Rules, 1992, amended in 1993.

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UnderstandingEnvironment 3.6 FIVE YEAR PLANS ON ENVIRONMENTAL

ISSUES

We have already discussed earlier in this unit, the 4th Plan, Planning Commission(1969-74) which was the first time when the government shows its concern forenvironmental protection and the same has become the regular objective of FiveYear Plans of Planning Commission (see sixth plan (1980-84 to 11th plan 2007-12)). The brief discussion on various plans is given below:

3.6.1 Sixth Plan (1980-1985)

• Accepting the recommendations of Tiwari Committee, Department ofEnvironment was set up on November 1, 1980 by the Government and thedepartment was assigneed the following functions:

o To act as a nodal agency for environmental protection and eco-development in the country.

o To carry out environmental appraisal of development projects throughother ministries/agencies as well as directly.

o To have administrative responsibility for:

– Pollution monitoring and regulation.

– Conservation of critical ecosystems designated as BiosphereReserves.

– Conservation of marine ecosystem.

• Major activities in the areas of water and air pollution control were undertakenthis includes Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), natural living resourceconservation, ecological studies by the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) andZoological Survey of India (ZSI), environmental information, education,training and awareness programme.

• A ten year review in respect of appendices on flora for CITES prepared.

• An integrated study of the Ganga basin was completed. The integrated RiverBasin Studies for the Brahmaputra, Indus and Narmada were proposed to betaken up.

• The Wildlife Institutes are set up in 1982-83 for building up of scientificknowledge on wildlife research.

3.6.2 Seventh Plan (1985-1990)

• Significant progress under the Ganga Action Plan, forestry and wildlife,wasteland development, and island development sectors.

• Programme on waste recycling and prevention of coastal pollution wereinitiated.

• Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) of major river valleys andhydroelectric, mining, industrial and thermal power projects were carriedout through Environmental Appraisal Committee.

• National Forest Policy was formulated in 1988 with the principal aim ofensuring environmental stability and maintenance of the ecological balance.

• Implementation of the 10 point National Wildlife Plan initiated.

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Environment and Law• Considerable increase in the total area is brought under afforestationprogramme and the National Development Board set up in 1985.

3.6.3 Eighth Plan (1992-1997)

• Activities for abatement of pollution are undertaken which includedmanagement and operation of national air and water quality network,controlling pollution at sources, river basin studies, hazardous wastemanagement; development of criteria for eco-labeling of consumer products,remedial measures for vehicular pollution; training of personnel engaged incontrolling pollution and organising nationwide awareness programme forprevention and control of pollution, promoting adoption of CleanTechnologies in small scale industries.

• Incentives were provided to adopt efficiency enhancing and wasteminimisation practices like enhancement of cess rates on water consumption,duty concessions on import of certain pollution control equipment, accelerateddepreciation on pollution abatement equipment.

• Various carrying capacity studies (Doon Valley, National Capital Region),on improving methodology and techniques of EIA are carried out.

• BSI and ZSI surveys conducted.

• Scheme on Biodiversity Conservation was initiated in 1991-92.

• Programme such as Man and Biosphere Programme, The environmentalResearch Programme and research on climate change was undertaken.

• More than 5000 clubs launched for providing environmental educationamongst children.

• National River Conservation Plan was approved in 1995.

• Several steps for afforestation and eco-development were undertaken.

3.6.4 Ninth Plan (1997-2002)

• Programme under the above Plan included attempts to phase out lead inmotor spirit and improvement in quality of high speed diesel.

• Area specific programmes are stressed upon like National River ConservationProgramme that started National Lake Conservation Programme. TajTrapezium, schemes to protect Himalayan ecosystem and biodiversity,programmes for sustainable development of islands; Islands DevelopmentAuthority (IDA) was constituted in 1998.

• Initiatives towards strengthening, environmental statistics and mapping,management of biosphere reserves, biodiversity conservation, environmentaleducation and training was undertaken.

• Schemes similar to 8th Plan for afforestation, wetland development are alsoformulated.

3.6.5 Tenth Plan (2002-2007)

• Reconciliation of population and economic growth with environmentalconservation perceived as an urgent necessity.

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• Action plans to be initiated for reducing pollution levels.

• Management of hazardous wastes through collection, processing and disposalto be given priority.

• Emphasis is laid on environmental educational education amongst massesthrough the involvement of NGOs and Youth educational institutes.

3.6.6 Eleventh Plan (2007-2012)

The Monitorable Socio-Economic Targets of the 11th Plan for Environment inIndia are:

• Increase forest and tree cover by 5 percentage points.

• Attain WHO standards of air quality in all major cities by 2011-12.

• Treat all urban waste water by 2011-12 to clean river waters.

• Increase energy efficiency by 20 percentage points by 2016-17.


2) What is the main objective of Eighth Five Year Plan?

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3.7 NATIONAL POLICIES RELATED TOENVIRONMENT

There are number of Policies framed by government of India on variousenvironmental issues like

• National Forest Policy, 1988- the main aim is to maintain one third ofcountry’s geographical area under forest and tree cover. In the hills and inmountainous regions, the aim is to maintain two-third of the area undersuch cover in order to prevent erosion and land degradation and to ensurethe stability of the fragile eco-system. The principal aim of Forest Policymust be to ensure environmental stability and maintenance of ecologicalbalance including atmospheric equilibrium which are vital for sustenanceof all lifeforms, human, animal and plant.

• National conservation strategy and policy statement on Environment andDevelopment Policy, 1992- the aim is to ensure that the demand on theenvironment from which we derive our sustenance, does not exceed itscarrying capacity for the present as well as future generations; lays downthe guidelines to weave environmental considerations into the fabric of ournational life and for reorienting policies and action in unison with theenvironmental perspective.

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Environment and LawThere are many other National Polices also and are given below:

• National Policy on Abatement of Pollution, 1992

• National Slum Policy, 1999

• National Agricultural Policy, 2000

• National Population Policy, 2000

• National Health Policy, 2002

• National Water Policy, 2002

• Science and Technology Policy, 2002

• National Policy for Resettlement and Rehabilitation for Project AffectedFamilies, 2003

• National policy on Tribals and Forest, 2004

• National Environment Policy, 2006

All of these policies basically recognised the need for sustainable developmentin their specific contexts and have formulated necessary strategies to give effectto such recognition. However by the National Environment Policy, 2006,Government seeks to extend the coverage, and fill in gaps that still existenvironment protection on the basis of accumulated experience.

3.8 INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS ONENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

India has obligations under numerous international treaties and agreements thatrelate to environmental issues and is signatory to a number of MultilateralEnvironment Agreements (MEA) and conventions. An overview of some of themajor MEAs and India’s obligations under these is presented below (Compiledin International Environmental Law, Shyam Divan)

• The Antarctic Treaty (Washington, 1959) 402 UNTS 71. Entered into force23 June 1961. India ratified with qualifications, 19 August 1983.

• Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, Especially as WaterfowlHabitat (Ramsar, 1971). 11 I.L.M. 963 (1972). Entered into force 21December 1975. India acceeded, 1 October 1981.

• Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and NaturalHeritage (Paris, 1972). 11 I.L.M. 1358 (1972). Entered into force 17December 1975. India signed, 16 November 1972.

• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Faunaand Flora (CITES), (Washington, 1973) 12 I.L.M. 1055 (1973). Entered intoforce 1 July 1975. India signed, 9 July 1974; ratified 20 July 1976.

• Protocol of 1978 Relating to the International Convention for the Preventionof Pollution from Ships, 1973 (MARPOL) (London, 1978). Entered intoforce 2 October 1983. India ratified with qualifications, 24 September 1986.

• Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals(Bonn, 1979) 19 I.L.M. 15 (1980). Entered into force 1 November 1983.India signed, 23 June 1979; ratified 4 May 1982.

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• Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources(Canberra, 1980). 19 I.L.M. 841 (1980). Entered into force 7 April 1982.India ratified, 17 June 1985.

• United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Montego Bay, 1982). 21I.L.M. 1261 (1982). Entered into force 16 November 1994. India signed, 10December 1982.

• Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (Vienna, 1985). 26 I.L.M.1529 (1987). Entered into force 22 September 1988. India ratified, 18 March1991.

• Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer (Montreal, 1987). 26I.L.M. 1550 (1987). Entered into force 1 January 1989. India acceded, 19June 1992.

• Amendments to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the OzoneLayer (London, 1990). 30 I.L.M. 541 (1991). Entered into force 10 August1992. India acceded, 19 June 1992.

• Convention on the Control of Trans boundary Movements of HazardousWastes and Their Disposal (Basel, 1989). 28 I.L.M. 657 (1989). Enteredinto force 5 May 1992. India signed, 5 March 1990; ratified 24 June 1992.

• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Rio de Janeiro,1992). 31 I.L.M. 849 (1992). Entered into force 21 March 1994. India signed,10 June 1992; ratified 1 November 1993. The primary goals of the UNFCCCwere to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions at levels that would preventdangerous anthropogenic interference with the global climate.

• Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (Rio de Janeiro, 1992) . 31 I.L.M.818 (1992). Entered into force 29 December 1993. India signed, 5 June 1992;ratified 18 February 1994. The CBD has three main thrust areas:- conservationof biodiversity, sustainable use of biological resources and equitable sharingof benefits arising from their sustainable use.

• Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries ExperiencingSerious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa (Paris, 1994).33 I.L.M 1332 (1994). Entered into force, 26 December 1995; India signed,14 October 1994; ratified 17 December 1996.

• International Tropical Timber Agreement (Geneva, 1994). 33 I.L.M. 1016(1994). Entered into force 1 January 1997. India signed, 17 September 1996.India ratified 17 October 1996.

• Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctica Treaty (Madrid,1991). Entered into force 15 January 1998.

The judiciary has also played an important role in Environment protection . Ithas always stressed upon the need to restore and manage the environment properlyfor the future use and this is possible only with the participation of everyindividual. Justice sen of the supreme court ( see kinkri Devi v. State of HP, AIR1988 H.P. 4, 8 ) has made the following observation.

“I wish to observe that though exploitation of mineral resources in the interest ofindustrial growth of the country is necessary, yet such mines should be so worked

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Environment and Lawas not to disturb the ecology and not to affect the livelihood and the livingconditions of a very large number of the people. Advantage gained by workingthe mines for industrial growth and national development in a manner whichmay seriously prejudice the interests of a large number of human beings anddisturb the ecological balance, may very much be out-weighed by the seriousconsequences which are likely to follow. Industrial development is necessary foreconomic growth of the country in the larger interests of the nation. If, however,industrial growth is sought to be achieved by haphazard and reckless working ofthe mines resulting in loss of life, loss of. property, loss of basic amenities likesupply of water and creation of ecological imbalance there may ultimately be noreal economic growth and no real prosperity. It is necessary to strike a properbalance.”

There are many case laws on Air, Water and other Environment pollution lawswhich the learner will able to know in the forthcoming blocks where the elaboratediscussion has been made under the specific subject.

3.9 SUMMARY

• In the Constitution of India it is clearly stated that it is the duty of the state to‘protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests andwildlife of the country’. It imposes a duty on every citizen ‘to protect andimprove the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers, andwildlife’. Reference to the environment has also been made in the DirectivePrinciples of State Policy as well as the Fundamental Rights. The Departmentof Environment was established in India in 1980 to ensure a healthyenvironment for the country. This later became the Ministry of Environmentand Forests in 1985.

• The constitutional provisions are backed by a number of laws – acts, rules,and notifications. The EPA (Environment Protection Act), 1986 came intoforce soon after the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and is considered an umbrellalegislation as it fills many gaps in the existing laws. Thereafter a large numberof laws came into existence as the problems began arising, for example,Handling and Management of Hazardous Waste Rules in 1989.

1986 - The Environment (Protection) Act authorises the central governmentto protect and improve environmental quality, control and reduce pollutionfrom all sources, and prohibit or restrict the setting and /or operation of anyindustrial facility on environmental grounds.

1986 - The Environment (Protection) Rules lay down procedures for settingstandards of emission or discharge of environmental pollutants.

1989 - The objective of Hazardous Waste (Management and Handling)Rules is to control the generation, collection, treatment, import, storage,and handling of hazardous waste.

1989 - The Manufacture, Storage, and Import of Hazardous Rules definethe terms used in this context, and sets up an authority to inspect, once ayear, the industrial activity connected with hazardous chemicals and isolatedstorage facilities.

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1989 - The Manufacture, Use, Import, Export, and Storage of hazardousMicro-organisms/ Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells Ruleswere introduced with a view to protect the environment, nature, and health,in connection with the application of gene technology and microorganisms.

1991 - The Public Liability Insurance Act and Rules and Amendment,1992 was drawn up to provide for public liability insurance for the purposeof providing immediate relief to the persons affected by accident whilehandling any hazardous substance.

1995 - The National Environmental Tribunal Act has been created toaward compensation for damages to persons, property, and the environmentarising from any activity involving hazardous substances.

1997 - The National Environment Appellate Authority Act has beencreated to hear appeals with respect to restrictions of areas in which classesof industries etc. are carried out or prescribed subject to certain safeguardsunder the EPA.

1998 - The Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules is alegal binding on the health care institutions to streamline the process ofproper handling of hospital waste such as segregation, disposal, collection,and treatment.

1999 - The Environment (Siting for Industrial Projects) Rules, 1999 laydown detailed provisions relating to areas to be avoided for siting ofindustries, precautionary measures to be taken for site selecting as also theaspects of environmental protection which should have been incorporatedduring the implementation of the industrial development projects.

2000 - The Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules,2000 apply to every municipal authority responsible for the collection,segregation, storage, transportation, processing, and disposal of municipalsolid wastes.

2000 - The Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulation and Control) Ruleshave been laid down for the regulation of production and consumption ofozone depleting substances.

2001 - The Batteries (Management and Handling) Rules, 2001 rules shallapply to every manufacturer, importer, re-conditioner, assembler, dealer,auctioneer, consumer, and bulk consumer involved in the manufacture,processing, sale, purchase, and use of batteries or components so as toregulate and ensure the environmentally safe disposal of used batteries.

2002 - The Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) (Amendment) Ruleslay down such terms and conditions as are necessary to reduce noisepollution, permit use of loud speakers or public address systems duringnight hours (between 10:00 p.m. to 12:00 midnight) on or during any culturalor religious festive occasion.

2002 - The Biological Diversity Act is an act to provide for the conservationof biological diversity, sustainable use of its components, and fair andequitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the use of biological resourcesand knowledge associated with it.

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Environment and Law• Forest and wildlife

1927 - The Indian Forest Act and Amendment, 1984, is one of the manysurviving colonial statutes. It was enacted to ‘consolidate the law related toforest, the transit of forest produce, and the duty leviable on timber andother forest produce’.

1972 - The Wildlife Protection Act, Rules 1973 and Amendment 1991provides for the protection of birds and animals and for all matters that areconnected to it whether it be their habitat or the waterhole or the forests thatsustain them.

1980 - The Forest (Conservation) Act and Rules, 1981, provides for theprotection of and the conservation of the forests.

• Water

1882 - The Easement Act allows private rights to use a resource that is,groundwater, by viewing it as an attachment to the land. It also states thatall surface water belongs to the state and is a state property.

1897 - The Indian Fisheries Act establishes two sets of penal offenceswhereby the government can sue any person who uses dynamite or otherexplosive substance in any way (whether coastal or inland) with intent tocatch or destroy any fish or poisonous fish in order to kill.

1956 - The River Boards Act enables the states to enroll the centralgovernment in setting up an Advisory River Board to resolve issues in inter-state cooperation.

1970 - The Merchant Shipping Act aims to deal with waste arising fromships along the coastal areas within a specified radius.

1974 - The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act establishesan institutional structure for preventing and abating water pollution. Itestablishes standards for water quality and effluent. Polluting industries mustseek permission to discharge waste into effluent bodies.

The CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board) was constituted under thisact.

1977 - The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act providesfor the levy and collection of cess or fees on water consuming industriesand local authorities.

1978 - The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Rulescontains the standard definitions and indicate the kind of and location ofmeters that every consumer of water is required to affix.

1991 - The Coastal Regulation Zone Notification puts regulations onvarious activities, including construction, are regulated. It gives someprotection to the backwaters and estuaries.

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• Air

1948 - The Factories Act and Amendment in 1987 was the first to expressconcern for the working environment of the workers. The amendment of1987 has sharpened its environmental focus and expanded its application tohazardous processes.

1981 - The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act provides forthe control and abatement of air pollution. It entrusts the power of enforcingthis act to the CPCB .

1982 - The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Rules defines theprocedures of the meetings of the Boards and the powers entrusted to them.

1982 - The Atomic Energy Act deals with the radioactive waste.

1987 - The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment Actempowers the central and state pollution control boards to meet with graveemergencies of air pollution.

1988 - The Motor Vehicles Act states that all hazardous waste is to beproperly packaged, labelled, and transported.

3.10 TERMINAL QUESTIONS1) Discuss the important environment logislations on Air and Water pollution.

2) What items are listed in Eleventh Plan? What is the importance of the same.

3) Comment on interface of Environment and Law .



1) NCEPL was set up in 1972 to identify and investigate the problems ofpreserving or improving the human environment in the country as well as topropose a solution for environmental problems.

2) Activities for abatement of pollution are undertaken which includedmanagement and operation of national air and water quality network,controlling pollution at sources, river basin studies, hazardous wastemanagement; development of criteria for eco-labeling of consumer products.

Terminal Questions

1) Refer to Section 3.4 and 3.5

2) Refer to Sub-section 3.6.6

3) Interactions between living beings in natural setting as well as throughinduced and physico-chemical changes in environment result in changes inenvironment conditions. These changes in environmental conditions haveimpact on behavioural, physiological and biochemical patterns of organismsto enable them to adapt according to changed conditions. The role and impactof specific heterogeneity in creating the uniqueness of environment and the

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Environment and Lawcommunities of living beings that inhabit them, whether they be plants,insects, microorganisms, small mammals or humans. The articles in the bookalso attempt at determining how organisms, from individuals to populationsto communities are likely to respond to changes in natural as well as physico-chemical environments. Add your thoughts and further elaborate.

3.12 REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS• Paul Harrison , Third World Tomorrow, Page 350.

• Patricia M Mische, Ecological Security and the need to conceptualisesSovereignty XIV, Alternative, 389, PP 391-393.

• Ghosh Asish, “Environment Governance”, Environment issues and concerns,APH Publishing Corporation, New Delhi, 2007, P 178-186.

• Singh Chhatrapati, “Environment and the Law”, Man, Nature andEnvironmental Law, Ed G.S Nathawat, Satish Shastri, J P. Vyas, RBSAPublishers, Jaipur, 1988, 106.

• Report of the committee for Recommending Legislative Measures andAdministrative Machinery for Ensuring Environmental Protection (the TiwariCommittees Report), Department of Science and Technology, Governmentof India, 15th Sept,1981.

• P. Leelakrishnan, Environment Law in India, Lexis Nexus, Butter worth,2nd Ed, 2005.

• The legal and regulatory framework for environmental protection in India,29 Apr, 1999, Prepared for Asian Development Bank, Manila and Ministryof Environment and Forests, Government of India. Centre for EnvironmentalLaw. April 28,2010.<http// envfor.nic.in/divisions>. See also Five Year Plans,Planning Comission (various years) as cited in Uberoi, 2003.

• Five-Year Plans, Planning Commission (various years) as adapted fromPunjab ENVIS Centre, Punjab State Council of Science & Technology,Chandigarh. April 25, 2010.<http://punenvis.nic.in/policy.htm>.cited inUberoi, 2003.

• Gopal Krishna, India Govt rules allow hazardous wastes import, The NewNation— Internet Edition. May 28, 2010<http // www.ittefaq.com>.

• Shyam Divan, “International Environmental Law”, July12, 2002. May 3,2010<http// www.nls.ac.in/CEERA>.

• The legal and regulatory framework for environmental protection in India,Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. April 25,2010<http://envfor.nic.in/>.

• “Environmental laws”. May 2, 2010< edugreen.teri.res.in/explore/laws.htm>.

••••• Eleventh Five Year Plan of India, Objectives of Current Five Year ...11thFive Year Plan of India (2007 - 2012). May 4, 2010< http//www.winentrance.com>.

• Uberoi, N.K. (2003). In: Environmental management, Published by ExcelBooks, New Delhi.

• Indian Environment Legislations. Ministry of Environment and Forests,Government of India.<http// envfor.nic.in/divisions>.

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• Strengthening Environmental Legislations in India, documented by centrefor Environmental Law, WWF.

• Environmental policy-making in India-The process and its pressure, TERIReport.

• kinkri Devi v. State of HP, AIR 1988 H.P. 4, 8

• Ministry of Environment and Forests ,Government of India, envfor.nic.in.

• The legal and regulatory framework for environmental protection in India,http://envfor.nic.in/.

• Indian Environmental Legislations, list from the MOEF web site.

• A.4 source http://www.unescap.org/drpad/vc/document/compendium/in1.htm.

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Environment and LawUNIT 4 ORIGIN OF ENVIRONMENTAL

LAW

Structure

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Objectives

4.3 History of Environmental Protection in Ancient India – An Overview

4.4 Arrival of the British and the Formation of Environmental Laws in India

4.5 Acts for the Protection of Indian Environment

4.6 International Efforts – U.N. Conference on Human Environment

4.7 Impact in India

4.8 Environmental Legislations

4.9 Fundamental Right to Live in a Healthy Environment

4.10 Summary



4.13 Glossary


4.1 INTRODUCTIONEvery word in English has a history – and Environmental law is no exception.In this section you will learn a good deal more about the historical perspectivesof environmental law; in addition you will make excursions into its origin anddevelopment. Environmental law is a body of law, which is a system of complexand interlocking statutes, law, treaties, conventions, regulations and policieswhich seek to protect the environment which may be affected, impacted orendangered by human activities. Some environmental laws regulate the quantityand nature of impacts of human activities: for example, setting allowable levelsof pollution or requiring permits for potentially harmful activities. Otherenvironmental laws are preventive in nature and seek to assess the possibleimpacts before the human activities can occur.

While many countries worldwide have since accumulated impressive sets ofenvironmental laws, their implementation has often been woeful. In recent years,environmental law has become been a critical means of promoting sustainable (or“sustainability”). Policy concepts such as the precautionary, public participation,environmental justice, and the polluter have informed many environmental lawreforms in this respect. There has been considerable experimentation in the searchfor more effective methods of environmental control beyond traditional“command-and-control” style regulation. Taxes, emission, voluntary standardssuch as ISO 14000 and negotiated agreements are some of these innovations.

The IUCN Academy of Environmental Law is a network of some 60 law schoolsworldwide that specialise in the research and teaching of environmental law.

In his book “Should trees have legal standing” Stone (1974:11) argues that natureshould count jurally – to have a legally recognised worth and dignity in its own

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right, and not merely to serve as a means to benefit “us”. He claims that for athing to be a holder of legal rights an authoritative body must review the actionsand processes of those who threaten it and three additional criteria should besatisfied. The thing can institute legal actions at its behest; second, that indetermining the granting of legal relief, the court must take injury to it intoaccount; and; third, that relief must run to the benefit of it. The problem with thisargument is that for nature to have legal standing it must have a lawyer; andwould therefore be dependent on the cultural values, wisdom and competence ofthe lawyer(s) chosen to represent it and those of the court of law with jurisdiction.Clayton (2000) claims that justice becomes more relevant in circumstances inwhich a desired response is scarce and in which there are citizens who ascribemoral significance and values to the environment. She goes on to state that sincemany resources are not renewable within reasonable time frames, this makespeople more aware of the ways in which those resources are distributed. Stone(1974:16) claims that in the past natural objects have had no standing in theirown right; their unique damages do not count in determining outcome; and theyare not the beneficiaries of awards, but are objects for man to conquer and masterand use.

Environment plays a pivotal role in human life as well as in the development ofsociety. With growing technological advancement and industrialisation, the purityof the environment has been threatened to an appalling extent. The need to protectand improve the environment is so compelling for the peaceful survival ofmankind and other life forms on planet Earth that right to environment hasemerged as a human right.

Over the last two decades, the Indian judiciary has fostered an extensive andinnovative approach to environmental rights in the country. Complex matters ofenvironmental management have been resolved and consequently a series ofinnovative procedural remedies have evolved to accompany this new substantiveright. The new environmental right is therefore championed as a legal gatewayto speedy and inexpensive legal remedy.

The notional expansion of right to life was recognised even in the absence of aspecific reference to direct violations of the fundamental right. Placed in a nutshell,the human right culture has percolated down to Indian human right regime withina short period of time. An interdisciplinary approach to environmental protectionmay be another reason for the operation of the right to healthy environment.This has been undertaken through international environmental treaties andconventions, national legislative measures and in judicial responses.

On undertaking a comprehensive study of environmental law, it can be foundthat the Indian scenario is replete with examples of preserving the environmentfrom degradation.


1) What do you mean by the term “Environmental Law?”

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Origin of EnvironmentalLaw4.2 OBJECTIVES

After reading this unit, you shall be able to:• explain the concept of Environmental Laws;

• describe its origin and prevalence in ancient India;

• discuss the formation of various Environmental Laws in India during Britishreign;

• environmental Legislations, International efforts and its impact in India; and

• history of Environmental Protection in Ancient India.

4.3 HISTORY OF ENVIRONMENTALPROTECTION IN ANCIENT INDIA – ANOVERVIEW

An appraisal of the historical background to environmental protection in Indiawould indicate that forests and wildlife were considered as vital ingredients ofthe global system. Here, the entire scheme of environmental preservation wasessentially duty-based. In this sense, the ancient Indian society accepted theprotection of the environment as its duty to do so.

Hindu Era

Opening up the Hindu mythology, the Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads and otherancient scriptures of the Hindu religion have given a detailed description oftrees, plants, wildlife and their importance to people. Yajnavalkya Smritiprohibited the cutting of trees by prescribing punishment for such acts. Kautalya’sArthashastra, written in the Mauryan period, realised the necessity of forestadministration and Ashoka’s 5th Pillar Edict expressed his view about the welfareof creatures in the State. Evidence from civilisations of Mohenjadaro and Harappahas further proved that the small population lived in consonance with theecosystem and their needs maintained harmony with the environment. Thus, theHindu society was conscious of the adverse environmental effects caused bydeforestation and extinction of animal species.

• The Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads and other ancient scriptures of the Hindu religion havegiven a detailed description of trees, plants, wildlife and their importance to people.

• The Mughal emperors, though were great lovers of nature and took delight in spending theirspare time in the lap of natural environment, made no attempts on forest conservation.

• Legislative measures were taken by the British Government for prevention of pollution and forconservation of natural resources.

• Some of the early efforts include the enactment of the Shore Nuisance (Bombay and Kolaba)Act of 1853 and the Oriental Gas Company Act of 1857. The Indian Penal Code, enacted in1860, imposed a fine on a person who voluntarily fouls the water of any public spring or reservoir.

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Mughal Era

In Islam, there is close harmony between man and nature. However, during themedieval period, the only contribution of Mughal emperors has been theestablishment of magnificent gardens, fruit orchards and green parks, which wereused as holiday resorts, palaces of retreat or temporary headquarters during thesummer season. The common opinion of environmentalists has been that theMughal emperors though were great lovers of nature and took delight in spendingtheir spare time in the lap of natural environment, made no attempts on forestconservation.

British EraThe British conquest in India brought about a plunder of natural resources coupledwith a complete indifference towards environmental protection. A general surveyof early environmental legislation reveals that apart from the forest laws,nineteenth century legislation also partially regulated two other aspects of Indianenvironment. Water pollution and wildlife. These laws, however, had a narrowpurpose and limited territorial reach.

Some of the early efforts include the enactment of the Shore Nuisance (Bombayand Kolaba) Act of 1853 and the Oriental Gas Company Act of 1857. The IndianPenal Code, enacted in 1860, imposed a fine on a person who voluntarily foulsthe water of any public spring or reservoir. In addition, the Code penalisednegligent acts with poisonous substances that endangered life or caused injuryand proscribed public nuisances. Laws aimed at controlling air pollution werethe Bengal Smoke Nuisance Act of 1905 and the Bombay Smoke Nuisance Actof 1912. In the field of wildlife protection, early legislation was limited to specificareas and particular species, thereby aiming at the conservation of biodiversity.

It is clear that legislative measures were taken by the British Government forprevention of pollution and for conservation of natural resources. Although criticspoint out that the British enacted these legislations, not with the object ofprotecting the environment but with the aim of earning revenue for themselves,it should be regarded as the first step towards the scientific conservation of naturalresources. Despite the fact that these measures were made with ulterior motives,British-enacted legislations have contributed significantly to the growth ofenvironmental jurisprudence in India.

The details of arrival of the British and the formation of Environmental Laws inIndia are discussed in chronological order below.

Self Assessemnt Question

2) Explain briefly environmental protection in ancient India?

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Origin of EnvironmentalLaw4.4 ARRIVAL OF THE BRITISH AND THE

FORMATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAWSIN INDIA

British arrived in India at 1600 with the mission of trading goods from India inthe form of East India Company.But,after seeing the immense amount of naturalresources and plunders of opportunity to exploit the resources present here, theychanged their game plan and started applying coercion so as to complete theiraim of exploiting natural resources in India. At the time when British arrived inIndia, India was divided into several princely states ruled by different rulers. Itwas quite an easy task for the British to establish itself gradually and astutely.They very cleverly implemented the policy of Divide and Rule in India and tookbenefit of the diversity as on the basis of different rulers as well as due tomultiplicity of religion in the country. The early days of British rule in Indiawere days of plunder of natural resources. They started exploiting the richresources present India by employing the policy of imperialism. By around 1860,Britain had emerged as the world leader in deforestation, devastation its ownwoods and the forests in Ireland, South Africa and northeastern United States todraw timber for shipbuilding, iron-smelting and farming. Upon occasion, thedestruction of forests was used by the British to symbolise political victory. Thus,the early nineteenth century, and following its defeat of the Marathas, the EastIndia Company razed to the ground teak plantation in Ratnagiri nurtured andgrown by the legendary Maratha Admiral Kanhoji Angre. There was a totalindifference to the needs of the forest conservancy. They caused a fierceonslaught on Indian Forests. The onslaught on the forests was primarily becauseof the increasing demand for military purposes, for British navy, for localconstruction (such as roads and railways), supply of teak and sandalwood forexport trade an extension of agriculture in order to supplement revenue.

The British government started control over forest in the year 1806 when acommission was appointed to enquire into the availability of teak in Malabarand Travancore by way of appointment of Conservator of Forest. This movedfailed to conserve forest as the appointed conservator plundered the forest wealthinstead of conserving it. Consequently, the post of conservator of forest wasabolished in the year 1823.

Their early treatment of the Indian forest also reinforces the claim that destructiveenergy of the British race all over the world was rapidly converting forest intodesert. Until the later decades of nineteenth century, the British Raj carried outan immense onslaught on the subcontinent’s forest. With the Oaks forest vanishingin England, a permanent supply of durable timber was required for the BritishNavy because the safety and defense of the British Empire depended primarilyon its navy. In the period of fierce competition between the colonial powers,Indian teak, the most durable of shipbuilding, saved British during a war withNapoleon and the later maritime expansion. To tap the likely sources supply,search parties were sent to teak forests of India’s west coast. Ships were built inthe dockyards in the Surat and the Malabar Coast, as well as in England byimporting teak from India.

The revenue orientation of colonial land policy also worked towards thedenudation of forests. As their removal added to the class of land assessed for

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revenue, forests were considered as an obstruction to agriculture and consequentlya bar to the prosperity of the British Empire. The dominant thrust of agrarianpolicy was to extend cultivation and the watchword of the time was to destroythe forest with this end in view.

This process greatly intensified in the early years of the building of the railwaysnetwork after about 1853. While great chunks of forests were destroyed to meetthe demand for railway sleepers, no supervision was exercised over the fellingoperation in which a large number of trees was felled and lay rotting on the road.The sub-Himalayan forests of Garhwal and Kumaon, for example were all felledin even to desolation and thousands of trees were felled which were neverremoved, nor was their removal possible.

As early as 1805, the British government requested the British East IndiaCompany, which already controlled large parts of the coastal regions, toinvestigate the feasibility of harvesting Malabar teak in Madras to meet the needsof British shipbuilding during the Napoleonic war. Although the East IndiaCompany was a private trading company commissioned in 1600, in India itfunctioned as a state entity, enjoying a monopoly of trade in the areas it ruled.Acting at the direction of the British parliament, it shared authority in India withgovernment officials. The company appointed a former police officer, CaptainWatson, as India’s first conservator of forests in 1806. Watson’s two-prongedplan involved placing a tax on teak in order to simultaneously slow its harvest byprivate interests and raise money for the government, and then purchasing theteak from the private dealers. Together, these measures would guard against over-exploitation and ensure a steady supply of teak.

On 3 August 1855, Lord Dalhousie, the governor general of India, reversedprevious laissez-faire policy to establish the India Forest Department and annexlarge areas of sparsely populated lands in India. These lands were declaredprotected areas and staffed by foresters, fireguards, rangers, and administrators.Over the next decades, forestry in India became an international profession withglobal specialists ruling an empire of trees and grasslands.

The new environmental policies served in turn to support British imperialism inIndia. Unlike the conservative French and English royal forests reserved forhunting by the privileged elite, or the later American concept of total protectionin national parks, the new colonial environmentalism was intended to generateincome for the imperial British state through strict control of India’s naturalresources. Lord Dalhousie’s new forest policies greatly expanded British authorityover the land and people of India, a colonial empire that the British had procuredpiecemeal over the course of several centuries of mercantile and militaryexploitation. Thus, environmentalism and imperialism have a shared past, andthe newly protected forests marked a symbiotic alliance of environmental concernwith expansion of state power in India.

After Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo in 1815, however, the navy had less need ofteak, and a new governor of Madras, Thomas Munro, felt that the timber royaltyunnecessarily raised the opposition of Indian princes who objected to the taxplaced on forests under their authority. Munro also felt pressure from Indianmerchants who objected strenuously to a tax that cut severely into their profitsand from peasants who saw traditional access to the forest sharply curtailed. Thenew governor rescinded the teak regulations, abolished Captain Watson’s position,and allowed the free market to operate as it had before Lord Dalhousie’s tenure

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Origin of EnvironmentalLaw

as governor-general from 1848 to 1856 saw the acquisition of territory andimplementation of administrative reforms for which posterity dubbed Dalhousie“the great Proconsul.” Dalhousie’s support for conservation was unapologeticallyimperialist. Upon reaching the capital at Calcutta for his inauguration in 1848,he proclaimed, “we are Lords Paramount of India, and our policy is to acquire asdirect a dominion over the territories in possession of the native princes, as wealready hold over the other half of India.” The British government in India madeit clear that “all the forests are the property of Government, and no generalpermission to cut timber therein will be granted to anyone”.

The second half of the 19th century marked the beginning of an organised forestmanagement in India with some administrative steps taken to conserve forest;the formulation of forest policy and the legislations to implement the policydecision. The systematic management of forest resources began with theappointment of the First Inspector General of Forest in 1964. Dietrich Brandiswas the first Inspector General of India. Lord Canning appointed Dietrich Brandisas the first inspector general of the India-wide Indian Forest Department, a posthe held from 1864 to 1883.The immediate task of the forest department wasunder the supervision of Inspector General was that of exploration of resources,demarcation of reserves, protection of the forest from fire and assessment of thegrowing stock in valuable reserve by sample enumeration and prescription ofyields which could be sustained. The objective of management of forest thuschanged from obtaining of timber for various purposes to protecting andimproving forests and treating them as a biological growing entity. Forestconservators had already been appointed in Bombay (1847), Madras (1856), andthe United Burma Provinces (1857); Brandis in turn appointed forest conservatorsto the Northwestern Provinces and Central Provinces in 1860, Oudh in 1861,Punjab in 1864, Coorg and Bengal in 1864, Assam in 1868, and Berar in 1868.By the end of 1868, the Forest Department had administrators in every provinceof the subcontinent. In 1871, the Forest Department was placed under the newlyestablished Department of Revenue and Agriculture, itself under the umbrellaof the Home Department. Brandis was followed by Wilhelm Schlich (1883-88),Berthold Ribbentrop (1888-1900), and E. P. Stebbings (1900-17).

The first step of the British Government to assess state monopoly right over theforest was the enactment the Forest Act, 1865. The act was revised after aboutthirteen years later in 1878 and extended to most of the territories under theBritish rule .It also expanded the powers of the state by providing for reservedforest, which were closed to the people and by empowering the forestadministration to impose penalties for any transgression of the provision of theAct. Yet the latter act was passed only after a prolonged and biter debate withinthe protagonist of the earlier debate put forth arguments strikingly similar tothose advanced by participants in the contemporary debate about the environmentof India.

Hurriedly drafted, the 1865 Act was passed to facilitate the acquisition of thoseforest areas that were earmarked for railway supplies. It merely sought to establishthe claims of the state to the forests in immediately required, subject to the provisothat existing rights would not be abridged. Almost immediately, the searchcommenced for a more stringent and inclusive piece of legislation. A preliminarydraft, prepared by Brandis in 1969, was circulated among the various presidencies.A conference of forest officers, convened in 1874, then went into defects of the1865 act and the details of the new one.

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UnderstandingEnvironment Self Assessment Question

3) Describe the position of Environmental Laws in India after the arrivalof the British or during British Era?

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The British Government declared its first Forest Policy by a resolution on the19th October 1884. The policy statement had the following objectives:

• Promoting the general well being of the people in the country;

• Preserving the climatic and physical conditions in the country; and

• Fulfilling the need of the people.

The policy also suggested a rough functional classification of forest into thefollowing four categories:

• Forests, the preservation of which was essential for climatic and physicalgrounds;

• Forests which offered a supply a valuable timber for commercial purposes;

• Minor forest which produced only the inferior sort of timber; and

• Pastures, which were forest only in name.


4) “The British Government declared its first Forest Policy by a resolutionon 19th Oct. 1884.” Enumerate the ‘Objectives’ of the Policy statement?.

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To implement the Forest policy of 1884, the Forest Act of 1927 was enacted. Till1935, the government of India enacted the Forest Act. In 1935, the BritishParliament through the Government of India created provincial legislature andthe subject of the forest as included in the provincial legislature list. Thereafter,several provinces made their own laws to regulate forest. Most of these lawswere within the framework laid down in the 1927 Act. The British all along theirreign in India formed many other Acts from time to time.

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Origin of EnvironmentalLaw1) The Shore Nuisance (Bombay 7) The Indian Easement Act,1882

and Kolaba) Act,1853

2) The Orient Gas Company 8) The Indian Fisheries Act,1897Act,1857

3) Indian Penal Code,1860 9) The Indian Ports Act,1908

4) The Serais Act,1867 10)The Indian Steam VesselsAct,1917

5) The North-India Canal 11)The Poison Act,1919and Drainage Act,1873

6) The Obstruction in Fairways 12)The Indian Forest Act,1927Act,1881

The Shore Nuisance (Bombay and Kolaba) Act, 1853

This is the earliest Act on the statue book concerning control of water pollutionin India. It was the first act in the field of Environment protection in India, whichwas enacted by the British for the British India. This act was passed so as toregulate the waste materials discharged in the coastal area of Bombay (NowMumbai) and Colaba area, from various industries functioning in these areas.

Oriental Gas Company Act, 1857

This law imposed restrictions on fouling of water by the Oriental Gas Company.The Oriental Gas Company provided fine of Rs. 1000, for fouling water and forthe subsequent continuation of the offence, Rs. 500 per day. Oriental GasCompany (OGC) Act was among the first act in the field of water pollution.

Indian Penal Code, 1860

As regards to water pollution, Indian Penal Code says that whoever voluntarilycorrupts or fouls the water of any public spring or reservoir, so as to make it lessfit for the purpose for which it is ordinarily used, shall be punished with simpleor rigorous imprisonment for a term exceeding to three months or fine of fivehundred rupees or both. The definition is confined to a voluntary act and actscommitted without any knowledge or accidentally would not be covered underthe present law. Moreover, it has limited operation to the water of public springor reservoir. Further, looking to the gravity of the offence it attracts only minorpunishment. It is surprising to know that in spite of the fact that this provisionwas incorporated to protect the public health, the cast ridden society wanted toenforce this provision against the lower cast person taking water from a publiccistern but the Bombay High Court did not allow the above interpretation (R vBhagi 2 Bom LR 1078) . Chapter 14th of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is forPublic Nuisance from Section 268 to 291.

The Serais Act, 1867

The Act enjoined upon a keeper of Serai or an inn to keep a certain quality ofwater fit for consumption by “persons and use of it by the animals” to thesatisfaction of the District Magistrate or his nominees. Failure for maintainingthe standard entailed a liability of rupees twenty. It is to be understood that theamount twenty rupees was a very big amount at that time and therefore shouldnot be compared to the value of twenty rupees prevailing now in the country.

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The North India Canal and Drainage Act, 1873

Certain offences have been listed under the Act contained in Section 70. It wasto regulate the way canals for the purpose of irrigation as well as to discharge theeffluents from various industries as well as drainage system are to be controlled.

Obstruction in Fairways Act, 1881

Section 8 of the Act empowered the Central Government to make Rules to regulateor prohibit the throwing of rubbish in any fairway leading to a port causing orlikely to give rise to a bank or shoal.

Indian Easements Act, 1882

It protected riparian owners against unreasonable pollution by upstream officer.Illustrations (f), (h) and (j) of Section 7 of the Act deal with pollution of waters.Section 28(d) of the Easement Act, 1882 on the one hand allowed a prescriptiveright to pollute the water but it was not an absolute right. The illustrations (f),(g), and (j) of this Section, limited this prescriptive right not to unreasonablypollute or cause material injury to other.

The Indian Fisheries Act, 1897

The Indian Fisheries Act, 1897 contains seven sections. This act penalised thekilling of fish by poisoning water and by using explosive. Section 5 of the Actprohibits destruction of fish by poisoning waters.

Indian Ports Act, 1908

The Indian Ports Act, 1908, has regulated water pollution caused by the use ofoil or discharging of oil in the port waters.

The Indian Forest Act, 1927

This act was very comprehensive and contained all the major provisions of theearlier act and amendments made thereto including those relating to the duty ontimber. The Act of 1927 also embodied land-using policy whereby the Britishcould acquire all forestland, village forest and other Common Property Resources.Section 26(i) of the Act makes it punishable if any person, who, in contraventionof the rules made by the State Government, poisons water of a forest area. TheState Government has been empowered under Section 32(f) to make rules relatingto poisoning of water in forests. This act is still in force, together with severalamendments made by the State Governments.

4.5 ACTS FOR THE PROTECTION OF THEINDIAN ENVIRONMENT

• The Orient Gas Company Act, 1857

• The Serais Act, 1857

• The Northern India Canal and Drainage Act, 1873

• The Obstruction in Airways Act, 1881

• The Indian Fisheries Act, 1897

• The Indian Ports Act, 1901

• The Bengal Smoke Nuisance Act, 1905

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• The Explosives Act, 1908

• The Bombay Smoke Nuisance Act, 1912

• The Inland Stream Vessel Act, 1917

• The Mysore Destructive Insects and Pests Act, 1917

• The Poison Act, 1919

• The Andhra Pradesh Agricultural, Pest and Diseases Act, 1919

• The Indian Boilers Act, 1923

• The Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923

• The Indian Forest Act, 1927

• The Motor Vehicles Act, 1939

• The Bihar Wastelands (Reclamation, Cultivation & Improvement) Act, 1946.

Air Pollution Acts

• Indian Penal Code,1860

• The Indian Boilers Act,1923

• Motor Vehicle Act,1939 (Repealed by Act No.59 of 1988)

• The Poison Act, 1919

Self Assessment Question5) What are the laws and policies available against Air Pollution?

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Municipality Laws• Uttar Pradesh Municipality Laws, 1916

• Bihar and Orissa Municipality Laws,1922

Both of these laws were amongst the earliest laws for regulating the environmentconditions in the cities by the help of municipality laws.

Wildlife Protection Act

• Forest Act of Madras 1873

• Elephant Preservation Act, 1879

• World Birds Protection Act, 1887

• World Birds and Animal Protection Act, 1912

• Hailey National Park Act,1936 (Now Called Corbett National Park)

In the field of wildlife protection, the first wildlife

Statute was enacted in Madras (Chennai) for the protection of wild elephants.The law introduced a general prohibition on destruction of wild elephants andimposed penalty on those who violated the embargo. The first effort by the Central

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Government came after six years later by the passing of the Elephant PreservationAct in 1879. In 1887, central government enacted the Wild Birds Protection Actprohibiting the possession or sale of wild birds recently killed or taken duringthe notified breeding season. In 1912, the Central Government enacted a broaderWild Life and Animal Protection Act. Extending to most of the British India,this law specified a closed hunting season and regulated the hunting of designatedspecies through licenses. Indeed, all the statutes related primarily to the regulationof hunting and did not regulate trade in wildlife and wildlife products — bothmajor factors in the decline of Indian Wildlife. As a consequence, wildlifedepredation continued and many species became extinct.

The first comprehensive law for the protection of wildlife and its habitat wasperhaps the Hailey National Park Act of 1936, which established the Hailey(now Corbett) National Park in Uttar Pradesh.

Miscellaneous

• The Indian Fisheries Act, 1897

• The Indian Forest Act, 1927

• Criminal Procedure Code, 1893

Criminal Procedure Code 1893

Criminal Procedure Code, 1893 was one of the major acts, which provided someof the very strict punishments for the environmental offences under the criminallaw. Sections 133 to 144 in the Chapter XII of the Criminal Procedure under theheading Public Nuisance provided for the punishment under criminal procedurefor the commission of any nuisance, which affected the public at large. Theenvironmental degradation was also included in it as any degradation of theenvironment is automatically supposed to be affecting the public at large.

4.6 INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS – U.N.CONFERENCE ON HUMAN ENVIRONMENT

“Economists see a world economy that has grown by leaps and bounds over thelast half-century, but ecologists see growth based on the burning of vast quantitiesof cheap fossil fuels, which is destabilising the climate.” - Lester R. Brown.

Rapid economic, scientific and technological advancements have shown massiverepercussions in the form of degradation of ecological balances. Due to largescale occurrence of environmental crises, the global community has expressedmajor concern over environmental protection and environmental development.Amidst some serious endeavours, significant developments took place in theinternational scenario.

United Nations Conference on Human Environment

In the backdrop of some sincere efforts of tackling pollution control, for the firsttime, the attention of the world was drawn towards environment in the UnitedNations Conference on Human Environment was held at Stockholm in June1972. The Declaration on Human Environment was passed containing twenty-six principles, with the main object of overcoming environmental problems relatedto the development of States and to provide clean and healthy living conditions.

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Origin of EnvironmentalLaw4.7 IMPACT IN INDIA

In the early years of Indian independence, there was no precise environmentalpolicy. Government tried to make attempts only from time to time as per thegrowing needs of the society. The period of 1970s witnessed a lot of changes inpolicies and attitudes of the Indian Government when its attitude changed fromenvironmental indifference to greater and subsequently, manifold steps were takento improve environmental conditions.

National Committee on Environmental Planning and Coordination: The year1972 marks a watershed in the history of environmental management in India.This is because prior to 1972, environmental concerns such as sewage disposal,sanitation and public health were dealt with by different federal ministries andeach pursued these objectives in the absence of a proper coordination system atthe federal or the intergovernmental level. When the twenty-fourth UN GeneralAssembly decided to convene a conference on the human environment in 1972,and requested a report from each member country on the state of environment, aCommittee on human environment under the chairmanship of Pitambar Pant,member of the Planning Commission, was set up to prepare India’s report. Withthe help of the reports, the impact of the population explosion on the naturalenvironment and the existing state of environmental problems were examined.

By early 1972, it had been realised that unless a national body was established tobring about greater coherence and coordination in environmental policies andprogrammes and to integrate environmental concerns, an important lacuna wouldremain in India’s planning process. Consequently, as a result of the major issueshighlighted by the reports, a National Committee on Environmental Planningand Coordination (NCEPC) was established in the Department of Science andTechnology.

The NCEPC is an apex advisory body in all matters relating to environmentalprotection and improvement. At its inception, the Committee consisted of fourteenmembers drawn from various disciplines concerning environmental management.Most of the non-official members were specialists. The Committee was to planand coordinate, but the responsibility for execution remained with variousministries and government agencies.


6) Briefly explain the significant developments that took place in theinternational scenario with regard to environmental problems and itsimpact in India?

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UnderstandingEnvironment 7) What is NCEPC? Explain its constitution and function?

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4.8 ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATIONS

As part of its campaign on green environment, Indian Parliament has enactednation wide comprehensive laws. One of the major environmental enactmentscame just two years after the Stockholm Conference in 1974. The Water(Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act was passed for the purpose of preventionand control of water pollution and for maintaining and restoring thewholesomeness of water. The Water Act represented India’s first attempt to dealwith an environmental issue from a legal perspective.

From this period onwards, the Central Government has been considered as highlyenvironmentally active. In 1976, the Constitution of India was amended to inserta separate fundamental duties chapter. The 1980s witnessed the creation of manyeco-specific organisations. In the year 1980, the Forest (Conservation) Act waspassed for the conservation of forests and to check on further deforestation. TheAir (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981 was enacted by invokingthe Central Government’s power under Art 253. The Air Act contained severaldistinguishing features. The preamble of the Air Act explicitly reveals that theAct represents an implementation of the decisions made at the StockholmConference. Also, a notification relating to Noise Pollution (Regulation andControl) Rules was made in the year 2000 with the objective of maintainingAmbient Air Quality Standards in respect of noise.

In the wake of the Bhopal gas tragedy, the Government of India enacted theEnvironment (Protection) Act, 1986. The laws that existed prior to the enactmentof EPA essentially focused on specific pollution (such as air and water). Theneed for a single authority which could assume the lead role for environmentalprotection was answered through the enactment of EPA. It is in the form of anumbrella legislation designed to provide a framework for Central Governmentto coordinate the activities of various central and state authorities establishedunder previous laws. It is also in the form of an enabling law, which delegateswide powers to the executive to enable bureaucrats to frame necessary rules andregulations.

Apart from this, several notifications and rules have also been made, some ofwhich include the Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules in 1989,the Biomedical Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules in 1998, RecycledPlastics (Manufacture and Usage) Rules 1999, Environment (Silting for IndustrialProjects) Rules 1999 and the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling)Rules in 2000.In addition to these eco-specific legislations, realising that there isno comprehensive legislation dealing with biodiversity in India, and to fulfill its

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international obligation under the Convention on Bio-Diversity, the Governmentof India has enacted the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

It is a paradox that despite the presence of such diverse laws, the pollution ratehas crossed the dead line. This is probably because of the reason that the law isso complicated and vague that even the expert may not know the intricacies of it.

4.9 FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO LIVE IN AHEALTHY ENVIRONMENT

Man’s paradise is on earth; this living world is the beloved place of all; ithas the blessings of Nature’s bounties: Live in a lovely spirit. –Atharva Veda(5.30.6)

The right to live in a clean and healthy environment is not a recent invention ofthe higher judiciary in India. The right has been recognised by the legal systemand the judiciary in particular for over a century or so. The only difference in theenjoyment of the right to live in a clean and healthy environment today is that ithas attained the status of a fundamental right the violation of which, theConstitution of India will not permit.

It was only from the late eighties and thereafter, various High Courts and theSupreme Court of India have designated this right as a fundamental right. Priorto this period people had enjoyed this right not as a constitutionally guaranteedfundamental right but as a right recognised and enforced by the courts underdifferent laws like Law of Torts, Indian Penal Code, Civil Procedure Code,Criminal Procedure Code etc. In today’s emerging jurisprudence, environmentalrights which encompass a group of collective rights are described as thirdgeneration rights.

Right to Environment - Derived from the Right to Life. Right to life, implies theright to live without the deleterious invasion of pollution, environmental pollution,environmental degradation and ecological imbalances. Everyone has the right tolife and a right standard of living adequate for health and well being of himselfand of his family. States should recognise everybody’s right to an adequatestandard and to continuous improvement of living conditions. Thus, inherentright to life shall be protected by law.

Principle 1 of the declaration of UN Conference on Human Environment, 1972proclaimed that man has the fundamental right to freedom, equality and adequateconditions of life in an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity andwell being. After this Stockholm Declaration, references to a right to decent,healthy and viable environment was incorporated in several Global and RegionalHuman Rights Treaties and in resolutions of International Organisations.

Right to Environment - As a Fundamental Right guaranteed in Indian ConstitutionEnvironmental values or rights may be constitutionalised either explicitly byamending the constitution or implicitly by interpreting the existing constitutionallanguage to include environmental protection. Immediately after the StockholmDeclaration, there was a growing trend in national legal systems to giveconstitutional status to environmental protection. India followed in the pursuitby amending the Constitution to include environment specific provisions in 1976.The birth of right to environment was the direct result of an inclusion theseadditional provisions.

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The Indian Supreme Court, being one of the most active judiciaries in the world,also created a landmark in the quest of international judicial activism bydeveloping the concept of right to healthy environment as a part of right to lifeunder Art 21 of our Constitution. Art 21 reads as follows:No person can be deprived of his life and personal liberty except according tothe procedure established by law.

Thus, in India, the higher judiciary has interpreted Art 21 to give it an expandedmeaning of including the right to a clean, safe and healthy environment. Classactions have been entertained by the Supreme Court under Art 32 of theConstitution as being part of public interest litigation actions. The High Courts,also being granted this jurisdiction under Art 226 have intervened by passingwrits, orders and directions in appropriate cases, thereby giving birth to anincomparable environmental jurisprudence in the form of the constitutional rightto healthy environment. A chronological analysis of the environmental missionof the courts has been undertaken in order to explicate the development of theideology of right to environment as being part of the right to life in the Indiancontext.

4.10 SUMMARY• In this unit, we discussed the meaning of Environmental Laws and learnt a

good deal about its Historical Perspectives. We saw how EnvironmentalLaw originated in India.

• We also made an appraisal of the historical background to environmentalprotection in ancient India, particularly in the context to Hindu Era, MughalEra and British Era.

• Further, we discussed at length arrival of the British and the formation ofEnvironmental Laws in India.

• We also discussed, some important Acts formed on Environmental Protectionalong the British reign in India and significant developments that took placein the international scenario including UN Conference.

• In addition we also made excursions into the Fundamental Right to Live inHealthy Environment.

4.11 TERMINAL QUESTIONS1) Discuss the meaning of Environmental Laws? Explain environmental

protection in ancient India?

2) Explain the origin of Environmental Laws?

3) Describe the position of Environmental Laws in India after the arrival ofBritish?

4) What are the laws and policy available against Air Pollution?

5) Briefly explain the significant development that took place in the internationalscenario with regard to environmental problems? What are their impacts inIndia?

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Origin of EnvironmentalLaw4.12 ANSWERS AND HINTS







6) Refer to Section 4.6 and 4.7


Terminal Questions

1) Environmental law is a body of law, which is a system of complex andinterlocking statutes, law, treaties, conventions, regulations and policieswhich seek to protect the environment which may be affected, impacted orendangered by human activities. Some environmental laws regulate thequantity and nature of impacts of human activities: for example, settingallowable levels of pollution or requiring permits for potentially harmfulactivities. Other environmental laws are preventive in nature and seek toassess the possible impacts before the human activities can occur.

While many countries worldwide have since accumulated impressive setsof environmental laws, their implementation has often been woeful. In recentyears, environmental law has become been a critical means of promotingsustainable (or “sustainability”). Policy concepts such as the precautionary,public participation, environmental justice, and the polluter have informedmany environmental law reforms in this respect. There has been considerableexperimentation in the search for more effective methods of environmentalcontrol beyond traditional “command-and-control” style regulation. Taxes,emission, voluntary standards such as ISO 14000 and negotiated agreementsare some of these innovations. Elaborate on Ancient Indian history.

2) Summarise the entire unit, giving examples mention about different phasesof evolution of understanding of environment issues.

3) The British conquest in India brought about a plunder of natural resourcescoupled with a complete indifference towards environmental protection. Ageneral survey of early environmental legislation reveals that apart from theforest laws, nineteenth century legislation also partially regulated two otheraspects of Indian environment. Water pollution and wildlife. These laws,however, had a narrow purpose and limited territorial reach.

Some of the early efforts include the enactment of the Shore Nuisance(Bombay and Kolaba) Act of 1853 and the Oriental Gas Company Act of1857. The Indian Penal Code, enacted in 1860, imposed a fine on a personwho voluntarily fouls the water of any public spring or reservoir. In addition,the Code penalised negligent acts with poisonous substances that endangeredlife or caused injury and proscribed public nuisances. Laws aimed at

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controlling air pollution were the Bengal Smoke Nuisance Act of 1905 andthe Bombay Smoke Nuisance Act of 1912. In the field of wildlife protection,early legislation was limited to specific areas and particular species, therebyaiming at the conservation of biodiversity.

It is clear that legislative measures were taken by the British Governmentfor prevention of pollution and for conservation of natural resources. Althoughcritics point out that the British enacted these legislations, not with the objectof protecting the environment but with the aim of earning revenue forthemselves, it should be regarded as the first step towards the scientificconservation of natural resources. Despite the fact that these measures weremade with ulterior motives, British-enacted legislations have contributedsignificantly to the growth of environmental jurisprudence in India.

4) Air pollution, one of the emerging areas through which environment wasexplained, write about the policies and coining of Air Pollution Laws.

5) Rapid economic, scientific and technological advancements have shownmassive repercussions in the form of degradation of ecological balances.Due to large scale occurrence of environmental crises, the global communityhas expressed major concern over environmental protection andenvironmental development. Amidst some serious endeavours, significantdevelopments took place in the international scenario.

United Nations Conference on Human EnvironmentIn the backdrop of some sincere efforts of tackling pollution control, for thefirst time, the attention of the world was drawn towards environment in theUnited Nations Conference on Human Environment was held at Stockholmin June 1972. The Declaration on Human Environment was passed containingtwenty-six principles, with the main object of overcoming environmentalproblems related to the development of States and to provide clean & healthyliving conditions.

4.13 GLOSSARYSustainability : To keep in existence.

Imperialism : The policy or practice of extending a state’s ruleover other.

Deforestation : The cutting down and removal of all or most ofthe trees in a forested area.

Laissez-faire : An economic doctrine that opposes governmentalregulation of or interference in commerce beyondthe minimum necessary for a free-enterprisesystem to operate according to its own economiclaws.

Protagonist : A person who backs a politician.

Statutes : A law enacted by a legislature.

Conventions : An agreement between states, sides, or militaryforces, especially an international agreement.

Treaties : A contract or agreement.

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Regulations : A principle, rule, or law designed to control orgovern conduct.

Writ : A written order issued by a court, commandingthe party to whom it is addressed to perform orcease performing a specified act.

Deleterious : Injurious

Repercussions : Consequences.

4.14 REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS• PARAS DIWAN- Environmental Administration Law and Judicial Attitude.

• H.N. TIWARI- Environmental Law.

• Environmental Law and Policy in India by Shyam Divan and Armin RosenCranz.

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