This article is written by Aditi Khandelwal, an advocate practising at Rajasthan High Court.

“Together we can!: Putting sustainability into practice”.

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Introduction

Our environment is the most precious and beautiful jewel to survive, on this planet “EARTH”.  We human beings often forget that we are largely dependent on Mother Nature and become ignorant towards taking care of it. The environment is the only thing that can make life sustainable. Without it, we cannot survive even a single day. For instance, our skin will burn, the lungs will get ruptured, our blood pressure would rise.

“If the Earth were our savings account, we would be on the brink of bankruptcy.”

World Environment Day is celebrated on 5th June every year. People from more than 100 countries come forward to celebrate this day. The world environment day is run by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) since the year 1974. A healthy planet depends on all of us.

“The main ideology behind celebrating this day is to spread awareness about the conservation of our environment at utmost levels”.

Centuries of irreparable loss caused

The forest cover all over the world is being consumed rapidly on an ever increasing pace. Trees are cut down for paper, fuel and to expand farming areas, the land is used for development of industries and factories. The land left behind is deprived not only of trees, but the plants, animals and insects that lived in that particular ecosystem. Such steps of deforestation further aggravates the ecosystem imbalance as there are no plant roots to hold the soil in its place, the valuable soil washes away with rainfall leading to excessive soil erosion.  The forest cover plays an important role in regulating global climatic changes, the trees helps in removing the carbon dioxide, one of the major greenhouse gas from the atmosphere, while at the same time the trees cycles oxygen back into the atmosphere. However, it is important to understand that when trees are cut down the carbon dioxide is released again in the atmosphere. It is very sad to know it has been estimated that almost 25% of the total carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere every year is released from the trees being cut and burned. Thus, saving and protecting the world’s forests is very essential for solving the global climate change problem.

In the recent past we have all witnessed that our mother Earth has suffered a lot with the major cause being Global Warming. Global Warming has become the root cause to ruin and destroy our environment at a very fast pace.  It is pertinent to address the environment issues like deforestation, acid rains, wastage and losses of food, pollution etc. Therefore, it is our duty to protect our environment and to stop all the exploitation that is destroying it. Because in the end, it is our basic need for our survival and our generations ahead. Indeed it has been rightly said, “The earth is all what we have in common”.

As a new pandemic i.e. Coronavirus sweeps the planet, leaving suffering, loss, and uncertainty in its wake, we are reminded that this is not the first global pandemic and likely not the last. We need to respond on many levels, to act collectively to end the global health crisis. Our long-term response must include our stewardship of each other and our relationship with the earth. It is chilling to think that only a quarter of this planet remains intact for the other species which inhabit it. Amidst the lockdown and the Covid-19, the environment made us all realise that the series of sufferings and problems which we have made our environment suffer from so many years showed an impact in many ways. There were innumerous climatic problems faced all over the country, the Typhoon cyclone which had severely affected the West Bengal and Odissha region, the locusts attack all over the country which had destroyed nearly 20,000 acres of agricultural produce and many other such instances. 

It’s clear that we need to address this trend, both for the sake of the non-human world and our own. The Covid-19 lockdown imposed throughout the world has struck a chord in every one of us and it has made us thinking, how nature is so important for our day to day living. In the present days of quarantine, photographs have been making the rounds of the Internet which throws light towards the global changes that our environment underwent during the lockdown including the improvement in the air quality index all over the globe, dolphins spotted near Kolkata ghats, the number of Flamingos increased in Mumbai, Ganga water has become fit for drinking in Haridwar and various other miraculous environment changes have happened during the global lockdown. Indeed our first reaction is to applaud these appearances as a sign of nature coming back. The tangible improvements in nature have made us believe that the Earth can be saved. However, I suspect that our wild counterparts have long been there, unseen on the fringes, searching for a place in the territory that they have lost. We all have witnessed that from year to year there has been tremendous increase in the global warming, yet for once lets pause and ask ourselves were we actually aware of it or did we continue to contribute to the degradation of our environment in all these times. If the answer is yes, then I strongly believe that we should and we must start making out contributions to save and replenish the nature in all possible ways we can. Perhaps the only difference now is that the world has become still enough to pay attention.

The mass recovery of ecosystems can also reestablish the life-supporting functions that they provide, including clean air to breathe, unpolluted water and healthy soils, dense forests without hazardous gases and dust. It is very beautiful and interesting to know that out mother nature has its own sufficient system to replenish itself, but with all the hindrances which the human society has from time to time caused has led to such environmental degradation leading to never ending environmental problems being faced all over the world. The temporary reduction of greenhouse gas emissions has shown us that it is possible to take the necessary steps to live differently, with more intent, to achieve a better quality of life. The lockdown has proved to be an opportunity to return to equilibrium for the planet. Thus, post lockdown it shall be a better world to live in with each one of us having a better vision to save and protect our nature.

NGT: The Law relating to Environment

The Indian Government and the judiciary together felt the need for setting up of special environmental courts which shall be completely dedicated to environment related issues and disputes arising thereto. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) was therefore set up in the year 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act (2010) for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources. NGT is equipped with the necessary expertise to handle multi-disciplinary environmental disputes including enforcement of any legal right relating to the environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. India is the first developing country in the world to set up a specialized environmental tribunal, only after Australia and New Zealand. Presently, the NGT has five places of sittings, New Delhi is the Principal place of sitting and Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai are the other four.

NGT covers issues related to:

The NGT deals with civil cases under the seven laws related to the environment, these include:

The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974,

The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977,

The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980,

The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981,

The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986,

The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991, and

The Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

Role of NGT in saving the Environment

Over the years NGT has emerged as a critical player in environmental regulation, passing strict orders on issues ranging from pollution to deforestation to waste management. NGT offers a path for the evolution of environmental jurisprudence by setting up an alternative dispute resolution mechanism. NGT is less formal, less expensive, and a faster way of resolving environment related disputes. It plays a crucial role in curbing environment-damaging activities. The NGT has been instrumental in ensuring that the Environment Impact Assessment process is strictly observed.

Key Highlights of NGT

Ban on old vehicles

On April 7, 2015, the NGT had passed and order that all the diesel based vehicles which are 10 years old will be not permitted to ply in the Delhi- NCR region.

Ganga breathing back

The NGT in 2017 had passed directions to rejuvenate the Ganga, declaring a stretch of 100 meters from the edge of the Haridwar- Unnao region as a “no development zone” and also restricting and prohibited waste from being dumped within a range of 500 meters.

Yamuna Revitalization Project

The NGT in early 2015, passed directions in order to rejuvenate the Yamuna river, the Tribunal had imposed a fine of Rs. 5000, on any person who will be found throwing waste or religious items in the river and the Tribunal had also imposed a strict ban on dumping of construction material into the river and had further imposed a fine of Rs. 50,000 on violators. National Green Tribunal (NGT) also ordered that every household in Delhi will have to pay a monthly environmental compensation to clean up Yamuna River.

Say no to Plastic

The NGT, imposed a ban on plastic bags of less than 50-micron thickness in Delhi because “they were causing animal deaths, clogging sewers and harming the environment”, this was later implemented by other states also.

Silence at Amarnath

The NGT Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir as a “silence zone”, and prohibited religious offerings beyond the entry point.

The Art of Living’s World Culture Festival verdict

The green tribunal, held the Art of Living Foundation “responsible” for the damage caused by the World Culture Festival to the Yamuna floodplains in 2016. The order stated that the Rs 5-crore fine paid by the organization will be used for restoration work by the Delhi Development Authority.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) banned mining or removal of sand from river beds across the country without license and Environmental Clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. 

The NGT is working and pronouncing its judgment brilliantly on the cases related to environmental issues and challenges. The government should make it more autonomous and efficient in a view to the growing concern regarding the environment and climate change. 

Conclusion

At last, quoting the words from Franklin D. Roosevelt, “A nation that destroys its soil, destroys itself.” Let us all come forward together on this Environment Day and make our contributions to save our soil to save our nation.

On the individual aspect I strongly believe that it’s the alarming time for all of us to focus and take steps to save our environment from its degradation before things are beyond our control and situation worsens. Nature’s gifts are rare and cannot be purchased from money.

It is important that each one of us wake up before it’s too late. Don’t smoke in the public places or dump garbage in the open area. These small beginnings will certainly lead to a better place for survival. Let’s make together efforts to make a this planet sustainable so that our future generations are not deprived of these resources and the beauty of our nature and have a chance to enjoy by making a judicial use of the same without wasting these precious resources.

Wishing you all a very Happy Environment Day! “Each one plant as many as you can” should be the 2020 Environment Day’s mantra. Live life more sustainably by being in sync with nature. A life lived consciously is a life best lived! At last but not the least let’s wake in India to make in India. 

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