ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

 Dr. Chandreshwari Minhas

 IN OUR TRAGEIC TIMES, THE
ENVIRONMENT/ ENVIRONMENTAL
HUMAN FUTURE FACES THE LAW
 CRISIS OF SURVIVAL, WHAT
WITH THE PROFIT-
MOTIVATED MAYHEM
INFLICTED ON NATURE
WITH NONE TO LISTEN TO
THE ENVIRONMENTALIST
MAYDAY TO SAVE THE
BIOSPHERE - Justice V.R.
Krishna Iyer, “Environmental
Tribunal”.
Read the following Questions?
What Does the term Environment mean to You?
What is the importance of Environment?
What is Pollution/Environmental Pollution?
Name some of the major Environmental Pollutants?
Why do we need Environmental Laws? What do they
accomplish?
Do you think that Environment can only be protected
by enacting laws?
Introduction
 Environment has emerged as a major area of
worldwide concern in recent years.
Humanity today faces the greatest crisis in the
history of human civilisation.
Environmental problems have reached to such a
level, that it is generally believed that we are
heading towards an ecological and social disaster
on a planetary scale within next hundred years.
Introduction Cont…..
The earth came into existence about 5000 million years ago
and our earliest ancestors set foot on it only about 10 million
years ago and we human beings have lived on this earth for a
mere 35,000 years.
In the process, both nature and human being have changed.
However, this has been a slow process. But, in the last 500
years or so, we have exploited nature so ruthlessly, as to
create conditions for its irreversible impoverishment in the
course of this century itself.
Such is the sum total of mighty achievements
of the most advanced among the natures
creations, the human beings.
Introduction Cont………….
As mankind enters the third millennium, global
environmental concerns have risen to the fore. No aspect
of human society can be isolated from the environment.
Indeed the very survival of the life of planet is linked
with the question of environment protection.
Human actions have resulted in the widespread loss of
natural habitats, fragmentation of the remaining
habitats, poisoning of many areas, displacement of
uniquely adapted species by exotics, and in general the
gross disruption of the numerous intricate natural
processes which govern the evolution of species...
Introduction Cont……..Some Facts relating to
the Environment:
In India, about 1, 36, 000 species have been listed, but there
are probably at least 3 or 4 times that many that are not yet
recorded.
At least on five previous occasions most of life on earth
wiped out and each time the reason appears to have been
some kind of environmental change to which the existing
species could not adjust. The most famous of all extinction
was end of Triassic extinction 66 million years ago when
Dinosaurs disappeared after ruling the earth for nearly 140
million years. It’s believed that Dinosaurs could not adapt to
the change in the earth temperature brought about when a
meteorite collided with our planet.
Some Facts Cont……..
80 percent of world’s population depend substantially on
plant and animal based medicines;
In many communities, over 40 per cent of food comes
from the wild;
Plants from the tropics are worth between $ 5 billion to
$47 billion, annually to the global pharmaceuticals
industry (one Indian plant alone, sarpagandha (Rauwolfia
serpentine), is the base for $260 million worth trade in
hypertension and schizophrenia drugs;
The forest of the tropics, in particular the Amazon, help
regulate the earth’s climate...
Cont…..
It’s estimated that if everyone in this world has a living
standard as high as that in the U.S., resources of even
two planets would not be even enough to sustain that
level of living.
INTERDISCIPLINARY NATURE OF
ENVIRONMENT
The study of environment is interdisciplinary as it
involves the study of complex relationship existing in
our environment between people, animals, other
organisms, trees, air, plants, water, air, ocean etc. etc.
In order to understand the basic complexities of our
natural world and the human impacts on its integrity,
we need inputs from biology, botany, zoology, physics,
chemistry, geology, meteorology, engineering, history,
economics, sociology, health or medical science,
anthropology, philosophy etc.
 Environment Studies, thus, not
only includes the study of
Cont…….. environmental science in so far as
it is necessary to understand the
physical, chemical and biological
characteristics of the
environment, but also includes
the social and cultural factors and
the impact of man on the
environment.
However, the study of
environmental science here shall,
however, be at a level which is
understandable by a non-scientist.
Cont………
The basic principle of
environmental studies
lies in the fact that
everything in this world
is interconnected.
Human interventions to
check one set of nature is
liable to cause another
effect, which must be
pre-assessed to avoid
messy situations.
Meaning of Environment Cont……
The term environment has been derived from

the term ‘environ’ which means to ‘surround’,

French term ‘environner’, Latin ‘environ’. Thus,
etymologically environment means
‘surrounding conditions and circumstances
affecting people’s life.
ENVIRONMENT:MEANING
The term natural environment is commonly
referred to as “environment", is used to denote
everything that surrounds us.

It, therefore, includes the living things like all

types of animals (including humans) and plants, as
well as the non-living things (i.e., everything other
than the living organisms) including the three
basic elements of nature, land, water and air.
Cont…..
Environment thus
includes all types of life
as well as the non-
living things like air,
water, mountains,
oceans etc.
Living world is usually
called the “biotic
world”, while the non-
living things are
referred to as “abiotic
world”
Cont…
The Oxford Advanced
Learner’s Dictionary,
defines “environment” as
the natural world in which
people, animals and
plants live. Oxford
Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary, 511 (2006).
Environment Meaning/Definition Cont…..
“The field of law dealing with the maintenance and
protection of the environment, including preventive
measures such as the requirements of environmental
impact statements, as well as measures to assign
liability and provide cleanup for incidents that harm
the environment. Because most environmental
litigation involves disputes with governmental
agencies, environmental law is heavily intertwined with
administrative law.” Black’s Law Dictionary Definition.
Some Specific Definitions of Environment
are as following:
Surroundings in which an organisation
operates, including air, water, land, natural
resources, flora, fauna, humans and their
interrelation -Stuart Bell and Donald
McGillivray, Environmental Law.
Definition (Environment) Cont……..
[T]he combination of elements whose complex

interrelationships make up the settings, the

surroundings and conditions of life of the
individual and the society, as they are or as they
are felt- A. Gilpin, Dictionary of
Environmental and Sustainable Development.
Definition (Environment) Cont……..
Environment in its generic comprises of air, water,
land and the things embedded in the land - N.
Maheshwara Swamy, Law Relating to Environmental
Pollution and Protection.
Definition (Environment) Cont…
Environment is the sum of all external factors,
both biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living), to
which an organisation is exposed and biotic factors
include influence by the members of the same and
other species on the development and survival of
the individual. Primary abiotic factors are light,
temperature, water, atmospheric gases and
ionizing radiations influencing the form and
function of individual - Reeti Choudhary and
Naveen Malik, “Environment”, Competition
Wizard.
Definition (Environment) Cont…
Environment also includes:“The entire
range of external influence acting on an
organism, both the physical and biological,
i.e., other organisms, forces of nature
surrounding an individual” - Encyclopedia
Britannica.
Definition (Environment) Cont…
Another accepted definition is: [T]he environment
refers to our surroundings. It’s often understood to
include not only land, air and water but also the built
environment and the condition of the local
neighbourhood. The environment can, for others,
mean something more specific and refers to
conservation of natural habitats and ecology - Susan
Wolf and Neil Stanley, Environmental Law.
Definition (Environment) Cont…
According to Justice P.N. Bhagwati: “The term
environment refers to the conditions within and
around an organism, which affect the behaviour,
growth and development or life processes, directly or
indirectly. It includes the conditions with which the
organism interacts”- P.N. Bhagwati.
Definition (Environment) Cont…
“Environment includes air, water and land and the
interrelationship which exist between air, water and
land and human beings, other living creatures, plants,
micro-organisms and property”- The Environment
(Protection) Act, 1986, Section 2(e).
Environment Meaning:
There is no single agreed upon definition of
“environmental law.” The term is a catch-all
to describe a very wide range of laws and
actions—ranging from regulating polluters,
to protecting species and habitat, to applying
for a building permit. People who practice
“environmental law” work in many different
areas and will inevitably define it differently.
Meaning of Environment Cont……
The definition of ‘the environment is a central, but problematic, term in
environmental law. It’s generally considered to be a phrase that has no
singular definition because it’s a relational concept. It normal relates to
‘surroundings’, but that is obviously a concept that is relative to
whatever is the object that is surrounded. Used in that sense,
environmental law might include virtually anything;
In the context of environmental law, however, ‘the environment’ can be
given a rather more specific meaning and may be treated as covering
the physical surroundings that are common to all of us, including air,
space, water, land, plants and wildlife. Thus, the environment is defined
by reference to physical, non-human, environmental media, including
land, water, air, flora, fauna and so on. In this context environment is
given some specific scientific significance.
Cont………
In order to define the environment, we must know the
subject to which it relates... Social and cultural
influences also play a part in defining environment:
someone living in a mining town may consider large
slag heaps part of their environment; a city dweller
may think about parks, open spaces and buildings; a
country dweller may consider the environment to be
stone walls, ploughed fields and woodland.
Why we need Environmental Laws?
To regulate activities that are harmful to the
environment.
To require clean-up of pollution at the
expense of the polluter.
To protect natural resources and critters.
To ensure that environmental factors are
considered before undertaking an action.
To regulate land use and growth.
Important Environmental Legislations:

The water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act,

1974
The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act,
1981
Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
The (Wildlife Protection) Act, 1972
The National Green Tribunal Act, 2010.
Do Environmental Laws Needs
Reconsideration/Do Changes in Existing Green
Laws Required:
The HLC, headed by former cabinet
secretary TSR Subramanian, had come out
with 55 recommendations while suggesting
changes in the existing laws.
It was set up by the government in August,
2014 to get suggestions to bring changes in
green laws to make it sync with the Centre's
economic growth agenda without damaging
the environment. 
Cont….
The HLC had reviewed Environment Protection Act (1986),
Forest Conservation Act (1980), Wildlife Protection Act
(1972), Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act
(1974), Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act (1981)
and Indian Forest Act (1927).

Its recommendations include making a new 'umbrella law'

(Environment Laws Management Act) to enable creation of
new institutions at both the Centre and state levels as
processing, clearance and monitoring agencies.
Cont….
 Though the government was still in the process of
examining those recommendations through inter-
ministerial consultations, environmentalists and
experts had come out with their pointed objections
while making submission before the parliamentary
panel. The panel, headed by Congress Rajya Sabha MP
Ashwani Kumar, had submitted its report. It noted
that the civil societies and experts raised strong
objection even to the composition of the HLC,
highlighting that none of its members had any
expertise in the field of environment and wildlife. 
THANK YOU