Climate Justice in India-Contemporary Legal and Regulatory Position
摘要
A series of climatic extremities and disasters such as melting of the Arctic Sea ice cover, droughts in the Amazon basin and East Africa have marked this century. Within India, we are witness to heat waves and their effect on crop yields and torrential rains and flooding. India, which is home to one-sixth of the world’s population is witness to this climate change. Greater legislative activity was witnessed after the “Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm—1972”. The “Bhopal Gas Tragedy” in 1984 led to the enactment of “The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986” in India. The “United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC)—1992” established the umbrella architecture for protecting future and present generations of humankind from anthropogenic changes in the ecosystem. More recently, in the “Conference of Parties (COP-26)—the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) held in Glasgow, United Kingdom—2021”, India has also conveyed its commitment. Many detailed and lengthy rules have been passed in recent times related to “Environment and Climate Change Laws and Regulations” but enforcement remains a question mark. This study is an early stage analysis of current trends in the “Environment and Climate Change Laws and Regulations” in India. Mixed method research, integrating primary and secondary data have been used. The chapter incorporates analysis of judgments in the areas of “Environment and Climate Change Laws and Regulations” in the Supreme Court over the last 75 years in India as well as a public opinion survey of legal professionals of India. The objective of this research is to highlight crucial issues in “Environment and Climate Change Laws and Regulations” thereby, identifying factors that come in the way such as poor knowledge of laws and slow speed of courts.