Environmental law and policy An introduction

Introduction
Some basic questions to be answered
What makes one set of institutions better than another? How, if at all, might we move from the less desirable set of institutions to more desirable set?

The inter-relation of questions

Legal questions to be asked about economic institutions Social, legal and economic questions to be asked about political institutions

Finally to arrive at designing and redesigning, shaping and re-shaping the social, political and economic institutions of contemporary society

What is the problem?

Writings of repulse
Rachel Carsons SILENT SPRING (1962) The Report of Club of Rome LIMITS OF GROWTH (1972)

No other literature could match up the impact created by the above mentioned works For environmental crises industry simply did not impress the public media (Aaron Wildavsky, 1995)

Potentiality v actuality
Two ways of behavior
People pollute (x) People do not pollute (y) (y) is more costly than (x) [in terms of time and resources]

My act and its impact upon the environment in terms of (x) or (y) is hardly noticeable

propo You sition P Throw all your garbage away Q Bring the garbage to collection point Throw all your garbage away Bring the garbage to collection point

Others (in community) Bring the garbage to the collection point Throw all the garbage away Throw al the garbage away Bring the garbage to collection point

Impact (upon the environment) Environment will be clean and green Environment will be polluted Environment will be polluted Environment will be clean and green

India the economy

2nd largest in population (7th largest in size) One of the biggest economy in purchasing power parity Significant parallel economy Economy still dominated by agriculture (1/3rd of national income and 2/3rd of labour force) Indias performance in poverty reduction has been weak as compared with some of the East Asian countries (GOI, 1999)

The political system

Pluralistic democracy organized interest groups compete for power through elections parliamentary form of government federal structure with unitary features highly stratified society by case, class, language, religion and region (which will tell upon economy) tilt in balance of power new issues taking predominance

economy and environment

policy impacting negatively upon environment
State sponsored heavy-industry based industrialization Subsidized water, energy and other resources Chemical dependant agricultural growth etc.,

rapid urbanization and mega-cities [NOTE: purpose of this discussion not to second guess the growth strategy but to place current environmental problems in a historical perspectives]

society and environment

poverty

population

gender

caste

 poverty, high-fertility rates and environmental degradation feed upon one another [Dasgupta & Maler examination of poverty environment nexus] Not only environmental degradation worsen poverty among the rural poor but poverty itself can also be a cause of environmental degradation Rural poverty has significant impact upon urban environmental problem (since it triggers for rural urban migration)

gender/economy and environment

Women are malnourished, receive inferior schooling etc., Majority of working women are in agricultural sector
They do harvesting, seed selection, sowing, storage and other processes (that go long way in conserving environment and ecological diversity)

In terms of overall farm production women contribute on an average 55% to 66% of the total work

EMPLOYMENT BY SECTOR AND GENDER Sl. No. Sector Female Male

01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. 11.

Owner/sharecropper Landless workers Animal husbandry, fishing, forestry Mining, quarrying Cottage industry Other industry Construction Trade & commerce Transport Other services Total

34.6% 44.2% 2.1% 0.3% 3.5% 3.8% 0.7% 2.2% 0.3% 8.3% 100%

39.9% 20.8% 2.1% 0.7% 2.1% 8.8% 2.3% 9.0% 3.5% 10.8% 100%

Source: Census of India, 1991

Womens contribution in agriculture

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 shifting cultivation

women men

Settled Cultivation

Source: Fernandes. R, & Gita Menon, 1987, Tribal Women & Forest Economy, Indian Social Institute, New Delhi.

Who collects water for households

men

women <15

women >51

women 36-50

women 15-35

cast, economy and environment

Broader varna scheme
Brahmins (priests) Kshatriyas (Warriors) Vaishyas (Merchants) Shudras (Cultivators)

The dalits (untouchables) were considered to be beyond the pale of hindu society From caste focus has shifted to the smaller but more tangible unit viz sub-caste the jati

Indian environmental setting

BROWN ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES GREEN ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Arising from industrialization, urbanization such as pollution and solid waste management etc.,

Natural resource based problems such as deforestation, land degradation, bio-diversity loss etc.,

Urbanization, sanitation and waste management By 2011 about 430 million people (37%) will be living in towns (making India as worlds largest urban population) Quality of urban environment has deteriorated substantially Rural urban migration absence of restrictions on labour mobility in India it is difficult to curb migration to cities (permits in China can be taken as good example)

Urbanization/urban population
2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 urban population

beginning of century 1951 1991 2011

Air pollution
The National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)
levels of air quality necessary with an adequate margin of safety to protect public health, vegetation and property (CPCB, 1995) This the bench mark against which air pollution is to be measured

6 of 10 largest cities in India (Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi, Ahmedbad, Kanpur and Nagpur) have annual average levels of PM at least three times as high as WHO standards

Water pollution
Surface water
14 major rivers account for 85% of the total surface flow Quality is being monitored at 480+ stations under the Monitoring of Indian National Aquatic Resources (MINARS) programme of CPCB Global Environmental Monitoring Systems Programme (GEMSP) Ganga Action Plan (GAP)

Quality is checked against

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) Dissolved Oxygen (DO) Total Chloroform Count (TCC)

Three major causes for water pollution

Sewage Industrial effluents and Agricultural runoff

Industrial Waste Water Discharge to Costal Waters (million liters daily)

2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 Gujrat maharastra goa karnataka kerala tamilnadu pondicherry andrapradesh 566 80 12 43 151 378 6 2446 1 Gujrat

orissa pondicherry kerala goa

Gujrat maharastra goa karnataka kerala tamilnadu pondicherry andrapradesh orissa WB

 60% of deaths in urban areas in India during 1987 were due to water related diseases such as cholera, dysentery and gastroenteritis (WB report) About 30.5 million Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) are lost each year (WB, 1993)
DALYs are a way of combining mortality and morbidity measures into single measures of health impacts; DALYs are combination of ; Discounted and weighted years o life lost has a result of death at a given age; and Disability as a result of morbidity, adjusted by severity;

Annual Health Incidence and Health Costs Due to Ambient Air Pollution (Exceeding WHO Guidelines in 36 Indian Cities (1991-92 data)
Physical Impact
Premature deaths Hospital admissions and sickness etc., requiring medical treatment Minor Sickness (including restricted activity days and respiratory symptom days)

40,351 19,800

Cost of Valuation ($ million) 170-1,615 25-50 517-2,102

TOTAL

Natural resource based environmental issues

Forests are shrinking
Agriculture Irrigation and Power projects etc.,

Indias total forest cover is 63.34 ha. Or 19% of the total geographic area of the country (against 33% recommended by the National Forest Policy, 1988) Dense forest (crown density more than 40%) and open forest (crown density 10-40%) occupy about 11% to 8% of total geographic area

 Bio-diversity loss
To unscientific strategies Diversion of land for various other activities

Land degradation Costal and marine resource degradation

Thanks very much

Questions Clarifications Suggestions for improvement