ASSIGNMENT 1 POST-GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND POLICY

(PGDELP) September 2014 -2015

Dear Participant, Assignments are part of continuous evaluation process. The main purpose of assignment is to test

your comprehension of the learning material you receive from us and also to help you understand

the course aspects. Participant must submit a total of six assignments, one for each theory Course.

The submission of assignments is compulsory. Assignment marks will contribute to your grades.

Participants will be allowed to appear in end-term exams only if they submit all the six

assignments.

Each course shall have one assignment and will carry 40% weightage while 60% weightage is given

to the term-end examinations. The soft copy assignment has to be submitted within a certain time

span (see time-line for details of submission dates). Soft copy assignments should be emailed to

Richa Tyagi at submissioncel@wwfindia.net. It is mandatory to submit the assignments as per

indicated dates, as late submission would lead to negative marking.

Your answers should be within the approximate range of the word-limit set for each question. You

will find that the questions in the assignments are analytical and descriptive so that you can better

understand and comprehend the concepts.

All the best!

Programme Coordinators WWF-India & NLU, Delhi

ASSIGNMENT I

COURSE 1 – INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENT & LAW

Last date of submission: Please see the time-line provided in the programme guide.

Total Marks: 40

Answer all questions in 1500 words each. Each question carries 10 marks. (4x10 = 40)

1. Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-2017): The Twelfth Plan Document, approved by the National

Development Council (NDC) on 27th December 2012, has the basic theme of “Faster, Sustainable, and more Inclusive Growth”, and lays out major targets, key challenges to meet them, and the broad strategy that may be followed to achieve the stated objectives. Ministry of Environment & Forests, India has been allocated an outlay of 17, 874 crore, which works out to 0.41% of the Plan allocation across various Ministries/ Departments as against a share of 0.42% or 8,545 crore in the Eleventh Plan. At current prices, the enhancement in this Ministry’s Twelfth Plan outlay over the Eleventh Plan outlay, however, works out to 109%.

Twelfth Plan has identified 13 Monitorable Socio-Economic targets for this Ministry, which have been taken up for regular monitoring of progress made by the Ministry. These targets are as follows:

Environment and Climate Change

(1) Assess and remediate 12 identified contaminated sites (hazardous chemicals and wastes) with potential for ground water contamination by 2017. (2) Clean 80 per cent of critically polluted stretches in rivers by 2017 and 100 per cent by 2020. (3) States to meet National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) in urban areas by 2017. (4) To reduce emission intensity of GDP in line with the target of 20 to 25 per cent reduction over 2005 levels by 2020.

Forests and Livelihood (1) Greening 5 million ha under Green India Mission including 1.5 m.ha. of degraded lands, afforestation and eco-restoration of 0.9 m.ha. of ecologically sensitive areas. (2) Technology-based monitoring of forest cover, biodiversity and growing stock including change-monitoring on periodical basis through dedicated satellite by 2017 and establishment of open web-based National Forestry & Environmental Information system for research and public accessibility by 2015. (3) Engagement of Village Green Guards/ Community Foresters for every Joint Forest Management (JFM) village by 2016. (4) Establish forestry seed bank in forest circles and Model Nursery in every district with information on public portal by 2014.

Wildlife, Ecotourism and Animal Welfare (1) Twenty per cent of veterinary professionals in the country will be trained in treating wildlife. (2) Integrated Ecotourism District Plans covering 10 per cent of all potential Protected Areas (PAs) by 2017. (3) Promoting participation of private sector, civil societies, NGOs and philanthropists in animal welfare.

Ecosystem and Biodiversity (1) Restore 0.1 mha. of wetlands/ inland lakes/ water bodies by 2017.

(2) Mapping and preparation of biodiversity management plans for deserts (both cold and arid), coastal areas, important coral zones, wetlands, mangroves and so on to be completed by 2017.

Besides, 14 Goals have also been identified in the Plan Document, which would receive focus and special attention, inter alia, through the Annual Plans of the Ministry. These 14 Goals are set out below:

Environment (1) Epidemiological studies to assess improvement in health status due to better management of environment and ecology. (2) Promotion and adoption of cleaner technology, strengthening and initiation of reforms in regulations, policy making and enforcement institutions for environmental governance. (3) Move towards cumulative and strategic EIA. (4) Ensure ecological flows in all rivers by regulating abstractions so as to allow conservation of riverine ecosystems through developing a legal framework and management strategy for conservation of river basins. (5) Promotion of recycling and reuse of treated sewage in urban projects such as sanitation, landscaping, central air conditioning and so on.

Forests and Livelihood (1) Improve forest productivity, production and sustainable management of biodiversity (equity in access to benefit sharing with local people). (2) Restore and intensify forest-rangelands/ grazing-land management and establish community grazing land around forest fringe villages. (3) Build capacity of Village Forest Committees/ JFMCs for management of forest resources including ecotourism. (4) Revive seed orchards and silviculture plots for various forest types of the country, as well as for enlisted species under Minor Forest Produce (MFP)/ Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP), including genetic improvement, and establishment, of clonal orchards.

Wildlife, Ecotourism and Animal Welfare (1) Reducing and managing human–wildlife conflict. (2) Commercialisation of permissible marine products rich in poly unsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), vitamins and so on. (3) Promotion of ecotourism and participatory eco-development support livelihood of local population.

Ecosystem and Biodiversity (1) Develop national targets and indicators related to biodiversity and support actions to strengthen implementation of Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and ensure bio-safety for economic and social development of local communities. (2) Assess coastal biodiversity resources, ensure sustainable management, restoration of mangroves, coral reefs and wetlands and support livelihood.

Based on the above information, discuss how clauses for environmental protection have been incorporated in various five year plans in India. (Trace the time-line by doing a detailed comparative analysis).

2. ‘Environment as an issue has never really been in the mainstream of the political discourse in developing countries. When did we last hear a political leader mention environmental issues in an election stump speech? This is unfortunate. Like for example many in India still consider environmental protection an elitist concern, and believe that the ‘bread and butter’ issues –

economic and social – are what the electorate really cares about. However, this is changing. ‘Lifestyle environmentalism’ is giving way to ‘livelihood environmentalism’. Issues such as air pollution in our cities, increasing pollution of our rivers, poor sewage and sanitation, water logging and declining water tables etc. are direct livelihood and survival issues that the electorate cares deeply about. In addition, the growing impact of climate change – in the form of changing monsoon patterns, unseasonal rains, increasing incidence of droughts and floods etc. – are changing the nature of the debate. All this is happening in a rapidly growing economy where the trade-offs with environmental protection are becoming starker. In fact, the last five years have seen a much higher profile of the so-called “environment vs. development” debate in India, which is welcome’. Review the current government’s position on environmental concerns, the various measures taken it for faster development and its impact on our environment and forests.

3. “At 11.00 PM on December 2 1984, while most of the one million residents of Bhopal slept, an operator at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) plant noticed a small leak of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and increasing pressure inside a storage tank. The vent-gas scrubber, a safety device designer to neutralize toxic discharge from the MIC system, had been turned off three weeks prior to the accident. Apparently a faulty valve had allowed one ton of water for cleaning internal pipes to mix with forty tons of MIC. A 30 ton refrigeration unit that normally served as a safety component to cool the MIC storage tank had been drained of its coolant for use in another part of the plant. Pressure and heat from the vigorous exothermic reaction in the tank continued to build. The gas flare safety system was out of action and had been for three months. At around 1.00 AM, December 3, loud rumbling reverberated around the plant as a safety valve gave way sending a plume of MIC gas into the early morning air. Within hours, the streets of Bhopal were littered with human corpses and the carcasses of buffaloes, cows, dogs and birds. An estimated 3,800 people died immediately, mostly in the poor slum colony adjacent to the Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) plant. Local hospitals were soon overwhelmed with the injured, a crisis further compounded by a lack of knowledge of exactly what gas was involved and what its effects were. It became one of the worst chemical disasters in history and the name Bhopal became synonymous with industrial catastrophe.

The events in Bhopal revealed that expanding industrialization in developing countries without concurrent evolution in safety regulations could have catastrophic consequences. The disaster demonstrated that seemingly local problems of industrial hazards and toxic contamination are often tied to global market dynamics. UCC's Sevin production plant was built in Madhya Pradesh not to avoid environmental regulations in the U.S. but to exploit the large and growing Indian pesticide market. However the manner in which the project was executed suggests the existence of a double standard for multinational corporations operating in developing countries”. Present a brief personal analysis on Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Why are developing countries mostly privy to such environmental crisis?

4. ‘Our dependence on nature is so great that we cannot continue to live without protecting the Earth’s environmental resources. Most traditional societies have learned that respecting nature is vital in protecting their own livelihoods’. The Dongria Kondh tribe of Niyamgiri in the hill state of Orissa won a case in the Supreme Court of India where they challenged the setting up of a bauxite mine in the Niyamgiri mountains, considered sacred for the community. The Supreme Court in its judgment in 2013 allowed for an environmental referendum and called for a public hearing of all

Gram Sabhas in the Niyamgiri hills. Eleven Gram Sabhas unanimously refused the setting up of the industry and got back their right to worship the Niyamgiri Hills. Explain by referring to other such traditional practices practiced by communities around the world and how well have they been integrated into the present environmental laws and policies.