{"id":1218,"date":"2019-03-27T09:45:14","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T09:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/?p=1218"},"modified":"2019-11-07T07:24:16","modified_gmt":"2019-11-07T07:24:16","slug":"environment-needs-justice-jgu-and-wwf-india-comes-together-for-conference-on-laws-to-protect-the-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/2019\/03\/27\/environment-needs-justice-jgu-and-wwf-india-comes-together-for-conference-on-laws-to-protect-the-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"Environment Needs Justice; JGU and WWF-India Comes Together for Conference on Laws to Protect the Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New\nDelhi, 27th<\/sup> March 2019: <\/strong>With global\nwarming taking its toll, pollution levels reaching a terrifying level and\ninfrastructural development of city life harming the nature and ecosystem at\nlength, its high time to save the environment for human\u2019s own good. But to\nachieve that, the foremost necessity is to sensitize and educate the society\nabout the causes and effects of environmental damage and climate change due to\nit. Only then it would be possible to combat the threats and come up with\nsolutions through environmental law and justice. And this is what Jindal Global University (JGU)<\/strong> attempted\nas they hosted a conference on Adapting\nEnvironmental Laws for Effective Climate Response <\/strong>today, in association\nwith World Wildlife Fund India<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day-long conference discussed the\nthreats faced by the environment and climate and their consequences, the role\nof law to get things straight and achieve environmental justice as well as the\nsteps that need to be mandated to reach that point. The sessions graced by\neminent Judges and academic people perfectly set the context and elaborated on\nthe situation that needs to be changed on priority basis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his welcome address, Ravi Singh, Secretary General & Chief\nExecutive Officer, WWF-India<\/strong> explained the role of law in creating a\nhealthy and clean environment around and thereby preventing the abrupt changes\nin climate. \u201cThe abrupt changes in climate these days are alarming. These\nchanges and protection of environment comes under the purview of law and\npolicies. Aiming to create awareness about this and its implications, Green Law\nlecture was initiated in 1998 to promote environmental law. Now law\ninstitutions and global law schools are taking this ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moulika\nArabhi, Advisor, Centre for Environmental Law, WWF India<\/strong> feels, \u201cLaw and policies of the country need to be stringent to\ncombat climate change and its adverse effects. Economic development,\ndecentralized Government mechanisms and judiciary collaboration need to go hand\nin hand to deal with climate change issues and adaptation to them through\npolicies implementation. Environment law courses and conferences like this\nprovide the necessary understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Hon\u2019ble Justice Swatanter Kumar, Former Chair Person, National Green\nTribunal and Former Judge, Supreme Court of India<\/strong>, \u201cWe want to imagine\nDelhi has good air, clean water, no carbon emission, no\ntraffic mess and that children don\u2019t have to wear masks anymore. Because one of\nthe best known principle is, you give earth to your next generation, if not\nbetter, then in its existing good condition. At the current state, we need to\nwork out to protect our environment. Expansion of article 21 says, right to live\nimplies right to a clean environment. Depreciation and disruption of\nenvironment is not seen, but felt. Hence, there should be sensitization of\neverybody regarding this. Because without the consciousness, environmental\njustice and its implementation can\u2019t be achieved.\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He further pinpointed that, \u201cOur sense\nof development work, constructions and infrastructure building implies\ndeforestation, carbon emission, reducing glaciers and ship sinking and that\u2019s a\nscary tale. But no one contributes in battling them as everyone expects others\nwill do it. And if we don\u2019t fulfil the basic conditions, saving the environment\nwould be a tough task. Climate change is a direct consequence of human\nactivities. For example, 75000 hectares of waste is created every day in the\ncity that contributes in pollution, a mountain gets wiped of greens to set up a\nhotel. And precisely, these are the things that lead to abrupt climatic\nchanges. Increase of temperature for example will lead to further problems\nonly. So to change the picture not only judges and law practitioners have to be\nsensitized, but there should an overall consciousness. Matters like carbon\nneutrality and carbon footprints should be taken into consideration as people\nneeds to understand the gravity of the problem by balancing the advantages and\ndisadvantages. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this scenario, focus is needed on\ncore issues to find solutions that won\u2019t create another problem to be solved by\nsomeone else. But this kind of conferences and courses are still the rays of\nhope- that there is time to right our wrongs, to make a difference though time\nis short.\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her speech, Dr. Sejal Worah, Programme Director, WWF-India<\/strong> pointed out how\nIndia is becoming worse hit by the unusual climatic disorders and the\nconsequent impact on GDP. \u201cWe can see how the climate is changing every day and\nif this continues, it will have a huge impact in biodiversity. We thus need to\nsecure our future and that of the coming generations. Moreover, this scenario\nis leading to higher costs incurred to adapt to the sudden changes. Who is\ngoing to pay for them?\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Hon\u2019ble Justice Michael D. Wilson, Judge of\nSupreme Court of Hawaii, USA <\/strong>cites example of the climate refugees to\nexplain how the issue of environment protection is still awaiting solution.\n\u201c160 million Bangladeshis have become climate refugees and had to evacuate\ntheir own home-ground. Schools stay shut in Delhi in times of extreme\npollution. Tigers face threats of deforestation and climate changes. These are\nfew examples of the situation. To change it, carbon neutrality, energy\nconservation and environment protection need to be mandated.\u201d He says. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hon\u2019ble Justice Sabrina McKenna, Judges of Supreme Court of Hawaii,\nUSA <\/strong><\/em>too brings up case studies to explain\nthe alarming scenario. But she sounds hopeful saying, \u201cGreen tribunal has been\na milestone in environmental justice. People can now sue for a clean and happy\nenvironment. When people are aware, active and act together and laws are there\ntoo, combating climate changes will be easier. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor\nDabiru Sridhar Patnaik, Proctor, JGU, and Director, Centre for Post Graduate\nLegal Studies, Jindal Global Law School<\/strong> concluded\nthe conference saying, \u201cThe most important part is that, we all know we need to\nsave the environment. But the question that remains is, how to do it. We need\nto find solutions collectively. Environment is a common and public good, that\nneeds to be saved.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through-out the day, there were also\nthematic sessions discussing legal and policy measures to promote energy\nefficiency and renewable resources and the methods to strengthen adaptation and\nresilience to climate change. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Delhi, 27th March 2019: With global warming taking its toll, pollution levels reaching a terrifying level and infrastructural development of city life harming the nature and ecosystem at length, its high time to save the environment for human\u2019s own good. But to achieve that, the foremost necessity is to Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsroom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1218"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1219,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1218\/revisions\/1219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}