Co-Operative Planning for Climate Change Disasters

WCDM-DRR Award 2022 for disaster management and risk reduction

O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) has been honoured with the World Congress on Disaster Management – Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDM-DRR) Award 2022 for its significant contribution in the field of disaster management and disaster risk reduction. The awards were presented by G. Kishan Reddy, Union minister of tourism, culture and development of north-eastern region of India. Increasing risk of disasters and persistent adverse impact of disasters on the lives, livelihoods, economy and environment have posed serious threats to sustainable development.

C. Raj Kumar, founding vice-chancellor of O.P. Jindal Global University and professor said, “JGU’s efforts towards disaster management and sustainable development have resulted in the prestigious DRR award. The award showcases our commitment to creating a world based on sustainable development and having graduates who are sensitised to the most pressing challenges that the world faces today, including such key concerns as climate change. The award speaks volumes about this young university’s endeavours towards a healthier and safer environment by implementing the ‘sustainable development goals’. JGU released a first-of-its-kind implementing the Sustainable Development Goals: Role of Universities and Civil Society in Protecting the Environment Report, mapping its compliance towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations. Setting a global benchmark, JGU has become one of the first universities to fully commit to and implement the SDGs on its campus, despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Speaking on the recognition, Dabiru Sridhar Patnaik, professor and registrar of JGU said, “India is among the most vulnerable countries with respect to climate change, according to the Global Climate Risk Index Report 2021. In recent years, disasters have become frequent across the country. The world is facing one of the worst pandemics in a hundred years, and given the severe impact on economic and social development, it is imperative to build resilience to disasters through teaching, research, and capacity building. Therefore, at JGU, we are also offering courses on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in complex security environments; environmental hazards and disaster resilience.”

Research on climate change impacts on refugees and biodiversity

The Centre for Environmental Law and Climate Change (CELCC) has the vision to educate, equip and raise awareness about environmental legal issues, including justice considerations. It focuses on research on contemporary legal challenges involving the environment and climate change and aims to advocate for environmental protection, conservation, preservation and regeneration. Further, it seeks to enhance law and policy consciousness through collaborative actions involving students, the community and faculty through discussion, exchange of ideas, collaborative learning and research. 

CELCC aims to promote theme-based research, learning and dissemination on current challenges and understanding of the same within environmental, natural resources and climate justice laws in existence and attempts to address the gaps within law and policy.

The following themes remain the focus;

• Environmental justice issues within the Asian region. This includes areas such as recognition of legal personhood for nature with a comparative view, challenges within enacted laws with respect to traditional forest dwellers, resettlement and rehabilitation after land acquisition by state;
• Climate change impacts: status of refugees both transnational and intra-state; climate change litigation and impacts; unrecognised heroes of environmental and climate change impact events within India;
• Biodiversity protection, Wildlife Protection laws, Illegal trafficking of endangered species; exclusionary conservation issues; human -animal conflict;
• Mining related environmental justice challenges and related issues within states and Union Territories and impact on forest and natural resources governance and management;
• Environment protection and pollution control laws, especially citing of waste incineration plants.

Preparing future legal professionals to tackle climate change challenges

WWF-India and O.P. Jindal Global University (Jindal Global Law School) have jointly launched India’s first LL.M. Programme in Environmental Law, Energy and Climate Change. With a more ecologically and socially conscious milieu; it is essential to minimize the adverse impacts of pollution and ecological degradation through proper environmental management and international cooperation. This can be done by not just raising awareness of environmental values but also strengthening the delivery capacity of environmental professionals so that they are well equipped to face the challenges in their stream of work.

Environment is defined in the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 as that which ‘includes water, air and land and the inter-relationship which exists amongst and between water, air and land and human beings, other living creatures, plants, micro-organisms and property.’ Environmental Law, thus, encompasses a wide spectrum of different forms of ‘life’ and its inter-play with the natural conditions and surroundings. It has within its purview control and correction of environmental pollution. Environmental pollution, negative fallout of rapid industrialization, urbanization, and now globalization, is sought to be protected in a proactive manner through preventive measures and in case of damage to be compensated through remedial measures. The journey through ages diluted the reverential aspect of the environment and brought in gradual exploitation of nature that became more pervasive and systematic, especially, in the aftermath of the industrial revolution and the new nuclear age of the 21st Century. It is during this phase that humanity transitioned from living in a small world on a large planet to inhabiting a large world on a small planet.

In order to tackle and find conservation recourse, one must strengthen the human resource pool by creating efficient environmental lawyers. In this context, Centre for Environmental Law (CEL), WWF-India in collaboration with Centre for Post Graduate Legal Studies (CGPLS), O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) proposes to launch an Academic Programme titled ‘L.L.M. in Environmental Law, Energy and Climate Change’. The Programme covers numerous important subjects such as analyzing alternate energy solutions, available technical knowledge in the field of environment, energy and climate change and how innovations in the field are best implemented. It expands on the role and impact of domestic and international adjudicatory mechanisms on environment, energy and climate change with special reference to a critical examination and assessment of the functioning of the national environmental courts and tribunals. L.L.M. in Environmental Law, Energy and Climate Change is the first of its kind to be taught in India