Unit 6: Environmental Policies

 India is the first country in the world to have made provisions for the
protection and conservation of environment in its constitution
 On 5th June 1972, environment was first discussed as an item of international
agenda in the U.N. Conference of Human Environment in Stockholm and
thereafter 5th June is celebrated all over the world as World
Environment Day
 Soon after the Stockholm Conference our country took substantive legislative
steps for environmental protection. The Wildlife (Protection) Act was passed
in 1972, followed by the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act
1974, the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, Air (Prevention and Control of
Pollution) Act, 1981 and subsequently the Environment (Protection) Act,
1986

Constitutional Provisions
The provisions for environmental protection in the constitution were made within
four years of Stockholm Conference, in 1976, though the 42nd amendment as
follows:

Article-48-A of the constitution provides:

“The state shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to
safeguard forest and wildlife of the country.”

Article 51-A (g) Provides:

“It shall be duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural
environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion
for living creatures.”
1. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1974 and
Amendment, 1988

• The main objective of this act is to provide prevention and control of water
pollution and maintaining or restoring of wholesomeness and purity of water (in
the streams or wells or on land).
• The Act vests regulatory authority in State Pollution Control Boards and
empowers these Boards to establish and enforce effluent standards for factories
discharging pollutants into water bodies.
• A Central Pollution Control Board performs the same functions for Union
Territories and formulates policies and coordinates activities of different State
Boards.
• The State Pollution Control Boards control sewage and industrial effluent
discharges by approving, rejecting or impose conditions while granting consent
to discharge.

2. The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981

• The main objectives of this Act are to improve the quality of air and to prevent,
control and abate air pollution in the country.
• Under the Air Act, all industries operating within designated air pollution
control areas must obtain a “consent” (permit) from the State Boards.
• The states are required to prescribe emission standards for industry and
automobiles after consulting the central board and noting its ambient air quality
standards.
3. The Environment (Protection) Act of 1986:

• In the wake of the Bhopal tragedy, the Government of India enacted the
Environment (Protection) Act of 1986.
• In this Act, main emphasis is given to “Environment”, defined to include water,
air and land and the inter-relationships which exist among water, air and land and
human beings and other living creatures, plants, micro-organisms and property
• The Environment (Protection) Act 1986 contains significant innovations for its
enforcement, not contained in any other pollution control legislation at the time
of the Act’s adoption. Section (19) provides that any person, in addition to
authorized government officials, may file a complaint with a court alleging an
offence under the Act. This “Citizens’ Suit” provision requires that the person
has to give notice of not less than 60 days of the alleged offence of pollution to
the Central Government or the competent authority.
• Under the Act, the Central Government may, by notification in the office
Gazette, make rules for the enforcement of the Act.

4. The Wild Life (Protection) Act of 1972 and Amendment, 1982

• The Wild Life Act provides for state wildlife advisory boards, regulations for
hunting wild animals and birds, establishment of sanctuaries and national parks,
regulations for trade in wild animals, animal products and trophies, and judicially
imposed penalties for violating the Act.
• An amendment to the Act in 1982, introduced a provision permitting the capture
and transportation of wild animals for the scientific management of animal
population.
• Indian government has also started some conservation projects for individual
endangered species like Hangul (1970), Lion (1972), Tiger (1973), Crocodiles
(1974), Brown-antlered Deer (1981) and Elephant (1991-92) Ganges Dolphin
(1997).

5. The Forest (Conservation) Act of 1980

• First Forest Act was enacted in 1927. This is one of the many surviving colonial
legislations. It was enacted to consolidate the law related to forest, the transit of
forest produce and the duty liveable on timber and other forest produce.
• Subsequently, the Forest (Conservation) Act was promulgated in 1980 to make
certain reforms over the preceding Act of 1927. The 1927 Act deals with the 4
categories of the forests, namely reserved forests, village forests, protected forests
and private forests.
• A state may declare forest lands or waste lands as reserved forest and may sell
the produce from these forests.
• The preservation of protected forests is enforced through rules, licenses and
criminal prosecutions. Forest officers and their staff administer the Forest Act.

6. Biological Diversity Act, 2002

 The act was enacted in 2002, it aims at the conservation of biological

resources, managing its sustainable use and enabling fair and equitable
sharing benefits arising out of the use and knowledge of biological
resources with the local communities.

 The Act prohibits the following activities without the prior approval from
the National Biodiversity Authority:
o Any person or organisation (either based in India or not) obtaining any
biological resource occurring in India for its research or commercial
utilisation.
 o The transfer of the results of any research relating to any biological
resources occurring in, or obtained from, India.
o The claim of any intellectual property rights on any invention based
on the research made on the biological resources obtained from India.
 The act envisaged a three-tier structure to regulate the access to biological
resources:
I. The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA)
II. The State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs)
III. The Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) (at local level)
 The Act provides these authorities with special funds and a separate budget in
order to carry out any research project dealing with the biological natural
resources of the country.
o It shall supervise any use of biological resources and the sustainable
use of them and shall take control over the financial investments and
their return and dispose of those capitals as correct.
 Under this act, the Central Government in consultation with the NBA:
o Shall notify threatened species and prohibit or regulate their
collection, rehabilitation and conservation
o Designate institutions as repositories for different categories of
biological resources
 The act stipulates all offences under it as cognizable and non-bailable.
 Any grievances related to the determination of benefit sharing or order of the
National Biodiversity Authority or a State Biodiversity Board under this Act,
shall be taken to the to the National Green Tribunal (NGT). National
Green Tribunal (NGT)
Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management &
Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016
 In order to strengthen the implementation of environmentally sound
management of hazardous waste in the country, the Ministry of Environment,
Forest and Climate Change has amended the Hazardous and Other Wastes
(Management & Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016.
 Salient features of the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management &
Transboundary Movement) Amendment Rules, 2019 are as follows:

 Solid plastic waste has been prohibited from import into the
country including in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and by Export Oriented
Units (EOU).

 Exporters of silk waste have now been given exemption from requiring
permission from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

 Electrical and electronic assemblies and components manufactured in and

exported from India, if found defective can now be imported back into the
country, within a year of export, without obtaining permission from the
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

 Industries which do not require consent under Water (Prevention and Control
of Pollution) Act 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act
1981, are now exempted from requiring authorization also under the
Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management & Transboundary Movement)
Rules, 2016, provided that hazardous and other wastes generated by such
industries are handed over to the authorized actual users, waste collectors or
disposal facilities.
Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016
 Definition: Biomedical waste is defined as human and animal anatomical
waste, treatment apparatus like needles, syringes and other materials
used in health care facilities in the process of treatment and research.
 Objective: The objective of the rules is to properly manage the per day bio-
medical waste from Healthcare Facilities (HCFs) across the country.

 Bio-medical waste has been classified into 4 categories instead of 10 to

improve the segregation of waste at source.
 Phase-out the use of chlorinated plastic bags, gloves, and blood bags within
two years.
 The ambit of the rules has been expanded to include vaccination camps, blood
donation camps, surgical camps, or any other healthcare activity.
 Pre-treatment of the laboratory waste, microbiological waste, blood samples,
and blood bags through disinfection or sterilization on-site in the manner as
prescribed by WHO or NACO.
 State Government to provide land for setting up common bio-medical waste
treatment and disposal facilities.
 No occupier shall establish an on-site treatment and disposal facility if a
service of `common bio-medical waste treatment facility is available at a
distance of seventy-five kilometre.
 The new rules prescribe more stringent standards for an incinerator to reduce
the emission of pollutants in the environment;
 Inclusion of emissions limits for Dioxin and furans
 Establish a Bar-Code System for bags or containers containing bio-medical
waste for disposal.
 Provide training to all its health care workers and immunize all health workers
regularly.
Solid Waste Management Rules 2016

 These rules replace the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling)
Rules, 2000, are now applicable beyond municipal areas and have included
urban agglomerations, census towns, notified industrial townships etc.

 They focus on segregation of waste at source, responsibility on the

manufacturer to dispose of sanitary and packaging wastes, user fees for
collection, disposal and processing from the bulk generator.

 It has also been advised that the bio-degradable waste should be processed,
treated and disposed of through composting or bio-methanation within the
premises as far as possible and the residual waste shall be given to the waste
collectors or agency as directed by the local authority.

 The rules promote the use of compost, conversion of waste into energy,
revision of parameters for landfills location and capacity.

 The government has also constituted a Central Monitoring Committee under

the chairmanship of Secretary, MoEF&CC to monitor the overall
implementation of the rules.

 The Rules for the Safe Treatment of Legacy Waste prescribe bio-remediation
and bio-mining in all open dumpsites and existing operational dumpsites in
India.
 Climate Change
 Climate is the long-term average of a region’s weather events
 The Earth’s climate is not static. Over the billions of years of earth’s existence,
it has changed many times in response to natural causes like sun spot, ice age
glaciations, etc.
 “Climate change” means a change of climate which is attributed directly or
indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global
atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed
over comparable time periods
 However, when today people talk about ‘climate change’, they mean the
changes in climate over the last 100 years which is caused predominantly by
human activity
 The phrase ‘climate change’ represents a change in the long-term weather
patterns. Climate change is not a change of weather in a particular day; it is
the cumulative change of long term weather pattern i.e. changes in climate
 For example, it’s possible that a winter day in Jammu, could be sunny and
mild, but the average weather, the climate, tells us that Jammu’s winters will
mainly be cold and include snow and rain. The change in the pattern of
Jammu’s winters from the normal winter pattern represents an epitome of
climate change

Global Warming
 “Global warming is an average increase in the temperature of the atmosphere
near the Earth’s surface and in the troposphere, which can contribute to
changes in global climate patterns
 Earth has warmed at an unprecedented rate over the last hundred years and
particularly over the last two decades
 Since 1992, each year has been one of the warmest years on record. 2016 was
the hottest year on record, worldwide
 An upsurge in the amount of extreme weather events, such as wildfires, heat
waves, and strong tropical storms, is also attributed

 Global warming can occur from a variety of causes, both natural and human
induced
 In common usage, “global warming” often refers to the warming that can
occur as a result of increased emissions of greenhouse gases from human
activities.

Impacts of Global Warming

Rise in Sea level
Changes in rainfall patterns.
Increased likelihood of extreme events such as heat wave, flooding, hurricanes,
etc.
Melting of the ice caps.
Melting of glaciers.
Widespread vanishing of animal populations due to habitat loss.
Spread of disease
Bleaching of Coral Reefs.
Loss of Plankton due to warming of seas.

GREENHOUSE EFFECT
 The greenhouse effect is a naturally occurring phenomenon that blankets the
earth lower atmosphere and warms it, maintaining the temperature suitable for
living things to survive
 Just as greenhouses, that keeps the air warm inside its chamber, water vapour
and greenhouse gases warms the Earth
 Greenhouse gases play an important role in the balance of Earth’s cooling and
warming

GREEN HOUSE GASES

Greenhouse gases means those gaseous constituents of the atmosphere, both
natural and anthropogenic, that absorbs and re-emit infrared radiation.

1. Water vapour
 Water vapour is the biggest overall contributor to the greenhouse effect and
humans are not directly responsible for emitting this gas in quantities
sufficient to change its concentration in the atmosphere.
 However, CO2 and other greenhouse gases is increasing the amount of water
vapour in the air by boosting the rate of evaporation.

2. Carbon dioxide (CO2)

 It is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities.
 Carbon dioxide is naturally present in the atmosphere as part of the Earth’s
carbon cycle (the natural circulation of carbon among the atmosphere, oceans,
soil, plants, and animals).
 Human activities are altering the carbon cycle both by adding more CO2 to
the atmosphere and by reducing the natural sinks, like deforestation, to remove
CO2 from the atmosphere.
Main sources

i. The combustion of fossil fuels to generate electricity.

ii. The combustion of fossil fuels such as gasoline and diesel used for
transportation.
iii. Many industrial processes emit CO2 through fossil fuel combustion.

KYOTO PROTOCOL: COP-3

 It is an international treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
 Kyoto Protocol applies to 6 greenhouse gases; carbon dioxide, methane,
nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride
 It is an extension to the 1992 UNFCCC
 It was adopted in Kyoto, Japan on 11 December 1997 and came into force
on 16 February 2005
 The Official meeting of all countries associated with the Kyoto Protocol is
called the Conference of Parties (COP)
 India was exempted from legally binding commitments on greenhouse gas
emissions
 Our country emphasized on the differentiation between developed and
developing nations concerning the burden of responsibility for climate action
 India successfully defended its obligation on socio-economic development
while concurrently forcing developed countries of the Annex I category to take
more responsibilities on curtailing greenhouse gas emissions
 Canada, Andorra, United States of America, and South Sudan are not
parties of the Kyoto Protocol
 In short, the Kyoto Protocol is what “operationalizes” the Convention. It
commits industrialized countries to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions based
on the principles of the Convention.
 The major distinction between the Protocol and the Convention is that while
the Convention encouraged industrialized countries to stabilize GHG
emissions, the Protocol commits them to do so.