Econ 460 Lecture Notes Part One 10 3

Indira Gandhi
National Open University MLE-021

School of Law
Introduction to
Environment
Block
1
UNDERSTANDING ENVIRONMENT
UNIT 1
What is Environment? 5
UNIT 2
Nature and Ecosystem 32
UNIT 3
Environment and Law 54
UNIT 4
Origin of Environmental Law 73
Expert Committee
Prof. N.R. Madhava Menon Dr. R.D. Jakati
Chairman, Former Director Director
National Judicial Academy Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy
Bhopal Member,
Dr. Vinod B. Mathur
Commission on Centre-
Dean, Wildlife Institute of India
States Relations, New Delhi
Mr. Samir Sinha
Prof. B.B. Pande Former
Head, Traffic – India
Professor of Criminology
Delhi University Mr. Raj Panjwani
Senior Advocate, Supreme Court
Justice Madan B. Lokur Chief
Justice, Guwahati High Court, WWF-IGNOU EC Members:
Guwahati
Mr. VN Rajasekharan Pillai
Dr. Luther Rangreji Vice-Chancellor, IGNOU
Senior Legal Officer
Legal & Treaties Division Mr. Ravi Singh
Ministry of External Affairs SG & CEO, WWF-India
Prof. Venkata Rao Prof. Srikrishna Deva Rao

Vice-Chancellor Former Director (2nd May, 2007 to 1st
National Law School Bangalore, May 2010), School of Law, IGNOU
Karnataka Ms. Mansi Sharma
Asst. Prof., School of Law, IGNOU
Dr. K. Vijaya Lakshmi
Assistant Vice President Ms. Moulika Arabhi
(Environment), Development Programme Coordinator, Centre for
Alternatives Environmental Law, WWF-India
Block Preparation Team

Programme Coordinator : Ms. Mansi Sharma, School of Law, IGNOU
Ms. Moulika Arabhi, Centre for Environmental Law, WWF
Unit Writers : Kaustubh Verma, CEL, WWF– India (Unit 1 & 2)
Ms. Gurmeet Kaur, IGNOU (Unit 3)
Ms. Priyanka Singh, CEL, WWF-India (Unit 4)
Content Editor : Ms. Moulika Arabhi, CEL, WWF-India

Language Editor : Ms. Mansi Sharma
Format Editor : Ms. Mansi Sharma
Material Production
Mr. Yashpal Cover Design Word Processing
Section Officer (Publication) Mr. Tamal Basu Mr. Yougesh Dawar
IGNOU, New Delhi
September, 2010
© Indira Gandhi Naitonal Open University, CEL, WWF-India, 2010
ISBN-978-81-266-4843-6
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MLE-021 INTRODUCTION TO
ENVIRONMENT
“For strengthening the professional and educational support base for
environmental law and policy”
One of the principle features of School of Law, IGNOU and Centre for
Environmental Law, WWF-India’s educational activities is the Post Graduate
Diploma Programme in Environmental Law. Jointly being launched in 2010, the
Diploma is the first such comprehensive programme for enviro-legal education
catering to India and International students and professionals. Special emphasis
is on conservation and environmental issues, which lie at the core of all
environmental law, the study of which enables participants to determine the
effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the respective law.
MLE-021– Introduction to Environment

We welcome you to start your journey by understanding ‘What is Environment’.
Before you dwell into the major aspects of Environmental Law, here is an attempt
to introduce the basics first.
‘Environment’ is a very comprehensive term. It includes within its ambit a wide

variety of phenomenon. It is a dynamic term that may be used to describe a
limited area on one hand, and the entire planet on the other. The term Environment
may be perceived in different connotations. There numerous definitions of the
term as provided by different National and International legal instruments.
Generally speaking, Environment includes the external conditions, resources,

stimuli etc. with which an organism interacts. The Preamble of the United Nations
Declaration on Human Environment, adopted in Stockholm in June 1972 states,
“Man is both creature and moulder of his environment, which gives him physical
substance and affords him the opportunity for intellectual, moral, social and
spiritual growth”.
The environment is clearly at risk from a variety of sources of harm, mostly of

human origin. In order to tackle this problem it is important that we develop
strategies for modifying human behavior towards environmentally benign
practices and away from environmentally damaging ones.
Through MLE-021, we attempt to make you ‘Understand about Environment’,

take you through best practices of ‘Environment Management’ and finally to
leave our future generations a better world it is important to understand the subject-
‘Environment and Sustainable Development’.
We wish you get the best from MLE-021 and also urge you to join the community
thinking and acting for environment well being.
Best Regards and Happy Reading!

SOL-CEL Team
Understanding
Environment BLOCK 1 UNDERSTANDING
ENVIRONMENT
Of the several processes that all human societies in all ages have had in common,
none has been more fundamental than their continual interaction with their natural
environment. In fact, more than any other aspect of human endeavor, the diverse
modes of human societal interaction with the larger ecological setting provide
the basis for a genuinely global history of humanity. But, unlike so many of the
other themes and patterns from which world history can be constructed,
environmental history transcends the human experience. Due to the profound
technological and scientific transformations that have occurred over the past
millennium, it has come to effect – often fatally in recent centuries – every species
of living creature on earth.
Following Units will be dealt in Block 1

Unit 1 – What is Environment: The attempt would be, to make you understand
the basics of environment, how some of the environment concepts emerged and
how society adapted to those concepts.
Unit 2 – Nature and Ecosystem: Without understanding how the fragile link
between Nature and Ecosystem existed from time immemorial it would be
difficult to move forward into the subject of Environment.
Unit 3 – Environment and Law: Law is important as it creates a framework

within which our entire society operates. In this unit we attempt to explain how
environment and law emerged and coexisted.
Unit 4 – Origin of Environmental Law: Every subject has to evolve somewhere,

in this Unit we explain the Origin of Environmental Law. Source back to all
those era’s where an attempt was made to understand our Environment.
4
What is Environment?
UNIT 1 WHAT IS ENVIRONMENT?
structure
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Objectives
1.3 The Indian Environment: A Historical Perspective
1.4 The World Environment: A Timeline
1.5 The Crisis
1.6 Summary
1.7 Terminal Questions
1.8 Answers and Hints
1.9 References and Suggested Readings
1.10 Bibliography
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Of the several processes that all human societies in all ages have had in common,
none has been more fundamental than their continual interaction with their natural
environment. In fact, more than any other aspect of human endeavour, the diverse
modes of human societal interaction with the larger ecological setting provide
the basis for a genuinely global history of humanity. But, unlike so many of the
other themes and patterns from which world history can be constructed,
environmental history transcends the human experience. Due to the profound
technological and scientific transformations that have occurred over the past
millennium, it has come to effect – often fatally in recent centuries – every species
of living creature on earth.[1]
The environment is a whole, albeit a complicated one, with many interfacing

components. The wise management of the environment depends upon an
understanding of its components: its rocks, minerals and waters, its soils and
their present and potential vegetation, its animal life and potential for livestock
husbandry, and its climate. Positive and realistic planning is needed to balance
human needs against the potential the environment has for supporting these
needs.[2] Environmental studies deal with every issue that affects a living
organism. It is essentially a multidisciplinary approach that brings about an
appreciation of our natural world and human impact on its integrity. It is an
applied science, as it seeks practical answers to the increasingly important question
of how to make civilisation sustainable on the Earth’s finite resources.
If we study the natural history of the areas in which we live, we would see that
our surroundings were originally a natural landscape, such as a forest, a river, a
mountain, a desert or a combination of these elements. Most of us live in
landscapes that have been profoundly modified by human beings. 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. This had led to many cultural
practices that have helped traditional societies protect and preserve their natural
resources. Respect for nature and all living creatures is not new to India; all our 5
Understanding traditions are based on these values. Emperor Ashoka’s edict proclaimed that all
Environment
forms of life are important for our well-being, and this was as far back as the 4th
century BC.
1.2 OBJECTIVES
After studying the unit, the learners should be able to:
• study the meaning of the natural environment;
• throw light on the evolution of environmental awareness and conservation
efforts across India and the world from a historical perspective;
• examine the various environmental crises the world faces today;
• study the concept of sustainable development and its relevance in today’s
age; and
• examine environmentalism and its contribution in conservation of the
environment.
Meaning
The word “environment” is most commonly used to describe the natural
environment and means the sum of all living and non-living things that surround
an organism, or group of organisms.[3] Environment includes all elements, factors,
and conditions that can have an impact on the growth and development of a
certain organism. Environment includes both biotic and abiotic factors that
influence an organism. Abiotic factors include light, temperature, water,
atmospheric gases etc., while biotic factors include all surrounding living species.
The environment often changes after some time and therefore many organisms
have the ability to adapt to these changes.
The environment is the totality of all the external conditions affecting the life,
development and survival of an organism.[4] It consists of the naturally produced
physical surroundings on which humanity is entirely dependent in all its activities.
The various uses to which these surroundings are put for economic ends are
called environmental functions. The natural environment, commonly referred
to simply as “the environment”, encompasses all living and non-living things
occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof.
The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished by components:
• Complete ecological units that function as natural systems without massive
human intervention, including all vegetation, animals, microorganisms, soil,
rocks, atmosphere and natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries.
• Universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear-cut
boundaries, such as air, water, and climate, as well as energy, radiation, electric
charge, and magnetism, not originating from human activity.
The natural environment is contrasted with the built environment, which
comprises the areas and components that are strongly influenced by humans.
Self Assessment Question
1) What is environment? What is the Concept of natural environment?
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6
Biogeochemical cycles What is Environment?
Chloroplasts conduct photosynthesis and are found in plant cells and other
eukaryotic organisms. These are Chloroplasts visible in the cells of Plagiomnium
affine — Many-fruited Thyme-moss.
Global biogeochemical cycles are critical to life, most notably those of water,
oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus.[29]
The phosphorus cycle is the movement of phosphorus through the lithosphere, hydrosphere,
and biosphere. The atmosphere does not play a significant role in the movements of
phosphorus, because phosphorus and phosphorus compounds are usually solids at the typical
ranges of temperature and pressure found on Earth.
The nitrogen cycle is the transformation of nitrogen and nitrogen-containing compounds

in nature. It is a cycle which includes gaseous components.
7
Understanding
Environment
The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the
biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth.
The oxygen cycle is the movement of oxygen within and between its three main reservoirs:
the atmosphere, the biosphere, and the lithosphere. The main driving factor of the oxygen
cycle is photosynthesis, which is responsible for the modern Earth’s atmospheric composition
and life.
8
The water cycle, is the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of
the Earth. Water can change states among liquid, vapour, and ice at various places in the
water cycle. Although the balance of water on Earth remains fairly constant over time,
individual water molecules can come and go.

2) Draw Water Cycle and explain it.
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1.3 THE INDIAN ENVIRONMENT:

A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Flora and forests
The forests of India were some of the richest resources in the British colonies.
The value of forests was realised very early and forest management was introduced
early on the sub-continent. The links between water, climate and forest cover
were noted particularly early and warnings on deforestation were sounded as
early as 1840 by surgeons in the East India Company like Edward Balfour.[5] This
was to lead to forest conservation measures although the later policies of forest
management were aimed at the production of commercial products such as teak
timber.
The post of a conservationist was created and this term was related to the patches
of forests that they managed, called conservancies, and was not related to
biodiversity conservation. Even today, vast tracts of Indian forests are covered
with teak plantations, low in biodiversity and seasonally ravaged by forest fires.
The first foresters in India were highly influenced by forest management in
9
Understanding Germany and many forest officers in India were trained in the German School of
Environment
Thought brought into India by Dietrich Brandis (1824-1907)–the father of tropical
forestry.[6]
Numerous officers including James Sykes Gamble (1847-1925), Alexander
Gibson and Hugh Francis Cleghorn in the Indian Forest service added information
on the flora of India. Several amateurs also worked alongside from other civil
services and they were assisted by professional botanists such as Joseph Dalton
Hooker (1817-1911), John Gerard Koenig (1728-1785), Robert Wight (1796-
1872), Nathaniel Wallich (1786-1854) and William Roxburgh (1751-1815), the
Father of Indian Botany.[7] Another area of interest was the introduction of plants
of economic importance to India. Many of these introductions were tried in
botanical gardens at Sibpur, Poona, Madras and Saharanpur.[8]
The Chinese monopoly on tea was ended when tea was introduced in Darjeeling
and Sri Lanka through the work of Robert Fortune (1812-1880). The botanical
garden at Sibpur in Calcutta was started in 1787 by Col. Robert Kyd (1746-
1793). Sir George King (1840-1904) who was in charge of the garden from 1871
was instrumental in the creation of a herbarium at the garden and founded the
Botanical Survey of India[9] in 1890. Later botanical workers include the
paleobotanist Birbal Sahni (1891-1949).
Some of the other prominent names associated with botany and forests of India
include William Carey (1761-1834), Sir Henry Collett (1836-1901), Ethelbert
Blatter (1877-1934), T. F. Bourdillon, Sir Harry Champion and his brother F. W.
Champion (1893-1970), A. A. Dunbar-Brander (Conservator of Forests in the
Central Provinces), Sir Walter Elliot (1803-1887), Henry Thomas Colebrooke
(1765-1837), Charles McCann (1899-1980), Hugh Falconer( 1808-1865), Philip
Furley Fyson (1877-1947), Lt. Col. Heber Drury, William Griffith (1810-1845),
Sir David Prain (1857-1944), J. F. Duthie, P. D. Stracey, Richard Strachey (1817-
1908), Thomas Thomson (1817-1878), J. E. Winterbottom, W. Moorcroft and
J.F. Royle (1799-1858).
Naturalists associated with the Bombay Natural History Society[10] like W. S.
Millard (1864-1952) helped popularise the study of trees with books such as
Some Beautiful Indian Trees (co-authored with Ethelbert Blatter). Similar attempts
were made by civil servants like Alexander Kyd Nairne in his Flowering plants
of Western India (1894).
Fauna
India has some of the world’s most biodiverse regions. The political boundaries
of India encompass a wide range of ecozones — desert, high mountains,
highlands, tropical and temperate forests, swamplands, plains, grasslands, areas
surrounding rivers, as well as island archipelago. It hosts three biodiversity
hotspots: the Western Ghats, the Eastern Himalayas, and the hilly ranges that
straddle the India-Myanmar border. These hotspots have numerous endemic
species[11].
India, for the most part, lies within the Indomalaya ecozone, with the upper
reaches of the Himalayas forming part of the Palearctic ecozone; the contours of
2000 to 2500 m are considered to be the altitudinal boundary between the Indo-
Malayan and Palearctic zones. India displays significant biodiversity. One of
eighteen megadiverse countries, it is home to 7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of
10
all avian, 6.2% of all reptilian, 4.4% of all amphibian, 11.7% of all fish, and What is Environment?
6.0% of all flowering plant species.[11]
Tiger Asian Elephant
Asiatic Lion
Indian Rhinoceros
11
Understanding The region is also heavily influenced by summer monsoons that cause major
Environment
seasonal changes in vegetation and habitat. India forms a large part of the
Indomalayan biogeographical zone and many of the floral and faunal forms show
Malayan affinities with only a few taxa being unique to the Indian region. The
unique forms includes the snake family Uropeltidae found only in the Western
Ghats and Sri Lanka. Fossil taxa from the Cretaceous show links to the Seychelles
and Madagascar chain of islands.
The Cretaceous fauna include reptiles, amphibians and fishes and an extant species
demonstrating this phylogeographical link is the Purple Frog. The separation of
India and Madagascar is traditionally estimated to have taken place about 88
million years ago. However there are suggestions that the links to Madagascar
and Africa were present even at the time when the Indian subcontinent met
Eurasia. India has been suggested as a ship for the movement of several African
taxa into Asia. These taxa include five frog families (including the
Myobatrachidae), three caecilian families, a lacertid lizard and freshwater snails
of the family Potamiopsidae.[12]
A fossil tooth of what is believed to be of a lemur-like primate from the Bugti
Hills of central Pakistan however has led to suggestions that the lemurs may
have originated in Asia. These fossils are however from the Oligocene (30 million
years ago) and have led to controversy. Lemur fossils from India in the past led
to theories of a lost continent called Lemuria. This theory however was dismissed
when continental drift and plate tectonics became well established.
The flora and fauna of India have been studied and recorded from early times in
folk traditions and later by researchers following more formal scientific
approaches (See Natural history in India). Game laws are reported from the third
century BC.[13] A little under 5% of this total area is formally classified under
protected areas.
India is home to several well known large mammals including the Asian Elephant,
Bengal Tiger, Asiatic Lion, Leopard and Indian Rhinoceros. Some of these animals
are engrained in culture, often being associated with deities. These large mammals
are important for wildlife tourism in India and several national parks and wildlife
sanctuaries cater to these needs. The popularity of these charismatic animals
have helped greatly in conservation efforts in India. The tiger has been particularly
important and Project Tiger started in 1972 was a major effort to conserve the
tiger and its habitats. Project Elephant, though less known, started in 1992 and
works for elephant protection.
Most of India’s rhinos today survive in the Kaziranga National Park. Other well
known large Indian mammals include ungulates such as the Water Buffalo, Nilgai,
Gaur and several species of deer and antelope. Some members of the dog family
such as the Indian Wolf, Bengal Fox, Golden Jackal and the Dhole or Wild Dogs
are also widely distributed. It is also home to the Striped Hyaena. Many smaller
animals such as the Macaques, Langurs and Mongoose species are especially
well known due to their ability to live close to or inside urban areas.
3) Explain Flora and Fauna?
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12
Biodiversity What is Environment?
There is insufficient information about the invertebrate and lower forms of India
with significant work having been done only in a few groups of insects notably
the butterflies, odonates, hymenoptera, the larger coleoptera and heteroptera.
Few concerted attempts to document the biodiversity have been made since the
publication of the Fauna of British India series.
There are about 2546 species of fishes (about 11% of the world species) found in
Indian waters. About 197 species of amphibians (4.4% of the world total) and
more than 408 reptile species (6% of the world total) are found in India. Among
these groups the highest levels of endemism are found in the amphibians. There
are about 1250 species of birds from India with some variations depending on
taxonomic treatments accounting for about 12% of the world species. There are
about 410 species of mammals known from India which is about 8.86% of the
world species.
1.4 THE WORLD ENVIRONMENT: A TIMELINE

Ancient Civilisations
Babylonian sewer system
• Air pollution was common in large towns long before the industrial
revolution. The pollution came from dust, wood smoke, tanneries, animal
manure and other things.
• Water pollution was less severe in some civilisations. Israeli and Hindu cities
tended to have less water pollution due to strict religious codes about
cleanliness. On the other hand, ancient Rome was notorious for sewage-
filled streets.
• Timbering stripped the forests of Babylon, Greece, Phonecia (Lebanon) and
Italy with the rise of civilisation. The wood energy crisis led Greeks to use
passive solar energy by orienting their cities and houses toward the sun.
Romans made some use of solar energy but imported wood for timber and
fuel from as far away as the Black Sea. Both Greeks and Romans kept sacred
groves of trees from being timbered.
13
Understanding • Soil conservation was not widely practiced in the Mediterranean, but cultures
Environment
in China, India and Peru understood the long term impact of soil erosion and
tried to prevent it.
• Lead poisoning was common among upper class Romans who used lead-
sweetened wine and grape pulp sweetened with “sugar of lead” as a
condiment.
Middle Ages and Renaissance
Detail from a Peter S. Bregel painting shows a

rich man standing near an outhouse which
empties directly into the river
• Plague devastates Europe but leads to the beginnings of a public health

system.
• Water pollution tends to be less of a problem for dispersed populations than
it would later become.
• Timbering in the forests of England, France, Germany leaves large tracts
totally denuded by around 1550 in England and the 1600s in Europe, forcing
a switch to coal.
• Soil conservation was not widely practiced in the Mediterranian, but cultures
in China, India and Peru understood the long term impact of soil erosion and
used terracing, crop rotation and natural fertiliser to prevent it.
• Occupational diseases are investigated by Bernardo Razzimazi and begin to
be recognised as public health problems.
Progressive Era
A young Teddy Roosevelt

14
• Reform was the common concern. Reform of working conditions, slum What is Environment?
housing, food adulteration, sanitation, drinking water, polluting industries
and more.
• Teddy Roosevelt and his forester Gifford Pinchot characterised the era with
ideas about conserving large tracts of land and putting other forests to “wise
use”.
• John Muir opposes the “wise use” idea and fights for outright preservation
of unspoiled wilderness.
• Social activists and reformers like Ellen Swallow Richards, Jane Addams,
Florence Kelly and Alice Hamilton innovate and find limited success. New
organisations like the womens clubs and the Sierra Club help champion
natural preservation, conservation and municipal reform.
The Era of Enlightenment
• Reason begins to be better appreciated as an
antidote to superstition. Ben Franklin’s fight
against water pollution, James Lind’s fight against
scurvy, and the movement to clean up waterways,
slums and prisons — all begin with an
enlightenment philosophy that values individual
citizens and believes progress is possible. There
were, as Rumford said, “other kinds of glory than
that of victory in battle”.
Ben Franklin in his
• Thomas Malthus predicts that eventually, food and printing office
resources will run out as populations explode. New
technologies create new pollution, — Town gas from coal drips tar into the
rivers. Vulcanised rubber plants discharge noxious chemicals directly into
the streams. Coal smoke chokes the air in big cities. Chemical factories
operate without thought to people downwind.
Industrial Revolution
Woman looking through microscope is amazed at bacteria in water in a 19th century British
cartoon.
15
Understanding • Living conditions in urban areas horrify reform minded commissions in
Environment
London in the 1840s and America in the 1850s and 60s. Progress is slow but
the common interest in pure drinking water and sanitation is spurred by
epidemics of typhoid and cholera.
• Smog episodes begin killing residents of large cities like London.
• Conservation of wilderness areas begins with the felling of an enormous
tree, called the “Mother of the Forest” in 1851. The outrage over the act
leads to calls for a national park system.
Roaring Twenties and the Depression
Alice Hamilton (Library of Congress)
• National Coast Anti Pollution League is formed by municipal officials from

Atlantic City to Maine who are concerned about oil and sewage pollution
detracting from tourism. Led by Gifford Pinchot, Teddy Roosevelt’s forester,
the league succeeds with an international oil dumping treaty passed by
Congress in 1924.
• “Nothing but a murderer” is the way Harvard M.D. Alice Hamilton privately
describes Charles Kettering of General Motors, the inventive genius behind
leaded gasoline. Hamilton’s fight to point out alternatives does not succeed
and leaded gasoline becomes the standard fuel for most of the world.
• The Radium Girls are dying of radiation induced cancer and court delays
seem outrageous to crusading journalist Walter Lippmann who works with
Alice Hamilton to bring their case to the public. A settlement at least gives
them medical care and compensation for their families.
• Civilian Conservation Corps is founded by FDR during the depression.
• Chemurgy movement is a Midwestern populist and scientific phenomena.
Demands include replacement of petroleum with farm alcohol and other
industrial uses for agricultural crops. Movement suffers when leaders die
and new leaders with secret ties to the oil industry take over.
World War II and the 50’s

• A full marriage designed to outlast the war. This was the relationship between
American auto, chemical and oil companies and Germany’s I.G. Farben
exposed by Sen. Harry Truman in 1942. American development of synthetic
16
rubber was blocked and leaded gasoline technology was handed over to the What is Environment?
Nazis during the pre-war honeymoon. (Stephenson, 1976). The lesson of
history? Only the government can secure the long-term public interest. Private
industry cannot.
London Fog of 1956 was so thick that walking bus escorts were needed at 10 a.m.
• Midwestern corn, not oil industry synthetics, helped roll allies to victory
over the Nazis. Synthetic rubber and chemicals from renewable resources
proved vital to winning WWII. (Bernton, 1982)
• Sand County Almanac by forester Aldo Leopold, published in 1948 just
after his death, expresses the expanding sense of human responsibility, not
only for each other but also for the earth. .
• Deadly smog episodes in Donora Penn. (1948), London (1952, 1956), New
York (1953), and Los Angeles (1954) create the perception that an air pollution
crisis is underway. In 1955 the first international air pollution conference is
held.
• Increasing CO 2 buildup is one surprising conclusion of Scripps
Oceanographic Institute scientists working on International Geophysical Year
projects 1957.
The Sixties (1960-70)
Rachel Carson (Yale University library)
• Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring strikes a deep chord in the rapidly
growing concern about the environment when published in 1962.
• General Motors and Standard Oil (Exxon) sell off the Ethyl Corp., the child
of their partnership in leaded gasoline, in 1962. Senate hearings in 1965
reveal decades of falsified lead industry research.
17
Understanding • A burning river ends the decade as a dramatic symbol of an environment on
Environment
the brink. On June 22, 1969, oil and chemicals in the Cuyahoga River in
Cleveland, Ohio catch fire. Flames top five stories.
• UNESCO conference on Man and His Environment takes place in San
Francisco in 1969, sparking hope for international cooperation on
environmental issues.
• The tragedy of the commons strikes a nerve. The Garrett Harden essay argues
that just as unrestricted grasing could turn a common pature into a wasteland,
unregulated industry could do the same to the planet.
The Seventies (1970-1980)
Greenpeace captures the world’s attention with its dramatic tactics in protecting whales
(Photo by Rex Weyler, Greenpeace, 1977)
• A decade of awakening and cleanup begins with the birth of the

Environmental Protection Agency and ends with the Appropriate Community
Technology demonstration on the Washington mall.
• Air pollution is cut back dramatically through use of catalytic converters on
new cars that use only unleaded gasoline. But the predicted “pollution free
car” proves to be chimerical.
• Water pollution is greatly decreased through a massive sewage treatment
expansion programme. Rivers which were once sewers now begin a gradual
return from the grave. Still, the “national pollution discharge elimination
system” does not actually eliminate discharges.
• Toxic chemicals become more troubling. Corporations like Allied
(manufacturer of Kepone) seem to have deliberately endangered employees
and the public for minor increments of profit. Love Canal and other incidents
lead to new regulations in the 1980s.
• Nuclear power safety is increasingly suspect after the Three Mile Island
accident.
• Energy crisis in oil supply leads to reversals of some restrictions on refinery
and oil pollution.
18
1980-1990 What is Environment?
• Disasters show the tenuous and fragile side of industrial technology. Among
them are the Bhopal mass poisoning in India; the Chernobyl nuclear reactor
disaster in Ukraine; and the Challenger shuttle and Exxon Valdez oil spills
in the U.S.
• Ozone depletion from fluorocarbons is finally taken seriously, even by
conservatives like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher of Britain, who
join others in signing the Montreal Protocol in 1987.
• More good news: Legislation for cleaning up toxic waste passes Congress.
But by the year 2002, the Superfund will be broke.
• Environmental reform gathers momentum, but environmentalists mourn the
loss of the Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace ship bombed by French secret
service agents in New Zealand in 1985.
• Warnings about global climate change become more convincing as evidence
mounts.
1990-2000
Windmills in California 19
Understanding • Persian Gulf War creates environmental disaster with thousands of burning
Environment
oil wells.
• Ken Saro Wiwa, journalist and environmental activist, is executed in 1995
for his outspoken opposition to oil industry practices in Nigeria. The
dictatorial government of Nigeria, and its partner Shell Oil, is held responsible
by the international community.
• Political standoff between conservative and liberal factions in Congress ended
more or less in a draw, with strong national opinion polls favouring
environment over economic development. A Gallup poll finds 76 percent of
Americans call themselves “environmentalists”.
• China’s Three Gorges Dam continues on schedule, despite international
protests.
• MTBE may fight air pollution, but water pollution turns out to be the major
side effect of the fuel additive. It’s another example of the law of unintended
consequences.
The new millenium
Scientist works with experimental

fermenter at the National Renewable
Energy Lab in Golden, Colo.
• US leadership changes from president Bill Clinton, a devoted conservationist,

to George Bush in 2001, who eases environmental regulation on behalf of
industry, to Barack Obama in 2009, who restores environmental and
conservation missions for US regulatory agencies.
• Global climate change becomes a pressing priority, as scientists issue
increasingly serious warnings about their observations of the changing
climate; but the scientific process stumbles over relatively minor mistakes
made under increasing media scrutiny. Attempts at international agreements
fail at Copenhagen in 2009, but world leaders continue attempting to bridge
gaps in policy approaches.
• Coal mining especially in the US Appalachian region continues to spark
controversy over serious environmental impacts. A disaster at the Tennessee
Valley Authority shows how serious the waste products of coal combustion
can be. Coal mine disasters continue to haunt the US and China.
• Toxic Waste dumping in developing nations continues to be an urgent
problem.
20
1.5 THE CRISIS
List of Environmental Crises
This is a list of environmental issues that have arisen due to human activities
(Anthropogenic effects on the natural environment).
• Anoxic waters — Anoxic event • Hypoxia • Ocean deoxygenation • Dead
zone
• Climate change — Global warming • Global dimming • Fossil fuels • Sea
level rise • Greenhouse gas • Ocean acidification • Shutdown of thermohaline
circulation
• Conservation — Species extinction • Pollinator decline • Coral bleaching •
Holocene extinction • Invasive species • Poaching • Endangered species
• Dams — Environmental impacts of dams
• Energy — Energy conservation • Renewable energy • Efficient energy use •
Renewable energy commercialisation
• Environmental degradation — Eutrophication • Habitat destruction • Invasive
species
• Environmental health — Air quality • Asthma • Electromagnetic fields •
Electromagnetic radiation and health • Indoor air quality • Lead poisoning •
Sick Building Syndrome
• Genetic engineering — Genetic pollution • Genetically modified food
controversies
• Intensive farming — Overgrasing • Irrigation • Monoculture • Environmental
effects of meat production • Slash and burn • Pesticide drift • Plasticulture
• Land degradation — Land pollution • Desertification Soil — Soil
conservation • Soil erosion • Soil contamination • Soil salination
• Land use — Urban sprawl • Habitat fragmentation • Habitat destruction
• Nanotechnology — Nanotoxicology • Nanopollution
• Nuclear issues — Nuclear fallout • Nuclear meltdown • Nuclear power •
Radioactive waste .
• Overpopulation — Burial • Water crisis • Overpopulation in companion
animals • Tragedy of the commons
• Ozone depletion — CFC
• Pollution — Light pollution • Noise pollution • Visual pollution • Nonpoint
source pollution • Point source pollution
• Water pollution — Acid rain • Eutrophication • Marine pollution • Ocean
dumping • Oil spills • Thermal pollution • Urban runoff • Water crisis •
Marine debris • Ocean acidification • Ship pollution • Wastewater • Fish kill
• Algal bloom • Mercury in fish
21
Understanding • Air pollution — Smog • Tropospheric ozone • Indoor air quality • Volatile
Environment
organic compound • Particulate matter • Sulphur oxide
• Resource depletion — Exploitation of natural resources • Overdrafting
• Consumerism — Consumer capitalism • Planned obsolescence • Over-
consumption
• Fishing — Blast fishing • Bottom trawling • Cyanide fishing • Ghost nets •
Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing • Overfishing • Shark finning •
Whaling
• Logging — Clearcutting • Deforestation • Illegal logging
• Mining — Acid mine drainage • Mountaintop removal mining • Slurry
impoundments
• Toxins — Chlorofluorocarbons • DDT • Endocrine disruptors • Dioxin •
Toxic heavy metals • Herbicides • Pesticides • Toxic waste • PCB •
Bioaccumulation • Biomagnification
• Waste — E-waste • Litter • Waste disposal incidents • Marine debris • Medical
waste • Landfill • Leachate • Recycling • Incineration • Great Pacific Garbage
Patch
1.6 SUMMARY
Future of our planet lies in our hands

Environmentalism is a political and social movement with the goal of protecting
the natural environment. It emphasizes the importance of nature in the protection
of the environment and combines with it various policies and efforts which assist
in conservation. The main proponents of this movement are environmental
scientists who have laid down a few basic goals. Some of these goals include:
• Reduction in the world consumption of fossil fuels.
• Clean-up of areas affected by various kinds of pollution (air, water, etc.)
with a future goal of achieving zero pollution.
• Laying emphasis on clean, alternative energy sources which result in less
carbon emissions.
• Sustainable use of water, land, and other scarce resources.
• Preservation of existing endangered species.
• Protection of biodiversity
22
Firstly, reducing the world consumption of fossil fuels is very important in the What is Environment?
fight against climate change and global warming. Fossil (non renewable) fuels
are mainly responsible for global warming as during the combustion of fossil
fuels carbon dioxide (one of the greenhouse gases) gets released into the
atmosphere. In fact reducing the emission of carbon dioxide is the most important
thing if we want to successfully fight global warming.
Secondly, reducing and cleaning up pollution is also a very important task. Every
day we hear of large-scale pollution of air, seas, rivers etc. Pollution creates an
unhealthy environment and often causes many health problems and different
diseases. Thirdly, the world needs a lot of energy and if we want to reduce the
use of fossil fuels then we should have other alternative energy sources to in
order to satisfy the growing energy demands. These alternative energy sources
such as wind energy, solar power and hydro energy, have all great potential, and
are also ecologically acceptable. However their use is on a very small-scale as
compared to fossil fuels which are still the dominant sources of energy.
Fourthly, we need to focus on sustainable development as the cost of progress

must not be damage to the environment. Sustainable use of water, land and other
resources is therefore vital to enable future life of our planet. Fifthly, the number
of endangered species is lately increasing rapidly and many species have become
extinct in the last 50 years or so. Preservation of endangered species is important
to save a number of ecosystems and to protect the biodiversity of our planet.
Lastly, biodiversity is very important in enabling life since all species are
connected in a perfectly balanced cycle, each having its own unique role.
The natural resource of wind powers these 5MW wind turbines on this wind farm 28 km
off the coast of Belgium
23
Understanding
Environment 1.7 TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1) What is the importance of Nitrogen cycle in Environment? Please show a
pictorial depiction.
2) How did the study of Environment emerge?
3) List the Environmental Crisis? Quote one example of worst environment
disaster known in India.
4) How are Environment and Science related? Is Environment based on Science
or some other factors govern them?
1.8 ANSWERS AND HINTS

Self Assessment Questions
1) Refer to Section 1.2
Terminal Questions
1) The nitrogen cycle is the set of biogeochemical processes by which nitrogen
undergoes chemical reactions, changes form, and moves through difference
reservoirs on earth, including living organisms. Nitrogen is required for all
organisms to live and grow because it is the essential component of DNA,
RNA, and protein. However, most organisms cannot use atmospheric nitrogen,
the largest reservoir. The five processes in the nitrogen cycle — fixation,
uptake, mineralisation, nitrification, and denitrification — are all driven by
microorganisms. Humans influence the global nitrogen cycle primarily
through the use of nitrogen-based fertilisers.
2) Modern thought surrounding human-environment relations is traced back to
Charles Darwin. Darwin’s concept of natural selection suggested that certain
social characteristics played a key role in the survivability of groups in the
natural environment. Although typically taken at the micro level, evolutionary
principles, particularly adaptability, serve as a microcosm of human ecology.
Work by Humphrey and Buttel (2002) traces the linkages between Darwin’s
work on natural selection, human ecological sociology, and environmental
sociology. It became recognised in the latter half of the 20th century that
biological determinism failed to fully explain the relationship between
humans and the environment. As the application of social determinism
became more useful, the role of sociology became more pervasive in analysing
environmental conditions. At first, classical sociology saw social and cultural
factors as the only cause of other social and cultural conditions. This lens
ignored the concept of environmental determinism or the environmental
factors that cause social phenomena. The works of William R. Catton, Jr.
and Riley Dunlap challenged the constricted anthropocentrism of classical
sociology. In the late 1970s, they called for a new holistic, or systems
perspective. Since the 1970s, sociology has noticeably transformed to include
environmental forces in social explanations. Environmental sociology
emerged as a coherent subfield of inquiry after the environmental movement
24
of the 1960s and early 1970s. It has now solidified as a respected, What is Environment?
interdisciplinary subject in academia.
3) Worst Environmental Disaster : Bhopal Gas Tragedy
December 3, 1984 has become a memorable day for the city of Bhopal in
Madya Pradesh county, India. Shortly after midnight, a poisonous gas cloud
escaped from the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide factory.
The cloud contained 15 metric tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC), covering
an area of more than 30 square miles. The gas leak killed at least 4,000 local
residents instantly and caused health problems such as oedema for at least
50,000 to perhaps 500,000 people. These health problems killed around
15,000 more victims in the years that followed. Approximately 100,000
people still suffer from chronic disease consequential to gas exposure, today.
Research conducted by the BBC in 2004 pointed out that this pollution still
causes people to fall ill, and ten more die every year. This event is now
known as the worst industrial environmental disaster to ever have occurred.
The cause of the accident has been researched after the disaster. Apparently
water ended up in MIC storage tanks, causing an exothermal reaction that
released an amount of poisonous gas large enough to open the safety valves.
Normally scrubbers would intercept escaping gas, but these were temporarily
out of order for repair.
Research showed that factory personnel neglected a number of safety
procedures. There were no valves to prevent water from entering the storage
tanks. The cooling installation of the tanks and the flaring installation that
might have flared the gas that was released were out of order (Fig. 1).
Safety was very low in this factory of Union Carbide, compared to its other
locations. The safety procedures were neglected because of budget cuts.
Figure 1: Overview of events that led to the Bhopal disaster (Bhopal Medical Appeal, 2002)
25
Understanding Union Carbide was accused of deliberate evasion of regular safety procedures.
Environment
During lawsuits where victims demanded compensation, documents were
revealed which proved that Union Carbide regularly used untested technology
in the Bhopal factory. When the gas leak occurred doctors were not informed of
the nature of the gas. This caused the correct treatment and emergency measures
to be held off.
The manager of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson, was accused of culpable
homicide. However, he did not occur in court and both the Indian and
American government did not take adequate measures to make sure this
man was tried. This led to a series of protests organised by environmental
organisations, such as Greenpeace.
Union Carbide denied responsibility for the accident on their website, stating
that: “The Bhopal plant was owned and operated by Union Carbide India,
Limited (UCIL), an Indian company in which Union Carbide Corporation
held just over half the stock. The other stockholders included Indian financial
institutions and thousands of private investors in India. The plant was
designed, built, and managed by UCIL using Indian consultants and
workers.”
4) Environmental science came alive as a substantive, active field of scientific
investigation in the 1960s and 1970s driven by (a) the need for a multi-
disciplinary approach to analyse complex environmental problems, (b) the
arrival of substantive environmental laws requiring specific environmental
protocols of investigation and (c) the growing public awareness of a need
for action in addressing environmental problems. Events that spurred this
development included the publication of Rachael Carson’s landmark
environmental book Silent Spring[2] along with major environmental issues
becoming very public, such as the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, and the
Cuyahoga River of Cleveland, Ohio, “catching fire” (also in 1969), and helped
increase the visibility of environmental issues and create this new field of
study.
1.9 SUGGESTED READINGS

• Butti, Ken, and John Perlin, A golden thread : 2500 years of solar architecture
and technology (Palo Alto : Cheshire Books; New York : Van Nostrand
Reinhold, 1980).
• Glacken, Clarence J, 1973, Traces on the Rhodian shore; nature and culture
in Western thought from ancient times to the end of the eighteenth century
(Berkeley: University of California Press).
• Grove, Richard H, 1995. Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, Tropic
Island Edens and the Origins of Environmentalism (Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press).
• Hughes, J. Donald, 1994, Pan’s Travail: Environmental Problems of the
Ancient Greeks and Romans (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,
1994 reprint).
• Hughes, J. Donald, 1975 Ecology in Ancient Civilisations. (Albuquerque,
N.M.: University of New Mexico Press, 1975).
26
• Nriagu, J. Lead and Lead Poisoning in Antiquity. (New York: Wiley What is Environment?
Interscience, 1983).
• Perlin, John: A forest journey : The role of wood in the development of
civilisation (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1991)
• Worster, Donald, Nature’s Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas
(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1977).
• Tuchman, Barbara, A Distant Mirror : the calamitous 14th century, New
York : Alfred Knopf, 1978.
• Lansdown, R. and W.Yule, eds. Lead Toxicity: History and Environmental
Impact. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986.
• Leff, S., and Vera Leff, From Witchcraft to World Health, New York:
MacMillan, 1956.
• Sigerist, H. E. 1945. Civilisation and Disease. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University
Press.
• Brimblecombe, Peter, 1988 The Big Smoke, London:, Routledge.
• Cronon, William, 1985. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the
Ecology of New England. New York: Hill and Wang.
• Kolodny, A. 1984. The Land Before Her: Fantasy and Experience of the
American Frontiers, 1630-1860. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North
Carolina Press.
• Markham, Adam, 1994 A Brief History of Pollution, New York: St. Martin’s.
• McMahon, Michal, 1994 “Publick Service versus Mans Properties: Dock
Creek and the Origins of Urban Technology in Eighteenth Century
Philadelphia,” in Judith A. McGaw, ed., Early American Technology: Making
& Doing Things from the Colonial Era to 1850, Chapel Hill, N.C. University
of N.C. Press.
• Nash, R. 1982.Wilderness and the American Mind. 3rd ed. New Haven:
Yale University Press.
• Marsh, G. P. 1869. Man and Nature; or, Physical Geography as Modified by
Human Condition. rev. ed. New York: Scribner & Co.
• Marx, Leo, 1964, The Machine in the Garden (NY: Oxford University Press).
• Melosi, M. V., ed. 1980. Pollution and Reform in American Cities, 1870-
1930. Austin: University of Texas Press.
• Mumford, Lewis 1961 The City in History, NY: Harcourt, Brace & World.
• Thoreau, Henry David, 1854, Walden and other writings, NY: Bantam.
• Cohen, M. 1984. The Pathless Way: John Muir and American Wilderness.
Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. Also see Cohen’s History of
the Sierra Club, 1988, San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books.
• Clements, K. A. 1979. Politics and the Park: San Francisco’s Fight for Hetch
Hetchy, 1908-1913. Pacific Historical Review. 48: 184-215.
27
Understanding • Hays, Sameul P., 1959. Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency.
Environment
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Isenberg, Andrew, 2000, The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental
History 1750-1920, Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Jones, H. R. 1965. John Muir and the Sierra Club: The Battle for Yosemite.
San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books.
• Merchant, Carolyn, 1981. Earthcare: Women and the Environmental
Movement. Environment 23:5 (June): 6-15, 38-40.
• Mowry, G. E. 1958. The Era of Theodore Roosevelt, 1900-1912. New York:
Harper.
• Muir, John. 1991. Our National Parks. San Francisco CA: Sierra Club Books.
• Tarr, Joel, 1996 The Search for the Ultimate Sink: Akron, Ohio: University
of Akron Press.
• Turner, Frederick Jackson, 1920. The Frontier in American history
Huntington, N.Y. : R. E. Krieger Pub. Co., 1976, c1920.
• Twain, Mark, 1896, Life on the Mississippi, NY: Harper Brothers.
• Goldmark, J. 1953. Impatient Crusader: Florence Kelly’s Life Story. Westport,
Conn.: Greenwood Press.
• Kovarik, W., 1996, Henry Ford, Charles Kettering and the Fuel of the Future,
paper to the Society of Automotive Historians, Dearborn, Mich., reprinted
in Automotive History, spring 1998.
• Kovarik, W. 1994. Charles F. Kettering and the Development of Tetraethyl
Lead in the Context of Alternative Technologies. Proceedings of the Society
of Automotive Engineers, Paper 943924, Baltimore, Maryland. (24 October).
• Rosner, D. and Markowitz, G. 1989. Dying for Work: Workers Safety and
Health in Twentieth Century America. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University
Press.
• Sicherman, Barbara. 1984. Alice Hamilton: A Life in Letters. Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press.
• Borkin, Joseph, 1978. The Crime and Punishment of I.G. Farben. New York:
Free Press (Borkin was the deputy attorney general under Thurmond Arnold
in charge of prosecuting the oil and chemical companies for treasonous
connections to the Nazis at the opening of WWII. )
• Bernton, Hal, 1982, and William Kovarik and Scott Sklar, The Forbidden
Fuel: Power Alcohol in the 20th Century, New York: Griffin.
• Stevenson, William, 1976, A Man Called Intrepid, New York : Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich.
• Leopold, Aldo, 1948 A Sand County Almanac.
• Carson, Rachel, 1962. Silent Spring. NY: Houghton Mifflin.
28
• Ellul, Jacques, The Technological Society, NY: Alfred Knopf. (Originally What is Environment?
1954 La technique ou l’enjeu du siecle, Max Leclerc, et Cie, Paris).
• Lear, Linda, 1997, Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature NY : H. Holt, 1997.
• Marx, Leo, 1964, The machine in the garden; technology and the pastoral
ideal in America NY, Oxford University Press.
• Wadsworth, Ginger 1992, Rachel Carson, voice for the earth Minneapolis,
MN: Lerner Publications.
• Abbey, Edward, 1975, The Monkey Wrench Gang, NY: J.B. Lippincott.
(fiction).
• Brown, Michael and John May, 1991. The Greenpeace Story New York:
Dorling Kindersley.
• Dillard, Annie, 1974, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, NY: Harper & Row.
• To Save a Whale, photographs (Chronicle Books, 1978; Heinemann, UK,
1978; Kubler Verlag, Germany, Rettet die Wale, 1979).
• Song of the Whale (Doubleday, 1986): The discoveries of whale researcher
Dr. Paul Spong and a history of the Greenpeace campaign to stop international
whaling.
• Blood of the Land (Everest House, 1982; Random House, Vintage paperback,
1983; New Society Publishers, 1992): A history of native American cultures
and their 500-year clash with European cultures, nominated for a Pulitzer
Prise in 1982. An updated edition, published by New Society in 1992, remains
in print.
• Hayes, Dennis, 1977, Rays of Hope: The Transition to a Post Petroleum
World, Worldwatch / W.W.Norton.
• Ward, Barbara and Rene Dubois, 1972: Only One Earth: The Care and
Maintenance of a Small Planet, New York: Norton. This was the book that
summarised the UN Conference on the Environment of Stockhold, 1972.
• Daly, Herman E., 1980, Economics, Ecology, Ethics: Essays toward a steady-
state economy NY: W.H.Freeman & Co.
• Fowler, John, 1986, Energy and the Environment, NY: McGraw Hill.
• McKibben, Bill 1989, The End of Nature New York: Random House.
• Reisner, Mark. 1986. Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its
Disappearing Water. New York: Viking.
• Rose, Chris 1990 The Dirty Man of Europe: The Great British Pollution
Scandal London: Simon and Schuster.
• Schell, Jonathan, 1982, The fate of the earth New York : Knopf.
• Seed, John, 1988, Thinking Like a Mountain: Towards a Council of All
Beings, Philadelphia, PA: New Society Publishers.
29
Understanding • Short, C. Brant (Calvin Brant),1989 Ronald Reagan and the public lands :
Environment
America’s conservation debate, 1979-1984 College Station : Texas A&M
University Press.
• Udall, Stuart. 1988.The Quiet Crisis and the Next Generation. Salt Lake
City: Gibbs-Smith.
• Teich, Albert, Ed., Technology and the Future. 1986, NY St. Martin’s Press.
• Adler, Jonathan, 1995, Environmentalism at the Crossroads, Capital Research
Center (Competitive Enterprise Institute).
• Chapman, Graham, and others, Environmentalism and the mass media: the
North-South Divide, London, Routledge (Indian Institute of Advanced Study,
Shimla).
• Dwyer, William. O., and Frank Leeming, 1995, Earth’s Eleventh Hour:
Environmental Readings from the Washington Post, Boston, MA: Allyn and
Bacon.
• Gore, Albert, 1993, Earth in the Balance : Ecology and the Human Spirit
N.Y : Plume.
• Gottlieb, Robert 1993, Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the
American Environmental Movement, Washington, DC: Island Press.
• LaMay, Craig and Everette Dennis, Eds., 1991, Media and the Environment,
Washington DC: Island Press.
• Levy, Walter, and Christopher Hallowell, 1994, Green Perspectives: Thinking
and writing about nature and the environment, NY: Addison Wesley
Longman.
• Mark Neuzil and William Kovarik, 1996, Mass Media and Environmental
Conflict: America’s Green Crusades, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage.
• Pepper, David, 1996, Modern Environmentalism, London, Routledge.
• Postman, Neil, 1992, Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology,
NY: Random House.
• Shabecoff, Phillip, 1993. A Fierce Green Fire: The American Environmental
Movement. NY: Hill and Wang.
• Slovic, Scott H., and Terrell Dixon, 1993, Being in the World: An
Environmental Reader for Writers, NY: McMillan Publishing Co.
• Guha, Ramachandra, 2000 Environmentalism, A Global History New Delhi,
Oxford University Press.
• Perlin, John, 1999, From Space to Earth: The Story of Solar Electricity, Ann
Arbor, Mich., AATEC Publications.
• Warren, Christopher, 2000, Brush with Death: A Social History of Lead
Poisoning, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
30
1.10 BIBLIOGRAPHY
1
Michael Adams, Series Editor’s Preface, pg. vii, in: Ramchandra Guha,
Environmentalism – A Global History. Oxford University Press (2000).
2
Datuk Amar Stephen K. T. Yong, Opening Address, pg. 8, in: Sunderlal
Bahuguna, Vandana Shiva and M. N. Buch, Environment Crisis & Sustainable
Development. Natraj Publishers (1992).
3
http://ecological-problems.blogspot.com/2008/08/environment-definition-and-
meaning.html
4
United Nations, European Commission, International Monetary Fund,
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, World Bank , 2005,
Handbook of National Accounting: Integrated Environmental and Economic
Accounting 2003, Studies in Methods, Series F, No.61, Rev.1, Glossary, United
Nations, New York, para. 7.31
5
Grove Richard, Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edens
and the Origin of Environmentalism, pg. 1600-1860. Cambridge University
Press (1995).
6
Gregory Allen Barton, Empire Forestry and the Origins of Environmentalism.
Cambridge University Press (2002).
7
P. V. Bole, Review of Flora Indica (1976); William Roxburgh and William
Carey, Descriptions of Indian Plants in: The Quarterly Review of Biology,
51(3):442-443.
8
Jayeeta Sharma, British Science, Chinese Skill and Assam Tea: Making Empire’s
Garden in: Indian Economic Social History Review 43; 429. (2006).
9
Perlin, John, 1999, From Space to Earth: The Story of Solar Electricity, Ann
Arbor, Mich., AATEC Publications
10
P. V. Bole, Review of Flora Indica (1976); William Roxburgh and William
Carey, Descriptions of Indian Plants in: The Quarterly Review of Biology,
51(3):442-443.
11
Dr S.K.Puri, Biodiversity Profile of India.
12
J.C. Briggs, The Bio-geographic And Tectonic History of India in: Journal of
Biogeography, 30:381–388. (2003).
13
P.R. Krausman & A.J.T. Johnsingh, Conservation and Wildlife Education in
India, in: Wildlife Society Bulletin, 18:342-347. (1990).
31
Understanding
Environment UNIT 2 NATURE AND ECOSYSTEM
Structure
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Objectives
2.3 India’s Natural History (Ancient and Medieval)
2.4 Natural Resources
2.5 Natural Resource Management
2.6 Ecosystem
2.7 Biodiversity and Natural Resources
2.8 Biodiversity Hotspots
2.9 Threatened and Extinct Species
2.10 Summary
2.14 Bibliography
2.1 INTRODUCTION
The word nature is used in a good many senses and it includes ideas that vary
widely according to the educational background of those using it and the amount
of scientific training they have had, especially in biology. The concept of nature
generally held by the non-specialist, the politician or the technocrat is undoubtedly
only distantly related to that held by the ecologist. For that reason, it is sometimes
more convenient to use the terms biosphere and ecosphere, since these indicate
the two regions of our planet which contain everything ordinarily understood as
‘nature’.1
The biosphere can be simply defined as that part of the Earth in which life is
permanently possible and which contains all living organisms. It consists of the
terrestrial oceans and the surfaces of the continents, together with the adjacent
atmosphere (that is, the troposphere), with the exception of the polar ice caps
and the higher mountain slopes above the snow line. These latter regions,
described as parabiospheric, are included along with the biosphere itself in a
larger system, the ecosphere, which also embraces the upper layers of the
lithosphere and the whole of the atmosphere above the troposphere.
The aim of ecology is to investigate the relation of living organisms to each

other and to their surroundings and it thus provides, more than anything else, an
essential basis for any rational approach to the study of the biosphere. Since the
ecosphere is the origin of all natural resources except solar energy, it is easy to
appreciate the importance of ecological science to the understanding of problems
caused by the consumption of such resources in our present technological
civilisation.
The natural resources of the ecosphere are being wastefully consumed at an
32
increasing rate under the combined effect of population pressure and the dramatic Nature and Ecosystem
increase in industrial production. The current rate of use takes absolutely no
account of the real size of available reserves of minerals or fossil fuels, nor does
it concern itself with the rate of renewal of plant or animal resources. The needs
of future generations are similarly ignored. In addition to that, malnutrition is
spreading in the Third World and, in a future that is closer than some people
think, the industrialised and overpopulated countries of Europe and other
continents will no longer be protected from shortages of animal protein.
Like all other living beings, humans require matter and energy. They are animals
and are therefore heterotrophic organisms.2 As such, their metabolic requirements
are met by the air they breathe and by the water and organically derived food
they ingest. Like other living species, they depend on the cosmic system from
which they have descended: essentially the sun together with the ecosphere, the
superficial part of our planet where the environmental conditions exist that make
life possible.
2.2 OBJECTIVES
After studying the unit, the learners should be able to:
• examine India’s natural history;
• study the meaning and classification of natural resources;
• throw light on the concept of ecosystems;
• study the concept of sustainable development and its relevance in today’s
age; and
• examine environmentalism and its contribution in conservation of the
environment.
2.3 INDIA’S NATURAL HISTORY (ANCIENT AND

MEDIEVAL)
Natural history in India has a long heritage with a recorded history going back to
the Vedas. Natural history research in early times included the broad fields of
paleontology, zoology and botany. These studies would today be considered under
field of ecology but in former times, such research was undertaken mainly by
amateurs, often physicians, civil servants and army officers.
9000 year old rock painting from Bhimbetka showing a hunt.

33
Understanding Although the growth of modern natural history in India can be attributed to British
Environment
colonialism and the growth of natural history in Britain, there is considerable
evidence to suggest that India with its diverse landscapes, fauna and flora along
with other tropical colonies helped in creating an increased interest in natural
history in Britain and elsewhere in the world.1 [1] Natural history in India was
also enriched by older traditions of conservation, folklore, nature study and the
arts.2 [2]
Indus Valley Civilisation
Clay tablets from Lothal showing various animals

Over a thousand sites of the Indus Valley civilisation across North West India
before 1700 B.C. have been studied to date. A large number of animal bones
have been found at these sites; one-fifth of these comprising bones of wild fauna,
such as the jackal, hare, chital, rhinoceros and elephant. Most seeds found in the
dwellings of some Western Indian sites are of wild plants now extinct to the
region.1 [7]
The fauna and flora of those times are richly represented in the clay pottery and
tablets excavated from these sites. Clay tablets document many species of now
locally extinct wildlife including Rhinoceros and Elephant. A tiger seal has been
found in Harrappa dating back to 3000 B.C.[7]
The Swamp Deer or Barasingha was found in Mehrgarh in Baluchistan till 300
B.C. and probably became locally extinct due to over-hunting and loss of riverine
habitat to cultivation.[7] A species of wild cattle, Bos primegenius nomadicus or
the zebu vanished early on from its range in the Indus basin and western India,
possibly due to inter-breeding with domestic cattle and resultant fragmentation
of wild populations due to loss of habitat.[7]
The first recorded domestication of the elephant was in Harappan times and the
animal ultimately went on to serve as a siege engine, mount in war, status symbol,
work animal, and an elevated platform for hunting.[8]
Vedic times
The Vedas represent some of the oldest historical records available (1500-500
BC) and they list the names of nearly 250 kinds of birds besides many other
notes on various other fauna and flora.[3] In the vedic texts, Aryavarta, the land
34
of the Aryans, was considered to be co-terminous with the range of the Blackbuck. Nature and Ecosystem
Sometimes, these referred to the lands North of the Vindhyas; at others times, it
included lands to the South.[4] A notable piece of information mentioned in the
Vedas is the knowledge of brood parasitism in the Indian Koel, a habit known
well ahead of Aristotle (384-322 BC). This is possibly because both the Indian
Koel and its host the House Crow were common and easy to observe.2 [3]
The medical treatises of Charaka and Sushruta mention wildlife from the point
of view of the meats the forests yielded and their associated attributes. The
stratification of Hindu society into the caste system saw the warrior caste or
kshatriya setting itself apart on hereditary lines; one assertion of which was the
right to eat certain animals. The treatises espoused rules as to when, and who
could or could not eat flesh of particular animals; for example, the flesh of the
lion and tiger were to be consumed solely by regents and that too on rare
occasions.[5]
The elephant was another well studied wild animal and the capture, training and
maintenance of elephants was documented in the 2000 year old text Gajashastra
written in the Pâli script.[6] The Tamil literature of the Sangam period, depicts a
classification of land into 5 eco-types; ranging from the littoral to wet paddy
fields.[4]
The Maurya Period

The protection of animals became serious business by the time of the Maurya
dynasty in the fourth and third centuries B.C. The first empire to provide a unified
political entity in India, the attitude of the Mauryas towards forests, its denisens
and fauna in general is of interest.
The Mauryas firstly looked at forests as a resource. For them, the most important
forest product was the elephant. Military might in those times depended not only
upon horses and men but also battle-elephants; these played a role in the defeat
of Seleucus, Alexander’s governor of the Punjab. The Mauryas sought to preserve
supplies of elephants since it was more cost and time-effective to catch, tame
and train wild elephants than raise them. Kautilya’s Arthashastra contains not
only maxims on ancient statecraft, but also unambiguously specifies the
responsibilities of officials such as the Protector of the Elephant Forests:3 [9]
On the border of the forest, he should establish a forest for elephants guarded by
foresters. The Superintendent should with the help of guards...protect the
elephants whether along on the mountain, along a river, along lakes or in marshy
tracts...They should kill anyone slaying an elephant.
— Arthashastra
The Mauryas also designated separate forests to protect supplies of timber, as
well as lions and tigers, for skins. Elsewhere the Protector of Animals also worked
to eliminate thieves, tigers and other predators to render the woods safe for grasing
cattle.
The Mauryas valued certain forest tracts in strategic or economic terms and
instituted curbs and control measures over them. They regarded all forest tribes
with distrust and controlled them with bribery and political subjugation. They
employed some of them, the food-gatherers or aranyaca to guard borders and
35
Understanding trap animals. The sometimes tense and conflict-ridden relationship nevertheless
Environment
enabled the Mauryas to guard their vast empire.[10]
The Mauryan emperor Ashoka (304-232 BC), embraced Buddhism in the latter
part of his reign and brought about significant changes in his style of governance.
He provided protection to fauna and even relinquished the royal hunt. He was
perhaps the first ruler to advocate conservation measures for wildlife and even
had rules inscribed in stone edicts. The edicts proclaim that many followed the
king’s example in giving up the slaughter of animals; one of them proudly states:[10]
Our king killed very few animals.

— Edict on Fifth Pillar
However, the edicts of Ashoka and the contents of Arthashastra reflect more the
desire of rulers than actual events; the mention of a 100 ‘panas’ fine for poaching
deer in royal hunting preserves shows that rule-breakers did exist. The legal
restrictions conflicted with the freedoms exercised by the common people in
hunting, felling, fishing and setting fires in forests.[10]
Chalukya Period
Arguably, the best treatise on hunting in Sanskrit was the Manasollasa composed
in the times of the Chalukyas, the twelfth century rulers of the Deccan.[11] Another
work from this period was Mriga Pakshi Shastra, a treatise on mammals and
birds written in the 13th Century by a Jain poet, Hamsadeva. The accuracy of the
content has however been critiqued by many including Salim Ali.4 [3][12][13]
Mughal Period
Babur hunting rhino near Peshawar

36
The Mughal emperors not only led a leisurely life but also pursued gardening Nature and Ecosystem
and art. They decorated their gardens with their private zoos and hired artists to
paint many subjects including plants and animals. Hunting and falconry were
also extensively practised.1 [14] They also employed scribes and were among the
first to document their observations of nature in India. The foremost of the
observers were Jehangir (1569-1627) and Babur (1483-1530).2 [15]
Babur
The notes of Babur for instance indicate the former distribution of the Rhinoceros
as far west as the Indus:
The Lesser Rhinoceros is found at present in the Bengal Sunderbuns, and a very
few individuals are stated to occur in the forest tract along the Mahanuddy river,
and extending northwards towards Midnapore; and also on the northern edge
of the Rajmahal hills near the Ganges. It occurs also more abundantly in Burmah,
and thence through the Malayan peninsula to Java and Borneo. Several have
been killed quite recently within a few miles of Calcutta. One of these species
formerly existed on the banks of the Indus, where it was hunted by the Emperor
Baber. Individuals of this species are not unfrequently taken about the country
as a show.
— Thomas C. Jerdon, 1874. Mammals of India
Jehangir
Painting of a Dodo attributed to Ustad Mansur
Jehangir also kept detailed records to hunts. From the age of twelve (1580) to 48
years he had 28,532 animals had been hunted with 17,167 by himself. These
included 86 Tigers (and lions), 9 Bears, leopards, foxes, otters (ubdilao) and
hyaenas, 889 - Blue bulls (Nilgai) and 35 Mhaka. Salim Ali suggests that the
Mhaka must refer to Swamp deer.1 [16] 37
Understanding Ustad Mansur, a 17th century court artist of Jehangir,2 [17] was the first man to
Environment
accurately paint the Siberian Crane.[18] The Dodo was brought to Jehangir’s court
via Portuguese controlled Goa and an unsigned painting of it in the Hermitage
Museum is attributed to Mansur.3 [19][20][21]
2.4 NATURAL RESOURCES

A resource can be defined simply as any form of energy or matter necessary to
satisfy the physiological needs of humanity or to sustain all the various activities
leading to production. The flow patterns of such resources through human
civilisation are very complex and so can be studied from several different angles.
Between the stage at which the resource is extracted and that of its use by a
consumer, it undergoes many transformations, and these often have an impact
on the overall functioning of the ecosystems in which the processes occur.
A classic distinction is frequently made between non-renewable and renewable

resources. Potential sources of energy such as hydrocarbons and fissile materials
clearly come into the first category. But for other types of resources the distinction
is often difficult to make. Even minerals could be allocated to the second category
since they can theoretically be recycled from both domestic and industrial waste
and this would circumvent the problem of their exhaustion. Non-renewable
resources are those dependent on a finite stock and not reproducible – like fossil
fuels, or raw materials whose usage involves dispersal (e.g. phosphate fertilisers).
Renewable resources are those that are reproducible: in other words, obtained
from the biomass of living organisms. Water and all resources of a biological
origin are usually classified as renewable. Even when polluted, water is not
chemically modified in any way by being used and so can be recycled after
purification. Plant and animal resources, on the other hand, although potentially
renewable, are very often so overexploited that the possibility of regeneration in
many parts of the world has been greatly reduced and sometimes completely
compromised by the destruction of the ecosystem on which they depend. Solar
energy is a special case, and although it has a fixed rate of flow (the intensity of
solar radiation) it can be classified roughly as a renewable resource inasmuch as
solar ‘reserves’ are inexhaustible on a human scale.
A resource can be most simply defined as a form of energy and/or matter which
is essential for the functioning of organisms, populations and ecosystems. In the
particular case of humans, a resource is any form of energy or matter essential
for the fulfilment of physiological, socio-economic and cultural needs, both at
the individual level and that of the community.
When the functioning of natural ecosystems or of technological civilisations is

analysed, it is found that their usage of natural resources involves a permanent
transformation of matter (in living organisms, through their metabolic activity;
in human societies, through industrial processes). This transformation is the result
of a continuous flow and consumption of energy (originating from the sun as
regards the biosphere or from fossil fuels as regards technological civilisation).
Such considerations lead us to another definition of the term ‘resource’. As already

mentioned, a resource may consist of one of the various forms of primary energy
present in the ecosphere. In addition, however, it may be defined as anything
38
needed by a living organism such that an increase in its availability leads to an Nature and Ecosystem
increase in energy flow through the organism, and thus a greater rate of energy
conversion. In this definition, the term ‘living organism’ may be interpreted at
any level of complexity; from the individual, through a given population, to a
complete ecosystem.
On the basis of origin, resources may be divided into:
• Biotic - Biotic resources are obtained from the biosphere, such as forests
and their products, animals, birds and their products, fish and other marine
organisms. Mineral fuels such as coal and petroleum are also included in
this category because they formed from decayed organic matter.
• Abiotic - Abiotic resources include non-living things. Examples include land,
water, air and ores such as gold, iron, copper, silver etc.
Considering their stage of development, natural resources may be referred to in
the following ways:
• Potential Resources - Potential resources are those that exist in a region and
may be used in the future. For example, petroleum may exist in many parts
of India, having sedimentary rocks but until the time it is actually drilled out
and put into use, it remains a potential resource.
• Actual Resources are those that have been surveyed, their quantity and quality
determined and are being used in present times. The development of an
actual resource, such as wood processing depends upon the technology
available and the cost involved. That part of the actual resource that can be
developed profitably with available technology is called a reserve.
With respect to renewability, natural resources can be categorised as follows:
• Renewable resources are ones that can be replenished or reproduced easily.
Some of them, like sunlight, air, wind, etc., are continuously available and
their quantity is not affected by human consumption. Many renewable
resources can be depleted by human use, but may also be replenished, thus
maintaining a flow. Some of these, like agricultural crops, take a short time
for renewal; others, like water, take a comparatively longer time, while still
others, like forests, take even longer.
• Non-renewable resources are formed over very long geological periods.
Minerals and fossil fuels are included in this category. Since their rate of
formation is extremely slow, they cannot be replenished once they get
depleted. Of these, the metallic minerals can be re-used by recycling them.4 [1]
But coal and petroleum cannot be recycled.5 [2]

1) Why is it important to protect natural resources?
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39
Understanding
Environment 2.5 NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Natural resource management is a discipline in the management of natural
resources such as land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particular focus on
how management affects the quality of life for both present and future generations.
Natural resource management is interrelated with the concept of sustainable
development, a principle that forms a basis for land management and
environmental governance throughout the world.
In contrast to the policy emphases of urban planning and the broader concept of
environmental management, Natural resource management specifically focuses
on a scientific and technical understanding of resources and ecology and the
life-supporting capacity of those resources.
Depletion
In recent years, the depletion of natural resources and attempts to move to
sustainable development have been a major focus of development agencies. This
is of particular concern in rainforest regions, which hold most of the Earth’s
natural biodiversity — irreplaceable genetic natural capital. Conservation of
natural resources is the major focus of natural capitalism, environmentalism, the
ecology movement, and green politics. Some view this depletion as a major
source of social unrest and conflicts in developing nations.
Mining, petroleum extraction, fishing, hunting, and forestry are generally

considered natural-resource industries. Agriculture is considered a man-made
resource. Theodore Roosevelt, a well-known conservationist and former United
States president, was opposed to unregulated natural resource extraction. The
term is defined by the United States Geological Survey as “The Nation’s natural
resources include its minerals, energy, land, water, and biota.”6 [4]
Protection
The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we
solve that problem, it will avail us little to solve all others.7 Conservation biology
is the scientific study of the nature and status of Earth’s biodiversity with the aim
of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of
extinction.8 [6][7] It is an interdisciplinary subject drawing on sciences, economics,
and the practice of natural resource management.9 [8][9][10][11] The term conservation
biology was introduced as the title of a conference held University of California
at San Diego in La Jolla, California in 1978 organised by biologists Bruce Wilcox
and Michael Soulé.
Habitat conservation is a land management practice that seeks to conserve, protect

and restore, habitat areas for wild plants and animals, especially conservation
reliant species, and prevent their extinction, fragmentation or reduction in
range.10 [12] It is a priority of many groups that cannot be easily characterised in
terms of any one ideology.
2.6 ECOSYSTEM
An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-
organisms (biotic factors) in an area functioning together with all of the non-
40 living physical (abiotic) factors of the environment. [27]
Central to the ecosystem concept is the idea that living organisms are continually Nature and Ecosystem
engaged in a highly interrelated set of relationships with every other element
constituting the environment in which they exist. Eugene Odum, one of the
founders of the science of ecology, stated: “Any unit that includes all of the
organisms (ie: the “community”) in a given area interacting with the physical
environment so that a flow of energy leads to clearly defined trophic structure,
biotic diversity, and material cycles (i.e.: exchange of materials between living
and nonliving parts) within the system is an ecosystem.”[28] The human ecosystem
concept is then grounded in the deconstruction of the human/nature dichotomy,
and the emergent premise that all species are ecologically integrated with each
other, as well as with the abiotic constituents of their biotope.
A greater number or variety of species or biological diversity of an ecosystem

may contribute to greater resilience of an ecosystem, because there are more
species present at a location to respond to change and thus “absorb” or reduce its
effects. This reduces the effect before the ecosystem’s structure is fundamentally
changed to a different state. This is not universally the case and there is no proven
relationship between the species diversity of an ecosystem and its ability to provide
goods and services on a sustainable level.
Humid tropical forests produce very few goods and direct services and are
extremely vulnerable to change, while many temperate forests readily grow back
to their previous state of development within a lifetime after felling or a forest
fire. Some grasslands have been sustainably exploited for thousands of years
(Mongolia, European peat and moorland communities). The term ecosystem can
also pertain to human-made environments, such as human ecosystems and human-
influenced ecosystems, and can describe any situation where there is relationship
between living organisms and their environment. Fewer areas on the surface of
the earth today exist free from human contact, although some genuine wilderness
areas continue to exist without any forms of human intervention.
Wilderness
Wilderness is generally defined as areas that have not been significantly modified
by human activity. The WILD Foundation goes into more detail, defining
wilderness as: “The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet
— those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed
with roads, pipelines or other industrial infrastructure.” Wilderness areas can be
found in preserves, estates, farms, conservation preserves, ranches, National
Forests, National Parks and even in urban areas along rivers, gulches or otherwise
undeveloped areas.
Wilderness areas and protected parks are considered important for the survival
of certain species, ecological studies, conservation, solitude, and recreation. Some
nature writers believe wilderness areas are vital for the human spirit and
creativity,[42] and some Ecologists consider wilderness areas to be an integral
part of the planet’s self-sustaining natural ecosystem (the biosphere). They may
also preserve historic genetic traits and that they provide habitat for wild flora
and fauna that may be difficult to recreate in zoos, arboretums or laboratories.
41
Understanding
Environment Self Assessment Question
2) Why its important to have wilderness as part of nature?
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Life
Although there is no universal agreement on the definition of life, scientists
generally accept that the biological manifestation of life is characterised by
organisation, metabolism, growth, adaptation, response to stimuli and
reproduction.[43] Life may also be said to be simply the characteristic state of
organisms.
Properties common to terrestrial organisms (plants, animals, fungi, protists,

archaea and bacteria) are that they are cellular, carbon-and-water-based with
complex organisation, having a metabolism, a capacity to grow, respond to stimuli,
and reproduce. An entity with these properties is generally considered life.
However, not every definition of life considers all of these properties to be
essential. Human-made analogs of life may also be considered to be life.
The biosphere is the part of Earth’s outer shell – including land, surface rocks,
water, air and the atmosphere – within which life occurs, and which biotic
processes in turn alter or transform. From the broadest geophysiological point of
view, the biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beings
and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the
lithosphere (rocks), hydrosphere (water), and atmosphere (air). Currently the
entire Earth contains over 75 billion tons (150 trillion pounds or about
6.8 x 1013 kilograms) of biomass (life), which lives within various environments
within the biosphere.[44]
Over nine-tenths of the total biomass on Earth is plant life, on which animal life
depends very heavily for its existence.[45] More than 2 million species of plant
and animal life have been identified to date,[46] and estimates of the actual number
of existing species range from several million to well over 50 million.[47][48][49]
The number of individual species of life is constantly in some degree of flux,
with new species appearing and others ceasing to exist on a continual basis.[50][51]
The total number of species is presently in rapid decline.[52][53][54]
Biomes
Biomes are terminologically similar to the concept of ecosystems, and are
climatically and geographically defined areas of ecologically similar climatic
conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil
organisms, often referred to as ecosystems. Biomes are defined on the basis of
factors such as plant structures (such as trees, shrubs, and grasses), leaf types
(such as broadleaf and needleleaf ), plant spacing (forest, woodland, savanna),
and climate. Unlike ecozones, biomes are not defined by genetic, taxonomic, or
42
historical similarities. Biomes are often identified with particular patterns of Nature and Ecosystem
ecological succession and climax vegetation.
2.7 BIODIVERSITY AND NATURAL RESOURCES

The use and conservation of biodiversity and natural resources is of increasing
importance at the national and international levels. A number of legal instruments
deal with the various facets of biodiversity. The central treaty is the 1992
Biodiversity Convention which provides an overall legal framework for
addressing biodiversity management, supplemented by the Cartagena Protocol
on Bio-safety. A number of other treaties address some aspects of biodiversity
management: these range from the 1946 International Convention for the
Regulation of Whaling to the 1973 Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the 2006 International
Tropical Timber Agreement.
The prominence of law and policy concerning the use and conservation of
biological resources is due in part to the increased economic value of biological
and genetic resources in the wake of the rapid development of genetic engineering.
A number of non-environmental law treaties, such as trade and intellectual
property rights treaties are thus of considerable importance in the study of
biodiversity.
The skewed distribution of biological resources between tropical (mostly

developing) and temperate (mostly developed) countries implies that most of
the debated legal issues have a strong North-South component. This is generally
a consequence of the fact that developing countries hold most biological resources
while developed countries hold most of the technologies needed for
commercialising them.
India’s Water Resources

India’s total renewable water resources are estimated at 1,907.8 km3/year.11 Its
annual supply of usable and replenishable groundwater amounts to 350 billion
cubic metres.12 Only 35% of groundwater resources are being utilised. About 44
million tonnes of cargo is moved annually through the country’s major rivers
and waterways. Groundwater supplies 40% of water in India’s irrigation canals.
56% of the land is arable and used for agriculture. Black soils are moisture-
retentive and are preferred for dry farming and growing cotton, linseed, etc.
Forest soils are used for tea and coffee plantations. Red soil has a wide diffusion
of iron content.13
Most of India’s estimated 5.4 billion barrels (860,000,000 m3) in oil reserves are
located in the Mumbai High, upper Assam, Cambay, the Krishna-Godavari and
Cauvery basins. India possesses about seventeen trillion cubic feet of natural gas
in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Orissa. Uranium is mined in Andhra Pradesh.
India has 400 medium-to-high enthalpy thermal springs for producing geothermal
energy in seven “provinces” — the Himalayas, Sohana, Cambay, the Narmada-
Tapti delta, the Godavari delta and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (specifically
the volcanic Barren Island.)14
India is the world’s biggest producer of mica blocks and mica splittings. India
ranks second amongst the world’s largest producers of barites and chromites.
43
Understanding The Pleistocene system is rich in minerals. India is the third-largest coal producer
Environment
in the world and ranks fourth in the production of iron ore. It is the fifth-largest
producer of bauxite and crude steel, the seventh-largest of manganese ore and
the eighth-largest of aluminium. India has significant sources of titanium ore,
diamonds and limestone.15 India possesses 24% of the world’s known and
economically-viable thorium, which is mined along shores of Kerala.16 Gold
had been mined in the now-defunct Kolar Gold Fields in Karnataka.17
2.8 BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS

The Western Ghats
The Western Ghats are a chain of hills that run along the western edge of peninsular
India. Their proximity to the ocean and through orographic effect, they receive
high rainfall. These regions have moist deciduous forest and rain forest. The
region shows high species diversity as well as high levels of endemism. Nearly
77% of the amphibians and 62% of the reptile species found here are found
nowhere else.18 [12]
The region shows biogeographical affinities to the Malayan region, and the
Satpura hypothesis proposed by Sunder Lal Hora suggests that the hill chains of
Central India may have once formed a connection with the forests of northeastern
India and into the Indo-Malayan region. Hora used torrent stream fishes to support
the theory, but it was also suggested to hold for birds.19 [13] Later studies have
suggested that Hora’s original model species were a demonstration of convergent
evolution rather than speciation by isolation.
More recent phylogeographic studies have attempted to study the problem using
molecular approaches.20 [14] There are also differences in taxa which are dependent
on time of divergence and geological history.21 [15] Along with Sri Lanka this
region also shows some faunal similarities with the Madagascan region especially
in the reptiles and amphibians. Examples include the Sibynophis snakes, the
Purple frog and Sri Lankan lizard genus Nessia which appears similar to the
Madagascan genus Acontias. Numerous floral links to the Madagascan region
also exist.
An alternate hypothesis that these taxa may have originally evolved out-of-India
has also been suggested.22 [18] Biogeographical quirks exist with some taxa of
Malayan origin occurring in Sri Lanka but absent in the Western Ghats. These
include insects groups such as the zoraptera and plants such as those of the genus
Nepenthes.
The Eastern Himalayas
The Red Panda or Firefox is native to

the Himalayas in India and Nepal and
southern China.
44
The Eastern Himalayas is the region encompassing Bhutan, northeastern India, Nature and Ecosystem
and southern, central, and eastern Nepal. The region is geologically young and
shows high altitudinal variation. It has nearly 163 globally threatened species
including the One-horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis), the Wild Asian
Water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis (Arnee)) and in all 45 mammals, 50 birds, 17
reptiles, 12 amphibians, 3 invertebrate and 36 plant species.1 [19][20] The Relict
Dragonfly (Epiophlebia laidlawi) is an endangered species found here with the
only other species in the genus being found in Japan. The region is also home to
the Himalayan Newt (Tylototriton verrucosus), the only salamander species found
within Indian limits.

3) List some of the biodiversity hotspots and comment?
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2.9 THREATENED AND EXTINCT SPECIES

Extinct and fossil forms
During the early Tertiary period, the Indian tableland, what is today peninsular
India, was a large island. Prior to becoming an island it was connected to the
African region. During the tertiary period this island was separated from the
Asian mainland by a shallow sea. The Himalayan region and the greater part of
Tibet lay under this sea. The movement of the Indian subcontinent into the Asian
landmass created the great Himalayan ranges and raised the sea bed into what
are today the plains of northern India.
Elephas ganesa a fossil elephant from the Siwaliks

Once connected to the Asian mainland, many species moved into India. The
Himalayas were created in several upheavals. The Siwaliks were formed in the
last and the largest number of fossils of the Tertiary period are found in these
ranges.1 [22]
The Siwalik fossils include Mastodons, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, Sivatherium,
a large four-horned ruminant, giraffe, horses, camels, bison, deer, antelope, pigs,
chimpanzees, orangutans, baboons, langurs, macaques, cheetahs, Sabre-toothed
tigers, lions, tigers, sloth bear, Aurochs, leopards, wolves, dholes, porcupines,
rabbits and a host of other mammals.[22] 45
Understanding Many fossil tree species have been found in the intertrappean beds2 [23] including
Environment
Grewioxylon from the Eocene and Heritieroxylon keralensis from the middle
Miocene in Kerala and Heritieroxylon arunachalensis from the Mio-Pliocene of
Arunachal Pradesh and at many other places. The discovery of Glossopteris fern
fossils from India and Antarctica led to the discovery of Gondwanaland and led
to the greater understanding of continental drift. Fossil Cycads3 [24] are known
from India while seven Cycad species continue to survive in India.4 [25][26]
Titanosaurus indicus was perhaps the first dinosaur discovered in India by Richard
Lydekker in 1877 in the Narmada valley. This area has been one of the most
important areas for paleontology in India. Another dinosaur known from India is
Rajasaurus narmadensis, a heavy-bodied and stout carnivorous abelisaurid
(theropod) dinosaur that inhabited the area near present-day Narmada river. It
was 9 m in length and 3 m in height and somewhat horizontal in posture with a
double-crested crown on the skull.
Some fossil snakes from the Cenozoic era are also known.5 [28] Some scientists
have suggested that the Deccan lava flows and the gases produced were
responsible for the global extinction of dinosaurs however these have been
disputed.
Himalayacetus subathuensis the oldest-known whale fossil of the family

Protocetidae (Eocene), about 53.5 million years old was found in the Simla hills
in the foothills of the Himalayas. This area was underwater (in the Tethys sea)
during the Tertiary period (when India was an island off Asia). This whale may
have been capable of living partly on land.6 [31] [32] Other fossil whales from India
include Remingtonocetus approximately 43-46 million years old.
Several small mammal fossils have been recorded in the intertrappean beds,
however larger mammals are mostly unknown. The only major primate fossils
have been from the nearby region of Myanmar.
Recent extinctions
Illustration of a Himalayan Quail from A. O. Hume’s work. (Last seen in 1876)
The exploitation of land and forest resources by humans along with hunting and
trapping for food and sport has led to the extinction of many species in India in
recent times. Probably the first species to vanish during the time of the Indus
Valley civilisation was the species of wild cattle, Bos primegenius nomadicus or
46
the wild zebu, which vanished from its range in the Indus valley and western Nature and Ecosystem
India, possibly due to inter-breeding with domestic cattle and resultant
fragmentation of wild populations due to loss of habitat.[33]
Notable mammals which became or are presumed extinct within the country
itself include the Indian / Asiatic Cheetah, Javan Rhinoceros and Sumatran
Rhinoceros.1 [34] While some of these large mammal species are confirmed extinct,
there have been many smaller animal and plant species whose status is harder to
determine. Many species have not been seen since their description. Hubbardia
heptaneuron, a species of grass that grew in the spray zone of the Jog Falls prior
to the construction of the Linganamakki reservoir, was thought to be extinct but
a few were rediscovered near Kolhapur. [35]
Some species of birds have gone extinct in recent times, including the Pink-
headed Duck (Rhodonessa caryophyllacea) and the Himalayan Quail (Ophrysia
superciliosa). A species of warbler, Acrocephalus orinus, known earlier from a
single specimen collected by Allan Octavian Hume from near Rampur in
Himachal Pradesh was rediscovered after 139 years in Thailand.[36][37] Similarly,
the Jerdon’s Courser (Rhinoptilus bitorquatus), named after the zoologist Thomas
C. Jerdon who discovered it in 1848, was rediscovered in 1986 by Bharat Bhushan,
an ornithologist at the Bombay Natural History Society after being thought to be
extinct.
An estimate of the numbers of species by group in India is given below. This is

based on Alfred, 1998.2 [38]
Taxonomic Group World Indian % in
Species Species India
PROTISTA
Protozoa 31250 2577 8.24
Total (Protista) 31250 2577 8.24
ANIMALIA
Mesozoa 71 10 14.08
Porifera 4562 486 10.65
Cnidaria 9916 842 8.49
Ctenophora 100 12 12
Platyhelminthes 17500 1622 9.27
Nemertinea 600
Rotifera 2500 330 13.2
Gastrotricha 3000 100 3.33
Kinorhyncha 100 10 10
Nematoda 30000 2850 9.5
Nematomorpha 250
Acanthocephala 800 229 28.62
Sipuncula 145 35 24.14 47
Understanding
Environment Mollusca 66535 5070 7.62
Echiura 127 43 33.86
Annelida 12700 840 6.61
Onychophora 100 1 1
Arthropoda 987949 68389 6.9
Crustacea 35534 2934 8.26
Insecta 6.83
Arachnida 73440 7.9
Pycnogonida 600 2.67
Pauropoda 360
Chilopoda 3000 100 3.33
Diplopoda 7500 162 2.16
Symphyla 120 4 3.33
Merostomata 4 2 50
Phoronida 11 3 27.27
Bryozoa (Ectoprocta) 4000 200 5
Endoprocta 60 10 16.66
Brachiopoda 300 3 1
Pogonophora 80
Praipulida 8
Pentastomida 70
Chaetognatha 111 30 27.02
Tardigrada 514 30 5.83
Echinodermata 6223 765 12.29
Hemichordata 120 12 10
Chordata 48451 4952 10.22
Protochordata 2106 119 5.65
(Cephalochordata+Urochordata)
Pisces 21723 2546 11.72
Amphibia 5150 209 4.06
Reptilia 5817 456 7.84
Aves 9026 1232 13.66
Mammalia 4629 390 8.42
Total (Animalia) 1196903 868741 7.25
Grand Total (Protosticta+Animalia) 1228153 871318 7.09
48
Nature and Ecosystem
Deccan Mahseer Tor khudree

Invertebrates
• Molluscs
o List of non-marine molluscs of India
• Arachnids
o Spiders of India
• Insects
o Coccinellidae
– Ladybird beetles of India
o Odonata
– Dragonflies and damselflies of India
o Lepidoptera
– Butterflies of India
– Papilionid butterflies of India
– Pierid butterflies of India
– Nymphalid butterflies of India
– Lycaenid butterflies of India
– Hesperid butterflies of India
– Riodinid butterflies of India
– Moths of India
o Hymenoptera
– Ants of India
Threatened plant species
Threat Category (IUCN) Number of Species
Extinct 19
Extinct/Endangered 43
Endangered 149
Endangered/Vulnerable 2
Vulnerable 108
Rare 256
Indeterminate 719
Insufficiently known 9
No information 1441
Not threatened 374
Total 3120
49
Understanding Threatened Animal species
Environment
Number of species per group according to IUCN threat categories (1994)
2.10 SUMMARY
• Everything in the natural world is connected. An ecosystem is a community
of living and non-living things that work together. Ecosystems have no
particular size. An ecosystem can be as large as a desert or a lake or as small
as a tree or a puddle. If you have a terrarium, that is an artificial ecosystem.
The water, water temperature, plants, animals, air, light and soil all work
together. If there isn’t enough light or water or if the soil doesn’t have the
right nutrients, the plants will die. If the plants die, animals that depend on
them will die. If the animals that depend on the plants die, any animals that
depends on those animals will die. Ecosystems in nature work the same
way. All the parts work together to make a balanced system!
• A healthy ecosystem has lots of species diversity and is less likely to be
seriously damaged by human interaction, natural disasters and climate
changes. Every species has a niche in its ecosystem that helps keep the system
healthy. We are learning about new species every day, and we are just figuring
out the roles they play in the natural world. By studying and maintaining
biodiversity, we help keep our planet healthy.
2.11 TERMINAL QUESTIONS

1) Give an overview of India’s Ancient and Medieval History.
2) Comment on Natural Resource Management.
3) Why do certain species become threatened and extinct?
4) What is the relation between Nature and Ecosystem?

50
2) Refer to Section 2.6 Nature and Ecosystem

Terminal Questions
1) Natural history in India has a long heritage with a recorded history going
back to the Vedas. Natural history research in early times included the broad
fields of paleontology, zoology and botany. These studies would today be
considered under field of ecology but in former times, such research was
undertaken mainly by amateurs, often physicians, civil servants and army
officers. List and explain: Indus valley civilization etc.
2) Natural resource management is a discipline in the management of natural
resources such as land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particular
focus on how management affects the quality of life for both present and
future generations. Natural resource management is interrelated with the
concept of sustainable development, a principle that forms a basis for land
management and environmental governance throughout the world. In contrast
to the policy emphases of urban planning and the broader concept of
environmental management, Natural resource management specifically
focuses on a scientific and technical understanding of resources and ecology
and the life-supporting capacity of those resources. Further explain Depletion,
Protection etc.
3) The exploitation of land and forest resources by humans along with hunting
and trapping for food and sport has led to the extinction of many species in
India in recent times. Probably the first species to vanish during the time of
the Indus valley civilization was the species of wild cattle, Bos primegenius
nomadicus or the wild zebu, which vanished from its range in the Indus
valley and western India, possibly due to inter-breeding with domestic cattle
and resultant fragmentation of wild populations due to loss of habitat. List
out the reasons and explain like poaching, over extraction etc.
4) Explain Nature, define how nature has been defined. Explain how ecosystems
are formed and protected, draw a linkage between nature and ecosystem.
The heat and light from the sun are critical parts of an ecosystem. The sun’s
heat helps water evaporate and return to the atmosphere where it is cycled
back into water. The heat also keeps plants and animals warm. Without light
from the sun there would be no photosynthesis and plants wouldn’t have the
energy they need to make food. Elaborate on other things.
2.13 REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

• Allaby (1998), Floods, Facts on File.
• Balfour (1976), Encyclopaedia Asiatica: Comprising Indian Subcontinent,
Eastern and Southern Asia, Cosmo Publications.
• Nash, JM (2002), El Niño: Unlocking the Secrets of the Master Weather
Maker, Warner.
2.14 BIBLIOGRAPHY
1
François Ramade, Ecology of Natural Resources, Pg. 1. Wiley (1981).
51
Understanding 2
Heterotroph: A living organism that needs an external supply of organic
Environment
substances to synthesise its own organic requirements. All animals, fungi and
certain bacteria are heterotrophic.
3
Schiebinger, Londa and Claudia Swan (Eds.) 2004 Colonial Botany Science,
Commerce, and Politics in the Early Modern World. 352 pages. University of
Pennsylvania.
4
Archer, Mildred & W. G. Archer (1955) Natural history paintings. In Indian
painting for the British 1770-1880, pp. 91-98. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
5
Rangarajan, M. (2001) India’s Wildlife History, pp 4.
6
Salim Ali, Bird study in India : its history and its importance. ICCR, New
Delhi (1979).
7
Rangarajan, M. (2001) India’s Wildlife History, pp 7.
8
Sundaracharya, H. (1927), Mriga Pakshi Shastra by Hamsadeva (English
translation); Shankar, Darshan, Current Science 96 (2): 292 (2009).
9
Delme-Radcliffe, Lt. Col. E., Notes on the Falconidae used in India in Falconry.
Standfast Press, 1971.
10
Blunt, Wilfrid, The Mughal Painters of Natural History. Burlington magazine
90 (539): 49-50 (1948).
11
Salim Ali, The Moghul Emperors of India And Naturalists and Sportsmen.
Part 1". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 31 (4): 833–861 (1927).
12
Verma, S. P., Mughal Painter of Flora and Fauna - Ustad Mansur. Abhinav
Publications (1999).
13
Das, A.K., Ustad Mansur, Lalit, 17, 1974. p. 37 (1974).
14
“Earth’s natural wealth: an audit”. New Scientist. May 23, 2007
15
“Peak Everything?”. Reason Magazine. April 27, 2010
16
“Natural Resources”. U.S. Geological Survey. http://www.usgs.gov/themes/
resource.html.
17
Theodore Roosevelt, Address to the Deep Waterway Convention Memphis,
TN, October 4, 1907.
18
M. E. Soulé and B. A. Wilcox. 1980. Conservation Biology: An Evolutionary-
Ecological Perspective. Sinauer Associatess. Sunderland, Massachusetts; M.
E. Soule. (1986). What is conservation Biology? BioScience, 35(11): 727-
734.
19
Soule, Michael E. (1986). Conservation Biology: The Science of Scarcity and
Diversity. Sinauer Associates. pp. 584; Hunter, M. L. (1996). Fundamentals
of Conservation Biology. Blackwell Science Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts;
Groom, M.J., Meffe, G.K. and Carroll, C.R. (2006) Principles of Conservation
Biology (3rd ed.). Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA; van Dyke, Fred (2008).
Conservation Biology: Foundations, Concepts, Applications, 2nd ed.. Springer
Verlag. pp. 478.
20
Habitat Conservation Planning Branch. “Habitat Conservation”. California
Department of Fish & Game. http://www.dfg.ca.gov/habcon/.
21
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Water_profile_of_India#Water_Resources J.K.
52
Jain; Farmer, B. H.; Rush, H.; West, H. W.; Allan, J. A.; Dasgupta, B.; Boon,
W. H. (May 1977). “India’s Underground Water Resources”. Philosophical Nature and Ecosystem
Transactions of the Royal Society of London 278 (962): 507–22.
22
http://www.krishiworld.com/html/soils10.html
23
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Energy_profile_of_India. Retrieved 2008-11-
20
24
D. Chandrasekharam. “Geothermal Energy Resources of India”. Indian Institute
of Technology Bombay. http://www.geos.iitb.ac.in/geothermalindia/pubs/IBC/
IBCTALKweb.htm
25
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html
26
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf62.htm. Retrieved 2006-06-01.
27
http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/may/08gita.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-21
28
Daniels, R. J. R. (2001) Endemic fishes of the Western Ghats and the Satpura
hypothesis. Current Science 81(3):240-244.
29
Ripley, Dillon S. (1949) Avian relicts and double invasions in Peninsular India
and Ceylon. Evolution 2:150-159
30
Karanth, P. K. (2003) Evolution of disjunct distributions among wet-zone
species of the Indian subcontinent: Testing various hypotheses using a
phylogenetic approach Current Science, 85(9): 1276-1283.
31
Biswas, S. and Pawar S. S. (2006) Phylogenetic tests of distribution patterns
in South Asia: towards an integrative approach; J. Biosci. 31 95–113.
32
Bajpai, S. and Gingerich P.D. (1998) A new Eocene archaeocete (Mammalia,
Cetacea) from India and the time of origin of whales Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.
USA 95:15464–15468.
33
http://www.cepf.net/xp/cepf/where_we_work/eastern_himalayas/eastern_
himalayas_info.xml;http://assets.panda.org/downloads/final_ehimalayas.
34
Prater, S. H. (1971) The Book of Indian Animals. BNHS.
35
Stewart R. Hinsley, Notes on fossil wood.
36
Robert Buckler, A brief review of the fossil cycads (1999).
37
http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/cycadpg?region=ind; Singh, Rita, P.
Radha (2006) A new species of Cycas from the Malabar Coast, Western Ghats,
India. Volume 58(2):119-123.
38
Rage J.-C., Bajpai S., Thewissen J. G. M. & Tiwari B. N. 2003. Early Eocene
snakes from Kutch, Western India, with a review of the Palaeophiidae.
Geodiversitas 25 (4) : 695-716.
39
Bajpai, S. and Gingerich P.D. (1998) A new Eocene archaeocete (Mammalia,
Cetacea) from India and the time of origin of whales Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.
USA 95:15464–15468.
40
Vivek Menon (2003). A field guide to Indian mammals. Dorling Kindersley,
Delhi.
41
Alfred, J.R.B. (1998) Faunal Diversity in India: An Overview: In Faunal
Diversity in India, i-viii, 1-495. (Editors. Alfred, JRB, et al., 1998). ENVIS
Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta.
53
Understanding
Environment UNIT 3 ENVIRONMENT AND LAW
Structure
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Objectives
3.3 Nature of Environmental Laws
3.4 Environment Laws
3.4.1 Environmental Legislations (from 1853 to 1980)
3.5 Environmental Act, Rules and Notifications in India (from 1980-tilldate)
3.5.1 Water Pollution
3.5.2 Air Pollution
3.5.3 Environment Protection
3.5.4 Noise Pollution
3.5.5 Ozone Layer Depletion
3.5.6 Coastal Regulation Zone
3.5.7 Environment Impact Assessment
3.5.8 Animal Welfare
3.5.9 Bio Diversity Conservation
3.5.10 Forest Conservation
3.5.11 Wild Life Protection
3.5.12 Hazardous Substances Management-12 Rules till 2007
3.5.13 National Environment
3.5.14 Public Liability Insurance
3.6 Five Year Plans on Environmental Issues
3.6.1 Sixth Plan (1980-1985)
3.6.2 Seventh Plan (1985-1990)
3.6.3 Eighth Plan (1992-1997)
3.6.4 Ninth Plan (1997-2002)
3.6.5 Tenth Plan (2002-2007)
3.6.6 Eleventh Plan (2007-2012)
3.7 National Policies Related to Environment
3.8 International Agreements on Environmental Issues
3.9 Summary
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Today the need is to evolve a new jurisprudence of striking balance between
growth, development and the ecosystem. Paul Harrison, (in Third world
tomorrow) has stressed that there is need for over all development of human
beings with due respect to nature, “The final principle is respect for the nature.
Growth that does not respect the natural world, its complexity and its sensitivity,
54 limits itself. Resources are exhausted, eco-systems collapse, species disappear
and our own physical and mental health and even our survival are threatened.” Environment and Law
In this unit the emphasis is on the Laws and polices existing in India for
environment protection, the various aspects of environmental law of public
nuisance, conservation of forest and other resources, coastal zone management,
constitutional mandates for environmental protection, international conventions.
3.2 OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit, you will be able to:
• discuss nature, of environmental laws;
• know the various Acts– in India for protection of environment; and
• know national policies on Environment.
3.3 NATURE OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS

The concept of environment is very wide, it includes land, water air, flora, fauna,
natural resources and human habitation. There, are number of Acts direct and
indirect relating to various aspect of environment. There are various protective
Laws for human beings relating to air, water, land, noise, nuclear, thermal
pollution and also for other living specifies of wild, marine life, flora and
fauna. The focus of environmental law in India should move from protection
to management of the environment and from reactive to proactive legal
mechanisms.
Many Constitutions in the world acknowledges the fundamental right to

environmental protection and many international treaties also acknowledge the
right to live in a healthy environment.The constitution of India provides that
every person has right to life as enshrined in Article 21, on the other hand it also
imposes duty on the Citizens to protect the environment (see Articles 51 A(g)
(ii), 39(b),(c),19(e)). Similarly the government departments also have duties
towards protection of environment, Article 48A directs the government to protect
and improve the environment and to safeguard the forest and wildlife of the
country, Article 31 A and 31C gives eminent powers to the government to
acquire forest, lands, estates and other natural resources however the acquisition
must be done equitably for common good (Article 39(b)and (c) of directive
principles).
The IX schedule of the constitution gives powers to the center, over the state and
judiciary to declare numerous land related Laws as unreviewable in any court.
The VII schedules (list 1, entries 52-58) places some environmental issues in
centre’s power alone, Atomic energy, oil fields and resources, mines, interstate
rivers and valleys and fishing in territorial waters are subjects related o
environmental protection in union list and fall within subject of union list (list I,
entries 6,53,54,56 and 57). public health and sanitation, agriculture land and
fisheries with in state territories and water fall under state subjects ( list II entries
6,14,18,21 and entry 17) however certain subjects like forest, wildlife and
population control falls under list III, entries 17 A,17 B, the concurrent list
where both center and state can legislate. Nomadic tribes, social and economic
planning, monopolies, factories and electricity, having close connection with
environmental protection also falls within concurrent list (list III, entries 15, 20,
21, 29, 36, 37, and 38.)
55
Understanding
Environment 3.4 ENVIRONMENT LAWS
The focus on environmental protection is not new and has been an integral part
of the Indian culture. The need for conservation and sustainable use of natural
resources has been expressed in ancient India and is also reflected in the
constitution and are backed by a number of laws – acts, rules, and notifications,
i.e., legislative and policy framework and is also in the international commitments
of the country. Let us see below the various pre-independence environmental
legislation that existed in India on water pollution, air pollution wildlife protection
and forest conservation indicating the nature and levels of governmental
awareness towards environmental issues.
3.4.1 Environmental Legislations (from 1853 to 1980)
Water Pollution The Shore Nuisance (Bombay and Kolkata) Act, 1853. It
efforts to remove any nuisance below the high water mark.
The Oriental Gas Company Act, 1857 - to control water
pollution specially from discharge of oriental gas company.
Indian Penal Code of 1860.
The Indian Easement Act, 1882 allows private rights to
use a resource that is, groundwater, by viewing it as an
attachment to the land. It also states that all surface water
belongs to the state and is a state property.
The Indian Fisheries Act, 1897 - Killing of fish by poisoning
water or by explosives was banned under the act
The Indian Ports Act, 1908 - prohibits discharge of oil in
port areas
The Indian Forest Act, 1927 - prohibits poisoning of
water within forest.
The factories Act, 1948
The River Boards Act of 1956 - enables the states to
enroll the central government in setting up an Advisory
River Board to resolve issues in inter-state cooperation.
Air Pollution Bengal Smoke Nuisance Act, 1905 - to prevent air
pollution in Calcutta and to protect marble structure of
Victoria memorial.
Bombay smoke nuisance Act, 1912 - to prevent air
pollution in Bombay.
Wild Life The Madras Wild Elephant Act, 1873 - was first
Conservation wildlife Act to protect wild Elephants.
The Elephant Preservation Act, 1879 - Act to protect wild
Elephants.
The Wild Bird Protection Act, 1887 - prohibit trade in
wild birds in notified closed season for breeding.
The Wild Birds and Animal Protection Act, 1912 -
Regulated hunting of listed species and closed season
56 but it ignored the need for control in wildlife trade.
Environment and Law
The Hailey National Park Act, 1937 - to protect the
unique ecosystem of Western Himalayas in Corbett
National Park then Hailey National Park
Forest Indian Forest Act, 1865
Conservation Indian Forest Act, 1878
Forest Policy of India, 1884
Indian Forest Act, 1927- It was enacted to ‘consolidate
the law related to forest, the transit of forest produce,
and the duty levied on timber and other forest produce’
Analysis of Environmental governance in pre independent India clearly shows

that there was genuine concern for improving air and water quality. However all
forest related acts and policies increasingly monopolies common property resource
into State controlled resource (Ghosh, Ashiesh (2007).
Environment, as rightly said by patrica, H Mische, knows no political boundaries,
and accepts only bio-regional or eco boundaries . The problem of environment
has become issue of concern both at national and International level. The problems
related to environment received Government’s attention for the first time in
India’s Fourth Plan (1969-74). This document has laid down:
“Planning for harmonious development recognises the unity of nature and man.
Such planning is possible only on the basis of a comprehensive appraisal of
environmental issues. There are instances in which timely, specialised advice on
environmental aspects could have helped in project design and in averting
subsequent adverse effect on the environment leading to loss of invested resources.
It is necessary, therefore, to introduce the environmental aspect into our planning
and development”(http://www.envfor.nic.in/unccd/annex-05.pdf).At International
level, the united nations, conference on the human environment , held in
Stockholm in the year 1972 was a landmark event for the protection of
environment. This Stockholm conference suggested that developing countries
must direct their efforts towards balancing their population growth. The 42nd
Amendment to the constitution of India, in 1976 introduced significant provisions
in constitution relating to the environment protection and has been already
discussed earlier in this unit. Following the Stockholm Conference, to identify
and investigate the problems of preserving or improving the human environment
in the country as well as to propose a solution for environmental problems the
National Committee, on Environmental Planning and Coordination (NCEPC)
was set up in 1972, under union department of science and technology. This
High-level advisory body was charged, among others, with reviewing policies
and programmes which have a significant bearing on quality of environment
and advise Government on environmental management and to improve the human
environment in the context of population growth and economic development. It
was to advise and suggest on existing legislation and regulation and administrative
machinery and also for promoting and strengthening environmental research,
education and awareness. The NCEPC in its existence of eight years (1972-80)
provided a major thrust in environmental planning, approval of projects in selected
sectors, human settlement planning, surveys of wetlands and spread of
environmental awareness and research (see the Tiwari Committees Report, 1981.)7
The Indian wildlife (protection Act,) was passed in 1972 under article –252 of
the constitution on the requests from states. The water prevention and control of 57
Understanding pollution Act, 1974 and the rules 1975 laid down the foundation of new era in
Environment
Indian environmental law. The central pollution central board was set up to oversee
implementation of the provisions of the act. The separate statutory bodies like
forest department to oversee compliance of law related to state level to oversee
compliannce of law on water pollution were set up. Sec 24 of the act prohibits
disposal of polluting matter to a steam or well or on land. However it allows
discharge of sewage or trade effluent after treatment. After the Stockholm
Conference, constitutional sanction was given to environment protection through
the 42nd Amendment in 1976, as incorporated into the Directive Principles of
State Policy and Fundamental Rights and Duties.
In 1980, the first National Committee, The Tiwari Committee was formed to
consider the issues relating to environmental legislation. It enlisted about 200
add Laws, pertaining to environmental protection. The main recommendation
are: (Uberoi, N.K. (2003). In : Environmental Management).
• Comprehensive reviews and reformation of some of the prevalent Central
and State Acts such as the Insecticides Act, 1968; the Water (Prevention
and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974; and the India Forest Act (1972).
• New legislation for areas of action not covered by the present laws (such as
those concerning toxic substances). The introduction of “Environment
Protection” in the Concurrent List of the seventh Schedule. The committee,
inter alia, recommended to establish of a separate Department of
Environment.

1) What is the main objective of NCEPC?
................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................
3.5 ENVIRONMENT ACTS, RULES AND

NOTIFICATION IN INDIA (FROM 1980- TILL
DATE)
Government of India has done many efforts for environment protection and the
list of environmental Acts, Rules and Notifications in India from 1980 to till
date are briefly discussed below :
3.5.1 Water Pollution

Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, amended 1988- The Act
prohibits the discharge of pollutants into water bodies beyond a given standard,
and lays down penalties for non-compliance.
Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977, amended 1992,
58 2003, The Act provides for a levy and collection of a cess on water consumed by
industries and local authorities and aims at augmenting the resources of the Environment and Law
central and state boards for prevention and control of water pollution.
The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Rules 1978 - defines
standards and indications for the kind of and location of meters that every
consumer of water is required to install.
3.5.2 Air Pollution

Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution)Act, 1981- prohibits the use of polluting
fuels and substances and regulates appliances that give rise to air pollution. It
entrusts the power of enforcing this act to the CPCB (Central Pallution Control
Board), for establishing or operating any industrial plant in the pollution control
area the consent from state boards is required. The board has to test the air in air
pollution control areas, inspect pollution control equipment, and manufacturing
processes.
The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Rules, 1982, amended has defined
the procedures for conducting meetings of the boards; the powers of the presiding
officers, about the decision-making, the quorum and manner in which the records
of the meeting were to be set. They also prescribe the manner and the purpose
for which assistance can be taken from specialists and the fee to be paid to them.
3.5.3 Environment Protection

Environment Protection Act (EPA), 1986 is enacted under Article-253of the
constitution in pursuant need for the general legislation for environment protection
and to fill in uncovered gaps in areas of major environmental hazards. Under
this Act, the central government is empowered to take necessary measures for
protecting and improving the quality of the environment, it can set standards
for emissions and discharges; regulation of the location of industries; management
of hazardous wastes, and for protection of public health and welfare.
Environment Protection Rules 1986- It
• lays down procedures for setting standards of emission or discharge of
environmental pollutants.
• Prescribes the parameters for the Central Government under which it can
issue orders of prohibition and restrictions on the location and operation of
industries in different areas.
Environment (Siting for Industrial Projects) Rules, 1999- it provides for
Prohibition for setting up of certain industries; for establishment of New Units
with certain conditions; puts Restrictions on the units in Taj Trapezium; lays
conditions for establishment of New Units around Archaeological Monuments.
3.5.4 Noise Pollution

Noise pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 formed under EPA,
Amended, 2002 and 2006.- it provides for such terms and conditions as are
necessary to reduce noise pollution.
• The use of loud speakers or public address systems is permitted during
night hours (between 10:00 p.m. to 12:00 midnight) or on during any occasion
of cultural or religious festival.
59
Understanding 3.5.5 Ozone Layer Depletion
Environment
Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000- the Rules
have been laid down for the regulation of production and consumption of ozone
depleting substances.
3.5.6 Coastal Regulation Zone

CRZ Notification, issued by central government by virtue of its power under
EPA it declares limits of and prohibitions in coastal regulation zones; there are
30 notification’s from 1997-2009. The notifications puts regulations on various
activities, including construction. It also provides for some protection to the
backwaters and estuaries.
3.5.7 Environment Impact Assessment

Notification, 1994, amended 2006- lays down some projects or activities that
require prior environmental clearance from the concerned regulatory authority.
The stages of prior Environment Clearance (EC) for new projects is also laid
down. There is provision for constitution of State Level Environment Impact
Assessment Authority (SEIAA).
3.5.8 Animal Welfare

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 and Rules (18), 1965-2006- the act
was passed to prevent the infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering on animals
and for that purpose to amend the law relating to the prevention of cruelty to
animals. For the promotion of animal welfare generally and for the purpose of
protecting animals from being subjected to unnecessary pain or suffering, in
particular, Animal Board of India has been established by the Central Government.
3.5.9 Bio Diversity Conservation

Biological Diversity Act, 2002- provides for the conservation of biological
diversity, sustainable use of its components, and fair and equitable sharing of the
benefits arising out of the use of biological resources and knowledge associated
with it; Rules, 2004.
3.5.10 Forest Conservation

Forest Conservation Act, 1980, amended 1988, Rules, 1981, amended 1988,
1992, 2003- provides for the protection of and the conservation of the forests.
3.5.11 Wild Life Protection

The Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, amended 1993, The Wildlife
(protection) Amendment Act, 2002 and set of 9 Rules, 1973-2003- The act
provides for the protection of birds and animals and for all matters connected to
it, whether it is their habitat or the waterhole or the forests that sustains them.
3.5.12 Hazardous Substances Management-12 Rules till 2007

• The Batteries (Management and Handling) Rules, 2001- it is applicable to
every manufacturer, importer, re-conditioner, assembler, dealer, auctioneer,
consumer, and bulk consumer who are involved in the manufacture,
processing, sale, purchase, and use of batteries or components so that it can
60 be regulated and to ensure the environmentally safe disposal of used batteries;
• The Municipal Solid Waste Management and Handling Rules, 2000- it makes Environment and Law
every municipal authority responsible for the collection, segregation, storage,
transportation, processing, and disposal of municipal solid wastes;
• The Recycled Plastics Manufacture and Usage Rules, 1999 amended Rules,
2003- it puts restriction on manufacture, sale, distribution, and use of plastic
carry bags and containers less than 8´12 inches (20´30 cms) in size and having
minimum thickness of 20 micron;
• The Rules for the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous
micro-organisms Genetically engineered organisms or cells, 1989, Amended
2006, 2007- it was introduced with a view to protect the environment, nature,
and health, in connection with the application of gene technology and
microorganisms.
• The Manufacture, Storage and import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989,
Amended 2000- it sets up an authority to inspect, once a year, the industrial
activities connected with hazardous chemicals and isolated storage facilities;
• The Hazardous Wastes (Management, Handling and Transboundary
Movement) Rules, 2008, 2009 - The insertion of the word transboundary
movement is a euphemism for hazardous waste trade by terming it as
recyclable metal scrap trade or commerce in end-of-life products. Part B of
the Rules provides elaborate list of hazardous wastes applicable for import
and export not requiring prior informed consent. The list includes metal and
metal bearing wastes under which Iron and Steel Scrap, Thorium scrap,
Chromium scrap, rare earth scrap, Zinc scrap; scrap assemblies from electric
power generation and several others;
• Biomedical Waste Management and Handling Rules, 1998 amended 2003-
the health care institutions are legally abided to streamline the process of
proper handling of hospital waste such as segregation, disposal, collection,
and treatment.
3.5.13 National Environment

The National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995- It has been created to award
compensation for damages to persons, property and the environment that has
arised from any activity involving hazardous substances.
The National Environment Appellate Authority Act,1997- has been created to
hear appeals with respect to restrictions of areas in which classes of industries
etc. are carried out or prescribed subject to certain safeguards under the
Environment protection act.
3.5.14 Public Liability Insurance

The Public Liability Insurance Act 1991, amended in 1992 - provides for public
liability insurance with the purpose to provide immediate relief to the persons
affected (injured or in case of death) by accident while handling any hazardous
substance. The Act was amended in 1992, and the Central Government was
authorised to establish the Environmental Relief Fund, for making relief payments
and The Public Liability Insurance Rules, 1992, amended in 1993.
61
Understanding
Environment 3.6 FIVE YEAR PLANS ON ENVIRONMENTAL
ISSUES
We have already discussed earlier in this unit, the 4th Plan, Planning Commission
(1969-74) which was the first time when the government shows its concern for
environmental protection and the same has become the regular objective of Five
Year Plans of Planning Commission (see sixth plan (1980-84 to 11th plan 2007-
12)). The brief discussion on various plans is given below:
3.6.1 Sixth Plan (1980-1985)

• Accepting the recommendations of Tiwari Committee, Department of
Environment was set up on November 1, 1980 by the Government and the
department was assigneed the following functions:
o To act as a nodal agency for environmental protection and eco-
development in the country.
o To carry out environmental appraisal of development projects through
other ministries/agencies as well as directly.
o To have administrative responsibility for:
– Pollution monitoring and regulation.
– Conservation of critical ecosystems designated as Biosphere
Reserves.
– Conservation of marine ecosystem.
• Major activities in the areas of water and air pollution control were undertaken
this includes Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), natural living resource
conservation, ecological studies by the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) and
Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), environmental information, education,
training and awareness programme.
• A ten year review in respect of appendices on flora for CITES prepared.
• An integrated study of the Ganga basin was completed. The integrated River
Basin Studies for the Brahmaputra, Indus and Narmada were proposed to be
taken up.
• The Wildlife Institutes are set up in 1982-83 for building up of scientific
knowledge on wildlife research.
3.6.2 Seventh Plan (1985-1990)

• Significant progress under the Ganga Action Plan, forestry and wildlife,
wasteland development, and island development sectors.
• Programme on waste recycling and prevention of coastal pollution were
initiated.
• Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) of major river valleys and
hydroelectric, mining, industrial and thermal power projects were carried
out through Environmental Appraisal Committee.
• National Forest Policy was formulated in 1988 with the principal aim of
ensuring environmental stability and maintenance of the ecological balance.
62 • Implementation of the 10 point National Wildlife Plan initiated.
• Considerable increase in the total area is brought under afforestation Environment and Law
programme and the National Development Board set up in 1985.
3.6.3 Eighth Plan (1992-1997)

• Activities for abatement of pollution are undertaken which included
management and operation of national air and water quality network,
controlling pollution at sources, river basin studies, hazardous waste
management; development of criteria for eco-labeling of consumer products,
remedial measures for vehicular pollution; training of personnel engaged in
controlling pollution and organising nationwide awareness programme for
prevention and control of pollution, promoting adoption of Clean
Technologies in small scale industries.
• Incentives were provided to adopt efficiency enhancing and waste
minimisation practices like enhancement of cess rates on water consumption,
duty concessions on import of certain pollution control equipment, accelerated
depreciation on pollution abatement equipment.
• Various carrying capacity studies (Doon Valley, National Capital Region),
on improving methodology and techniques of EIA are carried out.
• BSI and ZSI surveys conducted.
• Scheme on Biodiversity Conservation was initiated in 1991-92.
• Programme such as Man and Biosphere Programme, The environmental
Research Programme and research on climate change was undertaken.
• More than 5000 clubs launched for providing environmental education
amongst children.
• National River Conservation Plan was approved in 1995.
• Several steps for afforestation and eco-development were undertaken.
3.6.4 Ninth Plan (1997-2002)

• Programme under the above Plan included attempts to phase out lead in
motor spirit and improvement in quality of high speed diesel.
• Area specific programmes are stressed upon like National River Conservation
Programme that started National Lake Conservation Programme. Taj
Trapezium, schemes to protect Himalayan ecosystem and biodiversity,
programmes for sustainable development of islands; Islands Development
Authority (IDA) was constituted in 1998.
• Initiatives towards strengthening, environmental statistics and mapping,
management of biosphere reserves, biodiversity conservation, environmental
education and training was undertaken.
• Schemes similar to 8th Plan for afforestation, wetland development are also
formulated.
3.6.5 Tenth Plan (2002-2007)

• Reconciliation of population and economic growth with environmental
conservation perceived as an urgent necessity.
63
Understanding • Action plans to be initiated for reducing pollution levels.
Environment
• Management of hazardous wastes through collection, processing and disposal
to be given priority.
• Emphasis is laid on environmental educational education amongst masses
through the involvement of NGOs and Youth educational institutes.
3.6.6 Eleventh Plan (2007-2012)

The Monitorable Socio-Economic Targets of the 11th Plan for Environment in
India are:
• Increase forest and tree cover by 5 percentage points.
• Attain WHO standards of air quality in all major cities by 2011-12.
• Treat all urban waste water by 2011-12 to clean river waters.
• Increase energy efficiency by 20 percentage points by 2016-17.
2) What is the main objective of Eighth Five Year Plan?
................................................................................................................
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................................................................................................................
3.7 NATIONAL POLICIES RELATED TO

ENVIRONMENT
There are number of Policies framed by government of India on various
environmental issues like
• National Forest Policy, 1988- the main aim is to maintain one third of
country’s geographical area under forest and tree cover. In the hills and in
mountainous regions, the aim is to maintain two-third of the area under
such cover in order to prevent erosion and land degradation and to ensure
the stability of the fragile eco-system. The principal aim of Forest Policy
must be to ensure environmental stability and maintenance of ecological
balance including atmospheric equilibrium which are vital for sustenance
of all lifeforms, human, animal and plant.
• National conservation strategy and policy statement on Environment and

Development Policy, 1992- the aim is to ensure that the demand on the
environment from which we derive our sustenance, does not exceed its
carrying capacity for the present as well as future generations; lays down
the guidelines to weave environmental considerations into the fabric of our
national life and for reorienting policies and action in unison with the
environmental perspective.
64
There are many other National Polices also and are given below: Environment and Law
• National Policy on Abatement of Pollution, 1992

• National Slum Policy, 1999
• National Agricultural Policy, 2000
• National Population Policy, 2000
• National Health Policy, 2002
• National Water Policy, 2002
• Science and Technology Policy, 2002
• National Policy for Resettlement and Rehabilitation for Project Affected
Families, 2003
• National policy on Tribals and Forest, 2004
• National Environment Policy, 2006
All of these policies basically recognised the need for sustainable development
in their specific contexts and have formulated necessary strategies to give effect
to such recognition. However by the National Environment Policy, 2006,
Government seeks to extend the coverage, and fill in gaps that still exist
environment protection on the basis of accumulated experience.
3.8 INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS ON

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
India has obligations under numerous international treaties and agreements that
relate to environmental issues and is signatory to a number of Multilateral
Environment Agreements (MEA) and conventions. An overview of some of the
major MEAs and India’s obligations under these is presented below (Compiled
in International Environmental Law, Shyam Divan)
• The Antarctic Treaty (Washington, 1959) 402 UNTS 71. Entered into force
23 June 1961. India ratified with qualifications, 19 August 1983.
• Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, Especially as Waterfowl
Habitat (Ramsar, 1971). 11 I.L.M. 963 (1972). Entered into force 21
December 1975. India acceeded, 1 October 1981.
• Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural
Heritage (Paris, 1972). 11 I.L.M. 1358 (1972). Entered into force 17
December 1975. India signed, 16 November 1972.
• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES), (Washington, 1973) 12 I.L.M. 1055 (1973). Entered into
force 1 July 1975. India signed, 9 July 1974; ratified 20 July 1976.
• Protocol of 1978 Relating to the International Convention for the Prevention
of Pollution from Ships, 1973 (MARPOL) (London, 1978). Entered into
force 2 October 1983. India ratified with qualifications, 24 September 1986.
• Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals
(Bonn, 1979) 19 I.L.M. 15 (1980). Entered into force 1 November 1983.
India signed, 23 June 1979; ratified 4 May 1982. 65
Understanding • Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
Environment
(Canberra, 1980). 19 I.L.M. 841 (1980). Entered into force 7 April 1982.
India ratified, 17 June 1985.
• United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Montego Bay, 1982). 21
I.L.M. 1261 (1982). Entered into force 16 November 1994. India signed, 10
December 1982.
• Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (Vienna, 1985). 26 I.L.M.
1529 (1987). Entered into force 22 September 1988. India ratified, 18 March
1991.
• Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer (Montreal, 1987). 26
I.L.M. 1550 (1987). Entered into force 1 January 1989. India acceded, 19
June 1992.
• Amendments to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone
Layer (London, 1990). 30 I.L.M. 541 (1991). Entered into force 10 August
1992. India acceded, 19 June 1992.
• Convention on the Control of Trans boundary Movements of Hazardous
Wastes and Their Disposal (Basel, 1989). 28 I.L.M. 657 (1989). Entered
into force 5 May 1992. India signed, 5 March 1990; ratified 24 June 1992.
• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Rio de Janeiro,
1992). 31 I.L.M. 849 (1992). Entered into force 21 March 1994. India signed,
10 June 1992; ratified 1 November 1993. The primary goals of the UNFCCC
were to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions at levels that would prevent
dangerous anthropogenic interference with the global climate.
• Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (Rio de Janeiro, 1992) . 31 I.L.M.
818 (1992). Entered into force 29 December 1993. India signed, 5 June 1992;
ratified 18 February 1994. The CBD has three main thrust areas:- conservation
of biodiversity, sustainable use of biological resources and equitable sharing
of benefits arising from their sustainable use.
• Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing
Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa (Paris, 1994).
33 I.L.M 1332 (1994). Entered into force, 26 December 1995; India signed,
14 October 1994; ratified 17 December 1996.
• International Tropical Timber Agreement (Geneva, 1994). 33 I.L.M. 1016
(1994). Entered into force 1 January 1997. India signed, 17 September 1996.
India ratified 17 October 1996.
• Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctica Treaty (Madrid,
1991). Entered into force 15 January 1998.
The judiciary has also played an important role in Environment protection . It
has always stressed upon the need to restore and manage the environment properly
for the future use and this is possible only with the participation of every
individual. Justice sen of the supreme court ( see kinkri Devi v. State of HP, AIR
1988 H.P. 4, 8 ) has made the following observation.
“I wish to observe that though exploitation of mineral resources in the interest of

industrial growth of the country is necessary, yet such mines should be so worked
66
as not to disturb the ecology and not to affect the livelihood and the living Environment and Law
conditions of a very large number of the people. Advantage gained by working
the mines for industrial growth and national development in a manner which
may seriously prejudice the interests of a large number of human beings and
disturb the ecological balance, may very much be out-weighed by the serious
consequences which are likely to follow. Industrial development is necessary for
economic growth of the country in the larger interests of the nation. If, however,
industrial growth is sought to be achieved by haphazard and reckless working of
the mines resulting in loss of life, loss of. property, loss of basic amenities like
supply of water and creation of ecological imbalance there may ultimately be no
real economic growth and no real prosperity. It is necessary to strike a proper
balance.”
There are many case laws on Air, Water and other Environment pollution laws
which the learner will able to know in the forthcoming blocks where the elaborate
discussion has been made under the specific subject.
3.9 SUMMARY
• In the Constitution of India it is clearly stated that it is the duty of the state to
‘protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and
wildlife of the country’. It imposes a duty on every citizen ‘to protect and
improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers, and
wildlife’. Reference to the environment has also been made in the Directive
Principles of State Policy as well as the Fundamental Rights. The Department
of Environment was established in India in 1980 to ensure a healthy
environment for the country. This later became the Ministry of Environment
and Forests in 1985.
• The constitutional provisions are backed by a number of laws – acts, rules,

and notifications. The EPA (Environment Protection Act), 1986 came into
force soon after the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and is considered an umbrella
legislation as it fills many gaps in the existing laws. Thereafter a large number
of laws came into existence as the problems began arising, for example,
Handling and Management of Hazardous Waste Rules in 1989.
1986 - The Environment (Protection) Act authorises the central government

to protect and improve environmental quality, control and reduce pollution
from all sources, and prohibit or restrict the setting and /or operation of any
industrial facility on environmental grounds.
1986 - The Environment (Protection) Rules lay down procedures for setting
standards of emission or discharge of environmental pollutants.
1989 - The objective of Hazardous Waste (Management and Handling)

Rules is to control the generation, collection, treatment, import, storage,
and handling of hazardous waste.
1989 - The Manufacture, Storage, and Import of Hazardous Rules define

the terms used in this context, and sets up an authority to inspect, once a
year, the industrial activity connected with hazardous chemicals and isolated
storage facilities.
67
Understanding 1989 - The Manufacture, Use, Import, Export, and Storage of hazardous
Environment
Micro-organisms/ Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells Rules
were introduced with a view to protect the environment, nature, and health,
in connection with the application of gene technology and microorganisms.
1991 - The Public Liability Insurance Act and Rules and Amendment,
1992 was drawn up to provide for public liability insurance for the purpose
of providing immediate relief to the persons affected by accident while
handling any hazardous substance.
1995 - The National Environmental Tribunal Act has been created to

award compensation for damages to persons, property, and the environment
arising from any activity involving hazardous substances.
1997 - The National Environment Appellate Authority Act has been

created to hear appeals with respect to restrictions of areas in which classes
of industries etc. are carried out or prescribed subject to certain safeguards
under the EPA.
1998 - The Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules is a

legal binding on the health care institutions to streamline the process of
proper handling of hospital waste such as segregation, disposal, collection,
and treatment.
1999 - The Environment (Siting for Industrial Projects) Rules, 1999 lay
down detailed provisions relating to areas to be avoided for siting of
industries, precautionary measures to be taken for site selecting as also the
aspects of environmental protection which should have been incorporated
during the implementation of the industrial development projects.
2000 - The Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules,

2000 apply to every municipal authority responsible for the collection,
segregation, storage, transportation, processing, and disposal of municipal
solid wastes.
2000 - The Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulation and Control) Rules

have been laid down for the regulation of production and consumption of
ozone depleting substances.
2001 - The Batteries (Management and Handling) Rules, 2001 rules shall
apply to every manufacturer, importer, re-conditioner, assembler, dealer,
auctioneer, consumer, and bulk consumer involved in the manufacture,
processing, sale, purchase, and use of batteries or components so as to
regulate and ensure the environmentally safe disposal of used batteries.
2002 - The Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) (Amendment) Rules
lay down such terms and conditions as are necessary to reduce noise
pollution, permit use of loud speakers or public address systems during
night hours (between 10:00 p.m. to 12:00 midnight) on or during any cultural
or religious festive occasion.
2002 - The Biological Diversity Act is an act to provide for the conservation
of biological diversity, sustainable use of its components, and fair and
equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the use of biological resources
68 and knowledge associated with it.
• Forest and wildlife Environment and Law
1927 - The Indian Forest Act and Amendment, 1984, is one of the many
surviving colonial statutes. It was enacted to ‘consolidate the law related to
forest, the transit of forest produce, and the duty leviable on timber and
other forest produce’.
1972 - The Wildlife Protection Act, Rules 1973 and Amendment 1991
provides for the protection of birds and animals and for all matters that are
connected to it whether it be their habitat or the waterhole or the forests that
sustain them.
1980 - The Forest (Conservation) Act and Rules, 1981, provides for the
protection of and the conservation of the forests.
• Water
1882 - The Easement Act allows private rights to use a resource that is,
groundwater, by viewing it as an attachment to the land. It also states that
all surface water belongs to the state and is a state property.
1897 - The Indian Fisheries Act establishes two sets of penal offences
whereby the government can sue any person who uses dynamite or other
explosive substance in any way (whether coastal or inland) with intent to
catch or destroy any fish or poisonous fish in order to kill.
1956 - The River Boards Act enables the states to enroll the central
government in setting up an Advisory River Board to resolve issues in inter-
state cooperation.
1970 - The Merchant Shipping Act aims to deal with waste arising from
ships along the coastal areas within a specified radius.
1974 - The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act establishes

an institutional structure for preventing and abating water pollution. It
establishes standards for water quality and effluent. Polluting industries must
seek permission to discharge waste into effluent bodies.
The CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board) was constituted under this
act.
1977 - The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act provides
for the levy and collection of cess or fees on water consuming industries
and local authorities.
1978 - The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Rules

contains the standard definitions and indicate the kind of and location of
meters that every consumer of water is required to affix.
1991 - The Coastal Regulation Zone Notification puts regulations on

various activities, including construction, are regulated. It gives some
protection to the backwaters and estuaries.
69
Understanding • Air
Environment
1948 - The Factories Act and Amendment in 1987 was the first to express
concern for the working environment of the workers. The amendment of
1987 has sharpened its environmental focus and expanded its application to
hazardous processes.
1981 - The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act provides for
the control and abatement of air pollution. It entrusts the power of enforcing
this act to the CPCB .
1982 - The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Rules defines the
procedures of the meetings of the Boards and the powers entrusted to them.
1982 - The Atomic Energy Act deals with the radioactive waste.
1987 - The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment Act

empowers the central and state pollution control boards to meet with grave
emergencies of air pollution.
1988 - The Motor Vehicles Act states that all hazardous waste is to be
properly packaged, labelled, and transported.

1) Discuss the important environment logislations on Air and Water pollution.
2) What items are listed in Eleventh Plan? What is the importance of the same.
3) Comment on interface of Environment and Law .

1) NCEPL was set up in 1972 to identify and investigate the problems of
preserving or improving the human environment in the country as well as to
propose a solution for environmental problems.
2) Activities for abatement of pollution are undertaken which included
management and operation of national air and water quality network,
controlling pollution at sources, river basin studies, hazardous waste
management; development of criteria for eco-labeling of consumer products.
Terminal Questions
1) Refer to Section 3.4 and 3.5
2) Refer to Sub-section 3.6.6
3) Interactions between living beings in natural setting as well as through
induced and physico-chemical changes in environment result in changes in
environment conditions. These changes in environmental conditions have
impact on behavioural, physiological and biochemical patterns of organisms
to enable them to adapt according to changed conditions. The role and impact
of specific heterogeneity in creating the uniqueness of environment and the
70
communities of living beings that inhabit them, whether they be plants, Environment and Law
insects, microorganisms, small mammals or humans. The articles in the book
also attempt at determining how organisms, from individuals to populations
to communities are likely to respond to changes in natural as well as physico-
chemical environments. Add your thoughts and further elaborate.

• Paul Harrison , Third World Tomorrow, Page 350.
• Patricia M Mische, Ecological Security and the need to conceptualises
Sovereignty XIV, Alternative, 389, PP 391-393.
• Ghosh Asish, “Environment Governance”, Environment issues and concerns,
APH Publishing Corporation, New Delhi, 2007, P 178-186.
• Singh Chhatrapati, “Environment and the Law”, Man, Nature and
Environmental Law, Ed G.S Nathawat, Satish Shastri, J P. Vyas, RBSA
Publishers, Jaipur, 1988, 106.
• Report of the committee for Recommending Legislative Measures and
Administrative Machinery for Ensuring Environmental Protection (the Tiwari
Committees Report), Department of Science and Technology, Government
of India, 15th Sept,1981.
• P. Leelakrishnan, Environment Law in India, Lexis Nexus, Butter worth,
2nd Ed, 2005.
• The legal and regulatory framework for environmental protection in India,
29 Apr, 1999, Prepared for Asian Development Bank, Manila and Ministry
of Environment and Forests, Government of India. Centre for Environmental
Law. April 28,2010.<http// envfor.nic.in/divisions>. See also Five Year Plans,
Planning Comission (various years) as cited in Uberoi, 2003.
• Five-Year Plans, Planning Commission (various years) as adapted from
Punjab ENVIS Centre, Punjab State Council of Science & Technology,
Chandigarh. April 25, 2010.<http://punenvis.nic.in/policy.htm>.cited in
Uberoi, 2003.
• Gopal Krishna, India Govt rules allow hazardous wastes import, The New
Nation— Internet Edition. May 28, 2010<http // www.ittefaq.com>.
• Shyam Divan, “International Environmental Law”, July12, 2002. May 3,
2010<http// www.nls.ac.in/CEERA>.
Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. April 25,
2010<http://envfor.nic.in/>.
• “Environmental laws”. May 2, 2010< edugreen.teri.res.in/explore/laws.htm>.
• Eleventh Five Year Plan of India, Objectives of Current Five Year ...11th
Five Year Plan of India (2007 - 2012). May 4, 2010< http//
www.winentrance.com>.
• Uberoi, N.K. (2003). In: Environmental management, Published by Excel
Books, New Delhi.
• Indian Environment Legislations. Ministry of Environment and Forests,
Government of India.<http// envfor.nic.in/divisions>.
71
Understanding • Strengthening Environmental Legislations in India, documented by centre
Environment
for Environmental Law, WWF.
• Environmental policy-making in India-The process and its pressure, TERI
Report.
• kinkri Devi v. State of HP, AIR 1988 H.P. 4, 8
• Ministry of Environment and Forests ,Government of India, envfor.nic.in.
http://envfor.nic.in/.
• Indian Environmental Legislations, list from the MOEF web site.
• A.4 source http://www.unescap.org/drpad/vc/document/compendium/
in1.htm.
72
Environment and Law
UNIT 4 ORIGIN OF ENVIRONMENTAL
LAW
Structure
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Objectives
4.3 History of Environmental Protection in Ancient India – An Overview
4.4 Arrival of the British and the Formation of Environmental Laws in India
4.5 Acts for the Protection of Indian Environment
4.6 International Efforts – U.N. Conference on Human Environment
4.7 Impact in India
4.8 Environmental Legislations
4.9 Fundamental Right to Live in a Healthy Environment
4.10 Summary
4.13 Glossary
4.1 INTRODUCTION
Every word in English has a history – and Environmental law is no exception.
In this section you will learn a good deal more about the historical perspectives
of environmental law; in addition you will make excursions into its origin and
development. Environmental law is a body of law, which is a system of complex
and interlocking statutes, law, treaties, conventions, regulations and policies
which seek to protect the environment which may be affected, impacted or
endangered by human activities. Some environmental laws regulate the quantity
and nature of impacts of human activities: for example, setting allowable levels
of pollution or requiring permits for potentially harmful activities. Other
environmental laws are preventive in nature and seek to assess the possible
impacts before the human activities can occur.
While many countries worldwide have since accumulated impressive sets of
environmental laws, their implementation has often been woeful. In recent years,
environmental law has become been a critical means of promoting sustainable (or
“sustainability”). Policy concepts such as the precautionary, public participation,
environmental justice, and the polluter have informed many environmental law
reforms in this respect. There has been considerable experimentation in the search
for more effective methods of environmental control beyond traditional
“command-and-control” style regulation. Taxes, emission, voluntary standards
such as ISO 14000 and negotiated agreements are some of these innovations.
The IUCN Academy of Environmental Law is a network of some 60 law schools
worldwide that specialise in the research and teaching of environmental law.
In his book “Should trees have legal standing” Stone (1974:11) argues that nature
should count jurally – to have a legally recognised worth and dignity in its own 73
Understanding right, and not merely to serve as a means to benefit “us”. He claims that for a
Environment
thing to be a holder of legal rights an authoritative body must review the actions
and processes of those who threaten it and three additional criteria should be
satisfied. The thing can institute legal actions at its behest; second, that in
determining the granting of legal relief, the court must take injury to it into
account; and; third, that relief must run to the benefit of it. The problem with this
argument is that for nature to have legal standing it must have a lawyer; and
would therefore be dependent on the cultural values, wisdom and competence of
the lawyer(s) chosen to represent it and those of the court of law with jurisdiction.
Clayton (2000) claims that justice becomes more relevant in circumstances in
which a desired response is scarce and in which there are citizens who ascribe
moral significance and values to the environment. She goes on to state that since
many resources are not renewable within reasonable time frames, this makes
people more aware of the ways in which those resources are distributed. Stone
(1974:16) claims that in the past natural objects have had no standing in their
own right; their unique damages do not count in determining outcome; and they
are not the beneficiaries of awards, but are objects for man to conquer and master
and use.
Environment plays a pivotal role in human life as well as in the development of

society. With growing technological advancement and industrialisation, the purity
of the environment has been threatened to an appalling extent. The need to protect
and improve the environment is so compelling for the peaceful survival of
mankind and other life forms on planet Earth that right to environment has
emerged as a human right.
Over the last two decades, the Indian judiciary has fostered an extensive and
innovative approach to environmental rights in the country. Complex matters of
environmental management have been resolved and consequently a series of
innovative procedural remedies have evolved to accompany this new substantive
right. The new environmental right is therefore championed as a legal gateway
to speedy and inexpensive legal remedy.
The notional expansion of right to life was recognised even in the absence of a
specific reference to direct violations of the fundamental right. Placed in a nutshell,
the human right culture has percolated down to Indian human right regime within
a short period of time. An interdisciplinary approach to environmental protection
may be another reason for the operation of the right to healthy environment.
This has been undertaken through international environmental treaties and
conventions, national legislative measures and in judicial responses.
On undertaking a comprehensive study of environmental law, it can be found

that the Indian scenario is replete with examples of preserving the environment
from degradation.

1) What do you mean by the term “Environmental Law?”
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Origin of Environmental
4.2 OBJECTIVES Law
After reading this unit, you shall be able to:

• explain the concept of Environmental Laws;
• describe its origin and prevalence in ancient India;
• discuss the formation of various Environmental Laws in India during British
reign;
• environmental Legislations, International efforts and its impact in India; and
• history of Environmental Protection in Ancient India.
4.3 HISTORY OF ENVIRONMENTAL

PROTECTION IN ANCIENT INDIA – AN
OVERVIEW
An appraisal of the historical background to environmental protection in India
would indicate that forests and wildlife were considered as vital ingredients of
the global system. Here, the entire scheme of environmental preservation was
essentially duty-based. In this sense, the ancient Indian society accepted the
protection of the environment as its duty to do so.
• The Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads and other ancient scriptures of the Hindu religion have
given a detailed description of trees, plants, wildlife and their importance to people.
• The Mughal emperors, though were great lovers of nature and took delight in spending their
spare time in the lap of natural environment, made no attempts on forest conservation.
• Legislative measures were taken by the British Government for prevention of pollution and for
conservation of natural resources.
• Some of the early efforts include the enactment of the Shore Nuisance (Bombay and Kolaba)
Act of 1853 and the Oriental Gas Company Act of 1857. The Indian Penal Code, enacted in
1860, imposed a fine on a person who voluntarily fouls the water of any public spring or reservoir.
Hindu Era
Opening up the Hindu mythology, the Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads and other
ancient scriptures of the Hindu religion have given a detailed description of
trees, plants, wildlife and their importance to people. Yajnavalkya Smriti
prohibited the cutting of trees by prescribing punishment for such acts. Kautalya’s
Arthashastra, written in the Mauryan period, realised the necessity of forest
administration and Ashoka’s 5th Pillar Edict expressed his view about the welfare
of creatures in the State. Evidence from civilisations of Mohenjadaro and Harappa
has further proved that the small population lived in consonance with the
ecosystem and their needs maintained harmony with the environment. Thus, the
Hindu society was conscious of the adverse environmental effects caused by
deforestation and extinction of animal species.
75
Understanding Mughal Era
Environment
In Islam, there is close harmony between man and nature. However, during the
medieval period, the only contribution of Mughal emperors has been the
establishment of magnificent gardens, fruit orchards and green parks, which were
used as holiday resorts, palaces of retreat or temporary headquarters during the
summer season. The common opinion of environmentalists has been that the
Mughal emperors though were great lovers of nature and took delight in spending
their spare time in the lap of natural environment, made no attempts on forest
conservation.
British Era
The British conquest in India brought about a plunder of natural resources coupled
with a complete indifference towards environmental protection. A general survey
of early environmental legislation reveals that apart from the forest laws,
nineteenth century legislation also partially regulated two other aspects of Indian
environment. Water pollution and wildlife. These laws, however, had a narrow
purpose and limited territorial reach.
Some of the early efforts include the enactment of the Shore Nuisance (Bombay
and Kolaba) Act of 1853 and the Oriental Gas Company Act of 1857. The Indian
Penal Code, enacted in 1860, imposed a fine on a person who voluntarily fouls
the water of any public spring or reservoir. In addition, the Code penalised
negligent acts with poisonous substances that endangered life or caused injury
and proscribed public nuisances. Laws aimed at controlling air pollution were
the Bengal Smoke Nuisance Act of 1905 and the Bombay Smoke Nuisance Act
of 1912. In the field of wildlife protection, early legislation was limited to specific
areas and particular species, thereby aiming at the conservation of biodiversity.
It is clear that legislative measures were taken by the British Government for
prevention of pollution and for conservation of natural resources. Although critics
point out that the British enacted these legislations, not with the object of
protecting the environment but with the aim of earning revenue for themselves,
it should be regarded as the first step towards the scientific conservation of natural
resources. Despite the fact that these measures were made with ulterior motives,
British-enacted legislations have contributed significantly to the growth of
environmental jurisprudence in India.
The details of arrival of the British and the formation of Environmental Laws in
India are discussed in chronological order below.
Self Assessemnt Question

2) Explain briefly environmental protection in ancient India?
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4.4 ARRIVAL OF THE BRITISH AND THE Law
FORMATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS

IN INDIA
British arrived in India at 1600 with the mission of trading goods from India in
the form of East India Company.But,after seeing the immense amount of natural
resources and plunders of opportunity to exploit the resources present here, they
changed their game plan and started applying coercion so as to complete their
aim of exploiting natural resources in India. At the time when British arrived in
India, India was divided into several princely states ruled by different rulers. It
was quite an easy task for the British to establish itself gradually and astutely.
They very cleverly implemented the policy of Divide and Rule in India and took
benefit of the diversity as on the basis of different rulers as well as due to
multiplicity of religion in the country. The early days of British rule in India
were days of plunder of natural resources. They started exploiting the rich
resources present India by employing the policy of imperialism. By around 1860,
Britain had emerged as the world leader in deforestation, devastation its own
woods and the forests in Ireland, South Africa and northeastern United States to
draw timber for shipbuilding, iron-smelting and farming. Upon occasion, the
destruction of forests was used by the British to symbolise political victory. Thus,
the early nineteenth century, and following its defeat of the Marathas, the East
India Company razed to the ground teak plantation in Ratnagiri nurtured and
grown by the legendary Maratha Admiral Kanhoji Angre. There was a total
indifference to the needs of the forest conservancy. They caused a fierce
onslaught on Indian Forests. The onslaught on the forests was primarily because
of the increasing demand for military purposes, for British navy, for local
construction (such as roads and railways), supply of teak and sandalwood for
export trade an extension of agriculture in order to supplement revenue.
The British government started control over forest in the year 1806 when a
commission was appointed to enquire into the availability of teak in Malabar
and Travancore by way of appointment of Conservator of Forest. This moved
failed to conserve forest as the appointed conservator plundered the forest wealth
instead of conserving it. Consequently, the post of conservator of forest was
abolished in the year 1823.
Their early treatment of the Indian forest also reinforces the claim that destructive
energy of the British race all over the world was rapidly converting forest into
desert. Until the later decades of nineteenth century, the British Raj carried out
an immense onslaught on the subcontinent’s forest. With the Oaks forest vanishing
in England, a permanent supply of durable timber was required for the British
Navy because the safety and defense of the British Empire depended primarily
on its navy. In the period of fierce competition between the colonial powers,
Indian teak, the most durable of shipbuilding, saved British during a war with
Napoleon and the later maritime expansion. To tap the likely sources supply,
search parties were sent to teak forests of India’s west coast. Ships were built in
the dockyards in the Surat and the Malabar Coast, as well as in England by
importing teak from India.
The revenue orientation of colonial land policy also worked towards the
denudation of forests. As their removal added to the class of land assessed for
77
Understanding revenue, forests were considered as an obstruction to agriculture and consequently
Environment
a bar to the prosperity of the British Empire. The dominant thrust of agrarian
policy was to extend cultivation and the watchword of the time was to destroy
the forest with this end in view.
This process greatly intensified in the early years of the building of the railways
network after about 1853. While great chunks of forests were destroyed to meet
the demand for railway sleepers, no supervision was exercised over the felling
operation in which a large number of trees was felled and lay rotting on the road.
The sub-Himalayan forests of Garhwal and Kumaon, for example were all felled
in even to desolation and thousands of trees were felled which were never
removed, nor was their removal possible.
As early as 1805, the British government requested the British East India
Company, which already controlled large parts of the coastal regions, to
investigate the feasibility of harvesting Malabar teak in Madras to meet the needs
of British shipbuilding during the Napoleonic war. Although the East India
Company was a private trading company commissioned in 1600, in India it
functioned as a state entity, enjoying a monopoly of trade in the areas it ruled.
Acting at the direction of the British parliament, it shared authority in India with
government officials. The company appointed a former police officer, Captain
Watson, as India’s first conservator of forests in 1806. Watson’s two-pronged
plan involved placing a tax on teak in order to simultaneously slow its harvest by
private interests and raise money for the government, and then purchasing the
teak from the private dealers. Together, these measures would guard against over-
exploitation and ensure a steady supply of teak.
On 3 August 1855, Lord Dalhousie, the governor general of India, reversed
previous laissez-faire policy to establish the India Forest Department and annex
large areas of sparsely populated lands in India. These lands were declared
protected areas and staffed by foresters, fireguards, rangers, and administrators.
Over the next decades, forestry in India became an international profession with
global specialists ruling an empire of trees and grasslands.
The new environmental policies served in turn to support British imperialism in
India. Unlike the conservative French and English royal forests reserved for
hunting by the privileged elite, or the later American concept of total protection
in national parks, the new colonial environmentalism was intended to generate
income for the imperial British state through strict control of India’s natural
resources. Lord Dalhousie’s new forest policies greatly expanded British authority
over the land and people of India, a colonial empire that the British had procured
piecemeal over the course of several centuries of mercantile and military
exploitation. Thus, environmentalism and imperialism have a shared past, and
the newly protected forests marked a symbiotic alliance of environmental concern
with expansion of state power in India.
After Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo in 1815, however, the navy had less need of
teak, and a new governor of Madras, Thomas Munro, felt that the timber royalty
unnecessarily raised the opposition of Indian princes who objected to the tax
placed on forests under their authority. Munro also felt pressure from Indian
merchants who objected strenuously to a tax that cut severely into their profits
and from peasants who saw traditional access to the forest sharply curtailed. The
new governor rescinded the teak regulations, abolished Captain Watson’s position,
78 and allowed the free market to operate as it had before Lord Dalhousie’s tenure
as governor-general from 1848 to 1856 saw the acquisition of territory and Origin of Environmental
Law
implementation of administrative reforms for which posterity dubbed Dalhousie
“the great Proconsul.” Dalhousie’s support for conservation was unapologetically
imperialist. Upon reaching the capital at Calcutta for his inauguration in 1848,
he proclaimed, “we are Lords Paramount of India, and our policy is to acquire as
direct a dominion over the territories in possession of the native princes, as we
already hold over the other half of India.” The British government in India made
it clear that “all the forests are the property of Government, and no general
permission to cut timber therein will be granted to anyone”.
The second half of the 19th century marked the beginning of an organised forest
management in India with some administrative steps taken to conserve forest;
the formulation of forest policy and the legislations to implement the policy
decision. The systematic management of forest resources began with the
appointment of the First Inspector General of Forest in 1964. Dietrich Brandis
was the first Inspector General of India. Lord Canning appointed Dietrich Brandis
as the first inspector general of the India-wide Indian Forest Department, a post
he held from 1864 to 1883.The immediate task of the forest department was
under the supervision of Inspector General was that of exploration of resources,
demarcation of reserves, protection of the forest from fire and assessment of the
growing stock in valuable reserve by sample enumeration and prescription of
yields which could be sustained. The objective of management of forest thus
changed from obtaining of timber for various purposes to protecting and
improving forests and treating them as a biological growing entity. Forest
conservators had already been appointed in Bombay (1847), Madras (1856), and
the United Burma Provinces (1857); Brandis in turn appointed forest conservators
to the Northwestern Provinces and Central Provinces in 1860, Oudh in 1861,
Punjab in 1864, Coorg and Bengal in 1864, Assam in 1868, and Berar in 1868.
By the end of 1868, the Forest Department had administrators in every province
of the subcontinent. In 1871, the Forest Department was placed under the newly
established Department of Revenue and Agriculture, itself under the umbrella
of the Home Department. Brandis was followed by Wilhelm Schlich (1883-88),
Berthold Ribbentrop (1888-1900), and E. P. Stebbings (1900-17).
The first step of the British Government to assess state monopoly right over the
forest was the enactment the Forest Act, 1865. The act was revised after about
thirteen years later in 1878 and extended to most of the territories under the
British rule .It also expanded the powers of the state by providing for reserved
forest, which were closed to the people and by empowering the forest
administration to impose penalties for any transgression of the provision of the
Act. Yet the latter act was passed only after a prolonged and biter debate within
the protagonist of the earlier debate put forth arguments strikingly similar to
those advanced by participants in the contemporary debate about the environment
of India.
Hurriedly drafted, the 1865 Act was passed to facilitate the acquisition of those
forest areas that were earmarked for railway supplies. It merely sought to establish
the claims of the state to the forests in immediately required, subject to the proviso
that existing rights would not be abridged. Almost immediately, the search
commenced for a more stringent and inclusive piece of legislation. A preliminary
draft, prepared by Brandis in 1969, was circulated among the various presidencies.
A conference of forest officers, convened in 1874, then went into defects of the
1865 act and the details of the new one.
79
Understanding
Environment Self Assessment Question
3) Describe the position of Environmental Laws in India after the arrival
of the British or during British Era?
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The British Government declared its first Forest Policy by a resolution on the
19th October 1884. The policy statement had the following objectives:
• Promoting the general well being of the people in the country;
• Preserving the climatic and physical conditions in the country; and
• Fulfilling the need of the people.
The policy also suggested a rough functional classification of forest into the
following four categories:
• Forests, the preservation of which was essential for climatic and physical
grounds;
• Forests which offered a supply a valuable timber for commercial purposes;
• Minor forest which produced only the inferior sort of timber; and
• Pastures, which were forest only in name.

4) “The British Government declared its first Forest Policy by a resolution
on 19th Oct. 1884.” Enumerate the ‘Objectives’ of the Policy statement?.
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To implement the Forest policy of 1884, the Forest Act of 1927 was enacted. Till
1935, the government of India enacted the Forest Act. In 1935, the British
Parliament through the Government of India created provincial legislature and
the subject of the forest as included in the provincial legislature list. Thereafter,
several provinces made their own laws to regulate forest. Most of these laws
were within the framework laid down in the 1927 Act. The British all along their
reign in India formed many other Acts from time to time.
80
1) The Shore Nuisance (Bombay 7) The Indian Easement Act,1882 Law
and Kolaba) Act,1853
2) The Orient Gas Company 8) The Indian Fisheries Act,1897
Act,1857
3) Indian Penal Code,1860 9) The Indian Ports Act,1908
4) The Serais Act,1867 10)The Indian Steam Vessels
Act,1917
5) The North-India Canal 11) The Poison Act,1919
and Drainage Act,1873
6) The Obstruction in Fairways 12)The Indian Forest Act,1927
Act,1881
The Shore Nuisance (Bombay and Kolaba) Act, 1853
This is the earliest Act on the statue book concerning control of water pollution
in India. It was the first act in the field of Environment protection in India, which
was enacted by the British for the British India. This act was passed so as to
regulate the waste materials discharged in the coastal area of Bombay (Now
Mumbai) and Colaba area, from various industries functioning in these areas.
Oriental Gas Company Act, 1857

This law imposed restrictions on fouling of water by the Oriental Gas Company.
The Oriental Gas Company provided fine of Rs. 1000, for fouling water and for
the subsequent continuation of the offence, Rs. 500 per day. Oriental Gas
Company (OGC) Act was among the first act in the field of water pollution.
Indian Penal Code, 1860

As regards to water pollution, Indian Penal Code says that whoever voluntarily
corrupts or fouls the water of any public spring or reservoir, so as to make it less
fit for the purpose for which it is ordinarily used, shall be punished with simple
or rigorous imprisonment for a term exceeding to three months or fine of five
hundred rupees or both. The definition is confined to a voluntary act and acts
committed without any knowledge or accidentally would not be covered under
the present law. Moreover, it has limited operation to the water of public spring
or reservoir. Further, looking to the gravity of the offence it attracts only minor
punishment. It is surprising to know that in spite of the fact that this provision
was incorporated to protect the public health, the cast ridden society wanted to
enforce this provision against the lower cast person taking water from a public
cistern but the Bombay High Court did not allow the above interpretation (R v
Bhagi 2 Bom LR 1078) . Chapter 14th of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is for
Public Nuisance from Section 268 to 291.
The Serais Act, 1867

The Act enjoined upon a keeper of Serai or an inn to keep a certain quality of
water fit for consumption by “persons and use of it by the animals” to the
satisfaction of the District Magistrate or his nominees. Failure for maintaining
the standard entailed a liability of rupees twenty. It is to be understood that the
amount twenty rupees was a very big amount at that time and therefore should
not be compared to the value of twenty rupees prevailing now in the country.
81
Understanding The North India Canal and Drainage Act, 1873
Environment
Certain offences have been listed under the Act contained in Section 70. It was
to regulate the way canals for the purpose of irrigation as well as to discharge the
effluents from various industries as well as drainage system are to be controlled.
Obstruction in Fairways Act, 1881

Section 8 of the Act empowered the Central Government to make Rules to regulate
or prohibit the throwing of rubbish in any fairway leading to a port causing or
likely to give rise to a bank or shoal.
Indian Easements Act, 1882

It protected riparian owners against unreasonable pollution by upstream officer.
Illustrations (f), (h) and (j) of Section 7 of the Act deal with pollution of waters.
Section 28(d) of the Easement Act, 1882 on the one hand allowed a prescriptive
right to pollute the water but it was not an absolute right. The illustrations (f),
(g), and (j) of this Section, limited this prescriptive right not to unreasonably
pollute or cause material injury to other.
The Indian Fisheries Act, 1897

The Indian Fisheries Act, 1897 contains seven sections. This act penalised the
killing of fish by poisoning water and by using explosive. Section 5 of the Act
prohibits destruction of fish by poisoning waters.
Indian Ports Act, 1908

The Indian Ports Act, 1908, has regulated water pollution caused by the use of
oil or discharging of oil in the port waters.
The Indian Forest Act, 1927

This act was very comprehensive and contained all the major provisions of the
earlier act and amendments made thereto including those relating to the duty on
timber. The Act of 1927 also embodied land-using policy whereby the British
could acquire all forestland, village forest and other Common Property Resources.
Section 26(i) of the Act makes it punishable if any person, who, in contravention
of the rules made by the State Government, poisons water of a forest area. The
State Government has been empowered under Section 32(f) to make rules relating
to poisoning of water in forests. This act is still in force, together with several
amendments made by the State Governments.
4.5 ACTS FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE

INDIAN ENVIRONMENT
• The Orient Gas Company Act, 1857
• The Serais Act, 1857
• The Northern India Canal and Drainage Act, 1873
• The Obstruction in Airways Act, 1881
• The Indian Fisheries Act, 1897
• The Indian Ports Act, 1901
• The Bengal Smoke Nuisance Act, 1905
82
• The Explosives Act, 1908 Origin of Environmental
Law
• The Bombay Smoke Nuisance Act, 1912
• The Inland Stream Vessel Act, 1917
• The Mysore Destructive Insects and Pests Act, 1917
• The Poison Act, 1919
• The Andhra Pradesh Agricultural, Pest and Diseases Act, 1919
• The Indian Boilers Act, 1923
• The Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923
• The Indian Forest Act, 1927
• The Motor Vehicles Act, 1939
• The Bihar Wastelands (Reclamation, Cultivation & Improvement) Act, 1946.
Air Pollution Acts
• Indian Penal Code,1860
• The Indian Boilers Act,1923
• Motor Vehicle Act,1939 (Repealed by Act No.59 of 1988)
• The Poison Act, 1919

5) What are the laws and policies available against Air Pollution?
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Municipality Laws
• Uttar Pradesh Municipality Laws, 1916
• Bihar and Orissa Municipality Laws,1922
Both of these laws were amongst the earliest laws for regulating the environment
conditions in the cities by the help of municipality laws.
Wildlife Protection Act

• Forest Act of Madras 1873
• Elephant Preservation Act, 1879
• World Birds Protection Act, 1887
• World Birds and Animal Protection Act, 1912
• Hailey National Park Act,1936 (Now Called Corbett National Park)
In the field of wildlife protection, the first wildlife
Statute was enacted in Madras (Chennai) for the protection of wild elephants.
The law introduced a general prohibition on destruction of wild elephants and
imposed penalty on those who violated the embargo. The first effort by the Central
83
Understanding Government came after six years later by the passing of the Elephant Preservation
Environment
Act in 1879. In 1887, central government enacted the Wild Birds Protection Act
prohibiting the possession or sale of wild birds recently killed or taken during
the notified breeding season. In 1912, the Central Government enacted a broader
Wild Life and Animal Protection Act. Extending to most of the British India,
this law specified a closed hunting season and regulated the hunting of designated
species through licenses. Indeed, all the statutes related primarily to the regulation
of hunting and did not regulate trade in wildlife and wildlife products — both
major factors in the decline of Indian Wildlife. As a consequence, wildlife
depredation continued and many species became extinct.
The first comprehensive law for the protection of wildlife and its habitat was
perhaps the Hailey National Park Act of 1936, which established the Hailey
(now Corbett) National Park in Uttar Pradesh.
Miscellaneous
• The Indian Fisheries Act, 1897
• The Indian Forest Act, 1927
• Criminal Procedure Code, 1893
Criminal Procedure Code 1893
Criminal Procedure Code, 1893 was one of the major acts, which provided some
of the very strict punishments for the environmental offences under the criminal
law. Sections 133 to 144 in the Chapter XII of the Criminal Procedure under the
heading Public Nuisance provided for the punishment under criminal procedure
for the commission of any nuisance, which affected the public at large. The
environmental degradation was also included in it as any degradation of the
environment is automatically supposed to be affecting the public at large.
4.6 INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS – U.N.

CONFERENCE ON HUMAN ENVIRONMENT
“Economists see a world economy that has grown by leaps and bounds over the
last half-century, but ecologists see growth based on the burning of vast quantities
of cheap fossil fuels, which is destabilising the climate.” - Lester R. Brown.
Rapid economic, scientific and technological advancements have shown massive

repercussions in the form of degradation of ecological balances. Due to large
scale occurrence of environmental crises, the global community has expressed
major concern over environmental protection and environmental development.
Amidst some serious endeavours, significant developments took place in the
international scenario.
United Nations Conference on Human Environment

In the backdrop of some sincere efforts of tackling pollution control, for the first
time, the attention of the world was drawn towards environment in the United
Nations Conference on Human Environment was held at Stockholm in June
1972. The Declaration on Human Environment was passed containing twenty-
six principles, with the main object of overcoming environmental problems related
to the development of States and to provide clean and healthy living conditions.
84
4.7 IMPACT IN INDIA Law
In the early years of Indian independence, there was no precise environmental

policy. Government tried to make attempts only from time to time as per the
growing needs of the society. The period of 1970s witnessed a lot of changes in
policies and attitudes of the Indian Government when its attitude changed from
environmental indifference to greater and subsequently, manifold steps were taken
to improve environmental conditions.
National Committee on Environmental Planning and Coordination: The year

1972 marks a watershed in the history of environmental management in India.
This is because prior to 1972, environmental concerns such as sewage disposal,
sanitation and public health were dealt with by different federal ministries and
each pursued these objectives in the absence of a proper coordination system at
the federal or the intergovernmental level. When the twenty-fourth UN General
Assembly decided to convene a conference on the human environment in 1972,
and requested a report from each member country on the state of environment, a
Committee on human environment under the chairmanship of Pitambar Pant,
member of the Planning Commission, was set up to prepare India’s report. With
the help of the reports, the impact of the population explosion on the natural
environment and the existing state of environmental problems were examined.
By early 1972, it had been realised that unless a national body was established to
bring about greater coherence and coordination in environmental policies and
programmes and to integrate environmental concerns, an important lacuna would
remain in India’s planning process. Consequently, as a result of the major issues
highlighted by the reports, a National Committee on Environmental Planning
and Coordination (NCEPC) was established in the Department of Science and
Technology.
The NCEPC is an apex advisory body in all matters relating to environmental

protection and improvement. At its inception, the Committee consisted of fourteen
members drawn from various disciplines concerning environmental management.
Most of the non-official members were specialists. The Committee was to plan
and coordinate, but the responsibility for execution remained with various
ministries and government agencies.

6) Briefly explain the significant developments that took place in the
international scenario with regard to environmental problems and its
impact in India?
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Understanding
Environment 7) What is NCEPC? Explain its constitution and function?
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4.8 ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATIONS

As part of its campaign on green environment, Indian Parliament has enacted
nation wide comprehensive laws. One of the major environmental enactments
came just two years after the Stockholm Conference in 1974. The Water
(Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act was passed for the purpose of prevention
and control of water pollution and for maintaining and restoring the
wholesomeness of water. The Water Act represented India’s first attempt to deal
with an environmental issue from a legal perspective.
From this period onwards, the Central Government has been considered as highly
environmentally active. In 1976, the Constitution of India was amended to insert
a separate fundamental duties chapter. The 1980s witnessed the creation of many
eco-specific organisations. In the year 1980, the Forest (Conservation) Act was
passed for the conservation of forests and to check on further deforestation. The
Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981 was enacted by invoking
the Central Government’s power under Art 253. The Air Act contained several
distinguishing features. The preamble of the Air Act explicitly reveals that the
Act represents an implementation of the decisions made at the Stockholm
Conference. Also, a notification relating to Noise Pollution (Regulation and
Control) Rules was made in the year 2000 with the objective of maintaining
Ambient Air Quality Standards in respect of noise.
In the wake of the Bhopal gas tragedy, the Government of India enacted the
Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The laws that existed prior to the enactment
of EPA essentially focused on specific pollution (such as air and water). The
need for a single authority which could assume the lead role for environmental
protection was answered through the enactment of EPA. It is in the form of an
umbrella legislation designed to provide a framework for Central Government
to coordinate the activities of various central and state authorities established
under previous laws. It is also in the form of an enabling law, which delegates
wide powers to the executive to enable bureaucrats to frame necessary rules and
regulations.
Apart from this, several notifications and rules have also been made, some of
which include the Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules in 1989,
the Biomedical Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules in 1998, Recycled
Plastics (Manufacture and Usage) Rules 1999, Environment (Silting for Industrial
Projects) Rules 1999 and the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling)
Rules in 2000.In addition to these eco-specific legislations, realising that there is
no comprehensive legislation dealing with biodiversity in India, and to fulfill its
86
international obligation under the Convention on Bio-Diversity, the Government Origin of Environmental
Law
of India has enacted the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
It is a paradox that despite the presence of such diverse laws, the pollution rate
has crossed the dead line. This is probably because of the reason that the law is
so complicated and vague that even the expert may not know the intricacies of it.
4.9 FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO LIVE IN A

HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT
Man’s paradise is on earth; this living world is the beloved place of all; it
has the blessings of Nature’s bounties: Live in a lovely spirit. –Atharva Veda
(5.30.6)
The right to live in a clean and healthy environment is not a recent invention of
the higher judiciary in India. The right has been recognised by the legal system
and the judiciary in particular for over a century or so. The only difference in the
enjoyment of the right to live in a clean and healthy environment today is that it
has attained the status of a fundamental right the violation of which, the
Constitution of India will not permit.
It was only from the late eighties and thereafter, various High Courts and the
Supreme Court of India have designated this right as a fundamental right. Prior
to this period people had enjoyed this right not as a constitutionally guaranteed
fundamental right but as a right recognised and enforced by the courts under
different laws like Law of Torts, Indian Penal Code, Civil Procedure Code,
Criminal Procedure Code etc. In today’s emerging jurisprudence, environmental
rights which encompass a group of collective rights are described as third
generation rights.
Right to Environment - Derived from the Right to Life. Right to life, implies the
right to live without the deleterious invasion of pollution, environmental pollution,
environmental degradation and ecological imbalances. Everyone has the right to
life and a right standard of living adequate for health and well being of himself
and of his family. States should recognise everybody’s right to an adequate
standard and to continuous improvement of living conditions. Thus, inherent
right to life shall be protected by law.
Principle 1 of the declaration of UN Conference on Human Environment, 1972
proclaimed that man has the fundamental right to freedom, equality and adequate
conditions of life in an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and
well being. After this Stockholm Declaration, references to a right to decent,
healthy and viable environment was incorporated in several Global and Regional
Human Rights Treaties and in resolutions of International Organisations.
Right to Environment - As a Fundamental Right guaranteed in Indian Constitution

Environmental values or rights may be constitutionalised either explicitly by
amending the constitution or implicitly by interpreting the existing constitutional
language to include environmental protection. Immediately after the Stockholm
Declaration, there was a growing trend in national legal systems to give
constitutional status to environmental protection. India followed in the pursuit
by amending the Constitution to include environment specific provisions in 1976.
The birth of right to environment was the direct result of an inclusion these
additional provisions. 87
Understanding The Indian Supreme Court, being one of the most active judiciaries in the world,
Environment
also created a landmark in the quest of international judicial activism by
developing the concept of right to healthy environment as a part of right to life
under Art 21 of our Constitution. Art 21 reads as follows:
No person can be deprived of his life and personal liberty except according to
the procedure established by law.
Thus, in India, the higher judiciary has interpreted Art 21 to give it an expanded
meaning of including the right to a clean, safe and healthy environment. Class
actions have been entertained by the Supreme Court under Art 32 of the
Constitution as being part of public interest litigation actions. The High Courts,
also being granted this jurisdiction under Art 226 have intervened by passing
writs, orders and directions in appropriate cases, thereby giving birth to an
incomparable environmental jurisprudence in the form of the constitutional right
to healthy environment. A chronological analysis of the environmental mission
of the courts has been undertaken in order to explicate the development of the
ideology of right to environment as being part of the right to life in the Indian
context.
4.10 SUMMARY
• In this unit, we discussed the meaning of Environmental Laws and learnt a
good deal about its Historical Perspectives. We saw how Environmental
Law originated in India.
• We also made an appraisal of the historical background to environmental
protection in ancient India, particularly in the context to Hindu Era, Mughal
Era and British Era.
• Further, we discussed at length arrival of the British and the formation of
Environmental Laws in India.
• We also discussed, some important Acts formed on Environmental Protection
along the British reign in India and significant developments that took place
in the international scenario including UN Conference.
• In addition we also made excursions into the Fundamental Right to Live in
Healthy Environment.

1) Discuss the meaning of Environmental Laws? Explain environmental
protection in ancient India?
2) Explain the origin of Environmental Laws?
3) Describe the position of Environmental Laws in India after the arrival of
British?
4) What are the laws and policy available against Air Pollution?
5) Briefly explain the significant development that took place in the international
scenario with regard to environmental problems? What are their impacts in
India?
88
4.12 ANSWERS AND HINTS Law

6) Refer to Section 4.6 and 4.7
Terminal Questions
1) Environmental law is a body of law, which is a system of complex and
interlocking statutes, law, treaties, conventions, regulations and policies
which seek to protect the environment which may be affected, impacted or
endangered by human activities. Some environmental laws regulate the
quantity and nature of impacts of human activities: for example, setting
allowable levels of pollution or requiring permits for potentially harmful
activities. Other environmental laws are preventive in nature and seek to
assess the possible impacts before the human activities can occur.
While many countries worldwide have since accumulated impressive sets
of environmental laws, their implementation has often been woeful. In recent
years, environmental law has become been a critical means of promoting
sustainable (or “sustainability”). Policy concepts such as the precautionary,
public participation, environmental justice, and the polluter have informed
many environmental law reforms in this respect. There has been considerable
experimentation in the search for more effective methods of environmental
control beyond traditional “command-and-control” style regulation. Taxes,
emission, voluntary standards such as ISO 14000 and negotiated agreements
are some of these innovations. Elaborate on Ancient Indian history.
2) Summarise the entire unit, giving examples mention about different phases
of evolution of understanding of environment issues.
3) The British conquest in India brought about a plunder of natural resources
coupled with a complete indifference towards environmental protection. A
general survey of early environmental legislation reveals that apart from the
forest laws, nineteenth century legislation also partially regulated two other
aspects of Indian environment. Water pollution and wildlife. These laws,
however, had a narrow purpose and limited territorial reach.
Some of the early efforts include the enactment of the Shore Nuisance
(Bombay and Kolaba) Act of 1853 and the Oriental Gas Company Act of
1857. The Indian Penal Code, enacted in 1860, imposed a fine on a person
who voluntarily fouls the water of any public spring or reservoir. In addition,
the Code penalised negligent acts with poisonous substances that endangered
life or caused injury and proscribed public nuisances. Laws aimed at
89
Understanding controlling air pollution were the Bengal Smoke Nuisance Act of 1905 and
Environment
the Bombay Smoke Nuisance Act of 1912. In the field of wildlife protection,
early legislation was limited to specific areas and particular species, thereby
aiming at the conservation of biodiversity.
It is clear that legislative measures were taken by the British Government
for prevention of pollution and for conservation of natural resources. Although
critics point out that the British enacted these legislations, not with the object
of protecting the environment but with the aim of earning revenue for
themselves, it should be regarded as the first step towards the scientific
conservation of natural resources. Despite the fact that these measures were
made with ulterior motives, British-enacted legislations have contributed
significantly to the growth of environmental jurisprudence in India.
4) Air pollution, one of the emerging areas through which environment was
explained, write about the policies and coining of Air Pollution Laws.
5) Rapid economic, scientific and technological advancements have shown
massive repercussions in the form of degradation of ecological balances.
Due to large scale occurrence of environmental crises, the global community
has expressed major concern over environmental protection and
environmental development. Amidst some serious endeavours, significant
developments took place in the international scenario.
United Nations Conference on Human Environment
In the backdrop of some sincere efforts of tackling pollution control, for the
first time, the attention of the world was drawn towards environment in the
United Nations Conference on Human Environment was held at Stockholm
in June 1972. The Declaration on Human Environment was passed containing
twenty-six principles, with the main object of overcoming environmental
problems related to the development of States and to provide clean & healthy
living conditions.
4.13 GLOSSARY
Sustainability : To keep in existence.
Imperialism : The policy or practice of extending a state’s rule
over other.
Deforestation : The cutting down and removal of all or most of
the trees in a forested area.
Laissez-faire : An economic doctrine that opposes governmental
regulation of or interference in commerce beyond
the minimum necessary for a free-enterprise
system to operate according to its own economic
laws.
Protagonist : A person who backs a politician.
Statutes : A law enacted by a legislature.
Conventions : An agreement between states, sides, or military
forces, especially an international agreement.
Treaties : A contract or agreement.
90
Regulations : A principle, rule, or law designed to control or Origin of Environmental
Law
govern conduct.
Writ : A written order issued by a court, commanding
the party to whom it is addressed to perform or
cease performing a specified act.
Deleterious : Injurious
Repercussions : Consequences.

• PARAS DIWAN- Environmental Administration Law and Judicial Attitude.
• H.N. TIWARI- Environmental Law.
• Environmental Law and Policy in India by Shyam Divan and Armin Rosen
Cranz.
91

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Indira Gandhi

National Open University MLE-021

Prof. Venkata Rao Prof. Srikrishna Deva Rao

Block Preparation Team

Content Editor : Ms. Moulika Arabhi, CEL, WWF-India

MLE-021– Introduction to Environment

‘Environment’ is a very comprehensive term. It includes within its ambit a wide

Generally speaking, Environment includes the external conditions, resources,

The environment is clearly at risk from a variety of sources of harm, mostly of

Through MLE-021, we attempt to make you ‘Understand about Environment’,

Best Regards and Happy Reading!

Following Units will be dealt in Block 1

Unit 3 – Environment and Law: Law is important as it creates a framework

Unit 4 – Origin of Environmental Law: Every subject has to evolve somewhere,

The environment is a whole, albeit a complicated one, with many interfacing

The nitrogen cycle is the transformation of nitrogen and nitrogen-containing compounds

Self Assessment Question

1.3 THE INDIAN ENVIRONMENT:

Tiger Asian Elephant

1.4 THE WORLD ENVIRONMENT: A TIMELINE

Babylonian sewer system

Middle Ages and Renaissance

Detail from a Peter S. Bregel painting shows a

• Plague devastates Europe but leads to the beginnings of a public health

A young Teddy Roosevelt

Roaring Twenties and the Depression

Alice Hamilton (Library of Congress)

• National Coast Anti Pollution League is formed by municipal officials from

World War II and the 50’s

Rachel Carson (Yale University library)

• A decade of awakening and cleanup begins with the birth of the

Scientist works with experimental

• US leadership changes from president Bill Clinton, a devoted conservationist,

Future of our planet lies in our hands

Fourthly, we need to focus on sustainable development as the cost of progress

1.8 ANSWERS AND HINTS

1.9 SUGGESTED READINGS

The aim of ecology is to investigate the relation of living organisms to each

2.3 INDIA’S NATURAL HISTORY (ANCIENT AND

9000 year old rock painting from Bhimbetka showing a hunt.

Indus Valley Civilisation

Clay tablets from Lothal showing various animals

The Maurya Period

Our king killed very few animals.

Babur hunting rhino near Peshawar

Painting of a Dodo attributed to Ustad Mansur

2.4 NATURAL RESOURCES

A classic distinction is frequently made between non-renewable and renewable

When the functioning of natural ecosystems or of technological civilisations is

Such considerations lead us to another definition of the term ‘resource’. As already

Self Assessment Question

Mining, petroleum extraction, fishing, hunting, and forestry are generally

Habitat conservation is a land management practice that seeks to conserve, protect

A greater number or variety of species or biological diversity of an ecosystem

Properties common to terrestrial organisms (plants, animals, fungi, protists,

2.7 BIODIVERSITY AND NATURAL RESOURCES

The skewed distribution of biological resources between tropical (mostly

India’s Water Resources

2.8 BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS

The Eastern Himalayas

The Red Panda or Firefox is native to

Self Assessment Question

2.9 THREATENED AND EXTINCT SPECIES

Elephas ganesa a fossil elephant from the Siwaliks