Evaluating Impact Of Environment Law & Policies In India

Amar Singh Nathawat, School of Law, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, Dehradun (Alumni)

ABSTRACT

Climate change has been a trending issue of major concern to all mankind. Change in the world climate system has affected virtually all aspects of human endeavours around the globe. The warming of the global system has increasingly occasioned a lot of natural disasters ranging from melting of the polar ice caps to flooding, earthquakes and landslides etc. Hence, the need to find lasting solutions to this problem becomes necessary otherwise more devastating harms will occur and human beings who are the major causative agents and victims will continue to suffer. Recourse has been made to climate change laws and policies by setting up the same to either abate the rate of environmental pollution activities carried out by mankind through mitigation the effects of the climate change by adaptation. However, due to the soft nature of climate change laws and policies which makes them almost unenforceable, recourse should also been made to environmental law and policy by implications to complement or add flesh to the bone of climate change law and policies. Therefore, climate laws and policies which have been specifically designated to control climate change have contributed little or nothing in mitigation of climate change. Environmental law and policy on its part have impliedly been resorted to for the control of climate change but unfortunately have not made any significant headway towards climate change mitigation.

This article evaluates the impacts of environmental law and policy in climate change mitigation. The article also discusses the processes and procedures for climate change mitigation. This article finds out among others that climate change law and policies per se cannot achieve climate mitigation neither do environmental law and policies be sufficient enough to control climate change. The attempt should be that, anthropogenic activities resulting in global warming and climate change should be expressly added in all environmental laws for the strict actions that can be taken further, by unification of both Climate and environmental law and policy as an effective measure to mitigate climate change.

Keywords: Environment Law, Climate Change Mitigation, Environment Policy, Action-Plan, Sustainable Development.