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1. EDUCATION HOLE PRESENTS
ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Unit-IV

2. Environmental Protection through .......................................................................................... 3
Assessment and Education...............................................................................................................3
Indicators and Impact Assessment .......................................................................................................................3
Health Promotion Outcomes................................................................................................................................4
Health literacy ..................................................................................................................................................4
Social influence & action ..................................................................................................................................4
Healthy public policy and organizational practice................................................................................................4
Bio-indicators...................................................................................................................................5
Natural disasters..............................................................................................................................6
Disaster management ......................................................................................................................7
Types of disasters..................................................................................................................................................7
Disaster prevention...............................................................................................................................................8
Disaster preparedness ..........................................................................................................................................8
Disaster relief........................................................................................................................................................8
Disaster recovery ..................................................................................................................................................8
Impact assessment through inventorying and monitoring ................................................................9
Wetland Inventory............................................................................................................................................9
Wetland Assessment........................................................................................................................................9
Wetland Monitoring.........................................................................................................................................9
Environmental Protection........................................................................................................ 9
Role of individuals.......................................................................................................................... 10
Electricity ............................................................................................................................................................10
Pollution................................................................................................................................ 11
Food............................................................................................................................................... 12
Water............................................................................................................................................. 13
Organizations and government in pollution control............................................................... 14
Organizational structure ................................................................................................................ 14
Divisions of CPCB Head Office .................................................................................................... 15
Environmental Protection Law ....................................................................................................... 15
General ...............................................................................................................................................................16
Forest and wildlife ......................................................................................................................... 18
Water..................................................................................................................................................................18
Air.................................................................................................................................................. 19
Conventions and Treaties............................................................................................................... 19
National legislation .............................................................................................................................................19
Text of National legislation .................................................................................................................................20

3. The Checklist for the Legislator...........................................................................................................................20
Model National Legislation.................................................................................................................................20
Issues in the enforcement of environmental legislation......................................................... 21
Inadequately Designed Legal Mandates.............................................................................................................22
Legislation initiatives by non- governmental organizations ............................................................ 22
NGOs and the states.............................................................................................................. 22
Application of the general law............................................................................................................................23
Preferential status ..............................................................................................................................................24
NGOs and IGOs ...................................................................................................................................................25
Global efforts in environmental protection .................................................................................... 26
The Promise of Rio..............................................................................................................................................26
Looking for U.S. Leadership ................................................................................................................................26
Filling the Environmental Policy Gaps.................................................................................................................27
Developing a Binding Framework of Environmental Principles .....................................................................27
Getting the Rules Right Regarding the Climate Regime .................................................................................28
Imposing Liability and Providing Compensation ............................................................................................28
Emphasizing Environmental Restoration........................................................................................................29
Addressing Persistent Chemicals....................................................................................................................29
Water Shortages.............................................................................................................................................29
Consumption Levels .......................................................................................................................................30
Environmental education ...................................................................................................... 30
Women and value education.......................................................................................................... 30
Women, Environment and Development (WED) Debate...................................................................................31
Environmental Protection through
Assessment and Education
Indicators and Impact Assessment
Usually indicators of impact are much easier to come up with because they are about more
immediate changes you are seeking. Whereas measuring outcomes refer to large and long term
changes. Goals are often written as broad statements of desired change, such as to decrease
social isolation in a region, or reduce the incidence of domestic violence. They can also relate to
a change in health status, such as reduced mortality, morbidity, or improved well being. Health

4. outcome evalution rarely occurs in small primary health care projects, due to the short term
funding, complexity and difficulties of attributing project activities with long term outcomes. See
below for more on Impact/Outcome evaluation. Instead most projects focus on evaluting the
impact of their project acccording to their objectives.
Examples of Impact/outcome indicators :
• changes in awareness, knowledge, skills
• increases in the number of people reached
• policy changes
• changes in behaviour
• changes in community capacity
• changes in organisational capacity (skills, structures, resources)
• increases in service usage
• improved continuity of care
Health Promotion Outcomes
These reflect changes to those personal, social and environmental factors which are a means to
improving people's control, and thereby changing determinants of health (intermediate
outcomes). They also represent the more immediate results of HP activities.
Health literacy
• improved health knowledge & motivation re lifestyles
• improved knowledge, where to go, what to do to get access to services (health & other)
• improved skills & confidence
Social influence & action
• mobilisation of human and material resources to overcome structural barriers
• enhanced social support
• reinforce social norms conducive to health, eg. improved social connectedness, improved
community competency & community empowerment, greater social capital, greater
community ownership of program
Healthy public policy and organizational practice
• Healthier public policy & organisation practices to improve access, social benefits,
appropriate housing
• Development of policy statements, legislation, regulations

5. • Development of organizational procedures
• Management practice
• Funding & resource allocation
• Institutionalization of HP programs
• Improved disease and injury prevention
• Reducing risk of ill health
• Healthier lifestyles
Bio-indicators
Biological indicators are species that can be used to monitor the health of an environment or
ecosystem. They are any biological species or group of species whose function, population, or
status can reveal what degree of ecosystem or environmental integrity is present. One example of
a group of bioindicators are the copepods and other small water crustaceans that are present in
many water bodies. Such organisms can be monitored for changes (biochemical, physiological,
or behavioural) that may indicate a problem within their ecosystem. Bioindicators can tell us
about the cumulative effects of different pollutants in the ecosystem and about how long a
problem may have been present, which physical and chemical testing cannot. A biological
monitor, or biomonitor, can be defined as an organism that provides quantitative information on
the quality of the environment around it. Therefore, a good biomonitor will indicate the presence
of the pollutant and also attempt to provide additional information about the amount and
intensity of the exposure. A bioindicator is an organism or biological response that reveals the
presence of the pollutants by the occurrence of typical symptoms or measurable responses, and is
therefore more qualitative. These organisms (or communities of organisms) deliver information
on alterations in the environment or the quantity of environmental pollutants by changing in one
of the following ways: physiologically, chemically or behaviourally. The information can be
deduced through the study of:
1. their content of certain elements or compounds
2. their morphological or cellular structure
3. metabolic-biochemical processes
4. behaviour, or
5. population structure(s).
The importance and relevance of biomonitors, rather than man-made equipment, is justified by
the statement: "There is no better indicator of the status of a species or a system than a species or
system itself.
The use of a biomonitor is described as biological monitoring (abbr. biomonitoring) and is the
use of the properties of an organism to obtain information on certain aspects of the biosphere.

6. Biomonitoring of air pollutants can be passive or active. Passive methods observe plants growing
naturally within the area of interest. Active methods detect the presence of air pollutants by
placing test plants of known response and genotype into the study area. Bioaccumulative
indicators are frequently regarded as biomonitors.
Natural disasters
A natural disaster is a major adverse event resulting from natural processes of the Earth;
examples include floods, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, and other geologic
processes. A natural disaster can cause loss of life or property damage, and typically leaves some
economic damage in its wake, the severity of which depends on the affected population's
resilience, or ability to recover. An adverse event will not rise to the level of a disaster if it
occurs in an area without vulnerable population.[2][3][4]
In a vulnerable area, however, such as San
Francisco, an earthquake can have disastrous consequences and leave lasting damage, requiring
years to repair. In 2012, there were 905 natural catastrophes worldwide, 93% of which were
weather-related disasters. Overall costs were US$170 billion and insured losses $70 billion. 2012
was a moderate year. 45% were meteorological (storms), 36% were hydrological (floods),12%
were climatological (heat waves, cold waves, droughts, wildfires) and 7 % were geophysical
events (earthquakes and volcanic eruptions). Between 1980 and 2011 geophysical events
accounted for 14% of all natural catastrophes.
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic
waves. At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by vibration, shaking and
sometimes displacement of the ground. The vibrations may vary in magnitude. Earthquakes are
caused mostly by slippage within geological faults, but also by other events such as volcanic
activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear tests. The underground point of origin of the
earthquake is called the focus. The point directly above the focus on the surface is called the
epicenter. Earthquakes by themselves rarely kill people or wildlife. It is usually the secondary
events that they trigger, such as building collapse, fires, tsunamis (seismic sea waves) and
volcanoes, that are actually the human disaster. Many of these could possibly be avoided by
better construction, safety systems, early warning and planning. Some of the most significant
earthquakes in recent times include:
• The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, the third largest earthquake recorded in history,
registering a moment magnitude of 9.1-9.3. The huge tsunamis triggered by this
earthquake killed at least 229,000 people.
• The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami registered a moment magnitude of 9.0. The
death toll from the earthquake and tsunami is over 13,000, and over 12,000 people are
still missing.
• The 8.8 magnitude February 27, 2010 Chile earthquake and tsunami cost 525 lives.

7. • The 7.9 magnitude May 12, 2008 Sichuan earthquake in Sichuan Province, China. Death
toll at over 61,150 as of May 27, 2008.
• The 7.7 magnitude July 2006 Java earthquake, which also triggered tsunamis.
• The 6.9 magnitude 2005 Azad Jammu & Kashmir and KPK province Earthquake, which
killed or injured above 75,000 people in Pakistan.
Disaster management
The United Nations defines a disaster as a serious disruption of the functioning of a community
or a society. Disasters involve widespread human, material, economic or environmental impacts,
which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.
The Red Cross and Red Crescent societies define disaster management as the organisation and
management of resources and responsibilities for dealing with all humanitarian aspects of
emergencies, in particular preparedness, response and recovery in order to lessen the impact of
disasters.
Types of disasters
There is no country that is immune from disaster, though vulnerability to disaster varies. There
are four main types of disaster.
• Natural disasters: including floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and volcano eruptions that
have immediate impacts on human health and secondary impacts causing further death
and suffering from (for example) floods, landslides, fires, tsunamis.
• Environmental emergencies: including technological or industrial accidents, usually
involving the production, use or transportation of hazardous material, and occur where
these materials are produced, used or transported, and forest fires caused by humans.
• Complex emergencies: involving a break-down of authority, looting and attacks on
strategic installations, including conflict situations and war.
• Pandemic emergencies: involving a sudden onset of contagious disease that affects
health, disrupts services and businesses, brings economic and social costs.
Any disaster can interrupt essential services, such as health care, electricity, water,
sewage/garbage removal, transportation and communications. The interruption can seriously
affect the health, social and economic networks of local communities and countries. Disasters
have a major and long-lasting impact on people long after the immediate effect has been
mitigated. Poorly planned relief activities can have a significant negative impact not only on the
disaster victims but also on donors and relief agencies. So it is important that physical therapists
join established programmes rather than attempting individual efforts.

8. Local, regional, national and international organisations are all involved in mounting a
humanitarian response to disasters. Each will have a prepared disaster management plan. These
plans cover prevention, preparedness, relief and recovery.
Disaster prevention
These are activities designed to provide permanent protection from disasters. Not all disasters,
particularly natural disasters, can be prevented, but the risk of loss of life and injury can be
mitigated with good evacuation plans, environmental planning and design standards. In January
2005, 168 Governments adopted a 10-year global plan for natural disaster risk reduction called
the Hyogo Framework. It offers guiding principles, priorities for action, and practical means for
achieving disaster resilience for vulnerable communities.
Disaster preparedness
These activities are designed to minimise loss of life and damage – for example by removing
people and property from a threatened location and by facilitating timely and effective rescue,
relief and rehabilitation. Preparedness is the main way of reducing the impact of disasters.
Community-based preparedness and management should be a high priority in physical therapy
practice management.
Disaster relief
This is a coordinated multi-agency response to reduce the impact of a disaster and its long-term
results. Relief activities include rescue, relocation, providing food and water, preventing disease
and disability, repairing vital services such as telecommunications and transport, providing
temporary shelter and emergency health care.
Disaster recovery
Once emergency needs have been met and the initial crisis is over, the people affected and the
communities that support them are still vulnerable. Recovery activities include rebuilding
infrastructure, health care and rehabilitation. These should blend with development activities,
such as building human resources for health and developing policies and practices to avoid
similar situations in future. Disaster management is linked with sustainable development,
particularly in relation to vulnerable people such as those with disabilities, elderly people,
children and other marginalised groups. Health Volunteers Overseas publications address some
of the common misunderstandings about disaster management.

9. Impact assessment through inventorying and monitoring
Wetland Inventory: the collection and/or collation of core information for wetland
management, including the provision of information base for specific assessment and monitoring
activities.
Wetland Assessment: the identification of the status of, and threats to, wetlands as a basis for
the collection of more specific information through monitoring activities.
Wetland Monitoring: the collection of specific information for management purposes in
response to hypotheses derived from assessment activities, and the use of these monitoring
results for implementing management. The collection of time-series information that is not
hypothesis-driven from wetland assessment is here termed surveillance rather than monitoring
(refer to Resolution VI.1).
18. The approach and the scope of activity for inventory, assessment and monitoring as separate
components of the management process differ substantially, but these are not always well
distinguished in implementation projects.
19. Importantly, wetland inventory and wetland monitoring require different types of
information. Whilst wetland inventory provides the basis for guiding the development of
appropriate assessment and monitoring, wetland inventories repeated at given time intervals do
not in themselves constitute monitoring.
20. Essentially, wetland (baseline) inventory is used to collect information to describe the
ecological character of wetlands; assessment considers the pressures and associated risks of
adverse change in ecological character; and monitoring, which can include both survey and
surveillance, provides information on the extent of any change. All three are important and
interactive data gathering exercises. They should be considered as linked elements of this overall
integrated framework which, when implemented, provides for identification of key features of
the character of wetlands. Taken together, they provide the information needed for establishing
strategies, policies and management interventions to maintain the defined wetland ecosystem
character and hence ecosystem benefits/services.
Environmental Protection
Environmental protection is a practice of protecting the natural environment on individual,
organizational or governmental levels, for the benefit of both the natural environment and
humans. Due to the pressures of population and technology, the biophysical environment is
being degraded, sometimes permanently. This has been recognized, and governments have begun

10. placing restraints on activities that cause environmental degradation. Since the 1960s, activity of
environmental movements has created awareness of the various environmental issues. There is
no agreement on the extent of the environmental impact of human activity, and protection
measures are occasionally criticized. Academic institutions now offer courses, such as
environmental studies, environmental management and environmental engineering, that teach the
history and methods of environment protection. Protection of the environment is needed due to
various human activities. Waste production, air pollution, and loss of biodiversity (resulting from
the introduction of invasive species and species extinction) are some of the issues related to
environmental protection.
Role of individuals
Electricity
Energy is everywhere. We use energy to move the mouse for a computer, to jump and shout and
walk and run. It takes energy to power a light bulb, and the light that the bulb gives off is also a
form of energy called radiant energy. Radiant energy from the sun enables vegetables, plants,
trees and us to live and grow! Other forms of energy include heat, chemical energy, kinetic
(motion) energy, gravitational energy and nuclear power.
Electricity is a form of energy and this is what powers the TV, the kettle, dishwasher, hairdryer,
toaster, remote control, mobile phone, fridge, stereo, electric toothbrush, mp3 player and more!
Detectives - Can you guess how many things need electricity in your house? Take a guess, then
go on a detective mission and write down all the things you find. Set up a competition in your
family and see who's guess is the closest!
Our growing need for energy is one of the problems facing the world today, because producing
electricity also produces our next topic - pollution. We also have some cool downloads, here’s
two - Energy and Alternative Energy.
How to help
When you’re using electricity think about where it comes from and how you can use less to take
the strain off of the environment - here are some simple ways to make a big difference:
• On or Off? Leaving televisions, stereos and computers on standby with the little red light
showing still uses up electricity, even though they might look like they're turned off. To
stop this you can turn them off at the wall. Simple!
• Lights out! Turning lights off when you're not in the room (make sure no-one else is
too!) can save a lot of energy.
• Putting the kettle on Britons drink an amazing 60.2 billion cups of tea a day according to
The Tea Council. That's a lot of tea, and a lot of electricity too! That's why it's important

11. to only boil as much water as you need in your kettle. It's best to boil enough water for
one cup, not three or five - plus you won't have to wait as long, which is a bonus!
• Brrrr The fridge is an important part of the kitchen, it keeps food fresh, cool and
healthy! But it takes a lot of energy to keep cool, so help it by not leaving the fridge door
open or putting hot things inside.
• Shopping Many products are now helping you to reduce your energy use and your
parents’ energy bills! Check new products for their efficiency grade and rating and keep
an eye out for the Energy Efficiency Recommended logo.
• Harness the sun’s energy - An increasing number of people are fitting solar panels to
their houses. Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels create electricity from sunlight, which can
then be used to power their homes. Solar heating panels make hot water, reducing the
need for electricity or gas to heat water or run the central heating system.
Pollution
Pollution is caused when harmful or poisonous substances are released or found in the air, rivers,
seas, animals, plants or even our bodies. Now, we live on a strong planet with robust plants and
hardy animals and humans - but there’s only so much we can take.
Unless we are using renewable energy sources such as solar panels or wind turbines, producing
the electricity that powers our homes and gadgets causes pollution. Some of the petrol or diesel
that we put into our cars turns into pollution, which is contained in exhaust fumes. Diesel fumes
contain particulates - a fine dust, which is not good for asthmatics, for example.
“What about cow farts?” I hear you ask. Actually, I didn’t hear and you probably weren’t
asking that but yep, that’s right - we can’t leave out the massive impact of farming. The
livestock we rear for meat emit more greenhouse gas than all the world’s transport! The
greenhouse gas that livestock produce is called methane. Methane, together with other
greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide contribute to global warming by acting like a blanket
surrounding the whole planet, trapping the sun’s heat within the atmosphere and causing global
temperatures to rise.
Chemical waste from factories and sewage works can also cause pollution that can get into our
rivers and seas, which soon carry the harmful particles for miles. Litter is considered pollution
as it can cause harm to wildlife and disrupt rivers, streams, seas and other habitats. Harmful
chemicals can also be found in many household and garden items, from plastics to cleaning
products, weedkillers and sprays.
How to help:
• Don’t drop litter Birds and animals can mistake litter for food. Litter can end up in
rivers and block drains, or in the sea and be eaten by fish. Also, some litter will stay
around for thousands of years!

12. • Save it! All of the electricity saving tips in the above section will also help reduce
pollution.
• On your bike Instead of taking the car get your bicycle out or take the ‘shoelace express’
- also known as walking.
• Pleasing products Many household cleaning products contain harmful chemicals which
are washed down the drain. Encourage your parents to buy eco-friendly products or even
make your own from natural substances like vinegar and lemon juice.
• Detectives If you spot pollution, such as oil on the beach, report it to the local council. If
you suspect a stream is polluted, report it to the Environment Agency.
Food
We can’t live without it! With more than 7 billion people on earth the demand for food has
never been bigger. In the UK alone we spend about £182 billion pounds a year keeping fed and
watered. That’s a lot of food!
The first question is - where is all this food coming from? Our food comes from all over the
world - your green beans might come from Egypt, coffee maybe from Africa, perhaps your
bananas have travelled from Ecuador and apples flew across the Pacific Ocean from New
Zealand. All of these ‘food miles’ amounts to a lot of transport and transport means fuel and fuel
means pollution.
What else does food need to grow? Water and good soil! Plants and trees that give us fruit need
to eat too you know. Some countries and farms add pesticides and insecticides to food to keep
away pests and insects. These chemicals can sometimes be harmful to wildlife and their habitats
and sometimes to humans too. Look at ‘How to help’ to find out more.
Here in the west we eat 7 times more than people in poorer countries. And one thing we eat a
lot of is meat and dairy food. What do these foods have in common? Meat and dairy food both
come from animals, and animals also need food and water. And as we saw above, they also fart
a lot! Livestock farts produce a greenhouse gas called methane and all this amounts to 20% of
the world’s climate-changing gases. Phwoar! A suggested alternative to meat is insects - Insect
Burger anyone?
How to Help:
• Reduce your mileage eating food and drinking drinks produced in the UK reduces the
carbon footprint of your diet. This means that you are helping to reduce pollution! Look
at the for little red tractor on products in your supermarket.
• Meat Free Mondays are an easy and effective way to cut down on meat. Make one or
even two of your days meat-free.

13. • Eat organic organic foods have had no insecticides and pesticides added to them which
makes them that bit more natural and healthy. Eating organic food reduces how many
chemicals are made and spread across the countryside.
• Get worms! Food waste is an important issue as 7 billion of us munch our way through
millions of tonnes of food. Give your leftovers to worms in your very own wormery and
they’ll turn it into rich and healthy compost for your vegetable garden and flowers!
• Washing Always wash your hands before eating to prevent the spread of invisible bad
stuff like bacteria and chemicals. It’s also good to wash fruit and vegetables before
eating or cooking.
Water
Turn on the tap and there it is. Getting water is so easy that you’d be mistaken for thinking that
there was an endless supply. But the world has a water shortage. 70% of the world is covered in
water - we should call our planet ‘ocean’ not ‘earth’! But most of this water is salt water, leaving
only a small percentage of fresh drinking water. Countries including Spain, Italy, Peru, China
and South Africa actually import water from exporting countries such as the US, Australia and
Argentina. A staggering 1.1 billion people on earth have no access to clean drinking water. This
global shortage is predicted to get worse as global temperatures rise.
Every person in the UK uses about 150 litres of water a day - compare this to some countries
where they only have 5-10 litres! Poor countries would be shocked to hear that we use drinking
water to flush our toilets. There are many simple ways that we cam reduce our water use. Let’s
have a look at how you can help:
How to help:
• Get your teeth into it We brush our teeth twice a day and by turning the tap off while we
brush we can save 5-10 litres of water. If every adult in the UK did this then we’d save
enough water for 500,000 homes. So, kids - let’s show them how it’s done!
• Bottle in your loo What? Put a bottle in your loo? That’s right. If it will fit, fill up a
lemonade or cola bottle with water and pop it into your loo’s water tank. Then when you
flush and the water fills back up you’ll save a bottle’s worth every time.
• Rain Gain Collecting rainwater in a water butt in your garden is a great way of collecting
and reusing the water to keep plants healthy in the summer.
• Reuse Share bath water with your family to reduce costs and water use. Or, set yourself
a challenge to cut down your shower time by 1 or 2 minutes.

14. Organizations and government in pollution control
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India is a statutory organisation under the Ministry
of Environment and Forests (MoEF). It was established in 1974 under Water (Prevention and
Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. CPCB is also entrusted with the powers and functions under the
Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. It serves as a field formation and also
provides technical services to the Ministry of Environment and Forests of the provisions of the
Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. It Co-ordinate the activities of the State Boards by
providing technical assistance and guidance and resolve disputes among them. It is an apex
organization in country in the field of pollution control, as technical wing of MoEF. The board is
led by its chairman, who is nominated by the Central Government. The current acting chairman
is Susheel Kumar.
CPCB has its head office in New Delhi, with seven zonal offices and 5 laboratories. The board
conducts environmental assessment and research. It is responsible for maintain national
standards under a variety of environmental laws, in consultation with zonal offices, tribal, and
local governments. It has monitoring the water and air quality and maintains respective quality
data. The agency also works with industries and all levels of government in a wide variety of
voluntary pollution prevention programs and energy conservation efforts. It advise the central
government to prevent and control water and air pollution. It also advise the Governments of
Union Territories about an industry or the pollution source causing water and air pollution.
CPCB along with its counterparts State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) are responsible for
implementation of legislations relating to prevention and control of environmental pollution. The
board has approximately 500 full-time employees including engineers, scientists, and
environmental protection specialists.
Organizational structure
Organizational structure of CPCB
CPCB is led by its Chairman following by the Member Secretary. The CPCB performs its
various functions through the following nine major project budget heads.
• Pollution assessment (survey and monitoring).
• R&D and laboratory management.

15. • Development of standards and guidelines for industry specific emissions and effluents
standards
• Training
• Information database management and library
• Pollution control technology
• Pollution control enforcement
• Mass awareness and publications
• Hazard waste management[28]
Divisions of CPCB Head Office
CPCB head office is currently divided into 22 divisions. Each division have its own in charge
and individual sets of goals.
• Pollution Control Planning Division (PCP).
• Pollution, Assessment, Monitoring & Survey (PAMS).
• Pollution Control Implementation Division -I (PCI-I).
• Pollution Control Implementation Division-II (PCI-II).
• Pollution Control Implementation Division - III (PCI-III).
• Urban Pollution Control Division (UPCD).
• Hazardous Waste Management Division (HWMD).
• Environmental Surveillance Squad Division (ESS).
• Information Technology.
• Infrastructure Division (IFD).
• Environmental Training Unit (ETU).
• LEGAL CELL.
• PR SECTION.
• AS SECTION.
• BUILDING SECTION.
• LIBRARY.
• HINDI SECTION.
• ADMINISTRATION (RECRUITMENT).
• PCI (SSI).
• ADMINISTRATION (PERSONNEL).
• MATERIAL.
• Accounts.
Environmental Protection Law
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

16. 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.
Following is a list of the environmental legislations that have come into effect:
General
Forest and wildlife
Water
Air
General
1986 - The Environment (Protection) Act authorizes 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.
1989 - The Manufacture, Use, Import, Export, and Storage of hazardous 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.

17. 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 and knowledge associated with it

18. Forest and wildlife
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.

19. 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.
Air
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.
Conventions and Treaties
National legislation
This section contains information relating to national legislation and other regulatory measures
adopted by Parties and are intended to assist Parties and others to implement the provisions of
the Basel Convention.
Recognizing the importance of national legal and administrative instruments for the effective
implementation of the Basel Convention, Article 4(4) of the Convention provides that: "Each
Party shall take appropriate legal, administrative and other measures to implement and enforce
the provisions of this Convention, including measures to prevent and punish conduct in
contravention of the Convention". The Conference of the Parties at its ninth meeting in addition

20. urges Parties to promulgate, update or develop stringent legislation on the control of trans
boundary movement of hazardous wastes and to incorporate in their legislation, appropriate
sanctions or penalties for illegal traffic in hazardous wastes.
Text of National legislation
The texts of national legislation included on this site have been supplied by the Parties to the
Secretariat. Some of the texts are available only in the national language of the country
concerned and are not translated into one of the official UN languages. It is also noted that this
section of the site does not purport to contain a complete set of the national legislation adopted
by all the Parties to implement the Convention. As texts are received, they shall be added to the
collection on this site.
The Checklist for the Legislator
The Checklist for the Legislator (also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish)
has been prepared by the Secretariat of the Basel Convention in cooperation with the Committee
for Administering the Mechanism for Promoting Implementation and Compliance (the
Compliance Committee) as a complement to the Model National Legislation. The checklist is
aimed at the legislator who will be drafting the national implementing legislation and seeks to
identify the most fundamental matters that should be addressed in national implementing
legislation, taking into account that such legislation may be combined with national legislation to
implement the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain
Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade and the Stockholm Convention on
Persistent Organic Pollutants.
It should be noted that this checklist does not address all matters that a legislator could choose to
address in national implementing legislation and that the Secretariat and the Compliance
Committee welcome all comments from Parties to further elaborate and update the list.
Model National Legislation
The Model National Legislation (also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and
Spanish) was developed by the Legal Working Group on the basis of existing national legislation
and institutional arrangements in various countries. It is designed to assist Parties in developing
and/or up-dating their national legislation and institutional arrangements to ensure the
environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes and their disposal and to facilitate and
ensure the compliance of Contracting Parties with the provisions of the Convention

21. Issues in the enforcement of environmental legislation
 Most governments want to be regarded as responsible members of the "community of
nations" and their ability to influence the choices of other states may turn on achieving
this perception. Participation in environmental lawmaking efforts could be deemed of
significant importance by governments even if the results of participation, whatever
agreements and laws are negotiated, are not considered especially relevant.
 For many developing countries, participation in international environmental proceedings
on a relatively equal footing with more powerful states offers an opportunity to reinforce
their sense of national identity and importance. This participation may also enable them,
often acting in concert with other developing nations, to pursue specific national interests
as they perceive them.
 Foreign aid from developed nations and economic or technical assistance from
multilateral institutions may often depend on developing states maintaining the
appearance of adequate environmental protection laws. The World Bank, for example,
requires applicants to demonstrate through a document-submission process that the
governments possess an appropriate legal framework to mandate environmental impact
assessments and mitigate ecological damage from development projects.
 Developing nations may also need to ratify IEL agreements and enact environmental laws
as a precondition for obtaining trade advantages offered by wealthy countries influenced
by environmental concerns. An example of this inducement is the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), in which the primary motivation of all three nations was to
increase trade and economic growth. However, environmentalists in the U.S. and
Canada threatened to derail NAFTA negotiations unless Mexico upgraded its
environmental protection laws. In response, Mexico did adopt strong pollution control
and conservation laws on paper, but legal implementation has been predictably erratic if
not wholly illusory.
 Adoption of IEL treaties and national conservation laws may defuse adverse publicity
and controversy that could deter potential investments and tourism in the state. For
example, environmentalists have often publicized the high deforestation rate in the
Malaysian State of Sarawak on Borneo, which conflicts with the Sarawak government's
attempt to attract tourism by emphasizing that it still possesses among the largest and
most pristine rainforest areas in the world. Whether a government wants favorable
treatment from other governments, multilateral organizations, or private parties, the
adoption of paper laws offers a visible indication that the environmental objectives of the
other actors are being taken seriously.
 Environmental lawmaking may help deflect internal political criticisms as well as
external pressures from the international community. Lawmaking without major
investments in implementation and compliance may, from a government's perspective,
defuse media scrutiny and public aspirations for environmental protection in a way that

22. does not jeopardize economic development. In this sense, the creation of illusory
conservation obligations may function as a high-pressure steam relief valve on a boiler,
mollifying environmentalists without the need to impose severe regulatory burdens on
entrepreneurial activities.
In short, governments may achieve "the best of both worlds" from a political perspective by
enacting strict conservation laws to placate environmentalists but then not implementing or
enforcing those laws to reduce administrative costs and to accommodate pressures from business
interests. The point to keep in mind is that governments in developing states may derive a range
of benefits from adoption of conservation laws that have little connection with the ecological
and social benefits from genuine environmental protection. And most other governments almost
never make serious attempts to h these states to their self-assumed legal obligations.
Inadequately Designed Legal Mandates
Most international environmental laws and national laws in developing states have been poorly
conceived--they are overly general, deliberately ambiguous, often self- contradictory,
excessively lenient, lacking real teeth--but even thoughtful environmental laws responsive to the
specific ecological and social conditions in each country can seldom serve as the foundation for
successful conservation in most nations. Aspirations for economic growth and inappropriate, or
no-longer- appropriate, resource exploitation traditions are the main causes of ecological
destruction, and effective remedies must function in these same domains. In other words,
effective conservation strategies must respond directly to the economic circumstances and
human motivations underlying specific environmental hazards. Legal mandates cannot provide
satisfactory replacements for economic and social measures that would address the root causes of
ecological harm.
Legislation initiatives by non- governmental organizations
The major international non-governmental organizations in the disability field were, from the
very beginning, actively involved in the elaboration of the Standard Rules. Even though some
parts of the Rules were agreed upon through compromise, it is important to note that the
international non-governmental organizations fully supported the adoption of the Rules.
NGOs and the states
Under present public international law only states are able to occupy and administer the
inhabitable parts of the earth's surface. Thus intergovernmental organisations are obliged, if they
wish to occupy a given point on the globe, to make "headquarters agreements" with the

23. government on whose territory they have chosen to settle. As they have no territorial basis NGOs
are bound, in order to function, to take refuge in the territory of one of some 160 states which
control the earth's surface. As a result they are subject to the regulations andjurisdiction of the
authorities which agree to have them. A major contradiction at once emerges between an NGO's
international vocation, which is its raison d'être, and the national legal status in which it is
confined. It would require a huge inventory and encyclopaedic knowledge to describe and
compare the various kinds of legislation which the 160 countries of the world apply to NGOs.
Even on the assumption that a great many countries give little attention to the question of
associations and bestow their favours above all on "private" organisations whose real purpose is
to mould and indoctrinate the population according to the instructions of the powers-that-be, the
list of states in which the problem of the status of NGOs truly arises is too lengthy to allow of
systematic comparison, especially in a short report of this kind. A typology will help here.
In practice there are only three possible solutions to the problem of the national status of NGOs:
The discrimatory system whereby the establishment and operation of NGOs is made subject to
conditions more restrictive than those applied to national associations. Until 1981 this was the
French solution since, under the terms of a decree of 1939 (issued in the climate of growing peril
in Europe), associations deemed to be "foreign" on account of the composition of their governing
bodies, could not be created without prior authorisation and could be dissolved by a simple
administrative decision. However, this retrograde, vexatious legislation was applied in a liberal
manner. The best proof is the fact that France has always been, and still is the country with the
highest number of NGO headquarters. This remark is not intended to justify the situation but it
does show -and it would be quite wrong of us to forget this fact here or elsewhere - that there can
often be a wide gap between law and reality.
Application of the general law
This is the system whereby NGOs are purely and simply assimilated in status to national
associations as regards both the conditions of formation and dissolution and the rules under
which they operate. This is, in my experience, the situation in countries with a liberal tradition; it
is the situation now in France since the Act of 9 October 1981 repealed the legislative Decree of
1939. Thus an NGO may now be created and form an association on French territory simply by
means of a "declaration published in the Official Gazette (Journal Officiel)". Once declared the
NGO enjoys the same rights as any other association set up in France by French nationals.
Abolition of the discriminatory system does, quite clearly, constitute progress. But is does not
solve the problems facing NGOs - far from it. Although based on liberal principles, French
legislation on associations contains a whole series of restrictions which turn NGOs into second-
class legal entities in comparison with commercial companies or trade unions. The same is true
in most countries. Thus the principle of assimilationsubjects the NGOs to the same restrictions as
all the national associations with which their lot is bound up.

24. ut the most serious drawback to this arrangement is that it does not meet the specific
requirements of NGOs which have to do, essentially, with their relations with individual
members or sections beyond the frontiers. For example the introduction of rigorous exchange
control has no effect on the running of a French anglers association but can paralyse the
financing and thus the activities of an international NGO.
Preferential status
This is the system set up in the well known Belgian Act of 25 October 1919 which still serves as
a reference point in this question (see Appendix 6). With the aim of encouraging the
establishment of NGOs in Belgium territory the Act recognises them as corporations even when
they are composed of non-Belgian nationals, provided that one of their directors is a Belgian
national. Its provisions are more flexible than those of French legislation concerning property
rights and donations. But nonetheless prior authorisation is required and fairly strict requirements
are imposed concerning the drafting of the statutes.
In fact the most audacious provision of Belgian legislation concerns recognised rights in Belgian
territory, of international associations with headquarters in another country (2). This measure
which has no parallel in other legislations, has the advantage of conferring rights on an
extraterritorial private entity. If a similar measure were adopted by the legislation of other
countries it would effectively solve many problems and open the way to multilateral
"transnationality", without there being any need to introduce an international status worked out
by all the governments.
But the fact is that the Belgian example has not been followed and it seems unlikely that it will
be in the near future (3). The unilateral granting of preferential status, even if combined with
facilities to NGOs established in other countries, solves only part of the problem of the
functioning of NGOs. In the most developed version (the Belgian Act) national legislation can
go so far as to recognise, within the national territory, the validity of activities whose origin is
outside their frontiers but it cannot and will never be able, without the consent of foreign states,
to control those same activities beyond the limits of national territory.
But the problem raised by the existence and functioning of NGOs is precisely how to escape the
constraints of the legislation of the host state and how to find in one form or another the legal
means of gaining recognition and respect for the specific nature of their activities. Unless we can
hope for a sudden unanimous conversion of all states thoughout the world to the position adopted
by Article 8 of the Belgian Act recourse to national legislation will remain ineffective. The
hypothesis of a sudden conversion of that kind is the more improbable as apart from the major
obstacle of territorial sovereignty, account must be takenof the factors of state interest, public
order and the defence of economic interests. It is these considerations which also explain, as we

25. shall see below, the reticence of governments with regard to the preparation of an international
status for NGOs.
NGOs and IGOs
The granting of "consultative status" to a great many NGOs by the UN, its specialised
institutions and several regional organisations, obviously constitutes considerable progress as
compared to the situation at the time of the League of Nations. Although commentaries on the
question are too often not supported by statistics and factual research defining the extent of the
phenomena, there is little doubt that the consultation machinery and, especially, practical co-
operation in the field have resulted in an unprecedented dialogue between governments acting
collectively and vast sectors representing numerous currents of opinion throughout the world.
But while we many take note of this progress we can still cast a critical eye on the limits of the
evolution that has been taking place around us over the last 36 years or more.
a. "Consultative status" is at present granted only to a minority of NGOs (approximately
600 of the 4,000 listed by the UAI). The majority are thus excluded and cannot enjoy the
advantages of this status.
b. The term "consultative status" is ambiguous, to say the least. It simply governs
relationships between a given IGO and a given NGO and does not confer any right on an
NGO capable of being exercised before any other national or international authority. The
fact of belonging to that category of privileged bodies does provide a kind of badge of
respectability and leaders of NGOs are jealously devoted to the granting and maintaining
of such status, but access to consultation has only limited effects and under no
circumstances can it amount to legal status in the full meaning of the term.
c. The three levels of consultation which have been introduced in most IGOs establish a
new form of discrimination among NGOs. In fact most of them are confined to a role of
recipient of information from the IGO and are legally powerless to take any effective part
in consultation.
d. "Consultative status" is "granted" at the discretion of IGOs and may be withdrawn on the
same basis. We may refer here to incidents that occurred in the Economic and Social
Council at the end of the 60s or in UNESCO in the 70s in order to show the tendency of
IGOs to demand a sort of ideological conformity on the part of their "consultants".
Insofar as the question involved is observance of the statutes of the IGO, conformity may
be a legitimate requirement; but this is less the case when it isimposed, in individual
cases, by temporary majorities in connection with political disputes between member
states. If tendencies of this sort were to predominate in future the very basis of co-
operation between NGOs and IGOs would be threatened and NGOs would be simply left
with a choice between withdrawal from the consultative system or complicity in
manoeuvres in contradiction with their own aims.

26. e. For these various reasons the "consultative status" offered and controlled by IGOs cannot
give NGOs the protection or guarantees they need in order to carry out, in complete
independence, the functions which they have assumed.
Global efforts in environmental protection
The Promise of Rio
The 1992 Rio Earth Summit was heralded as the turning point for global environmental policy.
More than one hundred countries came to the Rio summit, which sought to merge two critical
international concerns—environmental protection and economic development—that had been
evolving on different tracks during the 1970s and 1980s. For developing countries, the merger of
environment and development was a major improvement over earlier environmental conferences
and provided hope for increased North-South cooperation. In addition, the cold war had recently
ended, and the rise of a one-superpower world meant that East-West conflicts would not
dominate this conference, as they had earlier international environmental efforts.
On paper, at least, the Earth Summit did provide a potential vision for moving toward sustainable
development—that is, toward both greater environmental protection and greater economic
justice. The Earth Summit yielded two legally binding treaties: the Framework Convention on
Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Also a product of the Summit were
a set of nonbinding general principles known as the Rio Declaration, a set of nonbinding
principles on forest management, and the blueprint for sustainable development entitled Agenda
21.
The assembled governments also established the Commission on Sustainable Development
(CSD) to integrate environment and development into the UN system while providing a forum to
monitor the implementation of summit commitments.
Looking for U.S. Leadership
More than any other country, the United States is responsible for the existing gulf between Rio’s
rhetoric of international environmental consciousness and the post-Rio environmental reality.
Not only is the U.S. the world’s only remaining economic and political superpower, it’s also the
largest polluter and the largest user of most important resources. Although the United States is
often in the vanguard in recognizing global environmental threats and in calling for a multilateral
response, it often lags in changing its own behavior. Once considered the leader in environmental
regulation, the United States now lags well behind Germany and other European countries in
adopting new and innovative regulatory approaches such as ecological taxes, extended product
responsibility, and the precautionary principle on avoiding probable environmental damage.

27. Although a leader in previous environmental conferences and negotiations, the United States
(under then-President George Bush) almost single-handedly undermined the Earth Summit. Just
days before the Rio summit opened, for example, the United States announced that it would not
sign the Biodiversity Convention, despite provisionally adopting the draft version at the end of
the negotiation session two weeks before. Instead, the United States emphasized the need to
conserve the world’s forests and offered what was considered a small, $150-million aid package
to protect forests in developing countries. Southern leaders immediately labeled this gesture as
“greenwash,” viewing U.S. support for forest conservation as a cynical effort to shift the focus
from the North’s responsibility to control industrial pollution to the South’s responsibility to
conserve forests as carbon sinks. Malaysia’s Ambassador Ranji Sathia responded, “The [$150
million] does not impress us. They are just trying to divert attention from their failing
elsewhere—for example, in the watering down of the climate change convention and their
refusal to sign the biodiversity treaty.”
Filling the Environmental Policy Gaps
Despite the many environmental regimes and action plans negotiated in the past quarter century,
important gaps still exist in the international environmental policy framework. The framework
has not developed in any systematic or strategic way. Rather it is a collection of numerous
treaties, each addressing relatively discrete global or regional environmental issues.
Superimposed over these binding treaties are a set of broader, nonbinding declarations or
resolutions, such as the Stockholm and Rio declarations. No binding set of general
environmental principles currently exists. Moreover, some new or particularly complicated
environmental issues still await international attention, compounding the policy gaps.
Developing a Binding Framework of Environmental Principles- The lack of an overarching
binding framework has many implications for the future effectiveness of international
environmental policies. In trade and environment disputes, for example, environmental concerns
are at a disadvantage, because the set of rules for international environmental protection is not as
clear as the WTO’s trade rules. Binding environmental principles could help to achieve more
balanced integration between environmental protection and other social goals like trade. Such
principles could also provide a substantive basis for coordinating the activities of the many
international institutions that currently claim a role in environmental policy. Finally, binding
principles could help in establishing minimum environmental standards—both for private sector
activities and for governments—by assisting in the harmonization of domestic environmental
laws.
Despite the potential importance of binding principles, the United States has consistently
opposed the development of any general environmental covenant. It argues that any covenant
negotiated today would not sufficiently protect the global environment, because developing
countries would defend their sovereign right to develop. The negotiation of a binding covenant

28. may indeed magnify the overall influence of developing countries, because they do not generally
have the financial and human resources to participate effectively in the contemporaneous
negotiations of many separate environmental treaties and instruments. In fact, it may be exactly
those fears of negotiating on a level playing field that drives U.S. opposition to a covenant rather
than a fear that the resulting principles would be too weak.
Instead of pursuing a binding covenant, the United States seems intent on weakening some of the
key proposed principles. For example, the United States is one of the few remaining countries
still opposing the precautionary principle (which holds that a lack of scientific certainty should
not be used to prevent cost-effective action to address potentially irreversible environmental
threats). The U.S. approach to environmental regulation requires that there be proven
environmental damage before control measures are taken.
Washington stands virtually alone in rejecting the precautionary principle—a guideline with
significant implications for many global environmental issues. Based in part on the precautionary
principle, Europe is championing a much stronger regulatory approach to biosafety issues such
as the release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). To make matters worse, the U.S. has
been threatening to challenge Europe’s precautionary approach to GMOs in the World Trade
Organization, basing its argument on the lack of definitive science for justifying GMO trade
restrictions.
Getting the Rules Right Regarding the Climate Regime- Climate change may be the single
most significant environmental issue of the next few decades. In the Kyoto Protocol,
industrialized countries committed to reduce their net greenhouse gas emissions an average of
5% from 1990 levels by 2012. In addition, the parties also established an international trading
system in carbon emissions. Tons of carbon emissions will soon trade like other commodities
throughout the world. To incorporate as many countries as possible, the Kyoto Protocol was
necessarily general, leaving many critical issues for future negotiations. By the end of 2000 the
Conference of the Parties to the Protocol must address such issues as how to count the carbon
sequestered by forests, landfills, and agricultural practices in calculating a country’s net
greenhouse gas emissions; how to facilitate the trading of carbon emission credits between
countries; and how to monitor and enforce such a trading system. Given America’s position as
the world’s supreme carbon emitter and energy user, U.S. leadership in getting these rules right
will be critical if the climate regime is to have any hope of responding effectively to the threat of
climate change.
Imposing Liability and Providing Compensation- Few international environmental regimes
have addressed the question of liability and compensation for harm caused to the environment.
The Montreal Protocol, widely viewed as the model for all international environmental treaties,
effectively banned the production and use of most ozone-depleting substances. But it did not
hold those responsible for ozone depletion legally accountable, nor did it provide for

29. compensating persons or countries that have suffered from ozone depletion. Even where liability
issues have been generally acknowledged in international law—e.g., concerning damage caused
by transboundary shipments of hazardous wastes—the parties have been deadlocked in trying to
operationalize the concept of liability. The U.S. has often opposed international liability in these
contexts, ostensibly out of concern that minimum levels of due process and fairness may be hard
to ensure in international forums. However, America’s disproportionate responsibility for many
global environmental threats and its vulnerability to liability claims also help explain U.S.
opposition.
Emphasizing Environmental Restoration- Given how far we have come in damaging the
global environment, international environmental efforts in the future will have to be focused
more on environmental restoration than protection. Although more expensive and less effective
than protecting resources in the first place, restoration may sometimes be the only choice left.
Environmental restoration is now a dynamic part of domestic environmental management and
will undoubtedly begin to inform future global environmental negotiations. In this country, for
example, the increasing trend toward removal of dams, reintroduction of endangered species, and
large-scale restoration projects—like the attempt to recover the Florida Everglades—portends a
future focus of international cooperation.
As an example, international aid agencies are discussing whether to undertake a massive effort to
restore coastal mangroves and interior watersheds in Central America. Many mangrove forests
have disappeared as a result of shrimp aquaculture, and the region’s watersheds have been
deforested for export timber. As a result, Hurricane Mitch struck with greater devastation. In the
hurricane’s wake, political pressure has been building in the region for governments to restore
these important ecosystems—so fundamental for the region’s environmental sustainability.
Addressing Persistent Chemicals: In June 1998, negotiations began in Montreal to establish a
global convention to eliminate or manage twelve of the world’s worst chemical contaminants,
including dioxins, PCBs, DDT, and other pesticides. These chemicals persist in the environment
and accumulate in human and animal tissues. Many of them have been linked to cancer and to
adverse affects on human endocrine systems. Although most countries concur on how to regulate
the twelve chemicals currently identified in the agreement, major differences exist about how to
add new chemicals to the list of globally regulated or prohibited substances. Also critical to any
global accord will be the decision about whether countries that are the source of existing
stockpiles of phased-out chemicals should be responsible for their disposal. The document (to be
completed by 2000) has been closely monitored by the chemical industry, which is pressing the
United States to narrow the agreement’s purview.
Water Shortages: Most experts agree that access to fresh water may be the most important
natural resource issue for the next century. Human health, the environment, and even a country’s
national security depend on access to adequate water supplies. But according to a recent UN

30. Freshwater Assessment, humans are already using “about half” of the 12,500 cubic kilometers of
water that is readily available. With world population expected to double in the next 50 years and
with water consumption historically increasing at twice the rate of population, our global water
situation is bleak. To make matters worse, water is allocated unevenly around the globe. Today,
460 million people or 8% of the world’s population live in countries already facing serious water
shortages. Regional water shortages may thus exacerbate international conflicts and threaten
national security if international management efforts are not successful. A 1997 UN convention
on transnational water uses provides a beginning framework for managing these regional
disputes, but long-term financial and political leadership from the United States and other
powerful countries will be required for the convention to be successful.
Consumption Levels: The Earth Summit recognized explicitly that achieving sustainability
would require addressing both population and consumption. Two years after the Earth Summit,
the world’s governments came together at the Cairo Population Summit to negotiate a
comprehensive plan to curb population growth, but the North has yet to allow any meaningful
dialogue on consumption. The United States, in particular, has blocked international efforts to
address consumption levels. Domestically, the U.S. lacks any comprehensive effort to “green”
consumption and lags well behind Europe,
Environmental education
Environmental education is a learning process that increases people’s knowledge and awareness
about the environment and associated challenges (UNESCO, Tbilisi Declaration, 1978). For
environmental education to be meaningful, it should enable people to gain an understanding of
how individual actions on values and participation affect the environment. In Buganda, informal
environmental education embraced awareness and sensitivity to issues of nature preservation,
dissemination of knowledge in environment conservation via stories, riddles, songs, proverbs and
taboos, as well as through participation in sustainable resource use and other eco-friendly
activities.
Women and value education
In the early 1970s an interest in women and their connection with the environment was sparked,
largely by a book written by Esther Boserup entitled, Woman's Role in Economic Development.
Starting in the 1980s, policy makers and governments became more mindful of the connection
between the environment and gender issues. Changes began to be made regarding natural
resource and environmental management with the specific role of women in mind. According to

31. the World Bank in 1991, "Women play an essential role in the management of natural resources,
including soil, water, forests and energy...and often have a profound traditional and
contemporary knowledge of the natural world around them'". Whereas women were previously
neglected or ignored, there was increasing attention paid to the impact of women on the natural
environment and, in return, the effects the environment has on the health and well-being of
women. The gender-environment relations have valuable ramifications in regard to the
understanding of nature between men and women, the management and distribution of resources
and responsibilities and the day-to-day life and well being of people.
Women, Environment and Development (WED) Debate
The women, environment, and development debate (WED) began in the early 1970s due, largely
in part, to the oil crisis. In Mexico-City, in 1975, at the First World Conference on Women,
Vandana Shiva introduced the issue of women and the environment. Concern was raised about
the depletion of forestry resources as people began to realize that those resources were finite.
Women's role in agriculture and their role as woodfuel users began to come under scrutiny.
Soon, a major connection was made between the impact environmental development had on
women. According to Schultz et al., "The women, environment and development debate (WED-
debate) is anchored in a critical view of development policies where the link between
modernization/industrialization and technology on the one hand and environmental deterioration
on the other is focused" (p4). The WED debate continues today but is more focused on
globalization and sustainable development.