Background

"The Constitution of India provides for protection and improvement of environment including safeguarding forests and wildlife. Every citizen of India is duty bound towards protection of environment. With the increased mass awareness and globalization of the environment protection through various multilateral environmental agreements, several new legislations have been promulgated in recent past. Environmental Education and capacity building in prevention and control of pollution is given high priority by all concerned and there is growing demand for good governance in terms of regulatory regime of environmental development."

Globalization has led to an array of environmental related problems, particularly in developing countries like India. The man-environment relationship has changed substantially, which entails the requirement of looking into the judicial aspects pertaining to environment from a new angle. The changing national and international scenarios have forced us to contemplate over the changes in the legislation relating to environment management.

Environmental law and policies is based on the realization that the physical surroundings mark the dire necessities of mankind. Over the last few decades, the developing countries have established impressive arrays of policies, legislation and institutions for environmental protection and pollution control. Most of these policy instrument and laws are oriented towards prevention control of environmental pollution without tacking the problem at its source and relying on end of pipe solution.

The role of environmental law is basically to shield and shelter the resources and preserve the environment. The government has taken initiative, time and again, to look into the environmental matters. Even though, over the past few years, the need to curb the environmental crises has been realized, yet there has not been any concrete step towards it. In this situation it becomes imperative that the people become aware of the environmental issues and know their rights and liabilities relating to the environment.

Keeping all these facts in mind, the need was realized by the Indian Environmental Society – a research based organization – to organize a workshop on “Environmental Law and Policy for Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development” to initiate positive interaction between experts and peer groups in this field, lawyers, officials from various government sectors, representatives from non-governmental organizations, academicians, students, researchers etc. The workshop will be a joint venture, combining the two field law and environment and will provide a platform for interdisciplinary to understand the various environemtal problems, devise ways to solve these problems and set-up a forum for the review and reform of environmental legislation.

Objectives

The objectives of the workshop may be delineated as follows:

1. Increase in awareness about Environmental Law and Policy for Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development.
2. Review the current environmental policies, laws, institution and other measures in India and in other countries.
3. Identify innovative and imaginative, but practical and workable policy and other instruments.
4. Highlight the success stories on Environmental law from different parts of the country.
5. Examine the recommended policy instrument in terms of their relevance, acceptability, efficiency and compliance to environmental goals.

Date and Venue

February 13 – 14, 2006
Hotel Ambassador (Taj Group) New Delhi - 110003

Workshop on Environmental Law and Policy for Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development has been scheduled for February 13 – 14, 2006 at Hotel Ambassador (Taj Group), New Delhi - 110003. The workshop will start at 10:00 AM on February 13, 2006 and will conclude on February 14, 2006 at 3:00 PM.

Organizers

The workshop is being organized by the Indian Environmental Society in close association with the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India.

Themes of the Workshop

With the focus on reinforcing our efforts towards promoting environmentally sound and sustainable development, this workshop will discuss the following related themes during the workshop:

1. Legal Framework for Environmental Management
2. National and International Environmental Laws and Policies for Sound and Sustainable Environmental Development
3. Environmental policies, laws, institutions and programmes relating to sustainable development
4. New and innovative environmental and pollution control policies and instruments and their potential and relevance
5. Environmental indicators to monitor, report and evaluate the implementation of environmental policies and laws
6. Environmental policies and laws for environmentally sound and sustainable industrial development
7. Government initiatives in strengthening Environmental laws in India
8. Modern approaches of environmental policies and law
9. success stories in application of innovative tools for environmentally sound development

Call for papers

Participants of the workshop are invited to submit papers for presentation at the workshop.

Kindly submit a one-page abstract and the final manuscript of your proposed presentation to the chairman of the technical committee of the workshop, Dr. Desh Bandhu via e-mail (deshbandhu@iesglobal.org) or through post at the Indian Environmental Society.

The last date of submission of abstract is January 31, 2006.

The last date of submission of full length paper is February 6, 2006.

Registration Details

All participants are kindly requested to complete the attached registration form. The details of the registration fee are as follows:

The Registration fee includes registration and background material, refreshment and food during the workshop. It does not include the cost of accommodation and travel.

All registration fees must be paid by demand draft in favour of The Indian Environment Society, payable to Delhi and sent via post to: Indian Environmental Society (IES), U-112, Vidhata House, Vikas Marg, Shakarpur, Delhi – 110092.

General Information

1. The official language of the workshop will be English.
2. Participants are requested to make their own arrangements for accommodation and travel.

Contact Details

Please feel free if there are any questions. For more information, contact:

Aarti Kaushik
Indian Environmental Society
U- 112, Vidhata House (3rd floor)
Shakarpur, Vikas Marg, Delhi - 92
Tel: 011-22450749, 22046823/24
Fax: 011- 22523311
Email: deshbandhu@iesglobal.org, aarti@iesglobal.org or iesenro@vsnl.com

Please mail or fax the Registration and Accommodation form as soon as possible but not later than January 27th, 2006.