Environmental Legislation For Disaster Risk Management In India

Abstract

Even before its independence in 1947, several environmental legislations existed in India, but the real impetus for bringing about a well-developed framework came only after the UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, 1972. Under the influence of this declaration, the National Council for Environmental Policy and Planning within the Department of Science and Technology was set up in 1972. This Council later evolved into a full-fledged Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) in 1985. Since the beginning of United Nations International Decade of Disaster Risk Reduction in 1990s and following Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) in 2005, countries started paying greater attention to Disaster Risk Management as compared to the previous relief centric approach. A country’s legislative and institutional systems provide the basis for plans and organisation in all areas of disaster risk reduction and emergency response. Since strong inter-linkages exit between environmental degradation and disaster risks, environmental legislations and their implementation is an important prerequisite for disaster risk management.

 Legal provisions on environment and natural resources can play significant role in addressing hazards and reducing vulnerability of natural disasters, and in handling post-disaster relief and recovery challenges, are seldom recognized. ‘Reinventing the wheel is not required every time’ is the notion behind exploring the potential of such provisions which can be put into practice on various stages of disaster management. The present paper is developed with the objective to introduce the multi-hazard profile of India, and enlist the various constitutional and the existing statutory laws and policy framework for environmental protection in India and shall be of significant contribution for generating awareness regarding the existing environmental legislation and its implications in disaster management in India.