Environment

POLICY AND LAW

  • The Policy and Law Division is partly implementing the schemes assistance for abatement of pollution, environment policy and law, and establishment of Environment Commission and Tribunal.
  • It is also and providing legislative and institutional support to other divisions whenever needed for existing legislation/notification or implementation of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, National Environment Policy, 2006, National Green Tribunal Act, 2010.

NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL

  • The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Act, 2010 was brought into force in October, 2010. It was established for the effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of any legal right relating to environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
  • The Tribunal shall not be bound by the procedure laid down under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, but shall be guided by principles of natural justice.
  • Five places of sitting with the Principal Bench at New Delhi and Pune, Kolkata, Bhopal and Chennai as zonal Benches have been notified.
  • Delhi and Chennai Bench of the Tribunal have been operationalised. In addition to the Chairperson, 3 judicial and 9 expert members are working in the Tribunal.

 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

  • The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) or the Earth Summit held in 1992, resulted in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the Agenda 21 and the Forest Principles.
  • The broad vision and aspirations of India’s 12th Five Year Plan as enshrined in its sub-title: ‘Faster, More Inclusive and Sustainable Growth’ reflects and confirms this.
  • Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) is the nodal ministry for coordinating Sustainable Development (SD) and is responsible for all related international cooperation and interactions with various UN agencies and international bodies on SD.
  • 20 years after the first Earth Summit in 1992, the Rio+20 Conference was held in Rio, Brazil in June 2012. India participated in this summit.
  • An outcome document entitled ‘The Future We Want’ was released. One of the main outcomes of the Rio+20 Conference was the agreement by member States to launch a process to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
  • A 30-member Open Working Group (OWG) was constituted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) for negotiating and proposing SDGs.
  • The OWG deliberated for over a year and submitted a set of 17 Goals and 169 Targets at the conclusion of its 13th session in July 2014.
UPSC Prelims 2025 Notes