"Challenges in using law to achieve sustainable development: Experiences from India" by Ritwick Dutta, Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE)
December 6, 2023 | 11:00 h - 12:00 h
ZEF and the Right Livelihood College Campus (RLC) Bonn invite you to a public lecture in hybrid mode with:
Ritwick Dutta, founder and director of the Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE).
LIFE received the Right Livelihood Award in 2021.
Topic: Challenges in using law to achieve sustainable development: Experiences from India
Join us via Zoom: https://uni-bonn.zoom-x.de/j/61387181788?pwd=NVpxSE5mZDZpaG9vaHVLczQrTFJSZz09
Abstract
Ever since the Stockholm Declaration of 1972, the term ‘sustainable development’ has become an integral part of environmental discourse. Laws and policies framed after the 1970’s invariably refer to sustainable development as an essential part of India's government’s development strategy. Judicial decisions in India refer to Sustainable development as the core of environmental jurisprudence. Legislations enacted by parliament such as the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 specifically mandates that the environmental courts shall apply the principles of sustainable development while adjudicating on any dispute.
However, there is a gap between the stated goals and the actual practice. There is limited understanding of what ‘sustainable development’ actually means and in most instances it is the priorities of economic growth as opposed to sustainable development which becomes the deciding factor. The role of environmental litigation in ensuring that development is sustainable has been mixed. In the initial phases of judicial activism (1980’s and 1990’s) the Courts approach was rather conservative. The setting up of the National Green Tribunal in 2010, led to a paradigm shift where the Courts started questioning government decisions on the parameters of sustainable development as well as environmental principles such as Precautionary Principle, Public Trust Doctrine and Polluter Pay Principle. The Supreme Court in a number of decisions highlighted the importance of Environmental Rule of Law.
However, of late, there has been a pushback by the Courts largely in view of the aggressive government policy on ‘nature based’ growth model which focuses on exploiting nature and natural resources to restricting citizens right to question government's policy decision.
About the speaker
Ritwick Dutta is the founder and Director of the Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE) headquartered in New Delhi, India. LIFE is a civil society organisation working with communities through grassroots approaches, it assists and empowers marginalized and vulnerable populations to have a voice in environmentally related decision-making processes. Mr. Dutta graduated in Sociology and Law from the University of Delhi and has been involved in environmental litigation for the last 20 years. He is presently involved in litigation before the National Green Tribunal, Principle Bench as well as regional benches. He is an Ashoka Fellow. LIFE, the organization he co-founded in 2005 and has been the director of since, received the Right Livelihood Award, (“Alternative Nobel Prize”), in 2021.
ZEF / the University of Bonn has been hosting the Right Livelihood Campus Bonn since 2010.
