ABSTRACT
The environment plays an important role in human life as well as in uplifting any country by helping it to accomplish its objectives. But with the rapid pace of industrialization and technological advancement, the environment is continuously degrading day by day. Environmental pollution is also causing great harm to national heritage sites in the various parts of the globe also. Environment is so vital to the earth that if the degradation of the environment keeps on going with its pace soon there will be a threat to the survival of mankind and other life forms on earth. This paper describes the various forms of pollution, biodiversity problems, man-made disasters and other problems that are faced at regional and global levels. A highlight of international efforts in combating the problems of environmental degradation is also made. Environment protection is essential not just for us but for our coming generation as well. Environmental degradation has a great impact on our biodiversity and to a very large extent, it also affects economical and political decisions of any country. Although many international declarations and principles have evolved over time for the protection of the environment but they are not proving to be any beneficial since they lack proper governance. On undertaking a comprehensive study, it was found that several measures have been taken from time to time for the protection of the environment but environmental degradation has not yet been completely declined, which has to be minimized at its lowest at any cost.
INTRODUCTION
The environment is defined as an outer physical and biological system in which humans and other organisms live as a whole. The environment consists of both physical and biological environment. The physical environment covers land, water, and air whereas biological environment includes plants, animals and other micro-organisms. It includes the complex physical, chemical and biological factors surrounding an organism or an ecological community. Such factors act, react and interact with various species and organisms to affect their form, growth, and survival. Any unfavorable alteration may lead to environmental pollution.
Pollution is the entering of contaminants in the natural environment that causes adverse effects. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light. The components of pollution can be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring fragments. Major forms of pollution include air pollution, noise pollution, water pollution, thermal pollution, radioactive contamination etc. Environmental pollution creates an impact on nature and disturbs the ecosystem; it can no longer be seen as a national or a regional problem but rather as a global problem. The underlying causes of environmental pollution need to be eradicated then only it is possible to attain equilibrium. Even environmental calamities that cause immense loss to our nations in terms of life and natural bounties are due to disturbances with nature as rapid industrialization, exploitation of non-renewable natural resources, construction of huge dams, deforestation, indiscriminate use of chemicals and man in his greed for quick returns with lower inputs contributed to this escalation. The available natural resources in a country determine its socio-economic strength. Technological know-how and Economic determinism enhances the resource use capability of the country for development. A balance between environmental constraints and economic policies is most important requirement for development.
VARIOUS FORMS OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
1. Air Pollution: It is the release of chemicals and particulates into the atmosphere. Common gaseous pollutants include carbon mono-oxide, sulfur dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and nitrogen oxides produced by industry and motor vehicles.
2. Light Pollution: It includes light trespass, over-illumination and astronomical interference.
3. Electromagnetic Pollution: It includes electromagnetic radiation in their non-ionizing form, like radio waves to which people are constantly exposed to and it is not even known whether these waves have any effect on human health or not.
4. Plastic Pollution: It involves the accumulation of plastic products and microplastics in the environment which adversely affects wildlife.
5. Noise Pollution: It includes roadway noise, aircraft noise, industrial noise, loud music noise and even high-intensity sonar.
6. Water Pollution: It includes discharge of wastewater from commercial and industrial waste into surface waters, discharge of untreated domestic sewage and chemical contaminants from treated sewage and release of waste and contaminants into surface runoff flowing to surface waters.
7. Littering: It is the throwing of inappropriate objects into public and private properties.
8. Thermal Pollution: It is a change in the temperature of water bodies caused by human interference such as use of any pond or lake by any factory as its coolant of power plant.
9. Soil Contamination: It usually occurs when chemicals are released by spill or underground leakage.
10. Radioactive/Radiological Contamination: It is deposition or presence of radioactive substances on surfaces or within solids, liquids or gases, where their presence is unintended or undesirable.
11. Visual Pollution: It refers to the impact of pollution which disturbs the visual areas of people by creating harmful changes in the environment.
MAN-MADE DISASTERS LEADING TO ENVIRIONMENTAL POLLUTION
There are many types of disasters beyond those that are usually considered ‘natural’ these are human-induced or man-made disasters. Man-made disasters can be defined as the relatively sudden and widespread disturbance of the social system and life of a community by some agent or event over which those involved have little no control.
Man-made disasters can be categorized into three categories:
1. Sudden Disasters
Sudden disasters are those on which human factors are responsible, rather than the natural factors. The release of methyl isocyanate at the pesticide plant in Bhopal, India in 1984 and the leakage of radioactive substances following an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power reactor in the Soviet Union in 1986 are a couple of examples of sudden disasters. Sudden disasters that are considered ‘natural’ may often be caused by preceding human activities. Mining catastrophes, earthquakes, sudden floods and landslides may be result of indiscriminate deforestation or of construction of dams or by seemingly unrelated human activities. The road widening activities have also greatly damaged the fragile environment in many regions. The development and installation of appropriate precautionary systems is very much necessary as it will help in reducing these risks.
2. Insidious and Continuing Disasters
Insidious and continuing disasters include examples like the leakage of toxic chemicals from a dumpsite at Love Canal, in Buffalo; the tainting of the soil in the Times Beach, in Missouri with dioxin oils sprayed on the roads and leakage of radioactive materials dumped at wastage dumps at nuclear weapons production facilities. Some natural phenomena like prolonged drought may be examples of continuing disasters. Disasters like global warming or the greenhouse effect caused by heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere released by burning of fossil fuels, use of chloro fluoro hydrocarbons in aerolised perfumes and acid precipitation also come under this category.
3. War and Civil Conflicts
Aggression appears to be a fundamental characteristic of the human race and violence has been used to resolve disputes since pre-historic times. Since the end of the Second World War, more than 130 wars and violent internal conflicts have raged in more than 80 countries, most of these being in the developing world. War is no more confined to war zones only or those fighting the war directly. In recent times there have been more civilian deaths than military deaths and hundreds and thousands of people are being displaced as refugees. A high percentage of those dying or affected in these conflicts are children. Air power and wide ranging nature of modern war put entire population at risk, disrupting food production; imperiling fragile ecosystems and forcing entire population to flee from their natural habitats. The geography of warfare has also changed radically. In recent times most of the wars are fought in developing countries with indirect and secret involvement of major powers. In past years civil wars representing power conflicts within nations have increased sharply. Though these are termed as civil conflicts or civil disturbances, powerful weaponry with tacit support of global industrial nations is being used resulting in high causalities and public health risks.
BIODIVERSITY PROBLEMS
Biodiversity refers to variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are a part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems. It is created by ecological complexities developed over millions of years of evolution. The health and sustenance of this diversity depends to a larger extent upon the processes of development for human and material advancement. Since all information about the evolutionary process and interdependence of species is coded in genes of species, the loss of these species creates roadblocks and destroys forever knowledge foundations for understanding several medical, psychiatric and behavioral problems in animal species and production enhancement or regeneration processes in the agricultural and manufacturing world.
One may however support biodiversity protection on three forms of arguments.
1. Ethical Argument
It features on the intrinsic right to life of all earth forms. No science system has yet been able to find the truth about all the life on earth and much less about the way each species has evolved. Thus these life forms, by virtue of their unique and exclusive origin, derive their undeniable right to exist and share space with other stronger species on earth. This ethical argument disrupts the power doctrines in which might is considered as right and where man by virtue of being the strongest species derives the right over other species. If this is carried a little further then within human species itself the strong would obtain the right to command, denigrate or use their benefit over weaker communities. Thus due to this close link of the social and ethical argument in biodiversity protection the early protestors were against the state engine of environmental destruction.
2. Economic Argument
Biodiversity conservation has economic benefits also. Most of the plant and animals help sustain ecosystems and maintain balance of nature. Food consumption and waste is balanced with population, diversity of species and natural scavenging or biodegradation. Whenever this balance is disturbed public expenditure on food related research, distribution management and cleaning of waste increases. As natural resources decrease the process of their extraction and use becomes more expensive because the amount of energy used to obtain them rises up. Increased state expenditure for meeting imbalances created by misuse of natural ecosystems has resulted into the need for expensive programmes like in the form of Green Revolution, followed by programmes on land degradation, pollution prevention of wetlands and air, biotechnology and health research and on top of it expenditure on maintaining a larger state machinery for streamlining all these new services. Since this is largely done with assistance from multilateral foreign assistance from developed countries or international banks, the debt upon a country that mismanages its biodiversity goes on increasing.
3. Cultural and Political Arguments
Human beings are part of natural ecosystems. When a forest is destroyed or a river is lost then major civilizations are also wiped off. History is filled with examples of major civilizations that flourished at the banks of Euphrates, Tigris, Nile and Indus. Deforestation has also forced many to migrate to unknown lands where their community bonding, livelihood patterns and cultural practices are lost. Urbanization also made many traditional occupations redundant such as the animal rearing tribes, cattle grazers, potters, etc which were directly or indirectly linked with a particular species of animals that requires a special space such as ponds, grazing grounds or forests. Loss of cultural linkages creates a political deficit in the form of weak political participation in the institution of new areas. New migrants have neither any understanding about the functioning of local institutions nor do they have any interest in doing so thereby leaving the political platform open to be controlled by vested and corrupt powerful people. Thus, biodiversity loss is the rise of authoritarian and undemocratic regimes at the local governance levels which has a dangerous effect of blocking all efforts towards equitable development and well being of human beings.
REGIONAL AND GLOBAL ISSUES
Some of the important region specific issues are discussed as below:
1. Desertification and Droughts
‘Desertification’ means land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. It is a gradual process of loss of the vegetative cover and soil productivity. Human activities and climatic variations resulting in droughts and floods are chief causes of this process. Desertification has grave natural consequences; it makes land areas flood prone and results in deterioration of the quality of water, silting of rivers etc. Human activities that cause desertification are over-cultivation, overgrazing, deforestation and poor irrigation practices. A direct cause of misuse of land is poverty, which forces people who depend on land for their livelihoods. They overexploit it for food, energy, housing and source of income.
2. Floods and Soil Erosion
Mountains and highlands are found in every continent; they cover about a quarter of the earth’s land surface and are home to 10% of the world’s people. Another 40% live in adjacent lower watershed areas; thus more than half the global population is directly or indirectly dependent on mountain resources, the foremost being water for drinking and home use, irrigation, hydro power, industry and transportation. The crops that feed the cities are raised in the valleys and flat river plains, but the fate of the valleys is decided in the hills and mountains where the streams rise. When the hill slopes and ridges in the upper reaches are covered with trees, the streams flow clearly and steadily in the valleys below. When the trees are gone, the soil washes down the slopes to clog the streams and foul the river bottoms thus raising the water level. When it rains in the hills there is no soil left to hold the water resulting in flash floods which in turn sweep down into the valleys resulting in rivers bursting their banks ruining crops and lives, and wash yet more soil away to the sea. The water is wasted and the deserts spread. The degradation of mountain ecosystems is home and livelihood to millions it threatens to seriously worsen global environmental problems including floods, landslides and famine.
3. Rise in Sea level
Sea levels have fluctuated dramatically in geologic times. It was 2-6 m above the present level during the last interglacial period 125,000 years ago, but 120 m below present levels during the last ice age 20,000 years ago. In the last 100 years it has increased by 10-25 cm. Such a sea level would threaten coastal cities, ports and wetlands with more frequent flooding, enhanced breach erosion, saltwater encroachment into coastal streams and aquifers. Furthermore, local sea level is affected by many regional processes, including tides, ocean currents and geographically varying land movements. These earth motions are caused by ongoing adjustments of earth’s crust to the removal of the former ice sheets, tectonic deformation, and subsidence of river deltas under sediment loads and extraction of underground water, oil, or natural gas near the coast.
4. Deforestation
The world’s forest area has been declining for centuries, though its impact has been understood with concern that the process has accelerated to alarming proportions only in the last half of the 20th century. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has estimated that the annual rates of deforestation in developing countries were at 15.5 million hectares for the period 1980-1990 and 13.7 million hectares for 1990-1995. The tragedy lies in the fact that the most of these deforested lands are not suited for long term farming or grazing and they quickly degrade once the forest has been cut and burnt. In fact, throughout the tropics, very few of the forested lands are left with any potential for sustainable agriculture.
Some of the important global issues are discussed as below:
1. North-South Divide
The ‘North’ consists of the industrialized, developed and rich countries. There is amongst them growing recognition about the rate at which non-renewable resources are being used up as also of advantages of using renewable resources or non-renewable ones. This ‘North’ world though has just over 20% of the world population but consumes 80% of the world’s energy; On the other hand ‘South’, comprising of the developing nations of the world is still struggling to provide for the basic needs of food, water, shelter, clothing, basic education and health for its population. In order to meet their basic and daily requirements, people of the South have to depend on whatever is available in their immediate environment to survive. Consequences of these conditions include the following:
a) Use of forest wood for fuel.
b) Landless peasants are pushed into marginal land by owners or government wanting to increase cash crop production or for some other development or by population pressures, resulting in overuse of marginal land.
c) Many peasants who are displaced from their land or unable to grow enough food to survive, crowd in congested cities.
d) Poor people have large families and live in unhealthy conditions.
All the above factors directly or indirectly affect the ecology and environment.
2. Climate Change
Climate change is a serious challenge faced by the international community striving towards sustainable development. It has implications for not only health and well being of the earth’s ecosystem but also for the economic enterprises and social livelihoods. As a global problem, climate change requires a global solution, which can be made possible by research, shared knowledge and engagement of people at all the levels. Within climate change, particular attention needs to be paid to the unique challenges faced by developing countries. The South is likely to be significantly affected by climate change, yet it typically lacks in the resources needed to adapt to the economic, social and environmental changes expected to occur. Partnership between the North and South countries would give a good understanding of the implications of climate change in these countries. Despite knowing the methods, that can stop climate change, differences in national policy hinder their applications. This is because while governments pursue one set of objectives through climate negotiations, their finance and trade arms ignore the global environmental implications of their activities. Another area that delays action is the large amount the government’s spending on subsidizing energy throughout the world. This subsidy exists for both the North and South countries and discourages economical consumption of energy. Eliminating these subsidies could result in significant reductions in greenhouse gas emission from energy generating and consuming systems.
GLOBAL SUMMIT AND DECLARATIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Some of the important conventions and declarations undertaken are discussed below.
1. The United Nations Conference on Human Environment (1972)
The United Nations General Assembly provided a general framework for the preservation and conservation of human environment. It laid down common principles to inspire and guide people of the world in the preservation and enhancement of the human environment. Conservation of environment remained dominant theme in the conference. Trends underway before the Stockholm Conference relating to marine pollution, transboundary air, water pollution, and protection of wild and marine endangered species were reinforced. The issue of relationship between the development and environmental degradation was only peripherally addressed in the conference. The conference adopted three non-binding instruments: 1) A resolution on institutional and financial arrangements 2) A declaration containing 26 principles and 3) An action plan containing 109 recommendations.
2. World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED)
Before the Rio conference, the World Commission on Environment and Development was established by the UN General Assembly and chaired by the Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. The Commission was established outside the control of the governments and the UN system. The Commission was asked to develop a “global agenda for change”. Brundtland, as part of the mandate of WCED, wrote a report which is now famously known as the Brundtland Report or “Our Common Future”. In many ways the Brundtland Report proved as a catalyst for changing the direction of international negotiations on environmental degradations and conservation. Most importantly, the report contributed the concept of sustainable development that firmly relates environmental degradation with developed activities.
3. The Convention on Biodiversity (CBD)
The negotiation on conventions on biological diversity largely remained focused on the sharp conflict between conservation and use of world’s biodiversity. After the adoption of the convention in the Rio the negotiations were still going on especially on the issues of indigenous/local community/farmer’s rights to use their own resources and commercial rights to use biodiversity for generating profit. The suggestion to combine existing conservation treaties into a comprehensive convention on biodiversity initially came from US in 1987. Initially the negotiations on biodiversity convention were focused on the conservation of environment considering as a common source of the entire humanity, but the developing countries wanted sovereign control over their biological and genetic resources and refused to sign conservationist treaty. The developing nations challenged the developed countries assertion that world’s biodiversity, 80 percent of which exists in the developing countries was the common heritage of the mankind. Finally, in a meeting almost every country signed the CBD; by early 1996 it was ratified by 140 countries. On 29th December 1993, the convention was brought as International Law.
4. United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED)
In December 1987, the UN General Assembly accepted the Brundtland report and the following year it called for a UN conference on Environment and Development, which finally took place in June 1992 in Rio, Brazil. Taking on from Brundtland report, the UNCED declared it mandate to develop strategies and measures to halt and reverse the effects of environmental degradation to promote sustainable and environmental sound development in all countries. The declaration that came out of UNCED, also known as Rio declaration, is a statement of principles or goals, which was adopted by 175 countries at the UNCED. According to some critics, it was drafted in general and vague language, but it touches many of the political topics in the UN. The Secretary-General of the UNCED expected the Rio declaration to become an “Earth Charter” that would have stirred the minds and hearts of the people and would have inspired them to join together to achieve a healthy planet. Whether or not the declaration succeeded in making such emotional appeal to people on the earth, it certainly succeeded in putting an agenda of developing countries in the forefront. The declaration represents a series of compromises between the developed and the developing countries and a balance between the objectives of environmental protection and economic development.
PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS AND AGREEMENTS
Some of the important principles of international environmental laws are discussed below.
1. Principle of State Responsibility
A state incurs ‘state responsibility’ if it commits a breach of international obligation say, not to pollute an international river. An International obligation stems primarily from an international treaty, custom or judicial decision. A state will be responsible if the wrongful act/omission has resulted in the breach of any international obligation. It will be responsible if the breach is committed by the agents of the state. It will be responsible even if the wrong is done by a private individual and the state did not exercise due diligence to prevent the damage. State responsibility is a traditional principle of general international law which can be applied to environmental wrongdoings.
2. Principle of Good Neighborliness
According to the most basic principle of international law, every state has an absolute authority to use and enjoy its own territory. However, according to the customary principle of good neighborliness, a state has to use its property in such a way that its action does not injure and harm the property or the legal interests of another state.
3. Principle of Cooperation
This is also a general principle of international law. It holds well in dealing with environmental problems. Global environment problems cannot be managed without state cooperation.
4. Principle of Sustainable Development
Principle 3 of the Rio declaration describes sustainable development as a tool that meets the needs of the present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. This principle is popularly understood as the principle of integration between ecological and economic concerns.
5. Principle of Polluter Pays
It means polluter has to pay for the consequences of pollution. That is, the polluter has the responsibility to bear the costs of rectifying the environmental damage resulting out of pollution. The Supreme Court of India in M.C. Mehta v. Union of India & Ors applied polluter pays principle relating to the reallocation of industries. This principle has a special importance so far as the North-South relationship is concerned. The North has a major share in global pollution so, the South demands that the North has to take greater responsibility and pay more for the costs for not adhering to pollution abatement measures.
6. Principle of Precaution
We know that prevention is better than cure. There are some kinds of environmental damages of very serious and irreversible nature. In such cases, scientific uncertainties about the possible harm should not be used as a reason for postponing preventive actions.
7. Principle of Intergenerational Equity
It is a principle of fairness. This principle requires us to remember that the earth is not the exclusive property of the present generation of human beings only. It is a common endowment for the entire mankind. So, we should hold the planet earth trust for the future generations. We should use the natural resources carefully and avoid causing unnecessary environmental damages to people of future generation.
Some of the important international environmental agreements are discussed below.
1. Ramsar Convention (1971)
This convention was adopted for the protection of wet lands. It recognizes ecological functions and the economic cultural, scientific and recreational values of wet lands. Under this, the state parties should designate at least one national wetland of international importance. Parties should assess the impact of any change or use of wetlands, should establish wetlands as a natural reserve, manage and make a wise use of the migratory stocks of waterfowl (bird) etc.
2. World Heritage Convention (1972)
It highlights the universal value of the cultural and natural heritage. It advocates the international support for the maintenance of the World Heritage sites. A state party has an obligation to identify, protect, conserve, and transmit to future generations the unique cultural and natural Heritage of the country. Those sites that are nominated by the states will be enlisted on the World Heritage list.
3. London Dumping Convention (1972)
This convention is designed to control the dumping of wastes in the seas. It requires the states to limit the dumping of such substances as radioactive material, biological and chemical warfare agents, persistent plastics, heavy metals and toxic organics. In 1993, bans on disposal of low level radioactive material and industrial wastes in to the ocean were adopted. A protocol was added in 1996, under which seven more substances were listed. These substances can be dumped only after getting due permission.
4. Marpol Convention (1973/78)
This convention is aimed at preventing or reducing the discharges from ships into the seas. It greatly limits the amount of oil spill and ship generated waste which can be discharged into the sea. There is a complete ban against dumping in areas designated as special areas. It tries to eliminate international pollution of the marine environment and seeks to minimize the accidental discharge of pollutants from ships and tankers. The pollutants include oil, liquid chemicals, sewage, garbage and harmful packed substances. The 1997 Protocol limits the air pollution at sea and the 1999 amendments included heavy diesel oil and fuel oil as pollutants.
5. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (1973)
This convention prohibits commercial trade in those species (whether alive or dead) and in parts thereof (such as skin, eggs, bone, seeds and bark), including plant species that are in danger through trade. Under this convention, parties should identify species that are, or may be threatened by trade. They also should identify those species that may be threatened unless the trade is regulated.
6. Law of the Sea Convention (1982)
It seeks to protect and preserve the marine environment. It directs the states to take measures to prevent, reduce and control the marine pollution, protect fragile ecosystems, monitor risk/effects of marine pollution etc. A state should not cause damage to other states by pollution. It should notify other states where marine environment is in imminent danger.
7. Vienna Convention on Protection of Ozone Layer (1985) and Montreal Protocol (1987)
Ozone is a protective layer of the atmosphere. It shields the earth from the sun’s harmful radiation. We all know that CFC’s deplete Ozone. The Vienna Convention followed by Montreal Protocol sets firm targets for the states for phasing out the CFCs. But it has permitted the developing states to delay their compliance of the protocol. It also provided for the transfer of necessary technology to the developing states. The convention also restricts the trading of ozone depleting substances. The Montreal Protocol has a number of supportive measures like restrictions on trade that carry harmful substances. While the treaty does not altogether stop depletion, it helps in making the acceleration slow.
8. Basel Convention (1989)
Hazardous wastes cause severe damages. Most often these hazardous wastes are exported by the developed states to the developing states. Therefore, this convention has a special significance to them. This convention seeks to minimize the level of hazardous wastes from its source of generation. No export is allowed to the countries which prohibit hazardous waste unless consent is given by them. There should also be no export if there is a reason to believe that these wastes will not be managed by the importer in an environment-friendly and sound manner. The availability of disposal facilities in the importing state should be ensured by the exporting state before exporting hazardous waste. State parties should develop and prescribe guidelines for environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes. Pollution across the borders through air and water has become an issue of concern to the nation states and measures should be taken for preventing pollution.
9. Climate Convention (1992)
Long term fluctuations in temperature and other aspects are known as climate change. Global warming is a major environment problem shaking the entire world. It is caused due to the GHG (Green House Gas) emissions. According to United Nations, climate change is “change of climate that is attributed to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods”. This convention aims to stabilize the GHG emissions. This convention lays down general commitments applicable to all (annexed as well as non-annexed) state parties. They are to limit GHG emissions, gather relevant information, develop plans to mitigate and adapt to climate change and cooperate in research and development.
CONCLUSION
Environmental protection is an essential need not just for us but also for our coming generations. Environmental pollution is increasing day by day and assuming dangerous form throughout the globe and no country is free from this poisonous disease. Various conferences, declarations and principles evolved have been made at global level but despite of it environmental pollution is not decreasing. People lack consciousness of the ill effects of pollution and adding sanctions to it is not turning beneficial as there is no proper governance. If we continue to exploit our environment with this pace soon there will be no environment only left and later after few years there will be no life possible on earth due it. It is also the basic human right of every individual of any nation to live in a pollution-free environment with full dignity, so it also becomes the duty of every individual to keep its environment clean adhering to every principle and law made for the protection of the environment.
END-NOTES
1. UN Environment, Convention on Biological Diversity, (1992), https://www.cbd.int/
2. Science Daily, Scientists find stable sea levels during last interglacial, https://www.sciencedaily.com/
3. M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, 1987 SCR(1), AIR 1987 965
4. Patricia Birnie and Alan E. Boyle, International Law and the Environment
5. Thilo Marauhn and U. Beyerlin, International Environmental Law
6. Jane McAdam, Climate Change and Displacement: Multidisciplinary Perspectives
7. International Law Handbook
WRITTEN BY- PRATEEK KUMAR SINGH (2nd Year, LL.B.), COLLEGE/INSTITUTION- IMS LAW COLLEGE, NOIDA
