THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE PROJECT

ONLINE CONSULTATION

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Tools for implementation of PP

From: Manoj Kumar Misra
Affiliation: ED, PEACE Institute, Delhi. Forestry, WL and WL Trade monitoring
Remote Name: hotwire-213-208-16-ind.hotwireindia.com
Time: 12:10:40 +0100

Comments

Two examples of tools for implementing PP used in India are relevant to this debate. In 1980, the Central Government (higher authority) took away the discretion from the state governments (lower authority)to divert forest lands for non forest purposes through the enactment of Forest (Conservation) Act. This has today become one of the most effective yet controversial piece of NRM legislation in the country. Secondly the Supreme Court of India in a landmark Public Interest Litigation (PIL)namely Godavarman vs GOI, taken on an executive role in the matters of forest and wildlife management in the country. This too has become controversial. Notable is the fact both these actions rest on an presumption that they are respectively better placed to ensure the implementation of PP considerations in NRM. Yet their distance from the field situation precludes any real stakeholder participation in the decision making process.