• The world fares poorly on implementation of environmental laws and regulations despite the fact that 38 times more green laws have been framed and approved in the last four decades, says the United Nations (UN) in its first ever global assessment of environmental laws.

Environmental mechanisms:-

• Global mechanisms like REDD and REDD+, Paris agreement, Stockholm declaration etc have been framed and adopted by many countries to conserve environment.
• According to UN report as many as 88 countries have adopted the constitutional right to a healthy environment and more than 350 environmental courts and tribunals exist in around 50 countries.
• Even in India there are plethora of environment protection laws :–
  • Constitutional Provisions under article 21 and article 47.
  • Special acts such as Indian Forest Act, Wildlife Protection act ,Environment Protection Act, Air Act, Water Act, Forest Conservation Act, National Green Tribunal 2009, etc.

Failure of environmental laws from global perspective :-

• Failure to fully implement and enforce the environmental laws is one of the greatest challenges towards mitigating climate change, reducing pollution and preventing widespread species and habitat loss.
• poor coordination across government agencies, weak institutional capacity, lack of access to information, corruption and stifled civic engagement are the key factors behind the poor effectiveness and implementation of environmental regulations,

Failure of environmental laws in India :-

• Like the Water Act, which was implemented in 1974, a number of laws and regulations have been existing for more than four decades now, but are proving to be ineffective.
• The systems of accountability have been weakened, so monitoring is a huge problem.
• India is ranked 177th out of 180 countries in the 2018 Global Environment Performance Index (EPI) rankings for being unable to improve its air quality, protect its biodiversity, and cut its greenhouse gas emissions.
• Air pollution:-
  • India has highest number of cities which violate the threshold of healthy air limits
  • Coal-based power plants continue to be the major source of air pollution in the country as more than 300 coal thermal power plants still violate emission standards.
• Wildlife:-
  • Despite laws to protect wildlife protection, poaching and illegal trade of wild animals is a common practise till date. Also rise in man animal conflict is an indicator of lack of proper implementation of the laws.
• More than two-thirds of the states/union territories in the country have neither bothered to comply with the orders passed by the Supreme Court, nor complied with the directions given by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).
• The judiciary’s order failed to even curb illegal rat hole mining and miners in Meghalaya paid the price for that.
  • Acting on the orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Meghalaya government in 2015, suspended rat hole mining and transportation of coal in the entire state. But four years later, illegal practices continue unabated in the state.
• Poor coordination and rampant corruption :-
  • Most of these laws either die in nascent or intermediate stage due to profit motives and lax in execution
• Public awareness is poor
  • Lack of public hearings and social audit before implementing projects
  • Environmental impact assessment has often been neglected for projects.

 Way forward:-

• There is a need to consider TSR Subramanian committee recommendations: 
  • New bodies like National Environment Management Authority and State Environment Management Authority replacing CPCB and SPCB, to evaluate project clearance using technology and expertise. 
  • Areas with 70% tree cover should be declared “no go zone”
• Positive attitude on the part of each citizen is essential for effective and efficient enforcement of these legislations. 
• Also institutional capacities must be strengthened which are currently filled with problems such as understaffing ,lack of financial resources and low skill levels of workers.
• Speed of justice delivery must be increased through special courts which improve compliance.