Making these slopes less slippery

The report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, uploaded on the Ministry of Environment and Forests website as of May 23, has triggered a vigorous public debate on several vital issues before us; issues relating to environment — development choices and the proper roles of people and government authorities in deciding on these choices. Governments should initiate a series of steps to remove deficit in environmental governance as pointed out in the WGEEP report: — Strictly enforce environmental laws such as Air and Water Acts to control pollution — Facilitate, not suppress, freedom of expression and assembly of people drawing attention to issues of environmental degradation — Empower local bodies, i.e. gram, taluk and zilla panchayats and nagarpalikas and mahanagarpalikas to take decisions on environmental issues — Put in place Biodiversity Management Committees in all local bodies, fully empowered under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, to regulate use of local biodiversity resources, and to charge Collection Fees — Initiate registration of crop cultivars as called for by Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001, and give grants to panchayats to build capacity for in situ conservation of crop genetic resources — Implement fully the Forest Rights Act — Reinstate the system of empowering citizens to monitor the status of environment under the Paryavaran Vahini scheme — Carry out a radical reform of environmental clearance process through assigning preparation of EIA statements to a neutral competent body that does not depend on payment by project proponents, making mandatory involvement of local BMCs in the process of EIA preparation, making mandatory taking on board all information submitted and suggestions made during public hearings, making mandatory periodic environmental clearance requirement, preferably every five years, making mandatory involvement of BMCs in the process of monitoring of implementation of conditions laid down while granting environmental clearances, make mandatory preparation of regional Cumulative Environmental Impact Analyses — Enhance the scope of regional development plans to include key environmental concerns and make mandatory involvement of local BMCs in the process of preparation of regional plans Governments should initiate a series of steps to build a transparent, participatory database on Indian environment: — Promote full access to all pertinent information, for instance, through freely making available the currently suppressed Zonal Atlas for Siting of Industries. — Organise a public transparent, participatory database on Indian environment by drawing on student environmental education projects as recommended by the Curriculum Framework Review, 2005 of the National Council for Educational Research and Training.