Compliance and the Role of Judiciary in Meeting the Challenges of Sustainable Development

Abstract

This paper has been written with the view of giving an introduction of the unanimous relation between judiciary and sustainable development. The paper gives an overview of the present international scenario of sustainable development and efforts taken up by the various national and international bodies in the wake of changing world climate and environment. The paper discusses the Brundtland Report and the Kyoto Protocol. It also discusses some cases which are given to explain that Sustainable Development does not limit its scope to just the environmental issues but all the issues related to development of the human civilization. In the later part the paper discusses the Indian perspective in the wake of changing international environment. However the role of judiciary becomes very important in promoting compliance to the national and international environment and other laws. Thus the transformation of Sustainable Development policies to actions requires balancing of environmental and developmental considerations in judicial decision-making. Thus the realization of the link between sustainable development and judiciary becomes all the more important.