India and International Environmental Law

Abstract

India has played a major role in the development of International Environmental Law (IEL). Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was one of the two heads of states who participated in the United Nations Conference on Human Environment (Stockholm Conference 1972). Since the days of Stockholm Conference, India has been an active participant at the multilateral environmental negotiations. India’s engagement with IEL has been mutually beneficial. The leadership position that India assumed at the multilateral environmental negotiations has helped in including provisions in treaties that better reflected the realities of the developing countries. This in turn has helped IEL to gain wider participation and acceptability among the developing and under-developed countries. On the other hand, IEL has helped in the shaping and development of Indian environmental law. The influence of IEL on Indian law has been most visible in the following two ways: helping the enactment of legislations in the field of environment and in the development of a robust environmental jurisprudence. This chapter focuses on the influence of IEL on Indian law and concludes that without the influence of the developments at the international level Indian environmental law would have remained much poorer.