Environment Support Group

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ESG Opinion
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Modi government’s new environmental laws a threat to India’s biodiversity and forests

The seamless passage of the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021, and the Forest Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, effectively emasculating regulatory powers contained in the parent laws, namely, the Biological Diversity Act (BDA) 2002 and the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) 1980, was guaranteed by the absence of the entire opposition, which was boycotting Parliament demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi speak on the Manipur crisis.

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Biodiversity & BiopiracyCampaignsESG Opinion
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Protecting Brinjal from piracy at a time when MoEF&CC dilutes biodiversity laws

The Supreme Court’s decision restoring ESG’s PIL comes at a time when the world is preparing to address grave biodiversity losses due to trade, biopiracy, over extraction and also due to climate change as part of the 15th Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity being held in Montreal 7th to 19th, December, 2022.

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Newsletter
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EJ Matters Vol 3. Issue 13 : Climate Change and the 27th Conference of UNFCCC Parties (COP27) and more

27th COP of United Nations Framework Conference on Climate Change at the seaside resort city of Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt during 6th – 20th November 2022. The main gain, it appears, is the decision to establish and operationalize a ‘loss and damage fund’ which most vulnerable countries have been demanding for decades now

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EducationExperiential EducationSeminar & Workshops
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Workshop For Kids – Young Climateers

ESG is happy to launch the next workshop for Young climateers on October 6th,7th and 8th.The experiential workshop will introduce children to climate change, its relationship with water, waste, pollution, soil etc. and conclude with a field trip to observe and immerse in nature. Do enroll your child for this exciting workshop which will be conducted through games, activities, interaction and immersion.

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AdvocacyBiodiversityCampaignsEnvironment & Forest Policy
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MoEF&CC must stop destroying India’s progressive environment, forest and biodiversity protection jurisprudence

At a time when the United Nations General Assembly has finally passed a resolution making Right to Clean and Healthy Environment a Human Right, Indian Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change is doing everything to destroy India’s progressive environmental jurisprudence.

We invite you to endorse a statement demanding Indian Government must step back from its proposals to comprehensively dilute India’s and devastate India’s environmental laws. And it must stop yielding to corporate pressures and instead defend our Constitutional rights over our health, environment and our futures.

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ESG Imaginaries to Make Cities WorkEventsWebinars
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Week 3 Of ESG Imaginaries To Make Cities Work: Mobility & Infrastructure

ESG has worked with street communities to reclaim streets as public commons, to protect street vendor rights, to promote pedestrian and cycling rights, to secure urban greenery – especially tree lines and heritage spaces, all to promote the idea of a  city that would ensure inclusivity is central to such public spaces and infrastructure. The argument has been and continues to be that there must be deep democratisation of decision making relating to mobility and infrastructure development so that the promise of Article 39 B – that ownership and employment of material resources best serve the  common good – is actually an argument for  protecting commons, ensuring good health, promoting environmentally viable and equitable livelihoods, and ensuring the city is a construct that is socially responsible, economically viable and ecologically wise.  

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EventsPast Events
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Invite to a Consultation: Amendments to Environmental laws

To assess the implications of the proposed changes, and also to propose a pathway for progressive reforms of India’s environmental laws, Environment Support Group in collaboration with the Institute of Public Policy at National Law School of India University is organising a half day consultation on 18th July 2022 (Monday) from 2 pm – 6 pm. We invite you to this consultation and sincerely hope you will be able to participate despite this short notice

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AdvocacyEnvironment & Forest PolicyOther Reports & DocumentsResources
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Need for meaningful extensive review and debate on fundamental changes proposed to India’s Environment Protection Act, 1986 and related laws 

India’s environmental jurisprudence has been torn between the competing demands of prioritising environmental protection and securing economic progress.  While there are several judgements that speak to the need for balancing development with environmental priorities, it is not necessarily an exercise that can be easily rationalised.  There is overwhelming evidence in the pollution flowing in every river and lake across the country, in the extensive degradation across the Western Ghats and the Himalayas – resulting in catastrophic impacts on human settlements, in the breakdown of our cities every time it rains or when there is an unrelenting heat wave, and in commons that are extensively encroached, diverted and polluted, that the state of India’s environment is precariously hinged.  The damaging consequences of such extensive degradation are irreversible and will seriously impede the country’s socio-economic progress.

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AdvocacyEnvironment & Forest PolicyEnvironmental GovernanceESG Opinion
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Fundamental dilution of Environmental Laws and Jurisprudence of India Proposed

The current proposed amendments to four major environmental laws, are effectively a big step away from India’s long held statutory tradition of protecting environmental and natural resources and is a clear indicator of prevailing priority: putting business and commercial interest over environmental protection and safeguarding human rights.  The draft Bills were put out on 1st July 2022 by the Ministry in English, not any of the other Scheduled languages, and the commenting period ends on 21st July 2022.  Never in the history of India has there ever been such a rush to put interests of international and national business empires over that of peoples of India and its biodiversity.   

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EnergyESG OpinionSolar
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Designing a low energy home

The most important aspect of a sustainable house or infrastructure is to create one that consumes less energy in both its production and operation. As human civilization settles down comfortably into a lifestyle of energy and product consumption, we lead ourselves to believe that we can become green by just shifting the source of energy generation, unwilling to fathom that unnecessary product and process creation is the underlying issue. Energy reduction and lifestyle changes can pave the way for true sustainability.

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Newsletter
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Environment Justice Matters_ Vol3. Issue 8

The Yale Centre for Environmental Law and Policy and Columbia University’s Earth Institute issued the  2022 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) report recently.  It is projected as a “data-driven summary of the state of sustainability around the world” and uses “40 performance indicators across 11 issue categories” to rank “180 countries on climate change performance, environmental health, and ecosystem vitality”. India has been ranked at the bottom of this list, scoring merely 18.9 points of a possible 100.

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