This research examines the growth and expansion of public interest environmental litigation (PIEL) in India and analyses the changes that are influencing the development of PIEL in Bangladesh and Pakistan. The necessity for this research lies in the rapid degradation of environment and the need of efficient environmental management in the three countries of the South Asian region. Here, we compare the legal systems of the three countries from the environmental point of view, discuss new ideas and directions and critically analyse the legal provisions that would help to apply environmental norms. These offer the legislators a chance to find out what can be applied in their own region, thus developing their existing legal mechanisms. About the author Jona Razzaque is barrister and holds a PhD in law from the University of London. She works in the field of access to environmental justice and has published numerous articles on this issue. She taught law in Queen Mary College and School of Oriental and African Studies under the University of London. She is currently working as a lawyer in the Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD) on cross-themed projects related to bio-diversity, trade and climate change.

This paper deals with the well-known environmental public interest litigation before the Supreme Court of India. While a certain amount of literature exists, principally describing the judicial activism in which the Supreme Court of India has engaged for many years, to date no comprehensive explanation exists for the effectiveness of this phenomenon. We employ a law and economics framework to explain why environmental interest litigation has (to some extent) been effective in the case of India. We use recent empirical literature, indicating how the decisions of the Supreme Court have led effectively to a reduction of pollution levels e.g. in Delhi, but also in the Gangha river. In the paper, a law and economics framework is used to examine what particular questions arise in environmental public interest litigation. Hence, the question of locus standi is examined as well as the question how the court can have the expertise to intervene in environmental pollution cases. After examining these questions from a theoretical law and economics perspective, we turn to examining how the Supreme Court of India has dealt with these issues and critically analyze the court's approach. Finally, the paper goes beyond the case of India by providing indicators on when environmental public interest litigation can generally be expected to be effective in reducing pollution levels. The contribution therefore has two clear objectives: on the one hand, it critically analyses environmental public interest litigation in India, using an economic framework and, on the other hand, it provides a general overview of the conditions environmental public interest litigation can contribute to reducing pollution levels.

Modern environmental regulation and its complex intersection with international law has led many jurisdictions to develop environmental courts or tribunals. Strikingly, the list of jurisdictions that have chosen to do this include numerous developing countries, including Bangladesh, Kenya and Malawi. Indeed, it seems that developing nations have taken the task of capacity-building in environmental law more seriously than many developed nations. Environmental Justice in India explores the genesis, operation and effectiveness of the Indian National Green Tribunal (NGT). The book has four key objectives. First, to examine the importance of access to justice in environmental matters promoting sustainability and good governance Second, to provide an analytical and critical account of the judicial structures that offer access to environmental justice in India. Third, to analyse the establishment, working practice and effectiveness of the NGT in advancing a distinctively Indian green jurisprudence. Finally, to present and review the success and external challenges faced and overcome by the NGT resulting in growing usage and public respect for the NGT’s commitment to environmental protection and the welfare of the most affected people. Providing an informative analysis of a growing judicial development in India, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental justice, environmental law, development studies and sustainable development.

""Studies the politics of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in contemporary India"--Provided by publisher".

Within the last two decades, India has not only enacted specific legislation on environmental protection but has also virtually created a new fundamental right to a clean environment in the Constitution. The models and methods adopted in the Indian context appear, at first sight, similar to those in other common law systems. Yet there are many subtle differences which have changed the structure and content of legal development in India. Indian environmental jurisprudence brings out the unique characteristics of a new legal order which has gradually been established in India. The distinguishing nature of this jurisprudence, as this book shows in detail, has three interconnected elements. First, the nature of the new Indian constitutional law regime accords greater importance to public concerns than protecting private interests. Secondly, this jurisprudential development reflects certain aspects of Indian legal culture, through implicit and explicit reliance on autochthonous values and concepts of law, encapsulated in the Indian juristic postulate of dharma. Thirdly, the emerging Indian environmental jurisprudence bears testimony to the activist role of the Indian judiciary which has also had a significant impact in many areas other than environmental law. In short, the development of environmental jurisprudence in India manifests neo-dharmic jurisprudence in postmodern public law. It accommodates ideas currently voiced by experts around the world for protecting the environment in forms modified by the Indian legal culture.

Analysis of Chinese environmental law with a focus on the development in statutory regulation, institution building and judicial innovation.