Forest Ecology in India: Colonial Maharashtra 1850-1950 takes a look at the human interactions that have shaped up the ecosystem specifically of Maharashtra, under the British colonial rule. This work is a culmination of extensive analysis of secondary sources and numerous archival primary sources including vernacular material hitherto unexamined from the perspective of Environmental History. It traces the evolution of political, socio-cultural and religious attitudes and administrative policies that had an impact on the forest ecology of Maharashtra. The study goes beyond a chronological narrative of events and it adopts a fresh approach where it examines the impact of the forest policies and subsequent responses from the tribals, peasants and artisans. It looks at landmark events and struggles that shaped the resistance to the new environmental and forest laws as well as the spillover of these developments into the anti-colonial struggles of the early twentieth century. This book would be of interest to students of Environmental History and Environmental Justice.

This curated book addresses, in the scholarly realm, the problems of soil degradation and provides some practical solutions for them to save soil life. It comprises ten specially invited chapters that address the global soil framework, soil challenges in India, existing policy, law and institutional framework as well as other perspectives. Soil is our biological capital. The soil health is critical for survival of the humans (and other life forms) since almost 95% of our food comes from it. It also has significant potential as a sink for carbon through sequestering. Excessive and inappropriate land use leads to various forms of land degradation that becomes contributing factor for hunger, migration and even wars. There are several multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) including UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) that hold relevance for addressing the global soil problematique. The UNCCD Strategic Framework (2018-2030) has declared desertification/land degradation and drought (DLDD) as “challenges of a global dimension”. As a result, sustainable soil management (SSM) has emerged as an important goal for attaining Sustainable Development Goals 2030 (SDGs 2030). In the backdrop of these globally ordained processes, India appears to be seriously pursuing the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) target within the framework of the UNCCD. As a corollary, India has set an ambitious goal of halting any further land degradation by 2030 and rehabilitate at least 30 million hectares of degraded wasteland, forest land and agricultural land. This ideational effort by eminent legal scholars, soil scientists and practitioners aim to promote concerted teaching and research in the field of soil law and governance in the University Faculties of Law, National Law Schools, Institutions of Eminence and other legal and scientific bodies. The ‘seeds sown’ in the soil of knowledge through this effort will, hopefully, provide an impetus for more in-depth research concerning soil law and governance in India and beyond.

The forest discourse in India has shifted decisively from questions of management to questions of governance. The essays in this book highlight and explore how this shift is occurring and what the challenges to democratic forest governance are. It covers questions of local management, wildlife conservation and forest conversion, as well as the changing socio-economic context of forestry in India.

This book provides an insightful and holistic up-to-date perspective of the constitutional governance and legal framework in India with regard to environmental protection. Covering the foundational principles of environmental law, the book details the current status of international environmental law in the face of complex environmental challenges including climate change. The topics covered include water resource governance, and coastal regulation, with a particular focus on the growing significance of the National Green Tribunal. It also covers the wide range of policies that have been introduced over the past 50 years and the impact these have had. The book will be of interest to researchers, legal practitioners, and scholars in the field of environmental law and governance as well as international law.