Indira Gandhi                     MLE-021
               National Open University
               School of Law              Introduction to
                                             Environment
         Block
         1
         UNDERSTANDING ENVIRONMENT
         UNIT 1
         What is Environment?                              5
         UNIT 2
         Nature and Ecosystem                             32
         UNIT 3
         Environment and Law                              54
         UNIT 4
         Origin of Environmental Law                      73
                                        Expert Committee
                                        Prof. N.R. Madhava Menon                         Dr. R.D. Jakati
                                        Chairman, Former Director                        Director
                                        National Judicial Academy                        Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy
                                        Bhopal Member,                                   Dr. Vinod B. Mathur
                                        Commission on Centre-                            Dean, Wildlife Institute of India
                                        States Relations, New Delhi
                                        Prof. B.B. Pande Former                          Mr. Samir Sinha
                                        Professor of Criminology                         Head, Traffic – India
                                        Delhi University                                 Mr. Raj Panjwani
                                        Justice Madan B. Lokur Chief                     Senior Advocate, Supreme Court
                                        Justice, Guwahati High Court,                    WWF-IGNOU EC Members:
                                        Guwahati                                         Mr. VN Rajasekharan Pillai
                                        Dr. Luther Rangreji                              Vice-Chancellor, IGNOU
                                        Senior Legal Officer                             Mr. Ravi Singh
                                        Legal & Treaties Division                        SG & CEO, WWF-India
                                        Ministry of External Affairs
                                        Prof. Venkata Rao                                Prof. Srikrishna Deva Rao
                                                                                                          nd              st
                                        Vice-Chancellor                                  Former Director (2  May, 2007 to 1
                                        National Law School Bangalore,                   May 2010), School of Law, IGNOU
                                        Karnataka                                        Ms. Mansi Sharma
                                        Dr. K. Vijaya Lakshmi                            Asst. Prof., School of Law, IGNOU
                                        Assistant Vice President                         Ms. Moulika Arabhi
                                        (Environment), Development                       Programme Coordinator, Centre for
                                        Alternatives                                     Environmental Law, WWF-India
                                        Block Preparation Team
                                        Programme Coordinator : Ms. Mansi Sharma, School of Law, IGNOU
                                                                          Ms. Moulika Arabhi, Centre for Environmental Law, WWF
                                        Unit Writers                   :  Kaustubh Verma, CEL, WWF– India (Unit 1 & 2)
                                                                          Ms. Gurmeet Kaur, IGNOU (Unit 3)
                                                                          Ms. Priyanka Singh, CEL, WWF-India (Unit 4)
                                        Content Editor                 :  Ms. Moulika Arabhi, CEL, WWF-India
                                        Language Editor                :  Ms. Mansi Sharma
                                        Format Editor                  :  Ms. Mansi Sharma
                                        Material Production
                                        Mr. Yashpal                                Cover Design           Word Processing
                                        Section Officer (Publication)              Mr. Tamal Basu         Mr. Yougesh Dawar
                                        IGNOU, New Delhi
                                        September, 2010
                                        © Indira Gandhi Naitonal Open University, CEL, WWF-India, 2010
                                        ISBN-978-81-266-4843-6
                                        All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph or any
                                        other means, without permission in writing from the copyright holder.
                                        Further information on the Indira Gandhi National Open University courses may be obtained
                                        from the University’s office at Maidan Garhi, New Delhi-110 068 or the official website of
                                        IGNOU at www.ignou.ac.in
                                        Printed and published on behalf of Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi by
                                        Director, SOL,  IGNOU, New Delhi-110068.
                                        Laser Composed by : Tessa Media & Computers, C-206, A.F.E-II, Jamia Nagar, Okhla, New
                                        Delhi-25
      MLE-021 INTRODUCTION TO
              ENVIRONMENT
      “For strengthening the professional and educational support base for
      environmental law and policy”
      One of the principle features of School of Law, IGNOU and Centre for
      Environmental Law, WWF-India’s educational activities is the Post Graduate
      Diploma Programme in Environmental Law. Jointly being launched in 2010, the
      Diploma is the first such comprehensive programme for enviro-legal education
      catering to India and International students and professionals. Special emphasis
      is on conservation and environmental issues, which lie at the core of all
      environmental law, the study of which enables participants to determine the
      effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the respective law.
      MLE-021– Introduction to Environment
      We welcome you to start your journey by understanding ‘What is Environment’.
      Before you dwell into the major aspects of Environmental Law, here is an attempt
      to introduce the basics first.
      ‘Environment’ is a very comprehensive term. It includes within its ambit a wide
      variety of phenomenon. It is a dynamic term that may be used to describe a
      limited area on one hand, and the entire planet on the other. The term Environment
      may be perceived in different connotations. There numerous definitions of the
      term as provided by different National and International legal instruments.
      Generally speaking, Environment includes the external conditions, resources,
      stimuli etc. with which an organism interacts. The Preamble of the United Nations
      Declaration on Human Environment, adopted in Stockholm in June 1972 states,
      “Man is both creature and moulder of his environment, which gives him physical
      substance and affords him the opportunity for intellectual, moral, social and
      spiritual growth”.
      The environment is clearly at risk from a variety of sources of harm, mostly of
      human origin. In order to tackle this problem it is important that we develop
      strategies for modifying human behavior towards environmentally benign
      practices and away from environmentally damaging ones.
      Through MLE-021, we attempt to make you ‘Understand about Environment’,
      take you through best practices of ‘Environment Management’ and finally to
      leave our future generations a better world it is important to understand the subject-
      ‘Environment and Sustainable Development’.
      We wish you get the best from MLE-021 and also urge you to join the community
      thinking and acting for environment well being. 
      Best Regards and Happy Reading!
      SOL-CEL Team
     Understanding
     Environment   BLOCK 1 UNDERSTANDING
                              ENVIRONMENT
                   Of the several processes that all human societies in all ages have had in common,
                   none has been more fundamental than their continual interaction with their natural
                   environment. In fact, more than any other aspect of human endeavor, the diverse
                   modes of human societal interaction with the larger ecological setting provide
                   the basis for a genuinely global history of humanity. But, unlike so many of the
                   other themes and patterns from which world history can be constructed,
                   environmental history transcends the human experience. Due to the profound
                   technological and scientific transformations that have occurred over the past
                   millennium, it has come to effect – often fatally in recent centuries – every species
                   of living creature on earth.
                   Following Units will be dealt in Block 1
                   Unit 1 – What is Environment: The attempt would be, to make you understand
                   the basics of environment, how some of the environment concepts emerged and
                   how society adapted to those concepts.
                   Unit 2 – Nature and Ecosystem: Without understanding how the fragile link
                   between Nature and Ecosystem existed from time immemorial it would be
                   difficult to move forward into the subject of Environment.
                   Unit 3 – Environment and Law: Law is important as it creates a framework
                   within which our entire society operates. In this unit we attempt to explain how
                   environment and law emerged and coexisted.
                   Unit 4 – Origin of Environmental Law: Every subject has to evolve somewhere,
                   in this Unit we explain the Origin of Environmental Law. Source back to all
                   those era’s where an attempt was made to understand our Environment.
     4