Fourteenth International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts & Responses

Abstract

Nature has immense potential to maintain ecological balance and with unplanned industrial and agricultural development, the pressure on natural resources has considerably increased. Due to increased human interference with nature, the problem of environment pollution has increased manifold. Pollution may be classified as- Air, Water, Land, Food, Noise, Thermal, Radioactive, etc. The common effect of pollution is that it ruins natural composition of substances. It interferes with food chain, carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, oxygen cycle, hydrogen cycle and thus causes damage to the plant, human and animal life and makes the survival of the living being difficult and troublesome and because of this it changing our climate. In 1972 in the International Conference on Human Environment at Stockholm, in 1977 the World Water Conferences in Argentina, in 1992 Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, etc. these issues were considered. This study considers how the Constitution of India directly or indirectly provides provisions for the protection of environment under Article 21, 39, 42, 47, 48, 48A, 49 and 51A(g). Similarly, Articles 246, 248, 252 and 253 empowers the Parliament of India and State legislature for providing terms for climate change and environment protection. The Indian Penal Code contains several provisions which make pollution a crime. Section 277 and 278 relate to water and air pollution respectively, sections 426, 430, 431, 432 deal with general pollution and section 268 deals with public nuisance under which, noise pollution can be controlled. The Parliament of India has also passed some special statutes for climate change.