GUWAHATI, Oct 31 ? On the last day of submitting feedback on the draft National Environment Policy (NEP) 2004 to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), some NGOs of the North East were able to formulate a response and dispatch it to the authorities concerned.
In what could be described as a belated, yet necessary step to express their doubts and discontent over the draft NEP, the NGOs are hoping that the MoEF give serious thought to their feedback. ?It is a document that is far from perfect, so it is expected that our queries would be given due importance,? said Soumen Dey of Centre for Environment Education, North East.
The drafting of the response was put on the fast track through a consultative discussion organised by the North Eastern Social Research Centre (NESRC), which had also organised discussions on other policies of vital interest to the region.
During the discussion participants were unanimous in describing the document as ?inadequate and lacking in focus,? and also criticised the way it was drafted, and its access limited to the internet. Some of the participants also criticised it as an instrument that would undermine the existing environmental regime.
Walter Fernandez, Director of the NESRC was forthright in his critique of the draft NEP, and said, ?Experts have dictated a policy that is attuned to globalisation, and economic activities. We cannot ignore the political economy behind the draft.? A certain balance would have to be struck between the protection of the environment, and the interests of the people dependent on it, an equilibrium that he felt was missing from the draft NEP.
Talking to this correspondent, Sanjib Baruah of Centre for Northeast India, South and Southeast Asian Studies (CENISEAS) agreed that the draft suffered from a lot of flaws, and favoured a concerted response from community-based organisations. ?Let us not ignore what is happening in the grassroots, we need fresh thinking on the complex issue,? he observed.
The feedback sent to the MoEF by the group of organisations, in fact, stresses the grassroots reality of the region when it mentions, ?The tribal customary laws should be the basis for any law reform in the field of environment as in the past the local communities have ably demonstrated their capacity to manage the natural resources sustainably.? The response also describes the resource laws such as the Assam Forest Regulations 1891 as ?too archaic.?
On the legal front, the feedback also highlights the need for a Green Bench in the Gauhati High Court, so that lawyers and stakeholders can benefit from the judicial system. The need to organise a public hearing involving all the stakeholders prior to the declaration of Environmentally Sensitive Zone (ESZ) has also been stressed.
The draft NEP has also come under fire for what has been termed its failure to address the problems emerging from the indiscriminate felling of trees in the North East. ?Most proposals are poorly made and without appropriate back-up of scientific and environmental data and have absolutely no concern for the displacement and submergences these proposals are expected to bring about in the region.?
The response also refers to the draft NEP as not taking into account issues such as siltation, riverbank erosion, floods, and landslides in the hilly terrain, all of which are frequent in the North East and deserve immediate attention.
Significantly, the response also mentions that the pollution control regime for the region should entail a cooperative approach involving various stakeholders, rather than relying on the command and control regime.
Representatives of the various organisations who drafted the feedback have entrusted the CENISEAS with the responsibility to co-ordinate the follow-up, and are now waiting to see how the issues raised by them are reflected in the final policy document.