Environment Institutions For The Protection And Conservation Of Environment Flashcards
National bodies
Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change. It’s a nodal agency in administrative structure of the central government for planning, promotion, and coordination. It’s also a nodal agency and country for the United Nations Environment Program. Its principle is to conserve conservation and survey of flora, fauna, forests, and wildlife. It’s the prevention and control of pollution, afforestation, and regeneration of degraded areas, protection of environment, and framework of legislations in welfare of animals. The main tools to be utilized for this include the environmental surveys, impact assessment, and control of pollution and regeneration of programs, etc.
Central Pollution Control Board is a statutory organization constituted in 1974 under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1974. It’s entrusted with the power and function under Air (Prevention and Control Pollution) Act of 1981. It serves as a field of information and also provides technical services of MoEF&CC, coordinates activities of state pollution control boards by providing technical assistance and guidance and also resolving disputes among them.
The National Board of Wildlife is a statutory body. It’s an advisory body in nature. It’s under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. It is composed by: the PM is its chairman with the vice chairman being a minister of the environment along with 47 members including parliamentary members, NGOs, eminent conservationists, and the chief of army staff, etc. Its primary function is to promote conservation and development of wildlife and forests and the power to review all wildlife-related matters and approve projects in and around the national parks and sanctuaries.
The National Green Tribunal established in 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act of 2010 passed by central government. India became the third country in the world to set up specialized environmental tribunal only after Australia and New Zealand. It’s the first developing country to do so. The NGT is mandated to make disposal of applications or appeals finally within six months of filling the same. Its principal place is New Delhi with other centres being Pune, Kolkata, Bhopal, and Chennai. The chairperson of the NGT is appointed by the central government in consultation with the Chief Justice of India. It is a retired judge of Supreme Court. Other judicial members include retired judges of high courts and at least 10 and maximum 20 full-time judicial members plus expert members in the tribunal. Each bench will comprise of at least one judicial member and one expert member. The legal jurisdiction of NGT is the power to hear all cases related to environmental issues including the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1974 and the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act 1977, the Forest (Conservation) Act of 1980, the Air (Prevention and Air and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981, the Environmental (Protection) Act of 1986, the Public Reliability Insurance Act of 1991, the Biological Diversity Act of 2002, but it doesn’t include Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 and the Indian Forest Act of 1927. The principles of justice adopted by NGT are not bound by the goal of civil procedure and not bound by the Indian Evidence Act of 1872. The review and appeal of order can be appealed to Supreme Court within 90 days. The NGT Act penalties under maximum three years of jail and a fine of maximum 10 crores and both fine and imprisonment.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority is a statutory body under MoEF&CC under enabling provisions of Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 as amended in 2006. It conducts tiger census in India and its headquarter is in New Delhi. Its structure includes the Environment Minister as a chairman and eight expert members. The Inspector of General Forest is in charge of Project Tiger, will be an ex-officio member, secretary. Its function is to approve tiger conservation plans prepared by the state government, then evaluate the regulation and standardization of tourism activities and measures for addressing conflicts of man and wild animals. The central government puts annual report of NTCA in each House of the Parliament.
The Wildlife Crime Patrol Bureau was established in 2007 by amending the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972. It’s a statutory body. It’s a multidisciplinary body under the MoEF&CC to combat organized wildlife crime in the country. Its headquarter is in New Delhi. Under the WLPA Act of 1972, it’s mandated to collect and collate intelligence related to organized wildlife crime and disseminate it to the center and other enforcement agencies for immediate action. It also assists foreign authorities and international organizations related to wildlife crime and assists and advise custom authorities and inspections of consignments of flora and fauna as per the provisions of Wildlife Protection Act, CITES and EXIM policy governing such an item.
Animal Welfare Board of India was established in 1962. It’s a statutory and advisory body under the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals Act 1960. Its headquarter is in Balabgarh in Faridabad. It consists of 28 members who serve for a period of three years. It works to ensure that animal welfare laws in countries are followed and provides grants to animal welfare organizations.
Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority was created by the MoEF&CC. CAMPA Bill established a permanent National Compensatory Afforestation Fund under the Public Account of India. It allows states to establish compensatory afforestation funds. The central government will appoint a state CAMPA in each state, create compensatory afforestation fund created by MoEF&CC. CAF Act was passed by Senate in 2016 As per rules, 90% of CAF money should be given to the states while 10% is to be retained by the centre.
The Genetic Engineering and Appraisal Committee functions under the MoEF&CC. It’s an apex body constituted by the MoEF&CC under the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986. It is chaired by the Special Secretary and Additional Secretary of MoEF&CC, with the representative of Department of Biotechnology as a co-chair. Other members include experts from other ministries as well as institutions like ICAR, ICMR. Approval of GEAC is mandatory before genetically modified organisms and products derived from them can be used commercially.
The Central Zoo Authority is a statutory body constituted under the Wildlife (Protection) Act. It’s headed by the Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Wildlife. Its function is to enforce minimum standards and norms for keep and health care of animals in India zoos, recognition of the zoos, and evaluation of the zoos. Every zoo in the country is required to obtain recognition from the authority for its operation affiliate member of World Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Wildlife Institute of India is an autonomous institution under the MoEF&CC. Its headquarter is in Chandrabani, Dehradun. It functions to conduct specialized research in areas.
The Zoological Survey of India is established in 1916. It’s an apex organization on animal taxonomy. Its headquarters in Kolkata is declared as designated repository for national zoological collection as per the NBA 2002. Its objective is to promote survey, explore, and research, etc.
The Botanical Survey of India is established in 1890. It’s an APICS organization under the MoEF&CC. Its headquarters in Kolkata. Its objective is to explore plant resources of the country and to identify plant species with economic virtues.
The Forest Survey of India is founded in 1981. It functions under MoEF&CC. Its headquarters in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. It is headed by the Director General, who is an IFoS officer. The FSI is one of the major survey organizations in the country, acting as a nodal agent for collecting, compiling, storing, and disseminating spatial database on forest resources. Its objective is to prepare a state of forest report by annually every two years. Preparing thematic maps on a scale of 1:5000 using aerial photography.
National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board, set up in 1992 for promoting inforestation, tree planting, ecological restoration, and eco-development activities in the country. It gives special attention to regeneration and degrading of degraded forest lands, adjoining forest areas, national park sanctuaries, and other protected areas like the western Himalayas, the Aravallis, western Ghats, etc. It restores fuelwood, fodder, timber, and other forests produced on degraded forests and adjoining land in order to meet the demands of these items.
International bodies
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change formed in 1988 by World Meteorological Organization with UNEP awarded Nobel Prize in 2007. IPCC functions under UNFCCC. It’s an intergovernmental body under the United Nations. It’s a scientific body which produces reports based on scientific developments across the world. Its aims are to change impacts of human induced climate change, including options for adaptation and mitigation. Intergovernmental Planet on Climate Change does not carry out its own origin research. It does not do work on monitoring climate or related phenomena itself. It bases its assessment on public literature. IPCC released their report after three years. It has a special report titled Global Warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius in 2018.
World Meteorological Organization, established in 1950, is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 193 member states and territories. It became a specialized agency of the UN. Its headquarter is in Geneva, Switzerland. It found that 2018 is the fourth warmest year. Greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise and sea levels rise continues. Ocean heat content is at a record height and sea ice well below average.
The United Nations Environmental Program, or UNEP, is one of the UN agencies. It’s a coordinate of UN environmental activities found as a result of UN Conference on the Human Environment at Stockholm (Stockholm Convention) in 1972. Its headquarter is in Nairobi, Kenya. Its activities cover a wide range of issues regarding atmosphere, marine and terrestrial ecosystem, environmental governance, and the green economy. It’s also one of the several implementing agencies of the Global Environment Policy and the Multilateral Fund for Implementation of Montreal Protocols.
The World Wide Fund for Nature, or WWF, found in 1961 is an international non-governmental organization working in the field of wilderness preservation and reduction of human impact on environment. It was formerly named the World Wildlife Fund. It published a report since 1998 called the Living Planet Report every two years. It’s based on the Living Planet Index and the Ecological Footprint Calculation.
The Global Environment Facility is an independently operating financial organization set up as a fund under World Bank in 1981. In 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit, GEF was restructured and moved out of World Bank systems to become a permanent separate institution. Since 1994, the World Bank has served as a trustee of GEF Fund, provided administrative services. The program supports active portfolio of over 200 investments globally and addresses six designated focal areas, biodiversity, climate change, international waters, ozone depletion, land degradation, persistent organic pollutants. The GEF serves as the financial mechanism for the Convention on Biological Diversity, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UN Convention to Combat Desertification, Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, and the Minamata Convention on Mercury. The Global Environment Facility is not linked to the Montreal Protocol.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature was founded in 1948. It’s an NGO and an observer and consultant at the United Nations. Its members are both government and the NGOs. Its headquarter is in Gland, Switzerland. It’s involved in data gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, lobbying, and education. It also focuses on gender equality, poverty alleviation, and sustainable business in its projects. It publishes the IUCN Red List.
Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research is an interdisciplinary committee of International Council for Science. It mainly focuses on developing and coordinating high-quality, international-specific research in the Antarctic region, including the Southern Ocean.
