An Environment can loosely be referred to as the surroundings we have or by the definition of Merriam Webster’s Dictionary [1] “the circumstances, objects, or conditions by which one is surrounded” or in the context of this article, “the complex of physical, chemical and biotic factors (such as climate, soil and living things) that act upon an organism or anecological community and ultimately determine its form and survival.”

Fundamental Rights [2] on the other hand, can be defined as, “A group of rights that have been recognized by a high degree of protection from encroachment. These rights are specifically identified in a constitution, or have been found under due process of law.”

The fundamental rights governing the environment will thus entail a number of rights that are set in place for the protection of the complex physical, chemical and biotic factors that act upon an organism or an ecological community that is ultimately taken up by the constitution. Thakur [3] in Environmental Protection Law and Policy in India writes, “It may be submitted that the word “protect and improve” which occur in both provisions under discussion appears to contemplate affirmative state action to improve the quality of the environment and not just to preserve the environment in its degraded form. This way the provisions leave ample scope for the judiciary to intervene and require public authorities to improve environmental quality.”

The Role of Bureaucrats and Officials

On the global scale, pinpointing the law s and regulations of how each country executes the protection of the climate can become too vast of a topic however, it is important to recognize the general rights implemented. A term called substantive rights comprises civil and political rights, economic social rights, cultural rights and collective rights which cater to the rights to life, freedom of association and freedom from discrimination, rights to health, food and an adequate standard of living, rights to access religious sites and rights affected by environmental degradation such as the rights of indigenous peoples respectively. Procedural rights include three fundamental access rights which are access to information, public participation and access to justice. With the problem identified and the solution seemingly readily available for utilization, the task at hand that remains is the process of implementation by bureaucrats. Lipinski et al. [4] wrote in a blog Published on Governance for Development that ‘Bureaucrats must take a bigger role in fighting climate change. 

They opine that a sector that employs millions of people worldwide who implements thousands of environmental regulations and who manages daily interactions between the government and all other economic actors cannot simply be irrelevant to the success of climate change policy. They stated three reasons as to why it is crucial to involve public administrations in the fight against climate change:

• Scale: The public administration tends to be the single largest employer in most countries. 16% of all workers were averaged to be employed by the public sector over the last decade, which ultimately means there is a significant environmental effect of its operations considering the ecological footprint of an employer that operates thousands of public buildings, along with enormous vehicle fleets and generating a large volume of waste

• Leadership: The public administration must set adequate examples so that they may become the standard for climate change policies and influence society. As governments implement policies to reduce the effects of climate change, they must enact practices that will be adopted by society at large

• Implementation: Local level civil servants are often the de–facto implementers of climate change resilience policy as several factors like their knowledge, motivation and their own stance on environmental issues might determine how climate-friendly the outcome of efforts can be. They are, as Funder and Mweemba, call them, “interface bureaucrats,” who have to manage a complicated network of actors, address unexpected issues and forge compromises to implement official rules

This begs the question of how the public administrations can be made to work for citizens and the climate. To get a gist of the inner workings of the public administrations and how they may be effective, the bureaucracy lab frequently conducts surveys to determine the data of the people who make up the bureaucracies. Climate change policy can only be effective if the individuals that take up the responsibility are well aware of the rising challenges and are motivated to respond. Civil servants who are skeptical of climate change might prioritize other work tasks, be less stringent when conducting environmental audits or even lack the motivation to reduce the ecological footprint in their work place. The reduction of climate impacts can be done by introducing green policies at all levels of human resources management. Implementation of green policies can be done through the online application process and branding as an environmentally conscious employer as well as providing ‘greener’ alternatives for incentives. Studies in the private sector have found that green HRM practices have been linked to increased work place productivity, job satisfaction and increased attractiveness for potential highly qualified recruits. Incorporating climate change resilience into daily public administration operations like switching to electrical vehicles along with building heating and waste recycling. Several measures including the digitalization of government work can be initiatives taken as well.

Role of Fundamental Rights in Protection of Environment in India

Saran [5] former Foreign Secretary of India writes in an article titled India’s Climate Change Policy: Towards a Better Future, “As a populous, tropical developing country, India faces a bigger challenge in coping with the consequences of Climate Change than most other countries. Climate Change is a global phenomenon but with local consequences. There are both external and domestic dimensions to India’s Climate Change policy which has been articulated through two key documents with one being the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and the other being India’s Intended Nationally Determined Commitments (INDC)”. The NAPCC aims to fulfill the goals that are set for the Indian standard or vision towards sustainability. It is based on the awareness that Climate Change action must proceed simultaneously on several intimately interrelated domains, such as energy, industry, agriculture, water, forests, urban spaces and the fragile mountain environment. Prime Minister Modi has taken a keen interest in the state of Climate Change amongst world leaders and under his leadership, India adopted a more proactive, ambitious and forward-looking approach that is reflected in the country’s INDC.

The Supreme Court of India has contributed significantly in broadening the contents and contours of some of the basic rights from the perspective of environmental protection. Environmental Protection Law and Policy in India has listed five points under ‘Fundamental Rights vis – à – vis Environment’ which are:

The Right to a Whole Some Environment

Environmental pollution wreaks havoc on the atmosphere which affects life and health to people and directly contributes to the violation of article 21 which is extended to include a wholesome environment. It can be seen that the courts are legitimizing their roles as the enforcing organs of the constitutional objectives to prevent all actions of the state and the citizens from upsetting the ecological balance. The High Court of Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Kerala have also taken into consideration the provisions of article 21 and agree that the degradation of the environment violates the fundamental right to life.

The Right to Livelihood

The right to livelihood is implicit in the Constitutional guarantee of the right to life enshrined in article 21 of the Constitution. It has served effectively in the checks of governmental actions that affect the environment which leads to disruption of the poor people. The practitioners from Bombay Municipal Corporation have challenged the government’s decision that all slum and pavement dwellers shall be forcibly evicted and deported to their places of origin. Depriving a pavement dweller of his constitutional right laid down by the government in article 21 means that he/she is denied the right to livelihood. The second case is that of Banwasi Sewa Ashramv. State of Uttar Pradesh where by the local people raised their voice against the reservation of forest land, as they were utilizing the resources for their livelihood and the reservation of forest land denies them their fundamental rights.

The Right to Equality

Article 14 of the Constitution states that “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India” and this can be an advantage for the environmentally conscious people who are able to resort to legal proceedings for challenging the constitutional validity of the arbitrary official sanctions in matters like construction, mining, etc.:

• Freedom of Trade and Environment: Article19 (1) (g) of the Constitution permits every citizen to carry on any trade or business. However, the right is subject to reasonable restrictions which may be imposed in the interest of the general public as provided in Article 19(1)(g)itself. The right is limited to businesses and trade that do not provide nuisance to the society and wellbeing of the people

• Constitutional Remedies: Under Articles 32 and 226 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court and the High Court’s respectively, possess a wide latitude to grant relief and prevent environmental damage by issuing directions, orders, or writs

Impact of Climate Change in Mizoram

The climate of Mizoram is neither too hot nor too cold, but moderate throughout the year. The state receives an adequate amount of rainfall and has a short winter and long summer with heavy rainfall. But lately, the state is facing serious problems due to an increase in deficiency of rainfall and other climate changes. Mizoram is very vulnerable to the impacts of a changing climate and sometimes faces the wrath of freak weather events due to its geo-climatic conditions, making the entire state one of the most hazard-prone states in the country. The state is annually hit by cyclone storms, cloudbursts, hailstorms and landslides.

Climate change impacts coupled with anthropogenic pressure impart its negative effect on the fragile mountain ecosystem of Mizoram. Climate change had adverse implications on biodiversity and a large decrease in the net productivity of the forest. Owing to the destructive slash and burn system of cultivation, the state had experienced land degradation problems at an alarming rate. The depleted and degraded forests could not meet the growing demands of timber and other forest products in the state and cannot provide a safeguard to the ecological functions like soil conservation, protection of land degradation, maintenance of agricultural productivity and protection of catchment area. Animal husbandry and fisheries also face serious problems due to an increase in deficiency of rainfall.

Due to rapid urbanization owing to movement of rural population to urban areas in view of the incidence of increasing poverty in rural areas. There are increasing problems of overcrowding and scarcity of water supply, inadequate public health and sanitation system, mismanagement of waste materials. The existing urban infrastructure for service delivery is increasingly insufficient, even for the provision of core urban public services such as water supply, sanitation and sewerage, urban roads and solid waste management. All these problems result in an unhealthy and unsafe environment for the public.

There has been an increase in maximum temperature over the last decade. Poor management of solid and liquid waste, traffic congestion, vehicular pollution, clearance of green areas due to indiscriminate construction and fossil-fuel energy consumption in city infrastructure contribute to climate change. Various features of urban agglomerations in the state interact with the climate and enhance the vulnerability of the city population.

Accrued evidence has already been established on the climate-disease relationship. Public health which is highly dependent upon the availability of adequate quantity and quality of food, safe drinking water, decent home protected against disasters, a reasonable income and good social and community relations is projected to be affected by climate change. Climate change is expected to profoundly catalysis the propagation of infectious, communicable as well as life-threatening vector-borne diseases (as some of the vectors are highly climate-sensitive as regards temperature and rainfall). Impact of climate-related stress due to increased heat, air pollution, malnutrition, increased incidence of water-borne diseases like diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, gastroenteritis and vector-borne diseases such as malaria will result in increased morbidity and mortality. Mizoram has already a combination of many of these human health-related issues. Climate changes may impart additional pressure on the public health system that is already burdened to cope with the existing level of health issues including communicable and non-communicable diseases.

In Mizoram, several workshops and programs have been set up to curb the rapid pace of the existing climate change. One such measure taken is the State Level Workshop on Impact of Climate Change in Mizoram organized by Mizoram State Climate Change Cell and Mizoram Science, Technology and Innovation Council [6] with the objectives of identifying the impact of climate change in Mizoram on the four selected sectors viz., Agriculture, Health, Forest and Water Resources and to generate baseline information for future vulnerability and risk assessment due to climate change in the state. This workshop aims to build the capacity of the concerned Departments towards the knowledge of climate change and its related issues. It aims to tackle the problem of climate change prevalent in the state. The recommendations discussed in the workshop seem to cater to the fundamental rights aspect as they are the need for location-specific, comprehensive planning and technology dissemination to reduce the susceptibility of hill agriculture towards the present climate variability in Mizoram, establishing hydrometric network and establishing ground water monitoring station, natural disasters response system and preparedness plans for vulnerable areas and increasing public health awareness of the various health impacts of climate change and rethink on the land use-based project, etc.

To conclude, the 13^th UN Sustainable Goal which is Climate Action and the16^th which is Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions are essentially related to the context. At the global, country, or even the state level, a need for the involvement of the officials and government in fighting climate change which affects every other fundamental right that is afforded by society or individuals alone. The United Nations Environmental Programme [7] in their blog wrote, “Human rights and the environment are intertwined; human rights cannot be enjoyed without a safe, clean and healthy environment; and sustainable environmental governance cannot exist without the establishment of and respect for human rights. This relationship is increasingly recognized, as the right to a healthy environment is enshrined in over 100 constitutions.” Similar sentiments were occurred in a blog post by Bureaucrats must take a bigger role in fighting climate change as it is written, “Reducing poverty and increasing shared prosperity only make sense if we fight climate change as well” which undoubtedly proves the interlinked nature of fundamental rights and the climate. One may even argue that fundamental rights and climate change are two sides of the same coin. If in fact each individual is tasked with the preservation of the environment and the regulation of climate change, the government officials and the bureaucrats with higher power and capabilities have that much more to offer in terms of climate change as they become the representatives of fundamental rights.

1. Webster, M. Environment. Merriam-Webster, 1828, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/environment.

2. Wikipedia contributors. Fundamental Rights. Wikipedia, www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_rights.

3. Thakur, K. Environmental Protection Law and Policy in India: Fundamental Rights vis-à-vis Environment. DEEP & DEEP Publications Pvt. Ltd., 2017.

4. Lipinski, R. et al. Bureaucrats Must Take a Bigger Role in Fighting Climate Change. World Bank Blogs, September 2021, www.blogs.worldbank.org/governance/bureaucrats-must-take-bigger-role-fighting-climate-change.

5. Saran, Shyam. India’s Climate Change Policy: Towards a Better Future. Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, November 2019, www.mea.gov.in/articles-in-indian-media.htm?dtl/32018/Indias_Climate_Change_Policy_Towards_a_Better_Future.

6. Mizoram Science, Technology and Innovation Council. State Level Workshop on Impact of Climate Change in Mizoram. mistic.mizoram.gov.in/page/state-level-workshop-on-impact-of-climate-change-in-mizoram.

7. United Nations Environment Programme. What Are Environmental Rights? UNEP, www.unep.org/explore-topics/environmental-rights-and-governance/what-we-do/advancing-environmental-rights/what.