Our environment is the most valuable and rich jewel to endure, on this planet EARTH. We human beings often ignore that we are mostly reliant on Mother Nature and become oblivious towards taking care of it. The environment is the only thing that can make growth sustainable. Without it, we cannot sustain even a single day. For example, our skin will burn, the lungs will get broken, our blood pressure would raise.

If the Earth were our savings account, we would be on the verge of failure.

World Environment Day is celebrated on 5th June every year. People from more than 100 countries come ahead to celebrate this day. The world environment day is run by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as the year 1974. A good planet depends on all of us.

The main ideology behind observing this day is to increase knowledge about the protection of our environment at highest levels.

Centuries of irreversible loss occasioned

The forest cover all over the world is being used rapidly on an ever-increasing pace. Trees are cut down for paper, fuel and to increase farming areas, the land is utilised for the growth of industries and factories. The land left behind is stripped not only of trees but the plants, animals and insects that lived in that special ecosystem.

Such steps of deforestation further aggravate the ecosystem inequality as there are no plant roots to hold the soil in its place, the valuable soil washes away with rainfall leading to excessive soil erosion. The forest cover plays an essential role in improving global climatic changes, the trees assist in separating the carbon dioxide, one of the major greenhouse gas from the atmosphere, while at the same time the trees cycle oxygen back into the atmosphere.

But, it is important to know that when trees are cut down the carbon dioxide is published again in the environment. It is very sad to know it has been determined that almost 25% of the total carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere every year is delivered from the trees being cut and burned. Thus, saving and preserving the world’s forests is very necessary for determining the global weather change dilemma.

NGT[1]: The Law relating to Environment

The Indian Government and the judiciary collectively considered the need for fixing up of special environmental courts which shall be exclusively devoted to environment-related problems and disputes arising thereto. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) was accordingly set up in the year 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act (2010) for efficient and quick settlement of cases relating to environmental protection and preservation of parks and other natural resources.

NGT is provided with the required expertise to handle multi-disciplinary environmental disturbances including implementation of any legal right reporting to the environment and giving support and coverage for damages to persons and property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

India is the first developing country in the world to set up a specialized environmental tribunal, only after Australia and New Zealand. Presently, the NGT has five places of meetings, New Delhi is the Principal place of sitting and Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai are the other four.

• The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981,
• The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986,
• The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991, and
• The Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

Role of NGT in Saving the Environment

Over the years NGT has appeared as a significant player in environmental command, passing stringent orders on subjects ranging from pollution to deforestation to waste management. NGT offers a path for the development of environmental jurisprudence by fixing up an alternative dispute resolution mechanism. NGT is less precise, less expensive, and a faster way of determining environment-related conflicts. It plays a crucial role in controlling environment-damaging activities. The NGT has been instrumental in ensuring that the Environment Impact Assessment method is rigorously observed.

Conclusion
At last, quoting the words from Franklin D. Roosevelt, A nation that destroys its soil, destroys itself. Let us all come forward together on this Environment Day and make our contributions to save our soil to save our nation.

On the individual aspect, I firmly believe that it’s a dangerous time for all of us to focus and take steps to save our environment from its degeneration before things are beyond our control and condition worsens. Nature’s gifts are rare and cannot be purchased from money.

It is essential that each one of us wake up before it’s too late. Don’t smoke in public places or dump garbage in the open area. These small openings will surely lead to a better place for survival. Let’s make together efforts to secure this planet sustainable so that our future creations are not stripped of these resources and the beauty of our nature and have a future to enjoy by making judicial use of the same without wasting these precious resources.

End-Notes:

1. The National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 is an Act of the Parliament of India which enables creation of a special tribunal to handle the expeditious disposal of the cases pertaining to environmental issues.