Ansari, Abdul Haseeb and Al-Gasim, Saa Abu
(2014)
Access to justice for conservation of the biodiversity: an important component of environmental justice.
Advances in Environmental Biology, 8 (21).
pp. 489-501.
ISSN 1995-0756
Abstract
For conservation of the biodiversity and for maintaining anessential balance between all
flora and fauna and the achieving the ultimate goal of sustainable development, access
to justice is a must. Only because of easy and fast institution and disposal of
environmental pollution and degradation cases, these objectives can be achieved and
poor and marginal people can get justice. It is also notable that the right to access to
justices is crucial for right to information and right to participate in environmental
decision-makings. The solution lies in relaxing the requirement of locus standi to pave
the way for public interest/social interest litigation, which the Indian Apex Courts have
evolved and are practicing. Nevertheless, it has to be so only in genuine cases. The
authors suggest that the Indian practice should be internalised by other states, but with
necessary safeguards. The Australian practice of Law Clearing Houses and the
Canadian practice of providing mitigation or exemption on cost are also good practices
for others to emulate. The authors feel that in order to provide funding for public
interest cases, every state should create a fund and extend legal and procedural support
through legal aid clinics.
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