The Supreme Court is actively steering environmental jurisprudence away from human-centric models toward an ecocentric framework that places ecosystems and the natural world at the heart of legal consideration, Supreme Court judge Justice B.V. Nagarathna said on Sunday.
Addressing the closing session of a two-day international conference on “The Future of Environment and Climate Dynamics” at Vigyan Bhavan, Justice Nagarathna described the apex court’s historical contribution to environmental law as extensive and vital. She noted that current legal thought must abandon the premise that nature exists merely as property, merchandise, or a consumable resource. Instead, human interests cannot automatically claim priority over the non-human world, and people hold distinct duties toward nature that exist independent of its commercial or practical utility.
The conference was organised by the National Green Tribunal, with President Droupadi Murmu attending as the chief guest, drawing judicial delegates from 17 countries alongside domestic administrative officials and legal experts.
Balancing Development And Substantive Equality
Justice Nagarathna pointed out that modern environmental adjudication operates as an exercise in anticipation, obliging benches to regulate current activities with a conscious awareness of prospective fallout. She explained that judicial bodies across various legal systems have become central drivers of environmental justice by linking ecological safeguarding with substantive equality.
Because ecological decline impacts demographics and territories unevenly—leaving certain communities to shoulder disproportionate harm while others gather the rewards of economic growth—environmental governance constantly demands a delicate balance. Courts and administrators must mediate between industrial growth and preservation, conflicting demands for finite resources, and immediate societal requirements versus the rights of future generations.
Justice Nagarathna added that because ecological problems cross the intersections of technology, ethics, science, politics, and economics, legal principles must consistently adjust to emerging empirical data.
Transboundary Challenges And Guiding Principles
Emphasising that air, forests, rivers, and oceans do not conform to sovereign territories, Justice Nagarathna stated that contemporary threats such as climate change, biodiversity depletion, and pollution represent borderless emergencies. National actions and cross-border obligations have consequently grown indivisible, highlighted by the urgency surrounding the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Successfully tackling these shared crises, she noted, demands jurisdictional partnerships, equitable burden-sharing, and open exchange of scientific resources.
Drawing on indigenous traditions, Justice Nagarathna linked environmental leadership to the five natural elements, or “pancha mahabhutas.” She framed these elements as the foundation for five core commitments: the endurance of earth, the adaptability of water, the decisiveness of fire, the openness of air, and the expansiveness of space. Under this philosophy, nature serves as humanity’s relative and guide rather than an inert external object.
In parallel, she outlined five central doctrines (“pancha siddhant”) that anchor sustainable development jurisprudence: the polluter pays rule, absolute liability, the precautionary principle, the public trust doctrine, and intergenerational equity. She stressed that courts must actively manage immediate ecological threats unfolding amidst scientific ambiguity rather than exclusively addressing damages that have already occurred.
Institutional Cooperation And Inclusive Climate Action
Echoing the necessity of proactive legal systems, National Green Tribunal Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava stated that environmental strategies must advance past merely categorising crises toward creating durable legal frameworks, institutions, and multilateral alliances.
Justice Shrivastava warned that vulnerable populations with limited resources face the highest exposure to environmental decay. Consequently, climate initiatives must remain equitable, inclusive, and attuned to the needs of disadvantaged populations as well as upcoming generations.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta observed that environmental threats can no longer be managed within isolated institutions or distinct disciplines. Addressing climate change—which currently impacts municipal centres, agricultural systems, water reserves, and biological diversity—demands unified coordination among governance, science, the legal system, economics, and civil society. Mehta underscored that the primary objective must be converting ideas into enforceable statutes, capable institutions, and accountable governance.
Manohar Lal, Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs and Minister of Power, also delivered remarks during the conference.
The two-day summit gathered judges, ministry secretaries, judicial academy leadership, state legal services officials, and environmental specialists to examine systemic deficits in policy creation, regulation, and enforcement while aligning development priorities with ecological justice.
