Teacher Training Programme on Environmental Law and Policy, July 9- 14 July 2018
The Centre for Environmental Law, Policy and Research (CELPR) organized a Teacher Training Programme under the aegis of National Academy of Law Teachers (NALT) from July 09-15, 2018. The major objectives of this Training program were to provide a platform to law teachers for analysing socio- economic implications of contemporary environmental challenges and to discuss on probable legal solutions to address these challenges. This week-long course was divided into four sessions per day with each session focussing on basic as well as advance understanding of critical areas of environmental law. Prominent experts from legal, social, and environmental science background shared their knowledge and experiences with over forty-five participants who came from all over the country to join the training programme. The programme ranged from discussions on jurisprudential aspects of environment to practical technicalities that arise during hearings of environmental matters in the Court of Law covering themes such as waste management, disaster risk reduction, environmental crimes, groundwater management etc. The highlight of the training programme were interactive sessions which were held each day after the completion of four lecture sessions. Speakers from government sectors, advocates and non-governmental organizations interacted with participants and answered their doubts which were mostly focussed on challenges in implementation of current environmental laws in the country.
One of the major achievements of this programme is that it bought together environmental law professors, Ph.D. scholars and researchers from all over the country together at one platform and facilitated sharing of views emerging from different corners of the country. Participants contributed actively throughout the programme and discussed environmental issues prominent in their places such as rat-hole mining in Meghalaya, waste accumulation issue in Puri, Odisha, water logging issue in Mumbai, Chennai floods etc. Such discussions acquainted participants of ground reality and the kinds of environmental problems faced by communities inhabiting different regions of India. It was stressed that in order to address an issue through policies, laws and regulations, one truly needs to identify the root cause of environment problems. In this regard, this Teacher Training Programme is truly one of its own kind in the country.