CLIMATE JUSTICE AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY

Abstract

India's dedication to natural conservation is entrenched in the country’s constitution, where there are provisions that make it a duty of the state to “protect and improve the environment” and, along with an expanding base of environmental case, gives structural basis for the advancement of climate justice in the country. The Indian judiciary too has been a proactive participant in environmental jurisprudence and have held the right to healthy environment as part of the right to life, as enshrined in the Constitution, thus building a stronger legal ground for addressing climate related complaints. Nevertheless, despite these legal and institutional arrangements, the quest for climate justice in India is confronted with formidable hurdles, such as an absence of enforcement measures, low levels of citizen consciousness and, in some cases, the subordination of environmental security to economic development.