Environmental clearance conditions in impact assessment in India: moving beyond greenwash

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the EIA process and its effectiveness in addressing the impacts of a 190 km long national highway project along the Karnataka coast. We analyse the quality and relevance of the environmental clearance conditions established by the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and discusses their potential implications. The findings underline that most of the conditions that pertained to the prevention of pollution, restoration of mangroves, and protection of biodiversity lacked a scientific basis and specific information required for effective implementation. The MoEF&CC also overlooked the social impact of the project and underplayed its own role in ensuring fair compensation to project affected communities for the loss of their land and other livelihoods. The paper concludes by promulgating a long list of irrelevant and ineffective environmental conditions that represent greenwashing because it could misguide affected communities and other stakeholders by creating the impression the state is exercising due diligence in protecting the environment.

KEYWORDS:

• Highway infrastructure projects
• environment impact assessment
• environmental clearance
• community participation
• rehabilitation
• India

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Maruti Gouda and Vinod Patgar of the Centre for Policy Research for helping in community meetings, surveys, and data collection. We wish to thank various community members, gram panchayats, and government departments for their valuable contribution during the study. We are also grateful to Manju Menon, Kanchi Kohli, and Debayan Gupta of the Centre for Policy Research for helping us in understanding the legal framework governing infrastructure projects. The authors are also grateful to NAMATI, Washington D C for providing institutional support and financial provisions for the study. Lastly, we gratefully acknowledge the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [430-2016-01025] and the University of Winnipeg Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee International Scholar Program.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Compensation refers to providing alternate land or the equivalent amount of money to landowners. Resettlement refers to the process of settling displaced landowners at different or new locations. Rehabilitation refers to the program of resettlement with social, economic, and cultural restoration schemes.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Namati, Washington, DC, environmental justice program and grants to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [430-2016-01025] and the University of Winnipeg Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee International Scholar Program.