Deliberating Environmental Policy in India: Participation and the Role of Advocacy - Routledge Studies in Asia and the Environment 1st edition

As one of the world?s largest and most bio-diverse countries, India?s approach to environmental policy will be very important in tackling global environmental challenges. Since the economic liberalization of the 1990s in India, environmental policy making has seen a slow shift from top-down planning to increasingly bottom up, participatory policy processes. This book explores the success of recent environmental policies which have subscribed to participatory processes in policy formulation. As policy makers aim for sustainable human development, it will be crucial to involve local communities in framing the policies that decide on their rights and control over bioresources.

The first examples of large-scale participatory processes in Indian environmental policy were the 2004 National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan and the 2006 Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers Act. This book explores these landmark policies, concluding that the successes of recent initiatives have carved out room for a more inclusive formulation process with the power to push agendas which challenge mainstream development discourses. The lessons learnt from the Indian experience not only have immediate significance for the future of policy making in India, but they will also be of interest for other countries faced with the challenges of integrating livelihood and sustainability concerns into the governance process.