Managing Environmental Impacts of Rapid Economic Growth through Public Participation

For over two decades, from the early 1990s, India has experienced one of the fastest economic growth rates in the world, averaging over 6 percent and reaching close to 9 percent per year since 2004. However, this growth also has a negative impact on the country's environment and natural resources. This paper discusses some of the means of mitigating negative environmental impacts of rapid economic growth through public participation. India has a strong environment policy, legislative framework and wellestablished institutions at the national and State level. Despite enabling legislations and progress in institutional development, keeping up with the environmental challenges of rapid urban growth, industrialization, and infrastructure development (including provision of adequate environmental infrastructure to booming urban areas) has proved difficult. The recently approved National Environment Policy (NEP) 2006, by MoEF acknowledges the deficiencies in ‘identifying and integrating environmental concerns in relevant sectoral and cross-sectoral policies through reviews and consultations…’. Effective public participation increases the credibility of government institutions responsible for executing the public trust by ensuring an open and inclusive decision-making process. When the public is not given an appropriate venue to be heard, it will create its own venue to protest using instruments like Public Interest Litigation or other means showing of discontent. Innovations in stakeholder involvement and public participation help to enhance the effectiveness of the more traditional methods, such as public hearing and public comment period. These innovations include application of community-based management approaches, conducting trainings to build civil society capacity, holding public hearings in a more interactive manner, and increasing access through technology enhancements.