HNLU Organizes An International Conference: "Rights Of Nature For Sustainable Development"

The Conference kickstarted with an inaugural session with the august presence of Hon'ble Mr. Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India and Chairperson of the National Green Tribunal as the chief guest, Prof. Juan Sebastián Villamil Rodríguez, Professor, National University of Colombia, Prof. (Dr.) Gitanjali N. Gill, Professor, Northumbria Law School, Northumbria University, Newcastle, Prof. Paul Martin, Director, Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law, School of Law, University of New England, and Prof. Elisa Scotti, Professor, University of Macerata, Italy as international speakers. Mr Govind Ram Miri, Senior Advocate, Chhattisgarh High court and Mr. Apurba Kumar Sharma, Senior Advocate and Chairman, Executive Committee, Bar Council of India were also present on this occasion.

Prof. (Dr.) V C Vivekanandan, the Vice-Chancellor of HNLU in his inaugural remarks said " The 'Finite Nature' cannot be exploited for 'Infinite development process' and this necessitates the 'Rights of Nature' as a legal game changer. This HNLU- GNHRE International conference is an effort to consolidate the efforts for an international regime on 'Rights of Nature'"

Hon'ble ,Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel Chairperson of NGT in his key note address stressed upon the exigency of 'act now'. Bringing a historical panorama of all the international discourses and efforts for the check on pollution, he urged, "If you want to breathe clean air, you have to contribute." He also urged the academia to bring 'live issues' before the students and take them to the 'live situation' of pollution and brainstorm them for the solution. He said that problems have solution but implementation requires huge will power.

Moderating the panel discussion, Prof. Juan Sebastián Villamil Rodríguez, touched upon the constitutional aspect of 'Rights of Nature' in his opening address with special reference to India and the international perspective.

Speaking on the theme 'Rights of Nature: Place / People based sustainability and Indigenous Knowledge' Prof. (Dr.) Gitanjali N. Gill underlined brought the thought on the plate that as long as we treat nature as resource, the exploitation would continue. "We need indigenous knowledge, beliefs and values and relational experience with nature to seek the balance," said she.

Relating the theme with the thread, Prof. Paul Martin, talked about the gaps between the international promises, their implementations, and the public policy. He added the dimension of the academia as well to play the active role instead of the 'theoretical roles.'

In her address, Prof. Elisa Scotti echoed the unconditional and emergent necessity of the 'new and now' responsibility towards nature.

Followed by the Panel Discussion, the technical session saw the paper presentationon the varied themes like Rights of Nature v. Rights to Nature, Rights of Nature v. Sustainable Business, Rights of Nature and Role of the Stakeholders for Sustainable Development, Rights of Nature and Role of Institutional Mechanism, Rights of Nature and Human Rights, Rights of Nature and Green Economy, Rights of Nature and Global Biodiversity, Rights of Nature and Greening Finance, Rights of Nature and International Trade.

The valedictory session had the eminent presence of Shri Rakesh Chaturvedi, Chairman, C.G. State Biodiversity Board, and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests as the Chief Guest and Shri Arun Kumar Pandey, Member Secretary, C.G. State Biodiversity Board (I.F.S.) as the Guest of Honour. Both the dignitaries stressed upon the shared responsibility of preservation and conservation of mother nature by every stakeholder for the sustainable development.

The Conference brought together people from a range of specialists and backgrounds for a cross-disciplinary discussion on the rights of nature.

The programme was designed and spearheaded by Prof. (Dr.) Uday Shankar, Registrar with the organization efforst of Prof. (Dr.) Yogendra Kumar Srivastava, Dean-(Out reach and External regulatory Compliance), Dr. Ankit Awasthi, Assistant Professor as Secretary, Dr. Rana Navneet Roy, Associate Professor as Co-Secretary and Mr. Abhinav Shukla, Assistant Professor and Mrs. Urvi Shrivastava as members in a record short time.