Supreme Court shifting to ecocentric approach; no automatic precedence for human interests: Justice BV Nagarathna

The Supreme Court is pushing for a shift from an anthropocentric to an ecocentric approach in environmental cases, Justice BV Nagarathna recently said.

Under ecocentric approach, human interests would not automatically take precedence over those of the non-human world, she explained.

“This entails recognising that human interests do not, by virtue of being human, enjoy automatic precedence over the interests of the non-human world; rather, we bear obligations towards non-human life that exist independently of their utility to us,” she said.

The judge was speaking at the valedictory session of the National Green Tribunal’s International Conference on “The Future of Environment and Climate Dynamics”.

Justice Nagarathna said environmental adjudication require courts to look beyond completed violations and deal with risks that were unfolding in real time, often amid scientific uncertainty and with potentially irreversible consequences.

“In that sense, environmental adjudication is an exercise in foresight, requiring courts to govern the present with an alert consciousness of the future,” she said.

Justice Nagarathna also said environmental that justice requires courts and governments to account for the fact that environmental decisions affect regions, communities and generations differently.

Since environmental issues are increasingly crossing national boundaries, cooperation between nations has become necessary to address pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss and degradation of shared ecosystems, she opined.

“Good environmental governance, therefore, requires not only rights, but effective institutions, enforcement, transparency, accountability and access to justice,” the judge remarked.