Establishing environmental law clinics to strengthen environmental justice and the rule of law: a case study of the Sundarbans

Abstract

Climate change arguably constitutes the foremost global challenge facing the world today. Its impact is multi-faceted and manifests itself through various unpredictable weather phenomena, the brunt of which is borne largely by vulnerable low-lying areas in the Global South. This is exemplified by the ecologically-endangered Sundarbans region, which contains the world’s largest mangrove forest, spread across the Ganga-Brahmaputra Delta on the Indo-Bangladesh border. Its inhabitants have suffered, with increasing frequency, from rising water levels and erratic weather phenomena, which imperil their very existence. These threats are exacerbated by man-made activities such as intensive agriculture and aquaculture, improper waste disposal, accumulation of hazardous materials, illegal construction and pollution stemming from unchecked tourism. The local inhabitants often lack legal recourse and are powerless to prevent such environmental degradation. In this context, this paper seeks to explore the potential that student-led legal aid clinics possess in providing a grassroots solution to this problem. Being incubated in law universities with established professional support networks, these clinics undertake grassroots-level work through active stakeholder consultation. By employing the case-study method, this paper will examine the functioning of an experimental environmental law clinic focused exclusively on the Sundarbans, with practicing lawyers, government officials, academics and students, both from India and abroad, as its participants. It will consequently assess the viability of such a bottom-up socio-legal approach. In doing so, this paper aims to catalyse, through its findings, the establishment of similar environmental law clinics in other ecologically sensitive areas, and to ensure that these clinics bring together lawyers, academics, activists and students in strengthening the cause of environmental justice as a larger goal underpinning the rule of law.