National 6 (Spotlight Weekly)

Sensitizing Judges

With the support of the World Conservation Union, judges exchange ideas on an array of environmental issues

By A CORRESSPONDENT

At a time when judges are facing a growing number of petitions related to environmental matters, the judiciary must keep abreast of developments and perspectives in the field. Through the initiative of the World Conservation Union (IUCN)-Nepal and the Judges' Society of Nepal (JSN), judges got an opportunity to understand the complex scientific and technical matters of the environment along with international conventions governing the sector.

The three-day seminar, inaugurated by Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Keshab Prasad Upadhyaya, covered a vast range of issues and concepts relating to the environment. Participated in by 32 judges from different appellate and district courts of the central and western region, the sensitization program facilitated full of debate among the judges and environmental experts.

Jointly organized by the JSN and IUCN-Nepal, one of the aims of the seminar was to enhance the knowledge, skill and capacity of judges on environmental issues. Access to genetic resources and benefit sharing, for instance, is a highly technical subject that is very critical to judges in delivering environmental justice.

"The UN Declaration of Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources 1962, the Stockholm Declaration 1972, the Rio Conference 1992 are very important for the protection and conservation of Nepal's bio-diversity," said Chief Justice Upadhyaya in his keynote speech. "Nepal will benefit immensely from the new technology so the judges must keep the positive effect of the biotechnology hearing on such petitions," he added.

Whether in the case of food security or health and conservation of bio-diversity, the natural environment has its own important role to play. When the country is yet to develop a framework to bring all these diverse issues under the rule of law, such seminars make an important contribution.

"Natural environment is a part of our life and society. As we have been hearing a number of cases in different levels of court from district to the Supreme Court, judges need to familiarize the technical and other concept regarding the environment," said Chief Justice Upadhyaya.

The sharing of views with judges on environmental issues is a new practice in Nepal. If the judiciary is unaware of complicated international and national environment issues, its decisions may not be able to respond to the importance the subject demands. Nepal has signed many international conventions on bio-diversity, nature conservation, genetics and other environmental matters and they are very much interlinked with human society. The judiciary has a central role in influencing how these instruments affect the country.

"Judges Society and IUCN-Nepal have been organizing various programs for judges on different aspects of environmental laws in the past and this is the continuation of the past cooperation. I hope that the material supplied in the seminar will help to enhance the knowledge on the environmental issues," said Dr. Mahesh Banskota, country representative of IUCN-Nepal. "There is a need to increase technical knowledge on environmental issues."

Judges have shown great interest in such interaction to acquire and expand knowledge. "As Nepal is a contracting party to the Convention of on Bio-diversity and other conventions, judges like to know all matters concerning the environment," said Hari Prasad Sharma, judge of Supreme Court. "Such programs will help judges to enhance their knowledge and capacity about the environment," he added.

"The society is making progressive efforts toward forging a coordinated approach on judicial and environmental issues," said S.P. Pandit, registrar of the Supreme Court.

As people responsible for far-reaching decisions on environmental matters, including the execution of treaties and conventions, judges must have firm knowledge about the issues and their implications.