Environmental Auditing for Protecting Environmental Rights in India

Environmental problems assume seriousness in India due to cumulative effect of increasing population density, industrialization- urbanization and poor environmental management practices. Unless stringent regulatory measures are adopted, environmental systems will be irreversibly degraded. Environmental management encapsulating environmental auditing has become exceedingly significant for environmental protection, workplace safety and public health. Environmental auditing emerges as an effective tool to ensure protection of environmental rights.The term ‘environment'may have become the watch word only since late 20th Century. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) may have skipped a specific mention of the word environment. But the 'Right to Healthy Environment' despite having emerged as a 'Third Generation' human right only in mid 80s has always been a part of right to life. The health and well being of both the present and future generations depend on averting environmental crises. Rapidly growing stress on environment, threatens the very human survival. It is timely to halt impending abuses of environmental rights and renegotiate the humane environmental conditions.