Justice Nagarathna Highlights Supreme Court’s Shift From Anthropocentric To Ecocentric Environmental Approach

Addressing the valedictory session of the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) two-day international conference on “The Future of Environment and Climate Dynamics” at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, Justice Nagarathna said environmental adjudication required courts to consider not only present consequences but also the interests of future generations.

“The contribution of the Supreme Court to environmental jurisprudence has been overwhelming and significant. In fact, the Supreme Court is now pushing for a shift from an anthropocentric approach to an ecocentric approach in matters of environment.”

President Droupadi Murmu was the chief guest at the valedictory session.

Justice Nagarathna explained that an anthropocentric approach places human beings at the centre, while an ecocentric approach gives greater consideration to the natural environment and ecosystems. She said an ecocentric approach meant recognising that human interests did not automatically take precedence over the interests of the non-human world. “Environmental adjudication is an exercise in foresight, requiring courts to govern the present with an alert consciousness of the future,” she said.

The judge said environmental law must move away from treating nature merely as property, commodity or resource, noting that Indian traditions had historically placed human beings within, rather than above, the natural order.

Environment decisions have differentiated impacts

Justice Nagarathna said courts across jurisdictions had increasingly become important actors in giving concrete meaning to environmental justice. She said environmental governance must account not only for overall outcomes but also for the differentiated social impact of environmental decisions.

“The consequences of environmental decisions are felt differently across regions, jurisdictions, communities and generations. Some bear the brunt of degradation more sharply, while others enjoy the benefits of development more fully.”

She said this raised questions of balancing development and conservation, competing uses of natural resources, and present needs against the interests of future generations. “Environmental governance will frequently require reconciliation between development and conservation, between competing uses of natural resources and between present needs and future interests,” Justice Nagarathna said.

She added that environmental governance operates at the intersection of science, economics, technology, ethics and politics, requiring legal standards to remain responsive to new information.

Climate change and environmental degradation require global cooperation

Justice Nagarathna pointed to the increasingly transboundary nature of environmental challenges, including pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss and degradation of shared ecosystems. She said environmental protection had become a matter of global regulation, requiring States to consider the consequences of their actions beyond their territorial boundaries.

Referring to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the annual Conferences of the Parties, she said international engagement with climate change had acquired institutional urgency. “Environmental protection has become an arena in which national action and international responsibility are inseparable,” she said.

Justice Nagarathna said rivers, forests, oceans, air and ecosystems did not recognise political boundaries, making cooperation between jurisdictions essential. She emphasised the need for knowledge and resource sharing and equitable responsibility among nations to address interconnected challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, land degradation and water scarcity.

Justice Nagarathna invokes Pancha Mahabhutas

Justice Nagarathna also drew upon the Indian philosophical concept of the Pancha Mahabhutas, or five elements, to frame what she described as an essential corrective to modern thinking about the environment.

She referred to five commitments that environmental leadership demanded, describing them through the qualities associated with earth, water, fire, air and space. “Earth teaches us patience and tolerance. Air teaches us mobility and liberty. Fire teaches us warmth and courage. Sky teaches us equality and broad-mindedness. Water teaches us purity and cleanliness.”

She said nature could not be treated as something separate from human existence. “Nature is neither inert matter nor an object external to our existence. It is our teacher, sustainer and kin.”

Justice Nagarathna said the environmental crisis was, at its deepest level, a crisis in humanity’s relationship with the natural world.

Five principles of sustainable development

Justice Nagarathna also described what she termed “Pancha Siddhant”, or five principles of sustainable development, drawing upon established principles of environmental jurisprudence. These included the polluter pays principle and absolute liability, the precautionary principle, the public trust doctrine and the intergenerational doctrine.

She said these principles now formed an important vocabulary for environmental governance. The judge further emphasised that courts dealing with environmental disputes were not concerned only with completed violations or harm that had already occurred.

Environmental adjudication, she said, also required courts to respond to risks unfolding in real time, often in conditions of scientific uncertainty and where ecological damage could be irreversible.