Initiating dialogue on NEPA

In response to the Ministry of Environment and Forest’s initiative to propose a new National Environmental Protection Authority (NEPA), a group of individuals from civil society including activists, researchers and practitioners, met on November 6th 2009 to discuss the NEPA as laid out in the MoEF Discussion Paper. The meeting was organised by Centre for Policy Research, Prayas, Pune and Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment. The objective of the meeting was to share perspectives about the idea of a NEPA. The resulting Report of a Civil Society (read article) contains the initial thoughts of the group, the necessary preconditions for success of NEPA and views on its implementation. The report has been circulated for a larger public discussion, and will be shortly followed by specific recommendations and suggestions to the Ministry for the implementation of NEPA.