EIA Resource and Response Centre

The Environment Impact Assessment Resources & Response Centre was established in year 2007, in response to the felt need to keep a watch, as well as to challenge, Environment Impact Assessment-EIA reports which are based on inadequate and improper assessment of the impacts of the proposed developmental activities on natural India including wild flora and fauna, rivers, wetlands etc.

Why ERC

It has been observed that, the natural ecosystems of India are increasingly threatened and destroyed due to adverse impacts from different developmental project activities. The situation has been exaggerated by inadequate assessment through Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) processes, leading to ecological and livelihood losses. In a situation where EIA and Forest Clearance are mandatory to minimize or avoid adverse impacts on the natural ecosystems, the environmental and forest legislations including the EIA notification provide potent tools for seeking redressal.

In majority of cases the clearance and compliance mechanism has many pertinent issues such as limited and incorrect information, inadequate knowledge and lack of participation of the affected communities, and lack of transparency and accountability in the clearance process itself. Therefore, there is a felt need for an independent agency and mechanism that is able to act as watchdog on EIA related issues, to respond to the challenges faced by the communities due to faulty environmental and forest clearances granted to projects. The centre is lead by environmental lawyers, ecologists, wildlife biologists and environmental scientists.