KSLU Solved Question Papers
Environmental Law
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 10
2022 Oct Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 10 Environmental Law 2022 Oct Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2022 Oct examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2022 Oct examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2022 Oct examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 80 · 20 questions answered
Instructions printed on the paper
- N.B. (1) Answer all the five Units. (2) One essay type question and short note/problems is compulsory from each Unit. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answer should be written either in English or in Kannada completely.
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1
Unit I
(a)What is Green House Effect ? Discuss the consequences of green house gas effect and global warming.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: Part I, the greenhouse effect: how it works step by step, the gases and why they trap heat, the natural and the enhanced effect, and how the enhanced effect causes global warming; Part II, the consequences, grouped (temperature, water and ice, sea, weather, land and food, living things, health, economy and society) with India's exposure, and the feedback loops that make warming feed on itself; the legal response in brief; the cases (Ranjitsinh, the ITLOS advisory opinion, Hindustan Zinc); and a conclusion.
Part I: the greenhouse effect
How it works. The name comes from a glass greenhouse, which lets sunlight in but keeps the warmth from escaping. The atmosphere does something similar.
- Sunlight, mostly visible light, passes through the air and warms the land and the oceans.
- The warmed surface gives the energy back as infra-red (heat) radiation.
- Some gases in the air absorb this infra-red radiation and send part of it back down.
- So the lower atmosphere stays warmer than it would otherwise be.
Why only some gases. Nitrogen and oxygen, which make up most of the air, let infra-red pass. Gases with three or more atoms, such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and water vapour, absorb it. These are the greenhouse gases. Some man-made fluorinated gases are very powerful greenhouse gases even in tiny amounts.
The natural greenhouse effect is a blessing. Without it, the earth's average surface temperature would be well below freezing, and life as we know it could not exist.
The enhanced greenhouse effect. Since the Industrial Revolution, people have burned coal, oil and gas, cleared forests, and expanded rice paddies, cattle herds and fertiliser use. The concentration of carbon dioxide has risen from about 280 parts per million before industry to over 420 today. More heat is trapped than before. This extra trapping is the enhanced greenhouse effect, and its result is global warming, a long-term rise in the average temperature of the earth.
Part II: the consequences
1. Rising temperature. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found the earth already about 1.1 degrees Celsius warmer in 2011 to 2020 than in the late nineteenth century. Heatwaves are hotter, longer and more frequent.
2. Melting ice and water stress. Glaciers are retreating, including the Himalayan glaciers that feed the Ganga, the Indus and the Brahmaputra. Rivers may first flood and later run short in summer.
3. Rising and warming seas. Water expands as it warms, and melting ice sheets add more. Rising seas threaten low coasts, islands such as Lakshadweep, and cities such as Mumbai and Kolkata. The oceans also absorb carbon dioxide and become more acidic, which harms corals and shellfish.
4. Extreme weather. Heavier rain in short bursts, longer dry spells, stronger cyclones and an erratic monsoon.
5. Land and food. Heat and erratic rain lower crop yields, especially of wheat and rice. Droughts and salt water entering coastal farms add to the loss.
6. Living things. Species must move or adapt, and many cannot. Coral reefs bleach. Mountain and island species have nowhere to go.
7. Health. Heat stroke, and the spread of diseases such as malaria and dengue into new areas.
8. Economy and society. Homes, roads and harvests are damaged, and people migrate from drowned or dried-out areas. The heaviest burden falls on the poor, who did least to cause the problem.
Feedback loops. Warming can feed on itself.
- Melting ice exposes darker land and sea, which absorb more sunlight.
- Thawing frozen soil in the Arctic releases methane and carbon dioxide.
- A warmer sea absorbs less carbon dioxide.
- Warmer air holds more water vapour, itself a greenhouse gas.
The legal response in brief
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 1992 aims to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations at a safe level. The Kyoto Protocol 1997 set binding cuts for developed countries. Under the Paris Agreement 2015, every country sets its own targets, with the aim of holding warming well below 2 degrees. India adopted a National Action Plan on Climate Change in 2008 and has announced a goal of net zero emissions by 2070.
The cases
M.K. Ranjitsinh v. Union of India, (2024) 5 SCC 597. The Great Indian Bustard was being killed by power lines in Rajasthan and Gujarat. Burying every line would have slowed the solar and wind projects India needs to cut emissions. The Supreme Court held that Articles 14 and 21 give a right to be free from the adverse effects of climate change. It set up an expert committee to balance the bird and clean energy.
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea gave an advisory opinion on 21 May 2024. The case is the Request for an Advisory Opinion submitted by the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law. Island States, threatened by rising seas, asked the Tribunal about States' duties. It advised that greenhouse gas emissions absorbed by the sea are pollution of the marine environment under the Law of the Sea Convention. States must take all necessary measures to reduce them.
Hindustan Zinc Ltd v. Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission, decided on 13 May 2015. Industries with their own power plants were required to buy a share of renewable energy or pay a charge. The Supreme Court upheld the rule, relying on India's obligation under the Kyoto Protocol and on Articles 21, 48A and 51A(g).
Conclusion. The greenhouse effect is the trapping of the earth's heat by certain gases, which keeps the planet habitable. Human emissions have enhanced it, causing global warming. Its consequences include heatwaves, melting glaciers, rising and more acidic seas and extreme weather. Crop yields fall, species are lost, and disease and displacement spread, made worse by feedback loops. The Climate Convention, Kyoto and Paris respond internationally. In India, Ranjitsinh treats protection from these effects as a fundamental right.
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