Law, Anthropology and Climate Justice

Challenge being addressed

A collective of environmental litigators and environmental anthropologists have been working together for a decade in order to mobilize the law for a more just form of conservation and climate adaptation in the Bengal Delta. In terms of engaging and activating the law, our embedded ethnographic research first identifies the problem. Once the problem or harm caused to people, rivers, coastlines, forests or ecosystems is identified through ground-up research, then we as a collective work towards filing Public Interest Litigations (PILs) to protect communities and their environments.

Dr Megnaa Mehtta, Lecturer in Social Anthropology at UCL Risk & Disaster Reduction, started this collective in 2015 and has since expanded it through an AXA Research Grant in 2023. She acts as a conduit between a range of governmental, and non-governmental stakeholders as well as litigators and residents of the Bengal Delta which include farmers, fishers and migrant labourers.

The movement of these ship vessels carrying fly ash from the ports of West Bengal to those in Bangladesh cause riverbed erosion. The barges — old, decrepit, and rusted — often capsize with fly ash, a toxic byproduct of coal, contaminating the rivers and causing harm to the biodiversity of the region. On going environmental litigations have been attempting to enforce better safety checks and demand environmental impact assessments as steps towards climate reparations. 

Research impact

The Collective has a range of ongoing litigations at the National Green Tribunal, Kolkata, India that range from compensation for victims of tiger attacks to the damage caused as a result of sinking ships carrying toxic fly ash.

Funding

AXA Research Fund

Project duration

From 2015 (ongoing)

Project team and collaborators

• PI: Dr Megnaa Mehtta