CURRENT STATUS OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE SHIFTING CULTIVATION ACTIVITY AND ITS PROPOSED MANAGEMENT IN MIZORAM

Abstract

Global concern on environment at the Stockholm Conference (1972) led several countries to have a critical look at the development activities and their impact on surrounding environment. Unlike the developed countries, the environmental problem in developing countries like India mostly arise due to lack of balanced development perhaps because of various factors like inadequate population control, vast diversity in socio-economic patterns and lack of harmonious fusion between knowledge and practice. Environmental impact assessment (EIA) can help decision makers to take decisions oriented towards maintenance and improvement of environmental quality at a desired level. The ills of the continuing practice of shifting cultivation (Jhum) in •the North Eastern Region (Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal, Manipur, Tripura), few other parts of the country (Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka) and the world (Africa, Indonesia, Burma, China etc.) are now being realized. Indepth analysis of the origin and cause of pepetuation of this activity as well as its net effect on the environment jdegradation is a crucial need of the time. Scattered efforts have, though, been made to highlight the adverse effects linked to various aspects of this activity and their mitigation, but a holistic view and an integrated approach are somehow still desired, while attempting the quantification of the cause and net effects in some meaningful and understandable terms so as to ultimately aid in selecting various alternatives for a phase wise management of this activity to save environment from further degradation. EIA can help in achieving this task.