 While the legal regime in India provides respite for those seeking environmental justice, some of the most radical judgements and orders battle to be implemented in a society where natural resources remain heavily contested.
The granting of special status for sensitive areas i.e. notifying them ecologically fragile/sensitive has been strategically used for the promotion of conservation in India. The Doon valley, is one of the earliest examples of utilizing the clauses in the Environment Protection Act as far back as 1989 to safeguard the valley in Uttaranchal. Today there are several notified eco-sensitive areas in the country, with the Matheran and Mahableshwar-Panchgani being the latest additions.
 However, Dahanu was declared ecologically fragile at a time (1991) when awareness and declaration of zones as eco-sensitive was not prevalent. The Notification, progressive in its approach to development, classifies industries into different categories restricting the setting up of polluting ones in the sensitive zone. A critical aspect of the notification is the acknowledged need for planning in the region with an outlining of a process of drafting a master/regional plan by the concerned authorities delineating land use patterns and proposing planned development. A restriction on change of land use is another fundamental feature of the notification.
 Moreover, as per the provisions of the Environment Protection Act, the Dahanu notification has put in place a democratic decentralized system of monitoring and protecting the natural resource base and livelihoods of communities by setting up a special Authority (Dahanu). The Dahanu Authority has been a unique prototype of a democratic institution with decentralized decision making in the field of environmental justice. In the Dahanu case, the Authority has unwaveringly, for over a decade now, stood by the principles of social justice and equitable rights for local communities, by passing several landmark orders and directions.
However despite a robust legislative framework, the struggle to protect Dahanu from unbridled and haphazard development and to ensure the implementation of the special status remains a challenge. For one, a lack of public engagement and support coupled with disgruntled builders, hoteliers, industrialists and other commercial interests has led to a serious polarization within the local population in Dahanu. Additionally, planners, government officials and bureaucrats are not sympathetic either.
In fact, there have been several serious attempts to de-notify Dahanu as well as disband the Dahanu Authority, by a section of powerful industrialists, builders and local politicians. In 2003, a special committee was constituted to ascertain if Dahanu could be considered eco-fragile. This Committee held a large public hearing in Dahanu with the aim of determining the views of the people. However the show was conducted by local commercial interests and politicians, who projected that the Dahanu notification was a major stumbling block to development in the region, and that it should be withdrawn. Misrepresenting the notification to claim that even a flour mill was not permitted in the area, the vested interests created an atmosphere that projected a collective opposition to the Notificati on.
Additionally, there has also been a sustained effort to disband the authority due to the progressive and environmental positions it has taken. The Ministry of environment and forests filed an application for disbanding the Dahanu Authority. The environmentalists fought this application at the Supreme court and in January 2004, the application was dismissed.
Mainstreaming the philosophical basis of declaring regions eco-sensitive has become imperative in the long term struggle to protect Dahanu, else mounting public resentment and corrupt politicians will work hand in glove to de-notify the region. Moreover, mechanisms to strengthen the process of implementation of the notification need to be put in place.
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