In todays rapidly developing society, guarding environment has become a great concern

of people all over the world. This is where the respective role of governments can make
decisions that shape environmental policy and responsibilities. These governments can be
broken up into two groups, that is government and non-government.
For government, they should entrusted with planning, protection and coordination of
environment and forestry programmes. Government should involve in conservation and survey
of flora, fauna, forests and wildlife, prevention and control of pollution, afforestation,
regeneration of degraded areas and protection of overall environment. To accomplish these
tasks, the government should undertake various measures. One of these takes is the
assessment of environmental impact prior to implementing any project which can damage
environment.
The government should also evaluate its possible impact on environment and steps are
suggested so that least damage is caused to environment when the project is implemented. For
example, if a dam has to be built on a river, assessment is made as to the type of environmental
problems that the dam will cause when built.
There may be many kinds of environmental problems like saltation of the reservoir, water
logging in the area, submerging of forests, displacement of the population and so on. Corrective
measure have to the am can be avoided. The government should implement various pollution
control which was directly and through the Central and State Pollution Control Boards. These
agencies are responsible for controlling the discharge of wastes and pollutants into the
environment.
Besides that, standards should also be set by the government for such discharges. They
have the responsibilities to notice the standards for discharges into air, water and soil by
different industries. Now, noise also considered to be a pollutant and standards should be fixed
for permissible limits of noise.
In order to tackle the environment problems, the government should undertake ecoregeneration programmes, provide assistance to organizations, implement environmental and
forestry programmes, promote research related to environment and forestry and implement
programmes concerning extension, education and training.
The government should set up their own departments to look after environment. In their
own jurisdiction, their implemented programmes should related to environmental protection,
environmental awareness, pollution control and so on.
As forests play a very important role in maintaining the balance of the environment,
forest protection and afforestation should be given extra weightage at the Central and State
levels. Creation of reserve forests, regulation of forest harvest and raising of new forests are
some of the steps that need to be adopted. For the forest that has been cut for developmental
projects, a clause should be introduced in the approval of the project. This is called
compensatory forestry which means that new forest has to be planted in an area equal to the
forest area cut for the project.

For every activity which has the potential of threatening the environment, government
should suggest corrective steps. For example, for control of pollution, there are effluent
treatment plants, air pollutions control equipment, noise reducing appliance and so on.
The government should enforce the rules that were set for logging activities.
Government is empowered to take legal action against the offenders. People who violate the
rules by carrying out the illegal logging act will be fined. This acts as a warning to the others so
that they do not dare to do it again. Besides having fined, government could come out with other
ways of punishing the people that violates the rules. All in all, they must enforce the laws and
regulations on environmental issues. This problem can be solved only through legal and
administrative measures.
For non-governmental agencies or voluntary organizations, they can play a very
important role in environmental protection and management. These agencies are free from
government control and they can take decisions on their own and can undertake activities which
they like.
They have the advantage of being in direct contact with the masses. The nongovernmental or voluntary agencies are spread all over the country, even in small villages. So,
they have no problem in reaching people. Being based among the masses, they have no
language problem. They can communicate with people in their own language and dialect. Since
they know the local customs, traditions and folk arts, they can use these media to reach people.
Voluntary organizations should play a very important role in our country in creating
mass awareness towards environment. They should make people aware of the environmental
problems which are caused due to neglect and uncontrolled exploitation of natural resources.
They should helped a lot in controlling these problems. At present, a very large number of nongovernmental organizations are active in our country in different areas of general concern.
Environment protection has also attracted a very large number of such organizations.

Governments, along with the Press, have carried out numerous campaigns to educate
the public and appeal for more awareness.
The government can create Awareness by organizing environment activities. This is
one way in which anyone of us can help save the environment. Read up and encourage those
around you to read about the importance of saving nature. Put up posters or banners in the
neighborhood, in your school, college or place of work. Organize an environmental awareness
campaign. Get t-shirts or caps made with environmental awareness slogans written. Have
everyone in your locality, class, school or workplace wear them and spread the word. These
things help create an awakening in the masses about how grave environmental problems are
and what we can do to solve them. Organize small activities like planting trees, cleaning an area
in the locality, visiting an animal shelter or volunteer for an organization which works towards
creating environmental awareness. Seek prior permission from concerned authorities for doing
any of these things.