Copyright (c) 2002 Georgetown International Environmental Law Review
Georgetown International Environmental Law Review
ARTICLE: Reflections on an Environmental Struggle: P&O, Dahanu, and the Regulation of Multinational Enterprises
2002 15 Geo. Int'l Envtl. L. Rev. 1
Author : Oren Perez *
Excerpt
I. INTRODUCTION
On February 17, 1997, the Government of the Indian State of Maharashtra awarded P&O Australia, part of the P&O group, 1 a contract to build an international port at Vadhavan--a small fishing village at the Dahanu region--120 km north of Bombay. 2 The planned port would have been, when completed, the biggest deep-water port in India. Despite its close distance to the metropolis of Bombay, the area of Dahanu remained mostly "green," hosting a rich diversity of plants and wild animals. It is considered the "lung" of the crowded and over-polluted Bombay. The construction of the port would have caused massive damage to Dahanu's fragile ecosystem and would have interfered brutally with the lives of its people. The local community, which strongly resisted the project, opened a determined campaign against it, which eventually prevented it from being built. This article tells the story of the struggle against the port, setting it against the unique social landscape of contemporary India. 3
The story of Dahanu raises two legal problems that have implications far beyond the "borders" of the Indian society. The first concerns the difficult question of the regulation of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). The story of Dahanu exposes the deep limits of international legal regimes as potential "regulators" of MNEs--especially in the context of developing countries. In this context, the article will focus on several legal domains: public environmental law, the law relating to MNEs (the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises), and private international law ...
On February 17, 1997, the Government of the Indian State of Maharashtra awarded P&O Australia, part of the P&O group, 1 a contract to build an international port at Vadhavan--a small fishing village at the Dahanu region--120 km north of Bombay. 2 The planned port would have been, when completed, the biggest deep-water port in India. Despite its close distance to the metropolis of Bombay, the area of Dahanu remained mostly "green," hosting a rich diversity of plants and wild animals. It is considered the "lung" of the crowded and over-polluted Bombay. The construction of the port would have caused massive damage to Dahanu's fragile ecosystem and would have interfered brutally with the lives of its people. The local community, which strongly resisted the project, opened a determined campaign against it, which eventually prevented it from being built. This article tells the story of the struggle against the port, setting it against the unique social landscape of contemporary India. 3
The story of Dahanu raises two legal problems that have implications far beyond the "borders" of the Indian society. The first concerns the difficult question of the regulation of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). The story of Dahanu exposes the deep limits of international legal regimes as potential "regulators" of MNEs--especially in the context of developing countries. In this context, the article will focus on several legal domains: public environmental law, the law relating to MNEs (the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises), and private international law ...
