QUETTA, March 25: The participants of a one-day consultative workshop held here on Thursday demanded establishment of a separate environmental tribunal in Balochistan to deal with environmental cases.

The workshop was arranged jointly by the IUCN and Balochistan Environment Protection Agency (BEPA) on "Strengthening of Institutional Capacity for Institutional and Judicial Reforms".

A large number of lawyers, representatives of EPA and civic society and environmental activists attended the workshop. The workshop discussed the need of establishing separate environmental tribunal in Balochistan, issues of legislation, governance, management procedures and social issues in detail.

The participants suggested giving higher status and rights to the PEPA hierarchy to ensure that impact assessments were undertaken before project implementation was allowed.

They also called for the tribunal to be lent support by government agencies, environment protection agency, NGOs and individuals. They wanted the role of the EPA to be that of a mediator and urged setting up of a professionally equipped facilitation centre for complaints and the involvement of the EPA in referring only those cases which fell in the tribunal's jurisdiction and purview.

It was also recommended at the workshop that the tribunal, once established, should be made mobile, no court fee should be charged and people should be provided access to decisions and proceedings in national languages for mass publicity and understanding.

Chairperson of the Punjab Tribunal said that it was vital that a space be created for the people to take their environment-related grievances for justice. Therefore, a separate tribunal for Balochistan was imperative.