Chairman, 10th Finance Commission
I have great pleasure in sharing some thoughts with such a distinguished gathering of thinkers, policy makers and representatives of international organisations. This meeting, I find, will examine follow-up action to be taken on the issues thrown-up by UNCED (United Nations Conference on Environment & Development) at Rio. I have watched with great interest the preparations for the Rio conference as well as its outcome. In fact, I recall that in December last year when Mr Maurice Strong, Secretary General of UNCED was in New Delhi, TERI had organised a meeting of a select group of persons which I had the pleasure of presiding over. I found the interaction stimulating and productive.
Now that the UNCED is over, the time has come for the global community as a whole, and for the countries of Asia in particular, to evolve an agenda following up on the UNCED. But this is perhaps a good stage for us to evaluate what was achieved at Rio and what did not receive the attention that was due. My own assessment is that the Rio Conference should have addressed issues of poverty and development far more effectively than it actually did. From the point of view of the South, therefore, Rio has not quite lived upto the expectations that had been generated. Undoubtedly, in the months intervening since the conference several governments and non-government organisations have had time to make a sketch of the road ahead, often referred to as the 'Road from Rio', and I see several reasons why these deliberations and consultations are both urgent and significant for the future health of this planet andall life that exists on it. I would like to enumerate some of the major tasks and challenges that I think need to be discussed and pursued in this seminar, and these are briefly summarised below:
The Rio agreements have set up a framework for policy making and action for integrating environmental concerns with development at global, national, state and local levels. However, this framework needs to be given substance.
In the post Rio phase, we are immediately confronted by the fact that several, protocols need to be negotiated, the institutional framework for international cooperation and transfers of resources and technology has to be established, and developed countries must begin committing funds for sustainable development.
At the national, state, and local levels, policy making and planning must be reoriented to integrate environmental concerns with development. This will require legal and administrative action, but more important, the building up of capacity; skills, technology, and a reorientation of policy making is essential, and the last is absolutely crucial.
In particular, the challenge is to ensure that sustainabiity concerns do not lead to a new generation of discretionary controls on economic activity. Further, it must be realised that policy making is to be effectively formulated in a manner
that is revenue oriented, or even revenue surplus, to address environmental concerns. In this the developed countries must take the lead to solve the environmental problems of the globeproblems which have largely been created by them.
and in their patterns of expenditure and taxation to ensure adequate resource transfers to the developing countries.
I would not like to exclude the responsibilities of the developing countries for protecting the global environment. In many cases there is a distinct overlap between policies and actions that protect the global environment, and those that sustain the natural resource base at the local level. This can happen only if we are able to integrate environmental concerns into development plans. As a start, it is essential to build into our national income accounts the effects that economic activities have on the wealth of natural resources for which a society is responsible, such as effects on forests and soil.
The building of local capacity for integrating environmental factors into development decision making is crucial to the success of any effort in this field. Capacity building has to become an essential part of each government's plans at the national level as well as in the programmes that international organisations are pursuing and implementing in different countries.
There is a fear, perhaps genuine, that environmental concerns would lead to a new regime of controls and licensing, which would retard economic development and progress. We have to be very careful about avoiding such an approach. Governments and Bureaucracies often find it convenient and easy to build in controls and constraints that only add to the cost of development plans and activities. Environmental aspects have to be built into plans at the stage of project design and identification itself, and not imposed as an end-of-pipe addition. In other words pre-emption and prevention are generally less expensive than mitigation and control. We would have to therefore, change the way we govern and do business to ensure a healthy and sustainable approach to development questions.
A meeting like this also gives us opportunity to explore the potential benefits of South-South cooperation. South Asia could be surplus in foodgrain production if only we exercised wisdom in the management of water, much of which we share with each other. Environmental phenomena in the mountain areas of our sub-continent have impacts on all nations and states downstream. A regional approach, therefore, has obvious merit.
Finally, what we are addressing in this Seminar is the challenge of transition to a pattern of sustainable development. The term sustainable development came into our vocabulary because of the work of the World Commission on Environment and Development, popularly known as the Brundtland Commission. The definition of the term is 'meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of future generations'. I should end by reminding this international gathering that
sustainable development implies primarily meeting the needs of all in the present generation, because those who are poor and deprived would neither have the means nor the ability to protect the interests of future generations. Sustainable development, therefore, essentially requires that we create the means for the poor of this world not only to service their own needs but also of those yet to come in the future.
I have great pleasure in inaugurating this Seminar.
MrRSPathak
(Former) Chief Justice of India
Dr Pachauri, Mr Dessau, Mr Pant, Mr Khalim, Dr Ghosh distinguished participants in the seminar, ladies and gentlemen.
This seminar holds a significant place in the deliberations which can be expected to follow the UNCED (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) held recently in Rio de Janerio. The Rio Declaration seeks to
accommodate the conflicting claims of industrialized societies and developing nations and the emphasis on environmental protection is balanced against the need for
development. The concept of sustainable development, which is not specifically defined in the Declaration, may be approached from different perspectives and value
judgements in different situations and will turn on an assessment of the particular developmental, financial and economic status of the nation as influenced by prevailing social and traditional cultures. The concept of sustainable development is a dynamic concept and with an accretion of data, knowledge and experience in the different dimensions of the environmentdevelopment equation, it can be expected that the concept will attain further range and depth to meet the challenges of new demands, recognizing the all embracing dimensions of environmental and developmental imperatives. The Rio Declaration covers a wide spectrum of related policy concerns.
With human beings as the focus of sustainable development, the Declaration attempts to create a hannonious and equilibrated world society in which, commencing from the eradication of poverty as the fundamental impulse, carefully drawn principles define rights and responsibilities in the connected areas of patterns of production and consumption,. of population control, of bio;domg indigenous capacity through the benefits of scientific and technological knowledge and the evolution of an appropriate
equitable international economic system. In its totality the Rio Declaration accepts and affirms the unity which binds all these concerns and it takes into account the interacting influences on one other. Each strand of that network depends for its strengths, its resilience, and its effect upon the operation and efficiency of the rest of the network.
International lawyers will recognise that a new legal philosophy incorporating a more -compendious range of values has been developing in recent years. With the
establishment of the UN and the growth of international institutions and their ubiquitous presence in almost every dimension of individual daily life, a complex system of jurisprudence is taking shape. Among other postWorld War II phenomena, environmentalimperatives and developmental concerns have drawn international law into intimate convergence with national legal systems.
The values of one flow into the other. This symbiotic relationship has exercised a profound influence on both legal systems. Sustainable development cannot be
conceived without national laws being interpreted in a manner consistent with corresponding international law values and when an international law develops in an area, it needs to take into account the diverse economic and social cultures of the nations concerned. With new movements affecting international life such as never been envisioned before, both international law and national legal systems are moving on to a new chapter of development. Some indications of this are already embodied in the Rio Declaration, for we find reference to the need to amplify and flush out the concept of
sustainable development, including specific emphasis on intergenerational and
intragenerational equity, access to information procedures and legislation incorporating relevant environmental standards and management objectives and priorities.
Enforcement and monitoring institutions constitute an important feature of the legal structure. One international institution which needs to be thought of sooner rather than later is a dispute settlement mechanism to adjudicate on transboundary disputes arising out of environmental claims by individuals or private organisations, Some eminent jurists believe that the International Court of Justice is inadequate for that purpose in terms of its present statute. For in transboundary matters it can entertain disputes only between one state and another and that also by voluntary agreement of each party. There is no one forum today enjoying compulsory jurisdiction over environmental disputes to which an individual or a private organisation may apply directly.
If there is one truth that emerges from the successive phases of the
environmental movement, it is that the issues that faces today are issues which will ultimately determine the fate of mankind on this planet. The health and welfare and indeed the survival of the human race is at stake. It is equally true if that threat is to be conquered it can only be on the basis of global partnership where the national units of the global community act as equal partners in combating environmental problems. The development of underdeveloped nations therefore becomes a matter of significant importance and in that context the quest for equity and justice assumes the highest relevance. While maintaining their sovereign right to utilize their resources in the freedom of the priorities determined by them, the developing countries must be assisted in raising their levels of development by financial transfers and the supply of clean technology by industrialized countries on fair and equitable terms. In doing so, the industrialized countries will be guaranteeing their own security as well. Thus justice, equity and fair play become the key words for the present task of restructuring the world community on the basis of sustainable development.
This Seminar is primarily intended for an examination of environmental and developmental issues affecting Asia. The Asian continent is often perceived as a developing region, but we must not forget that it is also the home of a few highly industrialized societies. This has relevance, for in the world of the immediate present regional proximity can play a material role in the development of national economies.
And yet there is another aspect to which reference may be made; regional economic communities are now well known, notwithstanding their traumatic journey to maturation. As sustainable development wears the grim face of environmental and economic values, regional economic activities will necessarily take up environmental considerations. And there is a lesson in this. For such a regional system based on the necessity of cooperation, mutual assistance can become an important factor in reducing political tension between neighbouring countries. It may truly be said that environment and development concerns have set in motion forces that can usefully be harmonised in the common interest of environmental protection, of development and of peace and prosperity.
Thank you.