INDIA TO OPPOSE DILUTION OF RIO PRINCIPLES
FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
COUNTRY HAS DONE WELL DESPITE
SEVERAL CONSTRAINTS SAYS SHRI T.R. BAALU
The Minister of Environment and Forests,
Shri T.R. Baalu has said that India will oppose any efforts by
the developed countries to dilute the Rio-principles for sustainable
development at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)
to begin at Johannesburg from 26th of this month. At
a press conference on WSSD here today, Shri Baalu outlined India’s
concerns and expectations from the Summit which is taking place
as a 10 year follow up review of the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development (Earth Summit) that was held in
Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
Shri Baalu said that the developed
countries were trying to interpret Rio principles and other agreements
to their advantage besides bringing in social issues like labour
and health standards as disguised trade barriers in the 10 day
long WSSD negotiations. The Developed countries were required
to provide new and additional sources of finance to the developing
countries for sustainable development under the principle of common
but differentiated responsibility among the nations from which
they were now trying to renege upon. All this will be opposed
by India at the Johannesburg Summit, Shri Baalu asserted. Stating
that the Rio-Declaration and Agenda 21 that were agreed upon at
Rio Earth Summit cannot be renegotiated, Shri Baalu said that
India will stoutly oppose any efforts to reopen the decisions
taken at the Doha Ministerial Conference of WTO relating to trade
and environment, market access for developing countries and special
and differential treatment for developing countries at Johannesburg.
He said that the precautionary principle is applicable only to
the management of natural resources as agreed at the Rio Summit
and India will oppose its application in other areas such as health
as it will have the potential to be misused as a disguised trade
barrier.
Stating that substantial ground is
yet to be covered with regard to means of implementation of Agenda
21, a set of pathways for sustainable developments agreed at Rio
Summit, Shri Baalu expressed the hope that the developed and developing
countries will ensure the success of Johannesburg Summit. He said
there was a need for an international financial mechanism for
transferring new and additional resources to developing nations.
He said that though the developed countries agreed to provide
0.7 per cent of their GNP as Overseas Development Assistance for
developing nations, it has infact declined from an average of
0.35 per cent in 1992 to 0.22 per cent in 1997. The Minister also
reminded the developed countries of their commitment to provide
substantial new and additional financial resources to developing
countries to cover the incremental costs for the actions for sustainable
development. He also expressed concern over inadequate transfer
of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries.
Shri Baalu informed that as per UN estimates the average annual
cost (1993-2000) for implementing Agenda 21 in developing countries
was US $ 600 billion as against US $ 47.5 billion that was made
available in 1997.
Shri Baalu stated that India has
made significant progress in the direction of sustainable development
in terms of reducing poverty, human resources development in terms
of literacy and better health indices and empowering local communities
for local self governance and management of natural resources.
He said that extensive legal, policy and institutional framework
has been established in the country to guide the course of development
on sustainable path. The Minister said that as a part of national
preparation for the Johannesburg Summit, an assessment of the
country’s performance with regard to Agenda 21 has been made in
the form of a document "Agenda 21: An Assessment". Important
sectors of Indian economy like energy, transport, agriculture
and industry have recognised the imperative need to incorporate
environmental concerns in respective sectoral planning and programme
implementation.
Referring to certain areas of concern
that have emerged out of the assessment of performance, Shri Baalu
said that there was need to convert pious intentions and policy
objectives into concrete actions both at national and international
levels. He further said that delivery mechanism of various programmes
and policies and critical infrastructure such as power, roads
etc were required to be further strengthened. There was also need
to widen reforms in certain sectors like coal, he added. The assessment
also highlighted the need to resort to market based instruments
to enable increased adoption and use of eco-friendly technologies.
Shri Baalu said that extensive consultations
were held with multi stake holders, like State Governments, representatives
of Trade and Industry, Agriculture, NGOs and other representative
institutions as part of preparation for the Johannesburg Summit
besides taking up awareness campaigns amongst school children
though out the country. Outcome of this consultation process and
success stories have been incorporated in the form of documents,
reflecting India’s experiences and perspectives towards sustainable
development to be presented at the Johannesburg Summit.
