Pressure on water, air, soil, and forests is projected to become the highest in the world by 2020 New Delhi, April 10, 2007: A new World Bank report Strengthening Institutions for Sustainable Growth: Country Environmental Analysis for India underlines the need for ‘environmental sustainability’ as the next great challenge that India faces along its path to development. The report, that was released by Dr. Prodipto Ghosh, Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, at a national-level workshop in New Delhi today, says that owing to high population density, India’s rapidly growing economy will put unprecedented pressures on its environment and natural resources – land, water, air, soil, and forests. These pressures are projected to become the highest in the world by 2020. The report notes: · Environmental Sustainability is likely to become the next great challenge along India’s development path. · Environmental institutions are improving. Yet, keeping up with increasing pressures of rapid growth and public demand for cleaner environment has been difficult. · Impressive environmental awakening and good practice initiatives by various players are taking place. The priority is to scale up these good practices across the country and reverse/improve environmental outcomes. |
The report says that the country-wise average compliance ratio of industries monitored is only at 50 percent. And these monitoring programs do not cover many Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which have a significant cumulative impact on the environment as a large number of these small enterprises cannot afford clean technology and pollution controls. The report thus highlights the urgent need to develop specialized environmental programs for SMEs that take account of their constraints and help improve their environmental performance without adversely affecting their business. The report also notes that despite India’s best efforts to develop alternative energy sources, coal will remain the dominant fuel for meeting the energy needs of India’s growing population and economy. In fact, demand for coal will increase threefold in the coming 20 years. The report says that despite India’s strong policy framework and some successes, environmental degradation has not been arrested on a large scale. India’s priority should be to build an environmentally sustainable future. With India’s edge in terms of human capital, knowledge, technological genius, and a sense of social responsibility, there is every opportunity for this to happen. India’s environmental institutions and regulatory regime need to be significantly upgraded, in order to sustain rapid economic growth and meet surging public demand for a cleaner and healthier environment. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Rachid Benmessaoud, Operations Advisor for India, World Bank, said, “Keeping up with the pressures of a booming economy is a challenge. There is an urgent need to undertake a series of institutional and regulatory reforms that would help replicate and sustain good practices across the country, and improve environmental outcomes on the ground.” The report identifies five areas for priority: · Strengthen multi-stakeholder partnership and public participation · Expand regulatory toolkit to match the needs of the economy and successful global practice · Increase capacity and accountability of the environmental regulator to keep pace with growing mandates and demands · Facilitate good environmental performance through sectoral policies, procedures and incentives · Foster cross-sectoral coordination for measurable area-based environmental outcomes |
According to the report, one of the key constraints in implementing the much needed regulatory reforms is the deficit of trust among different stakeholders – the public, the environment regulator and the regulated community, which is rooted in the past practices.” It is critical to start working towards developing a commonly shared vision on the way forward, reconciling different perspectives. The Right to Information Act and increased focus on public consultation in the environment clearance process provide the foundation for more effective public participation,” said Kseniya Lvovsky, Lead Environment Economist and the Team Leader for the report. The study reviews past successes and analyses lessons from practical experience. The reviews and case studies cover three select sectors that are the major drivers of growth and represent a span of environmental issues and regulatory needs: industry, power, and highways. Through extensive consultations with all principal stakeholder groups, the report has attempted to identify key bottlenecks in improving environmental performance, and proposes a set of actions that will help to scale-up isolated good practices into widely held social norms. The report recommends focusing on strengthening compliance with standards, regulation and environmental management plans after EIA clearance has been granted. The study has been undertaken in collaboration with Ministry of Environment and Forests and with support from the Ministry of Power, Ministry of Commerce and Industries and Ministry of Shipping, Road, Transport and Highways. ************* |
RSS