Towards a common environmental future

New Delhi: The year 2011 was marked by some major natural disasters some of which, like the tropical storm Sendong in the Philippines, claimed hundreds of lives. Then there were other disasters like the wildfire in Canada; hurricane 'Irene' in the US, winter storm 'Joachin' in France and Switzerland; the cyclonic storm 'Thane' in India.

Coastal fisherfolk in Bangladesh have been badly hit by climate change/ Photo credit: Oxfam

Insurance giant, Munich Re, pegs 2011 as the worst year for catastrophic natural event losses, touching $380 billion worldwide. Even as experts contest the extent to which these natural disasters can be attributed to climate change, people only hope that their worst fears don’t come true. According to the Environmental Justice Foundation, global warming will force up to 150 million "climate refugees" to move to other countries in the next 40 years!

The unnerving uncertainty is an irony, no less. The concern first raised its head in 1962, the year when Rachel Carlson’s Silent Spring appeared on the horizon and dispelled the assumption that the environment had an infinite capacity to absorb pollutants. Soon after, Paul Ehrlich’s The Population Bomb established the close interconnectedness between human population, resource exploitation and the environment. The concern gradually began to find terra firma. 

The term "sustainable development" finally found political salience when the Brundtland Report, published by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987, was accepted by the United Nations General Assembly. It gave the world a definition of the term to refer to: "Development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

Not too long after that, in 1992, leaders gathered at the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, set out the principles of sustainable development. The concern over the health of our natural resources featured amongst the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG) adopted at the UN Millennium Declaration in 2000. Despite the brouhaha, parity between economic development, social equity, and environmental protection remains a crying need of the hour. 

It’s here that the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS), now in its 12th edition, assumes particular significance. The annual international event has consistently championed the cause of sustainable development, especially with regard to the developing world. This year’s theme is a case in point: "Protecting the Global Commons: 20 Years Post Rio."

Dedicated to the 'Commons', the Summit, this year, seeks to take an unbiased stock of the existing situation 20 years since Rio, and chart out a road map for the future. The attempt shall be to iron out the persisting discord between the "global north" and the "global south" and realise the yet illusive consensus reached on sustainable development in Agenda 21. 

Dr R.K. Pachauri, Director-General, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), translates the intent, "The Rio Summit of 1992 was a rallying point for those concerned with the planetary crisis… but sadly actions since Rio have been far below expectations. It is, therefore, appropriate that DSDS 2012 focus on this major theme, 20 years since Rio and help evolve strategies, by which the neglect of the past can be addressed effectively and urgently in the immediate future."

While some progress has been made, worrisome trends do continue. Keeping Track of Our Changing Environment: From Rio to Rio+20, published by United Nations Environment Programme, elaborates:

"The forest area has decreased by 300 million ha since 1990 (or an area larger than Argentina); Drinking water coverage has increased to 87% but the world is still far from meeting the sanitation target of 75%;… 1,440 million people globally -  that is 20% of the world’s population – still suffer from energy poverty; Renewable energy sources currently account for only 13% of global energy supply while solar and wind energy account for just 0.3% of global energy supply; Investment in sustainable energy has skyrocketed in recent years; and global carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise, with 80% emitted by only 19 countries!"

Indeed, it's time that DSDS 2012 gives a push to the world sustainability agenda in the right earnest.