Making a frank assessment of the recently-concluded Rio+20 summit, a team of environmental experts from Teri maintained that despite not coming up with specific commitments, the meet did help re-focus on the issue of sustainable development.
Nitin Desai, former UN deputy secretary general and distinguished fellow Teri, emphasised India’s stellar role in ensuring that the Obama administration “did not whittle down the principles of equity that had been accepted by the former Bush administration”.
“We would have lost a lot of ground if the US had succeeded in rolling back on the achievements of the 1992 summit,” Mr Desai said.
Fortunately, India dug its heels and a show of unity with other developing countries ensured that the basic principles of the Rio document were not diluted. But these experts believed that the time had come for India to stop playing a defensive role and allow the initiative to be seized by developed countries.
“I think the time has come for India to stand up and define sustainable development goals for our benefit,” said Dr R.K. Pachauri, director-general of Teri.
“Much of the impact of Rio summit will now depend on how communities will interpret sustainable development. A set of issues have to be taken up by different stakeholders and (then) see how these will be implemented,” Dr Pachauri added.
Dr Leena Srivastava, acting vice-chancellor of Teri University believed that despite the divergence of views on green energy, energy per se occupied a central place in the developmental paradigm.
Mr Desai also highlighted the large presence of heads of private companies. “The summit saw more than 3,000 CEOs while the 92 meet had 30 or so CEOs. The Johannesburg (sustainable summit in 2002) meet had around 300 CEOs,” said Mr Desai.
The increasing number of CEOs can be attributed to the need for private industry to keep abreast with the green economy.
The focus of green growth is primarily centred around providing food and energy security to the disadvantaged.
Energy consumption is closely linked with key global challenges including climate change, environmental degradation and social conflicts.