In the coming weeks, there will be a great deal of discussion and commentary centred on the term ‘sustainable development.’ The occasion will be the mega UN Conference on the subject – Rio +20 – from mid-June onwards in the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Over a hundred world leaders including the Indian Prime Minister are expected to attend the final segment from June 20-23.
The event will also bring together prominent scientists, academics and civil society activists. In sheer numbers and diversity of participation, it is likely to be one of the biggest gatherings of its kind.
The event marks twenty years of the 1992 conference held in the same city on global environment. How has Rio as a city and Brazil as a country come to resonate with these big issues?
It needs to be noted that before Rio, the first ever conference that put environment on the global agenda was in Stockholm in 1972. Smt. Indira Gandhi had pointed out even then that ‘poverty is the biggest pollutant,’ a description of the reality that impacts discussions to this day. Her statement also shows the inherent links between environmental and developmental issues.
Twenty years later, in June 1992, Rio hosted the ‘Earth Summit,’ where the important principles of environment and sustainability were laid down and which defines the debate today. One result of the 1992 conference was the beginning of serious climate change negotiations which led to the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. Another was the preservation of biological diversity, a process that will lead to a big global meet in Hyderabad in October this year. In the public imagination, Rio, an exotic city, also came to be identified as a locale where thousands of environmental and civil society activists made their views known and mingled with governmental representatives, a phenomenon that will be even more manifest in the forthcoming meet.
At this conference, Brazil, at the level of its President Dilma Rousseff and environmental minister Izabella Teixeira, wants the world to focus on ‘sustainable development’ and not merely environment. The countries on this earth are indubitably at different stages of development, have different models of development and different patterns of consumption; be it of energy, water, forests, or other resources. Are these sustainable over a period of time and if not, how do we change our lifestyles? Given the vast differences in nations of size, demography, natural resources, wealth, and technology, are there viable approaches on which nations can agree on what to do for the future?
The three pillars of sustainable development are economic, social and environmental. Taken together they encompass many overlapping issues. For instance, what are the economic implications of burning less hydro carbon and shifting to renewable sources of energy; and on this issue alone, how will it economically impact major oil exporters and importers? What are the costs of ‘green technologies’ being developed in the West and can developing countries afford to adopt them? How will a country with large numbers of poor people cope with newer, more stringent standards for energy consumption or carbon emission? Deforestation no doubt impacts on environment, but what if large farmers want to fell forests to increase agricultural land? Can targets be set for sustainable development, before the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are realized?
There are also the institutional and financial issues inherent in any international negotiation. Where and how will the nations debate and regulate the goal-setting? How will the less developed countries find the funding to make the adaptations and changes? These issues are comprehensive and complex, involving the interaction, interdependency and competition between man and man, and nature and man. Underlying our own understating of sustainability should be the Gandhian view of how the earth may be able to sustain mankind’s needs but not every one’s greed.
Brazil – and Rio’s – unique location reflects that interaction, and is a natural setting to debate these issues. Rio is spectacularly beautiful and vibrant, and has everything to satisfy both man and nature – great beaches and lovely people living alongside the Atlantic Ocean and lush green rainforests. Brazil has the Amazon, the river and the forest, the preservation of which is essential for the earth. It has the world’s most abundant water resources, has innovated successfully with bio fuel for transport, and is rich in resources: agricultural, mineral and now oil.
Seen in terms of issues and politics too, Brazil is uniquely placed. It is a developing country which identifies and shows solidarity with the rest of the developing world but which is also now the fifth largest global economy with a GDP exceeding that of UK. Equally significant are the strides it has made in poverty alleviation, food security and energy self-sufficiency. While Brazil is fully aware of the challenges of development, it also accepts the responsibilities of striving for sustainable growth. It is teeming with NGOs and activists interested in the Amazon, the ocean and rivers, animal and plant life and in general is an active and influential participant in the entire range of issues that are likely to come up.
Will the conference have concrete results or will it be just a talk marathon? Brazil will want to leave its mark on this agenda, but the current international climate is difficult. Instead of expecting instant results, it may be more appropriate to view the conference in the port city of Rio as a sea voyage instead of a speeded-up road trip. Ships move slowly and progress is incremental – much like the sustainable development debate. Perhaps in Rio, it will receive a fresh push forward.
B. S. Prakash is India’s former Ambassador to Brazil. Prior to this, he was Consul General of India (with Ambassador’s rank) in San Francisco covering the entire western region of the U.S.
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