A Shared Planet, A Shared Responsibility
It has now been realised, as never before by the world leaders, that maintenance of environment and biodiversity is essential for the functioning of life support systems and that there is an interlocking of environment and development. Almost all the leaders of the world have now accepted the fact that we are all neighbours in an interdependent and interlinked world, having a common future.
We all dream of a world that is environmentally, socially and economically sustainable, where economic growth is accomplished within the constraints of realising social objectives of poverty eradication and social equity. Though this is an achievable dream, but in order to realise it, there is a need to understand the triple interdependence of economic, social and environmental factors and integrate them into decision-making in governments and the private sector.
Today, most of the countries are facing one common challenge that is, how to manage natural resources in order to contribute to poverty alleviation while maintaining the ecological life support system. For this, we need to realise that there are 5 major factors which have a great impact on the quality of our environment.
These are: number of people i.e population, the amount of energy and resources they consume, the damage caused by the form and extent of production and consumption involved, the state of economy of the people and finally, how much are we prepared to sacrifice our narrow commercial or national interests for our common future.
In economics the main issue deals with what, where and how much of the natural resources are required to alleviate poverty, while social issues deal with for whom and how much are resources developed, and environmental issues address how natural resources can be managed with minimum negative impact on ecosystems.
The need of the hour therefore is to realize economic growth within the constraints of social and environmental sustainability. This is however not an easy task mainly, because there are many countries which resist the call for having population control.
The problem is further confounded by the fact that about 90% of population growth, in the next decade, would be in those developing countries, where people value children all the more as forms of investment and security. That however does not absolve the developed countries of their share of responsibility. NO! because 25 % of the world population which lives in industrially developed countries consumes about 75% of the world’s resources and their industries have been a major factor in polluting the environment.
So, looking at the overall situation, it is a question of collective security in which all nations and each institution and individual has to play a role. The challenge is to generate substantial benefits simultaneously across multiple economic, environmental and social objectives. So, if we are to achieve our dream, the time to act is now by coming together and developing a spirit of co-operation, sense of responsibility and sharing of mutual concerns. Remember! If we fail to act now, it will impoverish our current and future generations.
By Rajyogi Brahma Kumar Nikunj Ji
