Abstract
In recent times, two major international endorsements of elements of sustainable development the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), has recognized universal access to sustainable energy as an important goal. Addressing climate change requires a good understanding as well as coordinated action at national and international level. In India, with a population of 1000 billion people, it is estimated that a mere 44% of the households have access to electricity. The choices that the country makes towards energizing the remaining population will have a significant impact on other Sustainable Development parameters such as agriculture, health, water and even biodiversity. India has set itself a target, going beyond the MDGs, of energizing all households by year 2018.
This article talks about how endorsing sustainable development will lead to a better environment for India in the future.
Keywords: elements, climate, energizing, sustainable development
Introduction
Climate change is one of the most important global environmental challenges, with implications for food production, water supply, health, energy, etc. Historically, the responsibility of the greenhouse gas emissions’ increase lies largely with the industrialized world, though the developing countries are likely to be source of an increasing proportion for future emissions. The projected climate change under various scenarios is likely to have implications on food production, water supply, coastal settlements, forest ecosystems, health, energy, etc. The adaptive capacity of communities likely to be impacted by climate change is low in developing countries. The efforts made by the UNFCCC are clearly inadequate to address to the climate change challenge. The most effective way to address climate change is to adopt sustainable development pathway by shifting to environmentally sustainable development pathway by shifting to environmentally sustainable technologies and promotion of energy efficiency, renewable energy, forest conservation, reforestation, water conservation, etc. The issue of highest importance is the developing countries is to reduce the vulnerability they face from the climate change, and need to protect their socio-economic and natural systems in order to attain sustainable development. India and such other developing countries will face the challenges of mitigation promotion and adaptation of strategies and the bearing the cost for such an effort and it’s implication on the overall development.
Sustainable Development
Sustainable development, although a widely used phrase and idea, has many different meanings and therefore provokes many different responses. In broad terms, the concept of sustainable development is an attempt to combine growing concerns about a range of environmental issues with socio-economic issues. Sustainable development has the potential to address fundamental challenges for humanity, now and into the future. There needs to be more clarity in the meaning of sustainability, concentrating on sustainable livelihoods and well-being rather than well-having and long term environmental sustainability, which requires a strong basis in principles that link the social and environmental to human equity.
India is a large developing country with nearly 700 million rural population, directly depending on climate-sensitive sectors (such as water, biodiversity, mangrove, coastal zones, grasslands) for their subsistence and livelihoods. Further, the adaptive capacity of dry land farmers, forest dwellers, fisher folk, and nomadic shepherds is very low. Climate change is likely to impact all the natural ecosystmes as well as socio-economic systems as shown by the National Communications Report of India to the UNFCCC.
The latest high resolution climate change scenarios and projections for India, based on Regional Climate Modelling system, known as PRECIS developed by Hadley Center and applied for India using IPCC scenarios A2 and B2 shows the following research:
• There is an annual rise is the mean surface temperature ranging fron 3 to 5 degrees under A2 scenario and 2.5 to 4 degrees under B2 scenario, with warming more pronounced in the northern parts of India.
• There will be a 20% rise in all India summer monsoon rainfall and further rise in rainfall is projected over all states except Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, which have shown a slight decrease.
• Extremes in maximum and minimum temperatures are also expected to increase and similarly extreme rainfall also shows a substantial increase particularly over the west coast of India and west central India.
Sustainable development basically means to use resources with the future generation in mind. To use in such a way that the forthcoming individuals have what we have, that is, saving what we can for the future. The Supreme Court in the Narmada Bachao Andolan v. Union of India case stated that “Sustainable development means what type or extent of development can take place, which can be sustained by nature/ecology with or without mitigation.”
Environmental scholars in recent times have put a lot of stress over sustainable development as preservation of the environment needs to be done with utmost urgency as time is running out. The forthcoming generations might not have even half of what we possess right now, so preservation and controlled usage must be our prime concern right now.
Preservation cannot be done without innovation in the way we use the resources. The need for development in the way of consumption is required to minimise inputs and maximise output and hence raise efficiency. The use of Biofuel, Hybrid Technology, Energy from Waste, etc. needs proper funding and attention. In India the use of CNG in public transport must be appreciated. The need to make use of resources which have more by-products and their uses help in cutting down use of non-renewable resources. Jatropha seeds in India are one of the major sources of fuel as a by-product. These seeds are very rich in oil concentration, nearly 40%. The cultivation and processing of Jatropha seeds in India is one of the major centres of Bio-Diesel or Bio-Fuel.
The use of Bio-Fuel puts forth the dilemma of Food v. Fuel. Food v. Fuel basically is the conflict over the use of agricultural land for the production of Bio-fuel and not food, but is very important to set our goals straight that whether we want food for us or resources for everyone even in the future as Fossil Fuels will run out in little time, but we can always cultivate food for all without risking food if we make proper use of land.
Climate Change and Sustainable Development
Sustainable development has become an integrating concept embracing economic, social and environmental issues. Sustainable development does not preclude the use of exhaustible natural resources but requires that any use be appropriately offset. This concept is not acceptable to many developing countries since it seems to disregard their aspirations for growth and development. Further, sustainable development cannot be achieved without significant economic growth in the developing countries.
However, there is a growing evidence to show that environmental conservation for sustainability of natural resources is not a luxury but a necessity when considering long term economic growth and development, particularly in the least developed countries. The decline and degradation of natural resources such as land, soil, forests, biodiversity and groundwater, resulting from current unsustainable use patterns are likely to be aggravated due to climate change in the next 25 to 50 years. The developing countries apart from India, in the regions of Africa, South Asia and Latin America are already experiencing severe land degradation and freshwater scarcity problems.
There are several ways of pursuing sustainable development and few examples may be listed below:
• Adoption of cost-effective energy-efficient technologies in electricity generation, transmission distribution, and end-use can reduce costs and local pollution in addition to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
• Shift to renewables, some of which are already cost effective, can enhance sustainable energy supply, can reduce local pollution and greenhouse and gas emission.
• Adoption of forest conservation, reforestation, afforestation and sustainable forest management practices can contribute to conservation of biodiversity, watershed protection, rural employment generation, increased incomes to forest dwellers and carbon sink enhancement.
• Efficient, fast and reliable public transport systems such as metro railways can reduce urban congestion, local pollution and green-house gas emissions.
• Adoption of participatory, approach to forest management, rural energy, irrigation water management and rural development in general can promote sustained development in general can promote sustained development activities and ensure long-term greenhouse gas emission reduction or carbon sink enhancement.
• Rational energy pricing based on a long run marginal cost principle can level the playing field for renewables, increase the spread of energy-efficient and renewable-energy technologies and the economic viability of utility companies, ultimately leading to greenhouse gas emission reduction.
The ability to adapt to climate change is intertwined with sustainable development and poverty reduction in both a positive and negative sense. In the positive sense, enhancement of adaptive capacity entails a variety of similar actions to sustainable development and poverty reduction. On the negative side, sustainable development and poverty reduction can be hampered by the impacts of climate change. Furthermore, some sustainable development activities could make countries more susceptible to climate change. Some climate policy-makers and development policymakers have supported the need to ‘mainstream adaptation’- where adaptation responses are considered and integrated into sustainable development and poverty reduction processes.
Conclusion
India is a large developing country with nearly two-thirds of the population depending directly on the climate sensitive sectors such as agriculture, fisheries and forests. The projected climate change under various scenarios is likely to have implications on food production, water supply and biodiversity and livelihoods. Therefore, India has a significant stake in scientific advancement as well as improving legislations to have an international understanding to promote adaptation. Hence, to have an effective future surrounding sustainable development, India needs to formulate more effective laws and also have an effective technological advancement.