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News Alerts | It is raining Environment Reports!

It is raining Environment Reports!

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published Published on Sep 9, 2009   modified Modified on Sep 9, 2009

India has recently witnessed the release of two important environment reports just before the Copenhagen Summit to be held in December, 2009. The National State of the Environment India (SoE) Report 2009 was launched on 11 August, 2009 by Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh. Another report titled United Nation’s World Economic and Social Survey (WESS) Report 2009 was released in early September, 2009 by Sunita Narain, Director, Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi, India. Some critics have found the reports as old wine in new bottles.     

The SoE Report 2009 has been prepared by Development Alternatives with active support of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. It covers the state and trends of the environment (land, air, water, biodiversity) and five key issues namely, Climate Change, Food Security, Water Security, Energy Security, and Urbanization. The Ministry initiated the SoE reporting process with all State Governments and Union Territories (UTs) through a plan scheme in the Tenth Five Year Plan.

Critiques have, however, found some of the trends provided by the report as misleading such as the one on exploitation of untapped groundwater. Drying up of a number of rivers due to overexploitation has not been mentioned in the report. Instead of collecting and generating the recent data on its own, the MoEF report uses old data from secondary sources such the World Bank, the World Resources Institute etc. There are instances in the report, when contradictory data and trends pertaining to projections on water requirements and rainfall have been provided without sufficient analysis and comments. Analysis of the issues has been weakened due to compartmentalization of the chapters. The report is subject to many typographical errors. It has referred to the 1987 Water Policy quite frequently but failed to mention the new Water Policy of 2002.

The WESS 2009 report recommends a new Marshall Plan of more than $500 billion per year, or one per cent of global output, to help developing countries ease the impact of global warming and adjust to its effects while continuing on a path of economic growth. It suggests that market solutions, including the development of a carbon market, through “cap and trade” mechanisms or taxation schemes in developed countries, are not the solution for developing countries. Rather, it recommends a combination of large-scale investments and active government policy interventions for developing countries.

Among the possible multilateral measures in support of a global investment programme set out in the report is the creation of a global clean energy fund, a global feed-in tariff regime in support of renewable energy sources, a climate technology programme and a more balanced intellectual property regime for aiding the transfer of clean energy technology. The report argues that the energy needs of developing countries are very different from those of developed countries. The latter have adequate—even excessive—energy services and infrastructure available. Most developing countries, on the other hand, struggle to provide even basic energy services from inadequate infrastructure. Globally, between 1.6 and 2 billion people lack access to electricity, and connecting those people to energy services will cost an estimated $25 billion per year over the next 20 years. The report has come at a right time when India and other developing nations are under pressure to cut down on their CO2 emission in a time bound fashion by sacrificing growth.  

The links below contains information and debates surrounding the recently released National State of the Environment India (SoE) Report 2009 and World Economic and Social Survey (WESS) Report 2009.

State of Environment report of India–2009, Insight into Current Status of Environment and Natural Resources, Pressures and Impacts, Press Information Bureau Release,
http://www.pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=51738

State of Environment Report India 2009,
http://hindi.indiawaterportal.org/sites/hindi.indiawaterpo
rtal.org/files/StateofEnvironmentReport2009.pdf

Overview, Environment Report, 2009 by Shripad Dharmadhikary,
http://www.indiatogether.org/2009/aug/env-stateenv.htm

World Economic and Social Survey 2009: Promoting Development, Saving the Planet,
http://www.un.org/esa/policy/wess/wess2009files/wess09/wes
s09pressreleases/pr_en.pdf

http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2009/090901_DESA.doc.htm
http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/unifeed/d/13434.html

http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/content/world-eco
nomic-and-social-survey-2009-promoting-development-saving-
planet

 

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