Fix growth,not environment
Here is a bad question for you: Is Jairam Ramesh doing good for environment We heap praises on him when he stops a project and we slam him for succumbing to pressure from coal and other industrial lobbies.
Here is the question I prefer to answer : Is environment doing better or worse Let us focus on what are the takeaway lessons – for policy,for the ministry of environment and forests,and for all of us in this loud squabble over development or environment.
Let us be clear,it is not the minister or his ministry,which is opposing development projects from Vedanta to Posco or Jindals steel or thermal plant or Nirmas cement plant.It is people,often the poorest,saying these projects will devastate their environment,their forests,which is their source of water and land and livelihood.They are saying,we are poor,but your development will make us poorer.The environmental movement of the country is being led from the bottom today.It is not in the hands of middle-class environmentalists like me.
The question is what do we do We need these projects for economic growth.But we cannot build against the will of our people.Two options exist.One,change strategies so that people benefit from development the poorest in the country still live on our richest lands,with minerals,water and forests.We need urgent reform in policies for land acquisition,forest management and mineral development.
Two,we must accept development projects take local resources minerals,water or land but cannot provide jobs to replace the livelihoods of all those they displace.It is for this reason that the country is resonating with cries of people who are fighting development itself.
Be clear: the ministry may have granted conditional clearance to Poscos project in Orissa,but people who live there have not.They have barricaded the area;they are militantly against the takeover of their betel farms.Even the pro-Posco villagers are worried;faced with no livelihood and no future in resettled camps.It is time to think of the role that landagriculture based economies are providing for people today;and not to discount these options,in our rush for what we consider growth.People are asking to fix growth itself.
The lesson for the environment ministry is clear: strengthen institutions of regulation and the procedures to listen to people.This will build credibility of the process of governance and it will also mitigate risks for investors.Public hearings held during the environmental impact assessment provide the platform for people to voice their concerns.In most cases today,the effort is to rig and undermine the hearing.The environmental impact assessment is seen by industry as a document,which must clear the project,not seriously assess it.Then even if a project is cleared with environmental conditions (like Posco or Navi Mumbai airport),there is no capacity to monitor compliance.
The institutions that manage pollution the pollution control boards desperately need more staff,better technology and facilities,and personnel and administrative reform.The environment needs strong and armed institutions for oversight and regulation.
But there is also a third party in this tussle you and me.The fact is that for too long,we have stood on the side.For too long,we have been environmentalists who want small solutions to what is clearly an existential crisis.We are happy with the next car,as long as it is more fuel- and emission-efficient or better still,hybrid.But today,this environmentalism of the poor is challenging us to think how we can reinvent growth itself.It is asking us to learn to walk lightly on Earth.Will we listen This is the question.
The author is director of Centre for Science and Environment
* ECO LOGIC BY SUNITA NARAIN