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Prize Money US$ 5,000 (US$ 2,500 each for 'FOR' and 'AGAINST' category)
Environmental Justice and Economic Development
are two sides of the same coin
In recent times major corporate giants have been in the news for all the wrong reasons; the farmers / local community / NGOs / environment activists are up in arms against the corporates and the State. It seems environment and the engines of economic growth like industrialisation, extraction of natural resources, urbanisation etc. simply can’t coexist.
The dilemma of “economic growth or environment” manifests differently in developing countries and developed countries. Developing countries like India needs to prioritize to ensure large scale industrialization and sustained economic growth but environmental issues may come in direct conflict and political meddling make it only worse. There is constant pressure on the industries of developed countries, as well, to reduce adverse environmental impact. Industrial wastes from developed countries, where the environment norms are being flouted, are making their way in developing countries and this has impacted people’s lives in a devastating manner. Is there a way out? Should there be same yardsticks for developed and developing nations for judging the environmental impact of their activities given the different levels of economic development. Should the onus of environmental Justice be more on developed nations given their already well established economies? Should penalty for developed nations be more onerous for any environmental breach?
The economy and standard of living today, has too much reliance on various forms of non-renewable or conventional sources of energy. Recent recession has also seen environment concerns fading away to some extent with more emphasis laid on consumption. Given the ever increasing energy demand, indiscrete exploitation of energy resources and increasing carbon footprints of economic development, protecting the environment from wasteful and detrimental extraction and waste impacts, ensuring natural productivity of our forests, fisheries, agricultural land, and other renewable resources is the need of the hour. The rapid urbanization needs to take into account the environmental impact and costs for damaging the natural habitats. We must strive to obtain more goods and services from our finite supply of non-renewable resources without adversely affecting our environment.
Industries must undertake judicious use of natural resources and invest in quality control & energy efficient processes to minimize adverse environmental impacts, during production process, waste & effluent management etc. Academia & research activities need to invest more on innovations and technologies to optimize ways for usage of non-renewable energies and find more environment friendly, greener alternatives. It entails for a collective responsibility of industries, academics, environment protection bodies – both local & global, the government and even individuals to be aware of impact of services and products of industries on the environment.
