Green Drive Vs Development

Union Minister for Environment & Forest Jairam Ramesh has quite a reputation as a no nonsense Minister in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet. He does not compromise on his job even if it means displeasing some of his own party men. He has refused to give the nod to several development projects in the country despite the powerful lobby in New Delhi’s corridors of power. Unfazed by criticism from some of his ministerial colleagues for delaying the green nod for projects in ecologically sensitive areas, the Environment Minister has recently stated the obvious that the “single biggest threat” to the forests in the country is the “developmental threat”. Given our own experience of losing our forests to cultivation activities and other development programmes, there is an element of truth in what the Union Minister has said. In fact even as we write this editorial, many of our villagers will be cutting down forest areas for cultivating for the coming season. Then there are those who will be clearing lands for plantation under various government run programmes and initiatives.   
 
Given the experience of Nagaland, it is a known fact the large scale development programmes of the State government—whether it is construction of roads, building new infrastructure or promoting agriculture and other horticulture activities—has led to cutting down of large forests or degrading other land resources. So besides Jhum practice, the ongoing development activity is also having a devastating effect on the biodiversity of the state. And this is proven by what we are seeing today in our State—the rising temperatures, unpredictable weather, record losses in biodiversity and species extinction, polluting of our rivers and the dwindling of water sources etc. Nevertheless we should also be realistic that we cannot stop development completely for that will be wishful thinking. What we can however do is to sensitize ourselves of the need to balance between economic development and environmental protection. In particular, we need to create awareness at the level of government so that policies are made keeping in mind the need for proper Environment Impact Assessment (EIA). The need to strictly follow EIA in our development programmes has been highlighted on several occasions in these columns. How far it is being followed is not known though it is doubtful.
 
The point is that environmental safeguards need to be followed while commissioning projects especially if it is on a large scale likely to have an adverse impact. In the near future, our State government may also be required to bring about legislations related to safeguarding our environment. In the end the challenge before all of us is this: to make our State a paradigm for ‘sustainable development’. This is really the key towards a marriage of our development needs and environmental concerns. Wherever possible we also need to ensure that we replace the forest cover by undertaking large scale reforestation exercise. In fact the Forest Department had announced with much fanfare 2010 as the Year of Plantation. While this decision was welcomed in this column, not much has been heard about the plantation drive ever since the announcement was made early last year. We need to bring back the green cover of the state to its desired level. Development cannot be stopped but this has to be sustainable for the future.