Environment Protection - A Reality Check

The ministry’s involvement was clearly evident from the absence of its representatives from the central event organised to mark June 5 as the World Environment Day

Capital View

Rabindra Seth

Tourism ministers and officials seldom miss an opportunity to emphasise the need to protect the environment and its relevance to the very survival of the sector. A reality check will, however, reveal that the ministry’s involvement in any worthwhile environment protection programmes is limited to lip service.

This became evident from the absence of ministry representatives from the central event organised to mark June 5 as the World Environment Day in the capital which this year had an innovative theme of Green Cities - Plan for the Planet. Reportedly, the organisers which included the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) forgot to send an invite. The tourism ministry should have asserted its right to be included.

The main activity in Delhi as part of the World Environment Day celebrations was a series of seminars arranged by the ministry of environment and forest in association with GTZ-ASEM, the Indo-German Environment programme focusing on sustainable development, resource management and environmental protection in urban and industrial areas. Interestingly, the seminars brought together under one roof mayors, consultants, technical experts, government agencies, NGOs and IT companies.

Briefing this writer, Dr Jurgen Bischoff, director of ASEM, said the Eco-City programme which is being jointly implemented with the Ministry of Environment and Forests is already under way in the municipalities of Kottayam (Kerala), Vrindavan (UP), Ujjain (MP), Tirupati (AP) and Puri (Orissa).

“The reasons for launching this programme in cities with tourist or business interests”, he said, “is because they have national prominence and fund raising for additional projects becomes easier”.

A ministry of environment and forest press release listed these recommendations from the seminar: MoEF should set up a National Commission on Green Cities or a Joint Commission on Urban Sustainability with the ministry of Urban Development; MoEF should explore the possibility of framing viable models such as environmental financing in cooperation with nationalised banks, Indian and foreign financial institutions. Also, green/eco buildings should be incorporated at the planning stage and rainwater harvesting should be compulsory.

Dr Bischoff pointed out that while IT is doing wonders for human progress it too is leaving in its trail waste, which environmentalists must worry about. In fact E-waste management was a special subject discussed at the Delhi seminars. Participants included MoEF special secretary, Meena Gupta, Dr V Rajagopalan, chairman, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), IT majors and specialist organisations like Toxic Link and E-Parisara. And, the current dimensions of E-waste? Nearly 1.4 million PCs will soon have obsolete technology in offices and households; around 1,050 tonnes of electronic scrap is being produced by manufacturers and assemblers in a single year. There are already two score E-waste scrap dealers in Delhi.”

The grand finale to the World Tourism Day was in San Francisco where mayors from all the continents took part in the signing ceremony of Green Cities Declaration pledging themselves to implementing urban environment accords. As many as seven mayors from India representing Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calicut, Chennai, Hyderabad, Indore and Mumbai signed the declaration on the American west coast. And, in Delhi nearly a dozen mayors put their signatures to the declaration. They represented Aligarh, Bhilai, Bhopal, Dharbhanga, Gwalior, Jammu, Jamnagar, Kotah, Lucknow, Muzzafarpur and Mysore.

The declaration reads: Recognising for the first time in history, the majority of the planet’s population now lives in cities and that continued urbanisation will result in one million people moving to cities each week, thus creating a new set of environmental challenges and opportunities; and, believing that as mayors of cities around the globe we have a unique opportunity to provide leadership to develop truly sustainable urban centres based on culturally and economically appropriate local actions; and, recalling that in 1945 the leaders of 50 nations gathered in San Francisco to develop and sign the charter of the United Nations (UN); and, acknowledging the importance of the obligations and spirit of the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, the 1992 Rio Earth Summit (UNCED), the 1996 Istanbul Conference on Human Settlements, the 2000 Millennium Development Goals, and the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, we see the Urban Environment Accords as a synergetic extension of the efforts to advance sustainability, foster vibrant economies, promote social equity, and protect the planet’s natural systems.

The Accords cover energy, waste reduction, urban design, urban nature, transportation, environmental health and water. Hopefully, not just the ministry of tourism but also the hospitality industry will associate itself in the green cities projects and programmes.

(The author is a freelance columnist and can be contacted at rabseth@yahoo.com)