The following indicators and data support the non-sustainability of current patterns of production, consumption and economic growth (World Resources Institute [WRI] 1992: xi;
Bartelmus 1997: 325).
Land Degradation
Over the past 50 years or so, 1.2 billion hectare (bha) of land—an area larger that of China and India taken together—has been degraded and its productivity reduced (WRI 1992: xi).
It is also estimated that 500 billion tonnes of topsoil has been lost since 1972 (Brown et al. 1993) and 5 million hectares (mha) are lost annually due to desertifi cation. If such
human-caused losses continue, feeding the world population, which is projected to nearly double by the middle of the twenty-fi rst century, will be a very diffi cult task. It is estimated that in India in 1994, about 188 mha of land, which is 57 per cent of the country’s total geographical area of about 329 mha, was degraded. Of the 188 mha of degraded land, about 149 mha was affected by water erosion, 13.5 mha by wind erosion, about 14 mha by chemical deterioration and 11.6 mha by waterlogging (Sehgal and Abrol 1994).
A recent survey by the National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning revealed that 66 per cent of India’s total geographical area (around 192 mha) was at varying stages of degradation (quoted in Haque 1997: 155–59).
Land degradation can result from both intrinsic attributes, such as location, envir- onment, and chemical and physical properties of the soil, as well as from manmade circumstances. Whatever its underlying causes, land degradation has signifi cant adverse impacts on crop productivity and the environment. Joshi and Jha (1991), in a study of four villages in Uttar Pradesh, found that a 50 per cent decline in crop yields over a period of eight years was due to salinisation and waterlogging caused by the irrigation system.
A characteristic feature of land resources in India is the preponderance of common pool lands, that is, the lands which are used in common by identifi able groups of people.
These lands, irrespective of their legal ownership, are accessible to local people without any restrictions and are used without any rules and regulations. In this sense, they may be called open access resources (OAR). All OAR suffer from what Hardin (1968) called, albeit erroneously, ‘the tragedy of the commons’. Most OAR are degraded, eroded, denuded of vegetation, encroached and polluted. Thus, with more than half of its land being degraded, India has very bleak prospects of sustaining even the existing (low) rate of food production in the coming decades.
Degradation and Depletion of Water Resources
Water is essential for the survival of all forms of life on this planet. Adequate and timely availability of water for irrigation is an important factor affecting agricultural production and, thereby, food security. The global renewable water resources are estimated at 41,022 cubic kilometre (ckm) and, in 1998, the per capita availability of water was 6,918 cubic meter (cm) with wide variations from nation to nation ranging from merely 11 cm in Kuwait to 6,06,498 cm in Iceland (WRI 1998: 305). Due to the increasing area being brought under irrigation, growing industrialisation and urbanisation, and increasing human and animal populations, pressure on water resources has increased tremendously and, consequently, both surface water and groundwater resources are being depleted and degraded at a fast rate in most of the countries of the world. Some people believe that in the twenty-fi rst century, there will be more water wars—both internationally and intra-nationally—than any other kind of war. This trend poses a real threat not only to sustainable development but human survival also. India, as a whole, is reasonably well endowed with water with the average per capita availability of 1,896 cm of renewable
water annually, as compared to the average quantity available in many other countries in the world (WRI 1998: 304–05). But there are wide variations in the availability of water across space and over time, due to highly uneven distribution of rainfall.
Both surface water and groundwater resources in India are in a serious state of deg- radation and pollution. The extent of degradation of water resources has reached a stage when immediate intervention by governmental and non-governmental agencies through appropriate measures has become absolutely essential. Surface water is hardly fi t for drinking. The river Ganga, which is worshiped by devout Hindus as ‘Mother Ganga’
is no exception. It is highly polluted at several places.1 Similarly, groundwater in many arid and semi-arid areas has been depleted due to over-extraction, and degraded due to leaching of fertilisers and pesticides residues from cultivated fi elds. Consequently, the incidence of waterborne diseases has increased signifi cantly in recent years.
Furthermore, mismanagement of both surface water and groundwater resources in conjunction with the growing demand of water for agricultural, industrial and domestic uses, has engendered many problems, such as depletion and degradation of groundwater aquifers, pollution of surface water bodies, and acute shortage of freshwater in arid, semi- arid and hard rock areas in the country. Groundwater table has gone down drastically in many areas of the country, such as Mehsana district in north Gujarat and Coimbatore district in west Tamil Nadu. It is estimated that in Mehsana district, water table has been falling at the rate of fi ve to eight meters annually and that some 2,000 wells dry up every year (Moench and Kumar 1997: 305). In the coastal areas of Gujarat, excessive extraction has depleted the groundwater aquifers and the vacuum so created has been fi lled in by intrusion of seawater, a phenomenon called salinity ingress. It is estimated that salinity ingress is increasing at an alarming rate of half-a-kilometre to one kilometre a year along 60 per cent of the 1,100 km long Saurashtra coast in Gujarat (The Times of India 1998). The salinity ingress has rendered groundwater in those areas unfi t for both domestic and agricultural uses, and has adversely affected crop yields. Most of the problems in the use and management of water resources could be traced to the lack of well-defi ned property rights and absence of appropriate institutions for regulating the use of water. Restoring the loss of sustainability of renewable water resources requires governmental intervention in such forms as creation and enforcement of appropriate property rights, regulation of water use, taxes and cooperative management by users’
groups or associations (Singh 1998).
Degradation and Depletion of Forest Resources
Forests are a valuable renewable resource providing the vital life support system, and are essential for sustainable development. With the fast growing population, the demand for forest resources has progressively increased. Consequently, forest resources are being depleted at a rate that is higher than the natural regeneration rate. It is estimated that the world’s average annual rate of deforestation in tropical countries is at 16.9 mha.
This is 50 per cent higher than the rate estimated in the previous 1980 Tropical Forest Resources Assessment (WRI 1992: 285). Although, there is no consensus about the extent of deforestation of tropical forests in the world, environmentalists point with alarm to the eroding hillsides, barren dry lands studded with trunks of once-thriving trees and burned out tropical forests. Of the three tropical regions, namely, Asia, Africa and Latin America, Asia’s deforestation rate is the highest at 1.2 per cent per annum for the period, 1981–90.
In India, millions of rural people depend on forests for their livelihood. In view of this, the sustainability of the fl ow of forest products is essential for sustaining their livelihoods. But, over the last three decades or so, forest resources have been under great biotic and abiotic pressures. They have been subject to over-exploitation, degradation and encroachment (Singh 1994: 226). It is estimated that about 36 mha of the total forestland is deforested and degraded (Society for Promotion of Wastelands Develop- ment [SPWD] 1984). Besides, substantial chunks of forest land are being diverted to non- forestry uses. Consequently, the forests’ area, productivity and production have declined, and their sustainability is threatened. The low productivity of forests in India in terms of the volume of growing stock is evident from the fact that the volume of growing stock in India in the year 2000 was 43 cm per ha as compared to 119 cm in Malasiya and 100 cm in Nepal (FAO 2001). All this poses a threat to the survival of millions of poor people, especially tribals, who mainly depend on forests for their livelihood.
Depletion of Conventional Sources of Energy
The world’s consumption of commercial energy from conventional sources is increasing at a rapid rate, depleting the world’s reserve of fossil fuels. As per the projections made by the International Energy Agency, by 2010, global energy consumption is expected to rise by about 50 per cent from the 1993 level (WRI 1998: 170). It is also estimated that we are now left with only 90 years of proved recoverable mineral reserves, 243 years of proved reserves in place and 800 years of total reserves left (United Nations 1992). Besides, there are wide disparities in energy consumption between regions and countries. It is estimated that in 1989, the per capita energy consumption in industrialised countries was 10 times the average per capita consumption in developing countries (WRI 1992: 313).
In India, the per capita consumption of commercial energy is very low when compared with that in developed countries. For example, in 1989, it was merely nine Giga joules per annum as compared to 295 Giga joules in the USA (WRI 1992: 316–17). Agricultural uses accounted for about 31 per cent of the total energy consumption in the country in 1994–95 (GoI 1997c: 113). In 2001–02, the per capita consumption of electricity in India was 313 kilowatt hour (kwh) and agriculture accounted for 25.33 per cent of the total electricity consumption in the country (GoI 2004a). But given the very large size of its population, even this level of energy consumption is not sustainable unless non- conventional sources of energy are fully developed and harnessed.
Loss of Biodiversity
The diversity of species is necessary for the normal functioning of ecosystems and the biosphere as a whole. The genetic material in the wild species contributes billions of rupees to the world economy in the form of improved crop species, new drugs and medicines, and raw materials for industry. But utility aside, there are also moral, ethical, cultural, aesthetic and purely scientifi c reasons for conserving wild beings.
There are no reliable estimates of the extent of biodiversity available worldwide.
Estimates vary from 2 million to 100 million species with the best estimate being somewhere near 10 million, of which only 1.4 million have actually been named so far.
The biological heritage of the planet Earth is increasingly at risk. It is estimated that one- quarter of all species are in danger of extinction, and 5,000 to 1,50,000 species are lost annually due to the destruction of biomass and habitat by destructive agriculture, deforestation, pollution, and destructive fi shing and grazing practices (Bartelmus 1997:
325). Much of the world’s biodiversity is found in developing countries and it is estimated to be disappearing at 50 to 100 times the natural regeneration rates (World Bank 1988: 26).
India is endowed with an immensely rich biodiversity. It is rated as one of the 12 mega diversity countries in the world, accounting for 60 per cent to 70 per cent of the world’s biodiversity. India has 6 per cent of the world’s fl owering plant species, 14 per cent of the world’s birds, one-third of the world’s identifi ed plant species numbering over 45,000 and about 81,000 identifi ed species of animals (World Bank 1996: 1). India’s natural resources and biodiversity are economically important, both nationally and globally.
As one of the world’s oldest and largest agricultural countries, India has an impressive diversity of crop species and varieties. At least 166 species of crop plants and 320 species of wild relatives of cultivated crops originate in the subcontinent. About 90 per cent of all medicines in India come from plant species, many of which are harvested in the wild.
Medicinal plants and other non-timber forest products are particularly important as a source of income and sustenance for the tribal population. Natural ecosystems strongly infl uence natural resources development and management, which is important not only for agriculture but also for industrial and municipal development.
In India, there has been a tremendous loss of biodiversity due to deforestation. Many plant and animal species are on the brink of extinction. Although the extinction of 23 species has been confi rmed, it is suspected that many more have died unnoticed.
Although, loss of habitat, over-harvesting and pollution are immediate causes of loss of biodiversity in most of the cases, the underlying causes of these actions are several socio-economic factors, such as population pressure, poverty, unemployment, ignorance and lack of incentives for using natural resources and biodiversity on sustainable basis in the best interest of society. So long as the human and animal population was within the carrying capacity of locally available natural resources and the local environment, there was no environmental degradation and no loss of biodiversity due to human actions. But as the population increased and local economies got integrated with external economies through trade, the process of degradation of natural resources and loss of biodiversity started. Further, many communities depend directly on natural resources for their livelihood. They are very poor and ignorant, and have no alternative employment
opportunities. This compels them to over-exploit and degrade the natural resources accessible to them, which, in turn, poses a great threat not only to their own survival but also to ecological security and integrity. It is high time that India adopted a responsible national policy of natural resources and biodiversity conservation, which is in tandem with its economic and social development policies.
Climate Change
There have been perceptible changes in climate all over the world, particularly in the last two decades or so. The major changes include acid rains, global warming, depletion of ozone layer, and increased incidence of droughts, fl oods, cyclones and hailstorms.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (1995), atmospheric accumulations of greenhouse gas emissions have led to global warming to the extent of 1° C. to 3.5° C. (Bartelmus 1997: 325). This is further substantiated by the Fourth Assess- ment Report (2007) of the IPCC. Of particular concern is the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the combustion of fossil fuels, which now supply around 95 per cent of the world’s commercial energy. Current concentrations of CO2, methane, nitrous oxide and other greenhouse gases have reached levels well above those of the pre-industrial era.
If the growth in global emissions continues unabated, the atmospheric concentration of CO2 is likely to double, relative to its pre-industrial level, mid-way through the next century. The accumulation of the greenhouse gases poses signifi cant risks to the world’s climate and to human well-being. Potential impacts include a rise in sea levels, greater frequency of fl oods and droughts, shifts in agricultural production, threats to human health from increased range and incidences of diseases, changes in availability of freshwater supplies, and damage to ecosystems and biodiversity. Another disturbing aspect of this problem is the disproportionately high share of the industrialised and oil-producing countries in the world’s total emissions. To stabilise atmospheric con- centrations of CO2, the emissions must be cut by 60 per cent from the present levels. The Kyoto Agreement signed in December 1997 by the USA and 159 other countries, provides for placing binding limits on industrial countries’ emissions of greenhouse gases. The agreement also provides opportunities for the industrial nations to trade rights to emit greenhouse gases with each other.
Ozone Layer Depletion
Increasing industrialisation and deforestation are changing the chemical composition of the earth’s composition in ways that threaten agriculture, ecological balance and human health. The atmospheric changes pose two major threats: fi rst, ozone depletion by the production and use of chlorofl uorocarbons (CFCs) and other related compounds, and second, greenhouse effect resulting from the concentration of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Ozone is a powerful oxidant, and it absorbs much of the sun’s damaging ultraviolet
rays. An increase in the ultraviolet radiation can cause skins cancer and cataract, may disrupt the marine food chain and damage crops. Recent measurements indicate that peak ozone destruction has reached 60 per cent over Antarctica and there are indications of an Arctic ozone hole over the North Pole. Only equatorial regions so far show no signifi cant ozone losses (WRI 1992: 9). The ozone layer in 1993 was at an all-time low of 90 Dobson units, with the ozone hole 15 per cent larger than in previous years (Brown et al. 1993). The 2005 ozone hole was one of the biggest ever, spanning 24 million sq km in area, nearly the size of North America. While the ozone hole over Antarctica continues to open wide, the ozone layer around the rest of the planet seems to be on the mend.2 This is caused by the use of CFCs and halons in refrigeration, insulation and packing.
For countries like India, no reliable information is available about the extent of the loss of ozone.
All these indicators of the loss of sustainability necessitate radical changes in the con- ventional economic planning and policy making. Generally speaking, in response to such threats to sustainability, two new paradigms are emerging: ‘eco-nomics’ (coined by Postel 1990) and ‘sustainable development’. The former focusses on the internalisation of environmental costs into conventional micro- and macro-economics, and the latter advocates compliance with the social and environmental norms in the processes and activities necessary for economic growth. Eco-nomics can be seen as an attempt to accom- modate externalities in the conventional economic analysis, while at the same time, incorporating in it the criteria of inter-generational equity defined as long-term maintenance of per capita consumption. This implies a shift from Gross Domestic Product (GDP) maximisation towards more sustainable growth, which can be defi ned as Environmentally adjusted Net Domestic Product (ENDP). Several UN conferences held recently have adopted a number of goals for the twenty-fi rst century. One of the goals is: ‘implementing national strategies for sustainable development by 2005 to ensure that the current loss of environmental resources is reversed globally and nationally by 2015’
(World Bank 1998: 10).
Now, we shall fi rst present an overview of the major strategies of development followed in India in the past, and then some salient elements of a new strategy for sustainable development.