NEW DELHI, Oct 29:
Government and institutional action is needed for ensuring a clean and healthy environment which is a basic requirement for human wellbeing and economic growth, Vice President Hamid Ansari said here today.
Delivering his inaugural address at the international conference on ‘Strengthening Green Federalism: Sharing International Practices’, Ansari spoke on issues related to inter-linking of rivers, which, he said, has been a source of conflict between countries and states.
“Culturally, legally, morally and existentially we need to move to a deeper understanding and recognition of the fact that human wellbeing and even economic growth are underpinned by a clean and healthy environment,” he said.
Noting that forests and climate change are global issues, he said, “(These) require multilateral solutions with adaptive responses at national levels appropriate to specific regional and local requirements.”
Ansari said that the Approach Paper for 12th Five Year Plan also mentions that government at all levels needs to act together to combat the challenge of climate change.
“Serious reflection and action is required on the issues of governance and institutional design wherein environment and development are concerned. The 13th Finance Commission urged the need to manage ecology, environment and climate change consistent with sustainable development and to incentivise states towards improved environmental performance,” he said.
Ansari said that the importance of strengthening federal relations to protect the environment has been pointed out by the Punchhi Commission on Centre-State Relations.
Stressing the need for a change in approach for interlinking of rivers, he said, “Inter-state rivers are source of conflicts and acrimony between countries and between states around the sharing and use of water. Many of these conflicts result from a poor fit between ecosystems they represent and institutions designed to manage them.”
Ansari also observed that judiciary on several occasions has interpreted Right to Life embodied in Article 21 of the Indian Constitution to include the right to a clean environment.
Referring to the Indian subcontinent, he said overlapping institutions are detrimental to the protection of bio-diverse and rich ecosystems founds in Himalayas, Western Ghats and coastal zones.
“It is necessary that biodiversity be protected for the larger public interest, but it is also essential to think about how sub-national and local units which stand to lose from conservation of these habitats be compensated,” the Vice President said. (PTI)
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