Has Rio mattered for India? Agreements and Achievements in Sustainable Development

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Has Rio mattered for India?Agreements and
Achievements in Sustainable Development
Ligia NoronhaTERI Workshop on Institutional
Framework on Sustainable Development
International Centre for Environment Audit and
Sustainable Development, (iCED) Jaipur 28
September 2011
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A development path is sustainable if it meets
needs of the present without compromising the
ability to do the same in future. Sustainable
development is a process of change in which the
exploitation of resources, the direction of
investments, the orientation of technological and
institutional change enhance not merely the
current but the future potential to meet basic
needs. Needs are socially and culturally
determined and the only definition that is
sustainable is one which is accepted by the
people themselves.
Sustainable development

• Requires that
• the basic needs of all persons should be met.
• The affluent everywhere aim at consumption
  standards which, in time if not immediately, can
  be reached by everyone and which are within the
  bounds of the ecological possible.
• A societys ability to meet basic needs be
  maximized both by building up its sustainable
  productive potential and by institutional
  arrangements which offer a more equitable access
  to resources and livelihood opportunities.
• Long before these limits are reached the
  concerned community should (a) ensure equitable
  access to the constrained resource and (b)
  reorient its technological efforts to relieve the
  pressure on the constraint.
• The elements in natural systems critical for the
  maintenance of life be identified and all human
  activities be oriented so as to avoid endangering
  these elements locally, regionally or globally.

Nitin Desai, W0152c/ND/es/23.06.86
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Sustainable development

• Wide acceptability of concept

• But inadequate political commitment

• As a goal and mission of countless organizations
• Fuzziness of the concept which interestingly
  allows consensus building
• Provides a common language
• Unifying core - built around needs, ecological
  limits, and social acceptability

• Long term, beyond electoral cycles
• Requires cross sectoral thinking
• But silos mentality protection of turf
• Needs recognition of trade offs
• Everything is a not a win win
• Requires burden sharing

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What do we mean when we speak of SD?

• The paradigm

• The interfaces

Involves not just economic efficiency but also social justice, environmental stewardship
Empowerment of social groups in decision-making
People and expert directed policies
Integrated planning
Decentralization in policy-making and implementation
People as actors
Ex ante preventive action
Reliance also on incentive based systems
Incomparable values need to be observed
Longer horizons scenarios uncertainty built in
Internalization of external costs
Knowledge supplements science
Socio-ecological multi attribute assessments used
Participatory and process oriented procedures to environmental management
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IEG and Sustainable Development
TERI, 2011
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About key international institutions working on
SD issues

• UN system does not lack institutions to deliver
  on sustainable development. What it does lack is
  coordination and coherence within the system.
• CSD has become a negotiating forum, not
  dialogic enough to bring various stakeholders
  together on contested issues
• UNEP should not hanker for political space and
  power. Instead, it should focus on strengthening
  its current functions, as an implementing
  agency and as a coordinating agency that
  helps in clustering of MEAs and REAs.
• ECOSOC is incomplete without an environmental arm
• MEAs lack coherence and need more national
  implementation.

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State of the world

• The MDG report 2011 suggests that reaching all
  the MDGs by 2015 will be a challenge as the most
  vulnerable are still beyond reach. This is
  especially so in Sub Saharan Africa and South
  Asia.
• There are still 1.2 billion very poor people
  (those living on less than 1 a day) and 40 of
  the worlds population still lives on less than
  2/day
• The worlds richest 500 individuals have a
  combined income greater than that of the poorest
  416 million, the average income in the richest
  20 countries is 37 times that in the poorest 20
  a ratio that has doubled in the past 40 years
• More than 1 billion people in low- and
  middle-income countries lack access to safe
  water, 1.4 billion have no access to electricity
  , and 2 billion lack adequate sanitation
• Two-thirds of all fisheries are exploited at or
  beyond their sustainable limits, and half or more
  of the worlds coral reefs may perish in this
  century.
• Three of nine interlinked planetary boundaries
  (rate of biodiversity loss, climate change and
  human interference with the nitrogen cycle), have
  already been overstepped as per recent estimates.
  

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New and emerging challenges

• Transnational risks such as communicable disease,
  climate change, water conflicts, energy
  security, cyber security, and terrorism
• Since 2008, we have witnessed high financial
  volatility and uneven growth performance which
  has increased social distributive tensions.
• Increased burden of disease in developing
  countries, estimated between 25-25, attributed
  to environmental causes. Risks are linked to
  poverty, gender and social factors.
• Many of these security concerns, serious enough
  on their own, also have inter linkages, e.g.,
  food-energy-water, climate-energy-security
• An increasing international development and
  environmental commitments funding gap estimated
  in the range of 324-336 bn/ year between 2012
  and 2017 ( 156 bn for climate change, 168-180
  bn for ODA).
• A reduced multilateralism

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Global Partnerships will depend on commitment of
nations to development
CDI, 2010
Source http//www.cgdev.org/section/initiatives/
_active/cdi
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Indias engagement with international sustainable
development

• Active engagement with the concept since it first
  came into use
• Engaged with many of its own challenges but has
  many innovations to offer the international
  community
• Responses to Climate change are ensconced in
  the common but differentiated responsibility
  principle
• A wide array of laws, policies and programmes
  that address SD issues. Some key ones at the
  interface

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India and International Agreements

• India has been in the forefront of international
  agreements.
• WTO Agreement (1995),
• RTA with ASEAN (2009),
• Bilateral Investments Promotion and Protection
  Act (BIPAs),
• Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Racial
  Discrimination (1968),
• International Covenant on Civil and Political
  Rights (1979), Committee on the Elimination of
  Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, 1993), C
• Convention on the Rights of a Child
• India is one of the founding members of the ILO

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Major Environmental agreements India is a party to

• Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, 1971- designated
  25 wetland sites in India as Ramsar Sites of
  International Importance
• CITES (Convention on International Trade in
  Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna
• Montreal Protocol under the Vienna Convention on
  substances that deplete the ozone layer, 1987
• Three Chemical Conventions
• Basel Convention on trans-boundary movement of
  hazardous wastes, 1989
• Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic
  Pollutants (POPs)
• Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent
  Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and
  Pesticides in International Trade (entered into
  force from 2004)
• Rio Conventions
• Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), 1992
• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
  Change, 1992 and Kyoto Protocol
• United Nations Convention to Combat
  Desertification (UNCCD)

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Indian laws at the SD interfaces
Socio-ecological (environment and social) Socio-ecological (environment and social)
Key Acts Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991 National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995 The National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997 National Green Tribunal Act, 2010
Social equity (economic and social) Social equity (economic and social)
Key Acts Person with Disabilities Act, 1995(right to employment of the disabled) The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Right Act, 2001 The Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005 Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007
Green economy (economic and environment) Green economy (economic and environment)
Key Acts Energy Conservation Act, 2001 The Electricity Act, 2003
Sustainable development (social, environment and economic) Sustainable development (social, environment and economic)
Key Acts The (Wildlife Protection Act), 1972 and its amendments in 1991, 2002 Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act, 1996 Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and the Biological Diversity Rules, 2004 National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 Forests Rights Act, 2006
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Indias policies/programmes at the interfaces
Social equity (economic and social) Social equity (economic and social)
Key Policies and Programmes Rural Infrastructure Development Fund, 1995 Annapurna Scheme, 2000-01 Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, 2007 Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme, 2007 Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme, 2009
Socio-ecological (environment and social) Socio-ecological (environment and social)
Key Policies and Programmes National Agricultural Policy, 2002 National Urban Sanitation Policy, 2008 Integrated Watershed Management Programme, 2009
Green economy (economic and environment) Green economy (economic and environment)
Key Policies and Programmes Technological Upgradation Fund Schemes, 1999 Fodder and Feed Development Scheme, 2005 Integrated Energy Policy of 2008 Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT)
Sustainable development (social, environment and economic) Sustainable development (social, environment and economic)
Key Policies and Programmes Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, 2005 National Urban Transport Policy, 2006 National Environmental Policy, 2006 National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy, 2007 National Action Plan on Climate Change, 2008 National Disaster Management Policy, 2009 National Rural Livelihood Mission, 2009
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Economic Achievements

• 7.2 GDP growth rate in the past decade with an
  8.25 GDP growth rate between 2005-06 to 2009-10.
• Shifts in economic structure declining share of
  agriculture in the GDP, rise in share of industry
  and services in the last two decades.
• MSME sector 26 million units and employs about
  60 million people, contributing to about 8 of
  GDP, 45 of manufactured output and 40 export
  (Economic Survey 2010-11)
• FDI inflows increased from 148 million USD in
  1991-92 to 18,800 million USD in 2009-10.
• Exports increased from 6.2 in 1990-91 to 12 in
  2010-11.
• Important policies, programmes and legal
  framework put in place Industrial Policy
  Statement (1991), National Rural Livelihood
  Mission, Right to Information Act (2005),
  National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (2005),
  Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Mission (2005),
  Public Liability Insurance Act (1991), etc.

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Economic Challenges

• Infrastructure shortages, particularly in the
  rural areas
• Employment opportunities in urban areas higher
  than rural areas-- leading to high levels of
  rural-urban migration
• Urban population growing at a faster rate than
  rural population causing a huge divide.
• High levels of inflation in the country
• High fiscal deficits need to restructure
  spending patterns based on identified priorities.
• Strengthening of financial reforms to channel
  savings effectively into investment, meet funding
  requirements for infrastructure and enhance
  financial stability

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Social Achievements

• Process of a demographic transition from high
  fertility, high mortality to low fertility, low
  mortality rates--population growth declined from
  2.2 in 1994 to 1.9 in 2001.
• Fertility rate reduced from 3.9 in 1990 to 2.8 in
  2010 life expectancy increased from 55.9 in 1991
  to 63.5 in 2002-06.
• Literacy rate increased from 52.2 in 1991 to
  74.4 in 2011.
• Sex ratio gone up from 927 in 1991 to 940 in 2011
• Number of people with water supply facilities
  increased from 78 in 1981 to 91 in 2004.
• Financial inclusion being encouraged for social
  and economic upliftment of the disadvantaged and
  vulnerable.
• Important policies, programmes and legal
  framework put in place National Agricultural
  Policy, National Mission on Sustainable
  Agriculture (2008), Integrated Rural Development
  Programme (1970s), Education for All Campaign
  (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan), National Rural Health
  Mission (2005), National Rural Livelihood Mission
  (NRLM, 2009) National Policy for Empowerment of
  Women (2001), CEDAW (2003), Public Liability
  Insurance Act (1991)

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Social Challenges

• Not able to achieve most MDGs related to health
  indicators--mostly due to inadequate access to
  public sector health facilities and the quality
  at which it is supplied.
• Decline in child sex ratio to 914 in 2011- lowest
  since independence.
• High urban-rural disparities in terms of people
  living below poverty line, infant mortality rate,
  maternal mortality rate, literacy, etc.
• Need to focus on quality and access to education
  in the country more than running after numbers.
• The proportion of population that has dietary
  energy consumption below 2100/2400 kcal in India
  seen to rise since 1987-88 with about 64 below
  the norm in 1987- 88 increasing to 76 in 2004-05
  (figure may be higher with rising food prices in
  last 2 years).

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Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Goal No. Goal Progress
1 Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger Slow or Off Track
2 Achieve Universal Primary Education On Track or Fast
3 Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women Moderately on Track
4 Reduce Child Mortality Slow or Off Track
5 Improve Maternal Health Slow or Off Track
6 Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases Moderate to Slow Track
7 Ensure Environmental Sustainability On track to Off Track Depending on the Indicators
8 Develop a Global Partnership for Development On track
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Underweight children
40 of children lt 3 yrs will be underweight by
2015 as compared to target of 26.8
Key reasons inadequate breastfeeding,
micronutrient inadequacies, absence of child and
maternity benefits, poverty, nutrition education,
SourceMOSPI, India Country Report 2009, MDG
civil society report, 2010
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Infant (under five) mortality
UN5 mortality can come down to 70/1000 live
births as against target of 42/1000

• key reasons
• pneumonia, measles, diarrhoea, malaria and
  neonatal conditions that occur during pregnancy
  and during or immediately after birth.
• Lack of health care, maternal and child
  malnutrition and poor environmental health
  conditions

Source GOI, India Country Report 2009, MDG civil
society report, 2010
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Maternal health
MMR is expected to come to 135/100,000 as
compared to 109 target
Key reasons main causes of maternal deaths are
as follows Haemorrhage (38), Sepsis (11) and
Abortions (8), Obstructed Labour (5),
Hypertensive Disorder (5) and other conditions
(34) (p 61 of MDG Report) Maternal malnutrition
is another key issue (RGI, 2006)
Source MOSPI, India Country Report 2009, MDG
civil society report, 2010
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Access to water, sanitation, clean energy
Rural-urban divide
Gender-poverty energy nexus
Even where infrastructure exists, service
delivery is poor
Source TERI, 2009
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Bottlenecks to achieving MDGs

• Sheer scale of the goals
• Governance constraints
• Capacity resources
• Coordination
• Other priorities?
• Extreme events in some states
• Falling external assistance

Indias external assistance as a percentage to
total GDP Source Economic survey, 2009, IMF
Economic database, 2010
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Environment Achievements

• Increase in forest and tree cover by 728 km2 and
  1106 km2 respectively in 2009 as compared to
  2005 21 percent of geographical area under
  forest cover.
• According to the State Forest Report 2009, in the
  last 10 years, forest cover in the country has
  increased by 3.31 million hectares, showing an
  average 0.46 increase every year.
• Energy intensity (total primary energy supply
  with respect to GDP) declined over time. For
  1980-90, it was estimated at 1.08 while the same
  for 1990-91 to 2003-04 was estimated to be 0.82.
• Last ten years has seen close to 180,000 rural
  habitations being connected to all weather roads
  in the country.
• India has also become one of the Clean
  Development Mechanism project host countries in
  the world with projects being undertaken at
  various levels.
• Important policies, programmes and legal
  framework put in place National Action Plan on
  Climate Change (NAPCC, 2008), State Action Plan
  on Climate Change, Joint Forest Management Act
  (1990), Biological Diversity Act (2002),
  Environment (Protection) Act (1986), National
  Environmental Tribunal Act (1998), eight NAPCC
  missions, etc.
• XIII th Finance Commission recognizes that
  environment is a shared legacy with future
  generations, and makes a beginning in introducing
  an environmental dimension into intergovernmental
  fiscal arrangements.

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Environmental Challenges

• Poor urban air quality in all Indian cities due
  to increasing vehicular fleet, industrial
  expansion, etc.
• Water availability, land and food security a
  rising concern in the country.
• Energy security (electricity and fuel) is still a
  huge problem. Energy poverty is a growing
  problem, specially in rural areas and it has
  major health implications.
• Unsustainable patterns of consumption and
  production
• Increase in solid waste and e-waste
• Climate change, natural disasters and hazards
  risks
• Slow diffusion of climate and environmental
  friendly technologies
• Conservative estimates suggest that environmental
  degradation takes a toll of about 4 of Indias
  GDP (morbidity due to unclean air and water,
  productivity loss due to degraded land and
  forests) and over 800,000 premature deaths (due
  to air and water pollution).

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Example SD issues around the Western Ghats - a
biodiversity hotspot
Some Questions that we have been confronted with
from stakeholders, 2010-2011, WGEEP and Goa

• Why should mining not be banned to arrest the
  further loss of cultural and biological diversity
  and destruction of the ecology of the Western
  Ghats? (WGEEP)
• Why should mining be privileged over other land,
  waterways, forests and groundwater uses/users?
• How have/are the intergenerational questions
  around mineral depletion been addressed?
• Why is there so much illegal mining? Who is doing
  anything about it?
• What about the corruption at all levels of
  jurisdiction?

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Regulatory coordination deficits

• Strong set of environmental rules and
  regulations in place, but
• EIAs are fraudulent Conditions of Environmental
  clearance are not observed
• Discrete, stand alone EIAs when cumulative
  impact studies of development are needed
• Not enough capacity at SPCB level
• Absence of local monitoring institutions
• Poor redressal of peoples concerns
• Government machinery is perceived skewed in
  favour of corporates.
• Lack of knowledge of ground realities in villages
  where several developments are taking place
• Illegal activities logging, hunting, mining

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Strengthening sustainable development
governance- what can ICED do

• Provide improved environmental accounting to
  support informed policy making and policy
  engagement
• Draw attention to niche areas (co-benefits)
• Analyse regulatory deficits
• Help improve benefit sharing of development
  projects
• Work towards environment and resource adjusted
  income accounting
• Creation of Incentives for conservation and
  innovations
• Payments for ecosystem services
• Reward good corporate/state performance
• Encourage green innovations
• Data bases need to be developed which can support
  regulation and good development planning, for
  example spatial data bases.

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Thank you
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Dr. Ligia Noronha,Director, Resources and Global
Security Division, TERIemail ligian_at_teri.res.in
phone [phone]