The Hindu Business Line : `Don't copy Western green laws'

INDIA should develop suitable environmental legislation addressing the local concerns and the Western model should not be blindly emulated, says Mr Ganti Lakshminarayana Rao, an adviser to the UN on matters relating to urban development and environment.

Hailing from Visakhapatnam and educated here, Mr Rao has served as a senior director in the United Nations for 27 years . He was involved in the formulation of several international environmental covenants and treaties. After retirement, he is now acting as an adviser.

In an interview, Mr Rao said that properly developed legal instruments should be the first priority in India. "In dealing with environmental issues, such as the Narmada Bachao Andolan, the prime requisite is a legal framework. Without such a framework, even the courts may be at a loss to come up with sensible judgements. That is my observation," he said.

He, however, cautioned that the Western models should not be blindly imitated or emulated. "We can accept the basic principles but in framing the laws we should be conscious of the local issues. Though it is a cliche, I have to use it again. Think globally, but act locally," he said.

To a question whether there was a level playing field between the West and the developing nations, and whether the former was not guilty of using environment as a tool to arrest the growth of the latter, he said that it was partly true, but the problem should be viewed now in a global perspective. "It is true that the West, after attaining a certain level of development, is now talking of environment. But we can't tread the same path again. We have to take all necessary steps to minimise pollution and it is the responsibility of the West to transfer the necessary technologies to do so," he said.

For instance, he said, India would have to depend mainly on coal as a source of energy and "therefore it is for the West to give us the technologies to minimise the emissions. They have the technologies. The European Union is ready to part with them, but the US is reluctant."

Mr Rao lauded the role of the Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority in developing the Kailasagiri and other places, but a lot more greenery should be there. The public should be sensitised at all levels and environmental education should begin at the primary level, he said.

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