Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday delivered the inaugural address at the 21st World Sustainable Development Summit organized by the Energy and Resources Institute’s (TERI) via video message.
World Sustainable Development Summit is TERI’s annual flagship event. The theme for this year’s Summit is “Towards a Resilient Planet: Ensuring a Sustainable and Equitable Future”.
At the summit, the Prime Minister recalled that Environment and sustainable development have been key focus areas for him all through his 20 years in office, first in Gujarat and now at the national level.
India has Walked the Talk on Climate Change
The PM said that it is not the planet that is fragile but the commitments to the planet, to nature, have been fragile. He pointed out that very little has been done despite a lot of talk over the last 50 years, since the 1972 Stockholm Conference.
But in India, the Prime Minister said, we have walked the talk. “Equitable energy access to the poor has been a cornerstone of our environmental policy”, he said.
Ujjwala Yojana
Steps like 90 million households getting access to clean cooking fuel under Ujjwala Yojana and renewable energy to farmers under the PM-KUSUM scheme where farmers are being encouraged to set up solar panels, use them and sell surplus power to the grid will promote sustainability and equity.
LED bulbs distribution scheme
The Prime Minister informed about the LED bulbs distribution scheme that has been running for over seven years, which has helped save more than 220 billion units of electricity and 180 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
National Hydrogen Mission
Also, the National Hydrogen Mission aims to tap into Green Hydrogen he said. he encouraged academic and research institutes like TERI to come up with scalable solutions to realize the potential of green hydrogen.
With 2.4% of the world’s land area, India accounts for nearly 8% of the world’s species. The Prime Minister said, India is a mega-diverse country and It is our duty to protect this ecology.
Protected Area network
Commenting on the efforts regarding the strengthening of the Protected Area network, the Prime Minister talked of international recognition to India’s efforts such as The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recognition.
The Aravalli Biodiversity Park in Haryana is being declared as an O.E.C.M. site for its effective conservation of biodiversity.
Ramsar Sites
With the recognition of two more Indian wetlands as Ramsar sites, India now has 49 Ramsar sites spread over more than 1 million hectares.
Restoring degraded land has been one of the main focus areas and since 2015 and more than 11.5 Million Hectares have been restored.
Bonn Challenge
“We are on track to achieve the national commitment of Land Degradation Neutrality under the Bonn Challenge. We firmly believe in fulfilling all our commitments made under the U.N.F and Triple C. We have also raised our ambitions during CoP-26 at Glasgow”, Prime Minister Modi said.
Climate Justice
The Prime Minister stressed that environmental sustainability can only be achieved through climate justice. He said that the energy requirements of the people of India are expected to nearly double in the next twenty years.
“Denying this energy would be denying life itself to millions. Successful climate actions also need adequate financing. For this, developed countries need to fulfill their commitments on finance and technology transfer”, he emphasized.
International Solar Alliance
The Prime Minister emphasized that sustainability requires coordinated action for the global commons.
“Our efforts have recognized this inter-dependence. Through the International Solar Alliance, our aim is ”One Sun, One World, One Grid”. We must work towards ensuring the availability of clean energy from a worldwide grid everywhere at all times. This is the ”whole of the world” approach that India’s values stand for”, he further elaborated.
Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure
The concerns of the disaster-prone areas have been addressed by the initiatives like The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (C.D.R.I.) and ”Infrastructure for the Resilient Island States”. The Island Developing States are the most vulnerable and hence need urgent protection, he said.
The Prime Minister reiterated the two initiatives of LIFE – Lifestyle For Environment and Pro Planet People (3-Ps). These global coalitions will form the foundation of our environmental efforts for improving the global commons, he said.