Asserting that the developing world cannot accept a freeze in 'global inequity', Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said it was time developed industrial economies realised that they ought to alter their consumption patterns to use less of the planet's resources.
"We in the developing world cannot afford to ape the West in terms of its environmentally wasteful lifestyle... the developing world cannot accept a freeze in global inequity," Singh said, inaugurating the 94th session of the Indian Science Congress in this temple town, 235 km from Chennai.
Developed economies must alter their consumption patterns "so that so few do not draw upon so much of the Earth's resources," the Prime Minister said, addressing scientists and researchers gathered at Annamalai University here.
As people in developing countries improved their prospects, per capita consumption was bound to grow. "As incomes and consumption levels of the poor rise, we must find ways to meet the growing demand for goods and services in an environmentally sustainable manner," Singh said.
In this context, the measures the global community took to protect the environment and deal with climate change should be "equitable in their impact on the development prospect of the developing world". He favoured sharing of new environment-friendly technologies. The use of human inventiveness and ingenuity to find new pathways to growth must be a shared effort, he said.
"It must be an effort that enables the poor to improve their quality of life, their well-being, their consumption levels without being forced to pay the price for the profligacy and excessive consumption of the rich," the Prime Minister said.
In the session, being dedicated to 'Planet Earth', he listed management of water resources, food availability and sustainable energy as the major challenges facing the planet. On food, he said a special focus was needed on dry land and rain-fed agriculture, as well as non-food crops, horticulture and new plant varieties.
For finding alternative sources of energy supply, the country needed bio-fuel, solar energy, photovoltaic, nuclear and almost all sources, which did not burden conventional sources of energy supply.
On climate change, he said the science of climate change 'is still nascent and uncertain'. This was why Indian scientists must explore the links between greenhouse gas emissions and climate change and examine its impact on our monsoons.
