He was speaking at the Indo-French conference on “Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development”, organised as part of Bonjour India here on Friday.

Mr. Lalonde, in his plenary lecture, said that the world was facing a series of crises that would force the international community to invent new economic and institutional tools to prevent environmental collapse while ensuring sustainable development. The ongoing climate change negotiations had moved a step further in Copenhagen and should progress in Mexico this year, he said. “There still are a lot of things that need to be negotiated. We need planet policies, but do not know how to go about it. However, it is certain that sustainable development has become the first imperative for mankind,” he added.

Common challenges

Jérôme Bonnafont, Ambassador of France to India, after inaugurating the conference, said that the challenges faced in sustainable development were common to both India and France. “The challenge is to ensure that sustainability goes along with the pace of society, maximising technical progress and minimising adverse effects,” he said.

He added that the fight against poverty and ecological damage were two sides of the same coin. “We are reaching a point of irreversibility and we need to act fast,” he added.

Associate Director of Indian Institute of Science N. Balakrishnan said that development was likely to create awareness. “We are at a point of fragility. We need the best brains to come together to work out a technical solution,” he said.