Given the fact that consumption of earth's natural resources has more than tripled in 40 years, India must take the lead and set an example by monitoring the use of natural resources and arrest its depletion
Rising population and demand, fueled by rapid development, has tripled the pace of consumption of natural resources in the last 40 years. This has impacted not only peoples health and quality of life, but has put enormous strain on the environment in the form of higher levels of acidification and eutrophication of soils and water bodies, increased biodiversity loss and accelerated soil erosion.
The speed of consumption can be judged by the fact that in 1970, about 22 billion tonnes of primary materials were extracted from earth. These included metals, fossil fuels like coal, and other natural resources such as timber and cereals. In 2010, this number had ballooned to 70 billion tonnes.
According to a latest UN report — global material flows and resource productivity, if the same pace of consumption were to continue, mankind would need 180 billion tonnes of natural resources material annually to meet the demand by 2050. This unsustainable pace of use is now gradually paving the way for some precious resources to be irreversibly depleted.
The UN report also states that the so-called environmentally conscious developed nations are surprisingly leading in excessive natural resource consumption with the richest countries consuming on average 10 times more materials than the poorest countries, and twice the world average. Europe and North America, in particular, which had an annual per capita material footprints of about 20 and 25 tonnes respectively in 2010, topped the list. In contrast, the footprints for Asia-Pacific, latin America and the Caribbean were between nine and 10 tonnes. Africa was the lowest at below three tonnes.
Given the global scenario, India needs to set a responsible example by monitoring the use of its natural resources and arresting their depletion. For this, reliance of the economy on natural resources has to be restricted. This decoupling of economic growth from increased natural resource consumption will help reduce the environmental footprint of the economy. A set of well-designed policies with implementation strategies, coupled with healthy investments in research and development, as well as improved public policy and financing, can help achieve this.
The 2030 agenda for sustainable development, defined by the Sustainable Development Goals, assign an important position to resource use efficiency. This is directly reflected in goal 12 on ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns specifically in terms of substantially reducing waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.
In 2015, India alongwith the rest of the countries, committed to 2030 Sustainable Development Goal’s. These ambitious goals aim to eradicate poverty and sustain economic growth, while maintaining the natural resource base and planetary ecosystems for future generations.
In order to turn these goals into reality, India needs to focus on understanding how its natural resources are being used and what more needs to be done in order to ensure efficient utilisation of these resources. As a first step in the direction to bring efficiency in resource utilisation, it is crucial to recognise the fact that a rapidly expanding middle class has been the main driver of this burgeoning consumption.
Given this, it is pertinent for the Government to urgently bring about transformative changes in lifestyles that enable and educate the society to move towards responsible consumption that is both sustainable and environment friendly.
Cities in India are increasingly becoming hotspots of resource consumption as a majority of the population is dependent on these urban centers for their livelihoods. Given this, India can set a benchmark in sustainable use of natural resources if it combines the smart cities concept with resource efficient cities.
Resource efficient cities can combine greater productivity and innovation with lower costs and reduced environmental impacts, while at the same time are able to provide increased livelihood opportunities, particularly green jobs, expand opportunities for consumer choices and promote sustainable lifestyles.
India must avoid following a developmental model that is characterised by extensive reliance on natural resource extraction as this puts enormous pressure on natural resources leading to increased costs, higher rate of forest degradation and reduced availability of agricultural land. The creation of a resource-responsible economy not only brings about sustainability, but also contributes better towards reducing green house gas emissions and climate change impact.
A recent report by The International Resource Panel, hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme states that more efficient resource use, coupled with ambitious action on climate change, could achieve up to a 74 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, whilst also stimulating economic growth. India must make this a part of its strategy in order to have natural resource secure future.