Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies and Distinguished Participants,

I am happy to be present in this august assembly and I am grateful for the opportunity of presenting my views on the environmental issues facing us. In general, my country's policy on environment and development concurs with and supports the policy statements made by the Executive Secretary of ESCAP. I congratulate the Executive Secretary for his able stewardship, reflected in excellent preparations for the Conference. I would also like to thank the members of the bureau for their work which is evident everywhere.

While the plethora of papers and sheer volume of documentation bears testimony to the amount of hard work put in and the number of experts involved in the effort, some of the core issues have at times got diffused. However, in the final analysis, a common denominator emerges strongly. The western model or the eastern miracles can no longer serve as reference points for sustainable development of Asia Pacific region. Any initiatives towards sustainable development in the Region would have to focus on poverty alleviation and related issues.

The countries of the region share the common plight of continuing decline in quality of their respective overall environmental conditions, degradation of croplands, falling water tables, diminishing forests, unprecedented forest fires, solid waste build-up, pollution of air, land and water, and shrinking bio-diversity resources. Advancing desertification is a stark reality in many countries of the region.

These very issues are in fact India's frontline policy issues. The country's priority concerns are population growth, urbanisation, perpetuating poverty and food security.

At the dawn of the new millennium, the world population has reached six billion. The Asia Pacific Region is the home to sixty percent of the world population living in only forty percent of the global landmass. India is home to one billion, which is seventeen percent of the world population in just 2.4% of the global landmass.

In the developing countries of the region, the alarming rate of population growth, scarce financial resources and lack of institutional and technological support, would not only jeopardise food and social security in the region but also foster conflict situations globally. These would, in turn, reverse all the efforts towards sustainable development.

Urbanisation and the growth of mega cities is another common and peculiar feature of the region and very true of the Indian situation too. Thirty five percent of Indians are living in urban centres. Today, India has as many as forty-two cities with a million plus population. Management of cities in a sustainable manner and with least harm to the environment has become a major challenge for us. Against this backdrop, we appreciate and support the proposed idea of declaring and adopting the host City of Kitakyushu as a model city and the city management as an example to emulate. However, in the same vein, I would add a word of caution that city management itself is only an end-of-pipe-solution when seen from the global perspective of environmental sustainability.

While city economies may be a necessary hinge for development, we need to address certain demographic pattern that lead to unmanageable burgeoning of cities. To check the migration of rural folk to cities, we must develop small and medium towns, which would take away the intensity of migration to the mega-cities. This would require development of infrastructure and civic facilities in small and medium towns, so that they become focus of economic activity. To achieve this, a shift from the present paradigm of development to a more decentralised and participatory system of city development and administration is needed. With the introduction of the electronic communications network in the rural hinterland, the attempt should be 'decentralisation and ruralisation' of economic opportunities, which would finally result in moderation of the demographic influx into cities. Sixty five percent of Indian population lives in the countryside. Rural India is by and large poor. Poverty tends to perpetuate poverty. It is, therefore, only right that the thrust of developmental policies in India as in other development economies should be in the rural areas.

Rapid population growth raises the question of food security for future generations. Given the fact that land resource remains constant, we should look towards new advancements in biotechnology that have the potential to raise land productivity. It was through such a lab-induced green revolution that India attained food sufficiency in spite of her burgeoning population. We are again looking to such path-breaking technological advancements to ensure continuance of food security for our teeming millions. At the same time, we must also keep in mind that such lab-induced methods of food production may not always be sustainable. Besides being artificially propped up by huge subsidies on power, water and agro-chemicals, their long term consequences on land fertility and productivity, and the over exploitation of water resources are being felt gradually only now.

Fortunately, just as the Asia Pacific region is endowed with natural resources and is rich in bio-diversity, the region also can boast of deep rooted cultures and traditions with native wisdom in food production methods. We need only to look inwards to find such native models of development so that there may be no need to devise new ones.

Mr. Chairman, another important aspect concerning development and environment is our dependence on carbon intensive resources of energy.

We must move away from a predominantly carbon intensive paradigm of growth. The new paradigm for sustainable development needs to be oriented towards traditional technical knowledge and practices, so that the net benefits will reach the primary producer and the local environment. The tools for the paradigm need to be mass oriented. It should be clean, energy-efficient, with low running cost and affordable locally. The system should be so devised that the mass of the population has access to resources and to the means of production. It has to be designed for peoples' participation. It should also address the issue of 'greed versus need'. The answer is not recycling alone but cutting down 'wants', control the insatiable human desire for consumption and not to blindly follow the beaten track. I firmly believe that only such a paradigm can effectively tackle the issues of self-perpetuating poverty and sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific context.

This brings me to a pertinent question, Mr. Chairman. We have adopted the course of globalisation, which essentially means mainstreaming our economies in the global economy. In such a scenario, can a region really set its own paradigm of development, which may not be fully synchronised with the global process. I believe we can do so. We are a region of emerging economies. Our large populations also constitute the potential markets of tomorrow; we are rich in natural resources and we have been able to develop well-endowed technical manpower resources. We must therefore look into our strengths and potential and take a proactive role in future developments. We must not merely fall in the line of present thinking but should also guide future developments.

It is in this background that I see the need to give thrust to certain programme areas and venture to suggest a more prominent inclusion of these initiatives in the Regional Action Programme. To illustrate, our energy needs must be fulfilled, in large parts, by the abundant supply of bio-mass and other renewable sources of energy such as solar energy with which we are so richly endowed. We should not merely be users of modern technology but should also be able to develop appropriate technology for our needs. We have a large public sector research and technology development base in many countries of the region. We should draw upon our vast intellectual resources in technology and create a network for assisting each other. Agencies such as UNEP should take the initiative in this respect. This will in no case compromise our position so far as financial and technological resource transfer from developed countries are concerned, which remains their commitment in the Agenda 21.

Mr. Chairman, I can go on illustrating some more areas of concern but am aware of the time constraints. I look towards the day when we would take our rightful positions in the global market place and yet will be the torchbearers for a new paradigm of environment friendly development.

Thank You.