Text by Nanditha Chandraprakash | Photos by Sustain Team
While discussing weight matters of borders and GDPs, the environment is often left behind in political discourse. Yet, there are some politicians who make the issue a priority. Two such people—Indian politician and economist Jairam Ramesh and Anote Tong, former president of the island Republic of Kiribati—spoke eloquently at the summit organised during the 10-day RoundGlass Samsara Festival dedicated to raising awareness about the environment.
Tong is a representative from a nation where issues such as climate change can no longer be postponed for another day. Kiribati is slated to be the first island to disappear into the oceans rising as a result of global warming. Yet, Tong does not give up hope, spreading awareness about the importance of sustainability. He seeks to evoke the conscience of larger, more developed nations, and make them realise that sometimes the choice boils down to shutting down a few polluting industries versus the end of an entire nation, people, and way of life.
Tong has also dedicated his time to finding alternatives for the people of his country, through migration or the creating of ‘floating islands’. He strongly believes that climate change is not the problem of any one country, but a problem that needs to be solved by all the nations of the world together.
Anote Tong has partnered with world leaders in his endeavour to tell the world that all countries are connected – there are no borders when it comes to pollution and climate. He spoke to Bengaluru on 7th Oct, 2017 at the Vidhana Soudha through RoundGlass Samsara’s Summit, raising awareness about catastrophic risks caused by climate change.
Jairam Ramesh drew attention to the various environmental and ecological challenges facing India at present, adopting a fair stance on finding the balance between the need to protect our ecology and the need for development and growth.
He spoke about the need for nuanced policies on environmental management, protection of natural resources like air, water, mountain, rivers, and biodiversity. He emphasised the need to intelligently manage India’s natural resources and mineral wealth.
“The demographic situation of India, as compared to other countries, the consumption of resources by industries, as well as the society’s lifestyle is fast changing as the population is growing. Pollution and its effects, including the management of landfills, chemical wastes, disposal of electric waste need to be closely monitored,” Ramesh said, explaining the link between ecology and economy in India.
He added that “environment vs. growth” is an old debate. Growth matters, but the environment has to be considered at every step; both go hand-in-hand. He stressed that crucial decisions that may seem anti-growth at the moment but are actually pro-environment in the long run, need to be made without further ado.
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