BENGALURU: Forest, environment, and Ecology Minister Eshwar Khandre on Saturday said sustainable development is the key to achieving growth while preserving nature and the environment.
Speaking at the sidelines of the release of the Bengaluru Declaration as a part of the sustainable summit, organized by the Centre for Sustainable Development (CSD), Khandre said, humans can survive only if nature, the environment, and forests are well maintained.
He said Bengaluru is known as the hub of technological innovation and is also the leader of sustainable development. All those working in Karnataka, especially Bengaluru, should work towards finding solutions to the challenges the world is facing using technology to the optimum. The declaration lists five goals for city-urbanization, traffic congestion, pollution, availability of clean air and water, and climate action.
Khandre said due to unplanned urbanization and pollution, the problems of availability of clean water have become a challenge. The theme of the summit, “Leadership for Sustainable Development and the Need for Visionary Leadership”, should be advocated. The benefits of development should also reach the masses, especially the marginalized ones.
Priority must be given to inclusive growth, social justice, and elimination of inequality. More emphasis should be given to clean energy and reduction of carbon emissions. Good practices should be adopted in the agriculture, energy, and healthcare sectors.
He also added that sustainable development should be introduced at the school education level. He also pointed out that long-term planning was required to achieve the sustainable development goals.
Explaining the goals, the chairman of CSD and former chief secretary, A Ravindra, said that in the declaration, action points have been listed but the most important of them all is climate action. He said assuming the government has a sound understanding of climate action, stress needs to be given at the ground level for people to act upon. The rise in emissions is the root cause of problems, and hence solutions and implementation at the local level are essential.