The aftermath of Rio has seen endless follow-up meetings, seminars, and reports by both NGOs and governments.  But Agenda 21 still remains a wishful plan of action, inspite of all the thought and effort put in by the governmental and NGO drafting groups and coalitions to get the text right.  If Agenda 21 is to be implemented, and moved from concept to practice, it needs both NGO involvement and political will at the highest level.   

Both before and after Rio, the Ministry of Environment and Forests organised a number of wide ranging consultations with NGOs and experts, along with various inter-ministerial consultations, to evolve an agenda following up on the UNCED.  However, little has been done at the policy level towards defining mechanisms that are required to implement the decisions taken at Rio.  

Eversince the World Conservation Strategy was launched in 1980, it became increasingly clear that the issues of sustainable development cannot be resolved without the greater participation of the public and an intersectoral dialogue.  The NGO Consultation on UNCED Follow-up was organised by Development Alternatives with the hope that it would start a new kind of interaction between the independent sectors and the government to implement new programmes for sustainable development.  An important feature of this event, according to Maurice Strong, the Secretary  General for the UNCED, was that, although it was an NGO meeting, it had the presence and involvement of the Minister and a number of key officials of the government, which indicated the nature of the NGO-government relationship here.   

A day prior to the NGO Consultation, an NGO Action Committee convened a meeting to explore possibilities of initiating action programmes that address the urgent issues relating to poverty, environment and development; as well as continuing and strengthening partnerships between the government, NGOs and citizen’s groups.  The Committee emphasized the need to enhance NGO involvement in planning, implementation and evaluation of environment and development programmes.  In contrast to the NGO/government consultation, this was an autonomous process, set into motion with the idea of playing the role of a watchdog putting pressure on the government.   

The Indian Environment Society (IES) organised a meeting on the role of voluntary agencies in follow-up to the Earth Summit.  It highlighted the need for generating public awareness and establishment of a resource centre on environment and development.  In addition, recently they organised a Global Forum on Environment and Development Education in New Delhi with the aim of developing programmes and serving as a link between environment and development educators.   

The People’s Commission on Environment and Development (PCED) held over a dozen public hearings in different parts of the country.  It’s central concern is to input the salient perceptions and distilled out of these public hearings into the decision making process at the appropriate levels of the government.  As an institutional mechanism, the public hearings have proved to be a highly effective means of not just articulating citizens’ concerns, but also getting the government to see and act on them.  

Similarly, many workshops and seminars were conducted involving NGOs from the South Asian region which was evidence of the growing realisation and need to evolve a Southern Agenda.   

If the future of the planet depends on forgoing effective partnerships, then the identification and articulation of concerns on environment and development should rightly be much wider than those that are relevant to specific sites or countries.  It was in this spirit, says Dr. R.K. Pachauri, that TERI organised the “Post-UNCED Seminar on Environment and Development Policy Issues in Asia.”  The primary objective of the seminar was to assess the implications of Agenda 21 for Asia, both in terms of opportunities and responsibilities.   

The South and Southeast Network for Environmental Education – SASEANEE,  organised by the Centre for Environment Education, Ahmedabad and IUCN, was the outcome of discussions among over 200 representatives of agencies involved in environmental education in the South and Southeast Asia region.  Various aspects of environmental education (EE), including formal and non-formal education, training and orientation, communication media and techniques, information for empowerment... wee discussed in the working groups.   

The Centre for Science and Environment organised the second South Asian NGO Summit on Global Environment Management in April 1993.  The Summit addressed issues relating to the Convention on Climate Change; Montreal Protocol on Ozone Layer; Biodiversity Convention; Forest Principles; Global Environment Facility; Convention for Sustainable Development; Desertification Convention; Trade and Environment; and Global Governance.  

Some of these meetings provided opportunities for intersectoral dialogue, public participation and camp up with practical action plans but what is required now is to incorporate these recommendations in the national policies.  

India is a signatory to both the Montreal Protocol (1992) and UN Convention.  Although the country programme for phasing out CFCs by 2010 has been drawn up and data is being collected on the sources and sinks of greenhouse gases, it will be a long time before India can take any effective measures in reducing CFC emissions.  For adoption of cleaner technology, India will need considerable R&D, technological transfer and international funding.   

According to Ashish Kothari, India is likely to take the lead in South Asia in the conservation of biodiversity.  The newly the established Centre for Environmental Law (WWF-India) is examining the legal implications of the Convention on Biological Diversity, with reference to the existing Indian environmental laws, so as to outline the plan of action that needs to be undertaken for appropriate ratification in term of national law reform or legislation.  Specifically, the research examines the following issues:

The work to prepare a comprehensive status report covering various facets of biodiversity, including policy issues, has been initiated.   

With support from the Global Environment Facility, the government of India is planning ‘eco-development’ projects around selected protected areas to:

The government recently set up a National Environment Council which is headed by the Prime Minister.  The Council, comprising representatives of different sectors of Indian society, is expected to promote a national dialogue by providing a forum for public debate, which could result in innovative measures aimed at incorporating environmental concerns into government policy and decision making.   

At the international level, The Commission on Sustainable  Development (CSD) and The Earth Council are the two main tanible accomplishments of the Earth Summit, set up primarily to monitor the implementation of UNCED’s decisions.   

It is apparent that progress since last year has been limited and a lost more needs to be done to translate UNCED’s commitments into action.  The outcome of rio is visible more in the form of commissions, councils and publications galore but less in the form of actual work on the ground.  What is also apparent from the UNCED process is the failure on the part of Southern NGOs to make their voices adequately heard in international negotiations.  With some exceptions, their role in both national and international policy formulation has been negligible.  It is important that the momentum of UNCED be continued by ensuring people’s participation in their own development and in the global decision making.     q

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