Published in Afternoon Despatch & Courier, September 17, 1999

The United States ambassador to India, Mr. Richard Celeste, has stressed the need for all countries to reach across one another�s boundaries for effectively tackling issues related to preserving the environment.

Addressing an elite gathering of businessmen from Mumbai yesterday, after inaugurating the United States-Environment Resource Centre (US-ERC), Mr. Celeste said problems related to environment were of utmost importance at the turn of the millennium and it also provided good opportunity for the private sector to take up projects that lessen the government�s burden.

Calling on businessmen not to shy away from the task of preserving the environment and working towards eliminating environmental hazards, Mr. Celeste said, "It is a challenge which calls for reaching across national boundaries. It is also an opportunity for the private sector to bring in state-of-the-art technologies for tackling a host of issues related to environmental degradation."

When told that businessmen in India were reluctant to take up projects related to environment, the U.S. ambassador said it was high time Indian business realized the serious responsibility they have towards preserving the environment.

He also turned down suggestions that the economic sanctions imposed against India after it conducted the nuclear tests at Pokhran has dissuaded businessmen from taking up environment-related projects saying, "I don�t think the U.S. sanctions have any particular role to play towards environmental issues. The sanctions did have their impact on Indo-U.S. business in general but it would in no way hamper any united efforts in this regard."

Identifying key areas regarding environment which Indian businessmen need to take up on a war-footing, Mr. Celeste said "waste reduction" and "water management" need to be given a serious thought as they were the most pressing problems of developing countries like India.

Mr. Dick Edwards, office director for energy, environment and enterprise, USAID, said the major environmental problems in India were those concerning degradation of natural resources, loss of biodiversity, urban degradation, industrial and greenhouse gas pollution, etc.

In a statistical presentation, he pointed out that Calcutta, Mumbai and Delhi were among the top 10 most polluted cities of the country and that solid waste generation had shot up from six million tonnes in 1947 to 48 million tonnes in 1997 which indicates the pressing need to introduce technologies for waste reduction. He also stated that 70 per cent of India�s surface waters were found to be polluted and that by 2017, India will be "water stressed".

Mr. Edwards suggested an approach for dealing with such problems by taking up technical assistance from other countries, intensive training programmes, partnerships and inter-agency cooperation, leveraging resources, etc. Other initiatives would be taking up projects for reducing greenhouse gases, climate change programmes, an Indo-U.S. business dialogue over environment and energy conservation and commercialisation.