“Role of ecology and environment in sustained economic development”

Economic growth can be defined as an increase in a nation’s economic resources like wealth and capital. A sustained economic growth is one which is consistently high for a long period of time. Environment and Ecology play a crucial role in ensuring the same.

Environment is not just a provider of raw material and services, but also a taker of economic growth. If our actions lead to environmental and ecological degradation, the economic growth of the nation is bound to suffer.

Our relationship with the environment has changed over time. While there was respect for the environment since prehistoric times, it continued even in the Indus Valley times where nature was worshipped. It took a major turn with the advent of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries.

We have done more damage to the environment in recent years than we did in the entire history of humanity. Today, as we face a global economic slowdown, the threat of climate change has never been more serious. As per the IPCC report, failure to contain average temperature rise to below 2°C by 2100 will have adverse irreversible consequences.

Let us first start with how the environment plays a role in economic growth. For economic growth, a nation needs natural resources like coal, minerals, wood, metals, and so on, which are provided by the environment.

Humans themselves are resources for a nation. The environment provides humans with food when they are hungry, water when they are thirsty, shelter like caves, tree-shade when they have no roof. In a way, the environment builds human capital which drives the economic growth of a nation.

The environment is not just a provider but also a protector. The atmosphere consists of an ozone layer which protects life on the planet from harmful UV rays from the sun. By ensuring our safety, it allows us to perform our functions to achieve economic growth.

While ensuring protection, the environment also supports life on the planet. Activities like pollination, nutrient cycling, rainfall ensure agricultural production which not only contributes to economic growth but also ensures food security.

Unfortunately, our activities have led to environmental degradation in the form of reduction of biodiversity, desertification, ocean acidification, coral bleaching, and so on. It has increased the prevalence of zoonotic diseases which have caused the loss of lives of millions of humans.

COVID-19 is one such zoonotic disease which has become a pandemic on a very large scale. It left countries with no option but to enforce lockdowns to save lives. This has resulted in a complete shutdown of the economy and almost all major economies have registered negative growth.

While on one hand we are fighting air pollution in major cities like Delhi and Tokyo, on the other hand, we see the burning of the lungs of the Earth, the Amazon forests. To fight air pollution, steps like the odd-even scheme and shutdown of polluting industries are bound to affect economic growth.

While the air we breathe is polluted, the water we drink is no different. Pollutants like fluoride, arsenic, and uranium have been found across states like Bihar, Rajasthan, and Gujarat. Overexploitation of groundwater has reduced the availability of water for industries and agriculture thereby affecting economic growth.

The degradation of the environment, while reducing the quality of air and water, has increased the frequency of extreme weather events. Increasing frequency of cyclones and events like Australian bushfires negate all the work that has been done and push our economic growth down.

Such events have increased human sufferings on land, but the state of oceans is no better. Human activities causing marine pollution like oil spills and discharge from industries have caused great damage to marine life. Reduction in marine diversity has impacted the marine economy and thereby affected economic development.

The rising sea levels caused due to melting glaciers have threatened the survival of island nations. Their economy depends upon tourism of seashores, which in itself contributes to beach pollution.

The objective of sustained economic development is to increase the quality of life. Those who have been displaced due to environmental degradation, called environmental refugees, have a worse quality of life. Their sufferings are not recognized internationally and countries close their borders in their faces. We cannot carry on like this. We have to start acting, and it has to be now.

The way forward lies in realizing a common duty to preserve a global common. International collaboration to achieve goals of the Paris Agreement and sustainable development goals is urgent. Developed nations, due to their greater role in environmental degradation, have to take up responsibility and aid developing countries in clean development technologies.

A transition towards electric vehicles via FAME India, increasing forest cover, sustainable fishing and tourism, climate-smart agriculture, and innovations like smog towers are the way forward.

Individually, we should all reduce plastic waste, plant more trees, use public transport and strive to protect the environment as mentioned in fundamental duties in the constitution.

Sustained Economic Development will depend upon our ability to protect and conserve the environment and ecology. While ensuring rapid economic growth, we must leave the earth in a better way than we got it as Gandhiji has said,

“Earth is not an inheritance from our past; it is a loan from our future generations.”