Theme ‘Balancing Development with Environ’ sets the tone for C20 summit

Nagpur: The first plenary session of C20 on the theme ‘Balancing Development with Environment’ was held on Monday with delegates from different countries presenting their views. Former chief information commissioner of India Satyananda Mishra chaired the session.
Mishra said a common theme runs across all the subjects of the working group which was that human beings were interdependent on their surroundings and nature.
Dr Andy Carmone, clinical director at The Clinton Health Access Initiative, said, “We need to look into the health problems of people living in remote areas and of those who are from the marginalised society.”
Merle De Kreuk, professor, environmental technology, TU Delft (Netherlands), said humanity has broken the water cycle. “As scientists and researchers, we are looking into ways to improve it, but we need to fix it. Addressing and limiting climate change is our only chance to fix the water cycle,” said De Kreuk.
Dr Priya Nair, School of Medicine, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, elaborated on the concept of holistic health which entailed a relationship between health and environment.
Dr Maneesha Sudheer, provost, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, said that the working group focussed on four-sub themes — climate resilience and social justice, environmental sustainability, net zero emission management and compassion driven approach to sustainable development.
Dr Gajanan Dange, president of Yojak, said that lifestyle and development was linked and adding of value based approach framework will be the key to an environment centric lifestyle.
Vasuki Kalyanasundaram of The Satsang Foundation, India, said the disappearance of rivers and pollution of water bodies is a concern.
Indira Khurana, commissioner, People’s World Commission on Flood and Drought, spoke about the importance of rainwater conservation.
Jadav Payeng, environmentalist from Majuli, Assam, spoke about his work in forest conservation. Payeng said his planted forests have ushered in a diversity of fauna.