Pardee Center Hosts Discussion with Minister Jairam Ramesh of India

The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study for the Longer-Range Future in collaboration with the Boston University Global Programs’ India Initiative hosted an informal discussion with former Minister Jairam Ramesh of India on October 6 titled “Energy, Economy, Environment.”

Sixteen participants joined in the discussion, including Boston University professors from Earth & Environment, the School of Public Health, the College of Communications, and the School of Management, as well as some former Pardee Center Graduate Summer Fellows.

Jairam Ramesh is a Member of Parliament representing Andhra Pradesh. He is a former Minister of State, Minister of Environment and Forests, Minister of Rural Development and Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation in India. He is a leader on climate change negotiations who served as the chief negotiator for India at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Copenhagen. He is currently a Fisher Family Fellow with the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School.

In his remarks, he spoke of the need for India to move away from the typical “grow now, pay later” approach to economic expansion that views environmental protection as a hindrance to economic growth instead of as a means of sustaining natural resources, protecting public health, and ensuring livelihoods for millions of people, leading to slower but more sustainable growth.  “Protecting the environment is not a luxury for India, but the challenge to sustain high rates of growth is to find the right mix of regulations, laws, and interventions” that are politically feasible and still provide for critical resource protection, he said. He also spoke of India’s particular vulnerabilities to climate change with more than 150 million people living in coastal areas subject to sea level rise; the retreat of the Himalayan glaciers, which feed important river systems in the country; the pressure to cut down richly forested areas to extract fossil fuels; and the public health issues associated with increasing air and water pollution related to heavy reliance on fossil fuels.

In discussing energy systems, he said that the “utility model has a vice-like grip on our thinking” and it will require a “leap of imagination” for India and other developing countries to consider smaller, distributed renewable energy sources as opposed to a centralized grid fed primarily by burning coal and natural gas. He cited Germany’s success in getting 6 million people —  out of a total population of 80 million — to adopt renewable energy technologies and move toward energy decentralization as proof that a different approach can work.

He stressed that to get people and politicians to support environmental protection efforts, the issue must be framed as a public health issue with emphasis on studies that link air pollution to asthma among children, for example. “One way of winning the debate is on public health grounds,” he said.