Need To Balance Environment & Development: Jairam Ramesh

Speaking at a function to mark the day, environment minister Jairam Ramesh said: "Development that hurts the environment is no development but at the same time there is no justification for depriving people of development in the name of environment. We need to balance environment and development. It is, however, not an easy task."

The UN Environment Programme in its report, Forests in a green economy, also makes a similar argument. It states that natural capital as represented by forests could account for up to 90% of the GDP of the rural poor. Read the full report here.

Source: ET Bureau, Economic Times, New Delhi.