The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Green awareness not enough, what's required is the will to change things

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 08, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Green awareness not enough, what's required is the will to change things

Staff Reporter

Population explosion biggest challenge as it engenders poverty, migration and pollution, says official

GREEN CHALLENGE: S. Balaji, director of Department of Environment (right) talks on the environmental challenges at the seminar on `India's Environmental Challenges and Possible Solutions.' Paul Appasami of Madras School of Economics and V.Ramamurthy, former Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu look on. — Photo: Shaju John

CHENNAI: : Understanding the problems faced by the environment and the need for environmental conservation is not enough; what is required is the determination to act for the cause.

Environmentalists, at a seminar on `India's Environmental Challenges and Possible Solutions', called for awareness of the havoc wrought upon the nature and the resources and action to protect the environment.

The seminar was organised by the Swarna Ananta Padmam Foundation at the Madras Institute of Developmental Studies on Tuesday to mark the World Environment Day.

S. Balaji, director, Department of Environment, said population explosion was the biggest challenge that engendered poverty, migration and pollution. Tamil Nadu was the most urbanised State with 43 per cent of urbanisation.

Groundwater depletion was the result of urbanisation. Chennai residents dig up to 150 feet for water, whereas Coimbatore has borewells sunk up to 1000 feet.

Pointing out that the city generated 3,500 tonnes of garbage a day, Mr. Balaji called for source segregation even at domestic level. He also gave tips on converting waste into a resource such as using dried lemon peels as cleaning powder.

Briefing the department's initiatives, including its effort at having children from 40 schools in the city adopt streets for maintenance as `clean and green streets', he said: "Awareness must be created to extract resources from the environment without affecting its vitals."

S. Janakarajan, professor, Madras Institute of Developmental Studies, spoke on the water issues.

The irrigation system before independence depended on conventional water resources; it turned groundwater dependent post-independent for agricultural growth. Unplanned urbanisation that made residents turn towards water resources of villages and industrial development were the cause of surface water pollution and groundwater depletion, he said.

He cited the Palar river basin and the Noyyal river basin at Tirupur, which were exploited for urban use. Though there were comprehensive laws for environmental conservation, he said the effective measures were not taken to monitor the exploitation.

Paul Appasami, Centre for Excellence in Environmental Economics, Madras School of Economics, focussed on poverty, industrialisation and consumptive urban lifestyles that caused environmental exploitation.

V. Ramamurthy, former Chief Secretary, Tamil Nadu, who chaired the seminar, said the determination to act for the environmental conservation was vital.

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