Johannesburg: India on September 4 slammed the rich countries for "unsustainable patterns of consumption and production" saying this was causing environmental degradation and poverty.

"It is this attachment to unsustainable consumption patterns and a determination to preserve and raise levels of prosperity and any cost, that breeds resistance to any meaningful reform in the financial and economic structures that underpin global society today, and results in the neglect of development agenda" of environment and poverty alleviation, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said.

Addressing the final session of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Sinha said, "The poor are not the biggest consumers of the world's resources, the rich are."

Amid prolonged and sustained applause accorded to few speakers in the Summit, he said there was a fundamental gap in the understanding of the legitimate needs of developing countries.

"It is difficult," the Minister said, "To pursue enlightened approaches to development in a world where ODA levels are falling, protectionism is on the rise, terms of trade are stacked in favour of the rich, debt burdens have spiraled, corporate governance need urgent re-definition, and the volatility of international capital transfers has affected productive flows to the South."

Sinha said India has taken its own national responsibilities seriously. "Sustainable development has become an integral part of our planning process. The government has published an assessment of 10 years of Agenda 21, based on the Indian experience, to commemorate the Johannesburg WSSD."

PTI