Monday, July 3 2006 13:45 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chicago: Under pressure to accelerate economic growth, developing nations tend to disregard environment. A combination of economics and industrial ecology, however, can show an environment-friendly way to create more jobs and ensure development, said a visiting Indian environmental activist.

"Economics deals with the flow of money through a system, while industrial ecology deals with the flow of resources. The combination of the two could be a potent planning platform for regional development," said Ramesh Ramaswamy, managing trustee of the Resource Optimisation Initiative a non-profit research institution in Bangalore - in a lecture at Harvard University.

"In India, there is the pressure to achieve GDP (gross domestic product) growth and create jobs at any cost. In such an atmosphere, environment is perceived as an impediment to economic progress," he said.

"What we need is an integrated approach," Ramaswamy told a group of scientists, academics and students at the university.

The environment movement in India is being perceived as elitist, said Ramaswamy, adding that environmental laws are ineffective, partly because they focus on pollution by big businesses without addressing either pollution by small-scale businesses or agricultural pollution.



According to him, the existing laws are far from comprehensive. "For example, there is no system to monitor pesticide and fertiliser pollution and there is no law governing the use of asbestos," Ramaswamy told sourcesfter the lecture.



It is yet to be recognised widely in India that dealing with environmental pollution should go beyond controlling hazardous waste material, Ramaswamy noted. He said that safeguards against environmental pollution should be built into the manufacturing process itself.



"The term industrial ecology appears to suggest that it has something to do with just industry or ecology. But its scope goes far beyond that. In its broader definition, industrial ecology aims to study the flow of all resources (material, energy, land, forest, human resources) with a view to strategically optimising their use," he explained.



Industrial ecology is crucial for developing countries like India, said Ramaswamy.



"A great deal of manufacturing for the global market is increasingly occurring in developing countries, and this is a crucial time to influence their choice of the industrial development path. For instance, the analysis of resource flows at an early stage of development can lead to a resource-based development plan for a country. This will create an industrial system that uses its resources more effectively."



Ramaswamy said the industrial ecology framework, which was originally formulated in the US, needs to be modified to better serve developing countries like India.



"In developing countries, high population density makes land a very vital resource. Other issues like low per capita availability of freshwater, lack of adequate sewerage system and poor transport network are also unique to developing nations.

An MBA graduate from the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad, Ramaswamy worked as a senior executive in several companies before turning his attention to industrial ecology. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Industrial Ecology and has co-authored a book, 'Applied industrial ecology a new platform for planning sustainable societies'.

Given India's rapid industrialisation, and its insatiable demand for energy, environmental pollution seems inevitable. But Ramaswamy said, "First you need a clear goal. We (in India) are always looking for short-term solutions. Unfortunately, it is the poor who bear the brunt of environmental degradation."