US Development Model Recipe for Disaster: Indian Minister Jairam Ramesh

India's outspoken environment minister has attacked wealthy Indians' embrace of the American consumer lifestyle, saying the US model of development was a "recipe for disaster."

"You can't blame the Americans. The US lifestyle has become the world lifestyle," Jairam Ramesh told Britain's Guardian newspaper in an interview published Wednesday.

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"If we are going to replicate this model, it is a recipe for disaster for India as well as for the rest of the world," he said, ahead of leaving for UN climate talks in Cancun, Mexico.

He said there were many in India who wanted the country to "grow now, pay later. They say, let's follow the Western model -- or even the Chinese model."

Ramesh, a member of the ruling Congress party, has made a name for himself as a "green campaigner", halting major projects through his insistence that procedures to protect the environment are followed.

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In order to achieve significant reduction of biodiversity loss, Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has called for effective and coherent convergence of policies

His willingness to stand in the way of road and infrastructure development has made him enemies in the cabinet and a troublesome figure for industrialists.

Earlier this month, he described gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles (SUVs) that run on state-subsidised diesel as "criminal."

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Jairam Ramesh has said that the Central Government has mooted a National Green Tribunal for speedy and efficient disposal of cases related to environmental issues.

Ramesh will head to Cancun shortly for the November 29-December 10 climate talks where nations will have a second go at striking a deal to curb greenhouse gases after 2012, after last year's failed Copenhagen summit.

India has maintained that the burden of cuts should be on developed countries and that it cannot commit to binding targets in the future because they might impede its ability to lift its population out of poverty.

Jairam Ramesh Says Forests Absorb 11 Percent of Annual Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh, said on Saturday that about 11 per cent of the annual greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) is being absorbed by the country's forests.

Ramesh told the Guardian that he had to "protect Indian economic interests", describing the Cancun meeting as "all about politics, not the environment".

He said he did not expect any breakthrough, but the meeting could help make progress towards a final agreement.

Source-AFP