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Dr. Roopa Vajpeyi Editor Consumer VOICE www.consumer-voice.org

Right to Healthy Environment: Sustainable Consumption With Good Practices. Dr. Roopa Vajpeyi Editor Consumer VOICE www.consumer-voice.org.

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Dr. Roopa Vajpeyi Editor Consumer VOICE www.consumer-voice.org

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  1. Right to Healthy Environment: Sustainable Consumption With Good Practices Dr. Roopa Vajpeyi Editor Consumer VOICE www.consumer-voice.org

  2. “We are being made aware that the organization of society on the principle of private profit, as well as public destruction, is leading both to the deformation of humanity by unregulated industrialism, and to the exhaustion of natural resources, and that a good deal of our material progress is a progress for which succeeding generations may have to pay dearly.”  ― T.S. Eliot

  3. “Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites”~WilliumRuckelshaus

  4. Right to Healthy Environment : Indian Consmers Constitutional Mandate: • In Article 21, no provision for fundamental right to environment. • Judiciary has contributed in establishing right to environment. State Duties: • Article 48 A introduced by the 42nd Amendment “The state shall endeavor to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forest and wildlife of the country” • Article 47 imposes a duty on the state to improve standard of living and public health Contd….

  5. Duty of Citizens • Article 51 A (g) • “It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife, and to have compassion for living creatures,”. • The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) has also released the National Environment Policy (NEP) in 2006. This includes various provisions for consumer protection, such as eco labeling etc. • Several acts relevant to environmental protection have been enacted so far. Some are: • The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. • The Forest Conservation Act, 1980. • The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. • The Environment Protection Act, 1986. • The biological Diversity Act ,2002

  6. SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION: CHALLENGES ; OPPORTUNITIES Contd…. • Challenges: • Demographic Factors(asset) • Economic factors(consider the informal sector) • Socio-cultural factors: (asset) (a) Indian consumers, specially the rural have access to traditional knowledge formats, which supports sustainable consumption. • Political factors:(actual opportunities) People and environment-A composite whole - Significant population segment - below the poverty line, political decisions supporting development in urban areas work against the sustainability. - Deforestation. - Building dams for electricity. - Causing dislocation and migration to urban areas.

  7. SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES Opportunities for Sustainable Consumption Contd…. Technology • Technology – promoting energy efficiency through use of renewable energy sources: solar and wind power amply available. • Local solutions like water conservation and Bio-Gas. Changing Mindset: • Sustainable consumption considers issues going beyond the individual consumers and their needs. • Equity, human rights and sustainability in production and consumption processes. • Thinking critically about life-cycles of products, their use and disposal. • Consumers to review “actual needs to reduce consumption”. • Markets to review aggressive market techniques including unnecessary packaging.

  8. India’s Contribution in Environmental Damage Contd… • In year 2000, India was responsible for 1.8 billion tonnes of carbon-dioxide, which was 5.6% of the world’s total emission. Energy consumption of 1.22 billion is expected to quadruple over the next 25 years which will inevitably increase India’s emission of greenhouse gases. • India stands at number four as a world-class polluter, having recently overtaken Japan, hence is contributing to the global warming. • Air Pollution: • India has the worst air pollution in the entire world, beating China, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. • Out of 132 countries, India ranks last in ‘Air quality and its effects on human health’. • Middle class life options contributing to indoor and outdoor pollution. 

  9. Coal Pollution: • Due to heavy reliance on coal for power generation more than 300,000 people every year of coal pollution. • 80 per cent of energy is produced from coal, which emits a high amount of carbon and greenhouse gases. River Water Pollution: • 80 percent of urban waste in India ends up in the country's rivers. • Contaminated and polluted water now kills more people than all forms of violence. • Unchecked urban growth and poor governance adds to these problems.

  10. Ground Water Contamination The chart shows: out of 639 districts in India, 158 districts have saline water in their pockets. In 267 districts, excess fluoride; 385 districts have nitrates in excess; 53 arsenic and 63 heavy metals such as lead, chromium and cadmium. Plastic Pollution: • India's plastics consumption is one of the highest in the world. Municipal Solid Waste: • The country has over 5,000 cities and towns, which generate about 40 million tonnes of MSW per year today. • Municipal solid waste is generated by households, commercial establishments and offices and does not include the industrial or agricultural waste.

  11. E-Waste Pollution: • India produces about 3,80,000 tonnes of e-Waste per annum. • E-waste produced in India includes over 100,000 tonnes from refrigerators, 275,000 tonnes from TVs, 56,300 tonnes from personal computers, 4,700 tonnes from printers and 1,700 tonnes from mobile phones. The un- organized recycling sector which fails to practice eco-friendly e-Waste recycling methods release large amount of toxic chemicals. Bio-Medical Waste Pollution :   • India - a dumping ground for Boi-medical hazardous waste resulting in spread of diseases and polluting the atmosphere.

  12. Green House Gas Emissions • India’s Green house Gas (GHG) emissions rose 4.2% to 1301.21 million tonne in 2000 compared with 1994 levels. • GHG profile for 2007 is 1771.66 million tonne carbon dioxide equivalent. • The energy sector accounted for 67.4% of total GHG emission. • Followed by agriculture at 23.3% • Industrial processes 6% • Waste sector 3.4%

  13. Consumer Responsibilities “A responsible consumer is a person who exercises his/her discretion with the full awareness of the implication of his/her right to choice, and is accountable or answerable to other consumers and to the environment for his/her purchase decisions”. Social Responsibility of Economically Enabled Group • Impact of consumerism is more evident among ‘Higher Income Groups’. Their purchase patterns are usually excessive and wasteful. Gender-Specific Responsibility: • Traditionally women have been the reservoirs of cultural heritage, sustainable consumption and production methods. • Empowerment of women becomes, therefore, essential for devolving consumer responsibility, especially in environmental conservation and protection.

  14. Advertisers and market targets specific age segments for the sale of products. • To counter unwanted advertisements, Educational institutions, and parents can promote responsible consumer behavior in the young. • For young consumers, consumption and disposal and conservation of paper, water & electricity important. Urban-Rural Responsibility: • consumption of wood in urban area is directly related to deforestation. • The excessive use of energy by industry and urban consumer leads to large scale dams in the hilly regions. • Causing population dislocation, submerging agriculture and forest land, thus causing wildlife disturbance. • Cultural damage destroys regional diversity.

  15. Indian Cultural Knowledge Supporting Environment India’s strong cultural heritage, diverse geographical assets and conservation of wildlife is part of its’ cultural ethos. Indian philosophy argues for environment oriented living: all life is created by the five elements of environment i.e. fire, air, earth, water and sky and finally dissolve in those five elements. Environment is in itself a living mechanism and its protection should be one of our fundamental duties.

  16. SURVEY RESULTS • Environment friendly certifications awareness • 13% awareness in urban and APL households. about Energy Star Rating, Bharat/Euro Emission for Automobiles, Organic Food, Natural Textiles and Recyclable Plastic etc. • Awareness among south(18%), north (12%), east (2.5%). • To promote environment friendly commodities, awareness generation and information dissemination activities are needed. • 28% purchase such products. • 36% buy such products very rarely. • 6% never purchase such products. This phenomenon is common across all categories of respondents.   • 65% respondents find such products competitively priced . • 60% respondents finds such purchases easily available and easy to maintain. Contd… About 63% respondents aware about Government incentives to promote environment friendly products. • Frequency of Purchasing Environment Friendly Products Contd….

  17. Willingness to pay more for such products. • 63% pay extra. • The trend common across all categories of respondents. • No BPL families in Haryana are willing to pay extra for such products, while not a single respondent in Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh is willing to pay extra money for such products. • Hurdles in Promoting Consumer Rights • Involvement of advocates in consumer courts not required according to law. As it • increases time and cost factors for the consumers. • Limits court outreach for local population. • Lack of timely redress, stops people from approaching consumer courts. • Cases remain pending but the law requires the windup within 90 days. • There exists lack of coordination among various agencies responsible for consumer protection leads to consumers being left unprotected most times. • Ill-equipped consumer organisation lacks financial and human resources. Thus unable to discharge their duties.

  18. Survey Highlights: Right to Healthy Environment • Only 13% respondents are aware about certifications and initiatives viz. Energy Star Rating, Bharat/Euro Emission for Automobiles, Organic Food & Natural Textiles and Recyclable Plastic etc. • About 63% respondents are aware of Government incentives to promote environment friendly products. • About 28% respondents those who know about such products always tend to buy such products. • About 65% respondents purchase such products find them competitively price as compared to other similar products available in the market. • About 63% respondents know about such products and are willing to pay some extra money to buy such products.

  19. RECOMMENDATIONS: A Healthy Environment & Promoting Sustainable Consumption • Consumer policy to address the interest of ‘who have’ and the people ‘who don’t have’. • Well defined economic policy to bridge the gap between the fulfillments of basic needs with overall consumer satisfaction. • Broadening purview of the Environmental Protection Act (EPA), 1986, to make it more inclusive. • Training officials dealing with environmental laws. • Creating a decentralized framework for diffusion of information to the consumer at large. • All stakeholders i.e. consumers, producers, governments, researchers, media and others, must work in coordination. • Government to build inter-linkages between clean energy and production of green goods. • Incentivize producers of green goods. • Facilitate the development of infrastructure make supply chains of resources & technology more efficient and effective. • West and the North subsuming and changing Indian lifestyle options. Sustainable consumption to be reinforced as they are central to Indian culture and values.

  20. Good planets are hard to find, please don’t blow it…. Thank You “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children” ͠ Chief Seattle.

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