Children 'worst sufferers' of environmental degradation: Prez

President Pranab Mukherjee today said children are the "worst sufferers" of adverse impact of pollution and there was a need for an "out-of-box" solution to curb the peril of environmental degradation.
"Recent studies and systematic reviews indicate that environmental factors are responsible for an estimated 24 per cent of the global burden of disease in terms of healthy life years lost and 23 per cent of all deaths.
"Children are the worst sufferers of the adverse impact of environmental diseases. 24 per cent of all deaths under the age of 15 are due to diarrhoea, malaria and respiratory diseases - all of which are environment-related," the President said.

While inaugurating 'World Conference on Environment-2017' organised here by the National Green Tribunal, he said that 19 per cent deaths are being "caused by cancer worldwide" and they are attributed to carcinogens, emitted and produced due to "unmindful industrialisation".
Mukherjee, welcoming delegates from across the world, asked them to deliberate and come out with "implementable" solutions on questions like to what extent environmental degradation can be allowed for development and what natural resources would remain for future generations.
"It is high time that we ask ourselves the questions- to what extent can we allow environmental degradation? What are we going to leave behind for our future generations? What steps need to be taken to curb this peril of environmental degradation?" the President said.

He quoted Mahatma Gandhi who had said "earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need but not every man's greed".

"Global growth is subjective to responsible management of the planet's natural resources. Excessive consumption of natural resources have to be impeded," he said.
Development and environment protection can go hand in hand as there was no "inherent contradiction between environment protection and developmental requirement," he said.
There are normal traditional ways of thinking to solve the problems "but if you are not able to solve the problem, we require sometimes out-of-box solutions for protecting the environment," he said.
Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, who also spoke on the occasion, echoed similar views and said "development must go on and it should go on in a manner that the damage being caused to the environment is least."

Mukherjee said conservation has now become inclusive and
participatory and this shift has strengthened over a period of time due to sensitisation of people in general and firm political will on part of the governments.
He complimented the contribution of National Green Tribunal for its work on environment and said the premier environment watchdog was facilitating wide ranging discussions on environmental issues of universal concern.
Quoting the environment activist Wendell Berry, the President said "The earth is what we have in common".
He said that excessive consumption of natural resources have to be impeded and expressed happiness that over the past decade, consciousness about environmental concerns has grown and also resulted in action on part of governments throughout the world.

Jaitley said that after industrial revolution, developed nations did the "bulk of the damage" to the environment and developing nations have least contribution in it.
He said now it is the chance of the developing countries to grow on the ground of "parity".
"We still have the challenge of pulling 25-30 per cent of our population from below poverty line, we have challenges of massive urbanisation, creation of physical infrastructure like building highways etc...," he said, adding "India is set to see more highways, rural roads, airports, seaports and this is a development which is inevitably going to take place".

"You need to provide sanitation to millions of people, you need to provide housing to millions of people and these are not challenges which people can continue to wait for decade after decade," he said.
Development is "inevitable" and it is bound to have an adverse impact on environment, he said adding a balance was needed to be struck between the two aspects.
"As a responsible society being a signatory to the Paris agreement, a large country like India which houses one-sixth of the world population also has to do its significant bit to the protection of global environment," Jaitley said.

He said that despite thermal power being the key source of power, the government has "started taxing coal" to ensure that less damage is caused to the environment.
National Green Tribunal Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar welcomed the delegates including Chief Justice, judges from the Supreme Court and High Courts and guests from all over the world.
He highlighted the role of NGT in resolving the disputes of environment and said the green panel had disposed 82 per cent cases in a year.
The NGT chief informed that the tribunal has become "paperless" and has also launched a mobile application through which litigants can file their cases and also keep a tab on developments of their matters.