DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTION BETWEEN DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

There are serious differences in perception of sustainable development between developed and developing countries. Developing countries want to catch up with the developed countries. They too want high scale of living. They suspect that the very talk of environmental problems is essentially an instrument of debarring them from raising their standards to the levels of developed countries. Developing countries like India feel that poverty rather than over development is the cause of environmental problems in the less developed countries.

To quote:

With the realization that poverty and the state of underdevelopment led to many of the environmental problems that confronted the nation, came the understanding that it was more rapid development that was the best approach. This development has to benefit people (and particularly the poor) by providing for their basic human needs and rising aspirations. Thus, many of the developmental programmes and …., could indeed be termed as environmental management programmes (Govt. of India, 1985).

It has to be understood clearly that sustainable development is not a strategy of development. It is a goal or a vision. To be of practical utility it has to be operationalized in specific contexts. It sensitizes us to the fact that the rich and the poor, the present and the future, cities and countryside, industry and agriculture, and man and nature are inseparable and they are linked with each other through complex socio-economic, cultural, biological and political chains. The concept of sustainable development stresses that the long-run welfare of a community depends heavily on the quality of surrounding environment and welfare of the other communities.