Rio, Johannesburg and Beyond: India’s Progress in Sustainable Development

This book provides concerned citizens and national leaders with a comprehensive analysis of India’s environmental problems, and suggestions for practical and innovative solutions by a team of experts drawn from LEAD India’s network. The analysis is clear and uncompromising. Agrarian women have become poorer in the ten years since Rio, while environmental degradation has increased. Globalisation has clearly benefited the middle classes, but what of its impact on the poor? Can science and technology help foster sustainability and meet the needs of the poorest? Are intellectual property rights able to protect the kind of traditional and indigenous knowledge that underpins India? The challenge lies in how to maintain the lessons from the country’s micro successes and macro failures. The writers argue that hope should not be lost and that the way forward is to build “a coalition for responsible frugality”.