ABSTRACT
Introduction Sustainable development has increasingly been taken into policy consideration during the last century, with a fair amount of consensus generated over environmental sustainability (Rodrik 2001). However, sustainable development means different challenges as well as developmental outcomes for industrialized economies of the North and the primarily agrarian economies in the South, thereby creating a divide between them (Bond 1996). The sustainable development discussions at various global forums, including the World Trade Organization (WTO), remain mainly confined to evolving broad principles, declarations and, occasionally, specific resolutions (e.g. Agenda 21 of the Rio Summit 1992), rather than ensuring a sustainable global production system. As a result, the world forums aiming to achieve environmental sustainability generally set up different norms for the North and South. Given that economic growth in the North is partially dependent on the resources in the South, unification of environmental management was inevitable. However in the absence of a common vision for economic growth by the two sets of economies, environmental issues associated with industrial and mining activities, rather than issues pertaining to agriculture, food security, and rural development influencing the livelihood of millions of people in the South, is currently receiving attention. This, in a sense, is almost inevitable given the differences in the natural-resource base, compulsions for utilizing these resources emanating from population growth and dependence on the primary sector, and ability to pay for conservation. For instance, factors governing the utilization rate of natural resources in the South primarily include food and livelihood security concerns, while the same in the North involve rural landscape management and export growth. Environmental problems in the South emanate mainly from overuse of natural resources like land and water, while the same occur in the North owing to overuse of mechanical and chemical inputs such as machinery, fertilizer and pesticides. While both may result in serious environmental impacts, the developmental implications are different: people in the South misuse natural resources in order to survive or meet basic needs, whereas the same in the North occurs for
sustaining a higher growth contour in production and consumption. This dichotomy can either be adhered to by North-South specific norms and obligations as prescribed by WTO, or by evolving a unified perspective not only on environment but also on the aforesaid development concerns.1 Given this backdrop, this chapter seeks to review the environmental implications of India’s agricultural production in the light of the WTO-agreements, and discuss policy implications for promoting more sustainable farming systems. The analysis is based mainly on the existing literature on various aspects covered by the chapter.
