ABSTRACT
It is within the last two decades of the earlier century that the dangers of environmental decay and climatic challenge began to perturb us at the policymaking level. Government and non-governmental agencies became quick to respond from different corners of the globe. The advanced west was prompt enough to shift the entire onus of climatic destabilization onto the poor and developing nations of the South. Quickly a north-south divide emerged. After many deliberations, the world leadership has agreed to accept environmental issues as ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ after continuous insistence from the developing blocs. The idea of sustainable development has emerged in this period as a major political and environmental discourse and a combat mechanism to deal with environmental decay and climatic challenges. This chapter focuses on the issue of sustainable development from theoretical perspective with its clear agenda of being a combat mechanism against climate change. Attention is also paid to some other related issues, namely how pursuance of a sustainable development policy can enhance the stature of India and its South Asian neighbours and how sustainable development can actually be carried out without compromising the development requirements of South Asian nations through promotion of a new norm of living in harmony with nature.
