Ecosystems in India can't ensure sustainable development: Expert

Ecosystems across the world, particularly in India, are not conducive to ensuring sustainable development, an environment expert said here on Wednesday. At a workshop to mark International Day for Biological Diversity, Professor B R Babu said that "all our rivers, primary channels and streams are dead".

"Every year, we hold conferences, have a nice dinner and talk about development without knowing that thermal power plants have been shifted to coastal areas due to unavailability of fresh water anywhere else," he said. "What sustainable development are we talking about? Ecosystems across the world, particularly in India, are not in a shape to ensure sustainable development," Prof Babu, the head of the Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystem, Delhi University, said.

He also expressed concern over the alarming rate of land degradation.