Balancing Progress: India’s Strategic Management of Natural Resources

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav stressed the importance of balancing development projects in the Himalayas with ecological preservation. He highlighted India's rich natural resource base, urging sensible utilization. Yadav called for balanced policies in environmental and industrial sectors while emphasizing the role of cooperative institutions like NIRANTAR.

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Monday stressed the need for a balanced approach to development projects in critical ecosystems such as the Himalayas, expressing concern over diminishing glaciers.

He highlighted the strategic significance of natural resources, pointing out that today's geopolitics largely hinges on their utilization. While chairing a meeting of the National Institute for Research & Application of Natural Resources to Transform, Adapt and Build Resilience (NIRANTAR), Yadav emphasized India's abundant resources and called for balanced, sustainable, and sensible use of these assets. Despite advancements in manufacturing and technology sectors, basic life necessities like food, medicine, energy, and oil originate from nature, he asserted.

Yadav further addressed climate change challenges, noting the role of institutions like the GB Pant National Institute for Himalayan Ecology. These institutions, he said, could contribute significantly through cooperation and coordination in efforts to preserve ecological balance. The ministry, Yadav reiterated, should be instrumental in national development while safeguarding resources from over-exploitation, underlining the economic impact of effective policy-making for conservation.

(With inputs from agencies.)