Excellency President of India Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil ji, Thiru S. Regupathy ji, Hon’ble Minister of State (Forest and Wildlife), Ms. Meena Gupta ji, Secretary (E&F), Dr. Venugopal, Director, National Museum of Natural History, Young Environmentalists and Award Winners, Distinguished delegates, media representatives, Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is a matter of great honour and privilege to be part of the World Environment Day 2008 celebrations being organized by my Ministry. I take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the Hon’ble President, who has spared her valuable time to be with us to grace the occasion today.

The theme of this year’s World Environment Day ‘Pick Right – Towards Sustainability and Growth’ reminds me of the famous quote of Mahatma Gandhi that “the Earth provides enough for everyone’s need but not for anyone’s greed”. It’s time for us all at the national as well as global level to make right choices for sustainable development. As we all know, the World Environment Day marks the historic UN Conference on the Human Environment held at Stockholm on this day in 1972. Late Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi delivered her landmark address on this occasion, wherein she eloquently highlighted the intricate linkage between environmental degradation and poverty. Her vision rings true all the more today.

World Environment Day is one of the main events through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances public attention and action. This year’s theme makes us recognize that climate change is becoming a crucial issue, and needs our immediate attention.

Throughout the country this day is being celebrated in many ways, including street rallies, bicycle parades, green concerts, essay and poster competitions in schools, tree planting, recycling efforts, clean-up campaigns and much more.

Climate change is undoubtedly one of the most worrying aspects of human progress. The earth’s atmosphere is a common resource for all of humankind. Every one of us has an equal right to use it for our development within an overall global sustainability limit. But the problem of climate change has been accentuated by reckless and inequitable use of this common resource over a long period of time. The problem has become more intensified in the past few decades.

Though all countries in the world contribute, to some extent, to the generation of greenhouse gases, the contribution of developing countries like India is vastly different and far lower than that of developed countries. It is also recognized that the developing countries are, in no way, responsible for the climate change being witnessed now. We, in the developing countries are ready to contribute to the global efforts in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. As a developing nation struggling to bring millions of people out of poverty, we cannot accept binding commitments for cutting down emission of greenhouse gases. However, we have taken several policy decisions aimed at protection of the environment while ensuring economic growth and accelerating poverty alleviation.

We all know that unsustainable human activities including consumptive lifestyles are placing severe pressure on biological resources. Another significant threat to biodiversity, ecosystems, and the goods and services they provide, is due to a build up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Indeed each of us can help minimize these adverse impacts of climate change, through simple daily actions. Our age-old tradition of planting and nurturing trees is the best way of reducing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Forests, indeed are the biggest natural sink for carbon. The choices we make every day, in how we commute, what type of packaging we use in our consumer goods, what fuels and energy sources we adopt, and so on, will go a long way in impacting the overall climate change scenario. In this sense, each of us can be a saviour or a destroyer of the environment.

We must realize that environmental protection is not the State’s duty alone; the citizens too have to take an active role in this. Towards this, we are promoting people’s participation in all aspects of environmental protection through our various programmes.

June 5 is also the foundation day of the National Museum of Natural History and I congratulate the officers of my Ministry and the Museum in developing this institution as an effective means of promoting environmental awareness among our young citizens, to fulfill Late Smt. Indira Gandhi’s vision of making it a first-class world institution. The Museum in Delhi is located in hired premises and I hope that we will find a permanent place for it soon.

The strong presence of the print and electronic media and the civil society representatives today is encouraging, and hopefully the environmental issues raised through World Environment Day celebrations will not only get adequate and effective coverage but be partners in government efforts in promoting sustainable development.

On behalf of my Ministry, I wish you all a very happy and successful World Environment Day 2008 and, as this year’s theme says, let’s Pick Right and move towards sustainability and growth with responsibility. I once again express my deep gratitude to Her Excellency the President of India for sparing her valuable time and gracing the occasion today.

Thank you.