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Leader's view
Narendra Modi
Prime Minister, India
LEADER'S VIEW
Adapting to climate
change is an opportunity
During the International Conference on the Rule of Law for Supporting the 2030
Development Agenda, Narendra Modi encouraged global sustainability
3 rd
Summit
2014
Elected
I
am sure all of us agree that poverty is the
biggest challenge for the environment.
Therefore, the eradication of poverty
is one of the fundamental goals of my
government. Guided by our core values, we
are working towards achieving this goal with
sincerity. We want to create an environment for
1.25 billion Indians to develop and prosper. We
are encouraging education, skill development,
digital connectivity and entrepreneurship to
provide an enabling ecosystem
for our youth to blossom.
We aim to do all this in
a sustainable manner.
We must do
things in a way
that causes
minimum
damage to the
environment
Collective efforts
The problems we face
in India today are
not unique. Other
civilisations have also
faced similar problems
and were able to
overcome them. I believe
that through our collective
efforts we will succeed as
well. In doing so, we must
ensure that we avoid contradictions between
[our need to] develop and develop sustainably.
If we become one with the universal order, there
are no conflicts of interest.
Therefore, my government is treating the
challenge of adapting to climate change
as an opportunity rather than a
problem. We must do things in
a way that causes minimum
damage to the environment.
The rule of law dictates that no one can be
punished for another’s misdeed. We need to
recognise that there are many people who are
least responsible for the problem of climate
change. They are also the people who still wait
for access to modern amenities. They face the
adverse impact of climate change more than
anyone else. This includes cyclones, droughts,
floods, heat waves, and rising sea levels. The
poor, vulnerable and other marginalised groups
have fewer resources to cope
with climate disasters.
Harmony with nature
Current and future generations
are and will be burdened by
laws and agreements regarding
the environment. That is why I
talk about ‘climate justice’.
The rules, laws, practices
and principles of one country
cannot be applied to another
uniformly. Every country has
its own challenges and its own
ways of dealing with them. If we
apply the same set of rules for all
countries and for all people, it will not work.
Sustainable development is our
responsibility. I am confident that we can
achieve it, collectively. I am also confident that
we can find ways for development that are in
harmony with nature. We can find them along
the road travelled by our forefathers. I hope
the deliberations during this workshop will
help in developing a shared understanding
of these imperatives. G20
24 G20 China: The Hangzhou Summit • September 2016G7G20.com