Environmental Ethics: A Dialogue Of Cultures

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PROF. R P Misra is a well-known scholar of development studies, urban and regional planning, and Gandhian Studies. Among the positions he has held are Professor of Geography and Founder Director, Institute of Development Studies, University of Mysore, Vice-Director, United Nations Centre for Regional Development, Nagoya, Japan, and Vice-Chancellor, Allahabad University, Allahabad. He has been Visiting Professor at several universities in India and abroad.

He is the founder-president of two non- governmental non-profit organizations: Delhi Society of Non-violence and Sustainable Development Foundation. He has worked in a number of countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America as United Nations Expert.

Prof. Misra has written and edited over forty books on Planning, Development, Ecology, Peace, Conflict Resolution, Education, Urbani- sation and Rural Development and has been a frequent contributor to professional journals. Currently he is engaged in editing aten-volumes series on Rediscovering Gandhi and finalizing volumes on Natural Principles of Regional Planning, and Million Cities of India. He is actively involved in peace research and environmental movement in the country.

Prof. Misra is currently Professor of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, Chairman, Centre for Gandhian Studies and Peace Research, Delhi University, Delhi.

This volume is the outcome of the National Symposium on Environmental Ethics organized by the SDF. It contains papers on the ethical values prevalent in different cultures and societies and the potentials of these values to ward off the emerging environmental crisis in the world.

All ancient cultures and civilization are founded on creative human-nature relations with a built-in mechanism to correct minor ecological disturbances. Rapid industrialization, urbanization and population growth have given rise to the imbalances which cannot be corrected through self-correcting processes.

Unless people seek meaning in life and living beyond the narrow ends of consumerism and exploitation of nature and fellow human beings, new technology will bring only new and more miseries. This dialogue calls for a more austere style of life laying emphasis on cultural enrichment and less on the amount of goods consumed. Such a life style requires a new system of ethics wherein the concern for life in whatever form it exists in nature is the uppermost.

Science and technology cannot be blamed for all the ills of the society. Much depends on how we use them. How we use them depends on our value system, which in turn determines the ethical code. Instead of trying to look for scapegoats in science and technology, we should introspect and change our values. Thus alone can a pollution and poverty free society be ensured and ill-effects of science and technology removed.

Environmental ethics cannot be imposed by law. It has to be articulated, systematized, codified and followed by each and every individual. This needs comprehensive environment sensitive education policy in each and every country of the world.

The Sustainable Development Foundation (SDF), New Delhi, organized a pre-UNCED Consulative National Symposium on Environmental Ethics on 1st March, 1992. The Symposium was co-sponsored by the University of Delhi, Commonwealth Human Ecology Council, London, and Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, New Delhi. It was assisted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India; UNESCO- UNEP International Environmental Education Programme (IEEP), Paris; University Grants Commission, New Delhi; and Indian Council for Social Science Research, New Delhi.

This volume contains the gist of discussions, deliberations and comments of the participants. It also includes the addresses by eminent persons and the recommendations of the symposium. It was earlier brought out by the SDF for limited circulation. However, the demand for the book has been so overwhelming that it became necessary to bring out a new edition with appropriate changes and improvements.

A comprehensive Index has been added for the convenience of the reader.

The papers contributed to the National Symposium on Environmental Ethics have now been published under the title Environment Development and Education; Cultural, Ethical and Spiritural Perspectives'. Those interested in the volume may write to the editor.

I am confident that the volume will make a significant contribution to the on going debate on ecology, environment and sustainable development.

I am thankful to Shri Ashok Mittal for taking up the publication of the new edition.

UNESCO considers environmental ethics as an integral component of the ultimate goal of environmental education (EE). Thus, the objective of the "Symposium on Environmental Ethics" reported in this volume coincides with the goals fostered by the UNESCO-UNEP International Environmental Education Programme (IEEP). Several studies to this effect have been prepared and an international consulation meeting was organized in cooperation with the Egyptian National Commission for UNESCO in March, 1991.

I would like to thank Prof. R P Misra for inviting UNESCO to collaborate in the preparation and organization of this "Symposium on Environmental Ethics" and am pleased that UNESCO was able to make a contribution to the two volumes, and thus further the debate on this timely subject.

The agenda and corresponding papers of the Symposium have covered a wide range of relevants problems, and issues in the context of environmental ethics. The philosophical foundation of environmental ethics traces the development of philosophy and science and considers scientific knowledge as physical power which should be used with ethical responsibilities. In this context, environmental ethics is considered to be a code of behaviour which ensures human progress without jeopardizing ecological balance. Humans are an integral part of the environment and we must learn to live in harmony with nature and our fellow beings. To be able to live together in peace is the basic "ethics of all ethics". This is the foundation and goal for environmental ethics.

Other important topics covered are: Environmental Ethics and Emerging World Order; Laws and Environmental Ethics; Tribal and Rural Experiential Knowledge and Environmental Ethics; Culture, Religion and Environmental Ethics, Population Growth and Environmental Ethics; Science, Technology and Environmental Ethics; Education and Environmental Ethics; and Development Styles and Environmental Ethics. The richness of the deliberations on the above issues signals the deep knowledge, extensive experience and, more important, the commitments of a group of educators to environmental ethics and its development as the basic ethics of all ethics for humankind to live in peace with each other and with the environment.

**Contents and Sample Pages**