Speaking at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in the United
Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD2012 - Rio+20)
Consultation and Climate Sustainability Workshop, on 5 April 2011, Mr.
Uchita remarked that the Green economy model focuses more on efficiency
rather than sustainability.
Bringing an activist's perspective to AIT, Mr. Uchita stated that the
Green economy is focused on efficiency, which seeks to ensure that
developed countries can continue to consume at the same levels.
Suggesting the sufficiency and sustainability rather than efficiency
should be the guiding principles, he stated that the need of the hour
is sustainable development rather than green development. The critical
question continues to be control and access of resources, he said.
Suggesting that the “Green New Deal” is targeted towards helping
nations emerge out of food, fuel and financial crisis, Mr. Uchita said
this model may result in a few select countries holding Intellectual
Property Rights (IPR) over the new green technologies.
The session was a part of the series leading to the UN Climate
Conference in Bangkok being held from 4-8 April 2011. The talk
was followed by a regional consultation on UNCSD2012 featuring Prof.
Jayant Kumar Routray of AIT’s School of Environment, Resources and
Development (SERD); Dr. Sandro Calvani, Director, Director of the ASEAN
Regional Centre of Excellence on Millennium Development Goals (ARCMDG);
Dr. Riaz Khan, Director, Yunus Center at AIT; Mr. Purna Chandra Lal
Rajbhandari, UNEP RRC.AP, lead person on Rio+20 related activities; Dr.
Fazle Karim,Head, Information Technology and Engineering at AIT
Extension as chairperson and Dr. Faiz Shah, Head, Development
Management, AIT Extension as the moderator.
Earlier Dr. Shah welcomed Mr. Uchita introducing him to all
participants.
