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Environment Minister
Launches
The Global Journal `Sustainable Development’ The first quarterly international journal on issues of environment and development to be published from the Third World, Sustainable Development, was launched in New Delhi on 28 October, 1991 by Mr. Kamal Nath, the Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Government of India. Published by the Society for Technology & Action for Sustainable Development, and Development Alternatives, Sustainable Development is designed to serve as a forum for exchange of information on global environmental conservation and development. The journal will publish original contributions on topics ranging from policy formulation to appropriate technology design and grassroots action aimed at environmentally sound development. The inaugural issue of Sustainable Development contains papers covering a wide spectrum of problems of immediate interest not only to developing countries, but more broadly to the whole world. Its contents include articles on the challenge of sustainable development (Maurice F. Strong), the urgency for environmental action (Mostafa K. Tolba), environmental assessment and sustainability (Robert Goodland & Herman Daly), conservation of biological diversity (T.N. Khoshoo), economic incentives for sustainable development (T.H. Tietenberg), technology to save ecology (Johan Galtung), global warming (Anil Agarwal & Sunita Narayan), and climate change (Pera Wells). Editorial pieces by Ashok Khosla (Chief Editor) and Hari Dang (Executive Editor) outline the purpose of the journal and set the direction and tone for its future. As awareness of the need for 'globally' shared perceptions grows, it is essential that the concepts of sustainable development be introduced into operational decision making. This calls for new channels of communication for quick dissemination of reliable and up-to-date technical and managerial information. So far, scientists in the Third World have had virtually no choice but to publish the results of their research in foreign journals. There was no scholarly journal for integrative, collaborative and multi-disciplinary research, published from a developing country. This missing link has led to distortions in the kind of research undertaken and communicated - often making it totally irrelevant to the needs of a developing society. Sustainable Development promises to fill this gap. Launching the journal, the Honorable Minister Mr. Kamal Nath said that India had a scriptural and traditional ethos of environmental conservation and respect for natural resources, and successive governments were maintaining this tradition. India, he said, would be approaching the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) to be held at Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, from a position of strength, as this country has, along with the other Third World countries, contributed the largest genetic diversity to the world. It may be recalled that Mr. Kamal Nath has been taking bold initiatives in the field of environment and effectively reconciling the conflicting demands of economic and human resource development with environmental and wildlife conservation.
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