Human security and better quality of life depends on several factors, all of them linked to the environment. These include:
Water security for consumption and livelihood purposes;
Food and nutrition security;
Health security;
Livelihood security;
Ecological security; and,
Social security

These linkages make the issue of environment protection all the more serious in India. The environmental problems facing India are different from those facing the affluent countries and are more immediate. Air and water pollution, soil degradation, deforestation, desertification, shrinking wetlands, inadequate public health and sanitation, indoor pollution in rural areas, growing water scarcity, falling groundwater tables, the lack of minimum flow in rivers, and over extraction of water for irrigation purposes are some of the environmental problems that need to be addressed first before any poverty alleviation programme can meet with success or human security achieved.
Thus environmental management and economic development are mutually supportive aspects of same agenda, indeed two sides of the same coin. A poor environment undermines development, while inadequate development results in lack of resources for environmental protection.

 

National river conservation directorate (NRCD)
DONOR PRIORITIES IN ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

The Asian Development Bank (ADB)

The International Human Development Programme (IHDP)

Winrock International India

NGO'S PRIORITIES IN THE ENVIRONMENT SECTOR

Development Alternatives (DA)

The Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR)

Foundation for the Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions

Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI), New Delhi

The Small Industries Pollution Problem

Environment Protection, Energy Conservation & Audit Services [Page-21]