Address of Hon’ble Vice President of India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari at the book release function of the book titled ‘Encircling the Seamless: India, Climate Change, and the Global Commons’ by Prof. A. Damodaran on July 21, 2010 at Conference Hall.
Prof. Damodaran puts forth an important proposition: that global commons are, in the first place, local commons. His conclusion is equally telling – that global commons can be better conserved if they are de-instrumentalized and de-securitized and linked to the fight for the local commons. This would necessitate a fundamental paradigm shift.
That is easier said than done. We live in a world of nation-states and are structured to mobilize people and communities within them. We are also aware of newer trends towards supranational and sub-national groupings, involving inter-state cooperation, and a trend to prescribe global standards often involving erosion of national sovereignty.More.
