Pointing out that the Official Development Assistance (ODA) had actually been decreasing, Indian environment and forests minister Suresh Prabhu warned that unless reversed, the erosion of commitment would "fatally undermine" confidence in global partnership based on common but differentiated responsibilities. "A clear, time-bound programme resulting in the provision of adequate and predictable financial resources and transfer of technology to the developing world on concessional and preferential terms is imperative," he said.

Addressing the high level segment of commission for sustainable development meeting here, Prabhu opposed the suggestions to include a social clause in trade, describing it as a non-tradebarrier to imports from the developing states.

"These efforts, if allowed to succeed, will represent a setback to the process of battling poverty, the main obstacle to sustainable development," he said. Decrying the attempts to underplay the anxiety of developing countries in matters of food security, Prabhu urged the delegates not to overlook the plight of millions of people worldover suffering from starvation despite comfortable food availability on the global scale. "Food security is basic to the efforts at poverty eradication," he emphasised. Stressing the need for safe drinking water, he also rejected suggestions that it be provided only to those who can pay the economic price.