Letters: Mitigation is key

With reference to Sunita Narain’s article, “Why the environment matters” (September 25), developmental activities are bound to adversely affect the environment. To mitigate the consequences of such activities, sustainable measures are required.
 
First, employ preventive measures; second, minimise adverse impact to an as low as practicable level; third, remedy or compensate for harmful residual impact that is unavoidable and cannot be reduced further. Compensation or remedial measures should be the last resort.
 
Mitigation requires technical understanding of the issues and workable measures. Mitigation can be achieved by structural measures such as design or location changes, engineering modifications and