Abstract

Sustainability has emerged as a foundational global concern shaping contemporary debates on development governance and ecological resilience. The accelerating pace of climate change biodiversity loss environmental degradation resource depletion and socio-economic disruptions has compelled policymakers scholars and international institutions to reimagine the relationship between humans and the environment. Within this shifting global landscape the Indian Knowledge System (IKS) provides an ethical philosophical and scientific framework deeply rooted in the subcontinent’s civilizational history. Ancient Indian traditions conceptualize nature as a living and sacred entity demonstrating a holistic worldview that transcends instrumental exploitation and instead promotes balanced and harmonious coexistence. The ecological ethos embedded within Vedic literature Upanishadic cosmology Buddhist and Jain philosophies Ayurvedic science traditional agricultural systems and indigenous conservation pr