New Delhi, Apr 5 (IANS): Emphasising the need for an environment-friendly growth model, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday said development can be sustainable only if it is protecting natural balances.

Addressing the "International Workshop on Green National Accounting for India", the prime minister said sustainable development would be among the top priorities in the 12th plan period (2012-17).

"The plan document notes that economic development will be sustainable only if it is pursued in a manner which protects the environment, and that there is a need to pay greater attention to the management of water, forest and land resources," he said.

The prime minister referred to the argument that contemporary national accounts systems do not adequately account for the costs arising out of the use of environmental and natural resources and that gross domestic production is not the best way of measuring the true well-being of nations because the pursuit of growth can be at the cost of degradation of environment.