According to UNDP “The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.” Out of the 17 SDGs, 7 are directly related to environment and green jobs. This includes taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts (SDG 13) as well as protecting, restoring and promoting sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably managing forests, combating desertification, halting and reversing land degradation and halting biodiversity loss (SDG 15).

India is striving hard to achieve the set global goals. Our central government has assigned NITI Aayog to oversee the implementation of all SDGs. One of the main objectives of Niti Aayog is to form strategic long term policies, programmes and initiatives and then monitor its progress. It organises national as well as regional level consultations to increase awareness about the sustainable development goals and bring together stakeholders to build capacity and create impact. It has significantly helped in localising SDGs in India.

Over the years Niti Aayog has provided support to think tanks, funded researches, conducted training programmes, framed policies, aided local development plans in India and has also entered into dialogues with countries across the globe in an effort to achieve the SDGs. As a result of the efforts led by Indian citizens and Niti Aayog, today India has reduced 38 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually through energy efficient appliances, provided clean cooking fuel to 80 million poor households. Globally, India stands third in renewable power, fourth in wind power, and fifth in solar power. India launched the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the International Solar Alliance to leverage global partnerships for climate action and disaster resilience. (As per the United Nations)

Over the past year, there have been significant improvements in some fields such as energy and waste management. However, the sustainable development goal index indicates significant degradation of the terrestrial ecosystem and conveniently ignores SDG14 (life below water: conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development). Hence, I believe that we need to create more awareness about SDGs in our country and the Indian citizens need to raise questions about the aspects of the global goals which have been ignored by the government. At the same time, I think as the citizens of the country we should be more responsible to ensure that we leave a more sustainable and green world for the future generations.

Works Cited

https://www.in.undp.org/content/india/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html

https://niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2020-02/Annual_Report_2019-20.pdf

https://niti.gov.in/verticals/sustainable-dev-goals

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/memberstates/india