Halting land degradation must be made a priority

Food security, biodiversity, clean air and water — all depend on forests and land

In September 2015, UN member states adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This agenda included 17 sustainable development goals (SDGS) that range from no poverty and zero hunger to climate action and reversing land degradation. Under this last SDG, India has committed to land degradation neutrality by 2030.

But according to a draft report sponsored by the ministry of environment, forests, and climate change (MOEFCC), and conducted by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), the state of land degradation in the country — a primary cause of which is forest degradation and diversion — remains grim. According to this as yet unpublished report, India may be incurring a loss of more than 2% of the GDP (by 2014-15 estimates) due to land degradation. The estimated loss is about ₹3 lakh crore. In 2016, the MOEFCC sponsored the production of the Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India, which found that about 30% of India was undergoing degradation. This is important because as arable land is lost, the less it can sustain agriculture or forests. Loss of either can be catastrophic. Everything, from food security and biodiversity, to clean air and water depends on forests and land.

One of the ways in which the pressure on natural resources can be minimised is by conducting mandatory environment impact assessments (EIA) before resource-intensive projects are sanctioned. It is also imperative that EIAS are conducted and its recommendations taken seriously. A lack of co-ordination between departments responsible for implementation is another problem. Since data on land degradation is not readily available in India, it is also crucial that the report be published as soon as possible. Hopefully, that will spur more conversation around this important issue, help contain the degradation and achieve India’s goals for sustainable development.