Context: Recently, the ‘State of India's Environment 2020 in Figures’ report was published by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). It states that India had around 50 lakh internal displacements caused by disasters and extreme weather conditions like floods, cyclones and drought in 2019.
Key Points

• India had one in five of all internal displacements caused by disasters across the world in 2019, mostly caused by floods, cyclones and drought, according to the report.
• There were more than 50 lakh internal displacements in India last year, the highest in the world.
• This refers to the number of movements, not people, as individuals can be displaced several times.
• The compilation also offers a snapshot of data on forests, water, waste, air, land, wildlife and other natural resources.
• It notes that there were 747 more tigers in 2018 than in 2014. However, the net area meant for tiger conservation shrunk by 179 sq.km.
• Forest cover has shrunk in 38% of districts while 5 out of 21 river basins are now in a state of absolute water scarcity.
• According to the report India continues to face major challenges in achieving 9 of the 17 goals which is pushing down its global ranking on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) preparedness.
• The report outlines the status of sustainable development, livestocks, forests, water, waste, air, land, wildlife and other natural resources, environmental crimes and global economic risk.
• The report shows that more than 57% of India’s groundwater is contaminated with nitrate, fluoride and arsenic.
• Groundwater is used in 80% rural and 50% urban households.

According to 2011 Census Data on Migrant Populations:

• There were over 45 crore migrants in the country at the time, with the vast majority migrating within their own state.
• In 2011, over 1.7 crore new migrants had moved for employment purposes, mostly from rural to urban areas.

Global Risk:

• The global risk is determined as an uncertain event or condition that can cause significant negative impact on several countries or industries in the next ten years.
• The top 4 global risks in terms of likelihood are all found to be environment related as extreme weather, climate action failures, natural disaster and biodiversity loss.
• Under the top 4 risks in terms of impact, three were found to be environment related as climate action failure, biodiversity loss, extreme weather.
• In terms of the severity of impact over the next 10 years the top risk is failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation.

About State of India’s Environment 2020: in Figures report

• It is the annual statement on the state of affairs in environment and development sectors.
• The report is published by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).
• The report covers forests, wildlife, agriculture, rural development, water and sanitation and climate change related aspects.

Road Ahead

• The report is an eye opener in terms of issues related to environment and biodiversity, development, poverty and internal migration and will help to understand their impacts.
• It would further facilitate better decision making in mitigating the related problems.
• There is an urgent need to take efforts towards conservation of environment, disposition of cases related to environmental crimes, providing livelihood to the migrants and achieving SDGs.
• For the same, the centre and all the states must collaborate to prevent any loss to the environment and humans as well.