Context: The State of India's Environment Report 2021 was released by the Centre for Science and Environment.
Key highlights
1. Info on SDG

• India's rank has slipped by two places from last year to 117 on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

India's rank dropped by two places because major challenges like

• Ending hunger and achieving food security (SDG 2)
• Achieving gender equality (SDG 5)
• Building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and fostering innovation (SDG 9).

The overall SDG score of India is 61.9 out of 100.

• India ranks below four South Asian countries -- Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
• Jharkhand and Bihar are the least prepared to meet the SDGs by 2030.
• The states/UTs with the best overall score are Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh.

2. Environmental Performance Index (EPI)

• The report said that India ranked 168 out of 180 countries in terms of Environmental Performance Index (EPI.
• It is calculated on various indicators, including environmental health, climate, air pollution, sanitation and drinking water, ecosystem services, biodiversity, etc.

3. Info on biodiversity

• Over 90% of the area under the biodiversity hotspots in India have been lost.
• India has four biodiversity hotspots and 90% of this area has been lost.
• The Indo-Burma hotspot is the worst affected and has lost 95% of its vegetation area.
• In these four hotspots, 25 species have also become extinct.
• In India, 1,212 animal species are monitored by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in its Red List.
• Over 12% of these species – 148 – are endangered.
• Among the endangered species are 69 mammals, 23 reptiles as well as 56 amphibians.
• Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh are among the 16 states that have witnessed an increase in forest fires.
• 14 states or UTs have registered a drop in carbon retention services or carbon sequestration.

Carbon sequestration is the long-term removal or capturing of carbon from the atmosphere to control or mitigate global warming.

• A decline in these services means a decline in the capturing of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Info on farmers

• Farmer protests in India have registered an almost five-fold increase since 2017
• The number has now gone up to 165 protests across 22 states and Union territories.
• Every day, over 28 farm labourers and cultivators commit suicide in our country.
• In 2019, there were 5,957 farmer suicides, along with an additional 4,324 farm labourers who died by suicide.
• India has more farm labourers than farmers – in 52 per cent of the country’s districts.
• Bihar, Kerala and Puducherry have more farm labourers than farmers in all their districts.

Key Facts

• The 17 SDGs were adopted as a part of the 2030 agenda by 193 United Nations member states in 2015.
• The SDGs are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership.