Key Environmental Challenges in Rajasthan :

Rajasthan faces several environmental challenges that it must address to ensure continued economic growth that is sustainable and equitable.

1. The foremost challenge is to ensure that development activities do not erode the natural resource base on which these are dependent. For example, irrigated agriculture, industrialization, and urbanization have placed an increasing demand for water in the State. At the same time, there are gross inefficiencies and inappropriate management practices which result in large systemic losses, overuse and wastage. As a result, the groundwater table in many parts of the State has been depleting at an alarming rate, the lakes and wetlands have diminished, and the already limited resources are becoming polluted with agricultural chemicals, and municipal and industrial effluents, to the point of causing extreme water stress, especially for the economically vulnerable in rural and urban areas. This has ended in a vicious cycle, with water now emerging as a key limiting factor for economic growth (the per capita water availability in Rajasthan is 780 cum as against a minimum requirement of 1000 cum).

2. The second set of challenges is to reconcile the sometimes conflicting policy objectives among different sectors so that resources are allocated rationally and equitably. Rajasthan has considerable mineral reserves in forest areas which the forest policy has restricted from being exploited. While expansion of mining areas could bring in revenues, and support employment and income generation, preservation of a certain forest cover in the State is also crucial for maintaining the stability of the ecosystems, including soil and water conservation, and protecting the livelihoods of the communities that depend on them. Traditionally, mining development in Rajasthan has left a long track of environmental degradation.

The threats from mining are not just to loss of forest cover, but also loss of soil fertility, altered surface drainage, and widescale pollution from stone slurry, mine tailings and mining overburden. Especially the small-scale mining units often use outdated technology which causes significant wastage and pollution. Rehabilitation of abandoned mines has often not been carried out, despite mandatory mine closure plans. On the other hand, some forest areas with sparse tree cover could be considered for diversion for mining. The award of mining leases in the forest areas should, however, be done only after approval of the competent authority for diversion of forest land to non-forest use under the Forest Conservation Act. This along with technology modernization and pollution control could enable some level of convergence between the goals of mining, forestry, agriculture, and environment.

3. Abatement of pollution in the face of industrialization and rapid urban growth is another major challenge before the State today. The geometric growth in the number of small scale industries has given rise to a quite significant source of pollution, which the present regulatory tools (civil and criminal sanctions) are unable to adequately address. Serious pollution from SSIs, especially when located in industrial clusters, has led to a number of public interest litigations, as a result of which many of the SSIs have been shut down or are facing threat of closure. Likewise, the pollution  standards with respect to the large and medium enterprises and hazardous waste generating units need to be better enforced. Better environmental management practices also need to be enforced in respect of utilization of certain wastes, such as fly ash from the thermal power plants.

4. Population growth and the continual flow of migrants to the cities has generated increasing pressure for the provision of basic urban services, which have not been able to keep pace with the demand. As a result, most cities face water and power shortages to various degrees, and are unable to cope with the increasing levels of vehicular emissions, wastewater discharges and uncontrolled dumping of solid wastes, eventually leading to pollution of air, water and soil. Groundwater abstraction for domestic and commercial use in many cities has already exceeded recharge levels. There are also a growing number of slum areas in the bigger cities, where pollution and unhygienic conditions further accentuate poverty. Expansion of major cities has changed land use patterns and led to substantial conversion of agricultural land for housing development and industrial use.

5. Another major challenge for the State is to strike a balance between the exploitation of forests for products of economic value (such as food, medicines, timber), and conservation efforts which seek to maintain the natural processes that sustain biodiversity. At the same time, forests and biodiversity need to be protected from encroachments for marginal agriculture, tourism, mining, industry and urbanization. Depletion of forests and biodiversity has significant potential to impact livelihoods and cause impoverishment of people depending on them in many direct and indirect ways. For example, the water table in many agricultural watersheds of the State has lowered significantly due to denuded hills upstream, thereby affecting rural livelihoods. Lack of forage in forests has led to reduction in size of herds or sometimes even change in livelihoods of herders. Loss of forest cover has also caused scarcity of fuelwood for the rural communities.

There is a need to evolve an innovative strategy for providing cooking and lighting energy for the rural population, so that environment and human health are not adversely affected. About 65% of the total households and 85% of the rural households in the State use biomass fuels for cooking, which results in loss of vegetation, deforestation and significant burden of disease from indoor air pollution. Even while the State plans for an expansion in thermal power generation capacity, it is unlikely to improve the energy situation in large parts of the State which remain so sparsely populated that any centralized power supply option may not be economically feasible.

6. The development of the tourism industry also poses a challenge, as it exerts considerable pressure on civic amenities (including water and sanitation and transport), land use, wildlife and forests, and the socio-economic fabric of the State. Therefore, tourism should be developed within the carrying capacity of the region, and address the potential conflicts between resource use for tourism and livelihoods of the local population, as well as the need for preservation of the unique architectural heritage of the State.

7. Climate change is of increasing concern not only at the national level but for the State governments as well. The Fourth Assessment Report of the Inter- governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) points out that the frequency and intensity of extreme events are likely to increase. This would have implications for the States like Rajasthan, which experience extreme climatic conditions. The impacts will be most felt on the vulnerable and poor sections of the society, therefore vulnerability assessment and adaptation measures must be taken in the vulnerable socio-economic sectors like water and agriculture.

When addressing these challenges, it is necessary to recognize the centrality of environmental concerns in the development process. While overexploitation of natural resources and polluting activities may be the proximate drivers, development processes result in environmental degradation only through deeper causal linkages. These challenges may pertain to institutional failures, inappropriate fiscal regimes (such as implicit and explicit subsidies) shortcomings in regulatory regimes, governance constraints, and lack of policies that incentivize environmental conservation.

Improving environmental governance and building capacity therefore need to be part of any strategy aimed at conserving and enhancing environmental resources. There is also a need to recognize the nexus between poverty and environment. Environmental degradation perpetuates poverty by taking away the time and resources needed for engaging in gainful livelihoods. For example, environment-related health factors (such as lack of access to water and sanitation) result in a significant burden of disease among the poor, which in turn reduces their earning capacity. At the same time poverty itself exacerbates environmental degradation, for example cutting of fuelwood for cooking in absence of alternative energy sources leads to deforestation and indoor air pollution. Therefore, programs for economic development and poverty alleviation have the potential to improve environmental conditions. However, measures to arrest this downward spiral require public awareness and information dissemination at the grass roots level.The State must also build partnerships and seek to involve the range of stakeholders who can collectively help find solutions to the State’s environmental problems.