Environment of India
The country faces different forms of pollution as its major environmental issue and is more vulnerable to the effects of climate change[1] being a developing nation.
India has some of the world's most biodiverse ecozones—desert, high mountains, highlands, tropical and temperate forests, swamplands, plains, grasslands, areas surrounding rivers and an island archipelago.
Its collision with the Eurasian plate led to the rise of the Himalayas and the continuous tectonic activity still makes it an earthquake prone area.
[14] The climate comprises a wide range of weather conditions across a vast geographic scale and varied topography, making generalisations difficult.
Given the size of India with the Himalayas, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, there is a great variation in temperature and precipitation distribution in the subcontinent.
India is on the path to adopting a circular economy techniques to face the increasing challenges of waste management in the growing nation.
Initiatives like the Swachh Bharat Mission gave a sudden increase to waste collection in metropolitan and city areas, but the practice of source segregation of material remains insufficient and there are problems in informal recycling systems.
Promising examples include Indore’s waste segregation and recycling programs, making it India’s cleanest city.
Being a developing nation, India is more vulnerable to the effects of climate change due to its dependence on climate-sensitive sectors like agriculture and forestry.
[24] The remainder depend on pit latrines or open defecation, which creates major risks of waterborne disease during floods - which will become more frequent and severe with climate change.
Additionally, many Indian megacities are in floodplains and deltas, and will therefore be very exposed to climate hazards such as sea level rise, storm surges and cyclones.
[25] Although India still has low average incomes per person, the country is now the third largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions after China and the USA.
Many low-carbon measures are economically attractive, including more efficient air conditioners, parking demand management, gasification and vehicle performance standards.
[27] Others offer social benefits: for example, Indian cities might see substantial improvements in air quality if the country were to promote renewable energy technologies instead of fossil fuels and walking/cycling/public transport instead of private vehicles.
[31] India's initiatives such as green energy corridor [32]and PM Surya ghar muft bijlii yojna[33] promote renewable adoption.
Aided by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Indian conservationists were instrumental in getting the government to ban hunting and set aside national parks.
