Lifestyle for the Environment

Environmental degradation and climate change impact ecosystems and populations across the globe. Estimates suggest that if requisite action is not taken against the changing environment, approximately 3 billion1 people globally could experience chronic water scarcity and the global economy could lose up to 18% of GDP by 20502. Over the last two decades, several macro measures have been implemented globally to address environmental degradation and climate change, including policy reforms, economic incentives and regulations. Actions required at the level of individuals, communities and institutions, despite their enormous potential, have received limited attention.

Background

The concept of "Lifestyle for the Environment (LiFE)" was introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at COP26 at Glasgow on 1st November 2021, calling upon the global community of individuals and institutions to drive LiFE as an international mass movement towards "mindful and deliberate utilisation, instead of mindless and destructive consumption" to protect and preserve the environment. LiFE puts individual and collective duty on everyone to live a life that is in tune with Earth and does not harm it. Those who practice such a lifestyle are recognised as Pro Planet People, under LiFE.

Further, in August 2022, India included LiFE in its updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Mission LiFE Objective

To translate the vision of LiFE into measurable impact, Mission LiFE is designed with an objective to mobilise at least one billion Indians and other global  citizens to take individual and collective action for protecting and conserving the environment in the period 2022-23 to 2027-28. Within India, at least 80% of all villages and urban local bodies are aimed to become environment-friendly by 2028.

Implementation

As a global programme, Mission LiFE envisions three core shifts in our collective approach towards sustainability, achieved in a phased manner:

• Change in Demand (Phase I): Nudging individuals across the world to practice simple yet effective environment-friendly actions in their daily lives; 
• Change in Supply (Phase II): Changes in large scale individual-demand is expected to gradually nudge industries and markets to respond and tailor supply & procurement as per the revised market demands; and
• Change in Policy (Phase III): By influencing the demand and supply dynamics of India and the world, the long-term vision of Mission LiFE is to trigger shifts in large- scale industrial policy and government policy that can support both sustainable consumption and production.

The mission will be incubated, curated and piloted by NITI Aayog and subsequently implemented by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India in a non-linear and non-sequential manner. While a proceeding phase will organically feed into the next phase of Mission LiFE, all phases are equally simultaneous in nature.

LiFE and Sustainable Development Goals

Environmental degradation is more than just one of the 17 SDGs. It is a threat multiplier with the potential to worsen some of humanity‟s greatest challenges, including health, poverty and hunger. To support billions of livelihoods, promote growth and investment opportunities, raise the standard of living, and tackle the climate crisis, the world needs to adopt a new paradigm for development.

Specifically, the SDGs focused on sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), responsible production and consumption (SDG 12), climate change (SDG 13), or life on land (SDG 15), and life under water (SDG 14) require that all individuals temper their lifestyles in sync with the resources available on the planet. Further, research from the New Climate Economy highlights that bold environmental action could create as many as 65 million jobs by 2030 (SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth). SDG 12, in particular, entails decoupling economic growth and environmental degradation and demands more efficient and environmentally friendly management of resources, including improving energy efficiency, sustainable infrastructure, access to basic services, and providing green and decent jobs to ensure a better quality of life for all.

The societal responsibility towards SDG 12 goes beyond businesses, to involve individual consumers as active participants in the process of achieving this goal. Given the global commitment to achieving the SDGs by 2030, it is important to note that Mission LiFE contributes directly OR indirectly to almost all the SDGs. Moreover, in view of India‟s population, any large-scale behaviour change implemented in the country will also make a direct and immediate contribution to the SDGs at a global level. For example, the Swachh Bharat Mission (SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation), by changing the behaviour of 550 million Indians from open defecation to use of toilets, reduced 60% of the one billion open defecators in the world.

Source : LiFE portal