The World Environment Day was celebrated today in different parts of the country with the government’s focus primarily on Mission LiFE.

The concept of LiFE, i.e., Lifestyle for Environment was introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the World Leaders’ Summit in Glasgow at COP26 when he gave a clarion call to rekindle a global pursuit to adopt environment-friendly lifestyles and practices.

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As a part of Mission LiFE, a comprehensive and non-exhaustive list of 75 individual LiFE actions have been identified across 7 themes – save water, save energy, reduce waste, reduce e-waste, reduce single-use plastics, adopt sustainable food systems, and adopt healthy lifestyles.

The theme for this year’s World Environment Day was “Solutions to Plastic Pollution”, a topic which aligns with one of the 7 themes of Mission LiFE: “Saying No to Single-use Plastics” and is also linked to the implementation of a number of LiFE actions.

The PM addressed a gathering on World Environment Day through a video message. Union Minister of Environment Bhupender Yadav visited a digital exhibition on LiFE and also addressed a gathering. Speaking on the occasion, he recalled the PM’s global call for plastic solutions on World Environment Day in 2018.

In line with this clarion call, India has banned the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of identified single-use plastic items in 2022. The decision along with its implementation has not only been acknowledged at the domestic level but has been appreciated on the global stage as well. He talked about the ‘Unbottled’ initiative of Indian Oil.

Yadav talked about Mission LiFE and its reference in various international documents such as the Preamble of the Paris Agreement, the Cover decision of COP 27, the IPCC 3rd Working Group Report and the recent paper by the International Energy Agency.  He further added that in addition to the three international initiatives by India; International Solar Alliance, Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and Leadership Group for Industry Transition, International Big Cat Alliance was also launched recently.

Yadav also released three compendiums prepared by NITI Aayog; namely, Thinking for Our Planet, Mindful Living, and Thought Leadership for LiFE.