Life Cell

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Life Cell

1. Introduction

• LiFE or Lifestyle for Environment is an India-led mass movement to promote for mindful and deliberate utilization, instead of mindless and destructive consumption.

• Mission life is designed to nudge individuals and communities to take action that help build a sustainable future. Our everyday choices matter. Right from the food that we eat the things that we buy the homes that we live in and the amount of water and energy that we consume, our choices must help protect and preserve the environment.

• This concept was first introduced by the Hon'ble Prime Minister at the World Leaders' Summit in Glasgow, UK in Nov 2021 as part of UNFCCC COP26 and as a mass movement towards mindful and deliberate utilization of resources instead of mindless and destructive consumption through Lifestyles for Environment (LIFE).

• Thereafter, Mission LiFE was launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister in October, 2022 in the presence of the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at Kevadia, Gujarat as an advocacy and awareness movement to create a Global Mass Movement centres on behavioral changes/ nudges in order to protect and preserve the environment.

• LiFE is a behavioral change framework that works through simple behavioral nudges to transform the way individuals and communities function, and to make them more synchronous with nature. It aims to create a network of Pro Planet People who are dedicated to adopting and promoting environmentally conscious and sustainable lifestyles.

• Mission Life aligns with India’s mitigation efforts as it aims to reduce the impact of climate change by influencing demand side individual behavior. Mission LiFE comprised of comprehensive and non-exhaustive list of 75 individual LiFE actions spread across seven themes and this has been emphasized further by Hon’ble Prime Minister. These seven themes are save water, save energy, reduce waste, reduce e-waste, reduce single-use plastics, adopt sustainable food systems, and adopt healthy lifestyles.

• The LiFE framework aims to drive change in 3 phases – by shifting demand, supply, and finally influencing policy.

2. Progress under Mission LiFE

• To catalyze pan-India advocacy and awareness about LiFE, a month-long mass mobilization drive was undertaken from 5th May, 2023 to 5th June, 2023 in the run-up to World Environment Day programme on 5th June, 2023. During this month-long campaign, more than 1.6 million action and awareness events were undertaken by the Ministries, State/UT Governments, and their Field Offices and Institutions, with participation from over 24 million individuals. Further, So far, more than 3.57 crore have participated in the LiFE events.

• The Ministry has developed two dedicated portals for LiFE, in order to create a structured reporting format that can track the progress being made on LiFE. The Mission LiFE Portal is open access and can be used to download the 100+ creatives, videos, and knowledge materials that have been developed by the ministry for LiFE. Para to be merged. The Meri LiFE Portal has been developed for ministries and institutions to upload event reports and capture the progress of the mass mobilization drive.

• To reduce environmental impact and promoting more sustainable practices throughout the life-cycle of products existing rules were amended and new rules were framed incorporating the principles of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and Circular Economy based on the concept of reuse, recycle, refurbish and recovery.

• The Green Credit Rules have been notified by the Government of India on 12th October, 2023 under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, as mechanism to encourage voluntary plantation activity across the country, resulting in award of Green Credits and also to build an inventory of land which can be utilized for afforestation programmes.

3. Globalisation of Mission LiFE

• Mission LiFE and its principles have also been incorporated in the non-quantitative targets of India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

• Mission LiFE has been appreciated across the Globe- References in IPCC Working Group III, Sharm–El–Sheikh implementation plan, G7 Communique, in joint statement of official visit of Hon’ble PM of India to USA, G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration, Green Rising initiative in CoP 28.

• The IPCC Assessment Report 6 (AR 6) also mentions that the demand-side mitigation encompassing changes in infrastructure use, end-use technology adoption, and socio-cultural and behavioral change can result in a 40-70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050”.

• The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), at its Sixth Session held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 1st March, 2024, unanimously adopted the resolution on promoting sustainable lifestyles (UNEP/EA.6/l11) submitted by India and co-sponsored by Sri Lanka and Bolivia which is a significant move forward on globalization of the concept of Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE).

4. Impact of Mission LiFE

The impact that 1 billion Pro-Planet People who practice sustainable lifestyles will have on the planet are:

• Switching off the car / scooter engines at traffic lights/ railway crossings can save up to 22.5 billion kWh of energy,

• Turning off running taps when not in active use can save upto 9 trillion litres of water,

• Using a cloth bag instead of a plastic bag while shopping can save up to 375 million tonnes of solid waste from entering the landfill,

• Discarding non-functioning gadgets in the nearest e-recycling unit can recycle upto 0.75 million tonnes of e-waste,

• Composting waste food at home can save up to 15 billion tonnes of food from going to landfills.

5. एक_पेड़_माँ_के_नाम #Plant4Mother

Tree Plantation page has been created regarding #एक_पेड़_माँ_के_नाम #Plant4Mother on the MeriLiFE portal and training session is being regularly organized for all Central Ministries/ State Government at 10 AM on all workdays except Sundays. Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for uploading data has also been provided in this regard. So far, toll has reached plantation of 301949 plants.
Central and State Government Departments and Local Bodies to identify public spaces to assist #एक_पेड़_माँ_के_नाम #Plant4Mother campaign.
As part of the campaign, plantation of 80 crore trees by September 2024 and 140 crore trees by March, 2025 has been planned following a “Whole of Government” and “Whole of Society Approach”
Ministries and Departments are also playing a significant role in taking forward the theme of #एक_पेड़_माँ_के_नाम #Plant4Mother.
Communication in this regard has been sent to Secretaries, Government of India including Secretary, MEA, Chief Secretaries of State, Principal Chief Conservators of forest and is being sent to all the Chief Ministers as well as to Members of Parliament.
- Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change organized a tree plantation event as part of the campaign #एक_पेड़_माँ_के_नाम #Plant4Mother under which approximately 1000 saplings were planted by the officers and staff of the Ministry led by Hon’ble Minister and “MatriVan (#Plant4Mother)” was also established at the site by Hon’ble Minister.
- The Department of School Education, Government of India has motivated Eco-clubs in 7.5 lakh schools to carry forward and promote the message of #एक_पेड़_माँ_के_नाम #Plant4Mother.
- Awareness in youth is being generated through MY Bharat Portal of the Ministry of Youth Affairs.
- The Ministry of External Affairs has also taken this message to the global level and exhorted citizens of other countries to join hands in this massive tree plantation drive.