Nagaland’s environmental challenges outpace progress in SDG Index

Performance uneven across environmental parameters

Moa Jamir 
Dimapur | July 18

Nagaland appears to undertake or possess significant environmental initiatives but ironically faces several challenges in sustaining the process. This is one of the key takeaways from the analysis of environment-related goals in the 4th edition of the SDGs India Index 2023-24, recently released by NITI Aayog’s Sustainable Development and the three previous editions.

The trend over the years reflected both progress and pitfalls, with the latter appearing to be more concerning, gaining an upper hand in the latest index.

While the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) encompass a broad range of targets addressing various global challenges and are interrelated, several are specifically related to environmental issues.

These relevant to landlocked areas include SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation; SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy; SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities; SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production; SDG 13: Climate Action; and SDG 15: Life on Land.

Notable Progress & Mixed Results
Of the six goals, Nagaland has shown a consistent upward trend in ‘Climate Action,’ increasing from 51 in 2019-20 to 79 in 2023-24. Nagaland was ranked joint fifth along with Mizoram in ‘Climate Action.’

Some of the targets under SDG 13 included resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters; integrating climate change measures into policies, strategies, and planning; awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, etc.

In actual measures, lives lost due to extreme weather, disaster preparedness score, share of renewable energy in the total energy mix, DALY rate attributable to air pollution (per 100,000 population), and percentage of industries complying with environmental standards were taken into consideration. Nagaland saw a fall in the share of renewable energy while maintaining other positions.

Besides, the 2023-24 Index also shows an improvement in ‘SDG 15: Life on Land’ for Nagaland, increasing from a score of 63 in 2020-21 to 74 in 2023-24. The score seems to have increased due to the increase in tree cover as well as a lower increase in the area of desertification (%). However, it is concerning that there was a decrease in forest cover, while the latest score is lower than the baseline assessment level of 74 in 2018. Additionally, Nagaland was third lowest among the States in the concerned SDGs.

Meanwhile, on ‘Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation,’ Nagaland’s score was high at 86 and only decreased marginally by 1 from 2020-21, although it was below the national average of 89. The increase in the stage of groundwater extraction from 1.01% to 3.76% during the given period seems to have led to the decreased score. Overall, however, the score in Goal 6 has increased from 58 in 2018 to 86 in 2023-24, indicating substantial progress.

Persistent underperformance & a fall from grace
On ‘Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy’ and ‘Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities,’ Nagaland has been consistently underperforming. Nagaland had the dubious distinction of being ranked the lowest among the States in India in the 2023-24 Index. For ‘Affordable and Clean Energy,’ it was ranked lowest among all the States and Union Territories.

The ‘Affordable and Clean Energy’ goal remains a significant concern, showing a declining trend since 2019-20 and decreasing to just 50 points in 2023-24. A fall in LPG and PNG connections against the number of households from 58.60% to 67.59% dragged down Nagaland’s ranking.

In Goal 11, Nagaland suffered in ranking, falling from a low score of 48 in 2020-21 to 38 in 2023-24 due to a decrease in door-to-door waste collection, waste management, and source segregation. Installed sewage treatment capacity to sewage generated in urban areas was also shown to be 0%.

However, the biggest fall is in “Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production,” down from the top position and maximum score of 100 in 2019-20 to nearly halving to 59 in 2023-24. Accordingly, Nagaland was ranked 4th from the bottom among the States.

Of those measured, the State showed an increase in per capita fossil fuel consumption (in kg), a rise in the use of nitrogenous fertiliser out of total NPK (%), nil hazardous waste recycling or utilisation, and an increase in plastic waste generation.

Overall, between 2020-21 and 2023-24, out of six environment-related goals, Nagaland managed to rise in score in two – Goal 13: Climate Action and Goal 15: Life on Land. However, in four others, there was a decline in performance from the last edition, with three indexes showing a significant drop.

Policymakers and all stakeholders must come together to address the areas of decline and build on the successes. Without such initiatives, environment-related SDGs have the danger of becoming ‘unsustainable’ in Nagaland.

Source: https://morungexpress.com/nagalands-environmental-challenges-outpace-progress-in-sdg-index