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EnviStats India 2025

EnviStats India 2025

09-06-2025

Why in the News?

  1. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Government of India, released the 8th issue of “EnviStats India 2025: Environment Statistics” on 5th June 2025.
  2. The report gives important data about India’s environment and how it has changed over the years.

What are the Key Highlights?

  1. Power Generation
    1. Electricity production from thermal power increased from 7,92,053 GWh (2013-14) to 13,26,549 GWh (2023-24).
    2. Electricity from renewable energy (like solar, wind) rose from 65,520 GWh to 2,25,835 GWh in the same period.
  2. Fish Production
    1. Inland fish production (like in rivers and ponds) grew from 61.36 lakh tonnes to 139.07 lakh tonnes (2013-14 to 2023-24).
    2. Marine fish production (from seas) increased from 34.43 lakh tonnes to 44.95 lakh tonnes.
  3. Climate Data
    1. Annual mean temperature increased from 25.05°C (2001) to 25.74°C (2024).
    2. Minimum temperature rose from 19.32°C to 20.24°C.
    3. Maximum temperature rose from 30.78°C to 31.25°C.
    4. Rainfall shows high yearly changes in its pattern but no clear long-term increase or decrease has been observed.
  4. Biodiversity
    1. India has 1,04,561 faunal species out of the world total of 16,73,627 species.
    2. India also has 20,613 marine species, 9,436 freshwater species, 5,023 species in mangroves, 3,383 estuarine species, 22,404 soil species.
  5. Government Spending on Environment (2021–22):
    1. Rs. 2,433.24 crore spent on the Environment Sustainability sector.
    2. Spending on Conservation of Natural Resources is rising.
    3. The Agro-Forestry sector had the lowest spending.
  6. New Additions in the Report:
    1. New data on electricity, transport, and sanitation access for the population.
    2. A list of Ramsar Sites (important wetlands) has been added.
    3. The report follows the international FDES 2013 structure.

 

Framework for the Development of Environment Statistics (FDES) 

  1. About:
    1. The FDES 2013 is a global framework developed by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD).
    2. It helps countries collect, organize, and present environment-related data in a clear and meaningful way.
    3. This framework focuses on the relationship between the environment, human activities, and natural events.
    4. The FDES covers:
    5. The natural environment (like air, water, land)
    6. Human actions that affect the environment (like pollution, waste)
    7. The impacts of environmental changes on people (like health problems from air pollution).
    8. It recognizes that some changes are slow and natural, while others are fast and caused by humans.
  2. Components of FDES: It has six main components. These components guide how to group and collect environmental statistics.
    1. Environmental Conditions and Quality: Focuses on the current state of the environment (air quality, water levels, etc.).
    2. Environmental Resources and Their Use: Statistics on how we use natural resources like forests, land, and water.
    3. Residuals: Data on waste, pollution, and other leftover materials from human activity.
    4. Extreme Events and Disasters: Information about natural disasters (floods, cyclones) and man-made accidents.
    5. Human Settlements and Environmental Health: Shows the link between environment and public health, especially in towns and cities.
    6. Environmental Protection, Management and Engagement: Tracks government and social efforts to protect the environment.
  3. Basic Set of Environment Statistics:
    1. FDES provides a Basic Set of Environment Statistics, which countries can use to build their environment data systems.
    2. This set is divided into three tiers, based on priority and ease of collection:

Tier

Description

Tier 1

(Core Set)

100 indicators. Most important and easy to collect. Countries are encouraged to use these first.

Tier 2

200 indicators. Important but need more resources or methods to collect.

Tier 3

158 indicators. Lower priority or require major work to collect or develop methods.

 

  1. Significance of FDES:
    1. It helps standardize environment statistics globally.
    2. It allows for better policy-making with clear data.
    3. It helps in tracking Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
    4. It encourages countries to use modern methods and data sources.

What are the Significances?

  1. Helps in Better Policy Making: The report gives important data to the government. This helps in making smart and strong plans for protecting nature and fighting climate change.
  2. Tracks India’s Environmental Progress: It shows how India is improving in areas like clean energy, fish production, and biodiversity.
  3. Supports Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): The data helps in checking India’s progress towards global goals for a healthy environment.
  4. Promotes Use of Technology and New Data Sources: It encourages the use of modern tools like satellites and AI to collect and use data better.
  5. Guides Future Action: It helps in identifying problems like rising temperatures, pollution, and resource overuse, so that steps can be taken early.

What are the Challenges and Way Forward?

Challenges

Way Forward
  1. Rising temperatures due to climate change.

Promote use of clean energy and reduce carbon emissions.
  1. Fluctuating rainfall due to changing monsoon patterns.

Improve water storage and rainwater harvesting.
  1. Uneven government spending on environment sectors.

Increase support for agro-forestry and natural resource conservation.
  1. Need for more accurate and complete environmental data.

Use advanced technology like satellite and AI for better data.
  1. Marine fish production is growing slower than inland fish.

Strengthen sustainable fishing and protect marine ecosystems.
  1. Loss of biodiversity in some areas.

Protect wildlife habitats and control pollution in forests and water bodies.

Conclusion

The release of “EnviStats India 2025: Environment Statistics” marks an important step towards better environmental understanding and decision-making in India. It gives us a clear picture of how our natural resources, climate, biodiversity, and government efforts are changing over time. By following international standards like the FDES 2013, the report ensures that India's environmental statistics are reliable, structured, and comparable globally.

 

Ensure IAS Mains Question:

 

Q. The EnviStats India 2025 report is a major step towards data-driven environmental governance in India. Discuss the significance of environmental statistics in policy-making. also, highlight the challenges in environment data collection and suggest measures to overcome them. (250 words)

 

Ensure IAS Prelim MCQ:

 

Q. With reference to the "EnviStats India 2025" report released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), consider the following statements:

  1. The report follows the Framework for the Development of Environment Statistics (FDES) 2013 developed by UNEP.
     
  2. Inland fish production has increased more significantly than marine fish production between 2013–14 and 2023–24.
     
  3. The report includes new data on access to electricity, transport, and sanitation for the population.
     

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

A) 1 and 2 only
B) 2 and 3 only
C) 1 and 3 only
D) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: B

Explanation:

  • Statement 1 is incorrect: The FDES 2013 was developed by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), not UNEP.
     
  • Statement 2 is correct: Inland fish production increased from 61.36 to 139.07 lakh tonnes, a much larger jump compared to marine fish production (34.43 to 44.95 lakh tonnes).
     
  • Statement 3 is correct: The report includes new data on population access to electricity, transport, and sanitation.

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2 New Ramsar sites: Menar (Udaipur) And Khichan (Phalodi)

EnviStats India 2025