The world is moving fast towards urbanisation. Villages are becoming towns and towns are turning into cities. India has one of the higher rates of urbanisation in the world. Around 2018, 34% of the Indian population lived in urban regions. It is estimated that by 2028 more than 41% of the population will be living in urban areas.
Large scale, unplanned urbanisation is causing social and economic problems. It is resulting in environmental degradation as well. Due to unplanned urbanisation, we see huge traffic jams, accumulation of municipal solid waste, choking of drainage systems, and many such problems. We are facing many issues related to sustainability and the environment, such as air pollution and water pollution.
India’s capital city, New Delhi, has become a hotbed for air pollution since the last 10 to 15 years. Studies done in the recent past show that air pollution is responsible for 12.5% of all deaths in India. In addition to this, water pollution is also destroying our health and ecosystems. Around 86% of the water bodies in India are considered ‘critically polluted,’ and their water is unsafe for drinking or any other domestic purposes. River Ganga is considered to be the world’s most polluted river, while Yamuna ranks at number ten.
After air and water pollution, unscientific waste management is also a big challenge. This is also one of the direct sources of contamination of water in India. It is destroying our soil health as well. The accumulation of solid waste, especially of plastic and other non-biodegradable waste, is a more challenging task for mountainous areas.
With massive urbanisation, India is facing a huge waste management challenge. Around 400 million people live in 8,000 towns and cities. These urban areas generate large amount of municipal solid waste every day. Not all of this waste is collected and very less (less than 10 %) waste is treated and rest is dumped in landfill sites.
Solid Waste Management (SWM) is one among the basic services provided by municipal bodies across the country. However, hardly any municipal body is working as per the guidelines of MSW Rules 2016. India is getting buried under mounds of garbage. In Kashmir valley alone 700 to 750 MTs of waste is generated and not even 5 % of it is treated; unfortunately large part of the waste is dumped in waterbodies (lakes, wetlands, streams , rivers and even forests)
According to a report published in India Today news magazine in 2019, around 15,000 MTs of waste remains exposed every day. This results in approximately 55 lakh MTs of solid waste disposed in open areas each year. This causes severe water and air pollution as this waste is also burnt and dumped in water bodies. Of the total collected waste, which is approximately 80% of total waste generated in India, only 20% (27000 to 30,000 MTs per day) is processed. The rest 80% is dumped in garbage dump sites which are also referred to as landfill sites.
Experts say that not even 5% of these landfill sites have been set up according to scientific guidelines. As per the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) report published in 2017-2018, not even 1% of the 20 lakh tonnes of electronic waste (e-waste) generated was being processed. Experts say that as of now, this percentage might be more than 3%.
Why sustainability education?
At a time when we are facing so many serious challenges across the country vis a vis waste management, air, and water pollution, it is the duty of governments, NGOs and educational institutions to create awareness about sustainable living through sustainability education. Experts say that by 2050, the world’s population may reach 10 billion. When there is such a huge population, we will need more housing, more land and more food. This will lead to more waste generation and that will cause more environmental disasters. In a world which will be struggling for resources in the future, and global biodiversity will be facing huge challenges, isn’t there a need for creating greater awareness on sustainable living, especially among school students who will be adults in the coming decades?
Working model in Himachal schools
Sustainability education is gaining momentum in many states. School students are the target audience for interventions by many NGOs, who are supported by Wipro Foundation in many parts of the country. In October this year, this author visited Solan district of Himachal Pradesh. He found many government and private schools in the district imparting sustainability education among students. Schoolteachers are also being trained in the subject. For more than 11 years, Wipro Foundation has been supporting sustainability education programmes under its Wipro earthian project. In this initiative, small organisations are provided financial and technical support to work with school students, college students and teachers, with the mandate of fostering sustainability education.
In Solan district of Himachal Pradesh (HP), a local NGO, EarthJust has been supported under this initiative since 2020. The NGO has done remarkable work in spite of the many challenges it faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two young men from HP – Ashish Palyal and Shrey Gupta – were given a fellowship by Wipro Foundation to support the work of EarthJust in Solan.
EarthJust, along with Wipro earthian Fellows Ashish and Shrey, have been handholding schools to start composting organic waste in school premises. Plastic bottles are used to grow plants and flowers in many schools. These schools look beautiful and green. Students are taken for walks in the local forests to get them acquainted with the local biodiversity, especially to know what kinds of plants, flowers and mushrooms are found in the forests of Solan. They also meet and interact with municipal officers, the district administration and forest officers. This helps them in becoming sensitized about waste management, water conservation and forest protection.
Conclusion
Jammu & Kashmir has a rich biodiversity. We have beautiful mountains, glaciers and rivers. All of them are under severe threat as unsustainable living standards are destroying our beautiful valley of Kashmir. Not even 10% of municipal waste is being treated. We generate huge waste every day by going for reckless shopping regularly.
Have we ever thought, where will this waste go? Do our children know that we are going to face many disasters in the future if we don’t wake up now? We live in a valley where landholding is decreasing day by day. We don’t have the land to create a scientific landfill site. Especially in the Kashmir valley, the situation will be very dangerous in 30 to 40 years.
That is why our students have to be sensitized by schools. As the school syllabus is already completed and the annual exams will be now held in March 2023 for valley-based students, the school authorities need to focus on sustainability education. Our students need to move around the city , and see the condition of our water bodies, especially interiors of Dal lake, Wullar lake, Hokersar, Jhelum, Doodh Ganga, Lidder, Vaishav, etc.
We need to ensure that all our student start composting kitchen waste in their houses. This can be made a part of the school curriculum and assessed in an appropriate manner. School authorities need to incentivize these kinds of activities by felicitating students who adopt sustainable living practices. We not only need to create awareness but have to also create role models in every school. They can then act as change makers in our society to protect our ecology and biodiversity. Our schools must replicate the model adopted in Himachal Pradesh and other states.
Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat is an Acumen Fellow. He is Founder & Chairman of Jammu & Kashmir RTI Movement