INDIA RELEASES 4 BRICS ENVIRONMENTAL COMPENDIUMS

Why In News?

Under India's BRICS 2026 Chairship, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) unveiled four benchmark environmental knowledge compendiums at the 12th BRICS Environment Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi.

BRICS Environmental Compendiums

India hosted the 12th BRICS Environment Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi under the chairship theme "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation, and Sustainability".

The Union Environment Minister of India, alongside delegations from BRICS member states (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, UAE, and Indonesia), released four comprehensive knowledge compendiums formulated by the BRICS Environment Working Group (EWG).

Compendium on Promoting Sustainable Lifestyles

• Core Philosophy: Compiles practical policy instruments, grassroots case studies, and behavioural change initiatives that transition societies from mindless consumerism to mindful, circular resource utilization.

• India's Contribution:

• Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment): India showcased its whole-of-government approach introduced at COP26, mobilizing over 100 million citizens to adopt 75 individual eco-friendly actions (such as energy saving, water conservation, and single-use plastic reduction).

• National Initiatives: Showcases the SAMBHAV Campaign for youth mobilization and the Environment Education Programme (EEP) operating across 100,000+ schools.

• BRICS-Wide Best Practices: Integrates Brazil's agro-ecological urban gardening, China's green lifestyle carbon-points systems, and UAE's smart water rationing frameworks.

Compendium on Integrated Fire Management (IFM)

• Core Focus: Documents innovative technologies, indigenous wisdom, and cross-border institutional frameworks to combat forest wildfires exacerbated by global climate warming.

• Technological Architecture:

• Near-Real-Time Satellite Alerting: Highlights India's Forest Survey of India (FSI) Van Agni Geo-portal, which leverages NASA-MODIS and SNPP-VIIRS satellite sensors to deliver automated SMS/email alerts on active fire hotspots within 30 minutes of satellite overpass.

• Community Fire Management: Spotlights participatory forest management models like the Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) in India, community controlled-burning in Russia's taiga, and South Africa's Working on Fire youth employment programme.

Compendium on Integrated Landscape-Based Greening Approaches

• Core Objective: Addresses the interlinked ecological crises of land degradation, desertification, biodiversity loss, and habitat fragmentation through holistic landscape-scale restoration.

• Targets achieving Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) by restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 under the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

• Highlights the Nagar Van Yojana (creating 400 urban forests) and the Aravalli Green Wall Project to arrest the eastward expansion of the Thar Desert.

• Cross-Regional Insights: Documents China's Three-North Shelter Forest Programme (Great Green Wall) and Ethiopia's Green Legacy Initiative tree-planting model.

Compendium on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) & Circular Economy

• Core Focus: Gather regulatory instruments, market-based compliance mechanisms, and digital tracking tools to transition from a linear "take-make-dispose" model to a closed-loop Circular Economy.

• India's Digital EPR Architecture:

• Showcases the centralized National EPR Portal established by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), enforcing mandatory digital recycling targets across four key waste streams: Plastic Packaging Waste, E-Waste (Management) Rules, Battery Waste Management Rules, and Waste Tyre and End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) Directives.

• Enables market trading of digital EPR Certificates, establishing transparent trace-and-track mechanisms that eliminate fraudulent recycling claims.

Strategic Importance of BRICS in Global Environmental Governance

Massive Ecological Footprint: The expanded BRICS+ represents over 45% of the world's population, generates 35%+ of global GDP (PPP), and harbors planetary-scale carbon sinks and megadiverse biomes (Amazon Basin, Congo/East African biomes, Western Ghats, and Siberian Taiga).

Amplifying South-South Environmental Cooperation: Provides an equal platform for developing economies to coordinate positions ahead of UNFCCC COP meetings, demanding predictable climate finance ($100B+ annual commitments) and enforcing the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC).

Countering Green Protectionism: Formulates joint BRICS strategies against unilateral carbon tariffs, such as the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which disproportionately penalizes developing country industrial exports.

Source: PIB