It is critical that the natural resources base and ecosystems are managed

sustainably to ensure that people’s food requirements and other social,

economic, and environmental needs are sufficiently met. Climate change,
conflicts over access to resources, and increased water scarcity all pose a
threat to not only environmental sustainability but also food security.
As such, millennium development goal 7 has 4 targets:

1. To integrate the principles of sustainable development into every

nation’s policies and programmes, and also reverse the depletion
of environmental resources
2. To reduce biodiversity loss and achieve a substantial reduction in
the rate of loss by 2010
3. To halve the proportion of the universal population without
sustainable access to clean and safe drinking water and basic
sanitation by 2015.
4. To achieve substantial improvement in the lives of a minimum of
100 million slum dwellers by 2020.

An estimated 30 percent of total land area on the planet is forested. An

estimated 1.6 billion people depend on forests directly for their livelihoods,
plus they provide other benefits enjoyed by all, including clean air and
water. Forests also provide a habitat for millions of plants and animals, as
well as catchment for 75 percent of the world’s fresh water. They help in the
adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, though they are under
threat from deforestation.
Hunger and poverty tend to compel the disadvantaged to over-exploit
resources on which their livelihoods depend. Policies, institutions, and
strategies for protecting, conserving, and enhancing natural resources
should be strengthened to deliver an enabling environment, and be based
on the specific resource challenged faced in a given location.
Some of the achievements of MDG 7 include:

 The virtual elimination of ozone-depleting substances since 1990.

Consequently, the ozone layer is expected to recover by around the
middle of the century
 Substantial increase in marine and terrestrial protected areas in many
areas since 1990. In Caribbean and Latin America, coverage of
 terrestrial protected areas increased from 8.8 percent in 1990 to 23.4
percent in 2014.
 The number of people using improved drinking water sources has
increased from 76 percent in 1990 to 91 percent in 2015.
 2.6 billion people have gained access to better drinking water since
1990. Of these, 1.9 billion have access to piped drinking water on
premises, with 58 percent of the global population enjoying this level
of service in 2015.
 147 nations in the world have fulfilled the drinking water target; 95
nations have achieved the sanitation target; and 77 nations have met
both.
 2.1 billion people in the universe have gained access to improved
sanitation. At the same time, the proportion of people practising
open defecation has reduced by nearly 50 percent since 1990.
 A reduction in the proportion of urban population in developing
nations living in slums from 39.4 to 29.7 percent in the period
between 2000 and 2014.

We can look into the various aspects as to what has happened over the
past few years-

1.First, the net loss of forest cover has slowed in recent years, due to a
slight decrease in deforestation, increase in afforestation, and the natural
expansion of forests in some nations. Net loss in forest cover reduced from
8.3 million hectares annually in 1990 to 5.2 million hectares annually each
year between 2000 and 2010. Still, deforestation remains high in many
regions. South America, Africa, and Oceania have reported significant net
losses of forest area, due to severe drought and forest fires in Oceania. Asia,
however, registered a net gain of 2.2 million hectares annually from 2000 to
2010.

2.Second, there are rising global greenhouse emissions. Between 1990 and
2012, CO2 global emissions increased by over 50 percent, mostly due to the
growth in developing regions. This rise is projected to further warm the
planet, resulting in long-lasting changes in the climate system, and possibly
severe and irreversible consequences for people and ecosystems, like food
shortages and longer lasting weather extremes.
3.Third, the ozone layer is on path to recovery. Under the Montreal
Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer agreed in 1987, 197
parties have phased out 98 percent of all primary ozone-depleting
substances, resulting in projected recovery of the ozone layer by 2050. This
move is also expected to prevent up to 2 million cases of skin cancer
annually by 2030.
4.Fourth, increased exploitation of marine fisheries is threatening
livelihoods, food security, economies, and ecosystems. Between 1974 and
2011, the number of marine fish stocks within safe biological limits dropped
by 19 percent, from 90 percent to 71 percent. As a result, fish stocks in 2015
are below the level at which they can maximise sustainable yields. That said,
some areas in Europe, Oceania, and North America have successfully rebuilt
some of their over-fished stocks.
5.Fifth, water scarcity seems to be on the rise. While only 9 percent of
renewable fresh water resources are withdrawn globally by municipalities,
industries, and agriculture, which is well below the 25 percent withdrawal
threshold that marks the start of physical water stress, 41 countries
experienced water stress in 2011; an increase from 36 countries in 1998.
Worse still, 10 countries from Northern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and
Central Asia withdrew more than 100 percent of renewable fresh water,
which means they are depleting their renewable groundwater resources.

Conclusion-Many regions have increased their terrestrial protected areas

significantly since 1990, especially in Latin America where it rose from 8.8 to
23.4 percent between 1990 and 2014, and Western Asia where it more than
quadrupled from 3.7 to 14.4 percent in the same period.
Between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of the world population using
improved drinking water source and using improved sanitation facility has
increased significantly, surpassing the MDG target in 2010.
The lives of slum dwellers have also improved considerably since 2000 to
2015, with more than 320 million people gaining access to improved water,
durable housing, improved sanitation, or less crowded housing conditions.
This means that the MDG7 target was surpassed.
 INDIA

In INDIA,the proportion of land covered by the forest area has shown a

very marginal increase from 21.5% in 1990 to 22.8% in 2005. In terms of
the per capita consumption of ozone depleting substances (ODS), India
seems to have taken effective measures since the per capita consumption is
less than 3 gm as against the international recommended standard of 300 g
in accordance with the provisions of the Montreal protocol. The carbon
dioxide emission per capita is also much less compared to other countries,
this being around 1 ton as against the world average of about 4 tons. In
India , as much as 74% of the total population uses solid fuels for cooking,
the majority are either wood, crop residue, or cow dung cake, accounting
for 70.7%, 13.5%, and 13.1% of total solid fuels used, while coal, lignite,
and charcoal combined together account for less than 3%. According to
findings from National Sample Survey 2004, the percentage of households
using solid fuel was 85.8% for rural areas and 25.6% for urban areas.
Current efforts
The Ministry of Nonconventional Energy Sources is running several
programs to provide better systems for cooking and lighting. Joint Forest
Management schemes are in operation wherein rural women living below
the poverty line are provided with financial assistance to raise nurseries in
forest areas. The Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikiran Yojana started in the
year 2005 aims to provide all rural households with access to electricity
within the next 5 years.

Target 10: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable

access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
According to census 1991, the proportion of people with access to safe
drinking water was 62% which in turn increased to 85% as per Census
2001 and 89% in 2006. However the proportion of population using basic
sanitation continues to be low, increasing from 14% in 1990 to 28% in
2006. However rapid growth in the urban population poses a major
challenge with regard to safe water supply, sanitation, and drainage.

Target 11: To achieve by 2020 a significant improvement in the lives of

at least 100 million slum dwellers
The past few years have witnessed a rapid urbanization and mass-scale
migration of people from rural to urban areas, resulting in a steep rise of
urban slum communities. The total slum population in the country is 40.3
million, comprising 22.6% of the total urban population. Some 54% of
urban slums do not have sanitary toilets while the community toilets
provided by the government are in a dismal state due to a lack of
maintenance.
Current efforts
The National Urban Renewal Mission was launched in 2005 as a program
meant to improve the quality of life in 60 select cities. The major objectives
of the mission are to scale-up delivery of civic amenities and provision of
utilities with emphasis on universal access to the urban poor as well as
security of tenure at affordable prices, and ensuring delivery of other
existing universal services of the government for education, health, and
social security. Other programs include Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana
(VAMBAY) and National Slum Development Programme (NSDP). With the
efforts of the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission, the access of
rural people to safe drinking has increased from 55.54% in 1991 to 86.77%
in 2001. Promotion of rural sanitation is managed by the Total Sanitation
Campaign (TSC). A total of 578 districts of the country have been covered
under TSC.