Current Affairs Date: 06 July 2023

⇒ The 2nd G20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) meeting under India’s G20 Presidency was held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat from March 27 – 29, 2023.

• • It was attended by 130 delegates from G20 member countries along with 9 invitee countries and 13 international organizations.

The three-day meeting focused on the following three key priorities as identified by the G20 Indian Presidency.

1. 1. Arresting Land Degradation
   2. Accelerating Ecosystem Restoration and Enriching Biodiversity
   3. Promoting a Sustainable and Climate Resilient Blue Economy and Encouraging Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy

• • Special presentations on major initiatives like Namami Gange, Climate Resilient Infrastructure, Participatory Ground Water Management, Jal Jeevan Mission, and Swachh Bharat Mission were also made during the meeting.
  • The 2nd ECSWG meeting is a critical step in fostering the efforts of the G20 countries, invitee countries, and international organizations towards a sustainable and resilient future.

Day 1:

» The 2nd Meeting of the Environment and Climate Sustainability Working group started with a focus on water resource management.

G20 members & other participants shared their Best Practices on Water Resources Management with presentations.

The following were the major themes of the presentations:

• • Integrated & Sustainable Use of Water Resources /Ecosystem Management
  • Water body Restoration / River Rejuvenation
  • Rainwater Management
  • Groundwater Management
  • Water Efficiency Approach with Adaptation to Climate Change
  • Drought/ Flood Management
  • Watershed Management with Focus on Civil Society Participation
  • Efficient Water Governance
  • Safe Drinking Water and Wastewater Management
  • Water supply augmentation
  • Participatory Groundwater management practices

» The side event held on Day 1 focused on global perspectives and best practices on universalisation for participatory groundwater management, climate-resilient water infrastructure, and water use efficiency.

Day 2:

» The second day of the meeting commenced with the opening remarks by G20 Co-chair for India, Ms. Richa Sharma, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

» The inaugural session was followed by the first technical session of the day on Water Resource Management.

• • The presentations made during the session highlighted the need for efficient management of water resources to achieve the overarching UN Sustainable Development Goals and also addressed global water challenges such as climate change, population growth, and increasing water demand.

Thematic presentations were also given:

• • Namami Gange – an integrated Conservation Mission to accomplish effective abatement of pollution, conservation, and rejuvenation of Ganga
  • Climate-resilient infrastructure – water storage/ Dam Rehabilitation & Improvement Project (DRIP), participatory groundwater management
  • Jal Jeevan mission – a project to provide safe and adequate drinking water by 2024 to all households in rural India, and
  • Swachh Bharat – the project on Universalization of Water Sanitation & Hygiene and its effects

» These presentations further corroborated the ever-demanding need for such initiatives to address the depleting level of groundwater at an alarming rate.

The G20 countries expressed their concerns on the subject; the following are some of the key suggestions from the participants:

1. 1. Jal Jeevan Mission & other Indian interventions were highly appreciated.
   2. The role of cooperation at all possible levels is key to effective Water Resource Management (WRM).
   3. Common understanding of water and groundwater and integrating principles of sustainable development in the implementation of WRM is critical.
   4. Indonesia will be hosting World Water Forum in 2024 and the importance of the same for water cooperation was highlighted.
   5. An integrated approach is essential for recognizing the key role of water resource conservation and sustainable development, to ensure adequate water allocation both in terms of quality and quantity.
   6. Interventions in Monitoring and evaluation of the water ecosystem are important.
   7. Strong legal and policy instruments are necessary for the regulation and implementation of strategies in WRM.
   8. Technology, cooperation, and joint research are crucial for successful WRM.
   9. Safeguard measures for vital ecosystems may be promoted.
   10. The role of communities in implementing WRM measures like Human right to water, sound sanitation, access to clean water, green recovery plans covering water as a resource, etc is crucial.
   11. Sustainable national water strategy needs to be developed.

» The focus of the second technical session was on land restoration and sharing of best practices on this topic.

• • The second half of the day began with a technical session on Encouraging Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy, with presentations and the release of draft G20 documents on the four sub-themes identified under the Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy priority, namely:

G20 Knowledge Exchanges in Circular Economy in Steel Sector, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for Circular Economy and Circular Bio-economy, and the proposed G20 Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy Industry Coalition.

Day 3:

» The final day of the 2nd ECSWG meeting had a special address by Ms. Darshana Vikram Jardosh, Union Minister of State for Railways and Textiles, Government of India. She acknowledged the efforts of the G20 countries, with a comprehensive approach to address climate change.

Following this was the technical session which witnessed engaging discussions to outline ways of effectively accelerating the transition to a sustainable and climate-resilient Blue Economy.

» Experts from organisations like the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO), the United Nations Development Program, and the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services made presentations.

• • Presentations emphasising the need for protecting and conserving coastal and marine ecosystems for a healthy ocean, ecosystem conservation from Blue Carbon initiative, mainstreaming Marine Spatial planning for a sustainable Blue Economy and MSP Global Initiative.

» The delegates deliberated on the G20 High-Level Principles for a Sustainable and Climate Resilient Blue Economy that was presented during the technical session.

• • The technical study on Accelerating the Transition to a Sustainable and Climate Resilient Blue Economy was also discussed among the participating delegates during the session.

» The concluding technical session of the day was on the alignment of the Global Biodiversity Framework 2022 and its implementation modalities under the priority of biodiversity, land degradation, and ecosystem restoration.

• • The focus of the session on Biodiversity was to accelerate the action on implementing the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework across G20 countries and concluded by posing three key questions for deliberation on the topic.

» Delegates also visited the Dandi Kutir, which is the world’s largest and only Museum built on one man’s story – Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Nation.