Current Affairs Date: 24 January 2023

⇒ The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi attended a bilateral meeting with UN Secretary-General, Mr Antonio Guterres and subsequently launched Mission LiFE at the Statue of Unity, Ekta Nagar, Kevadia, Gujarat on 20 October 2022.

• • The Prime Minister and UNSG unveiled the LiFE logo and tagline, and released the Mission Document at the event.

Key Points:

• • NITI Aayog and MoEFCC, in collaboration with Government of Gujarat, organized the global launch of Mission LiFE.
  • NITI Aayog will curate and incubate Mission LiFE in the first year, and it will subsequently be implemented by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
  • The mission is a 5-year programme.

As many as 500 people participated in the event, including 116 Indian Heads of Missions abroad, UN Heads of Agencies in India, Union Minister of External Affairs, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, senior government officials, development partners, and others.

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister remarked, “The mantra of Mission Life is ‘Lifestyle For Environment’.

• • Emphasising the benefits of Mission LiFE, the Prime Minister said that it connects the powers of the people for the protection of this earth, and teaches them to utilise it in a better way.
  • He underlined that Mission LiFE makes the fight against climate change democratic, in which everyone can contribute within their capacity.
  • “Mission LiFE inspires us to do all that can be done in our everyday life to protect the environment. Mission LiFE believes that the environment can be protected by making changes in our lifestyle”.
  • The Prime Minister elaborated that Mission LiFE emboldens the spirit of the P3 model i.e. Pro Planet People.
  • Mission Life, unites the people of the earth as pro planet people, uniting them all in their thoughts. It functions on the basic principles of ‘Lifestyle of the planet, for the planet and by the planet’.

Bilateral meeting with UNSG:

During his meeting with Prime Minister, the UN Secretary General expressed his appreciation for India’s ambitious initiatives in the area of climate action, particularly through the launch of Mission LiFE, as a global mass movement to achieve sustainable lifestyle change.

• • Prime Minister and the UNSG also discussed global and regional issues, including the ongoing situation in Ukraine.
  • The UNSG welcomed India’s upcoming Presidency of the G20 and underscored that the United Nations System would work together with India in facilitating transfer of technologies and finance for the benefit of developing countries.

About Mission LiFE:

» First proposed by the Prime Minister at COP 26, Mission LiFE is envisioned as an India-led global mass movement that will nudge individual and collective action to protect and preserve the environment.

• • The concept of LiFE was introduced by the Prime Minister at COP26 at Glasgow on 1 November 2021.
  • Mission LiFE will action the ideas and ideals of LiFE through a mission-mode, scientific and measurable programme and demonstrate India’s commitment to walk the talk on climate change.
  • Mission LiFE is designed with the objective to mobilise at least one billion Indians and other global citizens to take individual and collective action for protecting and preserving the environment in the period 2022 to 2027.
  • Within India, at least 80% of all villages and urban local bodies are aimed to become environment-friendly by 2028.

» Mission LiFE aims at following a three-pronged strategy for changing our collective approach towards sustainability.

1. 1. First is by nudging individuals to practise simple yet effective environment-friendly actions in their daily lives (demand);
   2. Second is by enabling industries and markets to respond swiftly to the changing demand (supply) and;
   3. Third is to influence government and industrial policy to support both sustainable consumption and production (policy).