India Environment - 2024

Environment - current issues

deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing; desertification; air pollution from industrial effluents and vehicle emissions; water pollution from raw sewage and runoff of agricultural pesticides; tap water is not potable throughout the country; huge and growing population is overstraining natural resources; preservation and quality of forests; biodiversity loss

Environment - international agreements

party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Climate

varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north

Land use

agricultural land: 60.5% (2018 est.)

arable land: 52.8% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 4.2% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 3.5% (2018 est.)

forest: 23.1% (2018 est.)

other: 16.4% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 36.4% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 2.33% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Revenue from forest resources

0.14% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

1.15% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 50.17 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 2,407.67 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 559.11 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 168,403,240 tons (2001 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 8,420,162 tons (2013 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 5% (2013 est.)

Major lakes (area sq km)

salt water lake(s): Chilika Lake - 1,170 sq km

Major rivers (by length in km)

Brahmaputra (shared with China [s] and Bangladesh [m]) - 3,969 km; Indus (shared with China [s] and Pakistan [m]) - 3,610 km; Ganges river source (shared with Bangladesh [m]) - 2,704 km; Godavari - 1,465 km; Sutlej (shared with China [s] and Pakistan [m]) - 1,372 km; Yamuna - 1,370 km; Narmada - 1,289 km; Chenab river source (shared with Pakistan [m]) - 1,086 km; Ghaghara river mouth (shared with China [s] and Nepal) - 1,080 km
note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth

Major watersheds (area sq km)

Indian Ocean drainage: Brahmaputra (651,335 sq km), Ganges (1,016,124 sq km), Indus (1,081,718 sq km), Irrawaddy (413,710 sq km)

Major aquifers

Indus-Ganges-Brahmaputra Basin

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 56 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 17 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 688 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

1.91 trillion cubic meters (2019 est.)