Why Localization of Global Goals Matters?

A number of international agreements, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement, are designed to foster a sustainable and equitable future for all. However, achieving these goals remains a significant challenge. According to the United Nation's 2024 SDG Progress Report, only 17% of the SDG targets are currently on track, and over 700 million people still live in extreme poverty. Similarly, despite commitments under the Paris Agreement, global temperatures are projected to rise by 2.7°C by the end of the century without drastic action. A key obstacle in realizing these global targets is the inadequate alignment of international frameworks with local development policies and investment plans. While national governments are increasingly adopting and committing to global agreements, there is a disconnect between global ambitions and the specific needs of local communities. The local governments often lack the resources, technical capacity, or political will to prioritize the global frameworks over local development priorities. To stimulate local-level transformative actions, there is a critical need to promote integrated approaches that can synergize the local–national–global development policy loops to uphold safe and just earth system boundaries.

Contemporary Development Paradigms in India

As a party to many global agreements, India has shown proactive commitment to sustainable development and climate actions. The country today stands at the crossroads of developmental transformation, steering along the path of ambitious urbanization and resilient rural empowerment. Driven by visionary initiatives like the Smart Cities Mission and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, urban centres in India are transforming into hubs of innovation with modern infrastructure and public services. On the other hand, the developmental initiatives in rural India (home to over two-thirds of the population) are aligned more with a welfare-centric approach. Programmes like the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and the National Rural Livelihood Mission are focussing on rural livelihoods, improving infrastructure, and sustainable agricultural practices. Initiatives like the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission also offer integrated models for blending urban amenities with rural clusters.

While the urban development initiatives in India often follow a centralized governance model, with collaboration between state governments and municipal bodies, the governance structures in context of rural India are largely decentralized, involving Panchayati Raj Institutions. Owing to such divergence in urban–rural governance structures and socio-economic dynamics, complex challenges like rural–urban migration, rural depopulation, and uneven development continue to persist. To address these issues, harmonized policies and integrated governance frameworks are essential. By fostering synergy between policy processes and nurturing regional economies, India can stride towards a future where cities and rural areas thrive together—balancing growth with sustainability, climate resilience,, and well-being.

Circulating and Ecological Sphere Approach and Its relevance for India

As an integrated approach for climate and sustainable development actions, circulating and ecological sphere (CES) provides a new development paradigm that aims to maximize the vitality of all regions through equitable and efficient utilization of local resources (mountains, agricultural lands, water bodies, huge renewable energy potential, etc.) in an integrated manner. The CES approach emphasizes on stronger urban–rural connectivity to rediscover the untapped potential of localities to simultaneously achieve decarbonization, optimal resource circulation, harmony with nature, economic revitalization, and community well-being. The concept is also introduced in the Japanese policies, like the Fifth and Sixth Basic Environment Plan, as a tool for localizing global goals.

Centred on strengthening urban–rural linkages, the CES concept aligns well with India's development needs and policy priorities. For instance, the Government of India has been emphasizing on self-reliance and decentralization through the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative. Through promoting localized production and consumption across the urban–rural continuum, India's efforts towards self-reliance can be bolstered through CES-based transformations. Likewise, the notion of CES can also complement India's goal of achieving net-zero emissions through regional decarbonization and emphasis on decentralized energy systems. CES also resonates with India's National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) missions, such as National Solar Mission and Green India Mission, which are mobilizing urban and rural communities towards sustainable practices of promoting cleaner air, water, and energy.

Potential Areas of Circulating and Ecological Sphere Application in India

Depending on the local context across the vast geographical expanse of India, diverse avenues can be explored for application of CES approach. Based on the ongoing research projects of IGES in India, three key areas are described in the following sub-sections.

Synergistic Decarbonization and Revitalization

Agriculture serves as the primary source of livelihood for rural communities in India. However, the sustainability of agricultural practices is faced with changing climate, decreasing land productivity, volatile market, and rural depopulation. To address these issues, the country's progressive net-zero policies and initiatives on clean energy can be leveraged to enable CES-based transformations, like through agrivoltaics practice, which enables symbiotic use of agricultural lands to simultaneously yield food and solar energy. The Government of India's Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) scheme is also promoting renewable energy transformations for farmers. Through conducting local-level feasibility assessments in Ajmer (Rajasthan) and Nagpur (Maharashtra) based on geospatial parameters, researchers from IGES and regional counterparts (Central University of Rajasthan and Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology 'VNIT') have uncovered immense potential of agrivoltaics implementation in India, which can not only boost clean energy production but also enhance energy access, create green jobs, strengthen local economy and enhance climate resilient livelihood .

Transboundary Cooperation for Water Resource Management

As India becomes increasingly urbanized, rising water demand in cities, coupled with changing climate, is exacerbating the supply–demand gaps locally, and sparking rural conflicts. To sustainably manage the shared water resources, transboundary cooperation is imperative. To achieve the same, incentive and market-based benefit-sharing mechanisms can be leveraged, a promising example of which is 'The Basic Policy for Kanagawa Water Source Environment Conservation and Restoration (2007-2026)'. Experts from IGES, Keio University and VNIT have conducted in-depth investigations to explore the feasibility of a similar CES-based intervention in Nagpur. Through contingent valuation scenario-based economic valuation, clear willingness to pay (average 278 to 525 INR/year/household) is also uncovered for improved water management in Nagpur city and surrounding regions through urban–rural partnership.

Revitalization of Rural Livelihoods and Resilient Transformations

Rural depopulation is a major concern across the world. The lop-sided development in rural areas, coupled with a lack of social amenities and limited livelihood options, has over the years triggered out-migration and depopulation. In pursuit of sustainable livelihoods and improved quality of life, rural population is increasingly abandoning their ancestral lands, which gradually turns into fallow, forestland, or barren terrain. Markedly, during the outbreak of COVID-19 in India, many migrant people lost their jobs in cities and returned to their rural homelands. At this juncture, it was recognized that in the post-COVID era, rural revitalization is the key to drive resilient transformation through optimum use of available capital assets. The ecosystem-centric CES-based revitalization policies can contribute to enhance rural livelihoods based on locally available resource and enhance community resilience. Through conducting evidence-based research in hilly areas of Uttarakhand state of India (mainly Haridwar and Pauri Garhwal districts), experts from IGES and IIT Roorkee have also revealed increasing migration trends and their consequent implications on land use dynamics.

Enabling Environment for CES-based Development Transformations in India

The alignment of CES principles with India's development policies requires overarching reforms. For enhancing integrated resource management, the national- and state-level policies must foster inter-local government collaboration to strengthen local capacities.

To advance urban–rural integrated development planning, targeted incentive mechanisms need to be introduced to drive local-led transformations, which can not only empower local communities but also foster stakeholder partnerships.

Establishment of local and regional platforms will be crucial for connecting financial resources, skills, and people, facilitating the co-development of local need-based policies, plans, and actions.

Piloting and development of a few CES-based model cases will be crucial to demonstrate the tangible benefits and success of CES transformations in context of India, fostering broader adoption and scaling across the country.

To inspire CES-based development models in India, emphasis needs to be laid on capacity development of local governments for transboundary collaborative works, as well as promoting education, knowledge exchange and skill-building.

Facilitating regional cross-mutual learning with other countries can unlock new avenues of partnerships on advancing CES implementation. In October 2021, IGES together with their regional partners established the CES-Asia Consortium, which can be leveraged for advancing CES research and capacity building.

Bibliography

Mitra, B. K., et al. 2019. Water-energy-food nexus: a provision to tackle urban drought. In Urban Drought: Emerging Water Challenges in Asia; Ray B, Shaw R, Eds; Springer Nature: Singapore, pp. 69 –86. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8947-3_5

Mukhra, R., et al. 2020. COVID-19 Sets off Mass Migration in India. Archives of Medical Research, 51(7), 736 –738. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arcmed.2020.06.003

Ortiz-Moya F., et al. 2021 . Sustainable transitions towards a resilient and decentralised future: Japan 's Circulating and Ecological Sphere (CES) . Sustain Sci . 16: 1717–1729. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-021-00941-y

Sukhwani, V., Mitra, B. K, et al. 2019. Urban-Rural Partnerships: a win-win approach to realize Regional CES, Compendium of Good Practices from Japan. Yokohama, Japan: IGES, p. 27. Details available at >

Takeuchi K., et al. 2019. Circulating and Ecological Economy – Regional and Local CES: An IGES Proposal. Yokohama, Japan: IGES. Details available at > #