Goal 14: Life Below Water

Water in the form of rivers, lakes, seas and oceans covers more than 70 per cent of the surface of earth and plays a key role in supporting life. Oceans and seas support the most diverse ecosystems, contribute and regulate the climate, provide natural resources including food, materials, substances, and energy and also act as carbon sinks. The 2030 agenda particularly Goal 14 seeks to address some of the challenges faced by the life under water - threats of marine and nutrient pollution, resource depletion and climate change, degradation and loss of biodiversity, ocean acidification, all of which are caused primarily by human actions. The Goal advocates corrective human measures including effectively regulating harvesting and overfishing, protecting marine and coastal ecosystems, increasing scientific knowledge to improve ocean health and providing access for small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets. There are 10 targets in Goal 14 to measure the health and services of water related ecosystems. Since Rajasthan has no coastal sides and major ground water reservoirs, hence this goal has very little implication on state climate and ecosystem. Thus, only 2 indicators have been identified for State Indicator framework to measure and monitor the progress of these targets.

Facts and figures