The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and Down To Earth magazine released the annual State of India's Environment (SOE) 2026 report, one of India's most authoritative environmental assessments. The report, released at the Anil Agarwal Dialogue on February 25, 2026, paints a stark picture of accelerating environmental degradation.\n\nThe report warns that seven of nine planetary boundaries have now been breached globally, including climate change, biodiversity loss, land-system change, freshwater depletion, biogeochemical flows, novel entities, and ocean acidification. If the average of the past three years is considered, the world has effectively exceeded the 1.5°C warming threshold for the first time.\n\nOn air quality monitoring, the report reveals a critical gap: only 15 percent of India's population — approximately 200 million people — lives within 10 km of a continuous air quality monitoring station. This means 85 percent, or over 1.2 billion people, live outside measurable air quality monitoring zones, making pollution assessments incomplete.\n\nWildlife conflict is another concern. Habitat loss, prey depletion, and the spread of invasive plant Lantana camara — which now covers nearly 50 percent of forest and scrublands — are intensifying human-tiger conflicts across India. Lantana suppresses native grasses, reducing prey availability and pushing tigers toward cattle and human settlements.\n\nOn extreme weather, the report found that at least 4,419 people died and 17.4 million hectares of cropped land were affected by extreme weather events in 2025. The report calls for urgent action on climate adaptation, monitoring infrastructure, and invasive species control.