Irrespective of the disappointing outcome of the Madrid summit, as a responsible nation, India cannot be making a half-hearted approach to address the issue of climate change

Even as the thunderous reverberations of the 16-year-old environmental activist, Greta Thunberg, at the UN, just three months ago, are yet to die down, to our utter surprise, the Madrid climate talks under the aegis of COP25 ended in a failure. This is not the first time that such discordance among member nations has been witnessed. The present talks failed despite the fact that while inaugurating this conference,  UN Secretary General António Guterres had issued a very stern warning. “I call on anyone who is still lobbying their Governments for a slow transition or even no transition, to end those activities now. The world is watching,” he emphasised. Today, the world community appears to be focussed more on the protection of their own domestic agenda rather than  paying heed to the impending disaster.

The first decade after the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit of 1992 saw a rare  building up of consensus on almost all issues. Perhaps it was the decade after the Cold War and the first Gulf War when the world community saw immense merit in consensus-building. The same was also manifest during the signing of the WTO Agreement at Marrakesh, Morocco, in 1994. But in the very next decade, one saw the appearance of discordant notes, particularly as former US President George W Bush virtually refused to follow the Kyoto Protocol even as America was the largest polluter in the world. This trend was further aggravated when President Donald Trump followed the same route as charted earlier by Bush.

Unfortunately, despite the bleak scenario, the voice of a number of smaller and less polluting nations, prominently Tuvalu, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan among others, who are already facing the brunt of the climate change, seems to have been lost. On the other hand, high polluting nations such as China, India and the European Union could not account for their efforts at reducing global warming. They were unable to quantify in specific terms the targets achieved as was laid down under the Paris Agreement. But the prime reason for the failure of the Madrid Summit, which was participated by 197 countries across the world, was a lack of consensus on development of a market mechanism to limit carbon emissions.

The concept of trading in carbon markets as a response to climate change was an important outcome of the Kyoto Protocol. The primary purpose of the Protocol was to make the developed countries pay for their emissions while at the same time, monetarily reward those nations with good record in this regard. The underlying philosophy was that since the developing countries could start with cleaner technologies, they would be rewarded by those who were stuck with old and polluting technologies. In a way, this translated into wealthier countries purchasing the extent of reduction in carbon levels achieved by the developing countries.

In this manner, the developed and wealthier nations would not only be able to sell their technology to the developing countries but could also gather carbon credits to meet the requirements of Kyoto Protocol without any reduction in their emission levels. The failure of the Madrid summit, to achieve any results in this direction, may have also disappointed those who encouraged carbon trading mechanism like the oil major Royal Dutch Shell Plc and the Spanish utility Iberdrola SA.

Such a market mechanism was also considered important by heavy industrialised countries, who are economically dependent on oil and gas production. In the normal course, large-scale de-carbonisation would take much longer than as prescribed under the Paris targets. Besides, it would also ensure that the rich and already developed countries could continue to pollute on the strength of carbon credit purchased by them, while the options of developing and relatively poor countries would be curtailed. It can, thus, be inferred that the summit spent more time in ensuring that the interests of the developed countries are well protected through the carbon trading mechanism.

In fact, the scheme of carbon credits is some kind of a smokescreen which enables the developed and richer countries to exploit those still developing. Those already developed, thus, escape the limits while the less industrialised and less polluting are loaded with the burden of further reductions. This may ultimately impact and retard their progress in the long-run.

In this context, let us take the example of the GFL gas project in Gujarat. GFL is one of the largest producers of carbon offset credits in the world, selling them to many of the biggest polluters in the EU. Europe’s polluters have had a cheap way to offset their climate responsibilities without actually greening even a small patch of the land. EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard admitted that such projects have a “total lack of environmental integrity.”

At the summit, not much time was spent on determining the targets to be achieved by each country so as to keep the emissions of greenhouse gases within the overall objective of the global warming being limited to the extent of 1.5 degrees between 2018 and 2100. For this to become a reality by 2050, we should be a net-zero emitter. So far only about 20 countries, including the UK, France, New Zealand, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden, figure in the list of those who are expected to meet this target. India, China and the US still have a long way to go.

In India, with a perceived difficulty in cutting emissions in order to meet the targets, an ambitious plan for harnessing solar energy has been formulated. We are lucky that sunlight is available in abundance but the challenge lies in the procurement of solar Photo Voltaic (PV) cells, which is one of the major constraining factors in our efforts to realise the full potential. According to a report submitted by the parliamentary standing committee, in order to achieve the target of 100 GW of solar electricity capacity by 2022, India should have had an installed capacity of 32,000 MW by 2017-18. But as of January 31, 2018, the country only had a capacity of 18,455 MW in just four years — this is over 20,000 MW a year and appears difficult to achieve.

Irrespective of the disappointing outcome of the Madrid summit, as a responsible nation with high prestige in the international arena, India does not have the luxury of a half-hearted approach towards this vital area. The phenomenon of global warming has to be seen as a global warning.

(Writer: kk paul; Courtesy: The Pioneer)

Maybe leaders do not like being lectured by a teenager but the world cannot afford failure

Another year of UN-sponsored climate talks and another year of stagnation where nothing was achieved. Yes, 2019 will go down as the year when a Swedish schoolgirl stood up to global leaders and told them to feel some shame but the latter, rather leaders of the world’s most important countries when it comes to climate change, have brushed her away. There have been record wildfires in Australia and the US, heatwaves in Europe, droughts in South America and rapidly shrinking ice levels at the Poles. It was believed that compromises and contingency plans would have been put into place at Madrid but after days of smashing heads together, nothing was achieved. The Paris deal of 2015 offered a framework for a new carbon market under the UN, but the details had not been worked out. Under it, those who have no choice but to pollute a bit would be free to trade carbon credits with developed countries. With no agreement reached, events like “Extinction Rebellion” in London, which brought the city to a standstill, are meaningless.

Partially, this is due to the Right-wing, nationalist turn the world has taken politically. Strongmen from our own Narendra Modi to Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and now possibly Boris Johnson are not ready to compromise on their nations and liabilities. After all, fighting climate change is an expensive business and nobody wants to foot the bill. It has become a game of passing the responsibility on and telling the other guy what to do. For some Westerners, it is about countries like India and even those in the African continent which are forced to put off their dreams of development “for the sake of the planet.” None of the countries will utter a peep to their own people, whose vast consumption outweighs that of many Indians. It is true that there has been a dramatic rise in global carbon levels over the past few years, thanks to China, but was it wrong on its part to haul hundreds of millions out of extreme poverty? India’s moral imperative is first and foremost to end hunger and starvation and ensure that no child is left behind. Unfortunately, this will have an environmental cost, one that this country will pay dearly due to rising sea levels. Yet, India will have to make some compromises if it is to reduce the extent of climate-induced suffering. There has been a pivot towards huge investments in renewable energy and exploring new technologies but this needs the developed world to be less hypocritical.

(Courtesy: The Pioneer)

With a robust combination of the right policies, economic incentives and awareness campaigns, the problem of managing crop residue in an environment-friendly manner can be addressed

Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities, is in the news again for its worsening air quality as the Government has been forced to close schools and declare a health emergency. The much-loved winter months in other parts of the country are a nightmare for the residents of Delhi-NCR as the area gets enveloped in a blanket of toxic haze.

With the Air Quality Index (AQI) reaching new levels each year and going as high as 1,200+ (classified ‘Hazardous’) this month, the city is suffocating, literally. Apart from coal and construction dust, vehicular emissions and smoke from Diwali firecrackers, stubble burning by farmers in the States of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh (UP) are cited as the primary reason for this crisis.

While the Delhi Government has been trying to bring down pollution levels through its vehicle rationing odd-even scheme and by closing polluting factories and coal-based power plants among other things, biomass burning is something it has failed to stop. For this, it needs the cooperation of its neighbouring States and has no control over the farmers there.

Crop residue burning is a practice where farmers set their entire fields on fire after harvesting the rice crop, to make way for the next i.e. wheat. The sowing of rice is timed such that its intense water needs are met by the monsoon rains in the Indo-Gangetic plains and the crop is harvested just before winter starts. However, the result is a whopping 23 million tonnes of paddy residue in the fields that need to be cleared in a short span of 10 to 20 days, before the farms are readied for sowing wheat. If the farmers had more time between crops, they could have just left this biomass lie in the fields and let it turn to mulch, which is an excellent fertiliser. However, with such a short gap between the two crops, setting fields afire seems to be the easiest way to get rid of the stubble. This however severely degrades the ambient air quality of Delhi-NCR.

Taking cognisance of the consequences of stubble burning, the Government banned it in June, imposing fines on those who defied the diktat and recently the Supreme Court (SC) even pulled up the chief secretaries of the three neighbouring States and ordered them to ensure that farmers don’t burn crop residue anymore.

Nevertheless, the practice seems to have continued as growers contend that feasible, affordable and scalable alternatives are lacking. In an effort to encourage farmers to find alternatives to burning the residue, the SC had also directed the three States to pay Rs 100 per quintal of paddy straw to growers, but it doesn’t seem to have worked.

The atmospheric factors at play: People often wonder how a practice followed a few 100 km from Delhi-NCR has big implications. Here is the science behind this phenomenon. During winter, the region sees low wind speeds and temperature inversion — an atmospheric phenomenon where the temperature of the air near the surface is lower than that of the air higher in the atmosphere. Hence, when the pollutants from vehicular emissions and crop burning are released into the air, they are not dispersed but trapped in the lower layers of the atmosphere. As a result, the air quality takes a deep dive.

“Air pollution in cities like Delhi may be attributed to the growth of the metro and the pollutants from sources far away that get carried to the national Capital by the moving air or environmental conditions, which are unfavourable for the dispersion of pollutants,” said Prof Vinoj V from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bhubaneswar, talking about his study published in 2018. The study, among other things, had found that crop burning has been increasing at an alarming rate of 25 per cent since 2000.

It isn’t Delhi alone that takes the hit; other tier-2 cities in the region also seem to be affected by biomass burning for similar reasons. A 2019 research, which investigated the source of pollutants in 20 Indian cities other than Delhi, found that in places like Amritsar, Chandigarh and Ludhiana, crop residue burning, along with emissions from power plants and seasonal dust storms contributed to about 50-52 per cent of particulate matter.

In essence, the timing of winter-related atmospheric phenomena, coupled with the surge in emissions when the fields are set on fire, is a perfect pollution cocktail.

The health and economic costs of stubble burning: It is well-known that inhaling polluted air can lead to severe health conditions like lung cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, asthma, bronchitis and dementia. Not just this, air pollution also adversely affects crop yields in India. But, what really is the economic cost of stubble burning in these maladies?

A study, published by researchers at USA’s International Food Policy Research Institute and Oklahoma State University, pegs that number at $30 billion, including the economic loss and associated health costs. It found that about 14 per cent of acute respiratory infections, recorded in Haryana, Punjab and Delhi in 2013, could be attributed to stubble burning. Researchers estimate that living in areas where there is intensive crop burning increases the chance of acute respiratory infections three-fold, with children under the age of five being the most affected.

Crippled policies adding to woes: As most studies have pointed out, a robust combination of the right policies, economic incentives and awareness campaigns are the need of the hour to curb the “burning” problem of air pollution. Badly-designed policies could have unintended effects on air quality, as shown by a research from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in India and Mexico and the Cornell University, USA. It showed that groundwater conservation policies, introduced in 2009 in Punjab and Haryana, could have contributed to the rise in stubble burning.

Although rice is a lucrative crop for farmers, it is water-intensive. Hence, the ‘Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act’ and the ‘Haryana Preservation of Subsoil Water Act’ banned the transplantation of rice before monsoon to conserve groundwater. As the monsoon arrives in these States in July, the crop is harvested in early November, forcing farmers to clear their fields as soon as possible for wheat sowing. Using satellite data, the study found that prior to 2009, about 40 per cent of rice was harvested by late October and this number declined to 14 per cent after the law was enforced. The number of fires went up from 490 per day during late October prior to 2009, to 681 per day, peaking around early November. The average daily PM2.5 concentrations in November were also found to be 29 per cent higher after the groundwater Acts were passed.

With the clamour for alternatives to stubble burning increasingly being heard, science may have solutions, as shown by a 2019 study. It analysed 10 alternatives to stubble burning and found that contrary to what farmers believed, these methods were not only environment-friendly, but also profitable. Among them is using Happy Seeder, a machine that can sow wheat despite the presence of rice straw in the fields. This yielded nearly 10-20 per cent increase in profits or about Rs 11,498 per hectare on an average. The profits come from lower land preparation cost and the reuse of the crop residue, which increases soil moisture and benefits the long-term health of the soil.

However, these benefits come at a cost of  Rs 2.4 billion — necessary to produce about 16,000 Happy Seeders to cater to 50 per cent of the rice — wheat cultivation areas. With a meagre subsidy of Rs 2,000 provided by the Government for purchasing machines to manage crop residue, machines like Happy Seeders are unaffordable to many farmers, leaving them with no options but to set fields on fire.

As most of these studies have pointed out, with a robust combination of the right policies, economic incentives and awareness campaigns, the pressing problem of managing crop residue can be addressed. It is about time that policymakers took note of such insights and acted to provide us all with clean air to breathe — a basic necessity of life.

Writer: Spoorthy Raman

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Good governance is not just about absence of corruption; it is also about effective decision-taking. People are wanting to see such examples from their elected leaders

Imagine this. It’s winter time once again. Post-Diwali, people in the northern plains of India are expecting air pollution to worsen from stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and western UP. But nothing of that sort happens. No stubble burning and so no spike in air pollution levels. Nobody knows why. Then a few months later, a scholar, researching on the issue, reveals it all in his TED talk on good governance. He reports how the Chief Ministers of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and UP had come together and took upon themselves to tackle this menace. They co-created a fund and entrusted it to an agency that would fast-track search for a solution. The entrusted agency hired the best and the brightest brains in the country and got them to focus on the issue. A few months later, a multi-disciplinary team came up with a few good uses of crop residue. They developed a few applications of crop residue, studied their market potential and also developed a business model around it. In doing so, they not only created a value proposition but also a potential for employment. A few entrepreneurs were roped in to produce and sell those products/applications. As a result, crop residue now commands a price. Farmers have now started selling crop residue for money instead of burning it. All this sounds amazing, isn’t it?

What’s even more amazing is that the State Governments did so quietly, away from public glare. Not seeking credit or scoring a point over each other’s political parties. Come elections and the incumbent political parties will have a chance to narrate this “success” story to its people and “win” their hearts (and votes too!). This may all sound surreal but this is the spirit needed in solving any development problem. This is the spirit behind good governance. In reality, however, what we are seeing is not good governance but dirty politics. Instead of finding a solution to the problem at hand, State Governments are using this problem to show each other in a bad light. Having failed to take any corrective action on time, they are now resorting to symbolism: the Punjab CM has written to the Centre asking for its intervention; the Delhi CM has played a “victim card”, distributed masks and initiated the odd-even scheme; the Haryana CM has announced incentives for anybody reporting stubble burning in the State and so forth.

Nothing stops State Governments from joining hands in finding an effective solution ahead of the problem that shows up every year with striking regularity. It’s well within the capacity of any State Government to find a solution, even if nobody is cooperating. The Punjab Government, for example, could have easily taken the lead in cracking this problem in its jurisdiction, one that didn’t require huge resources. All it needed was a little foresight and a commitment to finding a progressive solution. But it failed to seize the opportunity. In doing so, it also missed a chance to contribute to uplifting the sagging image of its political party at the national level.

Seeing the lack of seriousness of States, the Supreme Court (SC) had to finally intervene. It announced, among other measures, a complete ban on stubble burning. It noted that in case of any violation of the ban, the entire administrative machinery — from the top to the bottom — would be held accountable. With the SC order coming in, people can heave a sigh of relief. They can be rest assured that some meaningful action would happen. But this relief is only temporary as the problem of stubble burning itself lasts for no more than a couple of weeks. While the air pollution is most acute during the period of stubble burning, it remains a silent killer almost round the year and, therefore, needs addressing too.

It is a known fact that pollution levels in the National Capital Region (NCR) remain unsafe for the most part of a year. It’s created by a host of other factors, notably vehicular emission, dust from construction and demolition of buildings, burning of garbage and dry leaves, and emissions from industrial activities. An effective strategy is needed to deal with each of these sources of pollution. In devising and implementing such a strategy, State Governments of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh need to work closely with the national government and municipalities in a non-partisan manner. But this isn’t happening.

What’s indeed happening is that those in power want to be seen doing something about it without necessarily dirtying their hands. Controlling air pollution is a messy affair. It also entails taking some harsh measures. Some of those measures may not go down well with the public and may prove to be un-populist. Governments generally hate taking such measures. Their emphasis is on seeking credit, scoring a point, even if they deal only with a part of the problem instead of the whole. Governments are happy “educating” the people of what is within their control and what is not. Their conduct is not entirely surprising though. But State Governments need to realise the changing political landscape in India and the rising expectations of people from their elected representatives. Governments are elected not only for “educating” the public but also for finding an effective solution, regardless of what it takes. Good governance is not just about absence of corruption; it is also about effective decision-taking. People are wanting to see examples of good governance from their elected leaders and the political parties they represent.

Despite these underlying changes, it’s unlikely that the governments in the NCR region will follow through all the measures necessary to control all the sources of air pollution. As a matter of fact, when administrations at different levels are affiliated to different political parties, they start working at cross-purposes instead of working collectively in solving any problem. Nowhere is this seen as clearly as in the NCR; and no other problem illuminates this so well as the problem of air pollution. The SC needs to ensure that the administrations in the NCR deal with the problem of air pollution, comprehensively and effectively.

It is worth reminding that air pollution is not the only problem affecting the NCR. It’s no secret that NCR is a badly managed region. Examples abound of glaring failures of the administration at all levels: farm animals meandering freely on roads, obstructing flow of traffic; huge parking space crises co-existing with mis-managed parking spaces; new encroachments and illegal structures getting built every day but the authorities refuse to take cognisance, let alone taking action; management of city traffic lacks application of even basic thinking of traffic segregation and so forth. The reason for these, and a host of other problems, is a systemic failure of administrations to work in tandem with each other. Actually, this is what SC needs to address. How?

If the SC can provide a framework guidance on how the administrative authorities at different levels are supposed to conduct and coordinate with each other, it will have dealt with the root cause of most problems facing the city dwellers. This is particularly needed when different levels of administration are ruled by different political parties. Further, any guidance to ringfence technical issues from political interference would be a significant move forward. After all, cities are complex systems that need to be operated efficiently, which requires some degree of technical sophistication. Cities cannot become “smart” unless the administrations become “smart” – that is, unless they take decisions in a professional manner.

Writer: Rajeev Ahuja

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Environment change summits have become annual high-visibility events where discussions and debates are held and pledges are taken by countries, but thereafter it is business as usual

Delhi’s trial by pollution is akin to a trial by fire for all the citizens, especially the elderly and children. The days are exceedingly smoggy and sunlight is disappearing among various layers of harmful pollutants in the atmosphere.

The state of the environment today in Delhi is the result of our actions and inactions, both. While various anthropogenic actions are stoking the pollution levels in our lives, inaction in taking concrete steps to limit and stem the spiralling pollution levels is only worsening matters. The problem of inaction in containing pollution levels and if possible reversing climate change in the process is a serious matter that is now pushing our environment into an irrecoverable tailspin.

Apart from man-made reasons for pollution, the fact that humans are not taking serious and effective action is damaging the environment more and strengthening the devastating effects of climate change.

The glaring deficiencies in action arise when climate-related pledges are undertaken but seldom executed in all seriousness. This aspect of the fight against climate change has come out in a recent report titled the Truth Behind the Climate Pledges, released on November 5 by the United States-based Universal Ecological Fund. Fundación Ecológica Universal (FEU-US) is a partner of the older Argentinian organisation with the same name. The report disclosed that during the course of the research, it was found that almost 75 per cent of the 184 pledges made by various countries under the Paris Agreement were insufficient to slow climate change.

The report classifies pledges, which commit to reducing 2030 emissions by over 40 per cent compared to 1990 levels as “Sufficient” and 20-40 per cent reduction pledges as “Partially Sufficient.”

Pledges with mitigation targets under 20 per cent or those with conditional commitments, where the country is implementing at least 50 per cent of the pledged mitigation actions from their own resources, were deemed “Partially Insufficient.” Those with no targets for absolute emission reduction and those which rely on international financing more than 50 per cent of their mitigation actions were deemed “Insufficient.”

The fact that the report’s research could not find a majority of the pledges being “sufficient” or better still more than “sufficient” is a cause for concern because the state of the environment in the face of rapid climate change needs more than “sufficient” efforts to make a positive difference.

The only countries that could qualify for carrying out their pledges in a sufficient manner were 35 in number. Out of these 35 nations, 28 belonged to the European Union and seven were other nations.

While the pledges of 12 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and North Korea were deemed partially sufficient, pledges made by eight other countries were deemed partially insufficient. The rest of the pledges, totalling 125 largely- developing countries with the US being a notable exception, were deemed insufficient.

This shows the wide disparity in efforts and how seriously these pledges are being taken and followed up. But there is a different kind of disparity at work here, too. The EU and the USA, with their share of high historic emissions and being developed nations, have financial and other resources as accumulated wealth at their disposal and as a result are able to do much more to mitigate climate change on the same platform. This advantage the developing nations do not have. As a result, there is glaring disparity between what the developing world can achieve against their pledges and what the developed world can showcase as efforts taken under their pledges.

The international community must recognise this imbalance and set out to find a formula that empowers all to take equal measures and actions. Climate justice also demands that historically rich emitters must shoulder a substantially higher share of that burden to reduce climate change.

India, in its role as an emerging economic power, must highlight and champion the cause of the inequitable conditions at the global climate change mitigation forum. As a part its effort, the Indian leadership must make a strong case of how the developed nations must come forward in not only doing more than the developing world to slow down climate change, but must also assist the emerging nations on advisory and resources support wise and help fight the advance of climate change.

Climate summits have become annual high-visibility events where discussions and debates are held and pledges are taken but thereafter it is business as usual.

This has to change and India can and must become the catalyst that brings about this awakening and change because a pledge taken has to be kept, especially if it is taken for mother Earth.

Writer: Kota Sriraj

Courtesy: The Pioneer

The combined effect of El Niño and aerosols reduces rainfall markedly over the sub-continent and intensifies the severity of droughts by as much as 17 per cent, as compared to the individual effect of a warm ocean current

Aerosols, tiny solid particles or liquid droplets suspended in the atmosphere, are rapidly becoming the ubiquitous factor in environmental degradation and pushing up the frequency of droughts across the world, especially in India. They can come from natural sources, like dust or wildfires, or man-made sources such as vehicles and industrial emissions.

A team of atmospheric scientists from India, USA and Canada found that aerosols in the atmosphere can increase the severity of droughts in the Indian subcontinent by as much as 17 per cent during El Niño years.

The El Niño phenomenon, which occurs when there is abnormal warming over the Pacific Ocean, is already considered detrimental for the monsoon as it blocks the flow of moisture-bearing winds from the oceans to the Indian landmass. A new study by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) Pune found that it further weakens the monsoon by transporting aerosols from lower altitudes in the East Asian region up and into the higher altitudes of about 12-18 km, forming an aerosol layer called the Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer (ATAL) over the South Asian region.

It remains suspended there during the monsoon and its thickening cuts solar energy to the Earth. This in turn weakens monsoon circulation and increases the severity of drought conditions.

The study, published in the Scientific Reports journal, reveals that the combined effect of El Niño and aerosols reduces rainfall over the Indian sub-continent as compared to the individual effect of El Niño. Going by the satellite readings and a series of model simulations in the report,  the severity of droughts during El Niño years over the sub-continent has amplified by 17 per cent.

Noting that in recent decades there has been an increase in the frequency of El Niño events and droughts over India, the researchers warned against any further increase in industrial emissions from both East and South Asia as they can lead to a wider and thicker aerosol layer in the upper troposphere and further intensify droughts.

Given that India is already vulnerable to hydrological and weather extremes, a higher degree of drought severity will only subject the country to more hydrological stress while affecting agriculture and the livelihood of millions of people.

Reducing aerosol emissions is not only essential for improving air quality but also for controlling droughts and their impact on people in the Indian subcontinent. Rising temperatures, too, are becoming the cause of increase in the concentration of aerosols in the atmosphere that cause air pollution.

According to a recent study by researchers from the University of California, aerosol presence is exacerbating climate change and its adverse effects. While climate change is warming oceans, it is warming land faster, which is bad news for global air quality. The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, shows that the land-sea warming contrast drives up aerosol concentration in the atmosphere.

Aerosols not only affect the climate system, including disturbances to the water cycle, they also harm humans, animals and plants as they cause smog and pollution. Their output and emissions are a matter of grave concern.

To rein in these soaring emissions, we need to understand the level of aerosol pollution in India. India needs an aerosol protocol that is able to set the parameters for preventing spread of aerosol emissions. Industries and other man-made sources of aerosol emissions currently have a free run thanks to lack of stringent regulations that set ground rules for operations.

The categorisation of industries and other aerosol-emitting units is critical and periodic checking will go a long way in controlling them. This will have a direct impact on the fight against climate change and help India arrest its worsening environment situation.

(The writer is an environmental journalist)

Writer: Kota Sriraj

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Issues like conditions of forests, prey base, livelihood of fringe forest dwellers, tribals and so on need to be taken up on a priority basis so that the big cats don’t come in conflict with people

On the occasion of the International Tiger Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the 2018 Tiger Estimation report with great fanfare and broke the news of a significant increase in the tiger population of India. He termed the success of tiger conservation efforts in India as “baaghon mein bahar hai,” a take on the popular Hindi film song from yesteryears. According to the estimation report, the tiger population has increased from 1,400 in 2014 to 2,967 in 2019, a solid growth of 34 per cent. It is a remarkable achievement for the country that in spite of several hiccups in conservation, it has three-fourth of the world’s tiger population and has emerged as the safest habitat for the big cat. Highlighting India’s conservation efforts, Modi said that the target to double the tiger population by 2022, which was set in 2010 in St Petersburg by the international community, was achieved by India four years in advance.

The tiger census, one of the world’s largest, was carried out over an area of 3,91,400 sq km in 3,17,958 sample habitat plots. As many as 26,838 camera traps located at 141 sites covered over 1,21,337 sq km of forests and snapped more than  76,000 pictures of the big cats.

This estimation seems quite reliable given the meticulous planning, use of cutting-edge technology and analytical tools. This time  human errors were minimised and figures were based on recording of actual field data digitally through the mobile phone application M-STrIPES (Monitoring System for Tiger-Intensive Protection and Ecological Status).  The sighting of tigers and other animals was recorded and geo-tagged. One of the keys to success was the adoption of a landscape approach across five tiger habitats, i.e. the Shivaliks and Indo-Gangetic Plains, Central India and Eastern Ghats, Western Ghats, the North-East and the Sunderbans. National Geographic prepared a documentary on this census, highlighting the hard work done by the field staff and other officers.

The increase in tiger numbers in the country has basically been due to the hard work put in by the foresters and positive attitude of villagers apart from policy thrust and priority attached to conservation by the Centre and State Governments.

The impact of improvement in overall forest management and technological back-up was also felt. However, we must also remember that the tiger is a prolific breeder and once its numbers started growing, a good prey base and habitat ensured that the population would register good growth. But the nation must give equal credit to villagers situated near tiger habitats as without their cooperation, protecting the feline species would have been a pipe dream, as is the case in many other countries. However, the increased tiger population has brought with it more responsibility and challenges for forest departments as tigers can only prosper in healthy environs that would support their prey base.

Incidentally, the highest number of tigers, 526, was located in Madhya Pradesh (MP), followed by 524 in Karnataka and 442 in Uttarakhand.

Sadly, Chhattisgarh witnessed a big decline from 46 tigers in 2014 to 19 in 2019 and is a cause for concern. Similarly the results in Bihar, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Mizoram and Arunanchal Pradesh are not very encouraging and the situation may become critical in other areas also. Shockingly, no tigers were reported in Buxa, Palamu and Dampa tiger reserves.

However, a word of caution for MP, Uttarakhand and Karnataka which have shown a boost in big cat numbers. They must control the increasing man-animal conflicts as a larger tiger population means increasing competition for food, water and space. Issues like conditions of forests, prey base, livelihood of fringe forest dwellers, tribals and so on, need to be taken up on a priority basis so that the big cats don’t come in conflict with people. Further, water sources will have to be improved on a war footing to combat climatic vagaries.

The Ministry of Environment’s Compensatory Afforestation Planning and Management Authority (CAMPA) recently released  Rs 47,000 crore to States. Even if the annual interest earned on this amount is used in a well-planned manner, it can solve the monetary and resource crunch faced by the forest department.

There is also dire need to synchronise the working of forests, rural, tribal affairs and Jal Shakti Ministries. The time is ripe to make some innovative and forward-looking changes in the governance of these subjects.

(The writer is a retired civil servant)

Writer: VK Bahuguna

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Amazon forest blaze is fast blocking sunlight and enveloping the entire north-western region of Brazil with thick smoke. Brazil must understand the global importance of these evergreen forests. It is not simply Brazil that is affected, but the entire planet

The extraordinary blaze engulfing the Amazon forest, popularly known as the “Lungs of the Planet”, is at the centre of global attraction with many trying to reason out the root cause of the forest fire that militates against the war on climate change.

Of several reasons doing the rounds, two popular ones are that the forest fire in the Amazon may be caused by the dry season which runs from July to October. These fires may occur naturally because of events such as lightning strikes. But others believe that they are the results of farmers and loggers clearing lands for crops or grazing. Herein the activists add that anti-environment rhetoric of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has strongly encouraged forest clearing operations. On the other hand, Bolsonaro has accused NGOs of starting the fires themselves to tarnish his Government’s image.

The Brazilian space agency, the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), says its satellite data shows 85 per cent increase in fires on the same period in 2018. In fact, the official figures show more than 75,000 forest fires were recorded in Brazil in the first eight months of the year, the highest number since 2013. According to the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), a part of the EU’s earth observation programme, the smoke has been travelling as far as the Atlantic coast. The fire has brought black smokes to Sao Paulo, more than 3,200 km from the Amazon. What is worrying for the international community is that these fires are releasing a huge amount of carbon dioxide, equivalent of 228 megatonnes so far this year, highest since 2010. They are also emitting carbon monoxide beyond the coastlines of South America. Further, the Amazon basin, home to about three million species of plants and animals and one million indigenous people, is critical for fighting global warming as it can absorb millions of tonnes of carbon emissions each year.

But with the burning of these precious forests, the carbon they store will be soon released into the atmosphere and hence, the rainforest’s capacity to absorb carbon emission will be fast reduced.

Primarily, tensions have arisen between France and Brazil in the latest round of G7 talks after French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that fires in the Amazon basin amounted to an international crisis and should be discussed as a top priority at the G7 Summit. Bolsonaro immediately responded by saying Macron’s statement is a manifestation of his “colonialist mentality”. Later, the G7 group of industrialised nations announced a $20 million assistance package aiming to provide it to the Amazonian nations such as Brazil and Bolivia, primarily to pay for more firefighting planes. But unfortunately in the whataboutery, the chief of the staff of Bolsonaro appreciated the offer and asked the same resources to be used for reforesting Europe. This has stirred up a hornets’ nest between France and Brazil.

Interestingly, the Constitution of Brazil describes the Amazon as “national treasure”. So it should be treated accordingly and every inch of it must be saved and preserved. Besides, amid global concerns for saving the Amazon, one must note what “principle of non-regression”, one of the basic tenets of the international environmental law, enunciates. This principle lays down that some basic legal rules should be non-revocable in the common interest of mankind. Thus, once a legal regime is set and protection is granted, essentially, there should not be a question of tempering with such rules. And ironically, this global environmental dictum is clearly reflected in the “Right to Healthy Environment”, guaranteed by the Article 225 of the Brazilian Constitution.

The Article says, “All have the right to an ecologically balanced environment… and both the Government and the community shall have the duty to defend and preserve it for future for present and future generations.” So why does Brazil need to be told that the Amazon is an integral part of its heritage and this forest must be saved? All Brazilians are well aware and it has a democratically elected regime that must take enough to safeguard the “lungs” of earth.

What might drive the Brazilian Government to open the rich Amazon is to create wealth for the country? And this is driven by years of recession and high unemployment. Indeed, Brazil has witnessed the worst ever political and economic upheaval during the time of both the predecessors of Bolsonaro, namely Dilma Rousseff and Michel Temer. Of course, when the ordinary Brazilians have chosen a right-wing President like Bolsonaro, the expectations are high as to see a change in the current economic downturn.

Succinctly, mining and other economic activities in the Amazon are not the answers to arrest Brazil out of the economic gloom. Simply to say, mining operations offer a little economic benefits to the locals. Instead, such operations, attract large number of outsiders that leads to deforestation, violent conflicts on land rights and finally, adding mercury pollution to nearby rivers.

This blaze might torpedo a huge trade agreement between the South American nations, including Brazil, and the European Union (EU), which took nearly two decades to come to the current stage. Over the last four decades, this verdant rainforest has witnessed one of the record high deforestation. This huge Amazonian blaze is fast blocking sunlight and enveloping the entire north-western region of Brazil with thick smoke. The states of Northern Brazil such as Roraima, Acre, Rondonia and Amazonas are badly affected by the inferno. Meanwhile, the Amazonas, the largest province of Brazil, has declared a state of emergency.

And in such a situation, Bolsonaro’s mere hard-hitting statements would not work. Rather his administration must display strong public actions in the form of sending more fire-fighters and soldiers to tackle the situation. Blaming either the international media or the opposition forces will not douse the fire. It’s time to act and save the planet.

Precisely, Bolsonaro is not solely responsible for the current mess in the Amazon. But then he has made the situation worse by weakening the environment agency, opening of the Amazon to mining, farming and logging, and finally, pounding on the NGOs and civil society organisations (CSOs) working in the field of conservation. Also what has added fuel to the fire is that the extreme pressure from the agricultural lobby in Brazil. This lobby is very strong and as a result, it is absolutely easy for it to break the once powerful environmental protection system existed in the country, between 2005 and 2014.

Going by the records, one can rightly state that massive moves towards deforestation came up in the last five years when Dilma Rosseff and Michel Temer were in power.

During the time of Temer, he removed the protection status of the National Reserve of Copper and Associates, a national reserve much larger than the size of Denmark.

This reserve forest, called “Renca”, covers 46,000 square kilometres. It is widely believed that it contained rich reserves of copper, gold, iron ore and other important minerals. With this policy, nearly 30 per cent of the Renca was made open for mining operations by the Government. Besides, environmental hazards, the Renca also provided home to a number of indigenous ethnic communities who were not much exposed to the outside world till then.

But, the rate of deforestation has accelerated in the first few months of Bolsonaro’s presidency. Simply to blame right-wing Bolsonaro may not put an end to the blaze in the Amazon as fires are also rampant currently under a Left-wing populist regime in Bolivia as well.

Beyond the political gimmicks and blame game played by the G7 leaders in its last conclave, the international community needs to see that the Brazil Government takes immediate measures to curb the raging fires in the Amazon.

At the moment, the UN and many other international organisations are expressing concerns and urging responsible players to act swiftly. But that is not enough. The top priority should be placed on building a buffer against all the tipping points across the Amazon and bringing an end to massive emissions emerging from the fires.

So it is not just protection of the Amazon, but also concrete policies to be laid down for reforesting the entire zone on war-footing. And for this, Brazil must ensure that more finance comes on its way of both resettling the locals and reforesting the region.

Hence just saying no to the financial aid offered by the G7 may not support the rebuilding efforts of the Bolsonaro Government. Much beyond all these, the Government and international environmental agencies must listen and align their policies to the indigenous groups and reverine communities living in around the Amazon. Also Brazil must understand the global importance of these evergreen forests. It is not simply Brazil that is affected, but the entire planet.

(The writer is an expert on international affairs)

Writer: Makhan Saikia
Courtesy: The Pioneer

Given the boom in the e-commerce sector, it is crucial for the Government to fram relevant laws that help in regulating the use of packaging and shipping materials.

E-commerce companies are one of the least studied and under-reported generators of plastic and non-plastic waste. In 2017, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted a study to estimate the environmental impact of online shopping in the US. To the dismay of the EPA and the American public in general, it emerged in the study that the US e-commerce packaging accounted for 30 per cent of solid waste generated in the country.

On the other hand, India’s burgeoning e-commerce packaging industry was worth $32 billion in 2015 and is expected to grow to about $73 billion by 2020.

Flipkart, for instance, does around eight million shipments every month. Given this scale of online shopping, it is surprising that there are no official estimates available nor studies conducted to assess the amount of e-commerce packaging or the disposal of waste, as no organisation has bothered to investigate the same. E-commerce packaging and the disposal of waste have huge environmental costs. This is due to multiple layers of packaging which are made of plastic, paper, bubble wrap, air packets, tape and cardboard cartons that accompany the usual online shopping product delivery.

While most of these packaging materials are recyclable, India’s abysmal record indicates that a large portion of these materials will end up clogging our drains and landfills. The problem of excessive packaging has been exacerbated due to the growth of priority customer services that place a premium on ultra-fast delivery which do not allow for consolidated delivery of packages. This is leading to multiple individually packed deliveries, thus increasing the generation of waste. In addition to increasing waste, the trend of excessive packaging is poised to cause considerable loss of forest cover, as wood pulp remains the main raw material for making packaging cardboard.

For instance, around 85 million packages are shipped in India each year, and the cardboard used would roughly equate to more than 70 million trees being chopped. Moreover, the toxic chemicals used in the production of these packaging materials are bound to affect human health as they enter our food cycle.

Many e-commerce companies use a possible carcinogen called Styrofoam, which is used as a common filler. Long-term exposure to even small quantities of Styrofoam can cause fatigue, nervousness and sleep disorders. Vinyl chloride, which is used to manufacture PVC, can severely impact the central nervous system, causing headache and dizziness. Long-term exposure to vinyl chloride can result in cancer and liver damage. Yet, the Government is not doing enough to undertake the required studies to establish this link and then take corrective measures.

Given the booming e-commerce activity, the Government must frame laws that can govern and regulate the most sensitive parts of the e-commerce process, such as e-commerce packaging. At present, there is no law in India that regulates e-commerce packaging. It is clear that there is an urgent need for the creation and stringent implementation of the same. Such a law must be grounded in the doctrine of Extended Producer Responsibility, which mandates that the producer of the waste shall be responsible for its end-of-life recycling and disposal. The EPR doctrine is a proven doctrine that has resulted in some of the highest recycling rates in the world.

The Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, state that producers of packaging products, such as plastic and corrugated boxes, must take up the responsibility of collection, recycling and disposal of such waste in accordance with environmentally sound principles. Further, the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2018, place the responsibility of recycling and collection of plastic waste on the producers, importers and brand owners who introduce the material in the market.

Any law that aims to regulate e-commerce packaging must address critical issues. First, standard packaging rules akin to those Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, must be framed and enforced. Second, the law must regulate the method and materials used for e-commerce packaging based on scientific and environmentally sound principles. Companies must invest in smaller and more sustainable, environment-friendly packaging. This will automatically reduce packaging volumes as well as costs.

At the same time, e-commerce companies must factor in three different aspects of sustainability to ensure sustainable packaging — those of reduction in the amount of packaging materials used; increase in the recyclability of the packaging materials; and increase in the use of recycled packaging materials. They should also explore the possibility of implementing buy-back policies, or even provide customers with the choice to choose more sustainable methods of packaging. A carefully drafted law and genuine cooperation among stakeholders, including e-commerce companies, consumers and local municipalities can ensure that the law is successfully implemented. The recent extension of Maharashtra’s plastic ban to e-commerce companies is a welcome step and one whose implementation could hold valuable lessons for other States.

While it is understandable that sturdy packaging materials must be used to reduce damage to products in transit and during handling, but excessive use of plastic and other materials is environmentally unsustainable. Optimisation and innovation hold the key to a sustainable packaging revolution. Online shopping companies must also bring down their carbon signature, which is created by their humongous diesel guzzling transport fleet. Instead, the Government must set up regulations under which these companies must mandatorily use renewable energy-driven commercial vehicles to affect their deliveries. This will bring down the pollution levels.

(The writer is an environmental journalist)

Writer: Kota Sriraj

Courtesy: The Pioneer

The effects of habitat destruction, overexploitation of natural resources and degree of climate change is continually threatening the survival of wildlife species. To protect and reverse this effect, the government needs to take quick action.

By any standard, forests around the world are the last barriers between mankind and the ill-effects of climate change. How the human race has so far managed to stay outside the grasp of worsening environmental conditions is a miracle and can be attributed to the neutralising capabilities of the forests and their inherent wildlife.

But the health of our forests largely depends on the health and the number of wildlife species they host. It is also a fact that this insurance cover against the vagaries of environment is now depleting at a rapid rate. There has been a 53 per cent decline in the number of forest wildlife populations since 1970, according to the first-ever global assessment of forest biodiversity by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Wildlife is an essential component of natural and healthy forests. They play a major role in forest regeneration and carbon storage by engaging in pollination and seed dispersal. Thus, the loss of fauna can have severe implications for forests’ health, the climate and humans, who depend on forests for their livelihoods, said the WWF report titled, Below the Canopy. Until now, forest biodiversity had never been assessed but forest area was often used as a proxy indicator.

The new findings were based on the Forest Specialist Index, developed following the Living Planet Index methodology — an index that tracks wildlife that lives only in forests. In total, data was available for 268 species and 455 populations of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians. Of the 455 monitored populations of forest specialists, more than half declined at an annual rate of 1.7 per cent, on average between 1970 and 2014.

While the decline was consistent in these years among mammals, reptiles and amphibians (particularly from the tropical forests), it was less among birds (especially from temperate forests), said the report.

Further, the report found that just the changes in tree cover — deforestation or reforestation — were not responsible for the decline in wildlife populations. Other major threats were habitat loss, forest exploitation and climate change. In fact, the loss of habitat due to logging, agricultural expansion, mining, hunting, conflicts and spread of diseases accounted for almost 60 per cent of threats.

Nearly 20 per cent of the threats were due to overexploitation. Of the 112 forest-dwelling primate populations, 40 were threatened by overexploitation (hunting), the report showed. Climate change, on the other hand, threatened to 43 per cent of amphibian populations, 37 per cent of reptile populations, 21 per cent of bird populations but only 3 per cent of mammal populations. More than 60 per cent of threatened forest specialist populations faced more than one threat, the report noted.

Not only are forests a treasure trove of life on earth, they are also our greatest natural ally in the fight against climate breakdown. Protecting wildlife and reversing the decline of nature require urgent global action. The need is to preserve harmonious land use in our region, including forest management and protect the most valuable surviving ecosystems. Given these circumstances, there is an urgent need for global leaders to kick start an action plan immediately to protect and restore nature and keep our forests standing. Only a quarter of the land on earth is now free of the impacts of human activities.

In a bid to conserve nature, world leaders have agreed to launch a ‘New Deal’ for Nature and People in 2020 in China. The new set of commitments will likely draw together a global biodiversity framework with reinvigorated action under the Paris Agreement and the United Nations-mandated Sustainable Development Goals.

The state of affairs of our forests is not at its best phase. Nations across the world are aware about the growing problem of disappearing forests and wildlife, which is becoming extinct. India, too, is no stranger to this situation but unlike the global forum, our country is yet to take concrete steps that can ensure that our forest remain replete with ample flora and fauna. The annual forest reports and allied data show that since independence, India has lost quite a lot of forest cover, mainly due to man-made reasons than climate change. The usurping of forest land by land mafia  is emerging as the biggest reason. This situation is made worse due to poaching activities, which put an end to wildlife.

How can the Government or the judiciary stem the loss of green cover in India and prevent wildlife from poaching remains to be seen. The Government must ensure that Indian forests are treated with priority and protect the wildlife within. Unless immediate measures are taken, the loss for our country would be permanent and the green barrier that stands between us and impacts of climate change would be gone forever.

(The writer is an environmental journalist)

Writer: Kota Sriraj

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Children from a children’s parliament in Thane are taking small responsibilities to spread environmental awareness and bring a positive change in society.

Rohini Richard Marri remembers her early teenage years, when she was 13 and used to cross an area filled with contaminated sewage water on her way to school every day in Uttan village, Thane. She and many other children contracted rashes on their legs on a regular basis because of the dirty water and complained to their parents. The sewage water had also started getting merged with the water of a well where people washed clothes and utensils. But no action was taken to clean the area despite many reportings of the problem.

Later, Rohini and a group of other children discussed the matter at a children’s parliament and in their school. They decided to take things in their own hands. With the help of a teacher, Rohini penned a petition letter to the local municipality with signatures of 50 children. The letter asked the municipal authorities to immediately clean the gutter. “We also wrote that if no action was taken, the children themselves would get on ground to clean the gutter, but bore no responsibility if any harm came to them,” says Rohini, adding that within three days, workers had arrived to clean the area. The children also informed their neighbours to not litter the streets and dispose garbage only in designated municipality bins to avoid such contamination.

Reflecting on her actions, Rohini says that if adults had intervened, the authorities would have still responded. “But since nobody was willing to step forward, the children decided to do something on their own. We were eventually appreciated for our actions,” she says. Even though Rohini’s parents were not convinced that the authorities would pay heed to the children, “they did not stop me. It took a matter of some time and they were impressed with my confidence. They felt that I had become capable of raising my voice against the wrong and for justice. They are now encouraging my younger brother to attend the children’s parliament too.”

Today, Rohini leads the children’s parliament, which was started by the Centre for Social Action (CSA) in 2010. She had joined the group in 2012. She says, “Initially, I thought this was a place to come and play. But in the parliament, we began realising our duties and responsibilities and that children do play a huge role in bringing about a change in our society. We learnt about what is wrong and needs to be spoken against. We made sure we preach what we learnt and also make others follow it, irrespective of their age since elders need to realise certain issues too and act accordingly.”

Rohini prefers the children’s parliament over her school because she feels that only bright and expressive children manage to progress in school, whereas in the parliament, everyone is given a chance. “I feel more confident. I also dress neatly and comb my hair before attending the parliament which I would not do earlier. I feel more responsible here,” she says.

Two years ago, the parliament tried to take action against an alcoholic man in the village who would beat his wife and children. The kids would also be irregular in school. Roshni, their tuition teacher and 30 children from the parliament visited the man’s house and warned him not to hit his wife and children, else they would approach the police and take forward the case legally. According to the teacher, the trick worked. “The man does not beat his children anymore. And now, they are becoming regular to school as well.” The children’s parliament had also conducted awareness visits to a police station, a local post office and an orphanage.

Rohini loves to go out with her friends and play. But recently, her parents have started asking her to stay put and study. “We tell them that as children, it is our right to play,” she says and her otherwise serious and thoughtful face breaks into a smile. Now that she is an adult, she notices that her mother treats her differently. “Earlier, I would be ordered to not miss tuitions and study. But now, my mother says that I must decide what I want to do,” she says, agreeing that the rights of a child and a recently-turned adult are different. Parents start allowing them more space as they start growing up and become mature adults. Their own rights and decisions are also taken into consideration rather than directly imposing something on them. She also thinks that humans are born with intrinsic rights.

Rohini has an aptitude for Mathematics and wants to teach the subject for which she plans to enrol in a teaching course. What are her marriage plans? Are her parents asking her to consider getting married now that she is 18? “No. I will marry later. In our community, girls marry at 27-28 years of age,” she says.

—Charkha Features

Writer: Urvashi Sarkar

Courtesy: The Pioneer