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GS Paper: GS3-18.Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation, Environmental Impact Assessment.

  • Places in news: Gulf of Gabes

    A Fuel Ship with 750 tons of diesel sinks off the Gulf Of Gabes in Tunisia.

    Gulf of Gabes

    • The Gulf of Gabes also known as Lesser Syrtis contrasting with the Greater Syrtis in Libya, is a gulf on Tunisia’s east coast in the Mediterranean Sea, off North Africa.
    • The gulf roughly spans the coast from Sfax to Djerba.
    • At the head of the gulf is the city of Gabès (Ghannouche) where the tides have a large range of up to 2.1 m at spring tides.
    • Both Gabès and Sfax are major ports on the gulf, supporting sponge and tuna fisheries, with Gabès being the economic and administrative centre.
    • It is 60 miles (100 km) long and 60 miles wide and is bounded by the Qarqannah (Kerkena) Islands on the northeast and by Jarbah (Djerba) Island on the southeast.

    Regional economy of the gulf

    • Except for the Strait of Gibraltar and the Gulf of Venice, it is the only part of the Mediterranean with a substantial tidal range, causing the uncovering of extensive sandbanks at low water.
    • Sponge and tuna fisheries are located at the main ports of Qābis (Gabès) and Ṣafāqis (Sfax).
    • Oil and natural-gas deposits have been found in the gulf, east of Ṣafāqis.

     

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  • Inter-State collaboration to deal with air pollution

    Context

    With the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) governing both Delhi and Punjab, collaboration for clean air should be the mantra for both State governments.

    Impact of air pollution on Delhi and Punjab

    • Punjab is home to nine of the 132 most polluted cities in the country identified by the Central Pollution Control Board.
    • In 2019, Delhi and Punjab together faced economic losses estimated to be approximately ₹18,000 crore due to worsening air pollution.
    • Therefore, by collaborating for clean air, both States can ensure improvements in citizen well-being and labour productivity.

     How can the two States collaborate?

    1] Arrive at a common understanding of sources

    • Those in charge of the two States must talk.
    • Setting aside their disagreements on the contribution of stubble burning to Delhi’s air pollution, the States should arrive at a common understanding of sources polluting the region.

    2] Create platforms for knowledge exchange

    • Cross-learning on possible solutions: A common knowledge centre should be set up to facilitate cross-learning on possible solutions to developmental challenges in both States.
    • Such a centre would especially benefit Punjab given the host of measures that the Delhi government has already taken to improve air quality in Delhi.
    • Information on air quality levels and source assessment studies are critical in developing long-term strategies for pollution mitigation.

    3] Collaborate to execute proven solutions

    • Co-design solutions: The two States could co-design solutions that would improve air quality.
    • Institutionalise a task force: They could jointly institutionalise a task force comprising experts from State-run institutions to pilot these solutions and assess their impact.
    • This would ensure wider acceptance of the proposed solution, which has not been the case in the past.
    • For instance, the PUSA bio-decomposer (developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute), has received mixed reviews from farmers.
    • The decomposer only makes sense for early maturing varieties of paddy, as even with the decomposer, stubble would take between 25 to 30 days to decompose.
    • Therefore, it is of little use in high burn districts such as Sangrur, Punjab, where late-maturing paddy varieties are dominant.

    4] Create a market for diversified crop products

    • Moving away from paddy-wheat cycle: Shifting away from the ‘paddy-wheat cycle’ through crop diversification is a sure shot solution to stubble burning.
    • But, the lack of an assured market for agricultural products, other than wheat and paddy, has acted as a deterrent.
    • For years now, the Delhi government has toyed with the idea of introducing ‘Aam Aadmi kitchens’ in Delhi.
    • These community kitchens could potentially incorporate crops other than wheat and paddy in meals offered.

    5] Extending inter-State cooperation to other States in Indo-Gangetic plains

    • Both State governments should assert the need for extending inter-State cooperation to other States in the Indo-Gangetic plains in different inter-State forums.
    • One such forum is the Northern Zonal Council which has representation from Chandigarh, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
    • Both Delhi and Punjab must use this platform to highlight the need for coordination with neighbouring States to alleviate the pollution crisis.

    Conclusion

    With a collaborative plan of action, we can be optimistic about cleaner air in the years to come.

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  • Species in news: Indian Tent Turtles

    Indian tent turtle is now listed in Schedule –I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and is thereby provided the highest degree of protection.

    Why in news?

    • The Indian tent turtle is threatened due to illegal mining in Narmada River.
    • This turtle has also been widely traded as a pet at aquariums.

    Indian Tent Turtles

    IUCN status: Least Concerned

    • The Indian tent turtle (Pangshura tentoria) is a species of turtle in the family Geoemydidae. The species is endemic to India and Bangladesh.
    • Its preferred habitats are freshwater rivers and swamps.
    • The species is native to India, Nepal and Bangladesh, with three subspecies recorded from the region viz., P. t. tentoria, P. t. circumdata and P. t. flaviventer.
    • t. tentoria occurs in peninsular India and is recorded from Orissa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Madhya Pradesh.
    • t. circumdata occurs in the western tributaries of Ganga and the rivers of Gujarat. It is found in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
    • t. flaviventer occurs in the northern tributaries of Ganga and is recorded from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam.

    Back2Basics:  Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972

    • WPA provides for the protection of the country’s wild animals, birds and plant species, in order to ensure environmental and ecological security.
    • It provides for the protection of a listed species of animals, birds and plants, and also for the establishment of a network of ecologically-important protected areas in the country.
    • It provides for various types of protected areas such as Wildlife Sanctuaries, National Parks etc.

    There are six schedules provided in the WPA for protection of wildlife species which can be concisely summarized as under:

    Schedule I: These species need rigorous protection and therefore, the harshest penalties for violation of the law are for species under this Schedule.
    Schedule II: Animals under this list are accorded high protection. They cannot be hunted except under threat to human life.
    Schedule III & IV: This list is for species that are not endangered. This includes protected species but the penalty for any violation is less compared to the first two schedules.
    Schedule V: This schedule contains animals which can be hunted.
    Schedule VI: This list contains plants that are forbidden from cultivation.

     

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  • Demand side strategies for climate change mitigation

    Context

    A paradigm shift in the way we think about climate action has been reported for the first time in the recent IPCC report through a chapter on “demand, services and social aspects of mitigation”.

    Demand side strategies and their impact

    • The report shows how, through comprehensive demand-side strategies, carbon dioxide and non-carbon GHG emissions globally can be reduced by 40–70 per cent compared to the 2050 emissions projection.
    • This can be achieved through reduced food waste, following sustainable healthy dietary choices that acknowledge nutritional needs, adaptive heating and cooling, climate-friendly dressing culture, integration of renewable energy in buildings, shifting to electric light-duty vehicles, and to walking, cycling, shared and public transit, sustainable consumption by intensive use of longer-lived repairable products, compact city design and efficient floor area use of buildings.
    • The IPCC report also shows that individuals with high socioeconomic status contribute disproportionately to emissions and have the highest potential for emissions reductions, as citizens, investors, consumers, role models, and professionals.
    • Of the 60 actions assessed in this report, on an individual level, the biggest contribution comes from walking and cycling wherever possible and using electricity-powered transport.

    Need for systemic changes

    • To be effective, these shifts will need to be supported by systemic changes in some areas — for example, land use and urban planning policies to avoid urban sprawl, support for green spaces, reallocation of street spaces for walking and physical exercise, investment in public transport and infrastructure design for active and electric vehicles.
    • Electrification and shifts to public transport also bring benefits in terms of enhancing health, employment, and equality.
    • By providing user-level access to more efficient energy conversion technologies, the need for primary energy can be reduced by 45 per cent by 2050, compared to 2020.
    • Demand-side changes cannot deliver the net-zero goal on their own.
    • But this requires investment in and transformation across every sector, along with policies and incentives that encourage people to make low-carbon choices in all aspects of their lives.
    • There is huge untapped potential in the near term through changes across transport, industry, buildings, and food that will take away the supply-side uncertainties and make it easier for people to lead low-carbon lifestyles and, at the same time, improve well-being.

    Conclusion

    The latest IPCC report puts people and their well-being at the centre of climate change mitigation. The messages are from a global perspective but have relevance to the national context of every country.

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  • Conservation of Sacred Grooves

    India’s sacred groves are being gradually altered due to ever-expanding human populations, pollution and removal of biomass; effective conservation is the need of the hour to maintain their functional values

    What are Sacred Grooves?

    • Sacred groves of India are forest fragments of varying sizes, which are communally protected, and which usually have a significant religious connotation for the protecting community.
    • It usually consists of a dense cover of vegetation including climbers, herbs, shrubs and trees, with the presence of a village deity and is mostly situated near a perennial water source.
    • Sacred groves are considered to be symbols of the primitive practice of nature worship and support nature conservation to a great extent.
    • The introduction of the protected area category community reserves under the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2002 has introduced legislation for providing government protection to community-held lands, which could include sacred groves.

    Historical references

    • Indian sacred groves are often associated with temples, monasteries, shrines, pilgrimage sites, or with burial grounds.
    • Historically, sacred groves find their mentions in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist texts, from sacred tree groves in Hinduism to sacred deer parks in Buddhism for example.
    • Sacred groves may be loosely used to refer to natural habitat protected on religious grounds.
    • Other historical references to sacred groves can be obtained in Vrukshayurveda an ancient treatise, ancient classics such as Kalidasa’s Vikramuurvashiiya.
    • There has been a growing interest in creating green patches such as Nakshatravana

    Regulation of activities in Sacred Grooves

    • Hunting and logging are usually strictly prohibited within these patches.
    • Other forms of forest usage like honey collection and deadwood collection are sometimes allowed on a sustainable basis.
    • NGOs work with local villagers to protect such groves.
    • Traditionally, and in some cases even today, members of the community take turns to protect the grove.

    Threats to such grooves

    • Threats to the groves include urbanization, and over-exploitation of resources.
    • While many of the groves are looked upon as abode of Hindu deities, in the recent past a number of them have been partially cleared for construction of shrines and temples.

    Total grooves in India

    • Around 14,000 sacred groves have been reported from all over India, which act as reservoirs of rare fauna, and more often rare flora, amid rural and even urban settings.
    • Experts believe that the total number of sacred groves could be as high as 100,000.
    • They are called by different names in different states:
    1. Sarna in Bihar
    2. Dev Van in Himachal Pradesh
    3. Devarakadu in Karnataka
    4. Kavu in Kerala
    5. Dev in Madhya Pradesh
    6. Devarahati or Devarai in Maharashtra
    7. Lai Umang in Maharashtra
    8. Law Kyntang or Asong Khosi in Meghalaya
    9. Oran in Rajasthan
    10. Kovil Kadu or Sarpa Kavu in Tamil Nadu

    What lies ahead?

    • The groves have great research value in in situ conservation of rare, endangered and threatened plant species.
    • It is high time that public awareness is created about the importance of these sacred groves, developmental activities are banned and the felling of trees or removal of any other vegetation is completely stopped.
    • This is possible only by way of enacting a special law for the protection and management of sacred groves.
    • As the management practices and other rituals vary from state to state, the concerned state governments may promulgate such an act as suitable for the state.
    • The idea should be to protect certain rare, endangered and threatened plant species in the era of global warming and climate change.

     

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  • Crisis and sustainability in the face of climate change

    Context

    The footprint of the Covid-19 pandemic across the sectors of the economy has instilled a new reckoning for resilience and sustainability on the economic, social and environmental (ESG) front.

    IPCC reports suggest adaption for resilience

    • The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its latest report on climate impacts, vulnerability and adaptation last month.
    • The report suggests that adaptation to climate impacts in the near to medium term can help communities and ecosystems become resilient against the threats from current and future levels of warming.
    •  Ecosystem-based adaptation, for instance, is recommended for taking care of communities and social well-being, while restoring forests, lands and marine ecosystems.
    • The report details the variability in projected climate impacts and the vulnerabilities that can be expected across regions the world over due to differences in the range of warming, geographical location, demographics and the unique biophysical, social and cultural contexts.
    • Cost-effective adaptation: It depends on a host of enablers on which global partnerships need to deliver.
    • Enablers include international cooperation, inclusive technology, financial flows, knowledge sharing and capacity building, with institutions and innovations to support policy development and on-ground implementation.

    Gaps in the literature, acknowledge the uncertainties in climate science

    • The IPCC has been consistently drawing attention to the lack of adequate science from and on developing countries.
    • These countries have in turn been asking for the inclusion of what is broadly termed as “grey literature” or non-peer-reviewed literature in the IPCC process.
    • Good science encompasses the formal and the informal, theory and empiricism, the traditional along with the modern.
    • It relies on evolution through acknowledging the gaps and unknowns, the negatives and positives of past knowledge.
    • The understanding of adaptation finance, adaptation costing, and mapping of climate impacts and adaptation needs of communities in geographically remote locations, for instance, could improve with suitable sourcing of information.

    Way forward

    • Sustainable development, inclusive of climate resilience, calls for an ensemble approach — one that places contextually appropriate emphasis on tackling climate change impacts and development needs in a world with growing challenges.
    • The pathway to be adopted is one of an integrated risk assessment approach, where solutions are interventions that impact the immediate, near and medium-term outcomes for developing economies.
    • Striking the right balance is at any time a choice driven as much by enablers (capabilities, lifestyles and values, financial flows, technical know-how) as by constraints (warming levels, poverty, inequality, lack of health and education).

    Conclusion

    The pandemic highlighted the need for balance in nature-people relationships, even as it tested the ability of the developing world.

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  • Rhino population up by 200 in Kaziranga

    The population of the greater one-horned or Indian rhinoceros in the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve has increased by 200 (from 2413 in 2018) in four years, the latest census of the flagship animal has revealed.

    About Indian Rhino

    • The Indian rhinoceros also called the greater one-horned rhinoceros and great Indian rhinoceros is a rhinoceros native to the Indian subcontinent.
    • It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and Schedule I animal in the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
    • It once ranged across the entire northern part of the Indian Subcontinent, along the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra River basins, from Pakistan to the Indian-Myanmar border.
    • Poaching for rhinoceros horn became the single most important reason for the decline of the Indian rhino.

    Why are Rhinos poached for horns?

    • Ground rhino horn is used in traditional Chinese medicine to cure a range of ailments, from cancer to hangovers, and also as an aphrodisiac.
    • In Vietnam, possessing a rhino horn is considered a status symbol.
    • Due to demand in these countries, poaching pressure on rhinos is ever persistent against which one cannot let the guard down.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Consider the following statements:

    1. Asiatic lion is naturally found in India only.
    2. Double-humped camel is naturally found in India only.
    3. One-horned rhinoceros is naturally found in India only.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”fp1gk14f8l” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

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  • Places in news: Sariska Tiger Reserve

    A massive fire has broken out in the Sariska Tiger Reserve and Air Force helicopters equipped with water sprays are battling to bring it under control.

    Sariska Tiger Reserve

    • Sariska Tiger Reserve is a tiger reserve in Alwar district, Rajasthan.
    • It stretches over an area of 881 sq km comprising scrub-thorn arid forests, dry deciduous forests, grasslands, and rocky hills.
    • This area was a hunting preserve of the Alwar state and was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1958.
    • It was given the status of a tiger reserve making it a part of India’s Project Tiger in 1978.
    • It is the first reserve in the world with successfully relocated tigers.
    • It is a part of the Aravalli Range and the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests eco-region.

    Existential threats

    • It is rich in mineral resources, such as copper.
    • In spite of the Supreme Court’s 1991 ban on mining in the area, marble mining continues to threaten the environment.

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  • Detecting Microplastics in Human Blood

    A study by researchers from The Netherlands has found Microplastics in blood samples. About half of these were PET (polyethylene tertraphthalate) plastics, which is used to make food grade bottles.

    What are Microplastics?

    • Microplastics are tiny bits of various types of plastic found in the environment.
    • The name is used to differentiate them from “macroplastics” such as bottles and bags made of plastic.
    • There is no universal agreement on the size of microplastics. It defines microplastic as less than 5mm in length.
    • However, for the purposes of this study, since the authors were interested in measuring the quantities of plastic that can cross the membranes and diffuse into the body via the blood stream.
    • Hence they agreed on an upper limit on the size of the particles as 0.0007 millimetre.

    What were the plastics that the study looked for in the blood samples?

    • The study looked at the most commonly used plastic polymers.
    • These were polyethylene tetraphthalate (PET), polyethylene (used in making plastic carry bags), polymers of styrene (used in food packaging), poly (methyl methylacrylate) and poly propylene.
    • They found a presence of the first four types.

    Significance of the study

    • Making a human health risk assessment in relation to plastic particles is not easy, perhaps not even possible, due to the lack of data on exposure of people to plastics.
    • In this sense, it is important to have studies like this one.
    • The authors of the paper also remark that validated methods to detect the tiny (trace) amounts of extremely small-sized (less than 10 micrometre) plastic particles are lacking.
    • Hence this study, which builds up a methods to check the same, is important.

    Health hazard of microplastics

    • It is not yet clear if these microplastics can cross over from the blood stream to deposit in organs and cause diseases.
    • The report point out that the human placenta has shown to be permeable to tiny particles of polystyrene ( 50, 80 and 24 nanometre beads).
    • Experiments on rats where its lungs were exposed to polystryrene spheres (20 nanometre) led to translocation of the nanoparticles to the placental and foetal tissue.
    • Oral administration of microplastics in rats led to accumulation of these in the liver, kidney and gut.
    • Further studies have to be carried out to really assess the impact of plastics on humans.

     

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Why is there a great concern about the ‘microbeads’ that are released into environment?

    (a) They are considered harmful to marine ecosystems.

    (b) They are considered to cause skin cancer in children.

    (c) They are small enough to be absorbed by crop plants in irrigated fields.

    (d) They are often found to be used as food adulterants.

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”erdar14d0j” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

     

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  • Gahirmatha beach witnesses Arribada

    About 2.45 lakh Olive Ridley sea turtles crawled ashore on the Nasi-II beach of the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary along the Odisha coast for laying eggs, marking one of the largest opening day arrivals of turtles at the site.

    Olive Ridley Turtles

    • The Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), also known as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a medium-sized species of sea turtle found in warm and tropical waters, primarily in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
    • In the Indian Ocean, the majority of olive ridleys nest in two or three large groups at Rushikulya rookery near Gahirmatha in Odisha.
    • The coast of Odisha in India is the largest mass nesting site for the olive ridley, followed by the coasts of Mexico and Costa Rica.
    • The species is listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List, Appendix 1 in CITES, and Schedule 1 in Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

    Special feature: Mass nesting

    • They are best known for their behavior of synchronized nesting in mass numbers, termed Arribadas.
    • Interestingly, females return to the very same beach from where they first hatched, to lay their eggs.
    • They lay their eggs in conical nests about one and a half feet deep which they laboriously dig with their hind flippers.
    • They hatch in 45 to 60 days, depending on the temperature of the sand and atmosphere during the incubation period.

     

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