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

  • Species in news: Caracal

    The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) and MoEFCC last month included the caracal, a medium-sized wildcat found in parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat, in the list of critically endangered species under the Species Recovery Programme.

    Caracal in India

    IUCN status: Least Concerned

    • The wildcat has long legs, a short face, long canine teeth, and distinctive ears — long and pointy, with tufts of black hair at their tips.
    • The iconic ears are what give the animal its name — caracal comes from the Turkish karakulak, meaning ‘black ears’.
    • In India, it is called siya gosh, a Persian name that translates as ‘black Ear’.
    • A Sanskrit fable exists about a small wild cat named deergha-karn or ‘long-eared’.
    • While it flourishes in parts of Africa, its numbers in Asia are declining.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Consider the following pairs:

    Wildlife:  Naturally found in

    1. Blue-finned Mahseer: Cauvery River
    2. Irrawaddy Dolphin: Chambal River
    3. Rusty-spotted Cat: Eastern Ghats

    Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched? (CSP 2018)

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

    In history and myth

    • The earliest evidence of the caracal in the subcontinent comes from a fossil dating back to the civilization of the Indus Valley c. 3000-2000 BC.
    • The caracal has traditionally been valued for its litheness and extraordinary ability to catch birds in flight; it was a favourite coursing or hunting animal in medieval India.
    • Firuz Shah Tughlaq (1351-88) had siyah-goshdar khana, stables that housed large numbers of coursing caracal.
    • It finds mention in Abul Fazl’s Akbarnama, like a hunting animal in the time of Akbar (1556-1605).
    • Descriptions and illustrations of the caracal can be found in medieval texts such as the Anvar-i-Suhayli, Tutinama, Khamsa-e-Nizami, and Shahnameh.
    • The East India Company’s Robert Clive is said to have been presented with a caracal after he defeated Siraj-ud-daullah in the Battle of Plassey (1757).

    Back2Basics: Species Recovery Programme of NBWL

    • The programme is one of the three components of the centrally funded scheme, Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (IDWH).
    • Started in 2008-09, IDWH is meant for providing support to protected areas, protection of wildlife outside protected areas and recovery programmes for saving critically endangered species and habitats.
    • So far, the recovery programme for critically endangered species in India now includes 22 wildlife species.
    • The NBWL in 2018 has added four species- the Northern River Terrapin, Clouded Leopard, Arabian Sea Humpback Whale, Red Panda- to the list.
    • Other species include the Snow Leopard, Bustard (including Floricans), Dolphin, Hangul, Nilgiri Tahr, Marine Turtles, Dugongs, Edible Nest Swiftlet, Asian Wild Buffalo, Nicobar Megapode, Manipur Brow-antlered Deer, Vultures, Malabar Civet, Indian Rhinoceros, Asiatic Lion, Swamp Deer and Jerdon’s Courser.

  • Being petroleum independent

    The article discusses the steps taken by the government to improve fuel efficiency standards and the for the transition to clean sources of energy.

    Reducing energy import dependence

    • Speaking on the increase in petrol and diesel prices, Prime Minister emphasised the need for clean sources of energy.
    • Expanding and diversifying energy supply is good, but if India is to reduce its energy import dependence, it must look towards first managing the demand for petroleum products.
    • It is worthwhile to reflect on measures taken by the previous governments as well as this government in this context.

    Steps taken

    National Electric Mobility Mission Plan

    • The UPA-2 administration formulated fuel efficiency standards for passenger vehicles that are now in effect.
    • It also constituted the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP).
    • While well-intended, both these actions fell short in terms of ambition.
    • India’s 2022 fuel efficiency standards for passenger cars are nearly 20% less stringent than the European Union’s standards.
    • The NEMMP primarily focused on hybrid electric vehicles.
    • Most of the incentives under the NEMMP went towards subsidising mild hybrids instead of electric vehicles.

    Multiple fuel pathways

    • Recently, the government has encouraged multiple fuel pathways in the transport sector including natural gas.
    • The Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME-II) scheme now focuses largely on electric vehicles.
    • The government has also provided several additional fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to encourage a transition to electric vehicles.

    Steps need to be taken

    • There are many things that the government can and should do to
    • First, the government should formulate a zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) programme that would require vehicle manufacturers to produce a certain number of electric vehicles.
    • At present, the electric mobility initiative in India is driven largely by new entrants in the two- and three-wheeler space.
    • A ZEV programme would require all manufacturers to start producing electric vehicles across all market segments.
    • The government should also strengthen fuel efficiency requirements for new passenger cars and commercial vehicles.
    • Two-wheelers, which consume nearly two-third of the petrol used in India, are not subject to any fuel efficiency standards.
    •  Adopting stringent fuel efficiency standards and a ZEV programme by 2024 can result in India’s petroleum demand peaking by 2030.
    • The FAME should be extended not only to all passenger cars and commercial vehicles but also to agricultural tractors.

    Conclusion

    As the economy recovers from the pandemic, the demand for petroleum products will rise, as will prices. But the government can save money for the consumer while enhancing long-term energy security by wielding the regulatory tools at its disposal.

     

  • India Inc must follow global example, take affirmative action on climate change

    The article explains the global trend in investors and lendors are demanding companies to recognise their impact on environment and act on it.

    Accountability on climate change: global trend

    • There is a wave of investors pushing large corporations from across sectors, to recognise their carbon footprint and take affirmative action.
    • Aviva, the British insurance company announced it would divest stock and bond holdings in 30 of the biggest corporate emitters of carbon, if their boards failed to take affirmative action over climate change.
    • MPs in the United Kingdom called on the Bank of England to ratchet up environment standards in its pandemic stabilising, corporate bond programme.
    • Swedbank AB, Sweden’s biggest mortgage bank, has taken a decision not to provide fresh loans to new oil and gas projects.

    Companies realising social and environmental impacts

    • Several large and growing companies, especially in Europe, are realising their social and environmental impacts and making it a boardroom agenda even without investor guns on their heads.
    • Schneider Electric, the energy management and automation company, has embedded environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations into every facet of its activities.
    •  The company climbed from 29th to number 1 rank in the 2021 Global 100 ranking in the Corporate Knights index of the world’s most sustainable companies.
    • Only one company from India, Tech Mahindra, has made it to the world’s 100 most sustainable list.

    Indian scenario

    • Indian institutional lenders and investors are simply not demanding enough on sustainability.
    • A majority of Indian companies are only meeting compliance norms set out by various state or city authorities.
    • Rarely do they go beyond rule-based compliances and implement environment, social and governance or ESG goals with purpose and passion like their European counterparts.

    Way forward

    • SEBI is putting the final touches on the Business Responsibility and Environment Reporting (BRSR) guidelines.
    • The new ESG reporting norm will apply to the top 1,000 listed companies on Indian exchanges.
    • Under BRSR reporting guidelines, companies will have to declare their R&D spends on improving environmental and social outcomes. 
    • They will have to disclose energy and water consumed to turnover ratios, and the percentage of recycled or reused input materials, among many other social and governance disclosures such as CSR, employee skilling and gender diversity.
    • It’s time for lending institutions and investors to align with SEBI and use their muscle to drive a deeper change.

    Consider the question “Indian institutional lenders and investors are  not demanding enough on sustainability from the companies. Rarely do they go beyond rule-based compliances and implement environment, social and governance or ESG goals with purpose and passion like their European counterparts. In light of this, suggest the measures to nudge the businesseses to act on their environmental responsibilities.” 

    Conclusion

    Stepping up green standards to meet Paris Climate Agreement goals cannot be the government’s responsibility alone. Businesses must be part of the movement, or the target of containing global warming to less than 1.5 degrees of pre-industrial levels, will remain elusive.

  • 54,000 lives lost in Delhi due to air pollution

    Air pollution claimed approximately 54,000 lives in Delhi in 2020, according to a Greenpeace Southeast Asia analysis of the cost to the economy due to air pollution.

    Try this question from CS Mains 2015:

    Q.Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata are the three megacities of the country but the air pollution is a much more serious problem in Delhi as compared to the other two. Why is this so?

    Deaths due to Air Pollution

    • Globally, approximately 1,60,000 deaths have been attributed to PM 2.5 air pollution in the five most populous cities — Delhi, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo.
    • Six Indian cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Lucknow — feature in the global analysis.
    • An estimated 25,000 avoidable deaths in Mumbai in 2020 have been attributed to air pollution.
    • Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad estimated an approximate 12,000, 11,000, and 11,000 avoidable deaths respectively due to polluted air.

    The ‘Cost Estimator’

    • The ‘Cost Estimator’, an online tool that estimates the real-time health impact and economic cost from fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) air pollution in major world cities.
    • It was deployed in collaboration between Greenpeace Southeast Asia, IQAir and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
    • Using real-time ground-level PM 2.5 measurements collated in IQAir’s database, the algorithm applies scientific risk models in combination with population and public health data.

    Computing the “Lost Years”

    • To show the impact of air pollution-related deaths on the economy, the approach used by Greenpeace is called ‘willingness-to-pay.
    • It refers to a lost life year or a year lived with a disability is converted to money by the amount that people are willing to pay in order to avoid this negative outcome.
    • The cost estimator also sustained the estimated air pollution-related economic losses of ₹1,23,65,15,40,000.

    Greenpeace recommends-

    • Despite a temporary reprieve in air quality owing to the lockdown, the latest figures from the report underscore the need to act immediately.
    • The need of the hour is to rapidly scale up renewable energy, bring an end to fossil fuel emissions and boost sustainable and accessible transport systems.

  • Hyderabad wins Global ‘Tree City’ Status

    Hyderabad city has received another feather in its cap by being chosen as one among the ‘Tree Cities of the World’.

    Tree Cities of the World

    • The Tree Cities of the World programme is an international effort to recognize cities and towns committed to ensuring that their urban forests and trees are properly maintained, sustainably managed, and duly celebrated.
    • This status is accorded by the Arbor Day Foundation jointly with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN.
    • To receive recognition, a town or city must meet five core standards:
    1. Establish Responsibility
    2. Set the Rules
    3. Know What You Have
    4. Allocate the Resources and
    5. Celebrate the Achievements

    Try this question:

    Q.The Miyawaki Forests technique has to potential to revolutionize the concept of urban afforestation in India. Discuss.

    Why it is a great achievement?

    • Hyderabad is the only city in the country to have been selected for this recognition in response to its commitment to growing and maintaining urban forestry.
    • The recognition stands Hyderabad alongside 120 cities from 23 countries, including developed nations such as USA, UK, Canada, Australia and others.

  • Species in news: Giant Leatherback Turtle

    Proposals for tourism and port development in the Andaman and Nicobar (A&N) Islands has left conservationists worried over the fate of some of the most important nesting populations of the Giant Leatherback turtle.

    What is the news?

    • There is concern that at least three key nesting beaches — two on Little Andaman Island and one on Great Nicobar Island — are under threat due to mega “development” plans announced in recent months.
    • These include NITI Aayog’s ambitious tourism vision for Little Andaman and the proposal for a mega-shipment port at Galathea Bay on Great Nicobar Island.

    Giant Leatherback Turtle

    IUCN status: Vulnerable

    • The largest of the seven species of sea turtles on the planet and also the most long-ranging, Leatherbacks are found in all oceans except the Arctic and the Antarctic.
    • Within the Indian Ocean, they nest only in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the A&N Islands.
    • They are also listed in Schedule I of India’s Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, according it the highest legal protection.
    • The population in A&N Islands is among the most important colonies of the Leatherback globally.

    About Galathea Bay

    • The Galathea Bay is adjacent to Galathea National Park in Great Nicobar Island.
    • It was earlier proposed as a wildlife sanctuary in 1997 for the protection of turtles and was also the site of a long-term monitoring programme.
    • The monitoring was stopped after the tsunami devastation of 2004, but it provided the first systematic evidence of numbers and importance of these beaches.

  • Species in news: Mandarin Duck

    A rare Mandarin duck was observed floating in the Maguri-Motapung beel (or wetland) in Assam’s Tinsukia district for over a week is spectacular.

    Mandarin duck

    IUCN status: Least Concerned

    • Considered the most beautiful duck in the world, the Mandarin duck, or the (Aix galericulata) was first identified by Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist Carl Linnaeus in 1758.
    • The eBird website, a platform that documents birds world over, describes it as a “small-exotic looking bird” native to East Asia.
    • It’s very beautiful, with majestic colours and can be spotted from a distance.

    Its habitat and breeding

    • The migratory duck breeds in Russia, Korea, Japan and northeastern parts of China. It now has established populations in Western Europe and America too.
    • In 2018, when a Mandarin duck was spotted in a pond in New York City’s Central Park, it created a flutter among local residents.
    • It was recorded in 1902 in Dibru River in the Rongagora area in Tinsukia.

    About Maguri beel

    • The Maguri Motapung wetland is an Important Bird Area as declared by the Bombay Natural History Society.
    • It is located close to the Dibru Saikhowa National Park in Upper Assam.
    • The entire ecosystem is very important as it is home to at least 304 bird species, including a number of endemic ones like Black-breasted parrotbill and Marsh babbler.
    • In May 2020, the beel was adversely affected by a blowout and fire at an Oil India Limited-owned gas well.

  • Cost of development in the fragile mountains

    The article explains the relationship between development activities in Uttarakhand and the devastating floods.

    Cause of recent flash flood in Uttarakhand

    • According to Planet Labs, ice along with frozen mud and rocks fell down from a high mountain inside the Nanda Devi Sanctuary, from a height of 5,600 m to 3,300 m.
    • This created an artificial lake within the sanctuary in Rontigad, a tributary of Rishi Ganga.
    • Within eight hours, this lake burst open and its water, laden with mud and stones, rushed through the Rishi Ganga gorge which opens near Reni.
    • Studies say that the current winter season has seen little rain and snow, with temperatures being highest in the last six decades.
    •  So, the effects of chemical weathering were much more active in the higher Himalayas.
    •  There is a possibility of more such events this year.

    Factors responsible

    1) Development with no regard for the environment

    • As a mountain system, the Himalayas have had earthquakes, avalanches, landslides, soil erosion, forest fires and floods, and these are its natural expressions, parts of its being.
    • Except for earthquakes, humans have directly contributed towards aggravating all the other phenomena.
    • The Ravi Chopra committee formed by the SC recommended closure of all the 24 hydro projects in question by Wildlife Institute of India.
    • The SC also formed another committee to look at the impact of the Chaardham road project.
    • Road and hydro projects are being operated in the Himalayas with practically no rigorous research on the ecological history of the area, cost-benefit analysis and many other aspects including displacement of communities, destruction of biodiversity, agricultural land, pastures as well as the cultural heritage of the area.

    Dilution of Environmental Impact Assessment rules

    • Earlier, while independent experts carried out the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), today it is assigned to a government agency, which does the work for other government departments.
    • Furthermore, during the lockdown, the government changed the EIA rules and diluted labour laws (most of the workers in both the affected projects belong to unorganised sector) in the name of pandemic measures.

    2) Climate change

    • Another factor which cannot be overlooked is that of climate change.
    • Studies have suggested that the pace of this change is faster in mountains and fastest in the Himalayas.
    • While earthquakes and weathering work at their own pace, climate change can contribute towards altering their natural speed.

    Need for studying the 2013 calamity

    •  We can look back at the terrible calamity of 2013, and see how it washed away the encroachments in river areas-dams, barrages, tunnels, buildings, roads.
    • The communities paid a much heavier price than what they received in compensation.
    • Further, the 2013 calamity has to be studied and understood in all the other regions and river valleys of Uttarakhand, Western Nepal and Himachal.
    • It was not specific to Kedarnath, although much of the focus was directed there.
    • Till date, we don’t have any white paper on this calamity.
    • The India Meteorological Department failed in its prediction and wrongly announced at the end of the first week of June that the monsoon will reach Uttarakhand by June 27-28.
    • It reached on June 16-17 with 300-400 per cent more rain, a record never heard of before.
    •  24 big and small hydro projects were destroyed.
    • The muck created by these projects was also the cause of their destruction.
    • The road debris, always dumped in rivers, was another cause.
    • The smaller rivers were more aggressive in 2013.

    Consider the question “What are the factors responsible for the devastating floods in the Uttarakhand? Suggest the measures for disaster mitigation.”

    Conclusion

    The Himalayas have been giving us life through water, fertile soil, biodiversity, wilderness and a feel of spirituality. We cannot and should not try to control or dictate the Himalayas.

  • Farakka ‘lock’ and Hilsa Fish

    It has been reported that an old project to facilitate the movement of Hilsa upstream along the Ganga to its spawning grounds of yore may come to fruition this year.

    What is the news?

    • Back in February 2019, the government had unveiled a project to redesign the navigation lock at the Farakka Barrage at a cost of Rs 360 crore to create a “fish pass” for the Hilsa.

    Hilsa Fish

    • In scientific parlance, the Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) is an anadromous fish.
    • It lives most of its life in the ocean, but during the rainy season, the Hilsa moves towards the estuary, where the rivers of India and Bangladesh meet the Bay of Bengal.
    • A large part of the shoal travels upstream in the Padma and the Ganga — some are known to move towards the Godavari, and there are records of Hilsa migration to the Cauvery.
    • Culinary lore has it that the fish that travel the farthest upstream have the best combination of the flavours of the sea and the river.

    Try this question from CSP 2019:

    Q. Consider the following pairs:

    Wildlife Naturally found in
    1. Blue-finned Mahseer Cauvery River
    2. Irrawaddy Dolphin Chambal River
    3. Rusty-spotted Cat Eastern Ghats

    Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched?

    a) 1 and 2 only

    b) 2 and 3 only

    c) 1 and 3 only

    d) 1, 2 and 3

    Obstructions created by Farakka Barrage

    • Historical records also show that until the 1970s, the Hilsa would swim the Ganga upstream to Allahabad — and even to Agra.
    • But the Farakka Barrage, which became operational on the Ganga in 1975, disrupted the westward movement of the Hilsa.
    • The barrage had a navigation lock that stopped the fish from swimming upstream beyond Farakka.
    • In Buxar on the border of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the last recorded catch of the Hilsa was made 32 years ago.
    • The role of the Farakka Barrage in disrupting the Hilsa’s journey is well documented and has been discussed in Parliament as well.
    • On August 4, 2016, then Union Water Resources Minister told Lok Sabha about plans to create “fish ladders” to help the fish navigate the obstacle posed by the barrage.

    Fish ladders/fishways/fish passes

    • Fish passes — also known as fish ladders or fishways — aim to assist fish in crossing obstacles presented by dams and barrages.
    • They usually consist of small steps that allow the fish to climb over the obstacles and enable them to reach the open waters on the other side.

  • [pib] Seaweeds Mission

    TIFAC has unveiled a Seaweed Mission for commercial farming of seaweeds and its processing for value addition.

    Note the species of edible seaweeds mentioned in the newscard.

    Seaweed Mission

     

    The Mission envisages the following activities:

    • establishing model demonstration farms over one hectare for the cultivation of economically important seaweeds in nearshore and onshore along the Indian coast
    • Kappaphycus all over Indian coast
    • Gracilaria dura in Gujarat
    • Gracilariaverrucosa in Chilika Lake (Odisha)
    • Ulva Linza or Ulva prolife rain Chilika Lake (Odisha)
    • Ulva Lactuca or Ulva fasciata or Ulva indica all over India coast

    Proposed Sites: Gujarat / Tamil Nadu / Andhra Pradesh / Odisha / Karnataka

    Seaweed production in India

    • Out of the global seaweed production of ~ 32 million tons fresh weight valued around 12 billion US dollars. China produces ~57 %, Indonesia ~28% followed by South Korea.
    • India is having a mere share of ~0.01-0.02%.
    • Despite several advantages, commercial seaweeds cultivation has not been taken place in the country at an appropriate scale, as being practised in South-East Asian countries.
    • By an estimate, if cultivation is done in ≈10 million hectares or 5% of the EEZ area of India, it can provide employment to ~ 50 million people.
    • Seaweed cultivation also enhances ocean productivity, abates algal blooms and sequesters millions of tons CO2.