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

  • Back in news: International Whaling Commission (IWC)

    Iceland will not be hunting any whales in 2020. Iceland, alongside Norway and Japan, has frequently broken the International Whaling Commission’s 1986 worldwide moratorium, which indefinitely “paused” commercial whaling.

    Regarding IWC, we can expect a statement based prelim question asking-

    1) If IWC has a UN or any other parent organization

    2) If India is a member/observer etc.

    About International Whaling Commission (IWC)

    • The IWC is an Inter-Governmental Organisation set up by the terms of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) signed in Washington, D.C in 1946.
    • It aims to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry.
    • The main duty of the IWC is to keep under review and revise as necessary the measures laid down in the Schedule to the Convention which governs the conduct of whaling throughout the world.
    • The body is the first piece of International Environmental Legislation established in 1946.
    • Commercial whaling was banned by the IWC in 1986 after some species were almost driven to extinction.
    • 89 countries have the membership of in IWC and all the member countries are signatories to this convention.
    • India is a member state of the IWC.

    Earlier reference

    • Japan has last year withdrawn from the IWC citing domestic reasons.
    • Thus, it resumed commercial whaling after 31 years, meeting a long-cherished goal of its traditionalists.

  • [pib] Sariska Tiger reserve

     

    The Ministry of Tourism’s Dekho Apna Desh webinar featured a presentation and virtual tour of ‘Destination- Sariska Tiger reserve’.

    Tourism and tourist sites carry high stakes for possible prelims questions.  Take time to quickly revise the Swadesh Darshan , PRASHAD Schemes.   Click here for the repository of all such initiatives.

    Sariska Tiger Reserve

    • It is located in the Aravalli Hills, 35 km from Alwar, 250 km SW of Delhi and 110 km NE of Jaipur.
    • The former hunting reserve of the Maharaja of Alwar, the Sariska valley is home to a variety of flora and fauna.
    • The park has populations of tigers, leopards, Nilgai, Sambar, chital etc.
    • The place is a paradise for bird lovers as it shelters a large population of Indian peafowl, crested serpent eagles, sand grouse, golden-backed woodpeckers, great Indian horned owls, tree pies, vultures and many others.
    • It is the first reserve in the world with successfully relocated tigers. It is an important biodiversity area in the Northern Aravalli leopard and wildlife corridor.

    Features of this episode

    • Alwar is a city dotted with heritage buildings, Forts, tombs and palaces. Some of the important sights not to be missed are Bala Qila, Vijai Mandir Lake Palaces, Fateh Jung ki Gumbad, Moti Doongri etc.
    • The sanctuary is strewn with ruins of ancient temples dating back to the 10th and 11th centuries.
    • Some of the highlights are the ruins of the Kankwari Fort and the 10th-century Neelkanth temples, which have Khajuraho-like carvings as key features.
    • Neelkanth Mahadeva houses the ruins of over 300 Hindu and Jain temples constructed between the 8th and 12th Centuries.
    • Chand Baoli (stepwell) at Abhaneri is enormous with 3500 steep steps built by the Nikhumbha dynasty is one of the largest step-wells in the world.

    About DekhoApnaDesh

    • Under this, a series of webinars will showcase the diverse and remarkable history and culture of India through a documentary series on various cities.
    • It will be including various monuments, cuisine, arts, dance forms, natural landscapes, festivals and many other aspects of the rich Indian civilization.
    • The objective of the webinar series is to create awareness about and promote various tourism destinations of India – including the lesser-known destinations and lesser-known facets of popular destinations.
    • The webinar will be available in the public domain through the Ministry’s social media handles- “Incredible India” on Instagram and Facebook.

    Back2Basics: Project Tiger

    • Project Tiger is a tiger conservation programme launched in April 1973 by during PM Indira Gandhi’s tenure.
    • It is administered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
    • The project aims at ensuring a viable population of Bengal tigers in their natural habitats, protecting them from extinction, and preserving areas of biological importance as a natural heritage forever represented as close as possible the diversity of ecosystems across the distribution of tigers in the country.
    • The project’s task force visualized these tiger reserves as breeding nuclei, from which surplus animals would migrate to adjacent forests.
    • The government has set up a Tiger Protection Force to combat poachers and funded relocation of villagers to minimize human-tiger conflicts.

  • Ganga water improves during lockdown

    The Ganga water quality has improved remarkably during the lockdown period. This highlights the importance of synergy for absolute symbiosis between nature and man as the need of the hour.

    Context

    • The novel coronavirus lockdown (COVID-19) pandemic has put millions in the throes of adversity — and yet, there is a reason to celebrate.
    • Over a month into the nationwide lockdown, air and water pollution levels have shrunk and the wildlife is free.
    • Of 36 monitoring units placed in the Ganga, water quality at 27 points was found suitable for bathing and propagation of wildlife and fisheries in the lockdown period

    Status of rivers in India

    • India’s water bodies are in a poor state. The rivers are becoming dumpyard for untreated sewage and industrial waste.
    • In the name of economic growth, most rivers and streams have been turned into sewer canals and are getting difficult to be treated.
    • It is estimated that every day, almost 40 million litres of wastewater enters rivers and other water bodies; only 37 per cent is adequately treated.
    • A Centre Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report showed that critically polluted river stretches in the country have increased from 302 stretches in 2016 to 351 stretches in 2018.
    • The finding was based on Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD).

    Ganga

    • According to CPCB, more than half of wastewater treatment plants in the basin do not comply with the discharge norms.
    • Since 1985, several programmes and schemes have been launched to clean the Ganga. It began with the Ganga Action Plan I, followed by Ganga Action Plan II.

    • In 2015, the biggest-ever initiative, Namami Gange was launched with a budget of over Rs 20,000.
    • Despite numerous programmes and huge funds, the Ganga still runs polluted.

    The causes

    • More than 80 per cent of pollution in the Ganga is due to domestic sewage from surrounding towns and villages. The rest is contributed by industrial waste.
    • During the lockdown, domestic sewage would have increased owing to increased demand for water to maintain hand-washing hygiene. Industrial waste, however, stopped entering the Ganga.
    • Other activities such as tourism, fairs, bathing and cloth washing near the ghats were curtailed. Experts said these observations reflected that domestic sewerage was not the only cause of concern.
    • When sewage is mixed with industrial effluents, it gets difficult for the river to assimilate pollution.
    • One more reason was high number of western disturbances which brought rain and improved the flow in the river leading to dilution.

    COVID-19’s gift to Ganga

    • After the nationwide lockdown was imposed, within 10 days signs of improvement in water quality started surfacing.
    • At Varanasi’s Nagwa Nala, the Dissolved Oxygen (DO) values were found increased to 6.8 milligram/litre against 3.8 mg/l on March 6, showcasing an extraordinary improvement of 79 per cent in DO values.
    • 30 per cent of the total BOD load was due to industries along the river, which amounted to 130-150 tons per day.
    • Since all major polluting industries are closed, the toxic load is off the river.

    Surprisingly better

    • Ganga water at Haridwar and Rishikesh was reported fit for drinking due to 500 per cent decrease in sewage and industrial effluents.
    • A dip in the number of visitors at ghats in Haridwar also helped the river water quality.
    • The Ganga water has become fit for ‘achaman’, which means ritual sipping, after a long time.

    Bringing the ambitions to reality

    There is an urgent need to:

    • Reinvestigate the main source of pollution in Ganga and reorient all river cleaning policies and programmes based on lockdown findings.
    • Industries need to strictly adhere to discharge norms accompanied with strong enforcement of laws and regulations vis-a-vis strong monitoring and vigilance framework.
    • Setting up of effective interventions to clean rivers, reliable, representative and comprehensive data collected at high frequency in a disaggregated manner.
    • There is an urgent need to expand the network of monitoring stations on the Ganga, the Yamuna and tributaries of Ganga in more places.
    • Over-extraction and over-exploitation of Ganga’s waters have rendered long stretches of the river completely dry for much of the year. There is a need to maintain ecological flow to keep it clean for longer run.
    • Education and awareness needs to be carried out strategically.

    Back2Basics: Biochemical Oxygen Demand

    • BOD is the amount of dissolved oxygen needed (i.e. demanded) by aerobic biological organisms to break down organic material present in a given water sample at certain temperature over a specific time period.
    • The BOD value is most commonly expressed in milligrams of oxygen consumed per litre of sample during 5 days of incubation at 20 °C and is often used as a surrogate of the degree of organic pollution of water.
    • BOD is similar in function to chemical oxygen demand (COD), in that both measure the amount of organic compounds in water.
    • However, COD is less specific, since it measures everything that can be chemically oxidized, rather than just levels of biodegradable organic matter.

  • Species in news: Trimeresurus Salazar

    The new species, Trimeresurus Salazar is a snake been discovered in Arunachal Pradesh.

    Another specie spotted with one more peculiarity, the name Salazar 🙂 Such species are most likely to be asked in prelims to match the columns with their habitat state.

    Trimeresurus Salazar

    • Salazar’s pit viper belongs to the genus Trimeresurus Lacépède comprising “charismatic venomous serpents with morphologically as well as ecologically diverse species”.
    • Pit vipers are venomous snakes distinguished by their heat-sensing pit organs between the eye and the nostril.
    • The name was inspired by Salazar Slytherin, the co-founder of J.K. Rowlings’ fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

  • [pib] Amendment to the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006

    To address unprecedented situation arising from the global outbreak of COVID-19 and to ramp up availability or production of various drugs, the MoEFCC has made an amendment to EIA Notification 2006.

    EIA is a process of evaluating the likely environmental impacts of a proposed project or development, taking into account inter-related socio-economic, cultural and human-health impacts, both beneficial and adverse.  Its a hot topic for mains.

    What is the amendment about?

    • All projects or activities in respect of bulk drugs and intermediates, manufactured for addressing various ailments, have been re-categorized from the existing Category ‘A’ to ‘B2’ category.
    • Projects falling under Category B2 are exempted from the requirement of collection of Baseline data, EIA Studies and public consultation.
    • The re-categorization of such proposals has been done to facilitate decentralization of appraisal to State Level so as to fast track the process.

    Projects Categorization and Clearance under EIA

    • Environmental clearance is required in respect of all new projects or activities listed in the Schedule to the 2006 notification and their expansion and modernization, including any change in product –mix.
    • Since EIA 2006 the various developmental projects have been re-categorised into category ‘A’ and category ‘B’ depending on their threshold capacity and likely pollution potential.
    • They require prior EC respectively from MOEFCC or the concerned State Environmental Impact Assessment Authorities (SEIAAs).
    • Where state-level authorities have not been constituted, the clearance would be provided by the MOEFCC.

    Back2Basics: Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in India

    • EIA is a management tool to minimize adverse impacts of developmental projects on the environment and to achieve sustainable development through timely, adequate, corrective and protective mitigation measures.
    • The MoEFCC uses EIA Notification 2006 as a major tool for minimizing the adverse impact of rapid industrialization on the environment and for reversing those trends which may lead to climate change in the long run.
    • EIA has now been made mandatory under the Environmental (Protection Act, 1986 for 29 categories of developmental activities involving investments of Rs. 50 crores and above.

    EIA stages

    • Screening: This stage decides which projects a full or partial assessment need study.
    • Scoping: This stage decides which impacts are necessary to be assessed. This is done based on legal requirements, international conventions, expert knowledge and public engagement. This stage also finds out alternate solutions that avoid or at least reduce the adverse impacts of the project.
    • Assessment & evaluation of impacts and development of alternatives: This stage predicts and identifies the environmental impacts of the proposed project and also elaborates on the alternatives.
    • EIA Report: In this reporting stage, an environmental management plan (EMP) and also a non-technical summary of the project’s impact is prepared for the general public. This report is also called the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
    • Decision making: The decision on whether the project is to be given approval or not and if it is to be given, under what conditions.
    • Monitoring, compliance, enforcement and environmental auditing: This stage monitors whether the predicted impacts and the mitigation efforts happen as per the EMP.

  • Know all about the National Board for Wildlife

    The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) hasn’t met since 2014. Policy decisions and clearances have, meanwhile, come from a standing committee to the dismay of experts.

    This newscard is all about the factoids on National Board for Wildlife. The fact that they haven’t met since 2014 makes it interesting for UPSC to quiz you on its details.

    About National Board for Wildlife

    • The NBWL is constituted by the Central Government under Section 5 A of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (WLPA).
    • It serves as an apex body to review all wildlife-related matters and approve projects in and around national parks and sanctuaries.
    • The board is advisory in nature and advises the Central Government on framing policies and measures for conservation of wildlife in the country.

    Composition

    • It is chaired by India’s Prime Minister and its vice-chairman is Minister of Environment.
    • The NBWL has 47 members including the chairperson.
    • Among these, 19 members are ex-officio members.
    • Every new government constitutes a new board, based on the provisions of the WLPA, with the new PM as the chair.

    Functioning

    • The primary function of the NBWL is to promote the conservation and development of wildlife and forests.
    • It has the power to review all wildlife-related matters and approve projects in and around national parks and sanctuaries.
    • No alternation of boundaries in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries can be done without the approval of the NBWL.

    Working through a Standing Committee

    • The National Board may, at its discretion, constitute a Standing Committee.
    • The Committee shall consist of the MoEFCC in charge as Vice-Chairperson, Member Secretary and not more than ten members to be nominated by the Vice-Chairperson from amongst the members of the National Board.
    • The WLPA mandates that without the approval/recommendation of the NBWL, construction of tourist lodges, alteration of the boundaries of PAs, destruction or diversion of wildlife habitat and de-notification of Tiger Reserves, cannot be done.

    Seeking clearances

    • Several proposals seeking statutory approvals for such projects come up before the Standing Committee.
    • Every proposal requires to be submitted by the State Government in the approved format with complete details (maps, field assessments, alternatives explored…).
    • It must also contain the clear opinion of the officer in charge of a PA, the Chief Wildlife Warden and the State Government in consultation with the State Board for Wildlife.
    • The Standing Committee will then have to consider such proposals in accordance with the provisions of the WLPA.

    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.

     

  • Tropical Butterfly Conservatory

    The Tropical Butterfly Conservatory Tiruchirappalli (TBCT) has been developed in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchirappalli to create awareness among the public about the importance of the butterfly and its ecology.

    Tropical Butterfly Conservatory

    • The TBC is located in the Upper Anaicut Reserve Forest, sandwiched between the Cauvery and Kollidam rivers in Tiruchirappalli.
    • It was inaugurated during November 2015 at Tiruchirappalli with the objective of propagating the importance of butterflies and conserving the biodiversity of the district through environmental education.
    • It  is spread over 27 acres and is considered to be Asia’s largest butterfly park.
    • The park has an outdoor as well as indoor conservatory, a ‘Nakshatra Vanam’ and a ‘Rasi Vanam’ in addition to a breeding lab for non-scheduled species.
    • So far, about 109 butterfly species have been observed here.

    Conservation measures

    • Eggs of non-scheduled butterfly species are collected and bred in captivity in the in-house incubation laboratory by keeping them in ventilated plastic containers with the leaves of host plants as feed.
    • After attaining the transformation of larva (caterpillar) and pupa (transition), the adult butterfly finally comes out with gorgeous colours and at this stage they are released into the natural habitat.
    • Non-scheduled butterfly species are bred and released by the park authorities into their natural surroundings.

    Significance of butterflies

    • Butterflies are known for their intrinsic, aesthetic, educational, scientific, ecological, health and economic values.
    • As butterflies form an important part of nature’s food web, it is very essential to protect the species for ecological balance.
    • They play a key role in the pollination of plant species, the global food chain depends on their well-being.

    Various threats

    • The major threats to butterfly diversity are destruction, degradation and fragmentation of their habitats, grazing, fires and application of pesticides and weedicides in agricultural and urban ecosystems.

  • Species in news: Himalayan Ibex

    A recent study by scientists of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has proved that Himalayan Ibex, distributed in the trans-Himalayan ranges of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh, is a distinct species from the Siberian Ibex.

    Himalayan Ibex

    IUCN/WPA Status:    Least Concern / Schedule I

    • Himalayan Ibex (Capra ibex sibirica) is widely found in arid and rocky mountain of Karakoram, Hindukush and Himalayas of Gilgit-Baltistan.
    • The males are characterized by heavy body, large horns, long bears while females have small body small horns.
    • The threats that Himalayan ibex face are the illegal hunting, human disturbance, habitat loss and competition for forage with domestic livestock.

  • MSP for Minor Forest Produce Scheme

    The Union government’s ‘mechanism for the marketing of minor forest produce (MFP) through minimum support price (MSP) and development of value chain for MFP’ scheme can offer respite to forest-dependent labourers in the wake of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, according to experts.

    About MSP for MFP Scheme

    • The scheme, launched by the Centre in August 2013, provides fair price for MFP collected by tribals through MSP.
    • It is designed as a social safety net for improvement of livelihood of MFP gatherers by providing them fair price for the MFPs they collect.
    • MFP comprises all non-timber forest produce of plant origin such as bamboo, brush wood, stumps, cane, tussar, cocoons, honey, wax, lac, tendu or kendu leaves, medicinal plants and herbs, roots, tubers, etc, according to the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
    • The Scheme was been implemented in eight States having Schedule areas as listed in the Fifth Schedule of the constitution of India.
    • From November 2016, the scheme is applicable in all States.

    Issues in implementation

    • Almost 60-70 per cent income of forest dwellers depends on collection and sale of MFP, according to the tribal affairs ministry.
    • However, the scheme has not been activated because in most cases, states have not given their 25 per cent share.

  • Protecting Peatlands can help attain climate goals

     

    Peatlands, which play a crucial role in regulating global climate by acting as carbon sinks, are facing degradation and need to be urgently monitored, according to the FAO. 

    What are Peatlands?

    • Peatlands are a type of wetlands that occur in almost every country on Earth, currently covering 3% of the global land surface.
    • The term ‘peatland’ refers to the peat soil and the wetland habitat growing on its surface.
    • They are formed due to the accumulation of partially decomposed plant remains over thousands of years under conditions of water-logging.
    • In these areas, year-round waterlogged conditions slow the process of plant decomposition to such an extent that dead plants accumulate to form peat.
    • Over millennia this material builds up and becomes several metres thick.

    Why are peatlands significant?

    • Large amounts of carbon, fixed from the atmosphere into plant tissues through photosynthesis, are locked away in peat soils, representing a valuable global carbon store.
    • Peatlands are highly significant to global efforts to combat climate change, as well as wider sustainable development goals.
    • The protection and restoration of peatlands are vital in the transition towards a low-carbon and circular economy.

    1) Better sinks of Carbon

    • Damaged peatlands contribute about 10% of greenhouse gas emissions from the land-use sector.
    • CO2 emissions from drained peatlands are estimated at 1.3 gigatonnes of CO2 This is equivalent to 5.6% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions.
    • However, at the same time, peatlands are the largest natural terrestrial carbon store. Worldwide, the remaining area of near-natural peatland contains more than 550 gigatonnes of carbon.
    • This represented 42% of all soil carbon and exceeds the carbon stored in all other vegetation types, including the world’s forests. This area sequesters 0.37 gigatonnes of CO2 a year.

    2) Vital ecosystem services

    • By regulating water flows, peatlands help minimize the risk of flooding and drought and prevent seawater intrusion.
    • In many parts of the world, peatlands supply food, fibre and other local products that sustain local economies.
    • They also preserve important ecological and archaeological information such as pollen records and human artefacts.
    • Draining peatlands reduces the quality of drinking water due to pollution from dissolved compounds. Damage to peatlands also results in biodiversity loss.

    Other benefits

    • Peatlands occur in different climate zones.
    • While in a tropical climate, they can occur in mangroves, in Arctic regions, peatlands are dominated by mosses. Some mangrove species are known to develop peatland soils under them.
    • Besides climate mitigation, peatlands are important for archaeology, as they maintain pollen, seeds and human remains for a long time in their acidic and water-logged conditions.
    • In many countries, pristine peatlands are important for recreation activities. These areas also support livelihood in the form of pastoralism
    • The vegetation growing on pristine peatlands provide different kinds of fibres for construction activities and handicrafts.
    • Many wetland species produce berries, mushrooms and fruits, often economically important to local communities.
    • Peatlands also provide fishing and hunting opportunities. It is also possible to practise paludiculture or wet agriculture on rewetted peatlands.

    Various threats

    • Their degradation due to drainage, fire, agricultural use and forestry can trigger the release of the stored carbon in a few decades.
    • Peatlands contain 30 per cent of the world’s soil carbon. When drained, these emit greenhouse gases, contributing up to one gigatonne of emissions per year through oxidation.

    Way forward

    • In India, peatlands occupy roughly 320–1,000 square kilometres area.
    • To prevent further degradation, these areas should be urgently mapped and monitored.

    With inputs from: https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/peatlands-and-climate-change