đŸ’„Join UPSC 2027,2028 Mentorship (July Batch) + XFactor Notes & Microthemes PDF
Talk to Mentor

Civilsdaily

Login

Subject: Conservation & Mitigation

1. Conservation Progs.
2. Worldwide initiatives
3. Mitigation Strategies
4. Conventions and Protocols

  • Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Rules

    Few illegal apartment complexes in Maradu, Kerala, were razed as ordered by the Supreme Court for breaching Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms. The court had called the illegal constructions a “colossal loss” to the environment.

    What are CRZ norms?

    • In India, the CRZ Rules govern human and industrial activity close to the coastline, in order to protect the fragile ecosystems near the sea.
    • They restrict certain kinds of activities — like large constructions, setting up of new industries, storage or disposal of hazardous material, mining, reclamation and bunding — within a certain distance from the coastline.
    • After the passing of the Environment Protection Act in 1986, CRZ Rules were first framed in 1991.
    • After these were found to be restrictive, the Centre notified new Rules in 2011, which also included exemptions for the construction of the Navi Mumbai airport and for projects of the Department of Atomic Energy.
    • In 2018, fresh Rules were issued, which aimed to remove certain restrictions on building, streamlined the clearance process, and aimed to encourage tourism in coastal areas.
    • While the CRZ Rules are made by the Union environment ministry, implementation is to be ensured by state governments through their Coastal Zone Management Authorities.

    Where do they apply?

    • In all Rules, the regulation zone has been defined as the area up to 500 m from the high-tide line.
    • The restrictions depend on criteria such as the population of the area, the ecological sensitivity, the distance from the shore, and whether the area had been designated as a natural park or wildlife zone.
    • The latest Rules have a no-development zone of 20 m for all islands close to the mainland coast, and for all backwater islands in the mainland.

    Back2Basics

    https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/coastal-regulation-zone-how-rules-for-building-along-coast-have-evolved/

  • Antarctic Ozone Hole — one of the largest, deepest — closes

    The Antarctic ozone hole — one of the deepest, largest gap in the ozone layer in the last 40 years — has closed, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Consider the following statements:

    Chlorofluorocarbons, known as ozone-depleting substances are used:

    1. In the production of plastic foams
    2. In the production of tubeless tyres
    3. In cleaning certain electronic components
    4. As pressurizing agents in aerosol cans

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1, 2 and 3 only

    (b) 4 only

    (c) 1, 3 and 4 only

    (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

    Antarctic Ozone Hole

    • The Antarctic “ozone hole” was discovered by British Antarctic Survey scientists Farman, Gardiner and Shanklin in 1985.
    • It came as a shock to the scientific community because the observed decline in polar ozone was far larger than anyone had anticipated.
    • It was caused by the chemical reactions on polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) in the cold Antarctic stratosphere caused a massive.
    • Though localized and seasonal, an increase in the amount of chlorine present in active, ozone-destroying forms.

    Role of PSCs

    • The polar stratospheric clouds in Antarctica are only formed when there are very low temperatures, as low as −80 °C, and early spring conditions.
    • In such conditions, the ice crystals of the cloud provide a suitable surface for the conversion of unreactive chlorine compounds into reactive chlorine compounds, which can deplete ozone easily.

    An annual process

    • An ozone hole is the thinning of the ozone layer boosted in size by colder temperatures.
    • The formation of the ozone hole in the Antarctic has been an annual occurrence and has been recorded for the last 40 years.
    • Human-made chemicals migrate into the stratosphere and accumulate inside the polar vortex. It begins to shrink in size as warmer temperatures dominate.
    • As the temperatures high up in the stratosphere start to rise, ozone depletion slows, the polar vortex weakens and breaks down.
    • By the end of December, ozone levels return to normal.

    The hole closes after achieving peak

    • The annually occurring ozone hole over the Antarctic had rapidly grown from mid-August and peaked at around 24 million square kilometres — one of the largest so far — in early October 2020.
    • The expansion of the hole was driven by a strong, stable and cold polar vortex and very cold temperatures in the stratosphere.
    • The same meteorological factors also contributed to the record 2020 Arctic ozone hole, which has also closed.

    Note: A polar vortex is a wide expanse of swirling cold air, a low-pressure area, in Polar Regions. During winters, the polar vortex at the North Pole expands, sending cold air southward.

  • Asian Waterbird Census (AWC) 2021

    The two-day Asian Waterbird Census-2020 was recently held in Andhra Pradesh.

    Anyone can participate!

    By using eBird and filling an additional site form, one can take part in this multi-country effort to document the state of our wetlands and waterbirds.  To take part one simply visits a wetland and count the birds he/she see there.

    Asian Waterbird Census

    • The Asian Waterbird Census (AWC) takes place every January.
    • The AWC was started in 1987, and many birders were initiated into bird counting and monitoring through this project.
    • This citizen-science event is a part of the global International Waterbird Census (IWC) that supports the conservation and management of wetlands and waterbirds worldwide.
    • The data collected each year is shared by Wetlands International with global conservation organisations such as IUCN and Ramsar Convention.

    Why need such census?

    • Waterbirds are one of the key indicators of wetlands health.
    • Wetlands provide feeding, resting, roosting and foraging habitats for these charismatic species.

    AWC in India

    • In India, the AWC is annually coordinated by the Bombay Natural history Society (BNHS) and Wetlands International.
    • BNHS is a non-government Organisation (NGO) founded in the year 1883.
    • It engages itself in the conservation of nature and natural resources and also in the research and conservation of endangered species.
    • Its mission is to conserve nature, primarily biological diversity through action based on research, education and public awareness.

    Back2Basics: Waterbirds

    • The term water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird is used to refer to birds that live on or around water.
    • In some definitions, the term is especially applied to birds in freshwater habitats, though others make no distinction from birds that inhabit marine environments.
    • Also, some water birds are more terrestrial or aquatic than others, and their adaptations will vary depending on their environment.
    • These adaptations include webbed feet, bills, and legs adapted to feed in the water, and the ability to dive from the surface or the air to catch prey in water.

  • Places in news: Deepor Beel

    Assam has prohibited community fishing at Deepor Beel, a wetland on the south-western edge of Guwahati and it’s the only Ramsar site.

    Try this PYQ:

    In which one among the following categories of protected areas in India are local people not allowed to collect and use the biomass?

    (a) Biosphere reserves

    (b) National parks

    (c) Wetlands declared under Ramsar convention

    (d) Wildlife sanctuaries

    Deepor Beel

    • Deepor Beel is located to the south-west of Guwahati city, in Kamrup district of Assam, India.
    • It is a permanent freshwater lake, in a former channel of the Brahmaputra River, to the south of the main river.
    • It is a wetland under the Ramsar Convention which has listed since November 2002, for undertaking conservation measures on the basis of its biological and environmental importance.
    • Considered as one of the largest beels in the Brahmaputra valley of Lower Assam, it is categorised as a representative of the wetland type under the Burma monsoon forest biogeographic region.
    • It is also an important bird sanctuary habituating many migrant species.
    • Freshwater fish is a vital protein and source of income for these communities; the health of these people is stated to be directly dependent on the health of this wetland ecosystem.

    Back2Basics: Ramsar Convention

    • The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (better known as the Ramsar Convention) is an international agreement promoting the conservation and wise use of wetlands.
    • It is the only global treaty to focus on a single ecosystem.
    • The convention was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in 1975.
    • Traditionally viewed as a wasteland or breeding ground of disease, wetlands actually provide fresh water and food and serve as nature’s shock absorber.
    • Wetlands, critical for biodiversity, are disappearing rapidly, with recent estimates showing that 64% or more of the world’s wetlands have vanished since 1900.
    • Major changes in land use for agriculture and grazing, water diversion for dams and canals and infrastructure development are considered to be some of the main causes of loss and degradation of wetlands.

  • Places in news: Dibru-Saikhowa National Park

    PC: Gmaps

    Assam has asked the State’s Forest and Revenue departments to permanently rehabilitate the indigenous forest dwellers of the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park.

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2019:

    Q. Which of the following are in Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve?

    (a) Neyyar, Peppara and Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuaries; and Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve

    (b) Mudumalai, Sathyamangalam and Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuaries; and Silent Valley National Park

    (c) Kaundinya, Gundla Brahme-swaram and Papikonda Wildlife Sanctuaries; and Mukurthi National Park

    (d) Kawal and Sri Venkateswara Wildlife Sanctuaries; and Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve

    Dibru-Saikhowa National Park

    • DSNP is a national park in Assam located in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts.
    • It was designated a Biosphere Reserve in July 1997 with an area of 765 sq. km.
    • The park is bounded by the Brahmaputra and Lohit Rivers in the north and the Dibru river in the south.
    • It mainly consists of moist mixed semi-evergreen forests, moist mixed deciduous forests, canebrakes, and grasslands.
    • It is the largest Salix swamp forest in north-eastern India, with a tropical monsoon climate with a hot and wet summer and cool and usually dry winter.

     Why in news?

    • Rehabilitation of some 10,000 people has been hanging fire since 1999 when the Dibru-Saikhowa Wildlife Sanctuary was upgraded to a national park.
    • The park, home to a few wild horses, had been in focus since May when a blowout at an Oil India Limited gas well in the vicinity posed an ecological threat.

    What is the issue?

    • The affected people belong to the Missing community.
    • The forest dwellers of the 425-sq. km. Dibru-Saikhowa National Park has been denied access to government schemes since 1986 through a notification.
    • It allowed them to continue staying until their shifting to a suitable place.
    • The organization said the villagers’ problems started when 765 sq. km. around their habitations was declared a biosphere reserve in 1997, limiting the access of the forest to the community.
    • The hardship compounded in 1999 when the national park came into existence.

  • The climate policy needs new ideas

    The article highlights the issues with the current climate policies which are centred on the inequality.

    Inequality and climate change

    • Inequity is built into the climate treaty, which considers total emissions, size, and population, making India the fourth largest emitter.
    • According to the United Nations, the richest 1% of the global population emits more than two times the emissions of the bottom 50%.
    • .China, with four times the population of the U.S., accounts for 12% of cumulative emissions.
    • India, with a population close to that of China’s, for just 3% of cumulative emissions that lead to global warming.
    • In an urbanized world, two-thirds of emissions arise from the demand of the middle class for infrastructure, mobility, buildings, and diet.
    • Well-being in the urbanized world is reflected in saturation levels of infrastructure.
    • Growth in the developed countries is consumption-driven not production driven.
    • The vaguely worded ‘carbon neutrality’, balancing emitting carbon with absorbing carbon from the atmosphere in forests is a triple whammy for latecomers like India.
    • Such countries already have less energy-intensive pathways that will not encroach on others’ ecological space, a young population, and are growing fast to reach comparable levels of well-being with those already urbanized and in the middle class.

    What changes are required in the policies

    • At present, the focus is on physical quantities which indicates effects on nature.
    • The solutions require analysis of drivers, trends, and patterns of resource use. 
    • This anomaly explains why the link between well-being, energy use, and emissions is not on the global agenda.
    • Modifying unsustainable patterns of natural resource use and ensuring comparable levels of well-being are societal transformations.
    • New thinking must enable politics to acknowledge transformational social goals and the material boundaries of economic activity.

    India’s unique national circumstances

    • India must highlight its unique national circumstances.
    • For example, the meat industry, especially beef, contributes to one-third of global emissions.
    • Indians eat just 4 kg of meat a year compared to those in the European Union who eat about 65 kg.
    • Also to be noted is the fact that the average American household wastes nearly one-third of its food.
    • Transport emissions account for a quarter of global emissions.
    • Transport emissions are the symbol of Western civilization and are not on the global agenda.
    • Rising Asia uses three-quarters of coal drives industry and supports the renewable energy push into cities.
    • India, with abundant reserves and per capita electricity use that is one-tenth that of the U.S., is under pressure to stop using coal.

    Way forward

    • India has the credibility and legitimacy to push an alternate 2050 goal for countries currently with per capita emissions below the global average.
    • These goals should include well-being within ecological limits, the frame of the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as multilateral technological knowledge cooperation around electric vehicles, energy efficiency, building insulation, and a less wasteful diet.

    Conclusion

    Emissions are the symptom, not the cause of the problem. India, in the UN Security Council, must push new ideas based on its civilizational and long-standing alternate values for the transition to sustainability.

  • [pib] International Blue Flag hoisted at 8 beaches across the Country

    The Environment Minister has virtually hoisted the international blue flags in 8 beaches across the country.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. At one of the places in India, if you stand on the seashore and watch the sea, you will find that the seawater recedes from the shoreline a few kilometers and comes back to the shore, twice a day, and you can actually walk on the seafloor when the water recedes. This unique phenomenon is seen at:

    (a) Bhavnagar

    (b) Bheemunipatnam

    (c) Chandipur

    (d) Nagapattinam

    About Blue Flag Certification

    • This Certification is accorded by an international agency “Foundation for Environment Education, Denmark” based on 33 stringent criteria in four major heads i.e.
    1. Environmental Education and Information,
    2. Bathing Water Quality,
    3. Environment Management and Conservation and
    4. Safety and Services on the beaches.
    • It started in France in 1985 and has been implemented in Europe since 1987, and in areas outside Europe since 2001 when South Africa joined.
    • Japan and South Korea are the only countries in South and southeastern Asia to have Blue Flag beaches.
    • Spain tops the list with 566 such beaches; Greece and France follow with 515 and 395, respectively.

    Which are the 8 beaches?

    The beaches where the International Blue Flags were hoisted are:

    1. Kappad (Kerala)
    2. Shivrajpur (Gujarat)
    3. Ghoghla (Diu)
    4. Kasarkod and
    5. Padubidri (Karnataka)
    6. Rushikonda (Andhra Pradesh)
    7. Golden (Odisha) and
    8. Radhanagar (Andaman & Nicobar Islands)

  • [pib] Tso Kar Wetland Complex

    India has added Tso Kar Wetland Complex in Ladakh as its 42nd Ramsar site, which is a second one in the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh. With this, India now has forty-two Ramsar sites.

    Try this PYQ:

    In which one among the following categories of protected areas in India are local people not allowed to collect and use the biomass?

    (a) Biosphere reserves

    (b) National parks

    (c) Wetlands declared under Ramsar convention

    (d) Wildlife sanctuaries

    Tso Kar Wetland Complex

    • It is a high-altitude wetland complex, consisting of two principal waterbodies, Startsapuk Tso, a freshwater lake of about 438 hectares to the south, and Tso Kar itself, a hypersaline lake of 1800 hectares to the north.
    • It is situated in the Changthang region of Ladakh.
    • It is called Tso Kar, meaning white lake, because of the white salt efflorescence found on the margins due to the evaporation of highly saline water.

    Ecological significance

    • Wetlands provide a wide range of important resources and ecosystem services such as food, water, fibre, groundwater recharge, water purification, flood moderation, erosion control and climate regulation.
    • They are, in fact, a major source of water and our main supply of freshwater comes from an array of wetlands which help soak rainfall and recharge groundwater.
    • The Tso Kar Basin is an A1 Category Important Bird Area (IBA) as per BirdLife International and a key staging site in the Central Asian Flyway.
    • The site is also one of the most important breeding areas of the Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis) in India.

    Back2Basics: Wetlands

    • A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded by water, either permanently or seasonally, where oxygen-free processes prevail.
    • The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other landforms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil.
    • Wetlands provide a wide range of important resources and ecosystem services such as food, water, fibre, groundwater recharge, water purification, flood moderation, erosion control and climate regulation.

    What is the Ramsar Convention?

    • The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is a treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of such sites.
    • The convention, signed in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar, is one of the oldest inter-governmental accords for preserving the ecological character of wetlands.
    • Also known as the Convention on Wetlands, it aims to develop a global network of wetlands for the conservation of biological diversity and for sustaining human life.
    • Over 170 countries are party to the Ramsar Convention and over 2,000 designated sites covering over 20 crore hectares have been recognised under it.

  • Mapping: Caspian Sea

    The Caspian is actually a lake, the largest in the world and it is experiencing a devastating decline in its water level that is about to accelerate.

    Note the countries bordering the Caspian Sea: Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan. Or else remember the acronym ‘TARIK(h)’ (Hindi word for date).

    You can frame a mnemonic statement of your choice. Do similarly for major lakes and inland seas. But dont let it move over TARIK pe TARIK!

    Caspian Sea

    • The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest inland body of water, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea.
    • As an endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia.
    • An endorheic basin is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but converges instead into lakes or swamps, permanent or seasonal that equilibrates through evaporation
    • Its level is the product of how much water is flowing in from rivers, mostly the mighty Volga to the north, how much it rains and how much evaporates away.
    • At the end of the century, the Volga and other northern rivers will still be there.
    • However, a projected temperature rise of about 3℃ to 4℃ in the region will drive evaporation through the roof.

    Now try this PYQ:

    Q.Which of the following has/have shrunk immensely/ dried up in the recent past due to human activities?

    1. Aral Sea
    2. Black Sea
    3. Lake Baikal

    Select the correct option using the code given below:

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 2 only

    (d) 1 and 3 only

    Why in news?

    • By the end of the century, the Caspian Sea will be nine metres to 18 metres lower. That’s a depth considerably taller than most houses.
    • The Caspian’s surface is already dropping by 7 cm every year, a trend likely to increase.
    • It means the lake will lose at least 25 per cent of its former size, uncovering 93,000 sq km of dry land.
    • If that new land were a country, it would be the size of Portugal.

    Past strides in its level

    • The Caspian Sea has a history of violent rises and falls.
    • In Derbent, on the Caucasus coast of Russia, submerged ancient city walls testify to how low the sea was in medieval times.
    • Around 10,000 years ago, the Caspian was about 100 metres lower.
    • A few thousand years before that it was about 50 metres higher than today and even over spilt into the Black Sea.

  • Firefly Bird Diverters’ to save the Great Indian Bustard (GIB)

    The Environment Ministry along with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) India has come up with a unique initiative a “firefly bird diverter” for overhead power lines in areas where Great Indian Bustard (GIB) populations are found in the wild.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Which one of the following groups of animals belongs to the category of endangered species?

    (a) Great Indian Bustard, Musk Deer, Red Panda, Asiatic Wild Ass

    (b) Kashmir Stag, Cheetah, Blue Bull, Great Indian Bustard.

    (c) Snow Leopard, Swamp Deer, Rhesus Monkey, Saras (Crane)

    (d) Lion Tailed Macaque, Blue Bull, Hanuman Langur, Cheetah

    Great Indian Bustard

    • The GIB is one of the heaviest flying birds and can weigh up to 15 kg which grows up to one metre in height.
    • In July 2011, the bird was categorised as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
    • It is considered the flagship grassland species, representing the health of the grassland ecology.
    • For long, conservationists have been demanding to secure this population, warning that the bird might get extinct in the coming decades.
    • It would become the first mega species to disappear from India after Cheetah in recent times.
    • Till the 1980s, about 1,500-2,000 Great Indian Bustards were spread throughout the western half of India, spanning eleven states.
    • However, with rampant hunting and declining grasslands, their population dwindled.

    Bird Diverters

    • The diverters are called fireflies because they look like fireflies from a distance, shining on power lines in the night.
    • GIBs are one of the heaviest flying birds in India. Therefore, when they encounter these wires, they are unable to change the direction of their flight.
    • Death is most cases is due to impact with the wires and not due to electrocution.
    • The diverter will not only save GIB but other species of large birds, including migratory birds.

    Why such a move?

    • GIB is one of the most critically threatened species in India, with less than 150 birds left in the wild.
    • A report has pointed out that power lines, especially high-voltage transmission lines with multiple overhead wires, are the most important current threat for GIBs in the Thar region.
    • They are causing unsustainably high mortality in about 15% of their population.