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Subject: Environment

  • “Healthy and Energy Efficient Buildings” Initiative

    The Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has launched the “Healthy and Energy Efficient Buildings” initiative that will pioneer ways to make workplaces healthier and greener.

    Possible prelims question:

    Q. The MAITREE programme recently seen in news is related to: Trade/Energy Efficiency/Climate Change/ Strategic Relations

    About the Initiative

    • The initiative has been launched by EESL in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) MAITREE program.
    • As part of this initiative, EESL has taken the leadership by being the first to implement this framework in its own offices.
    • This initiative addresses the challenges of retrofitting existing buildings and air conditioning systems so that they are both healthy and energy-efficient.
    • It will pave the way for other buildings to take appropriate steps to be healthy and energy-efficient.

    What is the MAITREE program,?

    • The Market Integration and Transformation Program for Energy Efficiency (MAITREE) is a part of the US-India bilateral Partnership between the Ministry of Power and USAID.
    • It is aimed at accelerating the adoption of cost-effective energy efficiency as a standard practice within buildings and specifically focuses on cooling.

    Significance of the initiative

    • Poor air quality has been a concern in India for quite some time and has become more important in light of the COVID pandemic.
    • As people return to their offices and public spaces, maintaining good indoor air quality is essential for occupant comfort, well-being, productivity and the overall public health.
    • Most buildings in India are not equipped to establish and maintain healthy indoor air quality and need to be upgraded.
    • The EESL office pilot will address this problem by developing specifications for future use in other buildings throughout the country.
    • It will aid in evaluating the effectiveness and cost benefits of various technologies and their short and long-term impacts on air quality, comfort, and energy use.

     Back2Basics: EESL

    • Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), under the administration of Ministry of Power, is working towards mainstreaming energy efficiency.
    • It is implementing the world’s largest energy efficiency portfolio in the country.
    • EESL aims to create market access for efficient and future-ready transformative solutions that create a win-win situation for every stakeholder.
    • About USAID: USAID is the world’s premier international development agency and a catalytic actor driving development results.

  • ‘Race to Zero’ campaign

    The UN has launched the “Race to Zero” campaign ahead of delayed COP 26 Climate Talks.

    Possible question for prelims:

    The ‘Race to Zero’ campaign often seen in news is related to zeroing: Global Hunger/Carbon Emission/HR violations/None of these.

     ‘Race to Zero’ campaign

    • The campaign aims to codify commitments made via the Climate Ambition Alliance (CAA), which launched ahead of last year’s COP25 in Madrid.
    • It encourages countries, companies, and other entities to deliver structured net-zero greenhouse-gas emission pledges by the time the talks begin.
    • This messaging for the campaign — carried out under the aegis of the UNFCCC— seeks to emphasise the potential for non-state actors to raise climate ambition.
    • The campaign refers to these as ‘real economy actors’, noting they “cover just over half the gross domestic product, a quarter of global CO2 emissions and over 2.6 billion people”.

    About the Climate Ambition Alliance

    • The CAA currently includes 120 nations and several other private players that have committed to achieving zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
    • Signatories are responsible for 23 per cent of current greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide and 53 per cent of global GDP.

    What Are the Criteria?

    • The minimum criteria for establishing a recognized pledge were developed through dialogues coordinated by Oxford University.
    • The pledges must include a clear net-zero target date no later than 2050, they must also begin immediately and include interim targets.
    • Much like the Paris Agreement itself, the criteria are designed to strengthen over time, but they begin at a level that reflects current best practices.

    Issue over offsetting

    • Offsets are emission-reductions generated outside a company’s own operations, and they are used in both compliance programs to meet mandated emission caps (“cap and trade”) and involuntary programs to reduce a company’s overall impact (voluntary carbon markets).
    • The Race to Zero criteria emphasizes that if offsets are ultimately recognized, they must only be used to neutralize residual emissions that can’t be eliminated internally – at least not immediately.

  • Nagar Van (Urban Forest) Scheme

    On the occasion of World Environment Day (5th June), the union govt has announced the implementation of the Nagar Van Scheme to develop 200 Urban Forests across the country in the next five years.

    Do you know?

    India has 8 per cent of world’s biodiversity, despite having many constraints like only 2.5 % of the world’s landmass, has to carry 16% of human population and having only 4% of freshwater sources.

    Urban Forest Scheme

    • The scheme will be implemented with people’s participation and collaboration between the Forest Department, Municipal bodies, NGOs and corporates.
    • These forests will work as lungs of the cities and will primarily be on the forest land or any other vacant land offered by local urban local bodies.
    • This urban area rejuvenation scheme is based on the Smriti Van in the Warje area of Pune City
    • This forest now hosts rich biodiversity with 23 plant species, 29 bird species, 15 butterfly species, 10 reptiles and 3 mammal species.
    • This Urban Forest project is now helping maintain ecological balance, serving both environmental and social needs.

  • What is Lunar Eclipse?

    A penumbral lunar eclipse will be observed today midnight. The Earth will imperfectly align itself between the Sun and the moon, casting a shadow on the latter, marking the second lunar eclipse of the year.

    Solar and Lunar eclipse has been quite frequent this year. Mark the major differences between them.

    Lunar Eclipse

    • A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth’s shadow.
    • This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are exactly or very closely aligned with Earth between the other two.
    • A lunar eclipse can occur only on the night of a full moon. The type and length of a lunar eclipse depend on the Moon’s proximity to either node of its orbit.
    • Any object that obstructs light will produce two shadows: one which will be dark and dense, is called the umbra; and the other which is light and diffused is called the penumbra.
    • The only light reflected from the lunar surface has been refracted by Earth’s atmosphere.
    • This light appears reddish for the same reason that a sunset or sunrise does: the Rayleigh scattering of bluer light. Due to this reddish colour, a totally eclipsed Moon is sometimes called a blood moon.

    Types

    • In a total eclipse of the moon, the inner part of Earth’s shadow, called the umbra, falls on the moon’s face. At mid-eclipse, the entire moon is in shadow, which may appear blood red.
    • In a partial lunar eclipse, the umbra takes a bite out of only a fraction of the moon. The dark bite grows larger and then recedes, never reaching the total phase.
    • In a penumbral lunar eclipse, only the more diffuse outer shadow of Earth – the penumbra – falls on the moon’s face. This third kind of lunar eclipse is much more subtle and much more difficult to observe than either a total or partial eclipse of the moon.

    How it is different from Solar Eclipse?

    • A solar eclipse happens when the moon passes in between the earth and the sun. A lunar eclipse happens when the earth passes in between the moon and the sun.
    • During a solar eclipse, the moon partially or fully hides the sun’s rays for a few minutes.
    • Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth.
    • Also unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are safe to view without any eye protection or special precautions, as they are dimmer than the full Moon.

    What’s special this time?

    • This eclipse is also called a strawberry moon eclipse — the term, interestingly, originates from an American concept and has little to do with the Euro-Asia region.
    • June’s full moon usually coincides with the harvesting season of wild strawberries in America and the phenomenon was often addressed in reference to that.
    • India had already witnessed an eclipse earlier this year, in January.
    • The strawberry moon eclipse is going to be its second and probably the last visible lunar one in 2020.

  • Ambarnaya River Oil spill in Russia

    Russia has declared a state of emergency after a power plant fuel leak in its Arctic region caused 20,000 tonnes of diesel oil to escape into a local river, turning its surface crimson red.

    Locate major rivers in Russia in the given map from east-west and west-east directions.

    Details of the spillage

    • The Ambarnaya River, into which the oil has been discharged, is part of a network that flows into the environmentally sensitive Arctic Ocean.
    • The state-owned TASS news agency reported that the emergency measures were announced within Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Region, located in the vast and sparsely populated Siberian peninsula.

    How did the leak happen?

    • The thermoelectric power plant at Norilsk is built on permafrost, which has weakened over the years owing to climate change.
    • The power plant is located near the Region’s Norilsk city, around 3000 km northeast of Moscow.
    • This caused the pillars that supported the plant’s fuel tank to sink.
    • Around 20,000 tonnes of diesel oil was released into the Ambarnaya river, which has since drifted 12 km on its surface.

    What has Russia done so far?

    • Boom obstacles were placed in the river, but they were unable to contain the oil because of shallow waters.
    • The state of emergency declared would bring in extra forces and federal resources for the clean-up efforts.

    What is the extent of the damage?

    • Environmentalists have said the river would be difficult to clean, given its shallow waters and remote location, as well as the magnitude of the spill.
    • This is the second-largest known oil leak in modern Russia’s history in terms of volume.
    • The clean-up effort could take between 5-10 years.

  • Extreme weather events in India

    Nineteen extreme weather events in 2019 claimed 1,357 lives, with heavy rain and flood accounting for 63 per cent of these deaths, revealed Down To Earth’s State of India’s Environment 2020 report.

    Extreme weather events:

    • Extreme weather events are out of the ordinary, unexpected, unusual climatic events which wreak havoc and disrupt everyday life.
    • Over the years, the frequency of extreme weather events has increased due to global warming and climate change.
    • Extreme weather events include hailstorm, heatwaves, dust storm, cloud bursts etc.

    Try this question:

    Q. Extreme weather events have been the biggest catastrophe in India this year. Discuss.

    Data from this newscard can be used to substantiate your mains answer with relevant data.

    Loss of lives

    • The most lives were lost in Bihar, with people dying from floods and heavy rain (306), thunderstorms (71) and heatwave (292) between May and October.
    • In Maharashtra, 136 people died from floods and heavy rain, 51 died from lightning and 44 died from the heatwave between June and September.
    • There was a 69 per cent increase in the number of heatwave days between 2013 and 2019 as well, the report said.
    • Over 5,300 people died from heatwaves in the past seven years.
    • Cold waves increased by 69 per cent within a year, between 2017 and 2018, with the latter year reported having an extremely cold winter, with the most casualties (279) in the past seven years.

    Risks of Extreme weather events in India

    • Climate change related risks will increasingly affect the Indian subcontinent, including via sea level rise, cyclonic activity and changes in temperature and precipitation patterns.
    • Rising sea levels would submerge low-lying islands and coastal lands and contaminate coastal freshwater reserves.Climate change will increase the risks of death, injury and ill-health and disrupt livelihoods in low-lying coastal zones due to cyclones and coastal and inland flooding, storm surges and sea-level rise.
    • Melting Himalayan glaciers would reduce downstream water supply in many of India’s important rivers in the dry season, impacting millions
    • A warmer atmosphere will spread tropical diseases and pests to new areas.
    • Increased river, coastal and urban floods could cause considerable loss of life and widespread damage to property, infrastructure and settlements.
    • Erratic rainfall in parts of India could lower rice yields and lead to higher food prices and living costs, while increased drought related water and food shortages linked to rising and extreme temperatures may increase malnutrition and worsen rural poverty. Over 55% of Indian rural households depend on agriculture for a living and, with fisheries and forestry,

    Systems in place to tackle extreme weather events are as follows:

    1.Meteorological predictions

    2.Contingency fund

    3.Early warning to citizens

    4.NDMA has issued an action plan for Prevention and Management of Heat Waves.

    5.Remote sensing satellites.

    Problems with accurate meteorological predictions are as follows:

    1.Meteorological predictions are considered for broad geographical areas and timeframes. It is not yet possible to predict a thunderstorm or lightning at a village or a part of a city.

    2.The exact times these events will hit, too, cannot be predicted.

    3.Alerts and warnings are in the nature of a general advisory, telling the people to expect these events, and to take precautions

    Steps taken by the State government are as follows:

    1.Rajasthan:

    • storm has been included in the category of natural disasters for the first time in the State and funds to the tune of â‚č2.55 crore have been sanctioned to the affected districts.
    • The next of kin of each deceased in Rajasthan will get financial assistance of â‚č4 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.
    • Power discoms have launched action on a war-footing to restore electricity supply in the affected areas, while the administration has ordered a survey of damaged properties.
    • In Dholpur district, relief camps have been opened for the villagers whose houses were destroyed.

    2.Uttar Pradesh:

    • The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister has announced a compensation of up to Rs 400,000 to the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for each of the injured in the heavy rainfall and storm across the state.
    • contingency funds have been released to the respective district administration.

  • The Sixth Mass Extinction

    Click here for high resolution of the image: National Geographic

    The ongoing sixth mass extinction may be one of the most serious environmental threats to the persistence of civilization, according to new research published in an American journal.

    Try this question from CSP 2018:

    The term “sixth mass extinction/sixth extinction” is often mentioned in the news in the context of the discussion of

    (a) Widespread monoculture Practices agriculture and large-scale commercial farming with indiscriminate use of chemicals in many parts of the world that may result in the loss of good native ecosystems.

    (b) Fears of a possible collision of a meteorite with the Earth in the near future in the manner it happened 65million years ago that caused the mass extinction of many species including those of dinosaurs.

    (c) Large scale cultivation of genetically modified crops in many parts of the world and promoting their cultivationin other Parts of the world which may cause the disappearance of good native crop plants and the loss offood biodiversity.

    (d) Mankind’s over-exploitation/misuse of natural resources, fragmentation/loss, natural habitats, destructionof ecosystems, pollution and global climate change.

    Highlights of the research

    • The study analysed 29,400 species of terrestrial vertebrates and determined which of these are on the brink of extinction because they have fewer than 1,000 individuals.
    • The disappearance of their component populations has been occurring since the 1800s.
    • Most of these 515 species are from South America (30 per cent), followed by Oceania (21 per cent), Asia (21 per cent) and Africa (16 per cent) among others.

    The Anthropocene Extinction

    • Mass extinction refers to a substantial increase in the degree of extinction or when the Earth loses more than three-quarters of its species in a geologically short period of time.
    • So far, during the entire history of the Earth, there have been five mass extinctions.
    • The sixth, which is ongoing, is referred to as the Anthropocene extinction.
    • The five mass extinctions that took place in the last 450 million years have led to the destruction of 70-95 per cent of the species of plants, animals and microorganisms that existed earlier.
    • These extinctions were caused by “catastrophic alterations” to the environment, such as massive volcanic eruptions, depletion of oceanic oxygen or collision with an asteroid.
    • After each of these extinctions, it took millions of years to regain species comparable to those that existed before the event.

    So what is the sixth mass extinction then?

    • Researchers have described it as the “most serious environmental problem” since the loss of species will be permanent.
    • Even though only an estimated 2% of all of the species that ever lived are alive today, the absolute number of species is greater now than ever before.
    • The research claims that this extinction is human-caused and is more immediate than climate destruction.

    Major drivers of mass extinction

    • Significantly, the study calls for a complete ban on wildlife trade as many of the species currently endangered or on the brink of extinction are being decimated by legal and illegal wildlife trade.
    • The current COVID-19 pandemic, while not fully understood, is also linked to the wildlife trade.
    • There is no doubt that there will be more pandemics if man continues destroying habitats and trading wildlife for own consumption as food and traditional medicines.

    What happens when species go extinct?

    • When species go extinct, the impact can be tangible such as in the form of a loss in crop pollination and water purification.
    • Further, if a species has a specific function in an ecosystem, the loss can lead to consequences for other species by impacting the food chain.
    • The effects of extinction will worsen in the coming decades as the resulting genetic and cultural variability will change entire ecosystems.
    • If the number of individuals in a population or species drops, their contributions to ecosystem services become unimportant.
    • Their genetic variability and resilience is reduced, and its contribution to human welfare may be lost.” the study says.

  • In news: Dibru-Saikhowa National Park (DSNP)

    The Oil India Ltd (OIL) leak in Assam has contaminated water bodies that flow into the Maguri Motapung Beel, a large wetland, and the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park (DSNP).

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2019:

    Q. Which of the following are in Agasthyamala 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

    About 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 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.

  • Species in news: Band-tail Scorpionfish

    A rare band-tail scorpionfish was recently found in the Gulf of Mannar.

    A stand-alone species being mentioned in the news for the first time (and that too from Southern India) find their way into the prelims. Make special note here. Usually, note the species and its habitat location (IUCN status if available), in the purview of a generic prelims question.

    Band-tail scorpionfish

    • The band-tail scorpionfish (Scorpaenospsis neglecta) camouflages within the seagrass meadows.
    • It is well-known for its stinging venomous spines and ability to change colour.
    • The fish has the ability to change colour and blend with its surrounding environment to escape from predators and while preying.
    • The fish is called ‘scorpionfish’ because its spines contain neurotoxic venom.

  • Expansion of the Amery Ice Shelf

     

    There would be a 24% increase in the expansion of the Amery Ice Shelf (AIS) boundaries in Antarctica by 2021 and another 24 per cent by 2026 from its 2016 positions, the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) in Goa has predicted.

    Practice question for mains:

    Q. Discuss the interrelation between Cryosphere and Climate change in context to the melting ice shelves in the Antarctic region.

    Amery Ice Shelf (AIS)

    • The Amery Ice Shelf is a broad ice shelf in Antarctica at the head of Prydz Bay between the Lars Christensen Coast and Ingrid Christensen Coast.
    • It is part of Mac. Robertson Land.
    • The name “Cape Amery” was applied to a coastal angle mapped on February 11, 1931.
    • The AIS is one of the largest glacier drainage basins in the world, located on the east coast of Antarctica, at about 70ÂșS Latitude, 70ÂșE Longitude.
    • The AIS dynamics and mass balance help in understanding the changes in the global climate scenario.

    Significance of the study

    • NCPOR observations revealed a critical cooling of the sea surface temperature, resulting in an advancement of the ice shelf by 88 per cent in the past 15 years.
    • These changes would contribute in a major way to climate variability.
    • The study clearly demonstrated the future dynamism of ocean heat fluctuation and Antarctic Amery ice shelf mass shifting-extent.

    Back2Basics: Ice Shelves

    • The floating sheets of ice called ‘ice shelves’ play a multi-faceted role in maintaining the stability of a glacier. Ice shelves connect a glacier to the landmass.
    • The ice sheet mass balance, sea stratification, and bottom water formation are important parameters for the balancing of a glacier. Latent and sensible heat processes do play important roles here.
    • The insulation of ice shelves from atmospheric forcing is dependent on a temperature gradient that the ocean cavity beneath the ice shelves provides.
    • It is the pressure exerted by the ice shelves upon the ocean cavity that determines this temperature gradient.