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Subject: Environment

  • Bhadbhut Project

    The Gujarat government recently awarded the contract for a the Bhadbhut project in Bharuch, Gujarat. It has faced protests from local fishermen for its likely impact on fishing patterns, notably those of hilsa.

    Make a note of major dams in India along with the rivers, terrain, major wildlife sanctuaries and national parks incident to these rivers.

    What is the Bhadbhut Project?

    • It is planned to be a 1.7-km causeway-cum-weir barrage with 90 gates, across the river Narmada, 5 km from Bhadbhut village, and 25 km from the mouth of the river, where it flows into the Gulf of Khambhat.
    • The barrage will stop most of the excess water flowing out of the Sardar Sarovar Dam from reaching the sea and thus create a “sweet water lake” of 600 mcm (million cubic metres) on the river.
    • The barrage will also have a six-lane road that will connect the left and right banks of the river and provide shorten the land distance between two large industrial estates in Surat and Bharuch.
    • The project also aims to prevent flooding in years when rainfall is higher than normal.
    • Embankments 22 km long will be made and will extend upstream towards Bharuch, from either side of the river.
    • The project is part of the larger Kalpasar Project, which entails the construction of a 30-km dam across the Gulf of Khambhat between Bharuch and Bhavnagar districts.
    • The reservoir is meant to tap the waters of the Narmada, Mahisagar and Sabarmati.

    Why are fishermen upset?

    • The barrage is expected to interfere with the migration and breeding cycle of hilsa.
    • A marine fish, hilsa migrate upstream and arrives in the brackish water of the Narmada estuary near Bharuch for spawning usually during the monsoon months of July and August, and continue doing so till November.
    • Once the barrage is built, it is expected to block its natural entry.

    About Hilsa Fish

    IUCN status: Least Concerned

    • The Hilsa is a species of fish related to the herring, in the family Clupeidae.
    • It is a very popular and sought-after food fish in the Indian Subcontinent.
    • Though it’s a saltwater fish, it migrates to sweet waters.
    • It is the national fish of Bangladesh and state symbol in the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura.
    • The fish contributes about 12% of the total fish production and about 1.15% of GDP in Bangladesh.

  • Death Valley records the highest temperature on Earth

    California’s Death Valley registered a temperature of 54.4 degrees Celsius or 129.9 degrees Fahrenheit on August 16, 2020, which, once verified, could be the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth.

    Some years back, there was a question in the mains:

    Major hot deserts in the northern hemisphere are located between 20-30 degree north and on the western side of the continents. Why?

    Death Valley and its location

    • Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert.
    • It is one of the hottest places on Earth, along with deserts in the Middle East and the Sahara.
    • The valley is extremely dry because it lies in the rain shadow of four major mountain ranges (including the Sierra Nevada and the Panamint Range).
    • Moisture moving inland from the Pacific Ocean must pass eastward over the mountains to reach Death Valley; as air masses are forced upward by each range, they cool and moisture condenses, to fall as rain or snow on the western slopes.
    • When the air masses reach Death Valley, most of the moisture has already been lost and there is little left to fall as precipitation.

    Key factors leading to its high temperature

    • Solar heating: The valley’s surface (consisting of soil, rocks, sand, etc.) undergoes intense solar heating because the air is clear and dry, and the land is dark and sparsely vegetated. This is especially noticeable in summer when the sun is nearly directly overhead.
    • Trapping of warm air: Warm air naturally rises and cools; in Death Valley, this air is subject to continual reheating as it is trapped by high, steep valley walls and recycled back to the valley floor.
    • Migration of warm air from other areas (advection): Warm desert regions adjacent to Death Valley, especially to the south and east, often heat air before it arrives in Death Valley.
    • Warm mountain winds: As winds are forced up and over mountains (e.g., the numerous ranges west of Death Valley), the winds can be warmed in several ways. The resulting dry, warm winds are known as foehn winds.

  • In news: Mauritius Oil Spill

    A Japanese ship recently struck a coral reef resulting in an oil spill of over 1,000 tonnes into the Indian Ocean near Mauritius.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Recently, “oil zapper’’ was in the news. What is it? (CSP 2011)

    (a) It is an eco-friendly technology for the remediation of oily sludge and oil spills.

    (b) It is the latest technology developed for undersea oil exploration.

    (c) It is a genetically engineered high biofuel-yielding maize variety.

    (d) It is the latest technology to control the accidentally caused flames from oil wells.

    What caused the Mauritius oil spill?

    • A Japanese vessel struck a coral reef resulting in an oil spill of over 1,000 tonnes into the Indian Ocean.
    • The ship was carrying an estimated 4,000 tonnes of oil.
    • The accident had taken place near two environmentally protected marine ecosystems and the Blue Bay Marine Park Reserve, which is a wetland of international importance.

    How dangerous are oil spills?

    • Oil spills affect marine life by exposing them to harsh elements and destroying their sources of food and habitat.
    • Further, both birds and mammals can die from hypothermia as a result of oil spills.
    • For instance, oil destroys the insulating ability of fur-bearing mammals, such as sea otters.
    • It also decreases the water repellency of birds’ feathers, without which they lose their ability to repel cold water.

    Some major incidents

    • Some of the world’s largest oil spills include the Persian Gulf War oil spill of 1991 when more than 380 million gallons of oil was poured into the northern Persian Gulf by Iraq’s forces.
    • The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is also considered to be among the largest known accidental oil spills in history.
    • Starting April 20, 2010, over 4 million barrels of oil flowed over a period of 87 days into the Gulf of Mexico.

    How is the oil spill cleaned?

    • There are a few ways to clean up oil spills including skimming, in situ burning and by releasing chemical dispersants.
    • Skimming involves removing oil from the sea surface before it is able to reach the sensitive areas along the coastline.
    • In situ burning means burning a particular patch of oil after it has concentrated in one area.
    • Releasing chemical dispersants helps break down oil into smaller droplets, making it easier for microbes to consume, and further break it down into less harmful compounds.
    • Natural actions in aquatic environments such as weathering, evaporation, emulsification, biodegradation and oxidation can also accelerate the recovery of an affected area. But these occur differently in freshwater and marine environments.

  • Myth of the pristine forest

    • The COVID-19 pandemic has driven migrant workers back to their villages, including many situated inside or on the fringes of forested areas, including sanctuaries and national parks.
    • Even as they seek to remake livelihoods there, a new battle has emerged between the forest department (FD) and these local communities.
    • It pertains to the declaration of a Critical Wildlife Habitat (CWH), which a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeks to get the department to urgently notify.

    Try this question for mains:

    Forest dwellers are integral to the very survival and sustainability of the forest ecosystem. Analyse.

    What is Critical Wildlife Habitat (CHW)?

    • CWH is a provision under the Forest Rights Act, 2006 (FRA).
    • The Act primarily focuses on recognising the historically-denied rights of forest-dwellers to use and manage forests.
    • The CWH provision, however, is an attempt to assuage concerns of wildlife conservationists.
    • It allows for the possibility that in protected areas (PAs) — wildlife sanctuaries and national parks — these rights could be attenuated, and, if absolutely necessary, forest-dwellers could be relocated in the interest of wildlife conservation.

    Forest dwellers vs. Wildlife

    • Conservationists believe that wildlife needs absolutely “inviolate” areas — those devoid of humans and human activities.
    • Many others believe human-wildlife co-existence is generally possible and must be promoted if we are to have “socially just conservation”.

    Achieving balanced conservation: The FRA provisions

    • A careful reading of the CWH provisions in the FRA shows that it is open to both possibilities, as long as they are arrived at through a rigorous and participatory process.
    • It requires setting up a multi-disciplinary expert committee, including representatives from local communities.
    • It also requires determining — using “scientific and objective criteria” and consultative processes — whether, and wherein the PA, the exercise of forest rights will cause irreversible damages.
    • It then requires determining whether coexistence is possible through a modified set of rights or management practices.
    • Only if the multi-stakeholder expert committee agrees that co-existence or other reasonable options are not possible, should relocation be taken up, again with the informed consent of the concerned gram sabhas.
    • For any such process to commence, the Act requires that all forest rights under the FRA must first be recognised.

    Issues with the FRA

    (1) Concerns of eviction

    • Hardline conservationists took FRA as a great opportunity to complete its agenda of evicting forest-dwellers from PAs.
    • It has been observed that many villages were resettled when they had rights claims pending, others had their claims illegally rejected or incompletely granted, and several had not even applied to this controversy erupted.
    • However, there are settlements in some of these PAs, and of course, people in villages adjacent to all the PAs are likely to have customary rights.
    • In spite of the court ordering rapid completion of the rights recognition process, there has been almost no progress on this front.

    (2) Issues with expert committees

    • The constitution of the expert committees is faulty. They do not contain expert social scientists familiar with the area. Wildlife enthusiasts are sometimes substituted for experts in life sciences.
    • Many members have challenged the very constitutionality of the FRA, making a travesty of the idea of “objectivity” in the process.

    (3) Criteria judging the damages

    • The criteria being used by the committees to determine the threat of “irreversible damage” to wildlife are quite extreme and are not supported by any consensus even among ecologists.
    • There are no objective criteria decided yet by these committees.

    Conclusion

    • The FRA begins by recognising that forest dwellers “are integral to the very survival and sustainability of the forest ecosystem”.
    • In that context, the CWH provision should not be seen as simply a tool for evicting forest-dwellers to create so-called “inviolate” spaces.
    • It is an opportunity to rigorously and participatorily explore all avenues of co-existence.
    • Such co-existence is indeed possible. In general, forest-dwellers harbour both the knowledge and the attitudes needed for conservation.
    • Co-managing PAs is, therefore, the most effective and socially just long-term solution, and relocation should be seen as the absolute last resort.

    B2BASICS

    Forest Rights act

  • Species in news: Great Indian Hornbill

    A study based on satellite data has flagged a high rate of deforestation in a major hornbill habitat in Arunachal Pradesh.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. In which of the following regions of India are you most likely to come across the ‘Great Indian Hornbill’ in its natural habitat? (CSP 2016)

    (a) Sand deserts of northwest India

    (b) Higher Himalayas of Jammu and Kashmir

    (c) Salt marshes of western Gujarat

    (d) Western Ghats

    About Great Indian Hornbill

    IUCN status: Vulnerable (uplisted from Near Threatened in 2018), CITES: Appendix I

    • The great hornbill (Buceros bicornis) also known as the great Indian hornbill or great pied hornbill, is one of the larger members of the hornbill family.
    • The great hornbill is long-lived, living for nearly 50 years in captivity.
    • It is predominantly fruit-eating, but is an opportunist and preys on small mammals, reptiles and birds.
    • Its impressive size and colour have made it important in many tribal cultures and rituals.
    • A large majority of their population is found in India with a significant proportion in the Western Ghats and the Nilgiris.
    • The nesting grounds of the birds in the Nilgiris North Eastern Range are also believed to support some of their highest densities.

    Their ecological significance

    • Referred to as ‘forest engineers’ or ‘farmers of the forest’ for playing a key role in dispersing seeds of tropical trees, hornbills indicate the prosperity and balance of the forest they build nests in.

    Threats

    • Hornbills used to be hunted for their casques — upper beak — and feathers for adorning headgear despite being cultural symbols of some ethnic communities in the northeast, specifically the Nyishi of Arunachal Pradesh.
    • Illegal logging has led to fewer tall trees where the bird’s nest.

    Back2Basics: Hornbill Festival

    • The Hornbill Festival is a celebration held every year from 1 – 10 December, in Kohima, Nagaland.
    • The festival was first held in the year 2000.
    • It is named after the Indian hornbill, the large and colourful forest bird which is displayed in the folklore of most of the state’s tribes.
    • Festival highlights include the traditional Naga Morungs exhibition and the sale of arts and crafts, food stalls, herbal medicine stalls, flower shows and sales, cultural medley – songs and dances, fashion shows etc.

  • [pib] Himalayan Geothermal Springs release huge amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

    The Himalayas, which hosts about 600 geothermal springs needs to be considered while estimating emissions to the carbon cycle and thereby to global warming says, Indian researchers.

    Note the following hot springs in India:

    1) Panamik in Nubra valley

    2) Kheer Ganga in Kullu, Himachal

    3) Manikaran Sahib, Himachal

    4) Tattapani, Chhattisgarh

    5) Gaurikund, Uttarakhand

    6) Yumthang, Sikkim

    7) Reshi, Sikkim

    Geothermal springs

    • Geothermal or Hot springs are heated by shallow intrusions of magma (molten rock) in volcanic areas. Some thermal springs, however, are not related to volcanic activity.
    • The water is heated by convective circulation: groundwater percolates downward & reaches depths of a kilometre or more where the temperature of rocks is high because of the normal temperature gradient of the Earth’s crust.

    Why consider the Himalayas?

    • The Himalayan geothermal springs which cover about 10,000 square km in the Garhwal region of Himalaya show a significant discharge of CO2 rich water.
    • The estimated carbon dioxide degassing (removal of dissolved gases from liquids, especially water or aqueous solutions) flux is nearly 7.2 ×106 mol/year to the atmosphere.
    • Such CO2 degassing should be taken into account to assess global carbon outflux in the earth’s atmosphere.

    Where does this CO2 come from?

    • Carbon outflux from Earth’s interior to the exosphere through volcanic eruptions, fault zones, and geothermal systems contribute to the global carbon cycle that effects short and long term climate of the Earth.
    • The CO2 in the thermal springs are sourced from metamorphic decarbonation of carbonate rocks present deep in the Himalayan core along with magmatism and oxidation of graphite.
    • Most of the geothermal water is dominated by evaporation followed by weathering of silicate rocks.
    • Isotopic analyses further point towards a meteoric source for geothermal water.

  • In news: Mount Sinabung

    The Mount Sinabung volcano in Indonesia has erupted spouting ash at least 5,000 metres high into the sky.

    In the Philippines, a volcano called Taal on the island of Luzon; 50 km from Manila has recently erupted in January. Note all such recent eruption in news.

    Also, try this PYQ:

    Consider the following statements:

    1. The Barren Island volcano is an active volcano located in the Indian Territory.
    2. Barren Island lies about 140 km east of Great Nicobar
    3. The last time the Barren Island volcano erupted was in 1991 and it has remained inactive since then.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (CSP 2018)

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 3 only

    (d) 1 and 3

    Mount Sinabung

    • It is a Pleistocene-to-Holocene stratovolcano in the Karo plateau of Karo Regency, North Sumatra, Indonesia.
    • It is created by the subduction of the Indo-Australian Plate under the Eurasian Plate.
    • It erupted in 2010 after a 400-year-long hiatus and has been continuously active since September 2013.

  • Boreal Summer Intra-Seasonal Oscillation (BSISO)

    Researchers at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad have reportedly found a way to better forecast the Boreal Summer Intra-Seasonal Oscillation (BSISO).

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.With reference to ‘Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD)’ sometimes mentioned in the news while forecasting Indian monsoon, which of the following statements is/are correct? (CSP 2017)

    1. IOD phenomenon is characterized by a difference in sea surface temperature between tropical Western Indian Ocean and tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean.
    2. An IOD phenomenon can influence an El Nino’s impact on the monsoon.

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

    What is BSISO?

    • The BSISO of the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) is one of the most prominent sources of short-term climate variability in the global monsoon system.
    • It is the movement of convection (heat) from the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific Ocean roughly every 10-50 days during the monsoon (June-September).
    • Compared with the related Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) it is more complex in nature, with prominent northward propagation and variability extending much further from the equator.
    • It represents the monsoon’s ‘active’ and ‘break’ periods, in which weeks of heavy rainfall give way to brilliant sunshine before starting all over again.
    • The active phase also enhances monsoon winds and hence the surface waves.

    Why predict BSISO behaviour?

    • Some phases of boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation or BSISO induce high wave activity in the north Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea, the researchers claimed.
    • Wave forecast advisories based on the BSISO would be more useful for efficient coastal and marine management.
    • This finding has a great significance in developing seasonal and climate forecast service for waves and coastal erosion for India.

  • Twin issues: Shrinking water bodies and floods in urban landscapes

    This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in the D2E.

    Try this question for mains:

    Q.Shrinking water bodies and floods in urban landscapes are mutually induced by each other. Analyse.

    Water in urban landscapes

    • Lakes and wetlands are an important part of the urban ecosystem.
    • They perform significant environmental, social and economic functions — from being a source of drinking water and recharging groundwater to supporting biodiversity and providing livelihoods.
    • Their role becomes even more critical in the present context when cities are facing the challenge of rapid unplanned urbanisation.
    • Their numbers are declining rapidly. For example, Bangalore had 262 lakes in the 1960s; now only 10 of them hold water.

    Issues with urban water bodies

    • Natural streams and watercourses, formed over thousands of years due to the forces of flowing water in the respective watersheds, have been altered because of urbanisation.
    • As a result, the flow of water has increased in proportion to the urbanisation of watersheds.
    • Ideally, natural drains should have been widened to accommodate the higher flows of stormwater.
    • But, on the contrary, they have been a victim of various unlawful activities:

    (1) Pollution

    • There has been an explosive increase in the urban population without a corresponding expansion of civic facilities such as infrastructure for the disposal of waste.
    • As more people are migrating to cities, urban civic services are becoming less adequate.
    • As a result, most urban water bodies in India are suffering because of pollution. The water bodies have been turned into landfills in several cases.
    • Guwahati’s Deepor Beel, for example, is used by the municipal corporation to dump solid waste since 2006. Even the Pallikarni marshland in Chennai is used for solid waste dumping.

    (2) Encroachment

    • This is another major threat to urban water bodies. As more people have been migrating to cities, the availability of land has been getting scarce.
    • Today, even a small piece of land in urban areas has a high economic value.
    • These urban water bodies are not only acknowledged for their ecosystem services but for their real estate value as well.
    • Charkop Lake in Maharashtra, Ousteri Lake in Puducherry, Deepor beel in Guwahati are well-known examples of water bodies that were encroached.

    (3) Illegal mining activities

    • Illegal mining for building material such as sand and quartzite on the catchment and bed of the lake have an extremely damaging impact on the water body.
    • For example, the Jaisamand Lake in Jodhpur, once the only source of drinking water for the city, has been suffering from illegal mining in the catchment area.
    • Unmindful sand mining from the catchment of Vembanad Lake on the outskirts of Kochi has decreased the water level in the lake.

    (4) Unplanned tourism activities

    • Using water bodies to attract tourists has become a threat to several urban lakes in India.
    • Tso Morari and Pongsho lakes in Ladakh have become polluted because of unplanned and unregulated tourism.
    • Another example is that of Ashtamudi Lake in Kerala’s Kollam city, which has become polluted due to spillage of oil from motorboats.

    (5) Absence of administrative framework

    • The biggest challenge is the government apathy towards water bodies.
    • This can be understood from the fact that it does not even have any data on the total number of urban water bodies in the country.
    • Further, CPCB had not identified major aquatic species, birds, plants and animals that faced threat due to pollution of rivers and lakes.

    Original article:

    https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/urbanisation/two-sides-of-the-same-coin-shrinking-water-bodies-and-urban-floods-72702

  • Ammonium Nitrate:  Behind the massive explosion in Beirut

    The catastrophic explosion at Beirut port, Lebanon caused by the blast of over 2,700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, has rocked the world.

    Practice question:

    Q. Despite a robust policy framework governing the hazardous chemicals in India, the recent gas leakage incident in Vizag highlights India’s unaddressed vulnerability to chemical disasters. Critically comment.

    What is Ammonium Nitrate?

    • In its pure form, ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) is a white, crystalline chemical which is soluble in water.
    • A common chemical ingredient of agricultural fertilizers, the nitrogen-rich compound is also the main component of the explosive composition known as ANFO — ammonium nitrate fuel oil.
    • It is the main ingredient in the manufacture of commercial explosives used in mining and construction.
    • Many Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) used by terrorists around the world have ANFO as the main explosive, triggered by primary explosives like RDX or TNT.
    • In the majority of terror attacks in India, ammonium nitrate has been used along with initiator explosives like RDX.

    Ammonium nitrate as an explosive

    • Pure ammonium nitrate is not an explosive on its own.
    • It is classified as an oxidiser (Grade 5.1) under the UN classification of dangerous goods.
    • If mixed with ingredients like fuel or some other contaminants, or because of some other external factors, it can be very explosive.

    Stored ammonium nitrate is a major fire hazard

    • Large quantities of stored ammonium nitrate are regarded as a major fire hazard, with multiple reported cases across the world.
    • The explosion of large storage can happen primarily in two ways.
    • One is by some type of detonation or initiation because the storage comes in contact with the explosive mixture.
    • Second, the blast can result due to a fire which starts in the ammonium nitrate store because of the heat generated due to the oxidation process at large scale.

    Regulations in India about ammonium nitrate

    • Because it is used as an ingredient for the production of explosives, anaesthetic gases, fertilizers, cold packs and has a possibility of misuse, it is highly regulated in India.
    • There exists the Ammonium Nitrate Rules, 2012, under The Explosives Act, 1884.
    • It defines ammonium nitrate as the compound with formula NH4NO3 including any mixture or compound having more than 45 per cent ammonium nitrate by weight.
    • The manufacture, conversion, bagging, import, export, transport, possession for sale or use of ammonium nitrate is covered under The Ammonium Nitrate Rules, 2012.
    • The rules also make storage of ammonium nitrate in large quantities in populated areas illegal in India.
    • For the manufacture of ammonium nitrate, an Industrial licence is required under the Industrial Development and Regulation Act, 1951.