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Let’s call it: 30 years of above average temperatures means the climate haschanged

temperature observations make it clear the new normal will be systematically rising temperatures, not thestability of the last 100 years. The traditional definition of climate [5] is the 30-year average of weather. Thefact that – once the official records are in for February 2015 – it will have been 30 years since a month wasbelow average is an important measure that the climate has changed.

ocean temperature doesn’t vary as much as land temperature. This fact is intuitive to many peoplebecause they understand that coastal regions don’t experience as extreme highs and lows as the interiorsof continents. Since oceans cover the majority of the Earth’s surface, the combined land and ocean graphstrongly resembles the graph just for the ocean. Looking at only the ocean plots, you have to go all the wayback to February 1976 to find a month below average.

. There are four years from 1976 onwards when the land was below average; the last time the landtemperature was cool enough for the globe to be at or below average was February 1985. The flirtationwith below-average temps was tiny – primarily worth noting in the spirit of accurate record keeping.

Some of the most convincing evidence that the Earth is warming is actually found in measures [8] of theheat stored in the oceans [9] and the melting of ice. However, we often focus on the surface airtemperature. One reason for that is that we feel the surface air temperature; therefore, we have intuitionabout the importance of hot and cold surface temperatures.

environment, Climate Change, Down to Earth, CurrentAffairs,Mon, Mar 30, 2015

Channelling of Green Climate Fund begins; fund board identifies seven entitiesenvironment, Down to Earth, CurrentAffairs, Green Climate Fund,

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8/11/2015 kiwipaper


The Green Climate Fund (GCF), an international fund dedicated to achieving low-emission and climateresilient growth in developing countries, will soon begin allocating funds for projects. Its board hasidentified the first seven entities which will serve as channels for fund disbursement.

The entities accredited by the board include:

Asian Development Bank (ADB) Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) Centre de suivi écologique (CSE) in Senegal Fondo de Promoción de las ÁreasNaturales Protegidas del Péru (PROFONANPE) The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional EnvironmentProgramme (SPREP) based in Samoa Acumen Fund, Inc. (Acumen)

GCF officials expect to receive the first set of funding proposals “very soon”. Of the US $10.2 billion pledgedto GCF, only $104 million have been received so far. The GCF aims to accumulate $100 billion by 2020. Inthat sense, the pledged amount is only 10 per cent of the targeted amount.

Mon, Mar 30, 2015

When will India wake up to freedom—from air pollution?

interesting to note is that what is alarming pollution level for London, which prompted the Mayor tocaution the city residents, is treated as the safe limit for PM2.5 limit in India—60 µg/cum. This not onlyhighlights the weaker standards in India as compared to European Union (which follows WHO norm) butalso calls for strict action from the Indian government in cases of violation of air pollution standards.

Even Beijing has woken up In the past, Beijing was tagged the most polluted city in the world. However, thecity’s authorities have started implementing a strict air quality index and release regular air qualitywarnings with its implications on health. Not only have they acknowledged their problem of air pollutionbut have also made it an important topic of political discussion.

Beijing has implemented an emergency response plan wherein authorities inform the public about bad airquality days. They suggest measures on how public can protect themselves, ask schools to shut down and80 per cent of government-owned cars are to be taken off the road on red alert days. On orange alert dayswhen Beijing is slightly polluted (AQI 101-150, class 3), they shut down polluting factories. Even barbecuesand fireworks are banned on heavy pollution days.

Air pollution is the fifth largest killer in India.

Air pollution, environment, Down to Earth, pollution, CurrentAffairs,Fri, Mar 27, 2015

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While the peaks of their real time exposure to PM2.5 crossed 1,000 µg/cum, the 24-hourly averages were4-5 times higher than India’s safe standards (60µg/cum) for ambient air quality. The worst-affected peoplewere those using public transport, including buses and autos. Why is it that London issues air quality alertson reaching 66 µg/cum when Delhi does not have any warning on crossing 500 µg/cum? The mostimpacted are children and the elderly. Recent studies have also reported that air pollution is reducingIndia’s life expectancy by 3.2 years. How many lives would it take for our government to wake up? On dayswhen China would shut down its schools and factories and Paris would remove cars from the road, Indiasleeps unaware.

Indian government needs to acknowledge this problem wholeheartedly and implement our proposednational air quality index to inform people on the impacts of air pollution on particularly bad days and alsotake stringent measures to reduce it. It also needs to expand the real time air quality monitoringthroughout India, starting with the worst polluted cities. We demand clean air. Let us not make respiratorydiseases a part of our culture.

Dark future for coal

India’s coal-based power plants have doubled in capacity over the past two Plan periods between 2002 and2012 and currently stands at 160 gigawatt or GW (60 per cent of total). We rank third in the world behindChina and the US in terms of coal-based power generation. Large reserves coupled with favorableeconomics have spurred capacity addition in coal power over the past decade.

In 2011, a study by Prayas Energy Group found that more than 200 GW of coal-based capacity had beenapproved by the Union environment ministry for the 12th Five Year Plan period (till 2017) alone against arequirement of 70 GW. Another 500 GW was awaiting approval. The study noted that this combinedcapacity was three times the capacity additions required till 2032. a large number of these projects haveeither been stalled or shelved. Construction began on just 9 GW of the proposed 500 GW between up tomid-2014. Between 2010 and 2012, the ratio of completed to cancelled projects was about 2:1

Worsening air quality, displacement due to land acquisition, forest destruction, impacts of fly ash disposaland conflicts over water use have triggered protests from local communities against setting up of plants.The Centre for Science and Environment’s (CSE) Green Rating Project (GRP) notes that the environmentalimpacts of this expansion have been severe.

Even existing new plants are suffering from poor capacity utilisation (PLF). In 2013-14, PLF for thermalpower plants dipped to 65 per cent, which is the lowest level in 14 years and has stagnated at the samelevel in 2014-15 as well.

power generation, environment, Down to Earth, Coal, CurrentAffairs,Fri, Mar 27, 2015

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Global financial institutions like World Bank have also committed to not finance “dirty” coal projects [5] .This means project developers have to seek out domestic sources of funding. However, domestic financialinstitutions are already facing massive accumulation of non-performing assets (NPAs) on account of thepower sector, and are unlikely to lend given the uncertainties involved.

Uncertain coal supply is an added constraint for plants. Coal India Limited (CIL) is notoriously inefficient incoal production and has a monopoly over coal supply in India. Its average productivity per-man-per-shift isthree times below the global average.

Price of renewable energy is set to reach parity with coal-based generation and even surpass it. Combinedwith the government’s revised targets for renewable energy capacity of 100 GW by 2022, coal-basedgeneration is likely to face strong headwinds.

The Himalayan waters: complex challenges and regional solutions

It is difficult to think of a resource more essential to the wellbeing of people and their economies thanwater, yet managing water resources is a complex and challenging task. The Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH)region heavily depends on water resources for irrigation, food, hydropower, sanitation, and industry, aswell as for the functioning of many important ecosystem services. Water thus directly contributes to thenational GDP and to livelihoods and income generation at the local level. Although water is the foundationof sustainable development, water management in the HKH region remains fragmented anduncoordinated, and does not take relevant regional issues into account.

mountain people living on the ridges and hill slopes have limited access to water for drinking andagriculture. Throughout the mountain region, springs are reported to be drying, and mountain agriculturehas suffered from drought. The shortage of water has placed an increasing burden on mountaincommunities, particularly on women. Furthermore, the communities face loss of property and lives due towater-induced natural hazards. Climate change has exacerbated the situation by creating uncertaintyabout the future water availability and water security.

Energy is one of the most important pillars of sustainable development. In the HKH region, hydropower isone of the most promising environmentally friendly sources of energy. With a potential estimated to be500,000 MW, the region has abundant opportunities for hydropower development. Energy security canopen up opportunities for development and employment and contribute to the national GDP. Moreover,innovative solutions such as electric transportation and a clean source of domestic and industrial energysupply would significantly improve the deteriorating environmental condition of the region. However,

environment, Down to Earth, indus river, CurrentAffairs, Himalayan region, Nepal,Fri, Mar 27, 2015

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many countries in the region have been able to tap only a small fraction of their available potential. Out ofthe 42,000 MW potential reported in Nepal, only about 2 per cent is harnessed so far, whereas Pakistanhas harnessed 11 per cent of its total potential.

Water plays a vital role in maintaining different ecosystem services in riparian areas. Freshwaterecosystems in particular largely depend on the specific flow regime of rivers passing through them.However, due to intervention of infrastructure development, the flow regime changes in the downstreamareas, where, in many cases, communities depend on water resources for livelihoods such as fishing.

Water and food share a strong nexus, both being essential ingredients for human survival anddevelopment. Agriculture is a major contributor to the GDP of countries in HKH. In Nepal, it contributes to35 per cent of the national GDP. The Indus river system is a source of irrigation for about 144,900 hectaresof land, whereas the Ganges basin provides irrigation for 156,300 hectares of agricultural land. Access towater resources for food production and their sustainable management is a concern from the local tonational level. Amid rapid environmental and socio-economic changes, the growing population will requiremore water and food, and equitable access to vital resources has become a major question

Due to its physical setting, the HKH region is prone to various water-induced hazards (landslides, floods,glacial lake outburst floods, and droughts). Every year, during the monsoon season, floods wreak havoc onthe mountains and the plains downstream. These floods are often trans-boundary. Globally, 10 per cent ofall floods are trans-boundary, and they cause over 30 per cent of all flood casualties and account for closeto 60 per cent of all those displaced by floods.

In the recent 18th SAARC summit in Kathmandu, the SAARC member countries signed a FrameworkAgreement on Energy Cooperation. This agreement has opened up the energy market in South Asia, andthereby possibilities for cooperation in the energy sector. However, it remains to be seen to what extentthe collaboration would play a role in energy security.

There are strong indications the HKH region is going to be warmer in the coming years. Precipitation islikely to increase in different places and have more inter-annual and intra-annual variability. What does thechange in temperature and precipitation mean to water availability in the HKH region? What complexitiesdo the cryosphere dynamics add to this equation? Should these changes be of concern to water resourcesdevelopment in the region? These questions cannot be answered without concerted efforts of the regionalcountries. The regional nature of the natural hazards requires a regional approach to the solution.Effective flood management requires sharing data and information between the upstream anddownstream areas, not only within the country, but also at the trans-boundary level. Technologicalinnovations based on satellite information, in combination with ground-based data, can be transformedinto information that can prove vital in saving lives and properties.

8/11/2015 kiwipaper


What Mr Narendra Modi needs to do for Ganga

Narendra Modi is all set to preside over the fifth meeting of the National Ganga River Basin Authority(NGRBA), which was set up in 2009. With prime minister as its chief, NGRBA was set up as the apex bodyfor the revival of the River Ganga following public and protests and agitation wherein activists claimed thatGanga Action Plan (GAP) had failed to clean up the river.

In August 2009, GAP was re-launched with a river basin authority in charge. The objective of the NGBRA isto ensure that there an effective pollution control and there is conservation of the river. The functions ofthe authority include planning and execution of the programmes to keep the river clean and flowing.

According to July 2013 estimates of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the faecal coliform levels inthe mainstream of the river remain above the acceptable level in all stretches, other than its upperreaches. But even in these reaches, there are worrying signs as faecal coliform levels are increasing inplaces like Rudraprayag and Devprayag, suggesting that there is inadequate flow for dilution even in thesehighly oxygenated stretches. The upper stretches, which showed lower coliform count before launch ofGAP, have started to show higher faecal coliform levels now.

As the river reaches the plains, the amount of water extracted from the river increases to meet irrigationand drinking water needs. In this stretch of the river, from Rishikesh to Allahabad, there is almost no waterduring winter and summer months. In other words, the river stops flowing. But the waste water flow doesnot ebb. The river at these times receives only waste and turns into a sewer drain. But what is worrying isthat in all the stretches, pollution is getting worse day by day At Varanasi, for example, the biologicaloxygen demand (BOD) values never reduced below 7 mg/l between 1986 and 2011.

This is not surprising given that all along this heavily populated stretch, freshwater intake from the river isincreasing. In this way, water is drawn for agriculture, industry and cities but what is returned is onlywaste.

The government talked about corrective measures and pointed out the failure of GAP. The BJP-led NationalDemocratic Alliance said NGRBA was ineffective, toothless and a non-starter under previous UPA regime.BJP also criticised the fact that the members of NGBRA met only three times under the previousgovernment to discuss the impact of GAP.

However, Modi’s dream of cleaning the holy river does not seem to be happening in the near future. This isin spite of the fact that an integrated Ganga Conservation Mission, Namami Ganga, was established.

environment, Down to Earth, CurrentAffairs, BOD, coliform, Ganga,Fri, Mar 27, 2015

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WHO says Monsanto weed-killer is ‘probably carcinogenic’; company rejects claim

WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an inter-governmental agency, has assessedthe carcinogenicity of five organophosphate pesticides in its report. The agency says that the herbicide,glyphosate, was probably carcinogenic to humans.

What is glyphosate?

Glyphosate, the chief ingredient of Roundup, is widely used in agriculture to control weeds. It is also usedin forestry, urban and home applications. glyphosate use has increased sharply since the development ofgenetically modified crops. It has been detected in the air during spraying, in water and in food, accordingto the report.

Monsanto’s website says that all labelled uses of glyphosate are “safe” for human health and “supported byone of the most extensive worldwide human health databases ever compiled on an agricultural product”.

Farmers have been using glyphosate in increasing quantities since Monsanto introduced crops geneticallyengineered to withstand being sprayed with the herbicide in the mid-1990s. “Roundup Ready” corn,soybeans and other crops are popular because of the ease with which farmers have been able to killweeds. But weeds have developed resistance to glyphosate, leading farmers to use more and moreherbicides.

environment, Down to Earth, Monsanto, CurrentAffairs, carcinogenic, WHO,Fri, Mar 27, 2015

Carbon emissions from forests drop by 25 per cent: FAO

Fresh estimates by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) suggest carbon emissions fromglobal forests reduced by 25 per cent between 2001 and 2015.

Global emissions from deforestation dropped from 3.9 to 2.9 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon dioxide (CO2) peryear over the period of 2001-2015. Deforestation is defined as a landuse change, from forest to other landuses.

despite the overall reduction in carbon emissions from forests linked to less deforestation, emissions fromforest degradation have significantly increased between 1990 and 2015, from 0.4 to 1.0 Gt CO2 per year.Forest degradation is a reduction in tree biomass density from human or natural causes such as logging,fire and other events.

environment, Down to Earth, CurrentAffairs, carbon emissions, carbon dioxide,Wed, Mar 25, 2015

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Deforestation and forest degradation increase the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,but forest and tree growth absorbs carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas emissions,” da Silva said.

African countries to discuss INDCs, low-carbon development

The 7th Africa Carbon Forum will take place in Morocco to discuss and consult the African countries’Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). Ministers from these countries will meet from April13-15 to also explore opportunities for low-carbon development. INDCs are voluntary country-specificclimate actions required to be submitted well in advance before the Paris summit.

The forum, which supports Africa’s access to green investment, will discuss trends in the internationalcarbon market and look for strategies and models that can fast track the finance and mechanisms neededto realise these aims. Other items for discussion include finance and project opportunities from the GreenClimate Fund (GCF) and opportunities in result-based financing.

environment, Down to Earth, Green Climate fund, INDC, CurrentAffairs, Low carbon,Tue, Mar 24, 2015

Raining troubles

Little-understood western disturbances have been blamed for most of the freak weather events in India inthe past decade. With 50 per cent of its foodgrain production at risk, can India afford to ignore thephenomenon?

Western disturbances are low-pressure areas embedded in the Westerlies, the planetary winds that flowfrom west to east between 30°-60° latitude. They usually bring mild rain during January-February, which isbeneficial to the rabi crop. But in the past few years western disturbances have been linked to disasters.The cloud burst in Leh in 2010, the floods and landslide in Uttarakhand in 2013 and the excessive rain inJammu and Kashmir in 2014 were all linked to these disturbances.

Scientists agree that western disturbances are formed naturally. They originate in the Mediterraneanregion and travel over Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan to enter India loaded with moisture, where theHimalayas obstruct them, causing rain and snow in western Himalayas. The snow adds to the glacierswhich provide water to India’s major perennial rivers. But what is it that is making this beneficial weatherphenomenon increasingly disastrous?

Easterly wave: According to imd, the severe rain this year is the result of the confluence of western

environment, Down to Earth, western distubrances, CurrentAffairs,Tue, Mar 24, 2015

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disturbance and easterly wave from the Bay of Bengal. Easterly wave, or Easterlies, blow throughout theyear from east to west. The confluence of the two winds happens throughout the year, but the results vary.They generally bring rain only to the northern part of the country but this year states in central and southIndia also received rain,

Pacific Decadal Oscillation: Jason Nicholls, senior meteorologist and manager of international forecastingat AccuWeather Inc, a global leader in weather information services, offers a more complicated reason. Hesays a phenomenon called Pacific Decadal Oscillation (pdo) contributed to the severity of this year’srainfall. pdo is the name given to long-term fluctuations in the surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean. Inareas above 20° north off the western coast of North America, cooling is observed during the negativephase of pdo while warming is observed during the positive phase. This shift from one phase to anotherhappens every 10 years or in multiples of 10 years and is yet to be understood properly. pdo influencesthe placement and intensity of ridges (high-pressure areas) and troughs (low-pressure areas) over thenorthern hemisphere. Nicholls says that the wet winter seen this year and in 2013-14 was caused due tothe impact of a “very strong positive pdo”. The warm waters in the west coast of North America led to astrong ridge over the Gulf of Alaska and western Canada. Another ridge prevailed over the central AtlanticOcean which allowed storm systems to move through Europe into southeast Europe and the Middle East.A weakness between a couple of such ridges allowed storm systems to move into Afghanistan, Pakistanand northern India over the past couple of winters/springs, he explains.

Jet streams: Akshay Deoras, an independent weather expert based in Maharashtra, says that widely usedweather models, such as the Global Forecast System, are consistently showing the movement of newupper air troughs into India. Such troughs in the jet streams (narrow bands of strong winds flowing in theupper troposphere) could be affecting the western disturbances which, imd says, are present in the lowerand middle troposphere. One such trough started forming in the upper troposphere over Iran, Afghanistanand Pakistan on February 26 and intensified and moved towards north-western parts of India on February28. This led to the formation of a low-pressure region in the lower troposphere over northwest India,causing an incursion of moisture from Arabian Sea, and produced heavy rains.

Heating of the Tibetan plateau: A study by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (iitm), Pune, hasdirectly linked western disturbances to global warming. In a paper published in Climate Dynamics inFebruary 2015, the researchers say global warming is impacting air currents and causing freak weatherevents. Pronounced warming over the Tibetan plateau in recent decades has increased the instability ofthe Westerlies and this has increased the variability of the western disturbances. According to the study,the western Himalayan region has seen a significant rise in surface temperatures since the 1950s.Observations from the area show a significant increase in precipitation in recent decades. The researcherslooked at a variety of climate data to understand the increasing frequency of heavy precipitation. They saytemperatures have risen in the middle- and upper-tropospheric levels over the sub-tropics (area betweenthe Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn) and the middle latitudes.

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Arctic warming: Another study which blames global warming is by Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University,New Jersey, and S J Vavrus of University of Wisconsin- Madison, both in the US. The study, published in theJanuary issue of Environment Research Letters, suggests that heating up of the Arctic has weakened the jetstreams in the northern hemisphere. The west to east flow of jet streams in the northern hemisphere ismaintained by the “gradient of heat” between the cool Arctic and warmer areas near the equator. But theArctic has been warming since the past 20 years due to which the jet streams have become weaker.

Can Sendai Framework ensure a climate-resilient future?

Governments of 187 UN member states have adopted a 15-year plan with targets to substantially reducedeaths and economic losses from disasters [2] . Called the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction,it is the first major UN agreement on the post-2015 development agenda consisting of four major aims andseven targets to be met by 2030. The Sendai plan, adopted last week at the UN Conference on DisasterRisk Resduction, will replace the existing Hyogo Framework for Action (2005) that ends this year.

This first major UN agreement on the post-2015 development agenda will drive the future for a sustainableand disaster-resilient world along with the sustainable development goals and the Paris climate agreementto be decided in September and December respectively this year.

The Hyogo Framework for Action [3] has been an important instrument for raising public and institutionalawareness, generating political commitment and focusing and catalysing actions by a wide range ofstakeholders at all levels but much more is still left to be done even as the 10-year blueprint expires thisyear.

Over these 10 years, disasters continued to take a heavy toll on lives and property. Over 700,000 peoplelost their lives, over 1.4 million were injured and approximately 23 million were made homeless as a resultof disasters. The total economic loss was more than $1.3 trillion. Besides, around 144 million people weredisplaced by disasters between 2008 and 2012.

But the world is still far from prepared. Several gaps remain in addressing the underlying disaster riskfactors to formulate goals and priorities for action and ensuring adequate resources for implementation.

What the new framework says Disaster-resilient 2030: seven targets under Sendai agreement Theframework outlines seven global targets to be achieved over the next 15 years A substantial reduction inglobal disaster mortality by 2030 A substantial reduction in number of affected people by 2030 A reductionin economic losses in relation to global GDP A substantial reduction in disaster damage to criticalinfrastructure and disruption of basic services, including health and education facilities An increase in the

Sendai Framework, Hyogo Framework, environment, Down to Earth, CurrentAffairs, climate change,Mon, Mar 23, 2015

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number of countries with national and local disaster risk reduction strategies by 2020 Enhanceinternational cooperation to developing countries through adequate and sustainable support tocomplement their national actions for implementation of this framework Increased access to multi-hazardearly warning systems and disaster risk information and assessments

Connecting dots between new Sendai agreement, Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals and Parisclimate agreement All three agreements share a common aim of making development sustainable Asynergy is clearly visible between the sustainable development goal (SDG 11) for safe and resilient citieswith this disaster risk declaration which aims to reduce loss and damage of disasters on urbaninfrastructure and the community Linkage between SDG3, focusing on health outcomes and disasters risk,also cannot be ignored. It may be noted that the target 3d of SDG 3 focuses specifically on disaster riskreduction [8] The IPCC special report, “Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to AdvanceClimate Change” (SREX), [9] shows the linkages between disaster risk reduction in sustainabledevelopment and climate change adaptation. It details the role and opportunities involving a wide varietyof stakeholders and communities in managing disaster risks due to the climate change.

Not investing in disaster risk management is a missed opportunity for social, economic and environmentalprogress, says a report released at the conference, titled Unlocking the ‘Triple Dividend’ of Resilience [10] .

Although the insurance sector has pledged to double its investments to US $84 billion by COP 21 (ParisConference of Parties) and then increase it 10 times to US $420 billion by 2020, commitments by the richnations at this UN conference were disappointing.

The polluted air we breathe

According to the World Health Organization, 25-30 cities in the top 100 most polluted cities in the world arefrom India. The Global Burden of Disease assessments for 2010 estimated that 6,27,000 premature deathsin India can be attributed to outdoor air pollution. Of the pollution-related risks, a substantial increase wasobserved in the cases of ischemic heart disease (which can lead to heart attacks), cerebro-vascular disease(which can lead to strokes), chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, lower respiratory infections, andcancers (in trachea, lungs, and bronchitis). These estimates do not include acute impacts such as asthmaattacks, eye irritations and other respiratory ailments. The pollutant with the most impact on health isParticulate Matter. Particulate Matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 2.5 micron-meter isespecially harmful as they are small enough to settle inside our lungs and cause long-term healthproblems. Other pollutants are Sulfur dioxide, Nitrogen oxides, Carbon monoxide, and ozone.

Air pollution, environment, The Hindu, CurrentAffairs,Sat, Mar 21, 2015

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According to the 2011 census, by 2030, with a majority of the population classified as urban, the expectedgrowth and demand in industrial, transportation, and domestic sectors will consequently result in anincrease in problems of air pollution, which will spread from the big cities to secondary and tertiary cities.

Air pollution is a complicated issue and is most often a symptom of inadequate urban planning. Lack ofpower supply leads to the use of diesel generator sets; lack of buses to support the public transportdemand leads to higher use of personal vehicles; lack of infrastructure to promote walking and cyclingleads to more motorised transport; lack of road maintenance and traffic management by allowing on-roadparking leads to congestion; lack of a sufficient waste management system leads to garbage being leftbehind and often burnt in residential areas; and lack of paved or covered roads leads to re-suspension ofdust when vehicles are passing by.

As citizens, it is our right to know the quality of air that we breathe, the severity of pollution in the air, andwhere this pollution is coming from. There are multiple sources and there is little that one can do as anindividual that would make an impact on reducing emissions.

Where has all the water gone?

Indiscriminate use in agriculture needs to be addressed through different pricing and irrigation techniques

Water resources are under severe stress today. About one-fifth of the world’s aquifers have almost driedup and large number of traditional water bodies such as tanks, ponds and lakes are depleting at afrightening pace.

The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report on Climate Change (2014) warned thatabout 80 per cent of the world’s population already suffers a severe threat to its water security.

Vast acreage of crops has withered away due to paucity of water. The Consortium of Farmers’Organisations have reported that more than 20 per cent of the farmers in the Cauvery Delta Region alonehave stopped farming due to water shortage; while a few of them either have committed suicide or havemigrated to cities as daily wage earners. Are there any steps that can be taken to mitigate or prevent sucha bleak scenario?

Water in agriculture

national water policy, environment, agriculture, CurrentAffairs, drinking water, Businessline,Fri, Mar 20, 2015

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As per the estimates of the Central Water Commission (CWC), the average annual utilisable water (surfaceand groundwater) of the country is only about 1,121 billion cubic meters (BCM).

Due to continuous use, the total and per capita availability of water has also been declining sharply.

For instance, the per capita availability of water was 1,816 cubic metres in 2001, but declined to 1,544 cubicmetres in 2011.

Increased population pressure along with competing demand for water from different sectors (drinking,agriculture, industry and energy) are reported to be the main reasons for declining water availability. Thedata published by the Central Water Commission indicates that agriculture alone accounts for about 85percent of all water use, mostly drawn from groundwater.

Among the various options available readily, micro-irrigation (includes drip and sprinkler) is an effectivemethod.

Water pricing

Canal irrigates about 18 million hectares in India, but its water use efficiency is only 35-40 per cent.Volumetric pricing of irrigation water as advocated by the Vaidyanathan Committee Report on Pricing ofIrrigation Water (1992) if implemented on a full scale in canal areas can lead to efficient use. The NationalWater Policy (2012) too has outlined the need for volumetric pricing of water.

The cropped area of water guzzling crops such as paddy, wheat, sugarcane, banana has been increasing inIndia. Appropriate output pricing policies need to be announced to control the expansion of water guzzlingcrops.

Efforts also need to be taken to institutionalise and strengthen community based water management.

The age-old technique of collecting and storing of rainwater should be made mandatory.

UN communicates negotiating text for Paris climate agreement to all nations

The Governments will come together to agree upon a global climate change agreement at the 21stConference of Parties (COP 21) in Paris in December, which will come into effect in 2020. As part of theagreement, every country is expected to make contributions now and in future (based on their national

Sendai Framework, disaster management, Paris climate deal, environment, Down to Earth, Climate change, CurrentAffairs,Fri, Mar 20, 2015

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circumstances) to prevent increase in global temperatures beyond 2°Celsius and to help societies adapt toexisting and future climate change.

The negotiating text [3] covers the substantive content of the new agreement, including mitigation,adaptation, finance, technology, capacity building, and transparency of action and support.

The global disaster risk plan, known as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 [4] , adopted by UN member states this week and Cyclone Pam [5] that hit the small island state of Vanuatulast week brought into focus impact of climate change and how disaster risk resilience planning is essentialand must be considered by the negotiators.

After agreeing upon the 15-year plan to reduce damages from natural disasters [6] , the UN meet inSeptember will decide upon the post-2015 sustainable development goals.

The long road to growth

Linear infrastructure projects — roads, trains and power lines that make long intrusions into forests andstretch ribbonlike over thousands of kilometres — are the new threat to our forests, in addition tosubmergence by dams or clearing for mining and agriculture.

Roads and power lines support economic growth and other needs such as mobility and delivery ofservices, and are vital in a developing country. But they also bring a host of associated problems that affectnatural ecosystems and rural and tribal communities. They cause habitat fragmentation. Wildlife speciesavoid roads, as they become wider and busier, and the roads effectively form barriers separating forestareas. Expansion projects and the four-laning of highways affect wildlife corridors — for instance, NationalHighway 7 slices crucial corridor forests between Pench and Kanha Tiger Reserves in Central India.

In mountains, roads may lead to severe forest destruction, landslides, and erosion, as seen everydayduring road construction in many parts of the Himalayas and the Western Ghats. A 2006 study noted thaton steep hillsides, roads may increase landslides and surface erosion fluxes by ten to over hundred timesas compared to undisturbed forests.

Millions of animals, too, are killed along roads due to collisions with vehicles. Indian field research studieshave documented that the spectrum of wildlife killed or injured ranges from small invertebrates, frogs, andreptile species — many found nowhere else in the world — to birds and large mammals such as deer,leopard, tiger, and elephant.

environment, The Hindu, CurrentAffairs, national board for wildlife,Thu, Mar 19, 2015

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Power lines also kill unknown numbers of wildlife everyday. Poachers draw live wires to kill animals suchas rhino and deer, while accidental electrocution kills many species from birds such as Sarus cranes andflamingos to elephants and bison.

With multiple linear intrusions — roads, canals, power lines and railways — together slicing up thelandscape, the cumulative impact on wildlife and habitat is deadly.

Linear infrastructure projects are needed for the economy but so are forests. They are not mere fungibleassets to be compensated by artificial plantations, but unique living systems of plants, animals, anddependent human communities.

Besides espousing economic benefits, linear projects must measure and mitigate long-term costs andecological effects in a credible and transparent manner. The pursuit of mega-projects, often associatedwith lucrative contracts and corruption, spurs an undue emphasis on quantity and size (such as roadwidth), which detracts from other priorities such as quality, efficiency, and safety.

The guidelines accord primacy to the ‘Principle of Avoidance’, whereby wildlife protected areas andvaluable natural ecosystems are not unnecessarily disrupted by linear intrusions; and where alternativealignments, routed around wildlife corridors, can provide or enhance connectivity to peripheral villagesand towns. Site-specific inputs from wildlife scientists can help design overpasses, culverts, andunderpasses to facilitate animal crossings, while speed and traffic regulation can reduce animal-vehiclecollisions. Infra-red animal detection systems coupled to mobile messaging technology can alert traindrivers and help prevent track deaths. Structural modification of power line heights and visibility in risk-prone areas can save elephants and birds from electrocution.

CSE deposes before Rajya Sabha panel, seeks people- and environment-friendlyamendments

The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill (MMDR) 2015 [2] will not resolveoutstanding issues of the mining sector It will instead increase the marginalisation of local people, mainlytribals, and also harm the environment.

But MMDR 2015 is one-sided, it said, as the Bill protects the interests of miners; increases revenue forstates; but does little to protect the interests of people and environment.

environment, Down to Earth, CurrentAffairs,Thu, Mar 19, 2015

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CSE also said that the MMDR Amendment Bill, 2015, must be considered along with other ongoingregulatory reforms—the proposed changes in Land Bill, 2015

While, the MMDR Bill, 2015, discourages consultation, excludes affected people and reduces the benefitthat local communities can get from the mining sector, the Land Bill removes the clause requiringcommunity consent, and the Subramanian Committee report recommends fast-tracking of environmentand forest clearances for mining projects,” the deposition said. “

Amazon’s ability to absorb carbon is declining, says study

A 30-year survey of the Amazon rainforest has revealed that the Amazon is losing its ability to absorbcarbon from the atmosphere. The uptake by the forest now is only half of what it was in the 1990s,

Forests and oceans absorb almost half of the CO2 emissions from human activity, slowing climate change.A substantial portion of this carbon sink is located in the tropics, especially in the Amazon. found a long-term decreasing trend of carbon accumulation. It attributes this decrease to mortality and shortenedlongevity of trees.

"Tree mortality rates have increased by more than a third since the mid-1980s, and this is affecting theAmazon's capacity to store carbon," l

amazon rainforest, environment, Down to Earth, CurrentAffairs, carbon dioxide,Thu, Mar 19, 2015

Renewable Energy Manufacturing Sector

To make India a hub for renewable energy manufacturing, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)has been promoting private investment in renewable energy through an attractive mix of fiscal andfinancial incentives.

his includes capital subsidy through Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS) and excise andcustom duty exemption. The Government is encouraging participation from other countries by allowing100% Foreign Direct Investment in Renewable Energy.

manufacturing, environment, PIB, CurrentAffairs, Renewable Energy,Thu, Mar 19, 2015

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The Minister further stated that the an estimated potential of 897 GW has been identified from variousrenewable energy sources in the country which includes 749 GW from solar, 103 GW from wind, 25 GWfrom bio-energy and 20 GW from small hydro power. MNRE has proposed grid power of 175 GW fromvarious renewable energy sources by the year 2022. This includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small hydro power.

The geothermal program of the Ministry is presently in research and development stage. The cost ofgeneration of electricity from geothermal energy is presently very high, hence, the promotion ofgeothermal energy production of power will not be possible in short and medium terms, the Ministeradded.

Plastic Peril

The ocean is the final receptacle of a substantial amount of waste generated on land. Plastic pollution inthe ocean was first reported in the scientific literature of the early 1970s. In just four decades, it hasbecome a pressing environmental problem and has been found even in the most remote corners of theearth. The amount of plastic entering the oceans is up to 2,000 times more than earlier estimates.

anything between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes (MT) of plastic enters the oceans each year

The team found that the top 20 countries accounted for 83 per cent of the mismanaged plastic wasteentering the ocean. China tops the list and throws 1.32 MT to 3.53 MT of plastic waste in the sea. India is12th, contributing 0.09 MT to 0.24 MT plastic waste to oceans every year. America is 20th, throwing 0.04MT to 0.11 MT of plastic trash into the sea every year. However, the amount of waste generated by aperson in India is very low compared to that produced by a person in the US. In India, 0.34 kg of waste isproduced per day by a person compared to as much as 2.58 kg by a person in the US. In India, only 3 percent of the waste produced per day by a person is plastic compared to 13 per cent in the US.

If things continue unchecked, in 10 years we could see one pound of plastic for every three pounds offinfish, adds Mallos. The concerns are justified considering that global plastic resin production is growing ata fast pace. It registered a 620 per cent increase between 1975 and 2012. Most of this plastic resin is usedfor packaging, is quickly disposed of and could end up in the sea. In December, 2014, a study published inPLoS ONE revealed that there are 5.25 trillion plastic particles floating around in the sea.

As it would be difficult and expensive to remove plastic from the sea, researchers suggest it would bebetter to start managing waste. They suggest reduction of waste, expanded recovery systems andextended producer responsibility. The researchers also suggest that while infrastructure is being built in

plastic, environment, Down to Earth, pollution, CurrentAffairs,Wed, Mar 18, 2015

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developing nations, industrialised countries can take immediate action by reducing waste and curbing thegrowth of disposable plastic. If per capita waste generation were reduced to the 2010 average (1.7 kg/day)in the 91 coastal countries that exceed it, and the per cent plastic in the waste streams were capped at 11per cent (the 192-country average in 2010), a 26 per cent decrease could be achieved by 2025.

The study underscores the need to shift the ocean conservation dialogue from beach cleanup to wastemanagement to ultimately preventing plastics from entering our oceans. There is evidence that this wasteis detrimental to ocean wildlife. In lab studies, we have seen that plastic has negative impacts on animalsthat ingest it, and scientists have seen plastic’s impact on more than 660 species of ocean wildlife,including every type of sea turtle, as well as the majority of other marine species like whales, dolphins,seals, and seabirds

CO2 emissions stalled in 2014, but challenges remain

Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the energy sector ‘stalled’ in 2014 even though the economyexpanded by 3 per cent during the same period, according to latest data put out by the InternationalEnergy Agency (IEA).

It showed that the CO2 level did not increase for the first time in 40 years, marking a halt in the increase inemissions of the greenhouse gas during a period of robust economic activity. The worldwide bust in coalprojects is being seen as a major reason.

Global emissions of CO2 stood at 32.3 billion tonnes in 2014, unchanged from the preceding year. IEA datasuggest that efforts to mitigate climate change may be having a more pronounced effect on emissionsthan previously thought.

The energy agency has attributed the halt in carbon dioxide emissions to changing patterns of energyconsumption in China and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)countries.

Another factor is the coal plant construction boom that tripled globally after 2005 now turning to bust.since 2010 hundreds of coal plant projects have been shelved or cancelled worldwide. After a period ofextraordinary growth, worldwide coal plant construction has slowed rapidly due to increasingly effectivecitizen opposition, competition from renewables and economic restructuring, the study says.

environment, Down to Earth, CurrentAffairs, carbon dioxide,Wed, Mar 18, 2015

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When it comes to China, 2014 witnessed more and more electricity generation from renewable energysources such as hydropower, solar and wind. Less burning of coal was also a major contributing factortowards lower emission level. In 2014, the country recorded a 1.6 per cent decline in power generationfrom coal and the overall utilisation rate for thermal plants declined to 54 per cent, the lowest in over threedecades, according to the study.

In India, grassroots citizen opposition, coal supply issues and other problems have caused financing fornew coal plants to dry up, the study points out.

From 2003 to 2014, the amount of coal-fired generating capacity retired in the US and the EU exceeded thenew capacity by 22 per cent, the study says. However, Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia, Poland and the Balkans,are still using coal.

In 40 years during which the IEA has been collecting data on carbon dioxide emission, only thrice has itstood still or fallen compared to the previous year. However, all the three cases in early 1980s, 1992 and2009, were related to global economic weakness.

The report will provide decision-makers an analysis of national climate pledges in the context of the recentdownturn in fossil fuel prices and suggest measures to advance climate goals without compromising oneconomic growth.

‘Climate change responsible for destruction caused by cyclone Pam’

Manmade global warming is responsible for Pam, the most powerful cyclone to ever hit the South Pacific,the cyclone has destroyed 90 per cent of the buildings in the capital city Port Vila last weekend.

The human contribution to sea level rise over the past 100 years is well documented and makes islandnations more vulnerable to storms and particularly storm surge. “When cyclones and other storms occur,there is already a greater risk of coastal flooding because the background sea level has risen, largely due tohuman-induced global warming. How much more flooding has occurred due to human action is unclear,but ongoing sea level rise can be expected to further increase this risk unless coastal protection can beimproved, The cyclone is one of the most intense tropical storms with wind speeds of over 300 km/h.

Vanuatu is one of the world’s poorest nations. Pam had already caused major damage on other Pacificislands, including Kiribati and the Solomon Islands. Tuvalu declared a state of emergency after the cyclonecaused flash floods there.

cyclone Pam, environment, Down to Earth, CurrentAffairs, climate change,Wed, Mar 18, 2015

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FAO quantifies impact of natural disasters on agriculture

Nearly a quarter of damages caused by natural disasters in the developing world are borne by theagriculture sector, according to preliminary findings of a new study of the Food and AgriculturalOrganization (FAO). The findings, released at the UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, saymore than 22 per cent of the damages caused by natural hazards—such as drought, floods, storms ortsunamis—are accounted for by the agriculture sector.

agriculture absorbs up to 84 percent of all economic impacts. Within the agricultural sector, 42 per cent ofassessed losses were that of crops.

These damages and losses are often incurred by poor rural and semi-rural communities without insuranceand lacking the financial resources needed to regain lost livelihoods. Yet only 4.5 percent of post-disasterhumanitarian aid in the 2003-2013 period targeted agriculture, the findings point out.

Livestock is the second most affected subsector after crops, accounting for 36 per cent of all damage andlosses, at a total of $11 billion between 2003 and 2013.

According to the study, within the agricultural sector, 42 per cent of assessed losses were to crops ($13billion) - with floods being the main culprit, responsible for 60 per cent of crop damages, followed bystorms (23 per cent of crop damages).

But then FAO's 22 per cent figure represents only damages reported via post-disaster risk assessments, sowhile indicative of scale, the actual impact is likely to be even higher, says FAO. To arrive at a closerestimate of the true financial cost of disasters to developing world agriculture, FAO compared decreases inyields during and after disasters with yield trends in 67 countries affected by (at least one) medium- tolarger-scale events between 2003 and 2013.

The final tally was $70 billion in damages to crops and livestock over that 10 year period, says FAO’s pressrelease.

disaster management, natural disasters, environment, Down to Earth, FAO, agriculture, CurrentAffairs,Tue, Mar 17, 2015

National body to formulate standards for forest certification

After years of disagreement between the government and non-government stakeholders, the country is a

environment, Down to Earth, CurrentAffairs, forest certification,Tue, Mar 17, 2015

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step closer to having its own national forest certification system in place. On March 16, representatives offorest-based industries, non-profits, forest auditors and government forest departments launched a bodycalled Network for Certification & Conservation of Forests (NCCF). The body will now set standards forcertifying India’s forests and their products, with an aim to ensure their sustainable management.

Forest certification is a market-based mechanism which ensures that domestic forest produce commandsbetter price in the global market, while encouraging sustainable harvesting of forests in the country.

Urgency to protect forests missing India, however, has made little progress in forest certification. Of thetotal 78.92 million ha forest and tree cover in the country, only 0.8 million ha of forests has been certifiedso far. The total supply of certified wood in India is less than 10 per cent of the total demand. The majorreason for little progress has been the government’s reluctance to subject the forests managed by it to anindependent and third party scrutiny.

To overcome this problem, the non-government actors in forestry have come together to establish India’sown certification standards. The standards will be evaluated and endorsed by the global forest certificationbody Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). PEFC, instead of prescribing a singleset of standards for sustainable forest management, helps countries build their own specific standardsand provides its certification endorsement to the forests based on these standards. For certification, theforests will be evaluated by independent accredited forest auditors. Based on the audit report, the NCCFand PEFC will provide the certification together.

Al Gore's ‘sunny’ proposal to India

Pollution in India is not just due to fossil fuels burnt to produce electricity— fumes from vehicles, many ofwhich are global brands, add to it too. There is also pollution due to disposal of e-waste dumped in Indiaby developed countries like the US. Why should the urgency to address climate change push renewableenergy, particularly solar, as the primary solution then?

In 2014, the US had filed a complaint against India at the World Trade Organization. The US alleged thatIndia's National Solar Mission discriminated against US solar equipment manufacturers as it required solarenergy producers to use locally manufactured cells, and offered subsidies to those who used domestic(Indian-made) equipment. The country also alleged that forced requirements for localisation was a hurdlefor US-made equipment coming to India, denying US companies a greater access to the vast Indian marketof 1.2 billion people. This explains US’ interest in India’s solar journey and offers context to Gore’sappreciation of PM’s solar mission. It could well be a political-diplomatic move through generating massconsent.

environment, Down to Earth, CurrentAffairs, Solar Energy, climate change,Mon, Mar 16, 2015

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How power can be cleaned

The use of coal to generate energy is the key reason the world is looking at a catastrophic future becauseof climate change. Recognising this, global civil society has given a rousing call for coal divestment, askingcompanies, universities and individuals to stop investment in coal thermal power plants.

We have a huge energy deficit, with millions of households without power for basic lighting or cooking. Wehave to address access to energy as much as the environmental problems of unclean power. We need topush for renewable—not because we can afford to do without coal, but because this source of energyprovides us the option to leapfrog to decentralised and off-grid power.

Green rating of coal-based thermal power plants, concludes that our plants are way behind the global bestin terms of performance.

More importantly, it speaks of the dire crisis in the power sector in the country, where the obsession is tobuild more plants and not fix what is clearly so completely broken—supply of affordable power to all. Ofthe 47 plants surveyed—accounting for roughly half the installed capacity in India in 2012—only 12 hadefficiency higher than 36 per cent, which touches China’s average.

Worse, the plant load factor has been declining in the past few years, going down to a low of 65 per cent in2013-14, as compared to 79 per cent in 2007-08. This clearly speaks of the mismatch between demand andsupply, as state electricity companies struggle to buy power, even cheap power. This then affects the CO2emissions from the plants.

This is not the only challenge. The fact is that power plants pollute air, consume water and dump hugequantities of waste, namely fly ash. Indian plants have a long way to go to clean up this mess. This is not asmall matter. My colleagues have estimated that this sector alone is responsible for 70 per cent of the totalfreshwater withdrawal by all industries; over 60 per cent of the particulate matter emissions; 50 per cent ofsulphur dioxide emissions and more than 80 per cent of mercury emissions.

The biggest issue is gainful use of fly ash since India’s coal is of poor quality. For every tonne of coal burnt,35-40 per cent is generated as waste. Just consider the scale of this problem: over 40 per cent land area ofpower plants is used to dump ash. Over 1 billion tonnes of ash is lying unused today and to this over 160million tonnes are added each year. Everything we have done till date, including specifying the use of ashin cement manufacturing and bricks, is not making a dent in the gargantuan pile of muck.

fly ash, environment, Down to Earth, coal, greenhouse gas, CurrentAffairs,Mon, Mar 16, 2015

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Plans for Massive Solar Power Push

The Government has a proposal to Scale up Grid Connected Solar Power Projects from 20,000 MW to1,00,000 MW by 2022 under National Solar Mission (NSM).

massive solar power, environment, PIB, solar power, CurrentAffairs, national solar mission,Mon, Mar 16, 2015

Why we celebrate rivers

Scientists confirm what our ancestors knew from experience. Rivers connect land, freshwater and marineecosystems. They host some of the world’s most diverse plant and animal communities. Rivers sustainmuch of our agriculture, and their fisheries nourish millions. Their sediments protect our coastlines againsterosion by the sea, and pull carbon out of the atmosphere. Healthy rivers act as natural buffers thatbalance ever more serious floods and droughts.

We often ignore that we depend on rivers for our long-term prosperity. We are damming them, pollutingthem and sucking them dry. Some rivers don’t even reach the sea anymore. Between 10,000 and 20,000freshwater species are at risk of extinction o [4] r have already died out.

Rivers and other wetlands are more strongly affected by the loss of species than any other majorecosystem. Even so, they are currently faced by a dam-building boom of unprecedented proportions. Noless than 3,700 hydropower dams are under construction or in the pipeline right now around the world.

environment, Down to Earth, river pollution, CurrentAffairs, rivers,Sun, Mar 15, 2015

Vice president inaugurates international conference on ‘global environment issues’

Environmental degradation and climate change are amongst the foremost challenges confronting humancivilization in our times. The protection and preservation of environment and its sustainable managementare essential for the survival of humanity and our planet, as we know it

Human activities result in significant environmental changes that cause damage to species, ecosystemsand ecological processes. Preservation of the integrity of these ecological components is critical,considering they provide the bio-physical base necessary for human life, such as water, land, air, forests,biodiversity.

National Green Tribunal, environment, PIB, NGT, CurrentAffairs, CBDR,Sat, Mar 14, 2015

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There is near consensus among scientists that climate change is unequivocal. Increase in anthropogenicactivities has built up concentration of Greenhouse Gases in our atmosphere, leading to global warming.This in turn, could lead to changes in rainfall patterns, disruption in hydrological cycles, melting of ice capsand glaciers, rise in sea levels, and increase in frequency and intensity of extreme events such as heavyprecipitation or cyclones. These developments can have a serious impact on sustainability of waterresources, agriculture, forests and ecosystems, affecting the well-being of billions of people.

Sustainability of economic development crucially hinges on the protection of environment. For us in India,challenges of arresting the pace of degradation of environment are formidable due to the imperatives ofmaintaining high economic growth, increasing trends of urbanisation, population growth, industrialisation,unmet basic needs, life style changes and biotic pressures.

India’s policy goal of achieving sustainable development and addressing emerging global environmentalconcerns, such as, climate change, ozone depletion and bio-dieversity loss, is guided by the principle of‘common but differentiated responsibility’. India prefers an ‘aspirational’ rather than a mandatory or‘prescriptive’ approach. We believe that the issue of sustainable development should be approached with asense of equity; and the development aspirations of the developing countries should be built into thegreen economy principles being evolved at the international level.

Green Energy Corridor Project

A Green Energy Corridor project for evacuation of renewable energy from generation points to the loadcentres by creating intra-state and inter-state transmission infrastructure is under implementation inrenewable resource rich states for the likely renewable power capacity addition during 12thFive Year Planperiod, i.e., by March 2017.

The intra-state transmission component of the project is being implemented by the respective states andthe Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) is implementing inter-state transmission component.

environment, PIB, green energy corridor, CurrentAffairs,Thu, Mar 12, 2015

Potential of Renewable Energy in Desert Areas

The Minister further stated that in December 2013, the PGCIL had submitted a study report titled “DesertPower India- 2050” assessing renewable power potential, transmission infrastructure requirement,balancing reserve etc in the identified desert regions. The report has assessed the total available potential

Desert, environment, Renewable energy, PIB, CurrentAffairs, Solar Energy,Thu, Mar 12, 2015

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of 315.7 GW of solar and wind power in these regions. The report has further estimated that theinvestment requirement for harnessing the available potential upto 2050 would be Rs 43,74,550 crore.

The investments in renewable energy power projects are mainly by private sector. Government providessome incentives in the forms of generation based incentives, viability gap funding. Besides, fiscal incentivessuch as accelerated depreciation, concessional customs duty, excise duty exemption, income tax holidayfor 10 years and preferential tariff are provided for renewable energy power projects, the Minister added.

Short-lived pollutants: the other part of climate agenda

The world is clearly slipping on its targets to reign in heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Actionon cutting carbon dioxide emissions is not easy as the world has to re-invent growth as it knows it today toreduce emissions, and it has to share that growth between nations.

In the past few years, attention has turned to the basket of gases known as ‘short-lived climate pollutants’ –which unlike carbon dioxide have a much shorter life in the atmosphere. Out of these, the UN’sIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had long recognised methane, nitrous oxide andhydrofluorocarbons as greenhouse gases. In the mid-2000s, another candidate emerged, black carbon –the dark core of particulate matter, which is a product of incomplete combustion and already a deadlylocal pollutant, contributing to high health burden.

Each of these pollutants has their own story and underlying politics to tell. Black carbon is the recipe oftoxic smog and haze that kills. This comes from vehicle emissions as well as from the cookstoves of thepoor; methane is the warming agent from wet rice cultivation but also from oil and gas production andmunicipal waste of the rich. Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) is a substitute chemical that the world found to avertthe danger of thinning of ozone layer, but it is also a super-greenhouse gas.

Science: Complex but more certain

Science makes a distinction between CO2 that lives long in the atmosphere – more than 100 to 500 years –and those pollutants that have much shorter life span – a few hours to 20 years. But the short-livedpollutants cause significant warming for the period they are in the atmosphere.

It can be problematic to estimate the relative contribution of CO2 and short-lived climate pollutants toglobal temperature change. Some available estimates show that while CO2 is responsible for about 75 percent of the warming so far, short-lived climate pollutants contribute to the rest. However, in the long term,

Air pollution, HFCs, methane, environment, black carbon, Montreal Protocol, Climate Change, Down to Earth, CurrentAffairs,Short lived pollutants,

Wed, Mar 11, 2015

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it is the contribution of CO2 that will decide the peak temperature rise in the world. We also know thatCO2, already emitted, has committed the world to long-term warming. In the short term, however, it isshort-lived climate pollutants that will determine the frequency and intensity of temperature spurts for aslong as they are in the air.

If both CO2 and short-lived climate pollutants continue to rise then it will be much harder to meet the 2°Ctemperature rise stabilisation target – which is accepted as the guardrail to avoid catastrophic impacts ofclimate change. If annual emissions of CO2 continue to remain at today’s level, the greenhouse gas levelswould be close to 550 ppm by 2050. This would mean temperature increase of 3-5°C. It is now acceptedthat stabilising CO2 will not be enough to keep the world below 2°C rise. This is because CO2 has a long lifeand once emitted it continues to heat the planet for years to come. It is therefore, now recommended thatonly if CO2 mitigation is conjoined with methane and black carbon mitigation the temperature rise can bekept below 2°C temperature rise (see Graph: Contribution of CO2 and short term forcers to globalwarming).

Co-benefit agenda: Needs the world to act differently There is another difference between CO2 and manyof the short-lived climate pollutants. In most cases, these pollutants not only have global and regionalimpacts but also have highly adverse impacts on human health and the environment at the local level.Therefore, there is good reason to abate and mitigate these pollutants for local, not just global benefits.For instance, black carbon is clearly indicted for local air pollution across the cities of the world; it adds tothe health burden of poor women who have no option but to cook food, using biomass on inefficientstoves. Then there is the fact that cutting these emissions is good for the local environment – methane, forinstance, can be captured from landfills and so improve waste management. This is the opportunity.

But there is also a threat. Action on this agenda of cobenefits requires a new compact between nationsbuilt on the following principles:

Action must not take away from the agenda to cut CO2 emissions. It cannot become a proxy for action onclimate change so that it shifts the blame and burden to developing countries. The world must commititself to drastic, urgent and equitable CO2 reduction targets. Action must differentiate between luxury andsurvival emissions – those that are emitted by the rich must be aggressively targeted and those that areemitted by the poor needs supportive policies to incentivize action. Action on black carbon – which is notpart of the Kyoto six package of greenhouse gases – must be accounted for differently so that countriesthat take action to leapfrog to cleaner fuel and cleaner technology can claim advantage but not be worriedthat it takes away from climate change agreements key target – reduction of CO2 emissions. Methanemitigation Methane is emitted largely from coal mining, oil and gas production, municipal solid waste andwet rice fields. Methane is not only warming in itself it also contributes towards formation of regionalozone that is also warming and harmful for health. North America and Europe can contribute enormouslyto climate mitigation from methane emissions with stringent action on coal mining, oil and gas production,and better management of municipal waste. These are also the luxury emissions. Methane from waste is aresource and there is significant scope of capturing this from municipal waste in the energy starved

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developing world. On the other hand methane emissions from the wet rice cultivation is linked with thelivelihood of the poor. If global support can be mobilized to promote sustainable wet rice cultivationpractices it will not only help to reduce methane emissions but also push towards more water prudentagricultural practices. Phasing out HFCs Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) is a halogenated gas, which replacedthe chemical that the world found was destroying its ozone layer. HFC was the substitute forchlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). But this ozone-savior chemical has avery high global warming potential. The current contribution to climate forcing of HFCs is less than 1.0 percent of the total forcing from all other greenhouse gases combined. As HFC is being phased in across theworld, because of the need to substitute HCFC, their contribution to climate forcing is set to growsignificantly. But the world has the opportunity not to first phase in a chemical, which is destructive forclimate change and then to phase it out. But this is where the commerce of chemicals and its politicsbegins. There has been a growing demand to put in place an international mechanism to reduce theemissions of HFCs. But a major dispute has emerged between countries on where HFCs reduction shouldbe addressed. Many developing countries (India being the most vocal), want HFCs reduction to bediscussed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Developedcountries (with the US taking the lead in the discussions), supported by many developing countries, wantto address HFCs under the Montreal Protocol. As HFCs use has increased due to CFCs and HCFCs phase-out pushed by the Montreal Protocol, referring to Article 2.1 of the Vienna Convention, in 2009, the US,Canada and Mexico submitted a joint proposal to include HFCs under its jurisdiction. Micronesia along withMauritius (which has been subsequently co-sponsored by Maldives and Morocco) also submitted aproposal to amend the Montreal Protocol to phase down HFCs. These countries argue that the MontrealProtocol has the institutional capacity and the Multilateral Fund to pay for HFCs reduction in developingcountries. They also cite the track record of action under Montreal as evidence of a global agreement thatcan deliver fast results. What also goes against UNFCCC is that it is not designed for a phase down/out ofspecific gases. But the counter argument is that HFCs are not the only fluorinated gas (Fgas) in the UNFCCCbasket that needs to be phased out. Other F-gases, who are also replacement of ODS’, are likely to increaserapidly in the future as well. For many developing countries, there are unanswered questions regardingthe HFCs phase-down under the Montreal Protocol. What is the best technology to move to? Who will payfor the transition if the costs are high? What will be impact of the phase-down on the industry and theeconomy? Then there is the politics of gases and patents. Some developed countries are pushing patentedlow-GWP products as a substitute for high-GWP HFCs. US companies are pushing for hydrofluoroolefins(HFOs); DuPont is promoting HFOs as the “fourth generation” refrigerant following in the footsteps of CFCs,HCFCs and HFCs. Japanese companies are pushing for HFC-32, a medium-GWP HFC, as most energyefficient drop-in substitute for highest consuming HCFC-22. But there are also non-patented gases andsubstitutes that are fast emerging: In domestic refrigerators and freezers, use of hydrocarbons is rapidlyincreasing. Globally, close to 50% of all new productions use hydrocarbons. In India, close to 10 millionhydrocarbon-based refrigerators have been sold in the market so far. In domestic air conditioners,propane and CO2 are slowly catching-up. In both India and China, companies have started commercialproduction of propane based air conditioners which are much more energy efficient than HCFC or HFCbased air conditioners. In Polyurethane foams sector, HCFCs is being directly substituted withhydrocarbons in developing countries. China and Brazil, for instance, intend to use methyl formate andother hydrocarbons instead of high-GWP HFCs. India plans to switch to cyclopentane in its first stage of

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HCFC phase-out management plan for the foam sector. The assertion that developing countries are goingto move to HFCs in all sectors to phase-out HCFCs is not true. For instance, in the Polyurethane foamssector most are moving to hydrocarbons. In fact some developing countries have made demands to moveto non-HFCs low-GWP alternative directly from HCFCs. It is quite clear that commercial alternatives exist toHFCs. It is also clear that it would be economically efficient, apart from the fact that most non-HFCalternatives are energy efficient as well, for the developing countries to make a one-time transition fromHCFCs to non-HFCs alternatives like hydrocarbons. The key issue is how best to make this transitionwithout disrupting the growth in these sectors. Most developing countries are not averse to phasing downHFCs under the Montreal Protocol. What they want is clarity and certainty on technology and the means ofimplementation. For example, if HFCs were added to the Montreal Protocol, the Multilateral Fund wouldrequire significant additional resources. There is no clarity on how these resources would be mobilized. Toget clarity on such issues, developing countries should agree to setup a contact group under the MontrealProtocol to discuss the means of implementation. Such a contact group would ensure discussions gobeyond just the US’s proposed amendments and include the larger issue of management of HFCs and thefinance and technology aspects of the transition. As HFCs are currently covered under UNFCCC, movingHFCs to the Montreal Protocol should also be agreed by all parties to the UNFCCC. This would giveconfidence to the developing countries that the principles of equity and the Common but DifferentiatedResponsibilities and Respective Capabilities of the UNFCCC are secured. Most importantly, this will ensurethat the differentiation between developed and developing countries under Montreal Protocol remain.Also, to complement each other, the phase down of production and consumption of HFCs should beaddressed under the Montreal Protocol and the reporting on HFCs emissions should be done under theUNFCCC, as has been agreed at the G20 Summit in St Petersburg. As developed countries are largestconsumers and emitters of HFCs, they should quickly phase-out HFCs. This will open up the market foralternatives and new environment-friendly technologies for developing countries to leapfrog to.

Can polluting brick kilns be cleaned up?

Countries of the South have a massive “under-construction” agenda – as much as 70 per cent of India, forinstance, is yet to be built. Vast quantities of material are going to be needed to build homes, offices andfactories. The chief building material thus far has been bricks. The standard practice is to dig clay and mudfrom fields, make it into bricks, and then fire them in inefficient furnaces using a variety of fuels. Brick kilnsoperate across the world – from China to Peru – and burn anything that is cheap and available to fire.

brick kilns are estimated to consume 110 million tonne of coal in Asia – with China using 50 million tonne.Kilns have huge variations in efficiency and it could take anything between 11 to 70 tonne of coal to fire100,000 bricks.

environment, Down to Earth, Brick Kilns, CurrentAffairs,Wed, Mar 11, 2015

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It is also estimated that globally, the brick industry produces 1.5 trillion bricks every year, of which 87 percent are produced in Asia, with China leading with 67 per cent of the global production.

India is the world’s second largest producer, with over 200 billion bricks manufactured each year – thefertile alluvial regions of the Indo-Gangetic plains produce over 65 per cent of the country’s bricks.

There is a huge environmental cost of the manufacture of this building material – from emission of blackcarbon and local air pollution to the loss of valuable top-soil. The estimations of black carbon emissionsfrom this sector vary but studies have pointed out that these could be as high as 9 per cent of the totalblack carbon emissions in India.

Technology: Varied and outdated

It would be wrong to think that the age-old tradition of making bricks has not innovated in terms oftechnology. In fact, many technologies with varying designs, methods and efficiencies are in use indifferent countries (see Table: The global brick kiln industry–countries and production).

Brick kilns are of two types – traditional intermittent technology-based and the relatively newer continuoustechnology-based. Intermittent kilns can further be classified on the basis of the direction of flow of hotgases into up-draught and down-draught ones. Continuous technology is more energy-efficient as it allowsfor heat recovery from flue gas as well as hot bricks. The most important examples of continuoustechnology are fixed chimney bull trench kiln (FCBTK), zigzag kilns, and vertical shaft brick kilns (VSBK) (seeFigure: Classification of brick kilns based on firing technology).

China, for instance, the only country where the brickmaking sector is organised, uses the relatively moreadvanced Hoffman kiln. India uses clamps (intermittent) and fixed chimney bull trench (FCBTK).

The technology employed determines the fuel usage and the nature and amount of emissions from a brickkiln. The FCBTK – which produces more than 65 per cent of the bricks made in India – is highly resource-intensive and polluting. Clamp technology is equally polluting but because it does not have any fixedstructures, the initial cost of setting up the kiln is very little. It is also difficult to enforce regulations onthese kilns which can literally be moved from place to place.

A tunnel kiln is much more expensive to set up and requires much less humanpower in comparison to anFCBTK or a zigzag. It is considered to be the best technology available till date for large-scale production ofbricks and is widely used in industrialised countries. The advantages of tunnel kiln technology lie in itsability to fire a variety of products; good control over the firing process; ease of mechanisation, thusreducing the labour requirement; and large production volume.

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The way ahead: Improve technology or change the material?

It is clear that while brick making has environmental impacts and huge social costs because of poorworking conditions, it provides the most readily available and cost-effective building material. It is also afact that countries of the South will need these materials – at affordable costs – to meet the expandinghousing challenge. One option continues to be improvement in technology, ban on inefficient kilns, andenforcement of stringent emission standards to contain pollution. The other option is to look beyond themud-clay brick and find building materials which are environmentally suitable and less polluting.

Part of the challenge – and opportunity – is to explore the possibility of sourcing building material fromindustrial and mining waste. This will usher in a new era of recycling and reuse and improve materialefficiency. For instance, India has a growing “waste” of construction and demolition material that iscurrently being dumped and ends up clogging and destroying water bodies.

Similarly, India has a massive problem of disposal of fly ash – the ash content is as much as 35-40 per centin the coal used in thermal power plants. The more coal the country burns for generating power the moreash there is to dispose. CSE’s rating of thermal power plants estimates that thermal plants “waste” as muchas 40 per cent of their land to dump ash. Alhough MoEF&CC has notified that fly ash must be used incement manufacturing and brick making, there is still a long way to go before the country can utilise thisgrowing heap of waste. A 2003 notification stipulates the use of 25 per cent fly ash in brick and blockmaking within a 100 km radius of a coal-based thermal power plant.

Pastoralism beneficial to humanity, says UN study

A recent United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report says that pastoralism—traditional way oflivestock rearing on rangelands—is beneficial to humanity.

The paper was released at the third scientific conference of the United Nations Convention to CombatDesertification (UNCCD) in Cancun, Mexico, recently. The study, Pastoralism and the Green Economy-aNatural Nexus?, shows that sustainable pastoralism on desert grasslands, woodlands and steppesmaintains soil fertility, contributes to water regulation and promotes biodiversity.

Pastoralism is practised by up to half a billion people across the world. The report calls for theestablishment of a global development framework to endorse this traditional method of livestock rearing.

environment, Down to Earth, UNEP, CurrentAffairs, pastoral community,Wed, Mar 11, 2015

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Though pastoralism has several benefits, underinvestment over the decades has deteriorated the lifestylein many developing countries.

Highlighting the benefit of pastoralism, Steiner added, “As developing economies grow and middle classesflourish, the demand for animal protein is only set to expand. With smart, targeted policies, a revitalizedattention to pastoralism can play a significant role in fulfilling this demand whilst protecting rangelandbiodiversity and ecosystem services and reducing greenhouse gases emitted to the atmosphere.”

Carbon sequestration (capture and storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide) provides an example of howpastoralism can support green economy. Grazing lands cover five billion hectares globally. Sequestrationbetween 200-500 kg of carbon per hectare per year plays a vital role in climate change mitigation. Up to 70per cent of dryland soil carbon can be lost through conversion to agricultural use, says the UNEP report.

Effective animal grazing promotes biodiversity and biomass production needed to maintain these carbonstores, the report adds.

Coordinator of International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Global Drylands Initiative JonathanDavies said, “When pastoralism is practised efficiently, it conserves biodiversity and rangelandenvironments, providing a wide range of benefits to humanity.”

There are several instances from across the world that uphold the benefits of pastoralism. In Spain, theseasonal movement of pastoralists and their herds along migration corridors supports habitat connectivityand biodiversity. This happens through the transportation of seeds and insects by sheep.

In Australia, livestock grazing by pastoralists on invasive grass species has conserved the Bridled NailtailWallaby—a species endemic to Australia and listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of ThreatenedSpecies.

The India story

According to the report, livestock has sustained the rural people of Rajasthan during times of drought.State government data suggests that 80 per cent of rural families in Rajasthan keep livestock and 35 percent of the total income of small and marginal farmers comes from dairy and animal husbandry.

However, this back-up economy, is witnessing a slow death becau

Brick kilns major source of air pollution in South Asia

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A study claims that brick kilns near south Delhi contribute around 10 per cent of the total air pollution inthe area. The fuels used in the brick kilns—agri-wastes, powder coals and used tyres—can also be linked to15 per cent of the total premature deaths due to air pollution in the area.

kilns are behind 30 per cent of the total air pollution in Dhaka and 11 per cent of the total air pollution inPatna.

The study cites Global Burden of Disease report that says outdoor air pollution was the reason for 627,000premature deaths in India in 2010 [2] . “The share of brick kilns in national emissions can be 5 per cent to15 per cent,

Traditional brick kiln technologies like FCBTK (fixed chimney bull trench kiln) emit high amounts of blackcarbon. There is need to transition from traditional kiln technologies to modern ones such as VSBK(vertical shaft brick kilns) or tunnel kilns

Air pollution, environment, Down to Earth, Brick Kilns, CurrentAffairs, South Asia,Wed, Mar 11, 2015

Brick kilns destroying fertile top soil

India is the second largest producer of bricks in the world and manufactures nearly 200 billion bricks ayear. The paper states that 65 per cent of these bricks are produced in the Indo-Gangetic plains, whichhave one of the world’s most fertile alluvial plains.

the study found that farmers who leased their lands to brick kilns not just suffered monetary losses, theirland also lost fertility.

The land was leased at Rs 60,000 per acre (one acre equals 0.4 hectare) for three years. But the monetaryreturns received from crops were found to be far more, says Kathuria. Besides, farming also providedlivelihood and food security, he adds.

The farmers not only lost their top soil, but even natural manure. It took them more than three years tobring back the levels of natural manure in the soil. The fertility, however, is still not the same.

Kathuria says it high time for India to encourage the use of fly ash and construction and demolition wastefor making bricks. “We do not have enough policies related to these issues

environment, Down to Earth, Fertile top soil, Brick Kilns, CurrentAffairs,Wed, Mar 11, 2015

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Switzerland, EU are the first to submit ‘Intended Nationally DeterminedContributions’

Switzerland has become the first among nations to submit its Intended Nationally DeterminedContributions (INDCs) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the United Nations, with the EU closelyfollowing suit

Switzerland has witnessed a temperature rise of 1.75°c due to global warming since 1864 when record-keeping began. It intends to set up new policy frameworks and build on existing strategies “to cutemissions by 50 per cent by 2030”. This includes “elaborating a draft for consultation at national level of itsnational climate policy for the period 2021-2030.” The country shall also partly use carbon credits frominternational mechanisms to offset emissions. Switzerland also “supports the inclusion of internationalaviation and shipping on the basis of future internationally agreed rules”. Currently, though, aviation andshipping do not form part of its INDCs.

The rich European country’s long-term goal is to reduce its emissions by 70 to 85 per cent by 2050compared to 1990 emission levels. This includes reducing its per capita emissions to 1-1.5 tCO2 eq in thelonger term. Currently, Switzerland’s per capita emissions are 6 tCO2 eq. In comparison, India’s per capitaemissions currently stand at a paltry 1.93 tCO2 eq. In 2025, Switzerland anticipates the reduction of itsgreenhouse gases by 35 per cent compared to 1990 levels. ‘EU keeps ambition low’

Closely following Switzerland in leading efforts to formulate INDCs, the European Union (EU), too, hassubmitted its climate action plan in the form of quantifiable INDCs. In line with its objective of cutting itsemissions by 40 per cent by 2030, the EU, like Switzerland, has chosen the year 1990 as the baseline andcovers almost all sectors, including waste and agriculture. The aviation sector is, however, not explicitlymentioned. The EU, though, has been criticised by the civil society for its 40 per cent emission reductiontarget which it is believed is not ambitious enough.

The EU, in its INDC, focuses on including land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) in its 2030mitigation framework before 2020. EU, which is now a 28-member group, will submit its legislativeproposals to implement the 2030 climate and energy framework, “both in the emissions trading sector andin the non-traded sector to the Council and European Parliament in 2015-2016”.

However, as opposed to the Switzerland’s climate action plan, there is no contribution of internationalcredits to EU’s emission reduction plans. EU considers its INDC as fair and ambitious as it is progressive incomparison to 20 per cent by 2020, which it had proposed earlier. According to the EU, this target is also inline with 80-95 per cent cuts by 2050 against 1990 emissions levels.

Paris climate deal, European Union, environment, Climate Change, Down to Earth, EU, CurrentAffairs, Switzerland, INDCs,Tue, Mar 10, 2015

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As a part of the agreed process at the Lima climate summit, a synthesis report, in October 2015, wouldcompile the aggregate result of INDCs to determine whether they will limit temperature rise the 2°C target,required for preventing dangerous anthropogenic effects of climate change. It is to be noted that Indiawould submit its INDC by June 2015.

INDCs would form key element of the Paris 2015 agreement where countries are scheduled to sign a newclimate agreement which would come into force by 2020.

Natural disasters will soon cost the world $314 billion annually: UN

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), in a report [2] , has said as much as US $314 billion willhave to be spent every year to meet annual average losses from just earthquakes, tsunamis, tropicalcyclones and river flooding.

With over 8,000 expected delegates, this event will see the launch of a new global Framework for DisasterRisk Reduction that will replace the 10-year Hyogo Framework for Action adopted at a 2005 UN conferencein Kobe. At Sendai, countries are expected to announce their commitments on reducing the impact ofdisasters, which have claimed over 1.3 million lives and cost the global economy at least $2 trillion in thepast 20 years.

The report, Making Development Sustainable: The Future of Disaster Risk Management, provides a soberreview of the 10 years which have passed since the last world conference on disaster risk reduction atKobe in Japan when nations adopted the Hyogo Framework for Action, the global guide for disaster riskmanagement.

According to the report estimates, an investment of US $6 billion annually in disaster risk managementwould result in avoided losses of US $360 billion over the next 15 years (till 2030). It states that this US $6billion is just 0.1 per cent of total forecast expenditure of US $6 trillion annually on new infrastructure.

Unequally shared burden

Relating the loss of human life years to the global disasters (that were reported), the report reveals thatbetween 1980 and 2012, more than 1.3 billion life years were lost worldwide in internationally reporteddisasters, making for an annual average of 42 million life years. It is almost equivalent to loss of life years

Sendai Framework, disaster management, Hyogo Framework, environment, Down to Earth, CurrentAffairs,Tue, Mar 10, 2015

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due to TB or malaria. Over 90 per cent of the total life years lost in disasters are spread across low andmiddle-income countries. The risk is unevenly spread and concentrated in low-income households withinthe countries. Disaster risk is, therefore, a challenge that is unevenly spread,

India’s GDP most at risk due to floods

The socio-economic development is expected to concentrate more people, buildings, infrastructure andother assets in vulnerable regions and such regions are more prone to risks. Top 15 countries in thisranking account for nearly 80 per cent of the total population affected every year and all of these nationsfall in the category of least developed or developing.

Three South Asian nations—India, Bangladesh and Pakistan—are most at risk from river floods, with anincreasing number of people threatened because of extensive urbanisation and the climate challenges inlow-lying regions, says the study. India, with 4.84 million people at risk due to floods, has by far the mostGDP exposed to risks, at $14.3 billion.

According to the report, more than 50 per cent of cities in the world which are most at risk of naturaldisasters are located in just four countries—the Philippines, China, Japan and Bangladesh—and three outof these are developing.

Censure for nations

The UNISDR has expressed disappointment over the lack of political will and determination in promotingand integrating disaster risk reduction into development programming, as per the Hyogo Framework ofAction, and demands more action from the countries as this framework on disaster risk reduction comesto a close. At the Sendai conference, the member states are like to adopt a new framework that willsucceed the Hyogo framework [12] . This new framework will guide how the countries should achieve thepolicy goal of disaster risk reduction in the coming years.

Eight reasons to act now Future losses (expected annual losses) from disasters such as earthquakes,tsunamis, cyclones and flooding are now reaching an average of US $250 billion to US$300 billion. Futurelosses (expected annual losses) are now estimated at US $314 billion in the built environment alone.Annual investments of US $6 billion only in appropriate disaster risk management strategies couldgenerate benefits in terms of risk reduction of US $360 billion. Low and middle-income countries are moreprone to disaster risks. In the last decade, losses due to extensive risk in 85 countries and territories wereequivalent to a total of US $94 billion. Between 1980 and 2012, 42 million life years were lost ininternationally reported disasters each year and around 80 per cent of the total life years lost in disastersare spread across low- and middle-income countries. Climate change is and would magnify risks andincrease the cost of disasters. Developing world is expected to see more GDP exposed to flood risks in2030, driven largely by socio-economic change. Whether developed or developing nations, climate change

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will affect all. By 2030, river floods could affect 2 million more people and climate change is expected todrive 70 percent of this. The governments must now be serious about tackling the underlying drivers ofdisaster risk—poverty, climate change, poor urban planning and land use, and lack of building codes,which contribute significantly to the creation of risk.

Investing in disaster risk reduction makes a good business sense and demands serious, collaborativeaction and commitment from government and the private sector.

Blending of Ethanol

The quantity of ethanol supplied by the ethanol producers has been blended with petrol by the OMCsduring the said period.

Moreover, in order to improve the availability of ethanol, the Government, on December 10, 2014, fixedthe price of Ethanol in the Range of Rs. 48.50 to Rs. 49.50, depending upon the distance of distillery fromthe depot/installation of the OMCs. The rates are inclusive of all central and statutory levies,transportation cost etc, which would be borne by the Ethanol suppliers.

Further, ethanol produced from other non-food feedstocks besides molasses, like cellulosic and lignocellulosic materials including petrochemical route, has also been allowed to be procured subject tomeeting the relevant Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) specifications.

environment, PIB, CurrentAffairs, current affairs, Ethanol,Mon, Mar 9, 2015

Share of Solar Energy

With an installed capacity of about 3000 MW solar power, the share of solar energy is about 2% in thepower sector of the country. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has proposed to scale up GridConnected Solar Power targets from 20,000 MW to 1,00,000 MW by 2022. The target includes 40,000 MWroof-top solar photovoltaics, 57,000 MW large solar projects and 3,000 MW already installed.

India already has installed capacity of over 34 GW from various renewable energy sources which is 13% ofthe total installed capacity of power generation in the country. As per Global Status Report, REN 21, India’sglobal position in renewable energy capacity installation is 5th in the world.

environment, Renewable energy, PIB, CurrentAffairs, solar energy,Mon, Mar 9, 2015

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Subsidy on Rooftop Solar Power Plants

The Minister further stated that several steps are being taken by the Government which are as follows:

(i) The Ministry is implementing a ‘Grid Connected Rooftop and Small Solar Power Plants Programme’ thatencourages the installation of solar rooftop systems across the country.

( ii) There are provisions of concessional import duty/excise duty exemption, accelerated depreciation andtax holiday for setting up of grid connected rooftop power plants.

(iii) Department of Financial services has instructed to all Public Sector Banks to encourage home loan/home improvement loan seekers to install rooftop solar PV plants and include cost of system in their homeloan proposals.

(iv) With constant effort of the Ministry, State Electricity Regulatory Commissions of seventeen States havenotified regulatory framework on net-metering/feed-in-tariff to encourage rooftop solar plants.

(v) Public awareness is being created through electronic & print media, workshops, seminars andcapacity building programmes.

(vi) Subsidy is being provided to make the scheme more attractive and online submission of proposals isbeing encouraged.

(vii) Implementation is being done through State Nodal Agencies, Multi Government Agencies, SolarEnergy Corporation of India, Distribution Companies etc. to ensure better reach across the country.

rooftop solar, environment, PIB, solar power, CurrentAffairs,Mon, Mar 9, 2015

‘Renewable energy targets not unrealistic’

Asked how it was possible to achieve the goal of 100,000 MW of solar capacity by 2022, he said the Centrewas banking on innovative ways of financing the capacity addition and drawing up bankable powerpurchase agreements in this sector.

If this is achieved, the sheer economies of scale will bring the price of solar power down even further

environment, CurrentAffairs, Solar Energy, Businessline, Renewable Energy,Sun, Mar 8, 2015

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Coal mines cannot stock coal beyond a certain capacity and there is always the fear of piled up coal stockscatching fire. The Minister said he had therefore requested the public sector NTPC to lift more coal so thatit frees up stocking capacity for the mines, which, in turn, can produce more.

Plastic ocean

In 2010, about eight million tonnes (mt) of plastic waste ended up in the oceans of the world Warning thatthe cumulative amount could increase more than tenfold in the next decade, they have called forimproved waste management practices the world over.

coastal countries generated close to 275 mt of plastic waste in 2010, of which 4.8-12.7 mt made its way tothe oceans. While it was known that a considerable amount of plastic waste does end up in the oceansevery year, researchers did not have an estimate of the quantity. This study has not only put a number to itbut also identified the major sources of it around the world. It has listed 20 countries—from China to theU.S.—that contribute the most.

The estimate of 8 mt of plastic waste is equivalent to five grocery bags filled with plastic for every foot ofcoastline in the world,

plastic waste, environment, ocean pollution, Frontline, CurrentAffairs, ocean litter,Sat, Mar 7, 2015

In search of clean air

According to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) website at 5 p.m., the air quality in its monitoringstation in the Dwarka area was remarkably poor. The concentration of nitric oxide (NO) was nearly fivetimes the recommended level (at 320 µg/m), nitrogen oxides (NOx, highly reactive gases) was four and ahalf times, particulate matter PM10 (at 958 µg/m) was nearly 10 times and sulphur dioxide was more thanfive times the recommended upper limit.

Delhi is, unfortunately, not alone in this respect. In 2013, the WHO found that India had 13 of the 20 citiesin the world with the most polluted air: a sad attribute for which to be the world leader, especially with ourstill low levels of both per capita income and industrialisation. N

Air Pollution, environment, Particulate matter, Frontline, pollution, CurrentAffairs,Sat, Mar 7, 2015

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It is no surprise, therefore, that people across the country now routinely suffer from serious respiratoryillnesses, including asthma and persistent throat and lung infections. Many of us will eventually also haveto deal with potentially fatal diseases such as cancer and pulmonary failure, and suffer from more heartattacks and strokes, simply because of the air we breathe on a daily basis.

As always, the poor are the worst affected. They are more likely to have jobs that involve more time inpolluted open environments that, therefore, require breathing foul air; they are more likely to usetransport systems (buses, cycling and walking) that expose them to contaminated atmosphere; they willprobably live in homes that are more exposed to the outside air and in more congested areas that areanyway more polluted. And, of course, when they suffer from illnesses as a result, they are less likely to beable to access good quality medical care or the medicines that will allow them to live with the associatedmorbidity with some ease.

Pollution is still not seen as a political issue: even in the Delhi elections, none of the major contendingparties dealt with it seriously in their manifestos. In official circles, much of the discussion is confined tohigh-minded platitudes rather than genuine and systematic efforts to address this rapidly worseningproblem.

Obviously, one direct and necessary way of addressing this is to regulate the number and nature ofvehicles. This has been a major means of reducing atmospheric pollution in the developed world, withdifferent policy carrots (better public transport and more planned urban environments with reducedcommuting needs) being combined with sticks (higher taxation and tighter regulation of the number ofvehicles, stricter emission limits, and so on)

Although emission limits have been tightened to some extent, at present only 38 Indian towns and citieshave Bharat Stage IV standards (equivalent to Euro IV, still lower than what is required in most Europeantowns).

Others operate on Bharat III standards, which allow significantly higher levels of vehicular emissions, or noeffective standards at all. Meanwhile, one of the most dangerous air pollutants, PM2.5 particles, resultsfrom a heavy reliance on diesel vehicles that produce black carbon aerosols. Both private vehicles andpublic transport contribute to this, also because the cars, buses and trucks used are not the most cleanand efficient ones.

African countries support HFC phase down under Montreal ProtocolHFCs, environment, Montreal Protocol, Down to Earth, CurrentAffairs,

Sat, Mar 7, 2015

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All 54 countries of the African continent have endorsed the start of formal negotiations to eliminatehydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), one of the six main greenhouse gases responsible for global warming.

The 54 countries of Africa face some of the most immediate and damaging climate impacts, and theyrecognise that cutting HFCs through the Montreal Protocol will be a huge climate victory both for thecontinent, and for all nations throughout the world

HFCs are up to 10,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Reducing the production and consumptionof HFCs under the Montreal Protocol is expected to help avoid 0.5°C of warming by 2100.

The Montreal Protocol will conduct an extraordinary meeting in April where several groups of countries arelikely to submit formal proposals to phase down HFCs.

Energy and environment in 21st century India

Energy is the crucial currency of the modern era. An indubitable requirement of a growing economy likeIndia, energy is the lifeblood of manufacturing, transport, construction, communication, and mobility. Warshave been fought, countries subjugated, governments overthrown and established to literally fuel globaldemands for energy.

This post-industrial revolution demand for fossil fuels has strained our planet’s ecological health. Thedamage caused by burning the vast quantities of carbon-based fuels needed to run our developmentengines and modern economies is well known now. We are looking at increasing atmospherictemperatures, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, changing rainfall patterns, failing agriculture, drought,floods, and rampaging rivers. Not to mention the health detriments, deteriorating quality of life, andeconomic costs of pollution from fossil-fuels. Also, fossil fuels are in increasingly short supply.

Compounding the problem is the fact that in many nations including India, energy sources like coal andminerals such as iron, manganese, and aluminum lie under some of the last wilderness areas. Areas thatare vital watersheds, carbon sinks, and home to many endangered plants and animals. So, how we decideto plan our resource needs and extract energy from finite sources will be crucial determinants of India’ssocial, economic, and environmental sustainability.

The rising demand for power associated with simultaneous growth of urban centers and modernising ruralareas is placing a huge burden on our coal-based energy sector. While current power plants are creakingunder the strain, alternative sources like hydropower or wind seem to have limited scope for large-scale

environment, Decentralised Energy Generation, Down to Earth, CurrentAffairs, energy,Wed, Mar 4, 2015

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power generation in a country where land is tightly contested. Some "renewable" energy modes also comewith attendant environmental and social costs if poorly planned, as has already been witnessed withwindmills and small-hydel plants in the Western Ghats. Further, inefficient transmission systems causemassive losses of scarce power.

Part of the answer perhaps lies in decentralised, small-scale energy grids. In decentralised models urban,semi-urban, and rural centers can be designed to have their own grids based on a variety of local powersources. Shorter powerlines can help cut transmission losses. Simultaneously, buildings can be made moreenergy efficient by changing energy consumption through efficient usage, and integrating solar powergeneration into building architecture can make rural and urban homes self-sufficient.

To further cut fossil fuel use, smarter cities should be built to have work-residential complexes that reducedaily travel. Improving public transport will encourage a majority of city dwellers to use this travel option,helping decongest roads and decrease pollution. Importantly, developing such cutting-edge infrastructureacross the country can provide vast opportunities for governments and businesses to tap into theemerging ‘green economy’ sector.

However, current infrastructure is locked into centralised power generation and distribution of fossil-fuelenergy. Decentralised models are not in our national psyche, and for a vast majority of the rural populacethe idea of ‘development’ is inextricably linked to a connection with the few big power grids.

In the backdrop of these demands, ecologists and conservation biologists are tasked with the job ofemphasising the need to keep aside land for wildlife. Not being land-use specialists, we cannot answermany of the planning conundrums we pose, which sometimes earns us bad rap as anti-developmentluddites. So, let me try clearing the slate. While saving wilderness and wild species is usually our primarymotivation for thinking and talking about larger questions of sustainability, ecologists and conservationistsare only one amongst a wider cast of actors that can make this happen.

Perhaps a positive point is that energy is the principal hub that links many aspects of a nation’sdevelopment. Which means that a good plan for energy-efficiency can solve many other associatedproblems that come with economic growth—such as wildlife and environmental concerns.

Are we moving towards a renewable energy economy?

hysical commitment certificates presented by developers, bankers and manufacturers for developing 270GW of renewable energy. Prakash Javadekar, the minister of state for environment, announced thatenvironment clearances for green energy will be given through green channel, indicating clearances won’t

environment, Down to Earth, Renewable energy, CurrentAffairs,Wed, Mar 4, 2015

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be a roadblock to renewable energy development. He also said that the government would providepredictable policy regime with standard guidelines. He was visibly excited about the renewable energycommitment of 270 GW by 2022

The commitment of 270 GW of renewable energy by 2022 looks very ambitious. To meet this target, 24PSUs have committed 19 GW and 319 private companies committed 251 GW. Seventeen privatemanufacturing companies have committed to develop 62 GW of manufacturing capacity. Twenty-sevenbanks have committed to financing 69 GW worth projects.

Out of about 208 GW of commitment for which companies have furnished details, 156 GW is for solarpower, 48 GW is for wind power and about 4 GW is for other sources of renewable energy. If we assumethat out of 270 GW, 190 GW is for solar and 70 GW is for wind power and rest 10 GW for other sources, theambition translates to about 27 GW of solar power per year and 10 GW of wind power per year.

The targets till now have been ridiculously small as compared to the future planned targets. The target setfor 2014-15 for wind power was 2 GW out of which only 1.33 GW was achieved till December 2014. Thetarget set for solar power was set at 1.1 GW and not even 50 per cent of it was achieved till December,2014. The total achievement in solar power sector till now is only 3 GW. Hence, if we are looking atachieving 190 GW in next seven years, it is about 63 times of the current installed capacity. Although thisincludes both grid-connected solar and rooftop solar, the targets are still too steep to achieve. In the last25 years, wind power sector has achieved an installed capacity of 22.4 GW. However the plan in the nextseven years is to more than triple this number.

Walk the talk on carbon tax, Mr Finance Minister

Budget 2015, presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, has a first. In it, India has accepted that it has ade-facto carbon tax—on petroleum products and dirty coal. Arguably, the only big green initiative of thisbudget is the increase of cess on coal—from Rs 100 per tonne to Rs 200 per tonne. But the question is: isthis carbon tax, imposed on the carbon content of fuel, doing what it should—reduce greenhouse gasemissions that are responsible for climate change?

high price on diesel and petrol are important price signals to limit consumption and, hence, CO 2emissions. In 2014, taking advantage of the global fall in fuel prices, subsidy or under-recovery has goneand the government has increased excise duty on both petrol and diesel. So even though fuel is cheaper,the tax component is higher. The Economic Survey estimates that based on emission factors, currently,India imposes an implicit carbon tax of US $140 per tonne of CO 2 on petrol and US $64 on diesel. This issubstantial.

environment, Down to Earth, CurrentAffairs, carbon tax,Wed, Mar 4, 2015

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The Economic Survey also estimates that the cess of Rs 100 per tonne of coal is equivalent to a carbon taxof US $1 per tonne of CO 2 . It argues that this cess should be increased so that it can lead to CO 2reduction and also better reflect the health cost of emissions from coal-fired power plants. It calculatesthat a three-fold increase from the current rate would lead to an annual CO 2 emission reduction of 129million tonnes—this is equal to seven per cent of India’s current emissions. A five-fold increase in the cesswould equalise price of domestic coal with international and would contribute to annual CO 2 emissionreduction of 214 million tonnes, which is 11 per cent of India’s annual emissions.

In budget 2015, the finance minister has opted to take the slow road and has doubled the cess on coal tobalance the need to tax pollution and the price of power in his words. He also mentions that India’s de-facto carbon tax on most petroleum products compares with international norms. But is this tax anadequate signal to bring about change?

Let’s take petrol and diesel. The fact is that the government has increased the tax on fuel because it isconvenient. It will be important to maintain this “carbon tax”, even when the price of petrol and dieselincreases in the international market. But it is also a fact that the price of these fuels is lower today and asfar as the consumer is concerned, the signal to change consumption is weak and inadequate.

Therefore, not only does the government require to tax these polluting fuels, it also requires to use the taxfunds and much more to provide infrastructure to wean us away from cars or using roads to transportgoods. What is bad is budget 2015 is doing the reverse. It says it will set aside Rs 4 per litre of the exciseduty on petrol and diesel for a dedicated road cess. This tunnel vision of viewing infrastructure fortransport as just “roads” is regressive. Instead, what is needed is to reinvent mobility so that it movesgoods and people, and not vehicles. The fact is that budget 2015 has recognised that this excise duty is acarbon tax, which is putting a price on each tonne of CO 2 emitted. Now this tax must be used to help shiftto less carbon-intensive ways of production.

We also know that the health costs of air pollution are very high. Budget 2015 does little to address thisconcern. It does not say that the excise duty collected on dirty fuel will be used to upgrade refinerytechnology so that we can get clean fuel and breathe easy. It is also a fact that even though thegovernment is no longer subsidising diesel, its price remains lower than that of petrol, mainly because ofdifferential levels of taxation. So, even though there has been a decline in the number of diesel private carsbeing sold, it is not enough to make a dent in pollution levels. Therefore, what is needed is to tax dieselvehicles to equalise the price differential.

This is also the case with coal cess. The government now aims to use this cess to clean the Ganga or buildtoilets. All this is important but takes us away from the objective of moving away from using polluting fuelsor cleaning emissions from thermal power.

What is needed is to walk the talk. Not just talk the talk.

8/11/2015 kiwipaper


China: documentary fuels emission control debate

A new documentary highlighting the hazards of smog in China, which has gone viral on the Internet, is setto fuel an energetic debate on emission controls

it amplifies one of the core aspects of “Chinese Dream,” a pet slogan of President Xi Jinping. Mr. Xivisualises the emergence of an environment-friendly China, where prosperity is not channelled intoconsumerism but into rational, eco-friendly consumption as part for his “Dream.”

a poll has shown that “pollution control and environmental protection remains one of the biggest areas ofpublic concern

With the national sentiment against pollution spiralling, Chinese authorities have launched an app onsocial media forum WeChat that allows the public to report polluting practices to the authorities

As the Chinese planners embark on the difficult process of transitioning towards an innovation andenterprise oriented economy, the market for “clean energy” products is expected to rise

“The documentary has greatly raised the public’s awareness and knowledge on environmental protection,which will surely benefit the growth of the industry,” The output of China’s energy-saving andenvironmental protection sector is expected to reach $719.5 billion dollars in 2015.

environment, The Hindu, China, air pollution,Tue, Mar 3, 2015

Clean energy sector seeks more clarity

The renewable energy sector may find it difficult to realise the targets set for them without clarity on thefunding of various schemes

In the absence of methodologies for accessing funds such as the National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) , itbecame difficult to draw upon these resources

Set up on the principle of polluter pays, Coal India Ltd. was supposed to pay Rs.50 as a cess for every tonneof coal it raised. Mr. Jaitley raised this to Rs.200 in his latest budget.

clean energy, environment, The Hindu, renewable energy,Tue, Mar 3, 2015

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The NCEF is estimated to have swelled to over Rs.30,000 crore and reports suggest that in the absence ofstrict guidelines and a firm methodology, the fund is lying mostly unutilised. He pointed out that thetargets, especially for solar energy, appeared to be stiff given the performance of the sector so far.

Against the targeted 1.75 lakh MW for solar energy by 2022, only around 3,000 MW of installed capacityhad been created.

Coal cess not enough to cut emission: CSE

The Budget proposals for 2015-16 has no strategy in place to address green concerns, the Centre ofScience and Environment (CSE) said, adding that the only “green initiative”

“A five-fold increase in the cess would equalise price of domestic coal with international prices and wouldcontribute to annual CO{-2}emission reduction of 214 million tonne, which is 11 per cent of India’s annualemissions. However, in budget 2015, the Finance Minister has opted to take the slow road and hasdoubled the cess on coal to balance the need to tax pollution and the price of power in his words,”

environment, Climate Change, CurrentAffairs, Businessline, carbon dioxide, coal cess,Mon, Mar 2, 2015

Electricity from Paddy Straw

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is promoting generation of electricity from variousagro-residues including paddy straw. A target of 400 megawatt biomass power projects for the 12 th Planperiod and 100 megawatt during the current financial year i.e. 2014-15 have been set by MNRE.

The Minister further stated that fiscal incentives such as accelerated depreciation, concessional customsduty, excise duty exemption, income tax holiday for 10 years and preferential tariff are provided forbiomass power projects

environment, PIB, electricity, CurrentAffairs, Rice husk,Mon, Mar 2, 2015

Encouragement of Solar Power Projects

The Government encourages setting up of solar power projects through various measures like:-

environment, Renewable energy, PIB, solar power, CurrentAffairs,Mon, Mar 2, 2015

8/11/2015 kiwipaper


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(i) Grant of subsidy on off-grid applications.

(ii) Provision for renewable purchase obligation for solar has been made in the National Tariff

Policy.

(iii) Concessional Import duty/Excise duty exemption for setting up of solar power plants,

accelerated depreciation and tax holiday.

(iv) Generation based incentive and facility for bundled power for Grid connected Solar Power

Projects through various interventions announced from time to time.

(v) Several R&D efforts have been initiated for new technologies and improvement in efficiency.

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