Environment ministry planning to ease coastal regulation norms

The environment ministry’s plan to revamp coastal regulation norms could open up the 7,500km-long coastline for developmental projects but environmentalists fear for marine life

The environment ministry is planning to revamp India’s coastal regulation norms, a move that could open up India’s 7,500km-long coastline for developmental activities.

Environmentalists say that the proposed norms would have serious implications for the marine environment and are weaker compared with the current Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification, 2011.

The draft of the new coastal norms, accessed by environmentalists using the right to information (RTI) law, reveals that it would open the coastline for activities such as tourism and real estate.

The draft Marine and Coastal Regulation Zone (MCRZ) notification 2017 was accessed by Meenakshi Kapoor, who works at the Delhi-based think tank Centre for Policy Research, using the RTI Act 2005, on Tuesday. Kapoor criticized the environment ministry for not releasing the draft to the public for wider consultations.

“Since 2014, the entire process of reviewing and revising the CRZ notification, 2011 has been a closed-door exercise, she said.

“Instead of the environment ministry inviting suggestions and feedback from coastal communities, researchers, urban planners and legal experts on the implementation of the CRZ Notification and proposals for reform, there has been a reluctance to share the details of this review.”

The draft, reviewed by Mint, is currently under inter-ministerial consultation.

An environment ministry official, requesting anonymity, said the draft is expected to be finalized soon. The draft has already been discussed with the Union ministries of tourism, shipping and urban development.

“Once views of the ministries are included, it would be put online for views and suggestions from all stakeholders including public and experts,” the official said.

An analysis of the draft reveals that it proposes to shrink the no-development zone in rural coastal areas from 200m from the high tide line now to merely 50m, where temporary tourism facilities will be permitted.

The draft proposes to also allow temporary tourism facilities in ecologically sensitive areas.

The proposed notification also states that state and Union territory governments are to prepare tourism plans for their respective MCRZ areas.

According to the draft, housing and basic infrastructure for local inhabitants will also be allowed after 50m from the high tide line in rural areas, compared with the 2011 notification which permitted houses for coastal communities after 100m.

The draft also proposes to reduce the coastal protection zone for islands from the present 500m from the high tide line to just 20m.

The proposed draft also proposes to give powers to state authorities to decide the extent of developmental activities.

The draft, however, clarifies that activities related to Defence Research and Development Organization, Indian Space Research Organisation, exploration and extraction of oil and natural gas and extraction of minerals will continue to require clearances from the environment ministry.

India’s first CRZ notification was issued in 1991, under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, empowering the central government to restrict industrial activities and processes to protect the coastline. It was amended 25 times before being comprehensively revised in 2011.

In June 2014, the National Democratic Alliance government constituted a committee under Shailesh Nayak, then secretary in the ministry of earth sciences, to look into issues raised by states regarding the 2011 CRZ notification. In January 2015, the Nayak panel submitted the report. That report has also not 
been made public by the ministry.

Biodiversity. But what is it?

Biodiversity is one of the less well-described aspects of environmental change when it comes to metrics for guiding, enforcing and refining efforts to sustain it

International Biological Diversity Day fell on 22 May in the UN calendar of commemorative days. This decade—until 2020—is the Decade on Biodiversity by the same measure.

Biodiversity is a good thing to call attention to. It helps regulate climate, air, soil, hydrology and other parts of our context that we’d like to keep within habitable ranges. It provides food, fuel, and shelter and maintains the ongoing supply of such material goods. The diversity within the genetic “portfolio” of the plants and animals around us is an important source of insurance against the stress of accelerating environmental change. Biodiversity contributes to inspiration, mental health and stress reduction. Pretty much all of the good things in life trace back to biodiversity “ecosystem services” one way or another.

But we need to do more than admire and commemorate it. We need to start measuring biodiversity and its evolution more effectively: comprehensively enough to inform local politics, decision-making, and trade-offs; and comparably enough for enforcing international treaties and targets.

Biodiversity conservation is a cause that people can get behind. Changes in the composition and range of animal, plant and other species are some of the most widely recognized aspects of environmental disruption.

Studies from the Himalayas to the Peruvian altiplano find that alterations in plant and animal patterns are one of the first forms of environmental change that people in rural areas notice. For those of us in the more insulated urban world, the general threat to biodiversity is visible in mainstream media. The perils of letting bees go extinct, for example, have shown up on blogs with titles like “Why Bee Extinction Would Mean The End Of Humanity”. TV shows, school curricula, magazines, and best-selling non-fiction have helped convey findings about species loss from academic science to a wide audience.

The economically damaging and uncomfortable effects of biodiversity loss are visible on political and corporate time-scales. These are not invisible emissions or ephemeral changes in temperature here and there. Biodiversity is more like air quality—there is potential for constructive politics.

We also have an international infrastructure for maintaining biodiversity. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), a legally binding treaty to conserve biodiversity has been in force since 1993. Nearly all countries have ratified it (notably, the US has signed but not ratified).

But we need to be more precise about biodiversity in order to make the most of these institutions. Biodiversity is one of the less well-described aspects of environmental change when it comes to metrics for guiding, enforcing, and refining regional and global efforts to sustain biodiversity. “National biodiversity monitoring programmes differ widely, most data sets are inconsistent, and few data are shared openly,” write A. Skidmore and colleagues in a 2015 comment paper in Nature. National submissions to the CBD are often incomplete: containing information on animals and plants but missing fungi, for example. There are no doubt many reasons that we missed the 2010 CBD targets for halting biodiversity and seem poised to miss the 2020 targets but R. Hill and co-authors identify “delayed feedback and insufficient information flows” as significant factors in a 2015 Global Environmental Change article.

Biodiversity has various dimensions: the number of species represented, the heterogeneity of the species, and the “evenness” with which different species are represented (more concentrated populations with many members of one species and few of another are less “diverse” than ones with less concentration, even if the overall species counts match).

The first, the crudest, is the most commonly available metric. The second and third dimensions, however, are probably the most important for understanding the sustainability of the non-human communities around us. L. Santini and colleagues point out another challenge in their 2016 paper in Biological Conservation: commonly used summary indices for biodiversity offer incommensurate and sometimes inconsistent messages about changes in biodiversity over time. We are flying blind and cross-eyed.

Traditionally structured international efforts to measure biodiversity are moving slowly. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UN has long recognized the value of biodiversity for food security, but the first report on The State Of The World’s Biodiversity For Food And Agriculture, will only be coming out later this year. The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services , established in 2012 in the hopes of producing a biodiversity equivalent of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change series, had to cut its 2018 budget by a third and postpone three reports after donations from the 126-member nations failed to keep pace with the work programme. Scientific publications on new species have increased since the Global Taxonomy Initiative was initiated in 1998 as part of the CBD, but M. Costello and co-authors in a 2013 Nature article estimate that just 1.5 million of the 5+/- 3 million species on the planet have been named.

New forms of international scientific collaboration, information technology-fuelled citizen science, advances in remote sensing as well as free dissemination of some publicly funded datasets, and a rise in private philanthropic interest are picking up some of the slack. But will these be too little, too late?

Putting a global price on carbon

Putting a global price on carbon
A carbon tax is less likely to face political opposition while creating avenues for businesses and growth

We stand today on the brink of a long-term anthropogenic and ecological change, caused not by the forces of nature but our own exploitation of the planet’s resources. There is compelling evidence that climate change is the greatest and widest-ranging market failure ever seen, and there is a large chance of a global average temperature rise exceeding 2ºC by the end of this century. It has also been established in various scientific studies that any such warming of the planet will lead to increased natural calamities such as floods and cyclones, declined crop yields and ecological degradation. A large increase in global temperatures correlates with an average 5% loss in global GDP, with poor countries suffering costs in excess of 10% of GDP.

As a mitigation policy

A global and immediate policy response is urgently required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change. We want to reinvigorate the discourse towards adopting a multilaterally coordinated imposition of a carbon tax as a potent mitigation policy. A carbon tax aims to internalise the externality of climate change by setting a price on the carbon content of energy consumed or greenhouse gas emitted in the production or consumption of goods. Carbon tax regimes will only be effective if harmonised internationally. Different country-wise policies could lead to ‘carbon leakages’ where energy-intensive businesses will most likely move to less strict national regimes.

Harmonised carbon taxes hold advantages over quantitative limits imposed through government control and regulation. First, a carbon tax regime avoids the problems related to choosing a baseline. In a price approach, the natural baseline is a zero carbon tax. Second, a carbon tax policy will be better able to adapt to the element of uncertainty which pervades the science of climate change. Quantity limits on emissions are related to the stocks of greenhouse gas emissions, while the price limits are related to the flow of emissions. From this uncertainty arises another complication of price volatility which is the third reason why a carbon tax policy is likely to cause less volatility in the prices of carbon emissions.

Fourth, quantity limiting policies are often accompanied by administrative arbitrariness and corruption through rent-seeking. This sends off negative signals to investors. In a price-based carbon tax, the investor has an assured long-term regulation to adapt to and can weigh in the costs involved.

Addresses issue of equity

Fifth, the most contentious issue in any international negotiation on climate change mitigation either at the level of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) or at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has been the issue of equity between high-income and low-income countries. The price-based approach in the form of carbon taxes makes it easier to implement such equity-based international adjustments than the quantity-based approach. Finally, the carbon tax will essentially be a Pigovian Tax which balances the marginal social costs and benefits of additional emissions, thereby internalising the costs of environmental damage. It can act as an incentive for consumers and producers to shift to more energy-efficient sources and products.

Some countries and regions such as the U.S. and the European Union already have fairly successful carbon pricing regimes in place in the form of carbon taxes and emissions trading schemes. Some other countries have introduced general taxes on energy consumption instead of direct taxes on carbon content. This can be a good starting point for a shift in policy by countries while they deliberate on a harmonised carbon tax regime. The political consensus in favour of a direct carbon tax will be difficult to achieve in low- and middle-income countries that have developmental priorities and lack the capacity to administer such regimes. A general tax on energy consumption combined with a technology-centric policy that promotes entrepreneurs and investors who develop low-energy intensive products can be a good starting point from where they can gradually move towards a direct carbon tax. Another near-term approach can be a ‘cap-and-tax’ which combines the strengths of both quantity and price approaches. Cap-and-tax might also address the concerns of environmentalists that a price-based approach does not impose hard constraints on emissions.

Africa as a priority region

We conclude with a few areas of further deliberation to move forward on an effective harmonised carbon tax regime. Countries must negotiate and share policy experiences and researches in this area. They also must decide upon the appropriate forum to discuss and implement any such mitigation policy. The WTO could be the preferred forum, given the important nexus between international trade and climate change. Finally, any prospective policy regime must give the highest importance to the African continent. A rapidly growing African economy must then be able to learn from past lessons without having to choose between economic growth and climate change mitigation.

A carbon tax policy might not seem a magic wand, but it is also less likely to face political opposition and compromise while creating new sectors for businesses and growth.

Satellites find ‘hidden forests’ helping fight against global warming

Vast tracts of land previously considered barren are actually covered by forests ‘hiding in plain sight’, scientists said, in a find that could help fight climate change 

Vast tracts of land previously considered barren are actually covered by forests “hiding in plain sight”, scientists said on Friday, a discovery that could help the fight against climate change and desertification.

An international team of researchers led by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) used new technology to analyse high-resolution images from Google Earth and map forest coverage in drylands worldwide.
They found that trees like baobab and acacia shade 467 million more hectares of land than previously thought—an area roughly equal to half the size of the United States—increasing estimates of global forest cover by at least 9%.
The discovery allows for more accurate assessments of how much greenhouse gases are absorbed from the atmosphere by the world’s vegetation, FAO experts said.
“Drylands absorb more carbon than we thought and they can actually help mitigate climate change,” Eva Muller, director of FAO’s forestry policy and resources division said.
The analysis, published in journal Science, would also help forestry experts better identify areas suitable for restoring trees and vegetation in a bid to slow down desertification, added Jean-Francois Bastin, one of the study’s authors.
In Africa only, some 60 million people could be forced to leave their homes within five years and two thirds of arable land could be lost by 2025 as land progressively turns into desert, according to the UN.
Bastin said the new estimate of forest coverage was calculated using a data collection tool named Collect Earth, which enabled researchers to analyse Google Earth satellite images with a resolution of less than one meter.
“This allowed us to visually see and almost count the trees,” he said.
Earlier studies used lower definition images with a resolution of 30 to 250 metres that made it difficult to distinguish trees from soil in semi-arid areas where vegetation is sparse, he said.
Thanks to the new method, “hidden” forests were found on every continent, with the largest concentrations in sub-Saharan Africa, the Mediterranean, India, Australia, South America, Canada and Russia, the study said

CPCB releases draft guidelines for bio-remediation of hazardous oily wastes

Bio-remediation of hazardous waste shall be carried out only after obtaining authorization from state-level pollution control boards, says CPCB draft guidelines

Soil and water contaminated by oil could soon be returned to their natural state using bio-remediation, a process in which micro-organisms break down oil to less harmful substances.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) last week released draft guidelines for bio-remediation, minimizing the need to dispose waste at landfill sites.

CPPB has invited comments and suggestions for the guidelines to be submitted latest by 10 May.

The guidelines are in line with the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 notified by the Union environment ministry in April 2016.

As per the proposed guidelines, the types of hazardous oily wastes that can be bio-remediated are, “oil contamination on land or stagnant water due to accidental oil spill, residual oily sludge lying in old dumping pits, crude oily sludge generated during processing, oil contaminated drill cuttings/synthetic oil based mud waste, crude oily sludge from marketing installation/ depots/ tap off points/retail outlets of petroleum refineries and oil contaminated wastes from other allied industries”.

CPCB said bio-remediation of hazardous waste shall be carried out only after obtaining authorization from state-level pollution control boards.

It also specified that in-situ bio-remediation will only be used in cases where contamination has occurred deep below the ground level or where residual oily sludge is already lying in old dumping pits and their excavation is extremely costly and difficult and in cases where stagnant water is contaminated due to oil spillage.

Another important requirement before starting in-situ bio-remediation would be that, “geological data supports that surrounding environment/population is not affected because of possible migration of pollutants till the desired level of bio-remediation is achieved”.

“In rest of the cases, ex-situ bio-remediation shall be considered,” the guidelines added.

In-situ bio-remediation involves treating the contaminated material without removing it from its original place at the site while ex-situ involves the removal of the contaminated material from the original place to be treated above-ground or elsewhere.

The draft guidelines said that one of the main advantages of bio-remediation is that in hydrocarbon spills remediation can be achieved at much deeper depths that cannot be reached easily without excavation and it is a less expensive than excavation.

“Bio-remediation may subsequently enable appropriate reuse of treated soil and minimizing disposal of waste to landfill thereby providing sufficient protection of human health and the environment,” it added.

four Clean Himalaya Expeditions

four Clean Himalaya Expeditions

Expeditions an Effort to extend Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to Himalayas

Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Youth Affairs & Sports, Shri Vijay Goel flagged off four Clean Himalaya expeditions and a Medical Mountaineering expedition to Mt Satopanth (7075 Mtrs) at the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF), here today. Appreciating the IMF for its efforts to promote mountaineering and allied adventure sports, Shri Goel said that such initiatives will not only help in ensuring safe practices during the conduct of adventure activities, but will also add to the skill levels of the youth, enhancing their employability, as well as instil discipline and courage in youngsters.

Interacting with the team members, the Minister stressed upon the need to address environmental concerns while promoting adventure tourism. He added that adventure tourism not only contributes in transforming the youth, but also holds a lot of potential in helping in the economic growth of the country. Shri Goel also wished the team a safe and successful climb.

Making a presentation on the cleaning expeditions, President IMF, Col HS Chauhan pointed out that in an effort to extend the Prime Minister’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to the Himalayas, IMF is launching four Himalaya Cleaning expeditions to popular destinations in Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand & Arunachal, which have been sponsored by ONGC as a part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme.

The Medical Mountaineering Expedition is a Certification course on Expedition Medicine for Mountaineers & Trekkers approved by the Medical Commission of the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA). The core mission of the expedition is to create an expanding pool of Holistic Mountain Leaders, capable of providing integrated basic health care, life support and rescue logistics to expeditions and the remote mountain communities until the arrival of definitive medical care.

A team of 25 non-medical mountaineers and 25 trekkers led by Dr Anil Gurtoo, an experienced mountaineer and Professor, Medicine at Lady Hardinge Medical College will participate in this expedition from May 8 to June 10, 2017. The expedition will also include lectures by specialists from leading teaching hospitals of Delhi on various medical issues faced by mountaineers at high altitudes.

Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs, Dr. A.K Dubey, President, Indian Mountaineering Foundation, Col H.S Chauhan and renowned mountaineer Major H.P.S Ahluwalia, as well as school children and young mountaineers were among those present on the occasion.

Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) is recognized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports as the National Apex Body to regulate mountaineering, trekking, sport climbing and allied adventure activities in the country. IMF conducts activities under the National Programme for Youth and Adolescent Development (NPYAD) scheme of the Ministry to promote mountaineering and land-based adventure sports among the youth of the country.

India’s initiative to save Mother Earth

India’s initiative to save Mother Earth

United Nations celebrates a special day to celebrate Mother Earth on 22^nd April. Launched in 1970 with 10000 thousand people, today it covers one billion people in 192 countries. The basic objective is to raise awareness about the obligation of human beings to protect Earth and share its resources with future generations.

The theme for 2017 is to create “environment and climate literacy” to empower the knowledge base of common people towards the issue and inspiring them towards actions to defend the Mother Earth.

According to IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) India is most vulnerable to the impact of climate change adversely impacting the health, economic development and food security.

In order to address this challenge of climate change India has evolved a comprehensive plan ‘India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC): Working towards Climate Justice’.  This document addresses the issue holistically including the elements of adaptation, mitigation, finance, green technology and capacity building. While implementing these intended actions, it calls for the right of developing countries for an equitable carbon space to achieve sustainable development and eradication of poverty.

The formation of Rs 3500 million or US Dollar 56 million ‘National Adaptation Fund’ will initiate policies towards renewable energy through multiple initiatives to achieve the target of reducing carbon emissions by 33 to 35 percent by 2030.

The main focus is to revisit the National Missions under National Action for Climate Change (NAPCC) with additional missions on wind, health, water and redesigning missions on sustainable agriculture.

The adaptation strategy is directed towards sustainable use o land and water resources. The implementation of soil heath cards across the country, watershed and use of water efficient irrigation programme will pave way towards risk proofing agriculture. The coverage of agricultural insurance of crops though climate change disasters is another initiative that comes to the rescue of farmers.

The mitigation strategies involves generation of clean and green energy by increasing renewable energy capacity form 35 GW (Giga Watt) to 175 GW by 2022. In addition to the National Solar Mission that targets fivefold increase in solar power to 1000 GW, it also aims to develop smart power grids to enhance the efficiency of power transmission and distribution across the country. To cap the wastage of energy consumption a nationwide campaign for energy conservation is launched to save 10 per cent energy consumption.

While these are macro level policies to address the issue of climate change, the government of India has initiated micro projects that have direct benefits accruing to the poorest groups while contributing to saving energy.

Under the ministry of Renewable Energy, UJALA scheme is launched in which 22.66 crore LED bulbs are distributed that will save Rs 11776 crores while reducing carbon emission up to 24 Metric tons per year.

Similarly under the ministry of Petroleum free LPG connections are given to women holding BPL cards. The Prime Ministers Ujjwala Yojana has already reached 2 crore households and it aims to reach the target of 5 crores house holds by 2019 with an outlay of Rs 8000 crores.

This has direct impact on rural women empowering them by providing easy access to clean energy source that improves their health and reducing the pressure on forest resources as well as reducing the carbon emissions.

The Swaach Bharat Mission is another strategy under which there are initiatives to create energy form the waste in urban areas. Similarly recycling and reuse of waste water is another initiative 23277 millions litre of water per day in 816 sewage treatment plants across the country.  

Green India Mission is another initiative to reforest barren land with the annual target of increasing the forest quality and cover in 5 million hectares will sequester 100 million tons of carbon annually.

The traditional Indian culture emphasised the need for harmonious co existence between man and nature. With the concept of “Basudaiv Kutumbakam” all life forms on the Earth is considered as one family and reinforces the concept of interdependence. Before the advent of Mother Earth Day in the modern world, the Vedas and Upanishads considered Earth as our mother and human being as the children. Much before the arrival of climate change crises, our forefathers envisaged the concept of environmental sustainability and to become the trustees of Earth to be passed on to future generations.

It will be appropriate to recall the statement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the United Nations summit in which he said “We should forge a global public partnership to harness technology, innovation and finance to put affordable clean and renewable energy within the reach of all. Equally, we must look for changes in our lifestyles that would make us less dependent on energy and more sustainable in our consumption. It is equally critical to launch a global education programme that prepares our next generation to protect and conserve Mother Earth”.

Thus it is only through creation of environment and climate literacy that will result in global action of changing the life styles that leads to reduction in the carbon emission that we can save Mother Earth.

NDMA conducts its first mock exercise on forest fire in Uttarakhand

NDMA conducts its first mock exercise on forest fire in Uttarakhand

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) conducted a first-of-its-kind State-level mock exercise on forest fire in Uttarakhand today. The mock exercise, aimed at assessing the efficacy of integrating the preparedness and response mechanisms of the forest department with those of the district administration, has been conducted in collaboration with the State Government.

The exercise is significant as almost 70 per cent of the State's geographical area is under forests and incidents of forest fires are commonplace.

The simulation exercise was conducted simultaneously at multiple locations, including residential areas adjoining forests, across all 13 districts covering different types of forests and varying degrees of severity of forest fires.

NDMA expert Major General V.K. Datta (Retd.), who led the exercise, briefed about the proceedings of the day. As soon as reports of fire incidents started flowing in from districts, all senior officials reached the State Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) within a short time. They analysed the situation and issued instructions to districts for responding to the forest fires.

Simultaneously, officials in the districts also assembled at their respective EOCs, formed response teams and swung into action. Using various techniques and equipment, fires were doused and affected people, animals rescued.

The exercises were conducted in coordination with various agencies, such as fire, forest, Army, health, police, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and civil defense. After the drills, a post-exercise analysis was carried out in which all concerned officials took part and discussed the shortcomings and ways to improve them.

The mock exercise was part of a three-day event which began with a Co-ordination Conference on April 18, 2017, followed by a Table-top Exercise on April 19, 2017. These meetings were held to ensure that necessary arrangements for conducting the mock exercise have been put in place.

NDMA has so far conducted more than 550 mock exercises in different States and Union Territories for various disaster situations in its efforts to improve preparedness and response mechanisms for various disaster situations. 

Ganges clean-up in a shambles, Narendra Modi intervenes

India’s $3 billion plan to clean the Ganges is badly behind schedule with large stretches contaminated by toxic waste and sewage, forcing PM Narendra Modi to intervene

India’s $3 billion plan to clean the Ganges river is badly behind schedule with large stretches contaminated by toxic waste and sewage, forcing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene, according to government officials and documents seen by Reuters.

Much of the money allocated to the project, a flagship initiative for the Modi government, remains unspent, say officials from National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), a government body overseeing the project.

In one slide of a presentation to a top Modi aide in late January, NMCG officials marked almost the entire length of the river within three big circles to highlight “pollution in river Ganga”.

A 2018 deadline to clean the river is “impossible”, one NMCG official said. “If we want to meet the 2018 deadline, we should have commissioned plants to treat half the sewage already,” he said, requesting anonymity, because he is not authorised to speak on the record.

Over three-quarters of the sewage generated in the towns and cities of India’s crowded northern plains flows untreated into the 2,525km Ganges, according to the presentation, which has not been made public.

State administrations have struggled to find land for new treatment plants, while complex tendering processes have put bidders off pitching for new clean-up projects, officials said.

The Ganges is worshipped by Hindus, who make up about 80% of India’s 1.3 billion people.

Recognising that the clean-up mission is in a shambles, Modi has decided to take personal control, a senior NMCG official said. The clean-up drive is important as Modi wants to show tangible improvement before the next election in 2019.

His principal secretary, Nripendra Misra, has met NMCG officials almost monthly since November, demanding to see updates on the project’s progress, the NMCG official said. Misra did not respond to messages and calls seeking comment.

Modi, voted to power in 2014, committed $3.06 billion for the clean-up in the five years to 2020 but the January presentation showed just $205 million had been spent between April 2015 and March 2017.

Water resources minister, Uma Bharti, who is responsible for overseeing the clean-up and announced the 2018 deadline, did not respond to requests for comment.

“I have lost hope,” said Rakesh Jaiswal, head of a small Ganges-focused environmental group in the industrial city of Kanpur since 1993. “There has been nothing on the ground.”

Sewage, pollution

India’s top environmental court in February ruled “not a single drop of the Ganga has been cleaned so far”, accusing the government of wasting public money.

The river stretches from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal and is a water source for 400 million people. But it is also the destination for waste produced by 760 industrial units described by the NMCG as “grossly polluting”.

In addition, the NMCG presentation showed, about 4,800 million litres of sewage from 118 towns and cities flows into the Ganges every day. The functioning capacity to treat sewage is 1,017 million litres per day (MLD).

According to official data, the Modi administration has cleared the construction of plants to treat an additional 933 MLD, and the rehabilitation of existing plants with a capacity to clean an additional 1,091 MLD.

Of these, plants treating less than 160 MLD have been completed, but it is unclear if they have started operations. The problems are striking in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh state: toxic pollution from tanneries operating in the industrial city flows down slum-lined open sewers into the Ganges.

Of the 456 tanneries in the state that back onto the river, most of them in Kanpur, authorities have shut down just 14, according to the government presentation.

The government has also lagged on the simpler tasks of cleaning the ghats, the riverside steps where devotees assemble to bathe, and the sites on the banks where bodies are cremated.

Of the 182 ghats to be modernised, work on only 50 has started. Of 118 crematoria, just 15 are currently being renovated, with work awarded for another 31, the presentation showed.

“The situation has deteriorated every year, fewer people visit now and there are no prayers at this river bank,” said Ram Das, a Hindu priest at a riverside temple.

Modi takes control

Modi may find it easier to launch new clean-up projects in Uttar Pradesh, through which the longest stretch of the Ganges flows, after his party wrested power from an opposition party in a state election last month.

Uttar Pradesh’s new chief minister Yogi Adityanath has long championed cleaning the Ganges. Last week he inspected a riverfront development along a Ganges tributary, calling for work to be accelerated.

“You will see improvements. We have asked the states to speed up progress and money is not an issue,” said C. V. Dharma Rao, deputy director general at the NMCG in New Delhi.

On a recent evening at a ghat in Kanpur city, workers were fixing sandstone around the steps that led down to the Ganges, one of dozens of riverfront facelifts that the government has launched.

But the state of the river was unchanged—black water, full of plastic and other waste thrown by devotees, flowed slowly as mosquitoes buzzed above.

Challenges to protect Forests in India

Challenges to protect Forests in India

 India is one of the mega diversity countries in the world with different types of forests. Officially 20 per cent of geographical area in the country is under forest cover. The National Forest Policy (1988) aims to increase the forest cover to one third.

 According to India State Forest Report released in 2015, the forest cover has increased by 5081 square kilometres between 2013 - 2015, increasing the carbon sinks by 103 million tonnes.

Though Mizoram has the highest 93 per cent forest cover, many north eastern states have experienced decline in green cover. The country faces numerous challenges in implementing its policies to protect and grow forests.

 Protection of forests is done through implementation of Forest Conservation Act (1980) and through establishment of protected areas. The Government of India has established 597 Protected Areas of which 95 are National Parks and 500 Wild Life Sanctuaries. These comprise about 5 per cent of the geographical areas of the country. Different type of forests and scrub jungles are host to the diverse wild life including the tigers, elephants and lions.

Due to the rising population there is enormous pressure on forest land for extraction of forest based industries and encroachment for extension of agriculture. The rising conflicts between conserving forests for generating ecosystem services and diversion for developmental project poses one of the biggest challenges in managing the forest resources.

It is estimated that the demand for timber is growing at a faster speed from 58 million cubic meters in 2005 to 153 million cubic meters in 2020. The annual growth of the forest stock can only supply 70 million cubic meters of timber, forcing us to import hard wood timber from other countries.

 In India 67 per cent of the rural household depend on firewood for cooking. About one million deaths are reported annually caused by the fumes of firewood for cooking.  In order to address this problem, Pradhan Mantri LPG Scheme ‘Ujjwala Yojana’ is implemented by Ministry of Petrolium and Gas that provides free LPG connections to BPL families in remote rural areas. This has provided access to clean and efficient energy to a large number of families in the countryside.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has given the call to celebrate world forestry day for 2017 with the theme of ‘forests and energy’.  The emphasis is to develop wood as a major source of renewable energy, to mitigate climate change and fostering sustainable development. By developing community wood lots and delivering clean and energy efficient wood stoves, millions of people in developing economies will have access to cheap and reliable supply of renewable energy.

Green India Mission

The Climate Change Action Plan and the Green India mission attempts to address the issue of development of wood energy by establishing large scale tree plantations with the help of community participation.

According to Shri Anil Madhav Dave, MOS (I/C), M/o Environment, Forest and Climate Change “there are two major afforestation schemes, National Afforestation Programme (NAP) and National Mission for Green India (GIM). Both these schemes are implemented in participatory mode under joint forest management programme”.  NAP aims at eco regeneration of degraded forests and GIM aims at increasing the forest cover along with improving the quality of the forests, including the farm and agro forestry.

Under GIM, six million hectares of plantations will be established every year on degraded forest land.

One of the main pillars of afforestation is to regrow the forests in lieu of diversion of the forest land for developmental purposes. Both the houses of Parliament passed the Compensatory Afforesttion Bill in 2016. With a provision of Rs 42000 crores, and annual outlay of  Rs 6000 crores will be made available to states to facilitate conservation, improvement and expansion of forest resources in the country. This Act provides institutional framework at both central and state levels to implement the compensatory afforestation programme.

Additionally this will generate 15 crore man days of direct employment in the remote forest areas of the country helping tribal population. 

While implementing these green schemes, India faces enormous challenges. The climate change directly impacts the survival of planted saplings. The extension of dry areas and desertification is another big challenge that needs to be tackled with proper interventions.  There is need for participatory models of afforestation in which the local knowledge helps to regenerate and manage the forest resources.

Realising the strength of the tribal knowledge systems, the Prime Minister said” if there is someone who saved the forests, it is our tribal communities, and for them saving forests is part of the tribal culture”. He called upon the people to take the pledge to collectively work to conserve forests and increase the tree cover. More forests mean more water that benefits farmers and future generations.

In ancient Indian tradition the Rishis, or those who are the learned and sages get energy form the forests.  According to Rabindranath Tagore, life in forest is the highest form of cultural evolution.  The sages derived intellectual and spiritual energy from the forests, living near trees and water streams.

Though the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation has laid out ‘wood energy form the forests’ as the main theme of International Forest Day,  Indian tradition assigns much higher status and  value to the living energy of the forests to attain spiritual and cultural regeneration of life. This seems to be more holistic in understanding the links between forests and energy.

The Great Ganga Cleanup: A Timeline

Considered to be one of the endangered rivers of the world, river and flood experts have raised concerns over the contamination of River Ganga. As the Government gears up to make River Ganga pollution free, here is a look at the Namami Gange journey

Features, World Water Day Special

 

| 

Written By Gopi Karelia

 

| March 20, 2017

 

 0

 

It is India’s lifeline, cutting across 5 states and providing water to 40% of India’s population across 11 states, but the Ganga is in distress. For centuries it has been revered and worshipped but today it is among the most polluted rivers in the world, full of waste from industries, religious offerings to cremation activities. In 2014, the government launched the ₹20,000 crore Namami Gange project to clean and beautify the Ganga.

Within the first month of the project, 704 industries were examined by the National Ganga River Basin Authority and out of those, forty eight industries were asked to shut down.

In 2014, various river surfaces faced a rise in pollution levels due to lack of waste disposal techniques. It was then, that the Namami Gange project began the cleanliness work in 5 locations- Varanasi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Mathura and Patna.

The Great Ganga Cleanup: A Timeline

It is India’s lifeline, cutting across 5 states and providing water to 40% of India’s population across 11 states, but the Ganga is in distress. For centuries it has been revered and worshipped but today it is among the most polluted rivers in the world, full of waste from industries, religious offerings to cremation activities. In 2014, the government launched the ₹20,000 crore Namami Gange project to clean and beautify the Ganga.

Within the first month of the project, 704 industries were examined by the National Ganga River Basin Authority and out of those, forty eight industries were asked to shut down.

In 2014, various river surfaces faced a rise in pollution levels due to lack of waste disposal techniques. It was then, that the Namami Gange project began the cleanliness work in 5 locations- Varanasi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Mathura and Patna.

The Great Ganga Cleanup: A Timeline

1. May 2015 | Centre allocates  ₹20,000-Crore for the next five years. It also introduces a three-tier mechanism to improve implementation of this flagship initiative. 
   Read: http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/centre-okays-rs-20-000-crore-budget-for-namami-ganga-scheme-762770  
2. November 2015 | River Ganga to be one of the cleanest rivers by October 2018 assures Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti. 
   Read: http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/ganga-to-be-one-of-the-cleanest-river-by-october-2018-uma-bharti-1244165    
3. January 2016 | The Central Government launches the Ganga Task Force Battalion deployed at Garhmukteshwar to ensure that citizens do not pollute the river.
4. July 2016 | In presence of Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari and Narendra Singh Tomar, Water Resources Minister, Uma Bharti launches the ‘Namami Gange’ initiative with 300 projects in more than 103 locations in five basin states of river Ganga. 
   Read:  Namami Gange Projects Worth Rs. 250 Crore Launched In Uttrakhand
5. September 2016 | Parameswaran Iyer, Secretary of Drinking Water and Sanitation Ministry assures that all the villages across Ganga will turn Open Defecaton Free by the end of 2016. According to ministry officials, 1300 villages have already gained the ODF status post the clean Ganga initiative. 
   Read: Villages Along The Ganga To Be Open Defecation Free By December
6. October 2016 | More than 5000 idols were immersed across Ganga during Durga Puja in Bihar thereby raising the pollutions levels lakes, rivers and ponds. Despite several appeals from Bihar State Pollution Control Board’, people contaminated water with harmful elements such as mercury, zinc oxide, chromium and lead 
   Read: Immersion Of Idols Increasing Ganga’s Pollution Level In Bihar
7. October 2016 | National Green Tribunal (NGT) says central and state officials clueless on the amount of waste generated in the Ganga and do not know how many drains are polluting the river. 
   Read: Authorities Clueless On How Many Drains Carry Sewage Into Ganga: NGT
8. October 2016 | Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board blames residential and commercial building for a poor waste management system. Multi-storied complexes built along the floodplains of Ganga and Yamuna have failed to introduce a mechanism for municipal solid wastes thereby contaminating the rivers. 
   Read: ‘Encroachments On Floodplains Release Sewage Into Ganga, Yamuna’
9. December 2016 |  NGT orders Uttar Pradesh authorities to compile industries operating between Haridwar and Unnao. The report must consist of details on quantum and quality of waste being generated into the rivers. 
   Read: National Green Tribunal Directs UP Authorities To Give Details Of Industry Clusters Near Ganga
10. December 2016 | In first of its kind decision, the government seeks to introduce a new bill under Ganga Act to punish those found polluting the river. 
    Read: Government Planning To Penalise Those Found Guilty Of Polluting Ganga
11. January 2017 | The Supreme Court orders the central government to prepare a fresh report on the status of the ongoing Ganga cleaning programs in the five states through which the river passes. 
    Read: Update Report On The Status Of Ganga Clean-up: SC To Centre
12. January 2017 | The Union Water Resources Ministry announces deploys 20,000 youth known as ‘Swachhta Doots’ in Uttarakhand, Uttar   Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal to spread the cleanliness message.  The Rs. 10 crore project aims to train the youth to motivate people to refrain from polluting the Ganga. 
    Read: 20,000 Youths To Be Trained And Deployed As ‘Swachhta Doots’
13. January 2017 |  Corporate India joins the ‘Namami Gange’ project as part of their CSR activities. 
    Read: Government Seeks Corporate Assistance To Clean Ganga
14. January 2017 |  Corporate India joins the ‘Namami Gange’ project as part of their CSR activities.
    Read: Government Seeks Corporate Assistance To Clean Ganga
15. February 2017 | NGT questions the government agencies on execution of the Rs. 20,000 crore ‘Namami Gange’ project. The tribunal says that public money is being misused in the name of cleaning the Ganga. 
    Read: Public Money Wasted, Not A Drop Of Ganga Cleaned: National Green Tribunal
16. February 2017 | NGT questions the government agencies on execution of the Rs. 20,000 crore ‘Namami Gange’ project. The tribunal says that public money is being misused in the name of cleaning the Ganga. 
    Read: Public Money Wasted, Not A Drop Of Ganga Cleaned: National Green Tribunal
17. February 2017 | Copper and chromium level rises in several tributaries of Ganga due to illegal processing of electronic waste. National Green Tribunal orders an investigation over dumping and burning of e-waste. 
    Read: Is Electronic Waste Being Dumped Along The Ganga? NGT Orders Probe
18. March 2017 | Under the ‘Namami Gange’ project, the government allots an additional Rs. 1050 crores to build sewage treatment systems. Two Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) to be constructed in Patna to ensure timely waste disposal. 
    Read: Projects Worth Rs. 1,050 Crore Announced To Clean Ganga
19. March 2017 | National Mission for Clean Ganga launches a mass movement ‘Ganga Swachhata Pakhwada to create awareness and a sense of ownership among the people living along the banks of River Ganga about cleanliness and sanitation.
    
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    New initiative launched to keep Ganga clean. #NamamiGange

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20. March 2017 | Government declares 3234 villages Open Defecation Free under the Namami Gange.
    
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    3234 villages have been declared #ODF under the Namami Gange initiative which aims to provide a clean environment. #SwachhataPragati

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21. 2017 | In a landmark judgement, Uttarakhand High Court grants a legal human status to River Ganga and Yamuna. 
    Read: http://swachhindia.ndtv.com/ganga-yamuna-living-human-entities-hc-5650/