Statement on Climate of India during 2020

 The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) recently released its Statement on Climate of India during 2020. According to IMD, 2020 was the eight warmest year on record since 1901.

What are the Key Highlights of the Statement on Climate of India, 2020?

• Around twelve out of fifteen warmest years since 1901 were between 2006 and 2020.
• The rainfall as a whole during South West Monsoon was above normal. It was 109% of the Long Period Average (calculated between 1961 and 2010).
• The past decade, 2019-20 was the warmest decade on record.
• Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were the hardest hit states due to adverse weather. More than 350 deaths were reported in these two states sue to thunderstorms. Cold wave events and lightning.
• Thunderstorm and Lightning caused 815 deaths in 2020.
• The average Land Surface Air Temperature over India in 2020 was 0.29 Degrees Celsius above normal.
• The mean temperature during winters was also above normal. It was recorded as 0.140 degrees Celsius greater than the normal.
• The Monsoon and post monsoon seasons recorded mean temperature anomalies of +0.430 degrees Celsius and +0.53 degrees Celsius respectively.
• According to the World Meteorological Organization, the Global mean surface temperature anomaly was recorded as +1.2 degrees Celsius.

What were the Cyclones formed during 2020?

There were five cyclones formed in the North Indian Ocean in 2020. They were Super Cyclonic Storm AMPHAN, Cyclonic Storm BUREVI, Severe Cyclonic Storm NISARGA and Very Severe Cyclonic Storm NIVAR and GATI. Of these cyclones, Nisarga and Gati formed over Arabian Sea and the remaining formed in Bay of Bengal.

Under which Ministry does IMD operate?

Ministry of Earth Sciences.

Where are regional offices of IMD located?

Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Nagpur and Guwahati.

Which regions are under the monitoring of IMD?

Northern Indian Ocean including Malacca Straits, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Persian Gulf. It mainly monitors formation of cyclones and issues warnings to these regions.

Strive for a sustainable ocean economy

 

The development of a sustainable ocean economy is essential for India in its quest to become a $10-trillion economy in the next decade-and-a-half

Global warming, along with the impact of other negative human activities, is devastating our oceans. This has led to an alarming rise in sea levels that could displace millions of people. The ocean is turning warmer, less predictable, and more acidic, causing a decline in fish stocks and the death of coral reefs.

The millions of tonnes of plastics dumped into the oceans every year contaminate at least 700 species of marine life. Unregulated overfishing has already driven many marine species to extinction and this could eventually threaten global food security. Oceans produce half the planet’s oxygen and absorb more than 90% of the anthropogenic heat. The ocean-led economy is estimated to be contributing more than $1.5 trillion a year to the global economy, with millions employed in related sectors.

We must understand that if the resources of the ocean are sustainably harnessed, it could multiply economic benefits while protecting the natural ecosystem. The solution lies in collaboration among stakeholders, governments, businesses and coastal communities.

The High Level Panel for A Sustainable Ocean Economy (Ocean Panel), launched in 2018 by 14 world leaders, is leading the initiative for a sustainable ocean economy. It comprises leaders from Australia, Canada, Chile, Fiji, Ghana, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Namibia, Norway, Palau and Portugal. It has proposed the ocean as a solution to a more resilient world and has committed to sustainably manage 100% of their national waters.

The Covid-19 pandemic and the economic loss caused by it have increased the need for governments to find opportunities for sustainable growth. The Ocean Panel lays emphasis on the fact that the ocean economy will be more important than ever for a post-Covid-19 recovery.

A report commissioned by the panel — Ocean Solutions That Benefit People, Nature and the Economy — spells out the new contours of the relationship between the ocean and humanity.

Investing $2.8 trillion today in four ocean-based solutions — offshore wind production, sustainable ocean-based food production, decarbonisation of international shipping, and conservation and restoration of mangroves — will yield a net benefit of $15.5 trillion by 2050, the report says. It also delineates the path for policymakers to achieve a sustainable ocean economy by focusing on five building blocks: Using science and data to drive decision-making; engaging in goal-oriented ocean planning; de-risking finance and using innovation to mobilise investment; stopping land-based pollution; and changing ocean accounting so that it reflects the true value of the ocean.

All this will be key in achieving what the report calls the three Ps of effective protection, sustainable production and equitable prosperity. The incentives for governments to undertake this are powerful in terms of net benefits in the long-run.

India, with its coastline of 7,500 km, has a lot to gain if it aligns itself with the objective of a sustainable ocean economy. We have coast harbours, rich ecosystems with extensive mangroves, seaweed beds, salt marshes and coral reefs. About 250 million people live within 50km of the coast, many of whom depend on the sea for their livelihood.India has to do a lot in the management of maritime litter, especially plastics. Around 80% of all marine pollution originates on land. The most effective way of stopping ocean pollution is to tackle pollution on land. Shifting to a circular economy will yield enormous benefits.

The responsibility for tackling plastic pollution lies not just with the government, but also corporates. Corporates must play a major part in reducing plastic pollution. Hindustan Unilever Limited, as the biggest consumer products company in India, aims to keep plastics within the circular economy. Unilever has committed to ensuring that 100% of plastic packaging is fully reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025. Over the last two years in India, we have facilitated the safe disposal of more than 1,00,000 tonnes of post-consumer use plastic waste. We have partnered with United Nations Development Programme and Xynteo’s India 2022 coalition to establish holistic solutions for managing end-to-end dry waste management and achieve circular economy for plastics including through behavioural change.

The development of a sustainable ocean economy is essential for India in its quest to become a $10-trillion economy in the next decade-and-a-half. With wide-scale collaboration, the help of data-driven decision-making, goal-oriented ocean planning, mobilising of investment under innovative models and reducing the land pollution, we can achieve economic goals sustainably.The ocean holds answers to several challenges that humanity is facing. We must protect what we are left with. As the report says, “The ocean is not too big to fail, and it is not too big to fix. But it is too big to ignore.” We owe a sustainable ocean economy to our next generation.

Sanjiv Mehta is chairman and managing director, Hindustan Unilever Limited

Source: Hindustan Times, 2/12/20

Environmental regulatory system should be bridge between community, industry

 

The pandemic presents an opportunity for us to think of a new recovery path, one that can decouple economic growth and environmental degradation

In a conversation, the moment it is evident that I am from Kerala, the first comment usually is that it is a beautiful state. The conversation typically extends to saying that no industry can survive in Kerala. I defend my state by stating that, not many companies are mature enough to operate in Kerala. Having said that, the Kerala diaspora is a well-known story. The state also has a high debt ratio and in recent times, has been one of the slow economic growth states. I am not implying that the industrialised states of India are much better, but there is something not quite right.

The pandemic presents an opportunity for us to think of a new recovery path, one that can decouple economic growth and environmental degradation. It becomes more important as India sees opportunities on the global call to diversify the supply chain and its internal call for Atmanirbhar Bharat. For that, we need to strengthen our production and manufacturing capabilities.

Indian cities feature high in the list of polluted cities in the world, and the country features very low on quality of life. At the same time, any discussion on more production facilities, mining, utilities and construction evokes fears about where we are going wrong. We have all the environmental regulations we need, but the biggest gap lies in monitoring and implementing them. Take the municipal solid waste rules. Two decades after the regulations came into effect, their status is for all to see. A comparatively recent regulation, centred around Extended Producer Responsibility, has also posed challenges in monitoring and implementation. In a recent ruling, the judiciary not only ruled against the industry but also blamed officials responsible for implementing the regulations. This will not help us in capitalising on the current opportunity. Regulatory infrastructure is supposed to be the bridge of trust between the community and industry. If the bridge is not stable, the community and industry feel the impact, which, over a period of time, spreads to the nation.

No community wants an industrial facility, a key economic engine, shut unless there are very serious issues. Other than an accident, such problems don’t happen over a day. When early signs from the environment are neglected, they reach thresholds leading to a community upsurge. Then the political system intervenes. It is a battle that nobody wins. Even as a nation, we have shown inability to showcase growth in a sustainable manner.

Diluting regulatory requirements is not a solution — in the long run, it will create more adverse impacts resulting in greater community upsurge. The focus has to be to improve the system’s capabilities to monitor and implement regulatory requirements. There needs to be greater transparency and accountability; there is no dearth of technology to facilitate this. Around the world, we are also debating another issue of extreme surveillance. Since somebody is always watching, spotting, noticing or identifying the problem should not be a challenge. But what happens after that is a challenge. The intention and capacity to take action, rectify and diffuse is critical. The right ecosystem between the industry, community and regulator is crucial — if the three stakeholders remain isolated and get activated only in a crisis, we will not make any progress towards solving the issue.

I will go back to Kerala to discuss an initiative by the state’s police — Janamaithri Suraksha. It aims to bridge the gap between the police and public with citizens’ involvement. We need similar maithri, an improved level of trust, between the regulator, community and industry on environmental protection. The conventional manner of waiting for an agitation, investigating and then knocking on the doors of justice is not the way to sustainable development.

Any anthropogenic activity will have impacts. It is important to understand whether we have a net positive effect from all stakeholders’ perspectives, wherein the future generation is also a key stakeholder. I wrote earlier that the way forward is to decouple economic growth and environmental degradation. However, it would be more right to say that we need to couple growth and environmental protection. Environmental health will be the key enabler of socio-economic growth in the future.

It is important for us to get this right quickly. Community activism in terms of environmental damage is surging and we will have more judgments from the courts. Nobody benefits from such outcomes in the long run. We need to grow to keep progressing, and for that we need industries. When trust between the industry and community erodes, there are more agitations.

By focusing on the bridge element of the regulatory system, I am not undermining the role of industry and the community. Industry needs to realise that it is a part of an ecosystem and not at the centre of it. Communities get impacted, either positively or negatively. They need to empower themselves through education, so that they are not driven by the agenda of individuals with vested interests.

We need to accept that we have a challenge in implementing environmental regulations. The community does not trust that the industry is meeting its compliance requirements. The regulatory system’s role is to improve this trust quotient. There is a need to evolve a more effective implementation involving all stakeholders, and a more transparent monitoring system. There is, thus, a necessity for a maithri system.

As we plan our recovery past the pandemic, we have a good chance to create a new normal. We need to align towards a common cause and goals. We should not miss this chance.

This article first appeared in the print edition on September 1, 2020 under the title ‘Address the trust deficit’. Jayaram is partner and head, Climate Change and Sustainability Advisory, KPMG India

Source: Indian Express, 1/09/20

Why do Indigenous Communities Continue to Practice Shifting Cultivation?

Shifting cultivation continues to be a predominant agricultural practice in many parts of India, despite state discouragement and multipronged efforts to wean indigenous communities away from it. Their land, due to remoteness, poor access to markets and undulating terrain, leaves them with few alternatives.

In northeast India, a 2018 report released by the Indian government revealed that an area of 8500 square kilometres is still being used to practice shifting cultivation (SC) – an agricultural system practiced for centuries.

The process consists of cultivating land temporarily and then abandoning it – usually for a period of one to two decades so the soil recuperates its fertility and reverts to its natural state. Because it involves the felling of trees for temporary cultivation, it is blamed for deforestation, soil erosion and loss of biodiversity, all contributors to global climate change.

However, contrary to this popular notion held by state officials and other agencies, the practice does provide a sustainable means of livelihood and food security to the communities that practice it. The problem lies in both its commercialisation and production pressures arising from a human-population increase, leading to a reduction in fallow length – the period between two cultivation phases.

In a book called Shifting cultivation policies: Balancing environmental and social sustainability (2017), an outline of the role of government and local institutions in regulating shifting cultivation over time has been described. Interventions aimed at stopping shifting cultivation go as far back as pre-British rule when the Ahoms from upper Burma ruled over Assam state. The rulers discouraged the practice and instead introduced alternatives such as wet-rice farming. Additionally, between 1827 and 1947, in the early colonial period of British rule, shifting cultivation was seen as primitive and efforts were made to ban the practice and wean farmers away from it.

In 2011 a New Land Use Policy aimed at transforming SC in northeast India was implemented by the state government of Mizoram. Multiple efforts to discourage farmers continue to this present day.

Considering all these government policies, schemes, and interventions aimed at discouraging the practice over the last century, a burning question emerges: why, after so many years of attempts at termination and control, do these indigenous communities persist in practicing SC? A recent study published in the journal Forest Policy and Economics set out to investigate just that.

Based on a survey of 500 people drawn from 52 villages, representing six districts in northeast India; Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura, they highlighted key findings on the impacts of transformative adaptation, specifically the socio-economic and environmental impacts of shifting away from SC towards other uses. This adaptation is considered necessary to mitigate the adverse impacts of global climate change, seeking to reduce the risk it poses. However, such transformative changes, such as the increased dominance of settled agriculture, for example, could have unintended consequences, such as the erosion of their rich cultural traditions.

The found attachment takes three forms: traditional or institutional social bonding (attachment to the local community and traditions), economic bonding (attachment to the form of livelihood and the place) and nature bonding (attachment to the natural landscape). The fourth dimension analysed was the lack of any worthwhile alternative.

Social bonding was found to be the most important factor, understandably so given it is a collective exercise that requires cooperative behaviour. It also allows them to sustain their rich cultural traditions. It is strengthened through culturally imbibed practices such as festivals that are observed throughout the agricultural cycle.

Karthik Teegalapalli, a researcher at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, studies shifting cultivation and spent months studying the Adi tribe in Central Arunachal Pradesh, northeast India, where families cultivate together in large patches. He discovered a barter system when it came to managing the land.

“Since SC is an arduous form of cultivation, families band together during clearing and burning of the fields, and also during sowing and harvesting,” he said. “Each hillslope and cultivated patch has a long history that every farming household in the village is aware of.”

Lack of suitable alternatives was the second most important factor. As Dileep Kumar Pandey, the study’s lead author and an associate professor in the Department of Social Sciences at Central Agricultural University (Manipur), Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh said: “At times, SC is the only potential option available to ensure the food and nutrition security of the indigenous people.” If alternatives were offered, they would consider giving up SC.

Because of the relatively inaccessible mountainous and hilly locations, access to markets is difficult and therefore indigenous communities derive a higher sense of economic security from SC, explaining the third most important factor – economic bonding. Also, settled agriculture requires an initial investment and regular purchase of chemical weed and pesticides.

Finally, nature bonding is the fourth most important dimension – forests are sacred to those who practice SC and the diversity of crops strongly links with food security. SC differs not only from state to state in the northeast but village to village and among families too. Teegalapalli says current systems have adapted to the locations and access available to them: “The more remote locations have continued to practice SC as they always have with minor modifications, whereas communities closer to urban centres have completely modified their practice and undertake it almost completely for monetary outputs,” he says.

The dense forests supply them with everything they need to survive, including timber to build homes, food, and medicines, increasing the probability they can earn livelihoods and survive. “SC is not only a land-use system but a way of life, hence, the people cling on to this,” said Pandey. “To safeguard sustainability, optimise ecosystem-based approaches and socio-ecological system frameworks, harmonisation of cultural ecosystem services and human wellbeing would be essential so as to ensure positive outcomes of management interventions on SC.”

In other words, planning for better adaptation needs to satisfy the less tangible needs and aspirations of these communities, allowing them to sustain their rich cultural traditions.

Suresh Babu, head of capacity strengthening at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), believes COVID-19 has allowed SC to be seen with a fresh perspective, particularly in terms of boosting food security and agriculture for the communities who practice it. He says, “the ecological aspects of SC are key for the preservation of indigenous crops and cultivars grown by native populations for centuries.” Its characteristics are “useful in the context of addressing climate change and other uncertainties.” These, however, require “strong institutional support” and “collective action institutions to be nurtured amongst them.”

Recently, the government has announced shifting cultivation may soon receive legal backing. A comprehensive policy is being written, spearheaded by government think tank NITI Aayog, aimed at supporting the practice and ensuring cultivators have access to credit and benefits such as subsidies. This plan includes defining the land used for SC as agricultural land, something Teegalapalli sees as “a welcome move” as long as it is carefully implemented.

Aimee Gabay is an intern at Mongabay and studies journalism in London

Source: The Wire, 24/06/2020

Waste-to-Energy plants that use solid waste as feedstock pose threat to environment

WtE plants in India burn mixed waste. The presence of chlorinated hydrocarbons like PVC results in the release of dioxins and furans when the waste is burnt at less than 850 degree C. Appropriate filtering mechanisms need to be installed to control such dangerous emissions.

We wish we could scream loud enough for our readers and the municipal authorities to hear that Waste to Energy (WtE) plants in our cities, using inadequately segregated municipal waste as feedstock, are highly dangerous because of the toxic gases and particulates they spew when they burn mixed waste in the process of incineration.

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Residents of Okhla and surrounding areas in Delhi have been protesting that the WtE plant in their vicinity is not complying with the stipulations of National Green Tribunal (NGT). Is it too much for an urban locality with houses, hospitals, schools and shops to want no industrial polluter in their midst? With its location within 30 metres of the residential areas, emissions remain a major issue with the residents. The plant was slapped a fine of Rs 25 lakh in February 2017 by the NGT but many questions about air quality standards in the area remain unanswered, including why the plant spews soot and ash in the neighbourhood.

To rub salt on the wound, we understand that the authorities are considering the expansion of this WtE plant from 16 MW to 40 MW. The latest protests by the residents at a public hearing were reported in the press only a few days ago. The residents claim that the plant’s original Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) — issued to IL&FS — bears no resemblance to the plant now in operation. A new EIA has been filed for the proposed expansion, and they are apprehensive about the proposal to add two boilers.

There are five municipal WtE plants operational in India with a total capacity to produce 66.4 MW electricity per day, of which the lion’s share — 52 MW per day — is generated in Delhi by its three existing plants. There is also talk of setting up a new WtE plant with a capacity of 25 MW at Tehkhand in South-East Delhi. The bandwagon is rolling on with cities across different states vying for WtE plants as a quick and lazy solution to the complex challenge of solid waste management.

WtE plants in India burn mixed waste. The presence of chlorinated hydrocarbons like PVC results in the release of dioxins and furans when the waste is burnt at less than 850 degree C. Appropriate filtering mechanisms need to be installed to control such dangerous emissions. Dioxins and furans are known to be carcinogenic and can lead to impairment of immune, endocrine, nervous and reproductive systems. They are extremely difficult and costly to measure, as the experience of Okhla shows. In the past, joint inspections involving the residents have shown that the plant was being operated without the adequate use of activated charcoal to filter out dioxins, furans and mercury from the emissions.

Even when incineration takes place under optimal conditions, large amounts of flue gases, mercury vapour and lead compounds are released, and there is always about 30 per cent residue from incineration in the form of slag (bottom ash) and fly ash (particulate matter), which are also known to be serious pollutants of air and water. Even people living in the neighbourhood of the best-maintained plants in the West are said to be prone to higher levels of cancer and other illnesses. That is why WtE plants are being phased out in the West. Unfortunately, while the clamour for WtE plants is growing in India, their operations are neither strictly maintained nor adequately monitored.

SWM Rules 2016 require that PVC be phased out in incinerators by April 2018. But it is impossible to identify and remove PVC beverage labels, for example, from mixed waste streams. As a preventive measure, the NGT directed the Ministry of Environment and Forests to consider the phase out of such single-use short-life PVC and issue appropriate directions by July 2017. Their failure to do so till date is inexcusable.

WtE plants in India are also inefficient in generating energy. Municipal waste in India has a very high biodegradable (wet) waste content ranging anywhere between 60 and 70 per cent of the total, compared with 30 per cent in the West. This gives our waste a high moisture content and low calorific value. Also, since Indian households have traditionally been recycling their waste such as paper, plastic, cardboard, cloth, rubber, etc, to kabadiwalas, this further lowers the calorific value of our waste.

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India’s Solid Waste Management policy requires that wet and dry wastes should not be mixed so that only non-compostable and non-recyclable wastes with at least 1,500 kcal/kg should reach WtE plants. Such waste comprises only 10 to 15 per cent of the total waste. The challenge of segregation at source is compounded by the municipal governments themselves when they use compacters to reduce the transport cost of the waste. Compacting compresses the waste and makes even gross segregation at the plant site impossible. In the absence of adequate feedstock of non-compostable and non-recyclable waste, it becomes necessary to use auxiliary fuel, adding to the cost of operating the plants.

Private companies (mostly foreign) are keenly hawking “waste to energy solutions” to handle our growing volumes of urban waste. Our urban local bodies, which bear the responsibility for solid waste management in our cities, are easily misguided into adopting these “solutions”. They are themselves reluctant to make an effort at keeping wet and dry wastes, recyclable and non-recyclable wastes, unmixed. They find WtE plants an easy option to legitimise the burning of mixed waste.

Municipal authorities should be made aware that WtE technologies are being phased out in the West. They should not be allowed unless the waste offered meets the criterion specified by the SWM Rules 2016. A crucial element of enforcement will be to first ensure that the waste is not mixed at the source of generation and then that the handling of waste is in unmixed streams. Even where outsourcing contracts clearly specify that handling must be in unmixed streams, there should be strict penalties for non-compliance.

To summarise, WtE plants using municipal solid waste from Indian cities as feedstock pose a serious threat to our health and environment. We do not even have the municipal waste of the quality prescribed by our own SWM Rules to run such plants, let alone the regulatory and monitoring capacity to ensure their safe operations. We must seriously explore low cost options such as composting and bio-methanation. First things first: No mixing of waste at the point of generation.

This article first appeared in the January 30, 2019, print edition under the title ‘Toxic plants’

Source: Indian Express, 30/01/2019

A clean environment will be our best gift to posterity

We have already compromised a lot on the prospects of the future generations to live in a healthy environment.

Early this year, Oxfam reported that the richest 10% of India’s population owns 73% of its wealth. As the graph of earnings of the rich climbed, and as the residence of the richest Indian was aiming at the sky, the poorest half of Indians was struggling, with a mere 1% growth. It is in the backdrop of this glaring disparity, that we have to read Robbie Andrew’s (CICERO Center for International Climate Research, Norway) comment that India’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions grew by an estimated 4.6% in 2017, despite it being a turbulent year for its economy. India’s emissions are low at 1.8 tonnes of CO2 per capita, compared to the world average of 4.2 tonnes, but it is a growing economy with an increasingly urbanising population. Andrew makes an interesting observation that demonetisation and the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) had noticeable effects on the economy and, therefore, on emissions, in the first eight months of 2017. Two contributing factors to this decline were the reduction in the consumption of petroleum products and the decline in cement production.

As one of the world’s largest economies, China ranks the highest in CO2 production. It is also the world leader in the fight against climate change, through its energy efficient green buildings and technological innovations and adaptations. According to China’s official news agency, its carbon intensity fell 5.1% in 2017 compared to the previous year. Its plans include commissioning eight large scale, carbon capture storage facilities, following the “Climate Works”, a Switzerland-based company that works on technologies for carbon footprint reduction. Their commercial plant, the first in the world, established in Hinwil was commissioned in May 2017. The plant removes 900 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year by passing it through a proprietary filter. This gas is then fed to nearby greenhouses with 20% increase in the yield of crops such as lettuce.

India was ranked as the third highest CO2 emitter in the world in 2015 after China and the US by the International Energy Agency. It has pledged under the Paris Agreement to reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by 33-35% by 2030. As a leading destination for private sector players in clean technology sectors, India is committed to achieve the renewable energy commitments made for the Paris Agreement, having created a 13-gigawatt-plus market for solar energy and the fourth largest wind power market in the world. However, if India is to lead climate change initiatives, it has to make more investments in technologies such as carbon capture. Developed nations are discussing several strategies for reducing carbon. These include higher efficiency at the coal-fired power plants, expanding the use of wind, solar, or other low/zero emitting alternatives, increasing energy efficiency in homes and businesses, and more. Steps suggested at the societal and individual levels are lifestyle related- energy efficient homes, solid waste reduction/recycling, choice transportation etc. Of course all this points to a sustainable style of living for generations to come.

One of my favourite definitions of sustainability is: “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (Our Common Future, a Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development). A few years ago, an elderly friend of mine, who lives in a plush area in Delhi, stayed at my home in Bangalore. Her stay at Bangalore was to relive two sights that she loves most: a starry night and a blue sky. Still possible to do both in Bangalore, perhaps not as spectacularly as she must have done in her youth. I asked her what our grandchildren would do and she replied sadly, “They will never miss this, as they would not have a chance to see them in the first place.” We have already compromised a lot on the prospects of the future generations to live in a healthy environment, to be able to breathe good air and drink pure water, or watch blue skies and starry nights. As political parties wrestle for power, let this be a pledge, an obligation to posterity: a clean and healthy environment.

Kusala Rajendran is professor at the Centre for Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India

Source: Hindustan Times, 28/01/2019

India, the world’s fastest growing major economy, must develop sustainably

India must focus on sustainable urbanisation, green industrialisation, and inclusion of the rural economy.

India is now the world’s fastest growing major economy. This is worth celebrating although there is a long road to catch up. In nominal terms, the US economy is still seven times as large as India’s. China’s GDP was 140% larger than India’s in 1998. Twenty years later, its faster growth rates have ensured that China’s economy is now 370% larger. But the nature of growth also matters: how sustainable, how equitable, how inclusive. Can India become not just the world’s fastest growing economy, but also the fastest growing inspiration?

China has enjoyed an investment-driven growth surge for four decades. In recent years, it has invested heavily in green infrastructure such as renewables and high-speed railways. In parallel, local governments have recently approved more than 100 new coal-fired power plants adding to a glut in thermal power capacity. A World Resources Institute report found that, during 2014-17, most of China’s cross-border loans and investments in energy and transportation via the Belt and Road Initiative were also linked to fossil fuels. China’s very high investment rates (44% of GDP in 2017)—a lot of black with shades of green—might not last long. It is certainly financially unsustainable for other developing countries.

With its new-found pole position, India has an opportunity to grow differently: green industrialisation, sustainable urbanisation, and inclusion of the rural economy. First, researchers at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) find that industrial development and a smaller carbon footprint need not be contradictions. It would mean using lower carbon energy sources for heavy industries, such as more efficient allocation of premium resources like natural gas, renewables-derived hydrogen for steel and ammonia, or refuse-derived fuels for cement. Two million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) account for 45% of industrial value addition and 40% of the workforce. Our survey of 429 MSMEs in eight states found that they needed practical training, working capital loans and policy signals to nudge them towards resource efficiency and to tap opportunities in a circular economy of converting waste into wealth.

Secondly, with 34% of the population living in cities, urban India is already the world’s second largest country. Hundreds of millions more will move to India’s cities. For a country on the move, only 10 cities have metro rail and 15 more have metro construction in the pipeline. Much more investment is needed for improved mobility via public transport and equitable connectivity.

Quality of life matters. As a hot country, our air-conditioning, refrigeration and cold chain demand will grow eight-fold by 2038. India can leverage its draft Cooling Action Plan to drive technology choices that use less-polluting refrigerants and more efficient equipment. Moreover, if we did not confront air and water quality as matters of public health and economic productivity, our cities will not be liveable and will lose out on investment.

As demand for built infrastructure rises, climate change and extreme weather events will make our fast-growing cities more vulnerable. Sustainable urbanisation means being proactive in designing cities by anticipating non-linear climate risks.

Urbanisation notwithstanding, we cannot drive a democratic, sustainable growth model without including the majority of the population still in rural areas. Even there, sustainability can be a driver. This, of course, includes agriculture. Experiments with natural farming are now gaining scale. Andhra Pradesh plans to shift all 6 million farmers to natural farming by 2024. Nationwide, there is a plan to deploy 2.75 million solar-based irrigation pumps, both standalone and grid-connected. These would be sustainable only if combined with efficiency in water use, paying attention to groundwater levels and switching to higher value crops. The non-farm sector offers another multi-billion dollar opportunity for sustainability. By CEEW’s estimates, for 14 non-farm income-generating activities, there is a potential market of $13 billion to use clean energy-based applications.

India’s experiments with sustainability need to internalise that India cannot be governed top-down. It can only be governed bottom-up, through an enabling mechanism that has equity at its core. If sustainability is seen to be an imposition, there will be backlash. Instead, if clean technologies improved delivery of essential services (energy, water, housing, mobility, healthcare) and if inclusive and innovative financing helped to invest in resilient infrastructure in towns and villages, then India would become an inspirational example, an alternative model to which many other countries could aspire. The celebration should not be about whether we are growing faster than China. The introspection should be about whether we are growing differently.

Arunabha Ghosh is CEO, Council on Energy, Environment and Water

Source: Hindustan Times, 18/01/2019

Urban India is willing to fight for its green lung

The challenge is structural and goes down to the foundational belief of the current paradigm that linear infrastructure is one of the key drivers of development and economic growth.

There appears to be a new awakening in urban India where city after city is fighting for its green spaces and its green lungs. Be it for the protection of the Aravali Biodiversity Park (ABP) in the national capital region (NCR), the Kasu Brahmananda Reddy (KBR) National Park in heart of Hyderabad, or the Aarey forests in Mumbai, the last few months have seen mobilisation of urban citizens, certainly a section of them, in defence of the environment. The citizens have been out on the streets, taken the matter to the courts, and also been actively mobilising the media and the political establishment in this fight.

There are at least two things that stand out in these particular efforts: the first is that these are about chunks of land with forest cover in the heart of these rapidly growing metropolises; and the second, that the threats to all of them come from linear infrastructure – roads in the case of Hyderabad and the NCR, and the metro in the case of Mumbai. It is also a fight that is led by a certain class of the populace, a kind of an urban environmentalism that is enthralling for its energy and dynamism, but also one that will also need a larger vision of the environment if it has to eventually succeed.

The challenge is structural and goes down to the foundational belief of the current paradigm that linear infrastructure is one of the key drivers of development and economic growth. This linear infrastructure is now the most significant cause of wild animal mortality across the country where thousands of reptiles, amphibians, birds and big and small mammals are dying in road and rail accidents or being electrocuted by high voltage power lines. The mobility imperative, of travelling further and deeper and faster, all of which originate (literally and conceptually) from the urban landscape, one might argue, has only come home to roost.

We, those who want to go on a long drive on an expressway to liven up a lazy Sunday morning; we, those who have benefitted from all the good roads, fast cars and the gleaming metros, are left fighting a situation that is of our own creation, indeed one that has benefitted us the most. We are complicit in the creation of the beast that we are now trying to get off mid-gallop! The Strategic Road Development Program in Hyderabad seeks to slice out parts of the last remaining forests of the city because road space is not enough any more just as the National Highway Authority of India wants to build a road through the green lung of Gurgaon to decongest the roads that connect it to Delhi.

This is also a structure that has always been hugely hostile to most other inhabitants of the urban space, be it centuries old trees that line our roads, the crumbling public transport system, the pedestrian and the cyclist who use the most environmental friendly modes of transport and yet constitute the biggest casualties in road accidents in our country or the cycle-rickshaw puller who seeks little but who is most marginalised in the hierarchy of urban transportation. The needs of these and many other such constituencies have to be accounted for, otherwise we will only be dealing with the symptoms of a malady that runs deep and wide.

One hopes that the current battles will be won, that the forests of Aarey will be saved, that the ABP in Gurgaon will continue to be oasis it is and the KBR national park will remain the jewel in Hyderabad’s crown. But, and it is important we don’t forget this, there will be many more such battles waiting ahead if the more fundamental issues, questions and challenges are not addressed. There is the bigger war lurking around the corner to ambush us. Perhaps it is upon us already!

Pankaj Sekhsaria is an environmental researcher and writer based in New Delhi and Hyderabad. His research interests lie at the intersection of science, society, technology and environment.

Source: Hindustan Times, 3/12/2018