Centre for Science and Environment masthead Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Donate

Cse In News

Cse In News

पेरिस वित्त शिखर सम्मेलन क्रांतिकारी समाधानों को आगे बढ़ाने में विफल रहा

“आज, सबसे कमज़ोर देश, जिन्हें जलवायु शमन के लिए भी धन की आवश्यकता है, उन पर क़र्ज़ का बोझ बहुत अधिक है। हम अब छोटे बदलावों या गरीबों में कम बदलाव के बारे में बात नहीं कर सकते। सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट (सीएसई) की महानिदेशक सुनीता नारायण, पेरिस में हाल ही में संपन्न न्यू ग्लोबल फाइनेंसिंग पैक्ट के शिखर सम्मेलन पर टिप्पणी करते हुए कहती हैं, ''हमें जवाब चाहिए और हमें जल्द ही इसकी जरूरत है।'' नारायण ने कहा, "शिखर सम्मेलन से कोई परिवर्तनकारी समाधान नहीं निकला, लेकिन इसने जलवायु और विकास वित्तपोषण संकट पर बातचीत शुरू की और इस गति को खोया नहीं जा सकता।" अपनी तरह के पहले पेरिस शिखर सम्मेलन का नेतृत्व फ्रांस के राष्ट्रपति इमैनुएल मैक्रॉन ने किया, और इसमें विकासशील दुनिया और यूरोप के कई नेताओं ने भाग लिया। इसका उद्देश्य गरीब और कमजोर देशों में धन की कमी को संबोधित करना है क्योंकि वे "परस्पर जुड़े संकटों के कॉकटेल" से जूझ रहे हैं - जैसा कि इथियोपिया के प्रधान मंत्री अबी अहमद ने कहा: रूस-यूक्रेन संघर्ष के कारण गरीबी, ऋण और मुद्रास्फीति उत्पन्न हुई। और जलवायु पर प्रभाव बढ़ रहा है। सीएसई की प्रोग्राम मैनेजर, जलवायु परिवर्तन, अवंतिका गोस्वामी, जिन्होंने व्यक्तिगत रूप से शिखर सम्मेलन की कार्यवाही में भाग लिया था, कहती हैं: “ग्लोबल साउथ के देश ऋण संकट में हैं और पर्याप्त जलवायु वित्त प्रवाह के बिना, अपनी अर्थव्यवस्थाओं को डीकार्बोनाइज करने के दबाव का सामना कर रहे हैं। शिखर सम्मेलन से कभी यह उम्मीद नहीं की गई थी कि इन समस्याओं का समाधान एक-डेढ़ दिन में हो जाएगा, लेकिन इसने एक महत्वपूर्ण बातचीत शुरू कर दी है। इसने इन संकटों के पैमाने, ग्लोबल साउथ के देशों की स्पष्ट माँगों और कार्रवाई के उन रास्तों पर प्रकाश डाला, जिनकी वकालत ग्लोबल नॉर्थ चुन रहा है।'' अवंतिका ने शिखर सम्मेलन में भाग लेने वाले विश्व नेताओं को उद्धृत करते हुए समस्या के पैमाने को रेखांकित किया। इथियोपिया के अबी अहमद ने कहा: “अफ्रीकी देश अभूतपूर्व धन संकट का सामना कर रहे हैं। सार्वजनिक और निजी ऋण नई ऊंचाइयों पर पहुंच गया है। लगभग सभी वस्तुओं में मुद्रास्फीति तेजी से बढ़ी है, और आज कई अफ्रीकियों के लिए दैनिक भोजन सबसे बड़ा मुद्दा है। बारबाडोस की प्रधान मंत्री मिया मोटली ने एक रैली का आह्वान किया: “विकासशील दुनिया कर्ज से डूब रही है। प्रथम विश्व युद्ध का कर्ज़ चुकाने में ब्रिटेन को सौ साल लग गए; द्वितीय विश्व युद्ध के बाद पुनर्निर्माण के लिए जर्मनी को अपनी ऋण सेवा को सकल घरेलू उत्पाद के 3 से 5 प्रतिशत तक सीमित करने में सक्षम होने के सभी लाभ थे। हम भी लोग हैं, हम भी देश हैं और हम भी इसी तरह के व्यवहार के पात्र हैं।” ग्लोबल साउथ क्या चाह रहा है? बहुपक्षीय विकास बैंक (एमडीबी) वित्तीय प्रणाली सुधार पर चर्चा के केंद्र में रहे हैं। भारतीय वित्त मंत्री निर्मला सीतारमण के अनुसार, एमडीबी को "गैर-उधार लेने वाले शेयरधारकों द्वारा अपने मूल विकास जनादेश के साथ-साथ सीमा पार चुनौतियों का भी समाधान करने के लिए कहा जा रहा है"। गोस्वामी कहते हैं, ''इससे एमडीबी के संसाधनों पर दबाव बढ़ेगा। विकसित देश मौजूदा एमडीबी संसाधनों से अधिक लाभ उठाना चाहते हैं, साथ ही बैंकों के अधिदेश के एक भाग के रूप में जलवायु को भी जोड़ना चाहते हैं। विकसित देश अपने बजट से अधिक पैसा देने के प्रति प्रतिरोधी हैं और यदि उनका भुगतान हिस्सा बढ़ता है तो भारत और चीन जैसी बड़ी अर्थव्यवस्थाओं से अधिक प्रभाव का जोखिम भी उठाते हैं। ग्लोबल साउथ के देश अधिक रियायती और अनुदान वित्तपोषण और विकासशील देशों में ऋण के स्तर में कमी की मांग कर रहे हैं, जिसमें अल्प विकसित देशों के लिए ऋण रद्दीकरण भी शामिल है। जस्ट एनर्जी ट्रांजिशन पार्टनरशिप्स (जेईटीपी) जैसे सौदों में प्रत्येक देश की परिस्थितियों, श्रमिकों और समुदायों की जरूरतों और गरीबी और बेरोजगारी को दूर करने के लिए विकास लक्ष्यों पर विचार करना चाहिए, जैसा कि दक्षिण अफ्रीका के राष्ट्रपति सिरिल रामफोसा ने बताया है। उन्हें यह स्वीकार करने में लचीला होना चाहिए कि देश की बुनियादी ऊर्जा जरूरतों को पूरा करने के लिए कुछ जीवाश्म ईंधन उत्पादन को अस्तित्व में रखने की आवश्यकता हो सकती है। और उन्हें पर्याप्त वित्तपोषण की पेशकश करनी होगी। उदाहरण के लिए, दक्षिण अफ्रीका के मामले में, 8.5 बिलियन अमेरिकी डॉलर के वित्तपोषण की पेशकश की गई है जो देश की अनुमानित 98 बिलियन अमेरिकी डॉलर की आवश्यकता से काफी कम है। केन्या ने वैश्विक वित्तपोषण तंत्र का आह्वान किया है जो राष्ट्रीय या शेयरधारक हितों का बंधक नहीं है, जबकि ब्राजील ने पूछा है कि उसे अपनी मुद्रा में नहीं बल्कि डॉलर में व्यापार क्यों करना चाहिए। शिखर सम्मेलन ने क्या घोषणा की एमडीबी: एक विवादास्पद एमडीबी विज़न स्टेटमेंट दस्तावेज़ को शिखर सम्मेलन में पूर्ण सहमति नहीं मिली। अलग से, यह घोषणा की गई कि उभरती अर्थव्यवस्थाओं के लिए 200 बिलियन अमेरिकी डॉलर की अतिरिक्त ऋण क्षमता खोली जाएगी। विश्व बैंक ने ऋण सौदों के लिए आपदा धाराओं की घोषणा की जो चरम मौसम की घटनाओं के मामले में ऋण भुगतान को निलंबित कर देगी। बैंक ने "नवीकरणीय ऊर्जा और ऊर्जा बुनियादी ढांचे पर विशेष ध्यान देने के साथ उभरते बाजारों और विकासशील देशों में निजी क्षेत्र को बड़े पैमाने पर निवेश करने से रोकने वाली बाधाओं को दूर करने वाले समाधान विकसित करने और तेजी से पैमाने पर समाधान करने के लिए एक निजी क्षेत्र निवेश लैब का भी अनावरण किया"। . विशेष आहरण अधिकार (एसडीआर): आईएमएफ ने घोषणा की कि कमजोर देशों के लिए एसडीआर में 100 बिलियन अमेरिकी डॉलर की पूर्ति कर दी गई है। अमीर देशों से एसडीआर का 'पुनर्चक्रण', जिनके केंद्रीय बैंकों को सहायता की आवश्यकता नहीं है, उन गरीब देशों को, जिन्हें इसकी आवश्यकता है

Extreme weather: Deaths have reduced but property loss increasing, says IMD chief

India has significantly reduced the number of deaths due to extreme weather events over the years but the loss of property is increasing amid socio-economic progress, the head of India Meteorological Department Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said on Thursday. Comparing the 2013 Kedarnath floods and the Himachal Pradesh floods this year, he said there has been an overwhelming improvement in early warning systems, prediction and preparedness, prevention and mitigation by disaster management agencies and the general public. "We have been able to minimise the number of deaths over the years, but the loss of property is increasing because socio-economic progress is increasing in the country," he said in a video message for the launch of a report by policy research think tank The Centre for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). With 2,500 people dying due to lightning strikes in India every year, Mohapatra said lighting has become a challenge while "we have almost fought and conquered disasters like tropical cyclones". "Lightning is a very small-scale event and takes less time to occur. Its prediction is also difficult," he said. However, over the years, the India Meteorological Department, the Ministry of Earth Sciences, and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology have together developed a modelling system for prediction of lightning. India is among only five countries in the world that have an early warning system for lightning. With the rise in urban population, he said, urban flooding has become another challenge for the country. According to the CEEW report, an estimated 72 per cent of districts in India are exposed to extreme flood events but only 25 per cent of them have level flood forecasting stations or early warning systems. Despite high exposure to floods, Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim are the best-performing states in terms of flood early warning systems. The report showed that Himachal Pradesh, currently battling massive floods, is among the states with the lowest availability of early warning systems. Uttarakhand, on the other hand, is moderately exposed to extreme flood events but has a high availability of flood early warning system, it said. Delhi, in the throes of severe flooding due to a raging Yamuna, is moderately exposed to extreme floods and has a moderate level of resilience through an early warning system (EWS). Approximately 66 per cent of individuals in India are exposed to extreme flood events. However, only 33 per cent of them are covered by flood EWS. Moreover, 25 per cent of the Indian population is exposed to cyclones and their impacts, but cyclone warnings are available to 100 per cent of the exposed population, the report said. According to independent think tank Centre for Science and Environment, India experienced extreme weather events on 314 of the 365 days in 2022. The events claimed 3,026 lives and damaged 1.96 million hectares of crop area. Extreme weather, climate and water-related events caused 573 disasters in India between 1970 and 2021 that claimed 1,38,377 lives, according to data from the World Meteorological Department, a specialised agency of the United Nations.

Extreme weather: Deaths have reduced but property loss increasing, says IMD chief

: India has significantly reduced the number of deaths due to extreme weather events over the years but the loss of property is increasing amid socio-economic progress, the head of India Meteorological Department Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said Thursday. Comparing the 2013 Kedarnath floods and the Himachal Pradesh floods this year, he said there has been an overwhelming improvement in early warning systems, prediction and preparedness, prevention and mitigation by disaster management agencies and the general public. “We have been able to minimise the number of deaths over the years, but the loss of property is increasing because socio-economic progress is increasing in the country,” he said in a video message for the launch of a report by policy research think tank The Centre for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). With 2,500 people dying due to lightning strikes in India every year, Mohapatra said lighting has become a challenge while “we have almost fought and conquered disasters like tropical cyclones”. “Lightning is a very small-scale event and takes less time to occur. Its prediction is also difficult,” he said. However, over the years, the India Meteorological Department, the Ministry of Earth Sciences, and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology have together developed a modelling system for prediction of lightning. India is among only five countries in the world that have an early warning system for lightning. With the rise in urban population, he said, urban flooding has become another challenge for the country. According to the CEEW report, an estimated 72 per cent of districts in India are exposed to extreme flood events but only 25 per cent of them have level flood forecasting stations or early warning systems. Despite high exposure to floods, Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim are the bestperforming states in terms of flood early warning systems. The report showed that Himachal Pradesh, currently battling massive floods, is among the states with the lowest availability of early warning systems. Uttarakhand, on the other hand, is moderately exposed to extreme flood events but has a high availability of flood early warning system, it said. 7/13/23, 5:36 PM Extreme weather: Deaths have reduced but property loss increasing, says IMD chief - OrissaPOST https://www.orissapost.com/extreme-weather-deaths-have-reduced-but-property-loss-increasing-says-imd-chief/ 3/9 Delhi, in the throes of severe flooding due to a raging Yamuna, is moderately exposed to extreme floods and has a moderate level of resilience through an early warning system (EWS). Approximately 66 per cent of individuals in India are exposed to extreme flood events. However, only 33 per cent of them are covered by flood EWS. Moreover, 25 per cent of the Indian population is exposed to cyclones and their impacts, but cyclone warnings are available to 100 per cent of the exposed population, the report said. According to independent think tank Centre for Science and Environment, India experienced extreme weather events on 314 of the 365 days in 2022. The events claimed 3,026 lives and damaged 1.96 million hectares of crop area. Extreme weather, climate and water-related events caused 573 disasters in India between 1970 and 2021 that claimed 1,38,377 lives, according to data from the World Meteorological Department, a specialised agency of the United Nations.

Extreme weather: Deaths have reduced but property loss increasing, says IMD chief

India has significantly reduced the number of deaths due to extreme weather events over the years but the loss of property is increasing amid socio-economic progress, the head of India Meteorological Department Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said on Thursday. Comparing the 2013 Kedarnath floods and the Himachal Pradesh floods this year, he said there has been an overwhelming improvement in early warning systems, prediction and preparedness, prevention and mitigation by disaster management agencies and the general public. ''We have been able to minimise the number of deaths over the years, but the loss of property is increasing because socio-economic progress is increasing in the country,'' he said in a video message for the launch of a report by policy research think tank The Centre for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). With 2,500 people dying due to lightning strikes in India every year, Mohapatra said lighting has become a challenge while ''we have almost fought and conquered disasters like tropical cyclones''. ''Lightning is a very small-scale event and takes less time to occur. Its prediction is also difficult,'' he said. However, over the years, the India Meteorological Department, the Ministry of Earth Sciences, and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology have together developed a modelling system for prediction of lightning. India is among only five countries in the world that have an early warning system for lightning. With the rise in urban population, he said, urban flooding has become another challenge for the country. According to the CEEW report, an estimated 72 per cent of districts in India are exposed to extreme flood events but only 25 per cent of them have level flood forecasting stations or early warning systems. Despite high exposure to floods, Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim are the best-performing states in terms of flood early warning systems. The report showed that Himachal Pradesh, currently battling massive floods, is among the states with the lowest availability of early warning systems. Uttarakhand, on the other hand, is moderately exposed to extreme flood events but has a high availability of flood early warning system, it said. Delhi, in the throes of severe flooding due to a raging Yamuna, is moderately exposed to extreme floods and has a moderate level of resilience through an early warning system (EWS). Approximately 66 per cent of individuals in India are exposed to extreme flood events. However, only 33 per cent of them are covered by flood EWS. Moreover, 25 per cent of the Indian population is exposed to cyclones and their impacts, but cyclone warnings are available to 100 per cent of the exposed population, the report said. According to independent think tank Centre for Science and Environment, India experienced extreme weather events on 314 of the 365 days in 2022. The events claimed 3,026 lives and damaged 1.96 million hectares of crop area. Extreme weather, climate and water-related events caused 573 disasters in India between 1970 and 2021 that claimed 1,38,377 lives, according to data from the World Meteorological Department, a specialised agency of the United Nations.

Rejig agri practices to fight climate change

The impacts of climate change on agriculture are a global concern. India is also witnessing severe spells of climate change. According to a Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and Down to Earth (DTE) report, in 2022, extreme weather events adversely impacted 1.96 million hectares (ha) of the crop area. The report goes on to mention that the country witnessed extreme weather events on 241 out of 273 days. As per the Climate Transparency Report 2022, during 2016-2021, severe weather developments such as cyclones, floods, flash floods, and landslides caused damage to crops in more than 36 million hectares and the destruction has led to a $3.75 billion loss for farmers in India. Higher temperatures adversely affect crop yields. Different crops have specific temperature requirements for optimal growth, and when temperatures exceed these thresholds, it can lead to reduced yields. Heat stress can also impact crop flowering, fruit set, and overall productivity. Climate change causes shifts in rainfall patterns, leading to more frequent and intense droughts or floods. Both scenarios can have detrimental effects on agriculture. Hence, climate resilience has emerged as the key in climate risk management which involves building and strengthening the capability of agricultural ecosystems in anticipating, adapting, and recovering from climate change impacts and extreme weather events such as heat stress, floods, dominance of pests, severe storms, etc. In other words, building climate resilience involves anticipating potential climate change impacts and preparing for them in advance. This includes conducting vulnerability assessments, monitoring climate data, and using climate forecasting tools to understand future climate scenarios. However, there are two ways to look at the roadmap to build climate resilience in the agriculture sector. The first one is on-ground interventions. By being proactive, farmers and stakeholders in the agricultural sector can take appropriate measures to reduce risks, such as adjusting planting schedules, diversifying crops, or implementing water supply and management strategies. Farmers can alter agricultural practices to enhance soil fertility and opt for efficient water use, crop diversification, and crop insurance to build adaptability. Soil health in particular defines farmers' capability to produce crops. To restore soil quality impacted by climate change or adverse weather events, farmers can opt for intercropping and crop rotation and efficient application of fertilizers for preventing soil erosion and degradation. Development of climate-resilient crop varieties, promoting drought-resilient crop production such as millets, roll out of National Action Plan on Climate Change, State Action Plans on Climate Change, etc. are all moving in the right direction. It's worth noting that Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, recently said that addressing climate change needs global collaboration and collective action. And that brings us to the second aspect of climate resilience interventions through collaborations beyond borders. Sub-Saharan Africa is known to be the region that is susceptible to climate change. And, how countries like Mozambique, Ghana, etc. managed to build broad-based adaptability and resilience mechanisms and strengthen agricultural productivity would be a great learning experience for us. The common agricultural policy of the EU and the Build Back Better Plan of the US are some prominent examples of broader global collaborations. Even minor changes in weather patterns can significantly impact farmers' livelihoods and the nation's overall economic health.

India: How climate change is causing an environmental crisis

Intense monsoon rains have lashed parts of northern India over the past few days, leaving a trail of death and destruction, as well as rendering many areas inaccessible. The state of Himachal Pradesh has been the hardest hit. Television footage showed landslides and flash floods, washing away vehicles, destroying buildings and ripping down bridges. According to the India Meteorological Department, torrential rains across the country in the first week of July have already produced about 2% more rainfall than normal. The agency has forecast more rain across large parts of northern India in the coming days. "The region, which is usually one of the driest, has received disproportionately high rains," an department official told DW. Climate change: Environmental catastrophe The summer, or southwest, monsoon brings India about 70% of its annual rainfall. It is crucial for the nation's agriculture, which accounts for just 11% of India's total economic output, but employs over 40% of its labor force. The rains also often cause widespread devastation and death from flooding and landslides. Scientists say the rainfall is hard to forecast and varies considerably, but climate change is making the monsoon stronger and more erratic, increasing the frequency and ferocity of the floods. "Human-induced climate change is already intensifying hydrological extremes in India, and the recent floods in parts of northern India are yet another example of how extreme events can be more disastrous in hilly regions than in plains," Akshay Deoras, a research scientist at the United Kingdom's National Centre for Atmospheric Science and the University of Reading's Department of Meteorology, told DW. Deoras said extreme weather events were set to intensify as the planet continues to become warmer because of growing emissions of greenhouse gases. "This does not necessarily mean that high-impact events would occur every year," he said, "but, whenever they occur, there would be a greater chance of them being more impactful than previous such events." 2022 extreme weather events In 2022, the Center for Science and Environment, a New Delhi-based public interest research and advocacy organization, tracked extreme weather events in India. It found out that India on the whole experienced extreme weather events on 314 out of the 365 days, meaning that at least one extreme weather event was reported in some part of India on each of these days. The report concluded that these events caused more than 3,000 deaths in 2022, affected about 2 million hectares (4.8 million acres) of crop area, killed more than 69,000 animals used as livestock and destroyed roughly 420,000 houses. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change also released a 2022 report painting a bleak picture for India. It warned that the country could face multiple climate change-induced disasters in the next two decades. Unless greenhouse gas emissions are drastically reduced by 2030, it will become impossible for Indian authorities to reverse an imminent climate catastrophe, it said. Heavy rains follow sizzling heat wave "Climate change is accelerating at a fast pace, throwing off extreme weather events one after the other. This is faster than what we thought earlier," Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune, told DW. "South Asia has become the poster child of climate change," Koll said. "The entire region, not just India, is witnessing a clear trend in rising heat waves, floods, landslides, droughts and cyclones. This is already affecting the food, water and energy security of the region." The heavy rains come after a heat wave that caused temperatures to soar to as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 F) in large parts of India. Even though the main summer months — from April to June — are always hot in India, temperatures have become more intense in the past decade. And about 80% of the population also lives in regions highly vulnerable to disasters such as heat waves or severe flooding. What needs to be done? As part of India's climate change efforts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration has vowed to cut the nation's greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2070. But, against the backdrop of increasing extreme weather events, experts say the government needs to also focus on adaptation measures. "More needs to be done for climate adaptation to prevent economic losses and food insecurity," Sunita Narain, the director of the Center for Science and Environment, told DW. "We need to relearn land- and water-management strategies," Narain said. "India has much to learn, from not building habitations in flood-vulnerable areas to channeling river water instead of taming rivers within embankments that invariably break or just do not work." "The moot question is: How fast can we learn in a climate-variable world?" Narain said. "The answers will determine our future. The window of opportunity to deal with the crisis is closing."

100mm of rainfall for 2 days in a row brings only pain, no gain as capital can't harvest it

The city logged over 100mm of rainfall for two consecutive days last weekend and its large swathes got submerged. However, the rainwater, a valuable resource to recharge groundwater, was wasted in the absence of proper harvesting systems, said experts. The water could not percolate down into the soil and fill wetlands, and hence, roads got flooded, they pointed out. A 2021 study stated that 1.4 million gallons of rainwater was harvested by the seven biodiversity parks during the monsoon from June to September. Experts claimed that the entire city had the potential of harvesting more water. Even a recent report submitted to National Green Tribunal said a joint committee of Delhi Jal Board and Delhi Pollution Control Committee inspected the water samples from rainwater harvesting systems of 235 societies in Dwarka and found contamination - ammoniacal nitrogen and total dissolved solids - in 180 of them. CR Babu, professor emeritus and head of Centre for Environment Management of Degraded Ecosystems, said, "Massive concretisation has reduced the porous area that is meant for infiltration of rainwater from the catchment area. Many of the stormwater drains, which are supposed to collect rainwater from catchment, are disrupted by construction of roads without culverts. Even stormwater drains that are supposed to recharge groundwater have been converted into sewers." Emphasising the need for proper urban planning, Babu said, "Wetlands store the rainwater coming from catchment and recharge the water gradually into groundwater systems. Low-lying areas, which are depression or wetlands, are filled up with solid waste and developed into housing complexes. Due to this, rainwater accumulates in the road and water has nowhere to go. It cannot enter soil, stormwater drains, wetlands and low-lying areas." According to the draft master plan 2041, Central Ground Water Board has assessed that potential annual rainwater runoff of 24.4 million cubic metres (MCM) or 5,372 million gallons (MG), out of the total 175 MCM - 38,546MG, is available for recharge in Delhi. The annual potential of rooftop rainwater harvesting is assessed to be about 14.69MCM (3,236MG). Sushmita Sengupta, senior programme manager of water programme at Centre for Science and Environment, said, "It's a double whammy. When there is rain, people curse it due to waterlogging. However, after the monsoon is over, people cry that the groundwater is depleting. We need immediate steps to ensure that monsoon rain is utilised in the best way to recharge groundwater." The best possible ways to harvest rainwater, she said, is to harvest rain from open and green areas and recharge them there through rainwater harvesting structures, or connecting rainwater harvesting systems to stormwater drains. Shashank Shekhar, professor of geology at Delhi University, said that for best utilisation of rainwater, the authorities need to ensure that rain harvesting systems are functional and stormwater drains are properly laned and maintained and connected to waterbodies and floodplains.

52% of State’s people live beyond air quality monitoring network, says CSE

Due to poor spatial planning by implementing agencies, 52 per cent population of Maharashtra lives outside the 50 km radius coverage of combined manual and real-time air quality monitoring network, claimed a study conducted recently by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi. The study exposes the sad state of air quality monitoring in the country which also mentioned the performance of Maharashtra. “Number of manual monitoring stations have doubled since 2010, while there is a 20-fold jump in the number of real time monitoring stations; yet, 47 per cent population of the country lives outside the air quality monitoring network and 62 per cent do not have access to daily alerts on local air quality index,” it says. About Maharashtra, the study says, “Despite 7 per cent population of Maharashtra lives within 2 km radius of combined ambient air quality networks (National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP) and Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station(CAAQMS), which is second in the country, just 52 per cent lives outside the 50 km radius coverage of combined network.” According to notified criteria for monitoring pollutants, 104 days of monitoring of PM2.5 is required out of 365 days for any state or city. However, the manual PM2.5 monitors in Maharashtra do not meet the minimum requirement of 104 days of monitoring in a year, the study reveals. The group of pollutants covered for NAAQS includes particulate matter less than 10 and 2.5 micron size (PM10 and PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), ammonia (NH3) and lead (Pb). These also qualify for Air Quality Index (AQI) calculations. According to the study, PM10, NO2 and SO2 are most widely monitored, the monitoring of PM2.5 is comparatively not as extensive and that of ozone is very limited. Monitoring of ammonia and lead and air toxins like benzene etc. is very sparse. Manual stations are mandated to monitor SO2, NO2, PM10 and PM2.5. Real-time stations usually monitor six pollutants -- SO2, NO2, PM10, PM2.5, CO and ozone. Many stations do not monitor all the pollutants. The Nagpur city, which comes under the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) non-attainment list, have six manual monitoring stations that calculate all four pollutants. However, the only functional real-time station in Nagpur calculate SO2, NO2, PM10, and PM2.5 only. Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) installed four new CAAQMS stations last year at different locations of the city but it is yet to get functional on CPCB’s real-time air quality monitoring website which was prepared to access air quality data to the public. “There are some software issue is going on with the newly installed CAAQMS due to which it is not visible in the website. We are working on to resolve the issue. However, our electronic boards installed in some parts of the city is showing the air quality data of the newly installed CAAQMS,” Umakant Bahadule, Sub Regional Officer, MPCB, told The Hitavada. He further said, “The new CAAQMS are monitoring the CO2 and NO2 data also which we display on the electronic boards in the city.” The CSE study also claimed that over 100 manual monitoring stations have been added since 2020, but their data is not in the public domain.

Has weather department faltered in predicting extreme weather events? Experts speak

With heavy rainfall causing loss of lives and destruction of property in several North Indian states, India Today investigated the models used in weather forecast and the reason behind such extreme weather events. Sudden extreme weather events have become a new normal in the country, especially in the last few weeks with heavy rainfall battering several states. The number of people who die in landslides and other rain-related incidents keep increasing every day. As gloomy weather prevails over several parts of the country, a question being raised by many is whether the India Meterological Department (IMD) has failed in providing a timely warning for such weather events. To answer this, India Today investigated the models used in weather forecasts and the reason behind such extreme weather events. The IMD has claimed that it has done relatively well in predicting the recent extremely heavy rainfall. However, many experts say there is still room for improvement, especially in cases where heavy rain causes large-scale damage to property and loss of lives. WHAT IS CAUSING THESE EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS? Several experts attribute the reason behind the localized meteorological change of events to global warming. Former Secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Madhavan Rajeevan Nair said, "Due to an increase in the overall surface temperature of the earth, there has been an increase in the water vapour holding capacity of the atmosphere. This means the atmosphere can hold more water vapour and ultimately more cloud condensation takes place. In simple language, we are having deeper clouds with more water droplets which cause heavier rainfall." A study by the Center for Science and Environment (CSE) said that India faced extreme weather on 314 days out of 365 days in 2022. This means that at least one severe weather event was reported on these days in some part of the country. The IMD also accepted that the number of such incidents has increased. A senior scientist with IMD, Soma Sen Roy, said, "A single episode doesn't indicate a particular change. But the trends we observed of late do indicate that there is an increase in extreme weather conditions and global warming is one of the factors behind it. The episode of 15 cm and above rainfall incidents are increasing and it is due to global warming." DO WE LACK MODELS TO ACCURATELY PREDICT WEATHER EVENTS? The answer is yes. The models which are currently deployed by the Government of India do falter in recording these events accurately. Soma Sen Roy told India Today, "Cloud bursts happen at such a mesoscale that it happens just for a range of 1-2 kilometers area. We do not have a mechanism for such a high-resolution forecast, which could be very devastating. But, in the recent episode where two systems were interacting, we issued alerts well in advance. So, in such a situation, communication plays an important role."

Wie der Klimawandel eine Umweltkrise verursacht – DW

Heftige Monsunregen haben in den letzten Tagen Teile Nordindiens heimgesucht, eine Spur von Tod und Zerstörung hinterlassen und viele Gebiete unzugänglich gemacht. Der Bundesstaat Himachal Pradesh ist am stärksten betroffen. Auf Fernsehaufnahmen waren Erdrutsche und Sturzfluten zu sehen, die Fahrzeuge wegschwemmten, Gebäude zerstörten und Brücken einrissen. Nach Angaben des India Meteorological Department haben sintflutartige Regenfälle im ganzen Land in der ersten Juliwoche bereits etwa 2 % mehr Niederschlag als normal verursacht. Die Agentur hat für die kommenden Tage weitere Regenfälle in weiten Teilen Nordindiens vorhergesagt. „Die Region, die normalerweise zu den trockensten gehört, hat unverhältnismäßig hohe Regenfälle erlitten“, sagte ein Beamter des Ministeriums gegenüber der DW. Klimawandel: Umweltkatastrophe Der Sommer- oder Südwestmonsun bringt Indien etwa 70 % seines jährlichen Niederschlags. Es ist von entscheidender Bedeutung für die Landwirtschaft des Landes, die nur 11 % der gesamten Wirtschaftsleistung Indiens ausmacht, aber über 40 % der Arbeitskräfte beschäftigt. Sintflutartiger Regen fegt über Nordindien Um dieses Video anzusehen, aktivieren Sie bitte JavaScript und erwägen Sie ein Upgrade auf einen Webbrowser, der HTML5-Videos unterstützt Die Regenfälle verursachen häufig auch weitreichende Verwüstungen und Todesfälle durch Überschwemmungen und Erdrutsche. Wissenschaftler sagen, dass die Niederschlagsmenge schwer vorherzusagen sei und erheblich schwanke, aber der Klimawandel mache den Monsun stärker und unregelmäßiger, was die Häufigkeit und Heftigkeit der Überschwemmungen erhöhe. „Der vom Menschen verursachte Klimawandel verstärkt bereits die hydrologischen Extreme in Indien, und die jüngsten Überschwemmungen in Teilen Nordindiens sind ein weiteres Beispiel dafür, wie extreme Ereignisse in hügeligen Regionen katastrophaler sein können als in Ebenen“, sagt Akshay Deoras, Forscher bei Das erklärten das National Centre for Atmospheric Science des Vereinigten Königreichs und die Abteilung für Meteorologie der University of Reading gegenüber der DW. Deoras sagte, extreme Wetterereignisse würden sich verstärken, da der Planet aufgrund der zunehmenden Treibhausgasemissionen weiter wärmer werde. „Das bedeutet nicht zwangsläufig, dass es jedes Jahr zu schwerwiegenden Ereignissen kommen würde“, sagte er, „aber wann immer sie auftreten, besteht eine größere Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass sie schwerwiegendere Auswirkungen haben als frühere derartige Ereignisse.“ Extremwetterereignisse 2022 Im Jahr 2022 verfolgte das Centre for Science and Environment, eine in Neu-Delhi ansässige öffentliche Forschungs- und Interessenvertretungsorganisation, extreme Wetterereignisse in Indien. Es stellte sich heraus, dass es in Indien insgesamt an 314 der 365 Tage zu extremen Wetterereignissen kam, was bedeutet, dass an jedem dieser Tage in einem Teil Indiens mindestens ein extremes Wetterereignis gemeldet wurde. Der Bericht kam zu dem Schluss, dass diese Ereignisse im Jahr 2022 mehr als 3.000 Todesfälle verursachten, etwa 2 Millionen Hektar (4,8 Millionen Acres) Anbaufläche beeinträchtigten, mehr als 69.000 als Nutztiere genutzte Tiere töteten und etwa 420.000 Häuser zerstörten. Auch der Zwischenstaatliche Ausschuss für Klimaänderungen der Vereinten Nationen veröffentlichte einen Bericht aus dem Jahr 2022, der ein düsteres Bild für Indien zeichnet. Es warnte davor, dass das Land in den nächsten zwei Jahrzehnten mit mehreren durch den Klimawandel verursachten Katastrophen konfrontiert sein könnte. Wenn die Treibhausgasemissionen bis 2030 nicht drastisch reduziert würden, sei es für die indischen Behörden unmöglich, eine drohende Klimakatastrophe abzuwenden, hieß es.

How climate change is causing an environmental crisis in India

Intense monsoon rains have lashed parts of northern India over past few days, leaving trail of death and destruction Torrential rains have caused flash floods and landslides in parts of India, causing death and destruction. The heavy rain comes after an unbearable heat wave. Intense monsoon rains have lashed parts of northern India over the past few days, leaving a trail of death and destruction, as well as rendering many areas inaccessible. The state of Himachal Pradesh has been the hardest hit. Television footage showed landslides and flash floods, washing away vehicles, destroying buildings and ripping down bridges. According to the India Meteorological Department, torrential rains across the country in the first week of July have already produced about 2% more rainfall than normal. The agency has forecast more rain across large parts of northern India in the coming days. "The region, which is usually one of the driest, has received disproportionately high rains," a department official told DW. Climate change: Environmental catastrophe The summer, or southwest, monsoon brings India about 70% of its annual rainfall. It is crucial for the nation's agriculture, which accounts for just 11% of India's total economic output, but employs over 40% of its labor force. The rains also often cause widespread devastation and death from flooding and landslides. Scientists say the rainfall is hard to forecast and varies considerably, but climate change is making the monsoon stronger and more erratic, increasing the frequency and ferocity of the floods. "Human-induced climate change is already intensifying hydrological extremes in India, and the recent floods in parts of northern India are yet another example of how extreme events can be more disastrous in hilly regions than in plains," Akshay Deoras, a research scientist at the United Kingdom's National Centre for Atmospheric Science and the University of Reading's Department of Meteorology, told DW. Deoras said extreme weather events were set to intensify as the planet continues to become warmer because of growing emissions of greenhouse gases. "This does not necessarily mean that high-impact events would occur every year," he said, "but, whenever they occur, there would be a greater chance of them being more impactful than previous such events." 2022 extreme weather events In 2022, the Center for Science and Environment, a New Delhi-based public interest research and advocacy organization, tracked extreme weather events in India. It found out that India on the whole experienced extreme weather events on 314 out of the 365 days, meaning that at least one extreme weather event was reported in some part of India on each of these days. The report concluded that these events caused more than 3,000 deaths in 2022, affected about 2 million hectares (4.8 million acres) of crop area, killed more than 69,000 animals used as livestock and destroyed roughly 420,000 houses. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change also released a 2022 report painting a bleak picture for India. It warned that the country could face multiple climate change-induced disasters in the next two decades. Unless greenhouse gas emissions are drastically reduced by 2030, it will become impossible for Indian authorities to reverse an imminent climate catastrophe, it said. Heavy rains follow sizzling heat wave "Climate change is accelerating at a fast pace, throwing off extreme weather events one after the other. This is faster than what we thought earlier," Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune, told DW. "South Asia has become the poster child of climate change," Koll said. "The entire region, not just India, is witnessing a clear trend in rising heat waves, floods, landslides, droughts and cyclones. This is already affecting the food, water and energy security of the region." The heavy rains come after a heat wave that caused temperatures to soar to as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 F) in large parts of India. Even though the main summer months — from April to June — are always hot in India, temperatures have become more intense in the past decade. And about 80% of the population also lives in regions highly vulnerable to disasters such as heat waves or severe flooding. What needs to be done? As part of India's climate change efforts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration has vowed to cut the nation's greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2070. But, against the backdrop of increasing extreme weather events, experts say the government needs to also focus on adaptation measures. "More needs to be done for climate adaptation to prevent economic losses and food insecurity," Sunita Narain, the director of the Center for Science and Environment, told DW. "We need to relearn land- and water-management strategies," Narain said. "India has much to learn, from not building habitations in flood-vulnerable areas to channeling river water instead of taming rivers within embankments that invariably break or just do not work." "The moot question is: How fast can we learn in a climate-variable world?" Narain said. "The answers will determine our future. The window of opportunity to deal with the crisis is closing."

Climate change spurs deadly monsoon rains in India

As torrential rains cause flash floods and landslides in India, the country grapples with an environmental crisis Intense monsoon rains have lashed parts of northern India over the past few days, leaving a trail of death and destruction, as well as rendering many areas inaccessible. The state of Himachal Pradesh has been the hardest hit. Television footage showed landslides and flash floods, washing away vehicles, destroying buildings and ripping down bridges. India's meteorological department (IMD) said that torrential rains across the South Asian country in the first week of July have already produced about 2% more rainfall than normal. The agency has forecast more rain across large parts of northern India in the coming days. "The region, which is usually one of the driest, has received disproportionately high rains," an IMD official told DW. Climate change and environmental catastrophes The summer, or southwest, monsoon brings India around 70% of its annual rainfall. It is crucial for the nation's agriculture, which accounts for just 11% of India's total economic output, but employs over 40% of its labor force. The rains also often cause widespread devastation and death due to flooding and landslides. Scientists say the rainfall is hard to forecast and varies considerably, but climate change is making the monsoon stronger and more erratic, increasing the frequency and ferocity of the floods. "Human-induced climate change is already intensifying hydrological extremes in India, and the recent floods in parts of northern India are yet another example of how extreme events can be more disastrous in hilly regions than in plains," Akshay Deoras, a research scientist at the UK's National Centre for Atmospheric Science and the Department of Meteorology, told DW. Deoras pointed out that extreme weather events are set to intensify as the planet continues to become warmer due to growing emissions of greenhouse gases. "This does not necessarily mean that high-impact events would occur every year, but whenever they occur, there would be a greater chance of them being more impactful than previous such events," he added. How many extreme weather events last year? Last year, the Center for Science and Environment (CSE), a New Delhi-based public interest research and advocacy organization, tracked extreme weather events in India. It found out that the country, on the whole, experienced extreme weather events on 314 out of the 365 days, meaning that at least one extreme weather event was reported in some part of India on each of these days. The report concluded that these events caused over 3,000 deaths in 2022, affected some 2 million hectares of crop area, killed more than 69,000 livestock and destroyed around 420,000 houses. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) also released a report last year painting a bleak picture for India. It warned that the country could face multiple climate change-induced disasters in the next two decades. Unless greenhouse gas emissions are drastically reduced by 2030, it will become impossible for Indian authorities to reverse an imminent climate catastrophe, it said. Heavy rains follow sizzling heat wave "Climate change is accelerating at a fast pace, throwing off extreme weather events one after the other. This is faster than what we thought earlier," said Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune. "South Asia has become the poster child of climate change. The entire region, not just India, is witnessing a clear trend in rising heatwaves, floods, landslides, droughts, and cyclones. This is already affecting the food, water, and energy security of the region," Koll told DW. The heavy rains come after a blistering heat wave that caused temperatures to soar to as high as 45°C in large parts of the country, taking a toll on people's lives. Even though the main summer months — from April to June — are always hot in India, temperatures have become more intense in the past decade. And around 80% of the population also live in regions highly vulnerable to extreme disasters like heat waves or severe flooding. What needs to be done? As part of India's efforts to tackle global climate change, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration has vowed to cut the nation's greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2070. But against the backdrop of increasing extreme weather events, experts say the government needs to also focus on adaptation measures. "More needs to be done for climate adaptation to prevent economic losses and food insecurity," CSE director Sunita Narain said. "We need to relearn land and water management strategies. India has much to learn, from not building habitations in flood-vulnerable areas to channeling river water instead of taming rivers within embankments that invariably break or just do not work," she told DW. "The moot question is, how fast can we learn in a climate variable world? The answers will determine our future. The window of opportunity to deal with the crisis is closing."

Green credit scheme encourages ‘environment-friendly’ behaviour, but needs strong regulation to work

India’s environment ministry has proposed a Green Credit Programme under which individuals, organisations and industries can earn and sell credits for certain environment-friendly activities, which can then be traded. While the programme may incentivise environmental protection, experts are concerned it could lead to greenwashing if not regulated properly. There is uncertainty over details of how the credits will be calculated, measurement of benefits and what happens if the credits are fraudulent. With the aim to incentivise sustainability and environmental protection, India’s environment ministry has proposed a programme to enable individuals, organisations and industry generate “green credits” for voluntary activities deemed beneficial for the environment. But without proper oversight or strong regulatory mechanisms, the scheme could open the door to greenwashing or double counting, experts warn. The draft Green Credit Programme Implementation Rules, released on June 27 by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), propose awarding individuals and other entities with credits for undertaking eight “environmental interventions.” These credits can then be “made available for trading on a domestic market platform,” says the draft of the programme. India has dabbled with similar mechanisms to drive down energy consumption and is now wading into the trade of carbon credits while setting up its domestic carbon market. But unlike a carbon market – which prices a standard unit of per tonne carbon emitted – the Green Credit Programme (GCP) doesn’t yet have a standard unit of measurement for the benefits accrued across various activities, which range from tree plantations to sustainable infrastructure. The GCP is envisioned to function as a separate market mechanism but may overlap with the carbon market if the “green credit” also results in the reduction of carbon emissions, notes the programme draft. “Even tracking carbon credits, which focuses on just one gas, is a complex exercise that is challenging to regulate. Extending that same method to other ecosystems and pollution areas creates a strong risk of greenwashing,” Avantika Goswami, programme manager for climate change at the Centre for Science and Environment, told Mongabay India. “It also raises serious questions about how rigorous the monitoring will be and who should take responsibility for pollution reduction and biodiversity savings.” Trupti Mishra, a professor at the Interdisciplinary Programme in Climate Studies at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, states, “I believe any programme, regardless mandatory or voluntary, needs robust process, involving technical support, good measurement tools and more importantly proper monitoring at the source level. Since green credit or for that matter carbon market are new programmes for Indian companies, these would work well with process support involving awareness to monitoring.” The programme aims to propagate the ‘Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) Movement’ spearheaded by the government, which aims to promote healthy and sustainable living. The LiFE concept was given a boost at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, where it featured in the cover decision text that influences global climate action. The draft programme comes at a time when India is hosting the G20 Presidency and will have to walk the talk on its international climate commitments, which include achieving net-zero emissions by 2070. India has also committed, in its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), to creating a carbon sink capable of absorbing 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide through additional forest and tree cover. Who gets the green credits and how? A wide cross-section of society can participate in the GCP, notes the draft notification. This includes individuals, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), cooperatives, forestry and sustainable agriculture enterprises, urban and rural local bodies, private sectors, industries and organisations of different kinds. The eight activities that can generate credits include planting trees; harvesting and saving water; treating wastewater; promoting natural and regenerative agricultural practices; improving waste management, segregation and collection; reducing air pollution; conserving and restoring mangroves; obtaining an Eco Mark label for manufacturing and constructing buildings, which is a label that the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) gives to environment-friendly products. “Overall, this is a great initiative. But it will be challenging to implement and requires the establishment of a scientific committee with activity-specific experts, who can frame the requirements for receiving green credits,” said Easwaran J. Narassimhan, an associate professor at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), a Delhi based think tank. “The administrator must ensure that every credit generated under different categories are not ‘hot-air credits’ (unsubstantial or lacking real value) and are additional to what is already happening anyway,” Narassimhan added. The administrative body tasked with implementing the GCP is the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), a research and capacity-building organisation that doesn’t typically deal with implementation. As part of the GCP, it will be in charge of granting credits and maintaining a registry of green credits, among other responsibilities. Guiding the ICFRE will be a Steering Committee, which will formulate guidelines for implementation and verification, make recommendations for which sectors should be included in the programme, and review and monitor it. The central government may empanel auditors to audit the entire system from time to time, says the draft. Areas of uncertainty India’s experience with such market mechanisms has been with mixed results. The Perform Achieve and Trade Scheme (PAT) launched in 2012 encourages 13 carbon-intensive industries to reduce their energy consumption. Energy saved is certified and can be sold to entities that did not meet their targets. The second cycle of the PAT scheme, which ended in 2019, resulted in emissions reductions worth around 68 million tonnes. A 2021 study by the Centre for Science and Environment, however, found that for the thermal power sector, a major emitter, energy reductions were only 3% compared to the sector’s total energy consumption. “This highlights the fact that the target given to TPPs is very less compared to the overall emission reduction from the sector,” the study said. “Having the option of acquiring energy saving certificates for compliance makes it far less expensive for thermal power plants to demonstrate compliance by installing energy saving measures,” the study found, adding that thermal power plants that didn’t comply weren’t always penalised. Similarly, another market-based instrument, the Renewable Energy Certificate (REC), allows electricity distribution companies (discoms) and other entities to buy these certificates from generators if they are unable to meet their renewable purchase obligations (RPOs). A 2021 report by Intellecap, an advisory service, found an over-supply of RECs due to poor enforcement of penalties among non-conforming discoms. It also found that demand was overwhelmingly driven by obligated entities with little voluntary participation. The GCP is ambitious because it covers various activities under several different sectors. But it could also lead to problems when being implemented, say experts. “The liquidity of these credits for trading in the market is another concern. Are credits generated for specific activities tradable within the activities? If not, there needs to be clarity on how credits generated in different activities are comparable,” said Narassimhan from CPR. The question of how the credits will be calculated is ambiguous in the draft notification, which says a value will be arrived at after considering “the equivalence of resource requirement (for a project), parity of scale, scope, size, and other relevant parameters.” Measuring the benefit of certain activities should be done carefully, experts say. For example, rewarding a waste-to-energy plant with a green credit might be counterproductive if it processes mixed waste, leading to higher emissions. While Mishra from IIT-Bombay acknowledges that double counting is not an issue with green credits and carbon credits programmes, she does express concerns about the potential for greenwashing, which is <the practice of making products, activities, or policies seem more environmentally friendly or less environmentally damaging than they actually are. She explains, “Green credits are supposed to complement the action of companies. Only buying credits and no internal action is a sign of greenwashing. It may be an easier way for the companies to park it under sustainability activities and action for SDG goals. There are possibilities that companies can greenwash by falsely communicating or overhyping their credits, buying unreliable credits and buying credits unrelated to companies’ sectoral activity.” The draft notification also makes no mention of what will happen if credits are found to be fraudulent. The GCP also proposes to link with the Accredited Compensatory Afforestation (ACA) scheme under the Forest Conservation Rules (2022), which allows private and public entities to grow plantations on non-forest land and sell them to project proponents looking to “compensate” for the forest diverted to their projects. While the ICFRE will administer the GCP, the ACA scheme is administered by state and district forest departments. They also fall under two different laws – the former under the Environment Protection Act and the latter under the Forest (Conservation) Act. “While both these reforms are being pursued under different laws, they have to be understood as a series of reforms that the government has to undertake to reconcile global commitments and national policy requirements. The monitoring, however, is likely to be complex as it will not just be done by different institutions, the compliance will be subject to the legal standards of two different laws. It will be a challenge to reconcile the data generated under both these processes, as there are risks of double counting and other related gaps,” said Kanchi Kohli, an environmental researcher at CPR.

Monsoon Mayhem: Jugaad won't wash, it'll only drown

For the last few days, northern India has been battered by rains due to the confluence of two weather systems: the monsoon winds and the western disturbance. Many towns and cities have caved in. On Sunday, the national capital was transformed into 'Jheelon ka shehar'. The larger NCR, an economic hub, was crippled. In Himachal Pradesh, the Beas is washing away highways, heavy vehicles, residences, hotels and bridges like Lego toys. Nearly 700 roads are blocked in Himachal and 100 in Uttarakhand due to mud- and landslides. At least 34 According to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), during January 1-September 30, 2022, of the 273 days, there has been some natural calamity or...