• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

The future of retreading and its potential to help reduce waste and carbon emissions

Carbon emissions are widely recognised as one of the primary drivers of climate change, posing a significant threat to global ecosystems and human well-being. In particular, the transportation sector has emerged as a significant contributor to the escalation of carbon emissions, with vehicles representing a major source of this environmental malaise in India. According to a recent report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the transportation industry in India is responsible for a staggering 23% of all carbon emissions, with vehicles and two-wheelers accounting for 10% of this total. This alarming trend underscores the pressing need to address the negative impact of vehicular emissions on the environment and adopt sustainable transportation alternatives to mitigate the harmful effects of climate change. The need for sustainable practices in tyre production Recognising the dire need to adopt more sustainable practices, the industry is identifying greener alternatives. With respect to tyre production, tyre retreading is an eco-friendly alternative that minimises waste. Millions of tyres are wasted each year, which has potentially harmful effects on the environment. Retreading rejuvenates a worn-out tyre by replacing the old tread with a new one, extending its life and usability. Tyre retreading saves resources by recycling materials and lowers waste production. Retreading tyres is an economical way to reduce expenses, improve sustainability, and cut back on carbon emissions by up to 70%. It is a realistic alternative for people who want to lessen their carbon footprint and contribute to a more environmentally friendly future. This process also helps conserve natural resources by utilising the existing tyre casings. Benefits of retreading Retreading offers several advantages over the traditional method of disposing of used tyres. Environmental benefits: Retreading reduces waste by extending the life of a tyre, which means fewer tyres end up in landfills. This, in turn, reduces the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere due to tyre decomposition. Retreading even a fraction of these tyres can significantly impact reducing waste and carbon emissions. The tyre industry is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, with tyre manufacturing and disposal accounting for a huge amount of global carbon emissions. Retreading can help reduce these emissions by decreasing the need for new tyre production, a highly energy-intensive process. Retreading also helps conserve natural resources, such as rubber and oil, used in tyre production. • Economic benefits: In addition to environmental benefits, as per the Fortune Business Insights report, retreading also offers economic benefits. Retreaded tyres typically cost 30-50% less than new tyres, making them an attractive option for cost-conscious consumers and businesses. Retreading also creates jobs in the tyre industry, which can positively impact local economies. • Challenges around retreading: However, some challenges must be overcome for retreading to reach its full potential. • Lack of awareness and education: One challenge is the need for more awareness and education about the benefits of retreading. Many consumers and businesses need to be aware of the environmental and economic benefits of retreading and may be hesitant to choose retreaded tyres over new ones. • Perception of safety and reliability: Another challenge is the perception that retreaded tyres are less safe or reliable than new ones. This perception is largely unfounded. The retreading industry has been growing steadily in recent years, driven by gradually increasing awareness of sustainability and cost-effectiveness and the use of cutting-edge machinery and technology to guarantee that retreaded tyres are just as dependable and safe as brand-new tyres. Conclusion In conclusion, addressing the negative impact of vehicular emissions on the environment and adopting sustainable transportation alternatives is urgent. Tyre retreading is one such sustainable alternative that can significantly reduce waste and carbon emissions while conserving natural resources. Retreading offers environmental and economic benefits, including reduced waste and greenhouse gas emissions, lower costs and job creation. However, the lack of awareness and education about the benefits of retreading and the perception that retreaded tyres are less safe and reliable than new tyres remain significant challenges. Nevertheless, as more consumers become aware of the benefits of sustainable practices, the tyre industry will be more motivated to adopt more environmentally friendly alternatives and contribute to a more sustainable future.

• Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

Medical waste management market is growing at a CAGR of 5.4% over the forecast period to reach $17.02 billion by 2030

Health care is traditionally regarded as an important determinant in promoting the general physical, mental, and social well-being of people all over the world, and when efficient, it can contribute significantly to a country’s economy, development, and industrialization. Healthcare is a rapidly expanding industry, mainly due to the growing sophistication of medical treatments & products and the increasing penetration of healthcare services. However, this booming industry is also producing more waste than ever before, resulting in the increased need to treat and dispose of this waste. Medical waste is produced during healthcare or diagnostic activities in hospitals & clinics, diagnostic & research laboratories, blood banks, mortuaries & autopsy centers, and long-term care facilities. Healthcare/medical waste includes hazardous and non-hazardous waste. The global geriatric population is on the rise due to increasing life expectancy. Improvements in the quality of care, rapid urbanization, and growing incomes have led to greater survival rates. According to the United Nations, in 2022, 771 million people were aged 65 years or over globally. This number is expected to increase from 771 million in 2022 to 994 million in 2030 and 1.6 billion in 2050. The elderly population is more susceptible to various chronic diseases. According to the National Council on Aging (NCOA), around 80% of people over 65 have at least one chronic condition, while 68% have two or more. According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), globally, the number of people with diabetes is expected to increase from 537 million in 2021 to 643 million in 2030 and 783 million in 2045. Diabetes patients are required to monitor their blood sugar levels regularly and inject themselves with insulin to treat the disease, which leads to the generation of medical waste, such as lancet needles or syringes, insulin pen needles, injection vials or cartridges, and full needle clippers, every day. Similarly, the prevalence of cancer is rising all over the world. According to GLOBOCAN, in 2020, 19.3 million people were diagnosed with cancer globally, which is expected to increase to 24.6 million by 2030. According to World Health Organization data, 85% of the waste produced in the healthcare sector is nonhazardous and regular waste. The remaining 15% constitutes waste that could be radioactive, infectious, or chemical, proving hazardous to the environment. According to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), biomedical waste generation in India increased from 559 tonnes per day in 2017 to 619 tonnes per day in 2019. Medical waste management helps reduce the spread of infectious medical equipment-borne diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis. Proper waste management strategies can help prevent the illegal trade of used syringes, injection needles, and medical instruments. Thus, the rising geriatric population and the consequent increase in chronic disease prevalence boost the demand for the diagnosis of these diseases for early detection, prevention, and treatment, generating medical waste and driving the demand for medical waste management services. The global medical waste management market is growing at a CAGR of 5.4% over the forecast period to reach $17.02 billion by 2030, according to the Meticulous Research® report.

• Water Programme

Water crisis not due to lack of water, but due to mismanagement of the resource, says Hardeep Singh Puri at CSE’s international meet on water and sanitation

“As far as energy is concerned, we have a very well laid out plan for green transition. But in the case of water, we don’t have a choice. It is getting more precious and scarcer at an alarming level, and climate change is going to aggravate matters much more. While treaties might resolve political conflicts around water, they will not tackle the need to fundamentally alter the way we extract, consume and dispose of water, as well as the way we plan and mange sanitation systems. Water crisis in India is not due to lack of water but primarily because of mismanagement of water resources,” said Hardeep Singh Puri, Union minister for housing and urban affairs and petroleum and natural gas. The minister was speaking at the 2023 Policy and Practice Forum (earlier known as SFD Week), an international gathering of water, wastewater and sanitation management stakeholders and experts convened by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) from April 25-27, 2023, here at CSE’s residential facility, the Anil Agarwal Environment Training Institute. “I commend the efforts of people and organisations like CSE who are not only mobilising intellectual opinion on this subject, but also taking the discourse to public policy actions. The government’s flagship programmes like the Swachh Bharat Mission and AMRUT have played a transformational role in upgrading basic water and sanitation infrastructure in the country. These are exciting times in India for both policy and practice,” Puri added. Delivering the opening address, CSE director general Sunita Narain said: “The good news is that water literacy has grown. Over the past decades, the country has learnt critical lessons on water management and has evolved a new paradigm. There is an interest in decentralised water management, but in spite of that it is clear that we are not doing enough to secure our future. The problem lies in the fact that our land and water bureaucracies are fractured — some agency owns the pond, another the drain and yet another the catchment. Water security requires this to change. Giving the local community much greater control over the water structures — deepening democracy and devolution of powers — is the answer.” Highlighting the objectives of the international meet, Depinder Kapur, director of CSE’s water and wastewater programme, said: “The Forum will be focussing on providing inclusive and affordable solutions for water and sanitation management.” Being organised in collaboration with the Water Research Commission (WRC), International Water Association (IWA), Faecal Sludge Management Alliance (FSMA), University of Columbia and GIZ, this international meet is designed as an experience-sharing and agenda-setting forum. “The Forum has brought together some 100 policymakers, practitioners and researchers to deliberate on the conditions prevailing at present and the priorities for the future,” Kapur added. Besides Hardeep Singh Puri, Sunita Narain and Kapur, the other key speakers that the Forum is hosting include Roopa Mishra, joint secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and mission director, Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban; G Mathi Vathanan, principal secretary, Housing and Urban Development, government of Odisha; Amrit Abhijat, principal secretary, Department of Urban Development, government of Uttar Pradesh; G Ashok Kumar, director general, National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG); B Parameswaran, director-cum-joint secretary, DDWS, government of Odisha; L K Atheeq, additional chief secretary, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, government of Karnataka; Manu Bhatnagar, principal director, Natural Heritage Division, INTACH; Arne Panesar, head, SuSanA Secretariat, GIZ; and Jennifer Molwantwa, CEO, Water Research Commission, South Africa, among others. Speaking at the Forum on Day 1, NMCG’s G Ashok Kumar informed the audience that NMCG is now monitoring the performance of STPs (sewage treatment plants) on a real-time basis. The Mission has also launched a 140-city River City Alliance. Highlighting the work being done in Odisha, G Mathi Vathanan said that the state has prioritised non-sewerage sanitation systems – 111 non-sewerage faecal sludge treatment plants have been built in Odisha. The state has now provided its citizens with 24×7 supply of good quality water and 100 per cent metered connectivity, and has brought down the percentage of non-revenue water from 50 to 15 per cent. Odisha has also recognised manual scavengers as “highly skilled” workers, and provided them with the due benefits. Says Kapur: “We know that water conservation is critical for a climate-risked age where rainfall will be even more variable and erratic. This requires investment in water conservation and flood mitigation measures so that habitations are more resilient, as well as in waterbodies and green spaces so that rainwater can be harvested and stored for dry periods, and in addressing stormwater drainage management. On the other hand, the sanitation challenge requires policies that advocate for the integration of household-level on-site systems with off-site systems and the collection and treatment of faecal sludge for reuse on land.” Echoing the minister’s remarks, Kapur adds: “Over the past few years, we have seen enormous innovations in policies and practices in our world that promote a paradigm shift in both water and wastewater management. There is an increased focus on non-sewered sanitation systems, local water supply systems through recharged groundwater aquifers, ponds, tanks and rainwater harvesting and the re-use of treated wastewater and biosolids. This paradigm shift is reducing the capital and resource intensity of the water supply and sanitation systems, which in turn works to increase access and sustainability. We are excited to see this change – not just in policy but also in practice. We believe it is an important time to learn from the experiences on the ground; to review the policies and technology choices and set the agenda going forward.”

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Ozone, PM10 key contributors to Delhi’s pollution this month

New Delhi: Ozone and PM10 have become lead pollutants in Delhi in the past few days. Central Pollution Control Board’s data shows that the prominent pollutant of the city on most days in April is not PM2.5. The overall air quality of the capital was in ‘moderate’ category on Tuesday, but it is expected to deteriorate to ‘poor’ category on Wednesday. Track the pollution level in your city On Tuesday, the lead pollutant of Delhi’s air quality was ozone, according to CPCB’s bulletin. Ground-level ambient ozone is produced from complex interaction between nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are emitted from vehicles, power plants, factories, and other combustion sources and undergo cyclic reactions in the presence of sunlight to generate ground-level ozone, stated a study by Centre for Science and Environment last year. However, VOCs can also be emitted from natural sources, such as plants. Gufran Beig, founder project director, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research, the forecasting body under the union ministry of earth sciences, said, “In summer, temperature soars and wind blows faster. The major source of emission in summer becomes wind-blown dust. Hence, PM10 remains the lead pollutant mostly.” He added, “If the temperature goes beyond 40 degrees Celsius, production of ozone accelerates and often ozone becomes the lead pollutant. The tiny particles, PM2.5, due to their light weight are blown away and go up or flushed away horizontally.” According to the portal on real-time source apportionment, the share of soil and road dust in Delhi’s air quality was the highest at 29% on Monday. The real-time source apportionment project was started by Delhi Pollution Control Committee in collaboration with IIT Kanpur. The air quality early warning system for Delhi said the air quality, which remained in ‘moderate’ category on Tuesday, is likely to deteriorate to ‘poor’ category on Wednesday and Thursday.

• Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

December 2024 deadline for closing waste dumps in Delhi

All dhalaos in Delhi will be shut down by December 2024, and will be replaced by material recovery facilities (MRFs) to ensure proper segregation of waste, chief secretary Naresh Kumar has told Delhi’s urban local bodies in a recent review meeting on the status of solid waste management in the city. The chief secretary also directed that 100% segregation of waste at source be achieved by December 2024 at all 272 wards in Delhi. MRFs will be used to store non-combustible solid waste on a temporarily basis to facilitate sorting of different items, the official said. There are three urban local bodies in the Capital — Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB) and New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC). According to their officials, Delhi at present generates 11,328 TPD of waste daily, with only around 7,802 TPD being processed. “It was informed by NDMC and DCB that there are no dhalaos existing in their jurisdictional areas, while at the same time, dhalaos are still operational under MCD as secondary storage points and in order to maintain a garbage free city, these points need to be discouraged for functional and aesthetic reasons. MCD has submitted that all the remaining 638 dhalaos will be shut down by December 31, 2024, with only some being retained for disposal of silt and street sweeping purposes,” said Kumar at the April 6 meeting, the minutes of which were released on Tuesday. At present, 170 MRFs are operational in Delhi, which can process 317 tonne per day (TPD) of waste. While 156 of these come under MCD, 11 come under DCB and three under NDMC. Kumar further directed that a website or portal be created by June 30 to record daily waste generation, collection, recycling and processing of municipal solid waste at sanitary landfills and dump sites by the three local bodies, which will also have to carry out third-party audits of their waste collection and processing by September 30 this year. According to the three waste management agencies, 100% door-to-door collection was at present being done in Delhi. However, the chief secretary asked to ensure that 100% of this waste is transported to solid waste processing facilities. For this, it was decided that all urban local bodies ensure that their waste collection vehicles are equipped with GPS devices and monitored through a central mechanism, besides ensuring scientific disposal of waste. New waste-to-energy plants at Ghazipur and Narela Bawana, and the expansion of an existing one at Okhla, are expected to add another 6,000 TPD in processing capacity by August 2027, the officials told the CS at the meeting. The meeting was held as part of a review by the National Green Tribunal-appointed Solid Waste Monitoring Committee, which in February was asked to fix timelines of all waste management projects in Delhi and review their status periodically. A senior municipal official from the sanitation department said that dhalaos are being closed due to increased mechanisation of the garbage collection process owing to the deployment of mechanical mobile and fixed garbage compactors that reduce the volume of the garbage. “One compactor station can easily take up the volume of garbage that was earlier handled by two to three dhalao sites and it frees up the old open sites. Moreover, as more and more door-to-door collection of waste starts, the need for open dump sites like dhalaos will go down,” the official said, requesting anonymity. Atin Biswas, a waste management expert and programme director of the municipal solid waste sector at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said MRFs are necessary for effective management and segregation of waste. “Dhalaos highlight an improper waste management system as mixed waste can simply be dumped there. Instead, we need MRFs where only dry waste should be dumped. This dry waste can then be segregated further and sent for recycling,” Biswas said.

• Down To Earth

Board’s Strategy towards a Green Economy – Climate Change, Biodiversity and Pricing of Natural Capital

The Board’s strategy towards a green economy is centered on addressing the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss while also recognizing the importance of pricing natural capital Environmental trends and developments include risks, challenges and existential threats that directors and boards cannot afford to ignore. Six of the top ten risks in terms of severity of impact over ten years identified by the 2023 global risks survey and report of the World Economic Forum (WEF) are environmental (WEF a & b). The top three are failure to mitigate climate change, failure of climate-change adaptation and natural disasters and extreme weather events. They are followed by biodiversity loss and eco-system collapse in fourth place. Awards Natural resource crises and large-scale environmental damage incidents also appear in the top ten list. The nature of the environmental challenges that confront many directors and boards are global. Their scale, combination and cumulative impact, and the inter-relationships between them suggest that individual corporate responses may not be sufficient to address certain existential threats (WEF, 2023a & b). Other risks in the WEF 2023 global risks report such as geoeconomic confrontation which ranked third for severity of impact over a two-year period also have environmental consequences (WEF, 2023b). Conflicts such as Russia’s unprovoked and illegal invasion of Ukraine can result in massive environmental damage affecting large areas, which is being recorded with the help of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and might lead to a claim for reparations along the lines of that brought by Kuwait against Iraq (Early, 2023). The economic and human consequences of Russia’s aggression have included supply chain disruptions and international inflationary pressures. Communities around the world and corporate boards are experiencing the consequences (Coulson-Thomas, 2023d). The negative impacts of human activities upon the environment, eco-systems and our collective futures continue to increase (Dasgupta, 2021; IPCC, 2022c; UNEP, 2022). Their affects are already being felt, noticeably in the impact of wildfires, floods, melting ice and rising sea levels and the increased frequency and severity of various extreme weather events (IPCC, 2022a). Natural capital continues to be overexploited. Populations in many countries are still increasing. The purpose of this Theme Paper is to explore some of the areas on the agenda for the forthcoming 2023 and 24th International Conference on Environment Management and Climate Change. They are particularly important for India in view of the scale and composition of its population and its growing significance in world energy and other markets. The Theme Paper suggests issues and questions that directors, speakers and other participants might wish to consider ahead of the event and discuss in Bengaluru. Preparing for COP28 to Ensure ‘Net Zero’ by 2050 According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) more needs to be done and more quickly to address global warming and climate change (UNEP, 2022a &b). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggests that ‘net zero’ targets need to be brought forward by a decade (IPCC, 2023). Many species are struggling to adapt to the speed and scale of temperature and climate changes and their impacts, and the consequential risk of mass extinctions extends to the world’s oceans (Hannah, 2022; Penn and Deutsch, 2022). What more could be done to ensure the achievement of ‘net zero’ by 2050? How should directors prepare for COP28 being held in Dubai (UAE) from the 30th of November to the 12th of December 2023 in relation to implementing what has been agreed at previous conferences of the parties and outstanding business from COP27? Global trends and developments are internationalising a range of issues, challenges and threats and related opportunities. Concerns about globalisation are not new. They drove attempts to close national borders to flows of people, goods and capital in Europe in the last century between the two world wars (Zahra, 2023). What might be the environmental consequences of contemporary trends, reshoring activities and the disruption of supply chains? Should more attention be devoted to climate risks in global supply chains (Ghadge et al, 2020)? How could businesses contribute to nature-based solutions or to addressing consumption-based emissions? What do boards feel about the prospects of their companies, the state of business generally and their ability to contribute to and achieve ‘net zero’ goals? What should their strategy be in relation to effective climate governance, the achievement of UN Sustainable Development Goals, and their and their country’s ‘net zero mission’? Addressing the multiple and inter-related impacts of climate change and other contemporary challenges may require more responsible leadership that addresses the interests of a wider range of stakeholders and the environment (Coulson-Thomas, 2022b; Saks, 2023). What should a board’s social and economic policies and priorities be in relation to lifestyles, corporate and community infrastructures, communities and cities? Are the consequences of growing populations, their likely implications and their root causes being addressed? How might more environment-friendly business practices be identified, adopted and implemented? Are social, economic and environmental development policies aligned and integrated with those for a more sustainable and low-carbon future? How affordable, responsible and sustainable are a company’s current and planned use of technology and scarce resources? ESG and Technology ESG and Technology. Copy Right @ India CSR Leadership for Promoting Transformational Technologies and ESG In evolving and uncertain situations, and during transition and transformation journeys, it may not be easy to assess the sustainable benefits of investments in digital and other technologies (Savastano et al, 2022). Many directors receive different accounts of the various areas of life that could be transformed by digital and other technologies, but they often receive fewer assessments of their energy and resource requirements. Those responsible for the development of general-purpose technologies may themselves be uncertain as to how to derive income streams from certain applications (Yang et al, 2022). How should boards ensure technology is used wisely and that products are designed to be recyclable and reused, and not to harm the environment or create other negative externalities (Sheppard, 2023)? Some directors and boards adopt ‘wait, see and react’ approaches to both climate risks and new technologies. Others take steps to increase their understanding of how they might affect people and how technologies could be responsibly employed. Forewarned can be forearmed. Modelling the impact of climate change upon supply chains can reveal a variety of negative impacts, including a reduction in the availability of natural resources, raw materials and capacity that could lead to shortages, affect inventory costs, cause bottlenecks and disrupt procurement, manufacturing and logistics activities (Er Kara et al, 2023). These impacts can also affect the availability of new technologies and suggest prioritisation of their use which should also reflect ESG objectives and priorities. How should boards promote ESG compliant transformational technologies to achieve inclusive, sustainable and responsible growth and limit global temperature rises to 1.5°C since 1850 (Paris Agreement, 2015; Saks, 2023)? Directors and boards need to consider how best to build businesses that are themselves climate resilient and green and also contribute to a wider climate-resilient green economy. What strategies should they adopt? How might climate uncertainty risks be better managed? How could climate resilient technologies help in this? Are changes required to governance arrangements to address climate and technology challenges and opportunities? How should a board prepare for actionable climate and technology governance? What form of responsible and transformational leadership and roadmap should be adopted for attaining UN SDGs (Coulson-Thomas, 2022b; Saks, 2023)? Are related corporate governance changes required (Coulson-Thomas, 2023b)? How might these best be identified, scoped and adopted? Sustainable Development Sustainable Development. Copy Right @ India CSR Green Growth and Sustainable Development Our knowledge of our evolution and history suggests climatic and environmental factors and their interaction with human societies have had a significant influence on the development, prospects and decline of various communities and a succession of civilisations (Frankopan, 2023). It suggests our future will depend upon whether we can prevent, slow and/or adapt to global warming and cope with its climatic and other consequences. How might green growth and sustainable development be achieved, while at the same time preventing further decline in biodiversity and safeguarding scarce natural capital (Dasgupta, 2021; Hannah, 2022)? Are regulatory changes required to reduce and/or internalise negative environmental impacts (Maitre, 2018)? Experience suggests that pragmatic intervention could enable more threatened species to survive, but its consequences may raise philosophical issues, involve choices, impact some human activities, and may require monitoring and management (Preston, 2023). Continuing as before will not address the existential climate-related environmental threats that we face (UNEP, 2022a &b; IPCC, 2023). Innovative solutions for the challenges of climate change and achieving a zero-carbon and sustainable future are urgently required? What are the options and which of these do businesses prefer? Should carbon and/or natural capital pricing be fast-tracked? How might promising possible solutions best be discussed, developed, quickly evaluated and rapidly implemented? What regulatory or other changes are required to speed up responsible adoption? How could public and private investment and carbon funding speed up the creation, assessment and adoption of green growth solutions? Are additional sources of funding required? What are the best ways of creating energy and corporate resilience and accelerating the ‘net zero’ agenda (Coulson-Thomas, 2023a)? Boards should review environmental governance for economic growth and green financing. What are the most urgent priorities and areas of greatest need? Could more be done to address negative externalities? What role could or should Central and State Governments play in improving biodiversity in coastal areas and combating sea level rise? Could re-wilding be an affordable means of increasing biodiversity in urban and other environments? Experience suggests that as well as increasing biodiversity and providing an antidote to monocultures, rewilding can: be undertaken by working with nature; generate new income streams; help to regenerate local economies and enable people to reconnect with nature (Tree and Burrell, 2023). What ‘green’ funds are available for specific ESG issues and what, if any, new sources of funding are required? How might barriers to their use be addressed? Are changes to investment criteria required? How should these be developed and promoted? Also Read: What is Green Economy? – India CSR Water Management for Sustainable Societies Water Management for Sustainable Societies. Copy Right @ India CSR Water Management for Sustainable Societies Competition for available water supplies has increased along with the risk of water-related conflicts and particular areas ceasing to be habitable and resulting mass migrations (Rowe, 2019; WEF, 2023a & b). How might what is available best be more equitably distributed to achieve fairer and more inclusive and sustainable outcomes (Sohrabi et al, 2023)? What new arrangements should be put in place to handle disputes over water use between riparian business operations, local communities and neighbouring States? How might water conservation and transportation arrangements be improved? At what point should water use be rationed or charged on a differential basis to ensure that essential requirements have priority over discretionary uses? What relative priority should be placed upon agricultural, industrial and domestic uses? Are new allocation, pricing and charging mechanisms required? Competition and the desire to survive can result in undesirable behaviour and negative externalities (Frank, 2012). Responsible leaders also seek collaborative advantage. How might this be achieved? What needs to be done in relation to water collection, storage, transportation and distribution to minimise wastage? Could its loss be reduced and its storage better managed (Bozkurt et al, 2022)? How might the management and conservation of water resources be better integrated and improved? What regulatory changes are required? Are there smart solutions for water availability and use that could be adopted or more widely used? How might the more efficient and responsible use of water enable communities, economies and societies to be more resilient? Are there lessons to be learned from indigenous methods and traditional approaches to water management (Edgar et al, 2022)? Significant populations, especially in poorer countries lack access to sanitation and safe water (UN, 2023). What are the opportunities and challenges for enabling universal and equitable access to safe drinking water? Could market based solutions incorporating incentives, subsidies and pricing help to widen access to water and other arenas of scarce natural capital? How might competing claims for available supplies be better resolved? Could less water-intensive forms of agriculture and greater use of recycling, reuse and drought-resistant crops be encouraged? What role could private sector financing play in ensuring a sustainable safe water supply for all? How might insurance cover be widened in drought-stricken areas? Are there opportunities for public-private cooperation in the relocation of certain communities? India CSR Board’s Strategy towards a Green Economy - Climate Change, Biodiversity and Pricing of Natural Capital 13 G20, Net Zero and India’s role. Copy Right @ India CSR G20, Net Zero and India’s role India’s energy demand has grown rapidly with consequences for global emissions and international energy markets. The country is just becoming the world’s most populous. It could be the main driver of energy demand and overtake the EU in energy consumption by 2030 (IEA, 2021). India is the third largest carbon-emitter after China and the US. Transport is a major contributor to emissions. The use of cleaner energy is encouraged and progress has been made in widening access to electricity and the use of renewables, but India is still reliant on fossil fuels. With China, it objected to the phasing out of coal at COP26. Given its growing carbon emissions, continuing reliance on coal, and increased oil purchases at a discount from Russia which helps to fund this country’s aggression against Ukraine, India’s presidency of G20 and achieving consensus on some agenda items may be challenging. How might it best use its current role to achieve beneficial change and advance environmental objectives? Significant numbers of people in India have already been affected by extreme weather events (CSE, 2022). With rural and urban areas at different stages of development, could India become a bridge between the developed members of G20 and the developing world? How might innovation and leadership become the cornerstone for addressing climate change and environmental risks and challenges (Coulson-Thomas, 2023c)? Are there opportunities in relation to the economics of climate change? What strategies for a ‘carbon constrained future’ and ‘waste to energy’ technologies should India and boards pursue? How might India’s drive for sustainable energy for all and exploiting renewable energy sources create opportunities for collaboration at home and abroad? Is the roadmap for India’s target of 500GW of renewable energy by 2030 clear? What role should the International Solar Alliance play? Colleague and stakeholder perceptions of the proximity of climate change risks and how they might be affected can vary. A survey of Canadians found similar levels of concern about the health impacts of climate change and its biophysical, economic and national security consequences (Casson et al, 2023). Communicating the health risks of climate change may help people to understand the implications for them personally. Should more effort be made to personalise the impacts of climate change and highlight how people in less developed areas are affected? Should India be less concerned with ‘catching up’ with what others have done by emulating approaches of the so-called ‘advanced economies’ whose early industrialisation triggered certain global existential threats we now face? Or should it instead follow a more sustainable, inclusive and enlightened path, follow Indian and other ancient wisdom, and revere and live in harmony with nature (Baindur, 2015; Coulson-Thomas, 2019 & 2022a)? Also Read: Integrating Sustainability as a Board Strategy: Prof (Dr) Colin Coulson-Thomas Global Initiatives: Climate Resilient Economic Development India’s role in transition to a green economy and whether its net impact will be to compound global challenges or advance solutions is likely to be critical. The Deputy Director of the UK Government’s COP 26 unit suggests that reductions in greenhouse gases for each unit of global GDP needs to be five times faster than that achieved over the past two decades (Sharpe, 2023). Deeper thinking and greater commitment to more focused and much faster change, transition and transformation is urgently required before it is too late. Much of the earth could become uninhabitable (Wallace-Wells, 2019). Ignoring warning signs, not anticipating and delaying preparation may increase the risk of disaster (Omand, 2013). The scale of the challenge is highlighted by regular reports from monitoring organisations and agencies (GCP, 2021; UNEP, 2022a & b; IPCC, 2023). What could and should be done differently in the light of the Global Carbon Budget and IPCC Assessment Reports? What are their implications for business and those of ‘Our Solar Future’ roadmap (WRI et al, 2021)? The pre-COP 27 United Nations Environment Programme gap report suggests that Governments are not doing enough and that time for an effective response is running out (UNEP, 2022). India has committed to a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to reduce the carbon emissions intensity of its GDP by 45% by 2030. How might the responsible applications of available and affordable technologies help and support the transition to a lower carbon economy? What new and/or different priorities and practices might be required? Should net positive be an aspiration of more businesses (Polman and Winston, 2021)? How can climate-resistant economic development be achieved, while also addressing other and inter-related existential threats and sustaining progress towards a more inclusive future and operations, activities and lifestyles that are healthier and rewarding (WEF, 2023)? Boards need to ensure they and the companies for which they are responsible have the bandwidth, connections, collaborations and courage to address new strategic risks, while also tackling more established ones. Sometimes and collectively, we are too slow to react to emerging and accelerating risks and threats. For example, the 2022 UN Biodiversity Charter agreed in Montreal allows practices that destroy forest, wetland and sea-bed habitats to continue until 2030 (COP 15, 2022). When past UN biodiversity targets have not been met, cynics may wonder whether current and future ones will be achieved. In practice, collective aspirations seem to be about slowing the plundering of the natural world rather than its regeneration. Biodiversity loss remains an existential threat and strategic risk (Dasgupta, 2021; WEF, 2023). How can directors avoid greenwashing and better confront it? Also Read: Future Boards, Sustainability and Climate Change: Prof Colin Coulson-Thomas Addressing Emerging Strategic Risks Addressing Emerging Strategic Risks. Copy Right @ India CSR Addressing Emerging Strategic Risks While Tackling Established Ones Boards should be ever open to possibilities for innovation, enterprise and entrepreneurship and for reinvention and relocation. In India and elsewhere across much of the developing world people continue to migrate from rural areas into major cities. There are opportunities to reimagine, reinvent and rewild cities to meet their aspirations and those of children and young people in relation to the neighborhoods and wider communities they would like to grow up in. For Madrid, one of the key elements in a programme to ‘green’ the city is a 75-kilometer-long metropolitan forest that will be composed of 1.5 million trees (Stewart, 2023). Many interventions considered to be beneficial overall may still have some negative consequences. For example, protection of predators that raises their numbers may not only enhance risks to livestock, but also increase the annual number of people they kill (Hart, 2023). Choices will need to be made. By the time everyone agrees it may be too late. Directors should exercise independent thought before and while contributing to collective board discussions. Resilient spirits may be those who avoid surrendering to determinist and fatalistic prognostications based upon human frailties. Boards should stay positive, retain hope, tackle challenges, remain open to possibilities, embrace enquiry and encourage action while there is still time (Bakewell, 2023). Natural capital required by future generations continues to be depleted more quickly than it can be regenerated, recycled, or new supplies brought on stream (Tucker, 2019; Hannah, 2022). Existence and being alive can be magical, yet many people who seek ‘more’ are anxious and preoccupied with problems they and other humans have collectively created. Escaping into digital arenas may distance them even more from the natural world they are degrading. How might boards inspire transition and transformation journeys, display greater authenticity and also inspire, encourage and support reconnection with the reality of what is happening to the natural world (Sherwood, 2022)? This is the theme paper for the 24th International Conference on Environment Management and Climate Change, to be held on June 22nd-23rd, 2023 at Hotel The Lalit Ashok in Bengaluru, India. The forum will focus on the Board’s Strategy towards a Green Economy, with specific emphasis on Climate Change, Biodiversity, and the Pricing of Natural Capital. Prof. (Dr) Colin Coulson-Thomas. Image: India CSR Prof. (Dr) Colin Coulson-Thomas. Image: India CSR About the Autor Author Prof (Dr) Colin Coulson-Thomas Prof (Dr) Colin Coulson-Thomas, President of the Institute of Management Services, Director-General, IOD India, UK and Europe and leader of the International Governance Initiative of the Order of St Lazarus, is an experienced chairman of award-winning companies and vision holder of successful transformation programmes. He has helped directors in over 40 countries to improve director, board and corporate performance, authored over 60 books and reports and held public appointments at local, regional and national level and professorial roles in Europe, North and South America, Africa, the Middle East, India and China. He is currently inter alia Honorary Professor at the Aston India Centre for Applied Research, a Distinguished Professor and President of the Council of International Advisors at the Sri Sharada Institute of Indian Management-Research, and a Visiting Professor of Direction and Leadership at Lincoln International Business School. References Bakewell, Sarah (2023), Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Enquiry and Hope, London, Chatto & Windus Baindur, Meera (2015), Nature in Indian Philosophy and Cultural Traditions, New Delhi, Springer India Bozkurt, Cansu, Firat, Mahmut, Ates, Abdullah, Yilmaz, Salih and Özdemir, Özgür (2022), Strategic water loss management: Current status and new model for future perspectives, Sigma: Journal of Engineering & Natural Sciences, June, Vol. 40 Issue 2, pp 310-322 Casson, Nora, Cameron, Laura, Mauro, Ian, Friesen-Hughes, Karl and Rocque, Rhéa (2023), Perceptions of the health impacts of climate change among Canadians, BMC Public Health, Vol. 23 Issue 1, 31st January, pp 1-13 COP 15 [15th meeting of the of the Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity] (2022), Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, (Document: CBD/COP/15/L25), [https://www.cbd.int/conferences/2021-2022/cop-15/documents, 22nd December] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2019), Ancient Wisdom, the Natural World and the Environment, Abhinava Prabandhan, International Research Journal of Indian Ethos & Wisdom for Management – ‘The Vivek Management’, Vol. 7, Combined Issue I & II, May, pp 1-8 Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2022a), A Reflection on the Human Goal and Influencing Factors, Abhinava Prabandhan, International Research Journal of Indian Ethos & Wisdom for Management – ‘The Vivek Management’, Vol. 9, Combined 1st and 2nd April-September, pp 1-28 Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2022b), Values-Based and/or Responsible Leadership for Addressing Climate Change, Effective Executive, Vol. 25, No. 4, December, pp 7-29 Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2023a), Director, Board and Corporate Resilience, Director Today, Vol. IX Issue IV, April, pp 9-17 Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2023b), Responsible Leadership and Good Governance in Saks, Mike (editor) (2023) Responsible Leadership: Essential to the Achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, pp 85-101, Abingdon: Routledge Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2023c), Risk-led Innovation, Balancing current and longer-term requirements, Management Services, Vol. 67 No 1, Spring, pp 38-42 Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2023d), The Ukraine War and Economic Recession, Politieconomy [The International Research Journal of Political Economy], Vol. 8, April to September 2023, pp 29-41 CSE (2022), Climate India 2022, An assessment of extreme weather events, January-September, Delhi, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Dasgputa, Partha (2021), The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review, London, HM Treasury Early, Catherine (2023), The Cost of War, Geographical, Vol. 95 Issue 2, February, pp 44-51

• Water Programme

Union minister at CSE conference

The forum, from April 25-27, 2023, will focus on inclusive, affordable solutions for water and sanitation management. Photo: CSE. The water crisis in India is not due to lack of water resources but primarily because of mismanagement, said Hardeep Singh Puri, Union minister for housing and urban affairs, on April 25, 2023. The minister was speaking at the 2023 Policy and Practice Forum, an international gathering of water, wastewater and sanitation management stakeholders and experts organised by Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Also read: UN 2023 Water Conference: Day 2 ends with dialogue on ‘water for sustainable development’ The three-day gathering, from April 25-27, 2023, is held at CSE’s educational center Anil Agarwal Environment Training Institute, Alwar. While treaties might resolve political conflicts around water, they will not tackle the need to fundamentally alter how we extract, consume, plan and manage water and sanitation systems, the minister added. While delivering the opening address, CSE Director-General Sunita Narain, said: The good news is that water literacy has grown. Over the past decades, the country has learnt critical lessons on water management and has evolved a new paradigm. There is an interest in decentralised water management, but in spite of that, it is clear that we are not doing enough to secure our future. “The problem lies in the fact that our land and water bureaucracies are fractured — some agency owns the pond, another the drain and yet another the catchment. Water security requires this to change. Giving the local community much greater control over the water structures — deepening democracy and devolution of powers — is the answer,” Narain said. The forum will be focusing on providing inclusive and affordable solutions for water and sanitation management, said Depinder Kapur, director of CSE’s water and wastewater programme. Being organised in collaboration with the Water Research Commission (WRC), International Water Association (IWA), Faecal Sludge Management Alliance (FSMA), University of Columbia and GIZ, this international meet is designed as an experience-sharing and agenda-setting forum. Also read: UN 2023 Water Conference: African Heads of State lead from front; announce ‘presidential compacts’ on water, sanitation “The Forum has brought together some 100 policymakers, practitioners and researchers to deliberate on the conditions prevailing at present and the priorities for the future,” Kapur added. Other key speakers that the forum include Roopa Mishra, joint secretary Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and mission director of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban; G Mathi Vathanan, principal secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Government of Odisha and other officials. During his address, G Ashok Kumar, Director-General of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), informed the audience that NMCG is now monitoring the performance of sewage treatment plants on a real-time basis. The Mission has also launched a 140-city River City Alliance.

• Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

Workshop to help BWGs improve garbage mgmt

Gurgaon: To improve solid waste management, MCG along with Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is organising a workshop for the bulk waste generators (BWGs) on Friday. The agenda is to apprise the BWGs about their roles and responsibilities as per the Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2016, so that they set up infrastructure to recycle their dry waste and compost the waste on their own. “The modes of operation, roles along with rules of SWM will be explained in the workshop. We will also showcase the best practices of the bulk waste generators of the city so that others can follow them,” said Naresh Kumar, MCG joint commissioner-Swachh Bharat Mission. TNN

• Director General Office

Ganga: Seeking 'paradigm shift' in order to implement decision, initiate discourses

India is blessed with a network of rivers that can accommodate the country's heavy water needs, making it wealthy in water resources. In addition, the literature on water wisdom is blissful from the writings in the Vedas to all the religious-spiritual writings on water and conversation and management of water resources. However, India is still among the worst water crisis hit countries in the world. A country rich with water wisdom if suffers from water woes must really call for a paradigm shift in the way water discourses and decisions are initiated and implemented. At WforW Foundation, we aim to popularize the water conservations towards water conservation. The idea is to make ‘water everybody’s business’ so that the public governance can be initiated towards interactive and integrated water conversation and management. Since antiquity, Ganga or fondly called ‘Ma Ganga’ has been everybody’s matter in the country, be it philosophy, perception and pollution. The word ‘Ganga’ means more than a river in India, it is the life-giver, the mother, and the Goddess. Different people/communities/religions revere it in different ways throughout the year. Apart from being India’s longest, Ganga and her tributaries, called the Ganga Basin, traverse eleven states covering one-third of India's surface water and includes the country's largest irrigated area. It provides shelter to 40 percent of India's population and livelihood to nearly 43 percent people yet, ironically it also has country's two-third of the poor, co-living in those 100 cities, 50 towns, and thousands of villages of the basin. Over 40 percent of India's GDP is generated in the Ganga Basin. Despite being so special, the exploitation of Ganga for urban development has pushed the mighty holy river to serious level of pollution with its ecology and flow endangered. It is among the world’s topmost polluted rivers sitting alongside Citarum River in Indonesia and Yangtze River in China. Despite being a crucial social-ecological resource as well as philosophically, morally, religiously connected to the lives of the people, Ganga could not escape the negative consequences of rapid urbanization, industrialization, and rising water demand. Unsustainable infrastructures along its vast flow and anthropological activities along every nook and corner banks have polluted the river’s water beyond tolerable measures, making it unsuitable for many uses. Ma Ganga is crying for its clean and flowing nature alias, Aviralta and Nirmalta according to the laureates like, rishis and scientists besides according to the stats. Well, while we spend most of the country’s money assigned for rivers on the Ganga, its state of affairs is representative of most of the rivers in the country. The country's population and urbanization growth have increased the need to supply more water for irrigation, domestic and industrial purposes exhausting the existing water resources in quantity with equally considerable decline in the water quality (Joshi, Kumar, & Agrawal, 2009). The irony is that the river’s cry alias pollution had been an old and continuous process in the river and can be referred from the continuous efforts made to clean it in parts or full in the last 100+ years. For example, from Ganga Mahasabha founded by Madan Mohan Malaviya in 1905; Ganga Action Plan (GAP) launched by Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, in 1986; National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) established in 2009; Namami Gange Programme in 2014; to the current Namami Gange Mission-II to continue till 2026. As part of the Namami Gange programme, a Clean Ganga Fund was created in 2014. The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) was formed as the implementation wing of the National Ganga Council which was set up in October 2016 under the River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Authorities order 2016. The flagship programme of this is the, Namami Gange, with twin objective of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of Ganga. Rajiv Ranjan Mishra (an Indian Administrative Officer of the 1987 batch) as a Mission Director and then as the Director-General of the NMCG has closely studied Ganga as well as structured the NMCG towards a comprehensive discourse on Ganga rejuvenation and its long-term sustenance. During his leadership at NMCG, he advocated expansion of the scope of the Mission to include the entire ecosystem of the river, its basin and the clean-up of its tributaries, and other pollutants that have been defiling the river. Rajiv along with Puskal Upadhyay, a civil engineer-turned-civil servant and as Director (Finance) of NMCG who also played a critical role in developing the building blocks of the NMCG, wrote a book namely, ‘GANGA-Reimagining, Rejuvenating, Reconnecting’ which has their experience and learning about the importance of the river Ganga and the building of the NMCG as institution of national importance. As part of the Wednesdays.for.Water conversation series, we invited Rajiv Ranjan Mishra and Puskal Upadhyay for a book reading session to discuss their coauthored book, ‘GANGA- Reimagining, Rejuvenating, Reconnecting’ to understand better from them the Ganga of today and the institutional opportunities and challenges to reimagine, rejuvenate and reconnect as they write in the book. The video of the discussion is available here at the WforW Foundation website and YouTube. This essay is an excerpt from that discussion. The book The book, ‘GANGA- Reimagining, Rejuvenating, Reconnecting’ is published by‎ Rupa Publications India (ISBN-10: ‎9355201990, ISBN-13: ‎978-9355201997) on 23 December 2021. Weighing 640 grams and measuring 15.24 x 2.54 x 22.86 cms, the book is available for buying at Rupa Publications, Amazon, and other portals besides book stores across the country. The Kindle Edition is priced INR 426 and Hard Cover version is priced INR 449/- online. The Hardcover book has 376 pages with 16 chapters and nice letter to the readers at the end. The foreword is written by Bibek Debroy and in addition words of praise are written by 17 great thinkers, philosophers, policymakers, authors, scientists and leaders. For example, ‘As citizens of a country where rivers like Ganga have given us life, the Ganga’s future depends on what we, the readers, do and don’t do.’ —Bibek Debroy, author and Chairman, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council. ‘The book lucidly explains the efforts being made, the enormity of the challenge and the intricacies of institution building for the rejuvenation of Ganga.’ —Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog ‘This book is crucial for all to read as river conservation in our world demands a different ethic; a different paradigm of water and waste management so that it is affordable and sustainable.’ —Sunita Narain, DG, Centre for Science and Environment ‘An account of the various challenges the NMCG team faced as they set out to restore the Ganga, one of the most formidable rivers on the planet.’ —Mike H. Pandey, ecologist and Green Oscar winner ‘Through the National Mission for Clean Ganga, the river Ganga has now become an emblem for all the river ecosystems in the country.’ —Prof. Edmund Penning-Rowsell, OBE, Distinguished Research Associate, Oxford University Centre for the Environment ‘This book looks at the importance of putting people at the heart of rebuilding our waterways so future generations can also prosper from their bounty.’ —Karlene Maywald, South Australian Water Ambassador

• Director General Office

Energy Asia by PETRONAS to bring together industry movers and shakers to drive a just energy transition towards net-zero goals

There's never been a more urgent time to solve the challenges of the energy transition - and now you can be part of the agenda-setting narrative. Energy Asia, an exciting new conference, will unite policy makers, industry captains, and energy professionals in collaboration on navigating a more sustainable future for the region. The three-day event, organised by global energy group PETRONAS, will be held in Malaysia in June, playing host to a series of scintillating strategic discussions and inspiring showcase of cutting-edge technology and innovation In a bid to accelerate change, Energy Asia has one simple but world-changing mission - to drive actionable solutions that will result in a just and responsible energy transition across the region. To date more than 50 speakers are set to take to the stage, bringing together decades of experience, knowledge, and insight across various industries and the list is steadily growing. Key speakers include HE Arifin Tasrif, Indonesia's Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, HE Haitham Al Ghais, Secretary General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Tengku Muhammad Taufik, President and CEO of PETRONAS and Dr Daniel Yergin, Vice Chairman, S&P Global. Other esteemed names set to make an appearance as part of the line-up are Amin H Naseer, CEO and President Saudi Aramco, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanné, President of SLB Asia Amy Chua, and Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO of Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1. The conference - held in partnership with CERAWeek by S&P Global as Knowledge Partner - is dedicated to the theme Charting Pathways for a Sustainable Asia, with a focus on advancing the region's net-zero ambitions. As a resource-rich region with a large population, sturdy economic development and favourable long-term growth potential, Asia plays a significant role in the global effort to achieve net-zero. Indeed, the region is now home to more than half the world's total renewable energy capacity, with installed renewable capacity more than tripling over the past decade. But to meet the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, decarbonisation will require all industries to pivot to cleaner energy solutions. This, however, requires providers and governments to tackle the "energy trilemma", finding a balance between energy security, affordability and sustainability while considering the varying stages of development in Asia. There is no one-size-fits-all approach if Asia is to achieve a net-zero carbon future. It's also critical that the region continues to attract low-carbon investments and clean technology, relying on continued funding in innovative solutions. This can be achieved, Energy Asia believes, in part through cross-regional collaboration, with nations bringing their own policy ambitions and panaceas to the table. "Given the unique conditions faced by distinct emerging economies across South-East Asia, achieving our sustainability goals requires a carefully planned transformation, and collective action from all stakeholders," said Tengku Muhammad Taufik, President and Group CEO, PETRONAS. "I am optimistic we can continue to support each other towards establishing just and responsible pathways in realising a lower-carbon future." Energy Asia's agenda includes sessions tailored towards the potential of technologies to unlock decarbonisation, strategic options to balance the energy trilemma, and new models of finance and investments. The conference will also ask how G2G collaboration can be strengthened among the international community for a just and responsible energy transition as well as partnerships and accessibility - whether regarding energy, technology, finance and talent. In essence, Energy Asia pledges to go further than pledging change - the event will not only succinctly outline the challenges faced by the industry, but also define workable plans for a low-carbon future. Petronas sponsored image Image: Petronas sponsored image Further confirmed speakers include Sunita Narain, Director-General of the Centre for Science and Environment, John B Hess, CEO Hess Corporation, Cindy Lim, CEO Keppel Infrastructure Holdings Pte Ltd, Fred Krupp, President Environmental Defense Fund, Shamsul Bahar, CEO of the Malaysian Green Technology and Climate Change Corporation and many more. Energy Asia 2023 anticipates the gathering of over 2,000 attendees with no less than 120 local and international exhibitors providing opportunities to both market and network. Delegate passes are still available, with a special early-bird fee available until April 30, saving $200 on full-price fees. Discounts are also available when entry is booked for parties of five people or more. Delegates will receive entry to the riveting opening and closing ceremony, as well as access to all scheduled sessions as well as prime networking and engagement opportunities. Opportunities to sponsor the debut conference are still open, as is the chance to maximise exposure and build key relationships with exhibition booth space, from as little as $650 per square metre. Get your delegate passes now to ensure you are at the heart of this flagship conference, rubbing shoulders with the people tasked with responsibly delivering this urgent transformation.

• Sustainable Food Systems

अध्ययन में हुआ खुलासा, जंक फ़ूड में नमक की ज्यादा मात्रा आपको बना रही है ज्यादा मोटा

अगर आपको भी फास्टफूड खाना ज्यादा पसंद है तो आपको उसमें पड़ने वाले नमक को लेकर सावधान रहना चाहिए. आपको यह ध्यान रखना चाहिए कि जंक फ़ूड में नमक की ज्यादा मात्रा आपके शरीर के लिए हानिकारक हो सकती है. सीएसईन के एक ताज़ा अध्ययन में यह खुलासा हुआ है कि अगर आप जंक फ़ूड ज्यादा खाते हैं तो आपको मोटापा जल्दी होगा. इसका विशेष कारण केवल यह ही नहीं है कि आप केवल जंक फ़ूड खाने से ही मोटे हो रहे हैं. बल्कि यह भी है की आप जो जंक फ़ूड खा रहे हैं उसमें उपस्थित नमक की मात्रा कितनी है. यदि जंक फ़ूड में नमक की मात्रा ज्यादा है तो यह आपके बढ़ने वाले वजन को दोगुना कर देता है. फ़ास्ट फ़ूड में नमक से होने वाली हानि सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरमेंट की रिसर्च के बाद हुए चौंकाने वाले खुलासों में नमक को शरीर के लिए कई तरह के रोगों का घर बताया गया है. इससे न केवल मोटापा बढ़ता है बल्कि यह शुगर, उच्च रक्तचाप और ह्रदय की कई बीमारियों को भी बढ़ाता है. यह प्रभाव आपको एक समय के बाद कई तरह की बीमारियों के रूप में दिखाई देने लगते हैं. यह भी देखें- इसे न खाइये और न खाने दीजिये (फास्ट फूड), ये कैंसर' के लिए जिम्मेदार है क्या कहती है यह रिसर्च इस रिसर्च के अनुसार जंक फ़ूड में नमक की मात्रा के साथ-साथ वसा और ट्रांस फैट की मात्रा भी बहुत ज्यादा होती है. जिसका असर शरीर के कई अंगों पर अलग-अलग तरह से पड़ता है. रिसर्च के अनुसार यदि आप एक बाज़ार में मिलने वाले नट क्रेकर के 35 ग्राम की मात्रा का सेवन करते हैं तो आप अपने पूरे दिन में जितना नमक खाना चाहिए उसका 35 प्रतिशत खा लेते हैं. इतना ही नहीं अगर हम इस 35 ग्राम नट क्रेकर में वसा की बात करें तो आप इसका सेवन करते ही लगभग 26 प्रतिशत दैनिक मात्रा की वसा का उपभोग कर लेते हैं. इसके साथ ही अगर हम पिज़्ज़ा की बात करें तो उसकी एक स्लाईस लगभग 25 प्रतिशत नमक की मात्रा को पूरा कर देती है. यह भी पढ़ें- ऑफिस में रहना है तो जंक फूड को ना कहें, इन चीजों को हां बोले मतलब अगर हम पूरा एक पिज़्ज़ा खा लेते हैं तो लगभग 70 से 80 प्रतिशत वसा और 100 प्रतिशत तक नमक की दैनिक मात्रा को पूरा कर लेते हैं. लेकिन अगर आप इससे ज्यादा कुछ भी उस दिन खाते हैं तो वह आपके शरीर पर नकारात्मक प्रभाव डालेगी.

• Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

Delhi yet to implement bylaws for plastic waste management

CSE analysed data from the Central Pollution Control Board and found the country generated 25,940 tonnes of plastic waste every day It is the largest producer of plastic waste among the metropolitan cities in the country, but Delhi continues to operate without any plastic waste management bylaws. The city banned 19 single-use plastic items on July 1 2022 and a comprehensive campaign – 100 Days to Beat Plastic – launched by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) this January culminated on April 22, marking International Earth Day. But these drives against plastic continue to lack teeth due to non-operationalisation of plastic waste regulations, civic officials and waste management experts say. Based on the government of India’s plastic waste rules 2016, the urban development department of Delhi government published draft bylaws on August 13, 2021 but lieutenant governor VK Saxena subsequently directed MCD in January 2022 to frame and publish plastic waste management bylaws. The draft bylaws were published by the urban development department on August 13, 2021 providing a 30-day period for seeking objections and suggestions regarding the rules. The order received by the MCD dated January 10, 2023 says the draft was “published with the approval of the Lieutenant Governor (referring to Saxena’s predecessor Anil Baijal) and after consultation with stakeholders, the final draft of plastic waste management bylaws was submitted for approval of LG”. Yet, the final bylaws are yet to be notified. A senior municipal official associated with waste management said that the process is stuck on account of “legal complications”. “We sought opinion from legal department and the act says that if any new fine or user charge is being enforced, the government of the state or the central government will have to notify it. We have decided to put it as a preamble in the house of councillors whenever the election is finalized”, added this person who asked not to be named. The election for the post of mayor is expected to be held on April 26 and normal house proceedings are expected to resume from next month. A senior municipal official from the sanitation department said that in the absence of bylaws, they have been using petty fines of insanitation and littering provisions to issue challans. “Specific fines for plastic waste as well as control over entire supply chain will widely empower our actions against the plastic waste,” the official said. Under the 100 days to beat plastic campaign that ended on Saturday, the civic body seized 14,164kg of plastic products and issued 1,596 challans, but these were issued under insanitation/littering provisions, not the draft bylaws. According to a second MCD official who too asked not to be named, “current municipal waste management rules prescribe a fine of ₹500 for littering but the penalty under the draft bylaws goes up to ₹50,000 with responsibility fixed on producers and importers of plastic items.” The problem of plastic is acute in Delhi which, according to the “State of India’s Environment 2022” by the Centre for Science and Environment last month, generates 689.8 tonnes of plastic waste daily — the highest among India’s metropolitan cities. CSE analysed data from the Central Pollution Control Board and found the country generated 25,940 tonnes of plastic waste every day. The draft bylaws also have a provision for a fine of ₹5000 for open burning of plastic waste while littering attracts a fine of ₹1000. Similarly, a ₹50,000 fine is mandated for producers/importers and distributors if they fail to make arrangements for waste collection system as part of extended producer responsibility or simply fail to collect used multilayer plastic sachet/pouches. The draft rules also mandate a thickness marking on plastic carry bags and a fine of ₹10,000 for violations. “The draft bylaws treat single use plastic items much more stringently. Moreover, they require all producers and distributors to mandatorily register with Delhi Pollution Control Committee within three months of notification and to maintain records of people engaged in the plastic waste supply chain. According to the second MCD official, the draft bylaws also ban the use of single-use plastic in gutkha, tobacco pan masala and drinking water sachets of any size and packed water bottles having capacity less than 1 litre. Bharati Chaturvedi, environmentalist and founder of Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group said that Delhi needs to put additional financial burden or tax to make some of these single use plastic items unviable. “We have seen very poor awareness campaigns being run by the agencies and that needs to change. The focus should be on the reuse economy. There are various ways of encouraging the reuse economy which is basically gone.” HT reached out to the LG office for comments on the matter, but officials there declined to comment. Atin Biswas, a waste management expert and programme director of municipal solid waste sector in Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said the bylaws are the responsibility of the municipality and the registration of producers/importers may be beyond the scope of bylaws. “The bylaws are a part of third layer of legal instruments under the decentralisation envisaged under 74th amendment to the Constitution. This empowers local body and pollution boards to impose fines or ban certain products. Specific bylaws are a wonderful legal tool provided they are implemented well,” Biswas said. He added that the corporation can carry out large number raids and seize vast amounts of banned products but unless action is taken at the production level. “Most of the banned single use plastic items are not branded so they cannot be linked to a particular manufacturer. Most of the manufacturing of such items occurs in informal industries. The source needs to be tackled. Multi-layered plastic which has low recycling value needs to be tackled for dealing with plastic waste and we need a more comprehensive communication strategy,” he said. Siddharth Singh. programme manager of Environmental Governance and Solid Waste Management at CSE, said Delhi will need to enforce the single use plastic ban, but the city has failed miserably to do that. “Bylaws will help a city like Delhi to take the commitment to fight against plastic pollution a step ahead than the national law. However, Delhi is still struggling to meet the national law,” he said.

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Air Strategies for Delhi to combat rising pollution levels

The Delhi government can show the way forward by employing an imaginative mobility policy that would address the pollution problem in the capital While pollution has been a longstanding and perpetual challenge for the whole country, the urban areas and the metro cities have particularly borne the brunt of this scourge. Indian cities have regularly featured among the world’s most polluted cities in recent years. And among Indian cities, Delhi has often been the worst-performing one with the dubious distinction of having been ranked the most polluted city in the world for the fourth consecutive year in 2022. So what can Delhi do to moderate and reduce the rising pollution levels? Recognize pollution as a multifaceted challenge First, the authorities must treat Delhi pollution not merely as an environmental concern but as a larger policymaking challenge which is invariably also intertwined with a range of other issues such as rampant and unplanned urbanization, rising population, ever-surging vehicular population, fossil fuel combustion, stubble burning in the neighbouring states, shoddy and unsystematic waste disposal and management and burning of firecrackers during Diwali and the extended festive season. Tackle vehicular pollution Given the excessively high contribution of vehicular emissions on account of a disproportionately high number of vehicles on Delhi’s roads, the government must mount an immediate and full-frontal campaign to tackle this issue first. According to a recent analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment, vehicles contributed to 51% of PM2.5 levels in the city, the most dangerous air pollutant for human health. And of vehicular emissions, according to another study, 20% of emissions came from four-wheelers Auto LPG is far better than others Exhaust emissions of vehicles running on auto LPG as compared to those running on petrol emit 75% less CO, 85% fewer hydrocarbons, and 40% less NO while leading to 87% less ozone depletion. Furthermore, auto LPG emits almost no black carbon and has a zero global warming potential (GWP) as against CO2 and methane 25. Auto LPG is a better option than even EVs, for now While the recent policy push on EVs must be appreciated, there is a need to acknowledge that setting up an EV ecosystem not only necessitates an enormous amount of investment but also has its supply chain-related constraints, especially in terms of the availability of lithium-ion batteries, a key prerequisite. In contrast, auto LPG already has a well-oiled infrastructure in place. Moreover, not only an auto LPG vehicle is a cheaper option than an EV, the price of converting an existing ICE vehicle into LPG is far more modest as compared to converting it into an electric vehicle. Auto LPG is better than CNG We have seen how over the years, the authorities in Delhi have been gradually bringing in CNG buses for public transport. While CNG may be good for large vehicles such as buses, for a private vehicles such as cars and other four-wheelers, LPG is a better choice. According to experts, auto LPG cylinders weigh less on account of their operating pressure being around 25 kg per cylinder as against 200 kg-300 kg of a CNG cylinder, impacting the performance of the vehicle. BS norms are not enough It is worthwhile to note that despite the introduction of Bharat Stage (BS) emission norms and the need for a periodic upgrade for vehicles in terms of stringency and implementation, our cities including Delhi continue to reel under heavy pollution. This has occurred even as cities such as Delhi were mandated to be among the first ones to implement and upgrade the required emission norms from time to time as compared to smaller cities and the rest of the country. Delhi Govt’s approach Admittedly, the Delhi government has taken a slew of measures such as setting up smog towers and air filtration systems, taking up traffic-related dust management, identifying and monitoring pollution and traffic hotspots, and most notably, implementing Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) earnestly. Under GRAP, the recent prohibition of plying diesel non-BS VI-compliant four-wheelers and entering heavy trucks in Delhi is particularly notable. At the same time, the government has also initiated steps on other non-vehicular origin emissions such as appealing to neighbouring states for redress stubble burning, suspending construction activities and banning firecrackers As part of policy stimulus, bringing down GST on auto LPG and conversion kits would be a first step. Simultaneously, it would also have to accelerate measures on other fronts responsible for the city’s pollution. (The writer is Director General, of Indian Auto LPG Coalition)

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Delhi transport dept to organise online consultation for EV subsidy

In some situations, dealers enter incorrect information in the forms, such as the consumer's bank account number, resulting in the consumer not receiving the subsidy on time The Delhi government, which provides a subsidy for the purchase of electric vehicles (EV), has found that at least 15-20% of people who purchase such vehicles cannot collect them due to erroneous paperwork. To ensure all consumers who purchase EV two-wheelers and three-wheelers can take advantage of the subsidy, the Delhi transport department's EV cell would host online training and consultations for dealers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) every two weeks to explain the procedure of obtaining the subsidy, EV cell officials aware of the matter said on Sunday. "We realised that even though it is a basic process, the dealerships and OEMs need to revisit it to be up to date on the process and make fewer mistakes. So, we will show them the form online and explain what needs to be done in each category during this type of refresher training," said N Mohan, chief executive officer of the EV cell. Under its EV policy 2020, the Delhi government provides subsidies to EV purchasers. However, rather than deducting the subsidy from the purchase price, it is transferred directly to the consumer's account after the purchase. The dealer or OEM fills out a document with the consumer's information, which the transport department validates, and the transfer is completed. Officials said that in some situations, dealers enter incorrect information in the forms, such as the consumer's bank account number, resulting in the consumer not receiving the subsidy on time. Then, the documents must be returned to the dealers, who take a long time to fill the details. According to officials, while the subsidy is moved directly to the consumer's account, it is only transferred to Aadhaar-connected bank accounts, details of which are frequently incorrectly filled in the forms. Other common errors include improper name spelling, incorrect address, and incorrect car model number. "We make every effort to complete all forms within ten working days. The main issue is that if a form is inaccurate and returned, it takes a long time to return after all the facts have been corrected. This is because the dealers must then take an interest and obtain all of the customer's information again. We are attempting to shorten this turnaround time so that there are fewer errors and the forms do not need to be returned," Mohan added. He also said that a small session for two-wheeler dealers was held last week and another session for three-wheeler dealers and OEMs will be held in two weeks. The dealers can also explain their difficulties; if there are any technical challenges, the department can help them handle them, he added. There are currently 23 OEMs and 131 dealers in Delhi for EV two-wheelers, 98 OEMs and 202 dealers for EV three-wheelers, and two OEMs and 15 dealers for EV four-wheelers. According to the Delhi EV Policy, two-wheelers are eligible for a ₹5,000 subsidy per kWh of battery capacity (maximum ₹30,000). Three-wheelers are eligible for a ₹30,000 subsidy per vehicle, regardless of overall cost or battery capacity. The subsidy for four-wheelers is no longer available because it was only available for the first 1,000 EVs registered under the scheme. The Delhi government had allowed a subsidy of ₹10,000 per kWh battery capacity for four-wheelers, up to a maximum of ₹1.5 lakh. "By 2023, 10-15% of automobiles sold in Delhi will be electric. To fulfil policy targets for 2024, it must be 2.5 times (the EV policy says the Delhi government aims to have 25% of all vehicles registered in the city to be electric by 2024). The incentive programme or subsidy is a critical instrument in driving adoption, but we have recently encountered roadblocks in the process. The provision of bi-weekly training to the OEM sales team is an excellent first step toward increasing process efficiency, transparency, correctness, and ease of documentation. Furthermore, strengthening B2C (buyer to consumer) contacts in the EV segment is necessary," said Annanya Das, mobility programme manager at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). However, she emphasised that the key to avoiding long-term errors will be to assess efficiency indicators such as processing time and information precision regularly.

• Climate Change and Green Economy

जलवायु परिवर्तन की वजह से भारत में बदतर होती जा रही पलायन की स्थिति

जलवायु परिवर्तन की वजह से भारत में पलायन की स्थिति बिगड़ती जा रही है. गर्म लहरों, बाढ़, चक्रवात और समुद्र के बढ़ते जलस्तर सहित चरम मौसम की वजह से लोगों को घर छोड़ना पड़ रहा है. यह समस्या और ज्यादा गंभीर हो सकती है.प्रोतिमा राय अब भी बुलबुल चक्रवात की वजह से हुई तबाही को याद कर सिहर उठती हैं. इस उष्णकटिबंधीय चक्रवात ने 2019 में सुंदरबन को तबाह कर दिया था. कई लोगों की जान चली गई थीं. बंगाल की खाड़ी में बने इस चक्रवात ने 27 साल की राय सहित सैकड़ों परिवारों को अपना गांव छोड़ कर सुरक्षित क्षेत्रों में पलायन के लिए मजबूर कर दिया था. राय ने डीडब्ल्यू को बताया, "खेत खेती करने लायक नहीं बचे. खेती करना और मछली पकड़ना यहां के लोगों की आजीविका का मुख्य साधन था. समुद्र के बढ़ते स्तर और खारापन ने सुंदरबन के मुख्य क्षेत्रों में रहने वाले लोगों से उनकी आजीविका का प्रमुख साधन छिन लिया.” जलवायु परिवर्तन की वजह से पलायन को मजबूर लोग सुंदरबन से अभी भी स्थायी, मौसमी और अस्थायी तौर पर पलायन जारी है. ग्रामीण घरेलू सर्वेक्षण के अनुसार, अलग-अलग परिवारों के करीब 25 फीसदी से अधिक कमाऊ लोग काम की तलाश में अस्थायी रूप से पलायन कर गए हैं. सुंदरबन बंगाल की खाड़ी में निचले द्वीपों का एक समूह है, जो भारत और बांग्लादेश में फैला हुआ है. यह अपने अद्वितीय मैंग्रोव वनों के लिए प्रसिद्ध है. भारतीय सुंदरबन में कुल मिलाकर 104 द्वीप हैं, जिनमें से 54 पर इंसानी बस्तियां हैं. पर्यावरणविद् बताते हैं कि तटीय कटाव और समुद्र का बढ़ता जलस्तर धीरे-धीरे सुंदरबन की धरती को निगल रहा है. गांवों के कई लोग कोलकाता जैसे शहरों की ओर पलायन करने के लिए मजबूर हो रहे हैं, क्योंकि उनकी उपजाऊ भूमि तूफान और बाढ़ की बढ़ती संख्या के साथ खारी हो रही है. मदद के लिए कोई राजनीतिक योजना नहीं कोलकाता में रहने वाले पर्यावरण और जलवायु विशेषज्ञ जयंत बसु ने डीडब्ल्यू को बताया, "जलवायु परिवर्तन और उसकी वजह से होने वाले पलायन की समस्या दूर करने के लिए, कोई भी प्रशासनिक नीति या योजना नहीं है जिससे वहां रहने वाले लोगों को सामाजिक सुरक्षा उपलब्ध कराई जा सके.” पूर्वी राज्य ओडिशा भी प्रवासी श्रमिकों का एक महत्वपूर्ण स्रोत है. जलवायु परिवर्तन यहां के लोगों को ज्यादा कमजोर बना रहा है और इस वजह से वे काम की तलाश में पलायन कर रहे हैं. उड़ीसा में चिल्का झील खारे पानी की सबसे बड़ी झील है. यह पक्षियों का भी बड़ा बसेरा है. पर्यावरण में होने वाले बदलाव से यह भी अछूता नहीं है. इससे यहां की लोगों की आजीविका काफी हद तक प्रभावित हुई है. क्यों होता पलायन और विस्थापन पर्यटन उद्योग में काम करने वाले सुज्ञान बेहरा ने डॉयचे वेले को बताया, "चरम मौसम की घटनाओं के बाद झील के उत्तरी किनारे पर स्थित मंगलाजोडी शहर में रोजगार के विकल्प सीमित हो गए हैं. कई लोगों ने स्थायी रूप से बाहर जाने का फैसला किया.” शहर की आबादी करीब 10,000 है, जिनमें से ज्यादातर लोग झील के आसपास ही किसी न किसी काम में लगे हुए हैं. जलवायु की वजह से होने वाला पलायन अक्सर चरम घटनाओं से प्रभावित होता है, जैसे कि तूफान, बाढ़, सूखा, समुद्र का स्तर बढ़ना या खेती वाले इलाके में खारे पानी का जमा होना. एक्शनएड और क्लाइमेट एक्शन नेटवर्क साउथ एशिया ने दिसंबर 2020 में एक रिपोर्ट छापी. इससे पता चलता है कि भले ही वैश्विक समुदाय ग्रीनहाउस गैस कम करने का लक्ष्य निर्धारित किए हुए है और उस मुताबिक काम कर रहा है, फिर भी पांच एशियाई देश भारत, पाकिस्तान, नेपाल, श्रीलंका और बांग्लादेश में 2030 तक 3.75 करोड़ लोग विस्थापित होंगे. वहीं, 2050 तक यह संख्या बढ़कर 6.29 करोड़ तक पहुंच सकती है. सबसे ज्यादा विस्थापन सिर्फ भारत में 2050 तक जलवायु से जुड़े आपदाओं के कारण 4.5 करोड़ लोगों को अपने घरों को छोड़कर दूसरी जगहों पर पलायन करना पड़ेगा. यह संख्या मौजूदा समय में चरम घटनाओं के कारण पलायन करने वाले लोगों की तीन गुनी है. दूसरे शब्दों में कहें, तो मौसमी मार की वजह से पलायन करने वाले लोगों की संख्या 2050 तक तीन गुना बढ़ जाएगी. ‘भारत की पर्यावरण स्थिति रिपोर्ट 2022' के मुताबिक, जलवायु परिवर्तन की वजह से होने वाले पलायन के मामले में भारत दुनिया का चौथा सबसे ज्यादा प्रभावित देश है. यहां 2020-21 में 30 लाख से अधिक लोगों को अपना घर छोड़ने के लिए मजबूर होना पड़ा. सबसे अधिक पलायन वाला देश चीन है. यहां मौसम से जुड़े आपदाओं की वजह से 50 लाख से ज्यादा लोगों को अपना घर छोड़ना पड़ा. सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट (सीएसई) की निदेशक सुनीता नारायण बताती हैं कि जलवायु संकट के प्रभावों को देखते हुए, स्थानीय जलवायु को रहने लायक बनाने और अर्थव्यवस्थाओं की सुरक्षा करने के लिए निवेश करना जरूरी है. सीएसई ने 15 राज्यों में व्यापक तौर पर अध्ययन किया और पता लगाया कि जहां भी इस तरह का निवेश किया गया वहां पलायन को रोकने में कामयाबी मिली और गांवों को लाभ पहुंचा. दरअसल, जिन गांवों में पानी भंडारण की सुविधा शुरू हुई और स्थानीय लोगों को लाभ पहुंचाने के लिए पारिस्थितिक संसाधनों का इस्तेमाल किया गया, वहां पलायन करने वाले लोग वापस लौटने लगे. चक्रवात से बचने के लिए महिलाएं लगा रही हैं मैंग्रोव के पौधे नारायण ने विशेष रूप से महात्मा गांधी राष्ट्रीय ग्रामीण रोजगार गारंटी अधिनियम (मनरेगा) का उल्लेख किया, जो एक सामाजिक सुरक्षा उपाय है. इसका उद्देश्य ग्रामीण लोगों के 'काम करने के अधिकार' की रक्षा करना है. उन्होंने डीडब्ल्यू को बताया, "आपके पास भविष्य बदलने की क्षमता है. जरूरी नहीं है कि यह जलवायु परिवर्तन की वजह से बढ़ते पलायन की कहानी हो. मनरेगा और ऐसी योजनाओं का उद्देश्य उन पारिस्थितिक बुनियादी ढांचे में निवेश करना है जो स्थानीय आजीविका और सामुदायिक लचीलापन को बढ़ावा देते हैं. यह जलवायु परिवर्तन के दौर में महत्वपूर्ण है. अंतरराष्ट्रीय विकास संगठन ‘आईपीई ग्लोबल' में जलवायु परिवर्तन और सस्टेनेबिलिटी विभाग के प्रमुख अविनाश मोहंती ने भी कहा कि भारत को जलवायु परिवर्तन से होने वाले नुकसान, विशेष रूप से पलायन जैसी समस्या को हल करने के लिए गहन आकलन करके, अलग-अलग क्षेत्रों पर पड़ने वाले प्रभावों को पहचानने की जरूरत है. पलायन को गंभीरता से नहीं लिया गया मोहंती ने डीडब्ल्यू को बताया, "पलायन को सीमित करने के लिए बेहतर नीतियों और कार्य योजनाओं की जरूरत होती है. विशेष रूप से ऐसे क्षेत्र के लिए जहां के लोगों की आजीविका कृषि और पर्यटन जैसे जलवायु संवेदनशील क्षेत्रों से जुड़ी हो. भारत में राष्ट्रीय और राज्य स्तर, दोनों जगहों पर जलवायु से जुड़ी जबरदस्त कार्य योजना है, लेकिन शायद ही इसमें जलवायु की वजह से होने वाले पलायन को प्रमुख समस्या के तौर पर शामिल किया गया है.” भारत दुनिया के उन देशों में शामिल है जहां हर साल सबसे ज्यादा लोग विस्थापित होते हैं. उनमें से अधिकांश लोग आपदाओं की वजह से ऐसा करने को मजबूर होते हैं. आंतरिक विस्थापन निगरानी केंद्र (आईडीएमसी) के अनुसार, भारत में फिलहाल 1.4 करोड़ लोग ऐसे हैं जो जलवायु परिवर्तन के कारण विस्थापित हुए हैं. हालांकि, इन आपदाओं के बाद विस्थापित होने वाले लोगों को राहत और पुनर्वास के मामले में तुरंत सहायता मिलती है, लेकिन लंबी अवधि के लिए उन्हें उनकी जरूरत के मुताबिक पर्याप्त सहायता नहीं मिलती. 2021 में ‘भारत में जलवायु की वजह से विस्थापन और पलायन' नाम से हुई रिसर्च में पता चला है कि जलवायु परिवर्तन की वजह से आजीविका का पारंपरिक स्रोत और बुनियादी ढांचा तबाह होने के कारण लोग पलायन कर रहे हैं, ताकि वे गरीबी से बच सकें. उत्तराखंड के पहाड़ी जिलों में अनियमित बारिश और घटते जल स्तर ने लोगों को अपना घर और खेत छोड़कर मैदानी इलाकों में पलायन करने के लिए मजबूर कर दिया है. उत्तर बिहार के सहरसा जिले में एक विस्थापित समुदाय लगातार आने वाली बाढ़ की वजह से परेशान है. इंटरनेशनल फोरम फॉर एनवायरनमेंट, सस्टेनेबिलिटी एंड टेक्नोलॉजी के संस्थापक चंद्र भूषण ने डीडब्ल्यू को बताया, "देश में लंबे समय से सूखे, बाढ़ और अन्य चरम घटनाओं के कारण लोग अपने राज्य में एक जगह से दूसरी जगह पलायन कर रहे हैं. वे गांव छोड़कर शहरों का रूख कर रहे हैं. वहीं, कुछ लोग दूसरे राज्यों का भी रूख कर रहे हैं. यह व्यापक तौर पर स्वीकार किया गया है कि जलवायु परिवर्तन की वजह से ऐसी आपदाओं की बढ़ती संख्या के कारण इस तरह के पलायन की प्रकृति भी बदल गई है.” भूषण ने कहा, "राज्यों ने कोविड-19 के बाद से प्रवासियों के मुद्दों को गंभीरता से लेना शुरू कर दिया है, लेकिन जलवायु की वजह से होने वाले पलायन के लिए कोई अलग नीति या पहल शुरू नहीं हुई है.”

• Water Programme

चिंताजनक: उत्तर भारत में 2025 तक और गहराएगा पानी का संकट, ग्लेशियर पिघलने के कारण नदियों का कम हो रहा प्रवाह

यूनेस्को की रिपोर्ट के अनुसार भारत में पिछले दो दशकों से वर्षा में गिरावट दर्ज की जा रही है, इसलिए खेती-किसानी के लिए भूमिगत जल का इस्तेमाल करना पड़ता है। इससे भू-जल दोहन लगातार बढ़ रहा है। देश में जल संकट लगातार गहराता जा रहा है। संयुक्त राष्ट्र की संस्था यूनेस्को की रिपोर्ट के अनुसार 2025 तक भारत में जल संकट बहुत बढ़ जाएगा। आशंका जताई गई है कि अत्यधिक भूजल दोहन, अत्यल्प जलसंरक्षण और ग्लेशियर पिघलने के कारण गंगा, ब्रह्मपुत्र व सिंधु जैसी हिमालयी नदियों का प्रवाह कम हो जाएगा। उत्तर प्रदेश, पंजाब, हरियाणा, राजस्थान, महाराष्ट्र, बिहार, गुजरात, छत्तीसगढ़, कर्नाटक, मध्य प्रदेश, तेलंगाना, ओडिशा और तमिलनाडु ड्राई जोन की श्रेणी में आते हैं। ड्राफ्ट अर्ली वॉर्निंग सिस्टम (डीईडब्ल्यूएस) के अनुसार देश का 41.82 फीसदी हिस्सा सूखाग्रस्त है। यूनेस्को की रिपोर्ट के अनुसार भारत में पिछले दो दशकों से वर्षा में गिरावट दर्ज की जा रही है, इसलिए खेती-किसानी के लिए भूमिगत जल का इस्तेमाल करना पड़ता है। इससे भू-जल दोहन लगातार बढ़ रहा है। जितना भी बारिश का पानी जमीन में अंदर जाता है उसका करीब 80 फीसदी सिंचाई और पीने के लिए निकाल लिया जाता है। वर्ष 2021-22 में आई कैग रिपोर्ट के अनुसार पंजाब, हरियाणा, दिल्ली, राजस्थान और काफी हद तक उत्तर प्रदेश में 100 फीसदी भूमिगत जल का दोहन हो रहा है। 2030 तक ये शहर होंगे डे जीरो की कगार पर पंजाब, हरियाणा और उत्तर प्रदेश सहित कुल 13 राज्यों में पानी का भारी संकट पैदा होने की आशंका है। सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरमेंट की एक रिपोर्ट के मुताबिक देश के करीब 25 शहर 2030 तक ‘डे जीरो’की कगार पर होंगे। डे-जीरो का मतलब पानी की आपूर्ति के लिए पूरी तरह अन्य साधनों पर आश्रित होना है। ऐसे शहरों में कानपुर, गुरुग्राम, फरीदाबाद, दिल्ली, मेरठ, जयपुर, बंगलूरू, कोयंबटूर, कोच्ची, मदुरै, चेन्नई, सोलापुर, हैदराबाद, विजयवाड़ा, मुंबई, जमशेदपुर धनबाद, अमरावती, विशाखापत्तनम, आसनसोल और आगरा जैसे शहर शामिल हैं। 1600 घन मीटर रह जाएगी पानी की उपलब्धता समग्र जल प्रबंधन सूचकांक (सीडब्ल्यूएमआई) रिपोर्ट के अनुसार देश के 21 प्रमुख शहरों में लगभग 10 करोड़ लोग जल संकट की भीषण समस्या से जूझ रहे हैं। वर्ष 1994 में पानी की उपलब्धता प्रति व्यक्ति 6 हजार घन मीटर थी जो 2025 तक घटकर 1600 घन मीटर रह जाने का अनुमान है, इसके बावजूद बढ़ती आबादी जल संकट को और गहरा करेगी। हालांकि नीति आयोग ने समग्र जल प्रबंधन सूचकांक (सीडब्ल्यूएमआई) का दूसरा संस्करण तैयार किया है, जिसमें उत्तर भारत के कुछ राज्यों में जल प्रबंधन में सुधार दिख रहा है। इसके बावजूद रिपोर्ट कहती है कि बीते 50 सालों में देश में जिस तरह से पानी की मांग बढ़ी है उसके सापेक्ष जल प्रबंधन की प्रकिया में तेजी नहीं देखी गई। इसी से आपूर्ति और मांग में अंतर लगातार बढ़ता जा रहा है। कमजोर जल प्रबंधन नीति : रिपोर्ट के अनुसार भारत में वर्षा जल का मात्र 15 फीसदी पयोग होता है, शेष जल बरसाती नदियों के रास्ते बहकर समुद्र में चला जाता है। यूनिसेफ की एक रिपोर्ट के अनुसार 50 फीसदी से भी कम भारतीयों को स्वच्छ पेय जल मिल पाता है, क्योंकि यहां के भूमिगत जल में फ्लोराइड की मात्रा काफी ज्यादा है। सरकार के एक सर्वे में देश के 25 राज्यों के 209 विकासखंडों के भूमिगत जल में आर्सेनिक की मात्रा अधिक पाई गई है। यह ह्रदय और फेफड़ो के रोगों को बढ़ावा देता है।