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Urban Lab

Delhi sees 13 heatwave days so far, but heat action plan yet to be implemented

No heat action plan for Delhi is available on the Delhi government department websites, which was confirmed by a senior official of the environment department. Despite the scorching summers the city has witnessed, Delhi is yet to put a heat action plan in place to coordinate its response to heatwaves. Delhi-NCR saw an early start to the summer this year, and temperatures soared in April. The Safdarjung weather observatory has recorded 13 heatwave days so far. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had issued guidelines for states and cities to prepare heat action plans in October 2019. According to the NDMA’s records, Delhi does not have a specific heat action plan, but dos and don’ts are circulated to the health department. “We are following the instructions… the guidelines or SOPs issued by the NDMA on the subject,” said Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar. On whether there is a specific heat action plan for the city, he said, “That is there… including a nodal officer and the responsibilities of the various stakeholders.” He directed further questions to Health Secretary Amit Singla, who did not respond to calls and messages. “Delhi doesn’t have a heat action plan. These are emergency plans… what sort of infrastructural support should be made available to citizens so that the death toll is not high. These plans usually involve reserving a certain percentage of beds in hospitals for heat-related illnesses, making sure that drinking water is available on the streetside,” said Avikal Somvanshi, senior programme manager, Urban Lab, Centre for Science and Environment. In addition to heatwave-related guidelines issued by the NDMA, city-level action plans are also important, experts said. Somvanshi said that local administrations would be best placed to take action based on the situation on the ground. Heatwave conditions may also be different in different areas, he pointed out. “Heatwave conditions around Lodhi Road, where there is a green cover, may not be as bad as Pitampura where conditions could be worse because of the kind of infrastructure and urban heat islands,” he said. Anup Kumar Srivastava, an expert on heatwaves, who works as a consultant with the NDMA, said a city-level plan is a necessity for Delhi. “We have already seen heatwaves in March and April, and we could witness more. The city has a large population and a large number of workers who come here to work are out on construction sites…” he said. While the guidelines have been broadly identified by the NDMA, a city-level plan can help define roles and responsibilities more clearly and make definite arrangements, he added. Guidelines on preparing action plans were released by the NDMA first in 2016, and were revised in 2017 and 2019, he said. The NDMA guidelines say that the state should appoint a head or nodal officer at the state or district level and depute an agency to oversee the heat action plan. It also states that vulnerable areas and populations are to be identified, adding that heat action plans are to be assessed after each heat season, and updated as required. “Long-term planning for heat resilience infrastructure” and “rescheduling of work hours for employees in different sectors” are also part of the guidelines. Response at the district level Vishwendra, District Magistrate, Southeast Delhi, said the response is along two lines – preventive and curative. The preventive measures involve IEC (information, education, communication) aspects. A meeting was held recently at the district level and at all medical facilities in the district, and the Chief District Medical Officer was directed to get IEC material distributed, he said. Curative measures involve dealing with heat-related illnesses. Health facilities in the districts have been geared up, he added.

Urban Lab

Delhi sees 13 heatwave days so far, but heat action plan yet to be implemented

Despite the scorching summers the city has witnessed, Delhi is yet to put a heat action plan in place to coordinate its response to heatwaves. Delhi-NCR saw an early start to the summer this year, and temperatures soared in April. The Safdarjung weather observatory has recorded 13 heatwave days so far. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had issued guidelines for states and cities to prepare heat action plans in October 2019. According to the NDMA’s records, Delhi does not have a specific heat action plan, but dos and don’ts are circulated to the health department. “We are following the instructions… the guidelines or SOPs issued by the NDMA on the subject,” said Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar. On whether there is a specific heat action plan for the city, he said, “That is there… including a nodal officer and the responsibilities of the various stakeholders.” He directed further questions to Health Secretary Amit Singla, who did not respond to calls and messages. No heat action plan for Delhi is available on the Delhi government department websites, which was confirmed by a senior official of the environment department. Explained |India Heatwaves and the role humidity plays in making them deadly “Delhi doesn’t have a heat action plan. These are emergency plans… what sort of infrastructural support should be made available to citizens so that the death toll is not high. These plans usually involve reserving a certain percentage of beds in hospitals for heat-related illnesses, making sure that drinking water is available on the streetside,” said Avikal Somvanshi, senior programme manager, Urban Lab, Centre for Science and Environment. In addition to heatwave-related guidelines issued by the NDMA, city-level action plans are also important, experts said. Somvanshi said that local administrations would be best placed to take action based on the situation on the ground. Heatwave conditions may also be different in different areas, he pointed out. “Heatwave conditions around Lodhi Road, where there is a green cover, may not be as bad as Pitampura where conditions could be worse because of the kind of infrastructure and urban heat islands,” he said. Anup Kumar Srivastava, an expert on heatwaves, who works as a consultant with the NDMA, said a city-level plan is a necessity for Delhi. “We have already seen heatwaves in March and April, and we could witness more. The city has a large population and a large number of workers who come here to work are out on construction sites…” he said. While the guidelines have been broadly identified by the NDMA, a city-level plan can help define roles and responsibilities more clearly and make definite arrangements, he added. Guidelines on preparing action plans were released by the NDMA first in 2016, and were revised in 2017 and 2019, he said. The NDMA guidelines say that the state should appoint a head or nodal officer at the state or district level and depute an agency to oversee the heat action plan. It also states that vulnerable areas and populations are to be identified, adding that heat action plans are to be assessed after each heat season, and updated as required. “Long-term planning for heat resilience infrastructure” and “rescheduling of work hours for employees in different sectors” are also part of the guidelines. Response at the district level Vishwendra, District Magistrate, Southeast Delhi, said the response is along two lines – preventive and curative. The preventive measures involve IEC (information, education, communication) aspects. A meeting was held recently at the district level and at all medical facilities in the district, and the Chief District Medical Officer was directed to get IEC material distributed, he said. Curative measures involve dealing with heat-related illnesses. Health facilities in the districts have been geared up, he added.

Urban Lab

How developing countries are sharing knowledge to tackle climate change and sustainable growth

With record heat waves hitting India in recent weeks, the impacts of global warming can already be seen in developing countries. But the need to move to a green energy policy is weighed against policies that can support equitable economic growth. Nowhere in the country is this more evident than in rural parts of India where reliable energy sources aren’t always available. Enter mini-grids: localized energy distribution networks that can run on clean energy like solar. Host Marco Werman spoke with Koshy Cherail, program director for renewable energy at the Center for Science and Environment in India.

Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

Mixed waste management requires attention of municipalities

Management of mixed waste in the north-eastern states requires focused attention from municipalities and people, as it can affect the physical environment and waterways by contaminating groundwater and surface water, while the microbial degradation of wet waste causes Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. The wastes can also spread rodents and pests, therefore affecting agriculture and wildlife, remarked Solid Waste Management Programme Officer at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) Dr. Richa Singh during a webinar on May 29. Singh observed that the available options for remediation were through biomining of dumpsite where the entire waste is treated, land is reclaimed and the waste fractions are used for gainful applications. Another was through bio-capping of dumpsite with leachate collection and treatment, and the other option was through hybrid model (biomining and bio-capping) where a fraction of waste is treated and fraction of land is reclaimed, waste are used for gainful applications and rest of the unused waste is bio-capped. Stressing on landfills in hilly areas in the Northeast region, she said the construction of landfill on a hill should be avoided and a transfer station at a suitable enclosed location should be set up to collect residual waste from the processing facility and inert waste. A suitable land should be identified in the plain areas down the hill within landfills in hilly areas 25 km for setting up sanitary landfill and the residual waste from the transfer station should be disposed of at this sanitary landfill. In case of non-availability of such land, efforts should be made to set up regional sanitary landfills for the inert and residual waste. The key consideration for landfills in the Northeast region is that the landfill sites should meet the specifications as given in Schedule-III of the SW Rules, 2016 – with special focus on site selection, site investigation, ecosystem type, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to name a few. The landfill should be suitable for receiving only non-biodegradable, non-recyclable, non-combustible and non-reactive inert waste, residues of waste processing facilities and inert while landfilling of mixed waste should be avoided. She also pointed out that under unavoidable circumstances or till installation of alternate facilities, land filling should be done following proper norms. On the criteria for operations, she suggested that waste should be compacted in thin layers to achieve maximum capacity of landfill and the landfill cell should be covered at the end of each working day with minimum 10 cm of soil, inert debris or construction material. During monsoon she suggested prior to the commencement of the season, an intermediate cover of 40-65 cm thickness of soil should be placed on the landfill with proper compaction and grading and proper drainage system should be constructed to divert run-off away from the active cell of the landfill. However, advocating zero landfill Northeastern states for the future generations, she shared that the roadmap to a zero landfill city can be achieved by a complete ban on landfilling of wet waste and combustible waste is imposed as a legal mandate. Scientific landfill to be used only for a negligible amount of residual wastes should reach the sanitary landfill which can be about 10-15% of the total quantity while underlining that fresh wastes are not taken to the dumpsites. Municipal Solid Waste CSE Programme Director, Atin Biswas stressing on the solid waste management in northeast, maintained that through the support from CSE it can create opportunities to undertake massive rigorous information educational campaigns and behavioural change campaigns to make solid waste management inclusive, enforce source segregation through bye-law as nonnegotiable, switch to decentralised approach to minimise operating expenses and maximise recovery, impose landfill tax, ban landfilling of biodegradable and combustible waste, re-design concessionaire agreement and capacity building of all ULBs to prepare and implement City Solid Waste Action Plan (CSWAP).

Industrial Pollution

In coal-rich Jharkhand, frequent power blackouts are derailing lives and work

Locals say the lack of power is unfair to their state when its coal reserves light up big cities and power India’s industries. As part of his wedding preparations, Vijay Rajak had a bathroom added to his house so that his wife would not have to walk miles to a lake like other women from his village in the east Indian coal state of Jharkhand. He connected the bathroom tap to a storage tank powered by an electric water pump, but his effort was scuppered by frequent power outages in his village, which have also hit other parts of India amid a heatwave-driven power crisis over the past month. Extreme heat in India pushed up electricity use to unprecedented highs with people cranking up their air-conditioning, causing widespread power cuts since April as utilities scrambled to meet demand amid dwindling coal supplies. Jharkhand locals say the lack of power is unfair on their state, whose coal reserves light up big cities and power the nation’s industries. “There is an open-cast coal mine on what was once my land – and yet we do not have power for 10 hours or more,” Rajak, 30, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Surunga village in Dhanbad district, India’s coal capital. “We have been burning in this pollution for years because of the coal mine, but have not gained anything,” he said. “All I wanted was for my wife to feel comfortable and to be able to take a bath at home.” State’s dependence Jharkhand is one of India’s poorest states and also among its top coal producers, with 150 mines. Coal fuels over 70% of the country’s electricity generation – and yet inhabitants of this coal-rich region complain that frequent power blackouts are derailing their lives and work. Jharkhand electricity board officials said the region has sufficient power to meet peak summer demand of about 2,600 megawatts from central, private and state-owned power utilities. Similar outages were experienced in other parts of India last month when demand peaked, they added. KK Verma, managing director of the Jharkhand state power distribution company, Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited, attributed the power cuts to local conditions such as thunderstorms and old overhead power lines and conductors that need costly upgrades. As long as Jharkhand gets its full allocation from central power companies, there is no electricity shortage in the state, he noted. Analysts said this dependence is at the heart of the state’s power crunch, as national-level generation has been unable to keep up with demand, partly due to severe coal shortages. Loaders at an open cast coal mine In Dhanbad. Photo credit: AFP “Jharkhand has not added a single megawatt of power in two decades and has been buying power from thermal plants in other states that have their own priorities,” said Nivit Kumar Yadav, programme director for industrial pollution at the Centre for Science and Environment. The state hopes its two planned thermal coal power plants – one set to start operating in the next six months – will solve its problems. But analysts said that could be a misplaced step when the wider world is moving to renewable energy. “On a heating planet, as power consumption is soaring with heatwaves gripping more cities, Jharkhand must plan for its future now,” said researcher Yadav, pointing out that the state’s current plans will feed the rising demand for coal. “Jharkhand has to change its mindset that it is ‘coal-rich’,” he added. “The state’s just transition must start now.” Diesel dilemma A socially fair shift to a greener energy model appears to be some way off in most parts of India whose local economies rely on the coal industry. People living in coal-mining hubs battle multiple challenges, from air and water pollution to water scarcity and poor infrastructure. In Jharkhand, where more than 40% of its 3.3 crore people are poor, power outages are the biggest barrier to development, locals said. According to a 2020 analysis by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, about 80% of households in the state experienced at least one power cut a day, lasting for up to eight hours – twice as long as those recorded in other coal-rich states like Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Uninterrupted power supply has been a poll promise for years, featuring heavily in current campaigns for village council elections, but there has been little progress on the ground, locals said. “We are the coal capital and we do not have power,” said Dhanbad resident Sanoj Singh, who blamed power cuts for losses in his construction business. “This is like owning a dairy farm and you are not getting even half a litre of milk.” Advertisement Generators are in huge demand in Dhanbad, fuelling worries about diesel consumption. “A 5 kg generator that can power an entire house consumes 1.5 litres of diesel per hour. We know generators cause harmful emissions but how [otherwise] do people survive the heat?” asked Paras Yadav, who rents out generators in Dhanbad. Pandemic push Household power connections in Jharkhand have shot up to 50 lakh in the past three years from 30 lakh, thanks to state schemes to electrify rural areas and the return of several hundred thousand migrants from cities during Covid-19 lockdowns, some of whom stayed, officials said. That has boosted power demand, even as a large share of new consumers cannot afford to pay bills. About 25 lakh power connections belong to very poor people in semi-urban and remote villages, where there is high demand from cottage industries but revenue generation is low largely because of billing and payment issues, said officials. Advertisement Jharkhand – which, like other states including even rich ones, owes billions of rupees in back payments to power generation companies – covered enough of its dues this year to maintain its supply, officials said. Power connections have helped many like Ruby Mahto, 32, a farmer in East Singhbhum district, about 200 km north of Dhanbad. She connected a water pump to a well to irrigate her one-acre farm two years ago, but now has to drag buckets of water with ropes as power cuts have left her pump lying idle. “We wait for power all day and the minute we connect the pipe to the pump, the power snaps,” she said. Rajak’s wife Basanti Kumari, 25, meanwhile, is thankful that her husband’s village still has a better power supply than her parents’ in the steel manufacturing hub of Bokaro. Yet her days are busier than ever, as she grinds spices on stone and fills water containers for cooking and cleaning before walking over a mile to bathe, unable to use her electrical equipment when the power drops out.

Climate Change and Green Economy

Why India’s heatwave holds lessons for the world

A global wheat crisis has made the world pay attention to India’s scorching temperatures. But more needs to be done to make agriculture climate resilient. India experienced its hottest March this year since the Indian Meteorological Department started recording weather data in 1901. April was no better: the heatwave continued and 14 weather stations breached their previously registered highest temperature records. The heatwave made global headlines since it scorched the wheat crop at a time when the Russia-Ukraine war had made more countries dependent on wheat supplies from India. International wheat prices surged 6% after India banned wheat exports. But the crisis is no anomaly. Experts say it is an indication of what is to come as the world continues to warm. With food production becoming increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather events, there is an urgent need to direct more funds to make agriculture in countries like India climate resilient. A searing heatwave This year, scorching temperatures swept across India just as crops planted in the winter were ripening for harvest. The agriculture ministry estimates that around 20% of the wheat crop was damaged. But it wasn’t just wheat that was affected. In Maharashtra, horticulture crops such as guava and mango wilted, said Pushkaraj Tayde, secretary of the Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development, a non-profit organisation based in Jalna. “Chilli production has also gone down and some sugarcane fields caught fire during the last week of April because of the heatwave,” he said. Although the heatwave this year has been particularly strong and uncommon – heatwaves are usually seen in May and June – these spells of increased and sometimes record-breaking temperatures are becoming the norm. Increasing frequency Data compiled by the India Meteorological Department shows that since 1901, 12 of the 15 warmest years were recorded during the past decade-and-a-half with 2016 being the warmest. Along with the rise in temperature levels, heatwaves are increasing as well. A 2020 study, which analysed the decadal pattern of heatwaves between 1951 and 2016, found an increase in the frequency as well as the affected geographical area. Between 1951 and 1970, the country recorded an average of two to three heatwave events. But after the 1980s, the average number of heatwave events rose sharply and the area affected increased, the study found. For instance, during the 2001-2010 decade, regions such as Rayalaseema in Andhra Pradesh and parts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu witnessed heatwaves. In previous decades, these areas had recorded none or few heatwave events. An analysis of the 2022 heatwave found that such an extreme event that usually takes place once in 100 years has become 30 times more probable due to the effects of climate change. The analysis was published in the form of a study by the World Weather Attribution initiative, a collaboration of climate scientists from India, the United Kingdom, the United States, Switzerland and Netherlands. “At the global mean temperature scenario of +2C [more than 2 degrees Celsius] such a heatwave would become an additional factor of 2-20 more likely and 0.5-1.5C [degrees Celsius] hotter compared to 2022,” says the study. Weather patterns, human activities This year’s heatwave is the result of a two-fold process. The first is global weather patterns. Between December and April, rains over parts of India and Pakistan are caused by the Western Disturbance. The Western Disturbance is a weather system of extra-tropical storms originating in the Mediterranean – hence, “Western” and “extra-tropical”, that is, outside the tropics – brought over to India by the subtropical westerly jet stream wind. When these jet stream winds are weak, the Western Disturbance is weak, meaning that rains between December and April will either be weak, or mostly absent as was the case this year – 71% below normal in March. The other climatic factor is La Niña in the Pacific. La Niña, or Little Girl, conditions are part of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation cycle – an interplay between Trade Winds that blow east to west close to the equator, and the surface ocean temperature of the Pacific – which affects global weather systems. Studies have found La Niña conditions to cause cloudlessness and high temperatures over India and Pakistan. Climate change is affecting the El Niño-Southern Oscillation cycle. A road damaged by flood waters after heavy rains in Assam’s Nagaon district, on May 19. Credit: Reuters Krishna AchutaRao, of the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and a co-author of the World Weather Attribution study, said their analysis refers to a few studies that point to the impact of climate change on Western Disturbances. “Basically, a reduction is expected. Climate change influence on El Niño/La Niña is a huge area of research and the literature seems to indicate more severe events [both El Niño and La Niña] in the future,” said AchutaRao. The other reason behind the extreme heatwaves is not based on weather systems, rather, it reflects human activity at a regional level. Studies have found two forces with competing influences on heat extremes: aerosol air pollutants – fine particles released from fossil fuel combustion which hang in the air – and irrigation. While irrigation reduces warming, some aerosol pollutants, such as black carbon and dust, increase it. In India, given the low levels of pre-monsoon irrigation activity and an abundance of black carbon and dust, another 2018 study concluded that aerosols and irrigation would have a limited effect: “…Evidence suggests that – for the specific case of a March-April heatwave affecting north-west India and Pakistan – the importance of short-lived aerosols or an increase in irrigation in suppressing the warming effect of greenhouse gases might be smaller than previously thought.” Advertisement Funding challenges Heatwaves and extreme weather events, then, are here to stay and likely to increase in frequency and severity. While studies and research establish a clear link between weather extremes and climate change, efforts towards building climate resilience have not taken off. During the 2015 Paris conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, it was decided that the developed world will contribute towards a Green Climate Fund of $100 billion by 2020. The funds would be used to tackle issues such as making agriculture climate proof. But this has not happened yet, says a 2021 report on Climate Fund by Climate Policy Initiative, a global analysis and advisory organisation. The target has been shifted to 2023. “Finance for adaptation increased by 53% reaching $46 billion in 2019/2020 compared to $30 billion in 2017/2018. Despite this positive trend, total adaptation finance remains far below the scale necessary to respond to existing and future climate change,” the report says. Advertisement A 2020 report by the United Nation’s International Fund for Agricultural Development and Climate Policy Initiative found that only 1.7% of climate finance goes to small-scale farmers in developing countries. According to the report, small-scale farmers produce 50% of the world’s food calories but bear the brunt of extreme weather events such as increased incidences of droughts and flooding, which destroy crops and livestock. “[Such incidents]…make it difficult for them to continue to feed their communities and earn a living,” states the report. At least 80% of farmers in India can be categorised as small-scale. Another emerging trend is that most climate funding is being funnelled into the renewable energy sector. “Solar PV [photovoltaic, or solar cells that convert sunlight into electricity] and onshore wind continued to be the main recipient of renewable energy finance, attracting over 91% of all mitigation investment,” says the report on funding by Climate Policy Initiative. Indian realities In India, too, few sectors have cornered most funding, according to a 2020 report by Climate Policy Initiative. Between 2016 and 2018, public climate finance disbursed by either the central government ministries or state departments was largely directed towards the power generation sector – 70% – followed by energy efficiency and power transmission (20%), and sustainable transportation (10%), said the report. Worse, amid concerns over how food production is being affected, the government slashed funds set aside for building climate resilience in the agriculture sector. In 2016-’17, the Union Budget had set aside Rs 103 crore for the agriculture ministry under the head Climate Resilient Agriculture Initiative, but this was reduced to Rs 55 crore in 2021-’22. Avantika Goswami, Programme Manager, Climate Change, at the Delhi based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment, said a minuscule portion of climate finance is diverted towards the agricultural sector. She underlined that there needs to be widespread awareness about how climate change is causing crises in the agriculture sector, and that funding benefits small farmers and their livelihoods. “We need to ensure that climate finance is directed, not simply to large agribusinesses and agri-tech corporates, but towards public research in climate-resilient seed varieties, and in protecting smallholder farmer livelihoods,” said Goswami. She also said that efforts to shield small farmers from climate change must include funding for early warning systems for extreme weather events, and providing assurance of incomes after such incidents. The wheat crisis has shown that threat of extreme weather events due to climate change is not just limited to the producer countries, but affects the whole world. This should be a lesson.

Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

India's single-use plastic ban to start in July but eradication still likely to be a long way off

NEW DELHI - India, the world's third-largest producer of single-use plastic waste, is taking a key step to tackle this menace that accounts for a majority of plastic thrown around the world, filling up landfills and polluting the environment. From July 1, the country will prohibit the sale and use of a range of around 20 common single-use plastic items such as ear buds with plastic sticks, ice-cream sticks, straws, disposable cutlery and packaging film for cigarette packets, among others. Single-use plastic items such as these are considered of "low-value" and are rarely recycled. A draft of the ban was first released in March last year by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, with the final version released in August. It had been due to commence in January this year, but was delayed following opposition from the plastics industry as well as commercial users, including multinational firms. Experts still say they do not expect the banned items to disappear entirely when the prohibitive order kicks in July, with enforcement and the availability of affordable alternatives to these items being key issues that will need further sustained attention to meet this goal. "Even after July 1 it is going to be a work in progress," said Mr Siddharth Ghanshyam Singh, programme manager for municipal solid waste at the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment, a public interest research and advocacy organisation. The plastic manufacturing industry in India is mostly informal, with multiple players often involved in making one final product and no accurate estimate of their numbers, making the ban's enforcement a difficult task. "It is a very, very complex ecosystem that we are talking about," Mr Singh told The Straits Times. An earlier countrywide target of phasing out plastic bags less than 75 microns in thickness by the end of September 2021 has proved unsuccessful, with such products still available in the market because of poor regulation and lack of affordable alternatives. Solid waste management is handled at the state level, and the success of this fresh ban depends on how effectively state-level authorities enforce it. Many states have attempted to ban disposable plastic bags and cutlery before but have failed to eradicate them. Mr Singh noted that this time around the Central Pollution Control Board has put greater weight behind the order and, for the first time, reached out to all concerned, including state-level authorities and e-commerce portals, to make them aware of the upcoming ban. "It is a good strategy to reach out to everyone and give them a directive that we have put the ban formally in place and that now it is your responsibility as a stakeholder to play your part," he said. Inspections as well as surprise checks, he added, will play a key role in enforcing the order. Even the new July kick-in for the ban has been opposed by many from the industry who are seeking a further extension . The Action Alliance for Recycling Beverage Cartons (AARC) - which comprises several stakeholders from the beverage industry, including firms such as Parle, Dabur, Coca-Cola and Tetra Pak - has sought an 18-month extension from July to meet the ban on single-use plastic straws. "The time given to us has been very, very inadequate," said its chief executive, Dr Praveen Aggarwal. The alternative to single-use plastic straws is either costlier paper ones or those made from "compostable" plastic but they come with their set of challenges. Dr Aggarwal told ST that India currently does not have the manufacturing capacity of the kind of straws the industry needs - food grade paper ones with a diameter of 3mm or less. Given the global supply crunch, he said just 10 to 15 per cent of the stock needed for the next six to 12 months can be imported. Certain AARC members have also imported a limited number of machines to make these straws but they are not expected to be operational until next January. Dr Aggarwal said there is a current waiting period of "more than a year" involved in purchasing these machines, which are also in scarce supply, and commissioning them to manufacture the straws necessary in India. The beverage industry is, meanwhile, working on producing polylactic acid straws in India but such compostable bioplastic straws must undergo government tests before they can be authorised for use. "That regulatory journey of eight to 12 months has yet to happen," Dr Aggarwal added. India produces around 5.6 million metric tonnes of single-use plastic waste annually. This amounts to around 4kg per person, far lower than Singapore's 76kg that tops the world, according to The Plastic Waste Makers Index from the Minderoo Foundation. Overall, India generates a total of around 9.46 million tonnes of plastic waste per year, of which around 60 per cent is collected and recycled. The rest goes to landfills and litters the environment. The prohibition order does not extend to plastic food packaging that accounts for almost 60 per cent of India's plastic waste, such as multi-layer packaging used for chips. It also freezes the list of single-use plastic items to be phased out for the next 10 years, which concerns the likes of Mr Singh. "That is a very big problem," he said. "It should be the other way around… Every couple of years, we should keep identifying problematic plastics and give the industry a good amount of time so that they invest in R&D around materials used for packaging and not just the product and find alternatives." The impending ban has drawn greater focus on the lack of affordable alternatives to plastic. Ms Shruti Sinha, manager for policy and outreach at Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, said there is a need for "mass investment on entrepreneurship around alternatives to plastic". "One of the biggest challenges around plastic is the lack of alternatives and what happens to small producers who have been making a living out of this. Just transitions are crucial to prevent livelihood loss," she told ST.

Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

Step up solid waste management aggressively: Experts to northeastern states

AGARTALA: Experts sounded an alarm for northeastern states urging them to re-model the municipal solid waste management strategies and also asked them to step up door-to-door collection, segregation and treatment of garbage to get benefits from Swachh Bharat Mission Urban [SBM(U)] 2.0 in making all cities garbage-free. The experts from Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment were addressing mediapersons from across the northeast region during a virtual sensitisation programme on Saturday. They estimated that the northeast region has the potential to generate an annual revenue of Rs 812 crore — Rs 237 crore from compost, Rs 573 crore by selling recyclable dry waste and Rs 1.68 crore from user charges. The CSE head of the municipal solid waste team, Atin Biswas, said a number of states in the region do not have elected urban local bodies that deprive them of the finance commission grant, which leads to economic constraint for the authorities spending money for solid waste management. “The region generates 3,115.45 MT municipal solid waste per day and over 20% of it was left uncollected, which are either littered or dumped taking advantage of the terrain. Only 34% of the collected waste in the region goes for processing, and the rest are dumped in the landfills,” he said. He added that the urban local bodies in the region perceived solid waste management to be a service and not a source of revenue generation. According to the Central Pollution Control Board data, Mizoram topped in the region by processing over 88% of solid waste collected daily, followed by Tripura that treats about 66% of its collected waste. The figure in Assam is the lowest as it treats only 4.5% of its total daily collection, Meghalaya 8.08%, Nagaland 9.37% and Sikkim 16.83%.

Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

Experts suggest NE states to re-model waste management approach

Agartala, May 28 (UNI) The experts rang alarm bell for northeastern states to re-structure Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management approach and step up door to door collection, segregation and value addition to waste for getting benefit from Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) 2.0 which envisions to make all cities garbage-free. The experts of Delhi based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Saturday said a number of states in the region doesn’t have elected urban local bodies (ULB) that deprived the states to get finance commission grants, which led to economic constraints for the urban authorities spending money for solid waste management. “The region generates 3115.45 MT MSW per day and over 20 percent of them were left uncollected, which are either littered or dumped taking advantage of terrain. Only 34 percent of the collected waste in the region goes for processing and the rest are dumped in the landfill sites,” said head of CSE MSW team Atin Biswas. He pointed out that the ULBs in the region perceived solid waste management to be a service and not a source of revenue generation. As a result, the city administration has failed to ensure door to door collection of waste segregating at source, appropriate treatment, recycling and reuse in most of the cities. “The MSW generated in the region has potential to earn at least Rs 237 Cr from compost, Rs 573 Cr by selling recyclable dry waste and Rs 1.68 Cr from user charges per annum, which will be substantial for each of the ULBs to streamline it’s mandate for SBM-U 2.0 mission,” Biswas anticipated. According to Central Pollution Control Board data, Mizoram scored the top in the region by processing over 88 percent of MSW collected daily followed by Tripura that treats about 66 percent of it’s collected waste. The figure of Assam is the lowest at only 4.5 percent of it’s total daily collection, Meghalaya 8.08 percent, Nagaland 9.37 percent and Sikkim 16.83 percent. UNI BB KK Tags: #Experts suggest NE states to re-model waste management approach

Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Nature-based solutions can make our cities heat-resilient. Here’s how

Passive architectural design for shading, ventilation and daylighting; use of climate-appropriate building materials and insulation; and greening of urban spaces, among other ideas to beat the heat. Simple ‘blue and green’ solutions in urban planning can help mitigate the ‘urban heat island’ phenomenon, which is increasingly turning our cities into furnaces during the peak summer months. Environment and urban experts say cities need heat action plans that minimize the use of concrete in buildings, pavements and other infrastructure, boost roof-top and vertical gardens, propagate nature-based cooling solutions in place of air-conditioners, build urban forests instead of parks, and restore water bodies. A ravaging heat wave scorched large swathes of the north-west and other parts of India in April and May, with temperatures reaching 49 degrees Celsius in some pockets of Delhi. Various reports and images released by NASA showed how urban concentrations were much hotter than rural areas at night, in what is called the ‘urban heat island’ effect. An urban heat island is experienced when certain areas in a city report higher heat load than neighbouring areas on the same day. Heat islands cause higher daytime temperatures and reduced night-time cooling. Experts say the mercury remains high for a longer time in some urban patches because of the rampant use of concrete, steel, glass, asphalt and other materials that absorb heat during the day and emit it at night. In comparison, areas without such conditions—and where abundant vegetation and water bodies are available—cool faster at night. “Prolific construction, concretization, and disappearing green spaces and water bodies are aggravating urban heat stress," says Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). She advocates the need to intervene at both building and city levels if urban spaces have to be more heat resilient. Shreya Gadepalli, an urban affairs expert and founder and managing trustee of think-tank Urban Works Institute, views the problem from a different angle. She says cars are the single biggest cause of soaring temperatures in our cities. “To accommodate their unmitigated increase, we have been building an ever-increasing expanse of paved surfaces—treeless roads, concrete flyovers, and massive amounts of parking—which is turning our cities into furnaces.” If we want less heat, we should have fewer cars, Gadepalli says. Also see: Urban Heat Islands: A look at why cities are usually warmer than rural areas Blue and green solutions Urban experts suggest a combination of blue and green networks— planning based around water bodies (blue) and tree planting and parks (green) through a combination of infrastructure, ecological restoration and urban design to connect people and nature. Green solutions include urban forests, roads lined with trees, impervious pavements, vertical and rooftop gardens, etc. Roychowdhury says cities urgently need to implement heat action plans to increase per capita green spaces, expand urban forestry and adopt water-sensitive urban design and planning. Among other cooling strategies, conserving water bodies, promoting cool roofs and reflective material, implementing effective shading and greenery can help to mitigate urban heat, she says. Gadepalli agrees, saying the single most important weapon cities can use to cut heat is trees. The right kind of trees, suited to a particular region, can reduce peak temperature by almost 10 degrees. “How about rebuilding streets to feel like parks, full of tree cover, and turning every roof into a garden? Wouldn’t that be a game-changer?” Gadepalli says. Green solutions include urban forests, roads lined with trees, impervious pavements, vertical and rooftop gardens. (Representational image: Gabor Molnar via Unsplash) Green solutions include urban forests, roads lined with trees, impervious pavements, vertical and rooftop gardens. (Representational image: Gabor Molnar via Unsplash) ‘Rely on scientific data, not perception’ Echoing the need for adequate green cover in hot cities like Delhi, climate and sustainability strategist Prarthana Borah suggests that this belief should be backed with scientific data. “We are all aware that greener areas are cooler. It is accepted that green spaces reduce the impact of heat. But it would help to validate this with scientific data and not make a statement based on perception or experience,” says Borah, director of CDP India. Bharati Chaturvedi, founder-director of Chintan, an environmental research and action group, advocates the need for massive water harvesting on every piece of land that can absorb and hold water. The concept of parks will have to be changed, Chaturvedi says. “We don’t need ornamental and manicured stone fountain gardens made during colonial times when it was not a climate change era. We need city forests.” All the experts unanimously said there was a need to plant substantially large trees that give shade and hold water in their leaves and roots. Large construction houses, Borah says, should be mandated to create and maintain vertical gardens of local species in public buildings such as malls, hospitals, and office spaces. Vertical gardens, however, need maintenance and should not be a one-off exercise to “create gardens and let them be”, Borah cautions. Lubaina Rangwala of WRI India says that apart from trees, our walkways should be made pervious, which is useful both from the flooding and heat angles. “Impervious surfaces make things worse. We need permeable surfaces that can absorb water. We need nature-based solutions,” says Rangwala, program head (urban development, sustainable cities and transport) at WRI. Rangwala says there is an urgent need to restore water bodies and natural systems in cities using scientific methods. A study by Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, points out how vegetation can help to control rising temperatures in cities. It recommends vertical walls, dense vegetation and city forests to avoid the effects of urban heat islands. Experts say there's a need to plant large trees that give shade and hold water in their leaves and roots. (Representational image: Faith Crabtree via Unsplash) Experts say there's a need to plant large trees that give shade and hold water in their leaves and roots. (Representational image: Faith Crabtree via Unsplash) Heat stress fallout Prolonged exposure to high heat could lead to discomfort, respiratory difficulties, heat cramps, exhaustion, heat stroke or even death in some cases. A paper published last year by India’s top meteorologists says heatwaves have claimed more than 17,000 lives over 50 years (1971-2019) in India. However, the World Meteorological Organization says there were 25,692 deaths between 1992 and 2020 (28 years) in India due to heatwaves. Heat stress has a big economic fallout, too. India lost 118.3 billion work hours—the highest for any country—in 2019 due to extreme heat, a Lancet report said. Global warming will increase work-related heat stress, damage productivity and cause job and economic losses, the International Labour Organization has said. Rangwala says disrespecting the environment causes huge losses, be it from the economic perspective, environment, productivity or tourism. “If our cities become unlivable because of heat stress, offices of big companies would prefer to shift to better and cooler places,” Rangwala cautions. At India Gate, New Delhi. Prolonged exposure to high heat may lead to discomfort, respiratory difficulties, heat cramps, exhaustion, heat stroke or even death in some cases. (Image: Ibrahim Rifath via Unsplash) At India Gate, New Delhi. Prolonged exposure to high heat may lead to discomfort, respiratory difficulties, heat cramps, exhaustion, or heat stroke. (Image: Ibrahim Rifath via Unsplash) Heat raises cooling demand NASA images and other studies show that night temperatures remain quite high in urban neighbourhoods while rural areas cool faster. This results in the increased usage of air-conditioners in urban homes at night, which is a big cause for concern. “We use ACs, which is counterproductive. The air-conditioners cool the rooms but heat the air outside, adding to the global warming effect,” Rangwala says. Roychowdhury says inappropriate architectural design and material, poor ventilation, inadequate shading and daylighting are making buildings heat trappers—increasing air-conditioned hours. Studies show how electricity demand peaks during summer due to the increased use of air-conditioners. “Sometimes, night-time peak demand can be higher than the day-time peak.” This works against India’s Cooling Action Plan—2019, which calls for a 25-30 percent reduction in cooling demand and 20-40 percent reduction in cooling energy requirements by 2037-38. And this is happening because adequate measures have not been adopted to control and reduce heat gains in buildings, Roychowdhury explained. The obsession with fast-paced building construction is promoting new materials without appropriate design and insulation. For instance, buildings using monolithic wall panels made of concrete get heated up more than twice as fast as a conventional burnt clay brick wall. Also, if the layout of mass housing is not addressed properly, it can compromise with ventilation and daylighting, adding to the heat stress. Studies show that night temperatures remain quite high in urban neighbourhoods while rural areas cool faster. (Representational image: Henning Witzel via Unsplash) Studies show that night temperatures remain quite high in urban neighbourhoods while rural areas cool faster. (Representational image: Henning Witzel via Unsplash) Need of the hour: Sustainable cities While our homes and offices need to be more thermally comfortable to withstand heat and reduce dependence on energy-intensive cooling, our cities need to be designed to counter the heat effect, Roychowdhury says. “We need public awareness to ensure adoption of passive architectural design for shading, ventilation and daylighting; climate-appropriate material and insulation, and adequate greening of urban spaces,” Roychowdhury says. All redevelopment and new urban projects, including road infra, should require mandatory targets for plantation, protection of legacy greens and augmentation of per capita green cover, experts say. This requires explicit approval guidelines and norms, and a compliance strategy to make them measurable and verifiable. Green norms in building laws should be made stricter, Rangwala says. “Cutting of trees should be a criminal offence. Environmental regulations should be strictly enforced in buildings and housing projects.” Gadepalli says that to get rid of cars we need public-transport-oriented development, which is often misinterpreted to build skyscrapers with massive parking lots. To create a truly transit-oriented urban environment, we should embrace the built form of old cities, she says. “Think low-to-mid-rise buildings, with shared walls to reduce exposed surfaces that are built to the edge of a fine network of human-scaled, walking-friendly, streets and alleyways that remain cool from building shade,” Gadepalli says. It's not enough to plant vertical gardens, they have to be maintained too. (Image: JW OFDrwle via Unsplash) It's not enough to plant vertical gardens, they have to be maintained too. (Image: JW OFDrwle via Unsplash) Taking care of the vulnerable Experts such as Chaturvedi call for systemic changes to deal with the challenge and to protect the vulnerable population. Among other things, they bat for a shift in working times so that people can start working earlier to escape the hot hours. “My focus is workers, mainly in the informal economy. Construction workers are among the most vulnerable along with waste pickers, loaders-unloaders, labourers, etc,” Chaturvedi says. These workers should be willing to start working at 5am at construction sites so that they can go home early, she explains. “You can’t have waste picked up at 9 because by the time the person finishes, it is going to be past noon when the mercury will hit 45-46 degrees.” Similarly, people should not expect domestic workers to come in the afternoon. Chaturvedi calls for societal shifts and the need to be more compassionate to make these people a bit more comfortable. The experts advocate having community spaces in schools, colleges and stadiums that can be a safe refuge for such people, who gather below flyovers and under whatever shade they can find during hot afternoons. Parks can act as cooling agents for vendors, cobblers, cleaners and all those who make our community run, Chaturvedi says. According to Borah, a liveable city has access to clean air and good health — a city designed with complete neighbourhoods, accessibility and sustainable mobility, a diverse local economy, vibrant public spaces, and affordability. Most liveable cities are considered good cities because of these factors, especially mobility, where walking and cycling are possible. Any factor that destroys the ecosystem and hampers the urban biodiversity would not be an environment-friendly way to make a city liveable, Borah says. Borah says our cities need more than just small changes in planning. “Cities need to be planned better for accessibility, comfort and healthy lifestyles,” she says. And this includes reversing urban heat stress.

Urban Lab

Delhi sees 13 heatwave days so far, but heat action plan yet to be implemented

Despite the scorching summers the city has witnessed, Delhi is yet to put a heat action plan in place to coordinate its response to heatwaves. Delhi-NCR saw an early start to the summer this year, and temperatures soared in April. The Safdarjung weather observatory has recorded 13 heatwave days so far. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had issued guidelines for states and cities to prepare heat action plans in October 2019. According to the NDMA’s records, Delhi does not have a specific heat action plan, but dos and don’ts are circulated to the health department. “We are following the instructions… the guidelines or SOPs issued by the NDMA on the subject,” said Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar. On whether there is a specific heat action plan for the city, he said, “That is there… including a nodal officer and the responsibilities of the various stakeholders.” He directed further questions to Health Secretary Amit Singla, who did not respond to calls and messages. No heat action plan for Delhi is available on the Delhi government department websites, which was confirmed by a senior official of the environment department. Best of Express Premium Premium Heat rising over Kerala rally, PFI in no mood to backtrack on 'camp...Premium 'Monetisation' axed, MeitY's fresh draft to 'encourage' cos to share non-...Premium Supreme Court directions on sex workers: history of the case, and where i...Premium “Delhi doesn’t have a heat action plan. These are emergency plans… what sort of infrastructural support should be made available to citizens so that the death toll is not high. These plans usually involve reserving a certain percentage of beds in hospitals for heat-related illnesses, making sure that drinking water is available on the streetside,” said Avikal Somvanshi, senior program manager, Urban Lab, Center for Science and Environment. In addition to heatwave-related guidelines issued by the NDMA, city-level action plans are also important, experts said. Somvanshi said that local administrations would be best placed to take action based on the situation on the ground. Heatwave conditions may also be different in different areas, he pointed out. “Heatwave conditions around Lodhi Road, where there is a green cover, may not be as bad as Pitampura where conditions could be worse because of the kind of infrastructure and urban heat islands,” he said. Anup Kumar Srivastava, an expert on heatwaves, who works as a consultant with the NDMA, said a city-level plan is a necessity for Delhi. “We have already seen heatwaves in March and April, and we could witness more. The city has a large population and a large number of workers who come here to work are out on construction sites…” he said. While the guidelines have been broadly identified by the NDMA, a city-level plan can help define roles and responsibilities more clearly and make definite arrangements, he added. Guidelines on preparing action plans were released by the NDMA first in 2016, and were revised in 2017 and 2019, he said. The NDMA guidelines say that the state should appoint a head or nodal officer at the state or district level and depute an agency to oversee the heat action plan. It also states that vulnerable areas and populations are to be identified, adding that heat action plans are to be assessed after each heat season, and updated as required. “Long-term planning for heat resilience infrastructure” and “rescheduling of work hours for employees in different sectors” are also part of the guidelines. Response at the district level Vishwaendra, District Magistrate, Southeast Delhi, said the response is along two lines – preventive and curative. The preventive measures involve IEC (information, education, communication) aspects. A meeting was held recently at the district level and at all medical facilities in the district, and the Chief District Medical Officer was directed to get IEC material distributed, he said. Curative measures involve dealing with heat-related illnesses. Health facilities in the districts have been geared up, he added.

Down To Earth

Indian pharma cos 'resisting to pay' required 3-5% on extracted bioresources: Study

Biodiversity conservation is an absolute imperative today, but is India serious about it? Notwithstanding the alacrity that the country has shown in ratifying and supporting international biodiversity conventions or in enacting domestic laws and regulations, India’s record in conservation and use of its bioresources has been quite dismal – finds an investigative analysis done by "Down To Earth" (DTE) magazine. Thirty years ago, in 1992, the world had agreed on a landmark global treaty: the Convention on Biological Diversity. Says Sunita Narain, editor of DTE and director general of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), which helps publish the magazine: “What became clear very soon is that the conservation of bioresources, and particularly their utilisation, require active involvement of local communities. These communities need to be active partners and also share the profits of the use of their resources and knowledge.” In 2010, as a result, came the Nagoya Protocol, designed as an instrument for fair and equitable sharing of benefits with communities. India has been quick to act in terms of ratification of the Convention and the Protocol. In 2002, the country adopted the Biological Diversity Act and set up an elaborate institutional framework to protect bioresources and to share benefits with knowledge-holders. The National Biodiversity Authority was established; each state now has its own biodiversity board, and each village its biodiversity management committee (BMC). The BMCs are required to prepare the People’s Biodiversity Registers, and have powers to impose charges and fines for extraction of resources found in their villages. Says Narain: “But our analysis, based on field visits and conversations with experts, finds that the entire effort to share benefits with communities has been reduced to, at best, a meaningless bureaucratic exercise and at worst, a charade.” Says Vibha Varshney, associate editor, DTE and the lead writer of the analysis: “The system of access and benefit sharing can work only if the traditional knowledge holders are recognised; if the traders and manufacturing companies that use their knowledge are held liable for payments; and if this payment is then transferred to the community or traditional-knowledge holder.” Key findings No data on funds: The DTE investigation says there is no data available – other than from a few states – on the money received from companies and traders for access and benefit sharing (ABS). It is not clear if all companies have paid for the use of resources and knowledge, or on what basis and how much. In the case of the Irula Cooperative in Tamil Nadu – traditional knowledge holders of the method of collecting snake venom used for pharmaceutical products – only one company had agreed to pay, but even that promise remained unfulfilled. No disbursal to communities: The state boards have informed DTE that the money collected has not been disbursed to communities – the reason they give is there is no information available about the knowledge holders. The law provides that if the information is not available, then funds should be spent on conservation in the region from where the knowledge-bioresources come. As of now, the funds are lying unutilised, say the state boards. Poor quality of People’s Biodiversity Registers (PBRs): Following the directions of the National Green Tribunal, as many as 2,66,135 PBRs have been made at break-neck speed within two years. Says Varshney: “Given the speed of this ‘exercise’, our assessment is that the quality of these registers is poor, and defeats the very purpose of documentation of biodiversity for conservation and knowledge for its utilisation.” Legal hurdles and challenges: As per law, Indian pharmaceutical companies are required to pay between 3-5 per cent on the extracted bioresources or between 0.01-0.05 per cent on the annual gross ex-factory sales. But companies have resisted paying. Sunita Narain In most cases, the courts have held that these companies have to seek prior approval and make payments to the National Biodiversity Authority or the state boards. But the matter has not moved much. It is not clear who was required to pay, how much or what has already been paid. Amendments to the National Biodiversity Act Narain points out that it is important at this stage to review the recently introduced amendments to the National Biodiversity Act, which are currently being discussed by the joint committee of the Parliament. She says: “We believe these amendments do not address the substantive issues that would fix the current problems that we have outlined in our analysis. What is needed is to strengthen the accountability of the state boards; to share benefits with communities; and to undertake conservation of bioresources. There is little to suggest that these will be done.” According to CSE, the amendment would weaken the system of access and benefit sharing by changing the definition of who is required to take approval for access or commercial utilisation. As per the 2002 Act, there is a provision defining a non-Indian entity, which would mean that an entity that is non-resident or a corporate body that is not incorporated or registered in India would require to take prior approval from the national board. The amendment proposes that the provision defining the non-Indian entity be substituted with “foreign controlled company”. Adds Varshney: “It is not clear why this change has been brought about and so it seems the purpose is to limit the prior approvals by the National Authority.” The amendments have also included the term “codified traditional knowledge” – under which the users, including practitioners of Indian systems of medicine will be exempted from the provisions of approvals for access or sharing benefits. Says Narain: “This is an issue that needs to be discussed further. We realise that the global framework of access and benefit sharing has never considered the issue of codified knowledge – and that this is important for countries like India where traditional medical systems are rich and relevant. "But it is not clear how this codified knowledge will be distinguished from the local community held knowledge and if this will not defeat the very purpose of the Biodiversity Act. What needs to be done is to clarify this even as the Amendments strengthen the provisions for sharing benefits with communities and knowledge-holders.” Narain adds: “But all this will not add up unless we can resolve how the bioresources in the wild and under strict prohibitory regulations – which do not allow for their cultivation, collection or trade – will be made part of these efforts to conserve resources through their utilisation. "In the case of the Kani tribals and their knowledge of Arogyapacha – a medicinal plant – this was the fundamental flaw. After all the negotiations were done for access and benefit sharing, the plant could not be collected or grown; in fact, cases were filed against the tribals for doing so.” The 2021 Amendment Bill has a provision for identification of such cultivated biodiversity. But Varshney says this needs to be elaborated on, so that all the strenuous efforts made to set up the paraphernalia for biodiversity conservation and for access and benefit sharing does not go waste. Says Narain: “It is important that we discuss this issue as we need to learn from what has been done till now, so that we can strengthen conservation and make sure communities and traditional knowledge holders benefit from these efforts. "This is critical in the fight to protect bio-resources from loss and extinction. The global community will meet later in 2022 to discuss these issues and to evolve the way ahead. It is important that the world has new learnings to share and ways to strengthen the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol.” --- *With Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)

Industrial Pollution

As heat cuts power in India's 'coal capital', locals seek fair energy share

In one of India's largest coal-producing states, locals say the lack of power is unfair on their state, whose coal reserves light up big cities and power the nation's industries • Daily power cuts last over 10 hours in coal-rich Jharkhand • Demand for diesel generators shot up during heatwave • 'Think beyond coal' for a cleaner future, say experts As part of his wedding preparations, Vijay Rajak had a bathroom added to his house so that his wife wouldn't have to walk miles to a lake like other women from his village in the east Indian coal state of Jharkhand. He connected the bathroom tap to a storage tank powered by an electric water pump, but his effort was scuppered by frequent power outages in his village, which have also hit other parts of India amid a heatwave-driven power crisis over the past month. Extreme heat in India pushed up electricity use to unprecedented highs with people cranking up their air-conditioning, causing widespread power cuts since April as utilities scrambled to meet demand amid dwindling coal supplies. Jharkhand locals say the lack of power is unfair on their state, whose coal reserves light up big cities and power the nation's industries. "There is an open-cast coal mine on what was once my land - and yet we don't have power for 10 hours or more," Rajak, 30, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Surunga village in Dhanbad district, India's coal capital. "We have been burning in this pollution for years because of the coal mine, but haven't gained anything. All I wanted was for my wife to feel comfortable and to be able to take a bath at home," he said. Jharkhand is one of India's poorest states and also among its top coal producers, with 150 mines. Coal fuels over 70% of the country's electricity generation - and yet inhabitants of this coal-rich region complain that frequent power blackouts are derailing their lives and work. Jharkhand electricity board officials said the region has sufficient power to meet peak summer demand of about 2,600 megawatts from federal, private and state-owned power utilities. Similar outages were experienced in other parts of India last month when demand peaked, they added. K.K. Verma, managing director of the Jharkhand state power distribution company, JBVNL, attributed the power cuts to local conditions such as thunderstorms and old overhead power lines and conductors that need costly upgrades. As long as Jharkhand gets its full allocation from central power companies, there is no electricity shortage in the state, he noted. Analysts said this dependence is at the heart of the state's power crunch, as national-level generation has been unable to keep up with demand, partly due to severe coal shortages. "Jharkhand has not added a single megawatt of power in two decades and has been buying power from thermal plants in other states that have their own priorities," said Nivit Kumar Yadav, programme director for industrial pollution at the Centre for Science and Environment. The state hopes its two planned thermal coal power plants - one set to start operating in the next six months - will solve its problems.But analysts said that could be a misplaced step when the wider world is moving to renewable energy. "On a heating planet, as power consumption is soaring with heatwaves gripping more cities, Jharkhand must plan for its future now," said researcher Yadav, pointing out that the state's current plans will feed rising demand for coal. "Jharkhand has to change its mindset that it is 'coal-rich'. The state's just transition must start now," he added. DIESEL DILEMMA A socially fair shift to a greener energy model appears to be some way off in most parts of India whose local economies rely on the coal industry. People living in coal-mining hubs battle multiple challenges, from air and water pollution to water scarcity and poor infrastructure. In Jharkhand, where more than 40% of its 33 million people are poor, power outages are the biggest barrier to development, locals said. According to a 2020 analysis by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, about 80% of households in the state experienced at least one power cut a day, lasting for up to eight hours - twice as long as those recorded in other coal-rich states like Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Uninterrupted power supply has been a poll promise for years, featuring heavily in current campaigns for village council elections, but there has been little progress on the ground, locals said. "We are the coal capital and we don't have power. This is like owning a dairy farm and you are not getting even half a litre of milk," said Dhanbad resident Sanoj Singh, who blamed power cuts for losses in his construction business. Generators are in huge demand in Dhanbad, fuelling worries about diesel consumption. "A 5kg generator that can power an entire house consumes 1.5 litres of diesel per hour. We know generators cause harmful emissions but how (otherwise) do people survive the heat?" asked Paras Yadav, who rents out generators in Dhanbad. PANDEMIC PUSH Household power connections in Jharkhand have shot up to 5 million in the past three years from 3 million, thanks to state schemes to electrify rural areas and the return of several hundred thousand migrants from cities during COVID-19 lockdowns, some of whom stayed, officials said. That has boosted power demand, even as a large share of new consumers cannot afford to pay bills. About 2.5 million power connections belong to very poor people in semi-urban and remote villages, where there is high demand from cottage industries but revenue generation is low largely because of billing and payment issues, said officials. Jharkhand - which, like other states including even rich ones, owes billions of rupees in back payments to power generation companies - covered enough of its dues this year to maintain its supply, officials said. Power connections have helped many like Ruby Mahto, 32, a farmer in East Singhbhum district, about 200 km north of Dhanbad. She connected a water pump to a well to irrigate her one-acre farm two years ago, but now has to drag buckets of water with ropes as power cuts have left her pump lying idle. "We wait for power all day and the minute we connect the pipe to the pump, the power snaps," she said. Rajak's wife Basanti Kumari, 25, meanwhile, is thankful that her husband's village still has a better power supply than her parents' in the steel manufacturing hub of Bokaro. Yet her days are busier than ever, as she grinds spices on stone and fills water containers for cooking and cleaning before walking over a mile to bathe, unable to use her electrical equipment when the power drops out. "It is so hot so we can't even skip taking a bath. I have to be careful with people around. What choice do I have?" she said.