• Sustainable Food Systems

Central panel to set natural farming bar

Bathinda: The national centre for organic and natural farming of the department of agriculture and farmer welfare (DA&FW) of Union agriculture ministry has constituted a 12-member committee to draw the standards for certification system for natural farming products. The committee will deliberate to define certification system and process protocols for pesticide residue free product certification. It will define contours of natural farming system, including standards, define and develop simplified compliance assessment protocols, develop minimum set of documents needed at different levels, suggest institutional framework for operation of certification system, explore feasibility of providing integrated certification system comprising of crop, livestock and processing, recommend specific logo for pesticide residue free and natural farming and to formulate detailed operational guidelines on proposed certification system. The committee has been asked to submit first interim report by April 20 and the final report by first week of May. Umendra Dutt, executive director of Kheti Virasat Mission (KVM), which is promoting organic farming in Punjab, has been taken as the member of the committee. Till now a mere 2% of India’s net sown area is organically farmed as only 1.3% of the farmers in India are registered to do organic farming, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) had revealed in a report ‘organic and natural farming in India: challenges and possibilities’. “Natural farming is the need of the hour to stop excessive use of insecticides and pesticides,” said Dutt.

• Director General Office

Will climate action be a casualty?

Climate change is the result of our demand for energy, we know. Emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, coal, oil and natural gas, are the reason the world is today on the edge of a precipice. The 2022 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reiterates that the impacts of a warming planet will be catastrophic. The fact is, not just our world but even the energy market is on a boil — fuel prices skyrocketed even before the Russia-Ukraine war broke out. The question is if this hike in prices will accelerate the move to a greener, cleaner energy future? Or will the governments backtrack and re-invest in the still-reliable fossil fuel energy system? In other words, will this price turbulence give the energy business of the past a new lease of life? Europe, and Germany in particular, is at the centre of this conundrum. It has invested in renewable energy, but has also relied on the import of natural gas — a cleaner-than-coal fossil fuel — to meet its electricity needs. Roughly 40 per cent of this natural gas comes from Russia. Now the war has jeopardised this supply. Germany has stopped certification of the already built Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which would have transported gas under the Baltic Sea from Russia. It is walking a tightrope on its existing gas contracts from Russia. German chancellor Olaf Scholz issued a statement on March 7, saying that his country and Europe as a whole were dependent on Russia to meet energy needs for heating, mobility and electricity, and so they could not sever these ties in the short term. But it is also a fact that Europe is under pressure from Ukraine and the United States to do more. On the same day, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said his country was looking to coordinate with European allies on the possibility of banning the import of oil from Russia. This not only spooked the markets, spiking oil prices to over $139 (more than Rs 10,000) a barrel (nearly 159 litres), but is also an indication of things to come as the war escalates. So now, energy security is at the core of policy — as much as, if not more than, climate change. Germany has decided to invest in building two liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals so that it can diversify its supply. In this process, Europe has become the new destination for US natural gas companies. On the other hand, Europe is looking at its investment in renewables — wind and solar — as the "energy of freedom", giving this clean source an added emphasis. The question is if this disruption in the oil markets will derail the move towards energy transition or speed it up? It is the same in the United Kingdom, which has set itself up as a climate leader with aggressive reduction targets. But now, ironically, its Committee on Climate Change has cleared the decks to expand oil and gas extraction in the North Sea. The UK is not as dependent on Russia for its energy supply, but its household energy prices are set to double in April. Its energy regulator has lifted the price cap, which on the back of increased oil and gas prices, will add to the household bills. So, the UK is worried about the energy poverty of its people and the anger it will lead to. Therefore, at this moment, the government, which preached that developing world should shun coal because of climate change, has decided to re-invest in its own fossil fuel industry. Will efforts to combat climate change then become a casualty of this energy war? Oil and gas prices have been seeing a high partly because of the two years of COVID-19, when the world saw degrowth like never before. As a result, demand for energy fell; there was under-investment; and new capacity was not added. But then, as the lockdowns were lifted and countries returned to business as usual, energy demand soared. And this led to price hikes. The war has just added fuel to this fire. But what it has done is build a convenient narrative that the energy transition — pushed as it is because of the urgency to combat climate change — was unplanned and unfeasible; that it has led to large-scale disruptions and will not work. Instead, what is needed is to plan for a transition that it is pragmatic and balanced. This, then, is the logic for the resurgence of the conventional energy business. There is a difference, of course. This argument is combined with new language of the need to abate emissions from fossil fuels, including the need to invest in methane reduction; carbon capture technologies so that the emissions from refineries can be pumped back into the ground; and in hydrogen as the next-generation fuel. In this way, the current energy crisis could lead us back to the fossil fuel business, which has been indicted for years for adding emissions to the atmosphere and for jeopardising life on earth as we know it. It seems that we have not learnt the lessons on the impact of burning fossil fuels as yet. And this, at a time when the world is running out of time and carbon space, is indeed something that should worry us enormously. (Author is Director General of CSE and Editor of Down To Earth, an environmentalist who pushes for changes in policies, practices and mindsets; Courtesy: https://www.downtoearth.org.in/)

• Down To Earth

Assam: NHAI starts felling trees to expand NH-37 in Guwahati despite protests

Guwahati: Despite protests and outrage, the National Highway Authorities of India (NHAI) has started felling trees for the expansion of of National Highway 37 in Guwahati. Over 2500 tress including some age-old will face the axe along the Guwahati bypass. The NHAI is going to expand the NH-37 from Jalukbari to Khanapara from present four-lane to six-lane. Citizens and environmentalists have raised the matter on social media platforms alleging that the trees need to be saved. On Saturday, activists belonging to Friday For Future India, Guwahati organised a protest to raise their voice against the “ruthless cutting down of trees”. The citizens, who joined the protest, hugged the trees and formed a human chain to express their resentment against the felling of trees. “Citizens of Guwahati started observing that trees in Jalukbari were being chopped down and soon the news that 2000 trees will be chopped spread around. Among these are some age old trees that cannot be compensated with 10 new saplings each. The important ecosystem services that these trees have been providing to our city are priceless. It is a matter of concern for the entire city and we urge the citizens to come forward and raise their concerns,” said Friday For Future India, Guwahati in a statement. Over 300 trees, most of them estimated to be around 70 to 80 years old, have been cut for development projects, in Guwahati and its adjacent areas in the last two years. According to Kamrup east divisional forest officer Rohini Saikia, 12 trees, some of those oldest, have been cut down for construction of the flyover at Zoo Road Tiniali and at least 54 trees were cut for the construction of the 1.2 km two-lane flyover on GS Road in the Dispur area, In a study conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), Guwahati turned out to be the most polluted city in the entire Northeast region with a winter average PM2.5 of 81 ug/m3. PM2.5 concentration of Guwahati’s air is currently 32.8 times above the WHO annual air quality standards and falls into the “very unhealthy” category.

• Director General Office

6 takeaways from Sunita Narain’s edited volume 'The Pandemic Journal'

The book is a documentation of the public health and humanitarian crises in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sunita Narain, director general at the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), has brought out an edited volume titled The Pandemic Journal: A prologue to a world that would never be the same again. (CSE, 2021). The book documents the public health and humanitarian crises in the wake the_pandemic_journal_book_cover (1)of the COVID-19 pandemic – exodus of workers from India’s cities, breakdown of global supply chains, vaccine chauvinism, and the struggle to find medical oxygen – with the purpose of remembering in order to build back better. We bring you six takeaways from this book: 1. A blow to the informal sector According to this book, after a nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24, 2020, to contain the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, 125 cities/towns reported outmigration. Millions of workers in the informal sector set out for their villages. It was not the fear of COVID-19 that triggered this large-scale migration but the fear for survival without money, food and work. Unfortunately, this return to their villages did not always bring solace and safety as the poor continued to face uncertainty and a bleak economic future. 2. Damage to the agrarian economy The timing of the pandemic was cruel. This book reminds us that from the beginning of February to the end of April, farms and forests yield crops that ensure critical flow of cash for rural households. Praveen Parmar, a farmer from the Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh, is quoted as saying that his distress was caused by poor planning and not the crop cycle. The government had not procured food grain before announcing the lockdown, so farmers struggled to find space for storing wheat. Spoilt grain meant huge losses to them. 3. Strain on global pharma supply chains The pandemic exposed inequality that lies beneath the interconnectedness that globalization celebrates. As countries scrambled to provide medical essentials, the pharmaceutical industry’s reliance on China and India for the bulk of production became clear. While countries in Europe and North America banned export of masks and protective equipment to put their own people first, they were able to get active pharmaceutical ingredients from India citing humanitarian grounds. 4. Burden on health care system As hospitals devoted themselves to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic on a war-footing, people suffering from other life-threatening diseases got neglected. This book points out that India accounts for approximately a quarter of the world’s tuberculosis burden, and data from the Union government’s Nikshay portal shows that the total number of TB cases notified each month came down drastically during the lockdown. When there is such a delay in identifying new cases, family members of the person with TB are at great risk of exposure and infection.

• Renewable Energy

Status Check: Has India Achieved Its Goal of 175 GW Renewable Energy by 2022?

India has installed 119 gigawatts of solar, wind, bio-power and small hydro power capacity against a target of 175 gigawatts for 2022 India is short of its installed renewable energy target for 2022 by 32%, as per latest data from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA). India's renewable energy (RE) capacity (excluding large hydro power) has increased by about 66% since 2018. In fact, its non-fossil fuels' installed capacity has been growing faster than fossil fuel capacity for at least five years, IndiaSpend reported in November 2022. Even then, India has fallen short of its RE targets. The target, set in 2015, was 175 gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy capacity to be set up in the country by the year 2022. This included 100 GW from solar power, 60 GW from wind power, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small hydro power. India has achieved 119 GW. Out of this, 62% of the solar power target (62 GW of proposed 100 GW), 70% of the wind power target (42 GW of 60 GW), 107% of the bio-power target (10.7 of 10 GW) and 98% of the small hydro power sector target (4.9 of 5 GW), had been achieved by November 30, 2022. In January 2017, IndiaSpend had reported about the hurdles that India faces in meeting its RE goals, such as inadequate funding for clean energy, problems with grid balancing and in land acquisition for RE projects. Some of these challenge areas exist even now – such as integration of renewable energy with the power grid, buyers' constrained capability to purchase RE, and raising the necessary finance for RE projects, especially in emerging economies such as ours, said Disha Agarwal, Senior Programme Lead, at the New Delhi-based think tank, Council for Energy Environment and Water (CEEW). Also Read - Are Early Adjournments Of The Rajya Sabha More Common Under The BJP? Apart from these, there are a few more reasons for India lagging behind its RE targets. "Part of this could be attributed to external factors like COVID-induced supply chain disruptions. Lack of coordination between national targets and state level enforcement is another factor," Ashwini Swain, a fellow at New Delhi-based research organisation, the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), told FactChecker. Also Read - Coal vs Natural Gas: Are They Equally Responsible For Global Warming? We have reached out to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to ask if any of the RE projects currently under implementation will be completed by the end of 2022. We are yet to receive a response by the time of publishing this story, and we shall update the story when we receive one. Large hydropower added to renewable energy target The initial RE goal did not include large hydro power projects (projects with a capacity of more than 25 megawatts). But, in 2019, India changed its definition of renewable sources of energy, bringing large hydro into its ambit. The rationale was that hydropower can help bring stability to the electricity grid versus renewable sources like wind and solar that are intermittent. Large hydropower projects are mostly located in the Himalayas and the North-East Region, and will enable socio-economic development of the region by providing direct employment in the power sector, the government had said at the time. In a recent response, Minister of New and Renewable Energy R. K. Singh also took into account large hydro projects in the calculation of installed renewable energy capacity, despite its omission from the original target, and informed Parliament that 165.94 GW, or 95% of the 175 GW renewable target has been achieved. In addition, "76.13 GW is under various stages of implementation and a capacity of 36.44 GW is under various stages of bidding," the minister informed Parliament. On the other hand, a Rajya Sabha response from the ministry earlier this year excluded large hydro power in measuring progress towards the 2022 target. But can large hydro power be considered a green source of energy? In a Lok Sabha reply in March 2021, the Minister of New and Renewable Energy R. K. Singh claimed that one of the measures taken by the government to transition to clean energy was to classify hydropower dams as renewable energy sources. But, experts that FactChecker reached out to suggested that large hydro projects often come with adverse ecological impacts. "Large hydro plants or mega-dams divert and reduce natural flows, restricting access for animal and human populations that depend on rivers. Generally, small hydroelectric plants (with an installed capacity below 25 megawatts), carefully managed, do not cause as much environmental damage, since they divert a relatively small amount of water," said Binit Das, Deputy Programme Manager for Renewable Energy at the New Delhi-based environment think tank, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). He also pointed out that mega-dams cause 'reservoir emissions' – plant material that was present before flooding begins to decay as the water sits still in the reservoir, releasing methane into the atmosphere as it decays. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is the second largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide (CO2) and has a warming potential that is 28-34 times higher than CO2 over a 100-year period. Agarwal from CEEW told FactChecker that even though large hydropower has served as a crucial power-grid balancer in recent years, hydropower projects still face the risks of natural disasters, many of which are increasingly climate-induced. IndiaSpend has previously reported on why large hydro plants are drivers of climate change and socio-economic adversity. FactChecker has written to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to understand whether large hydro power can be counted amongst renewable energy sources and if so, why it was not included in the initial renewable energy targets set in 2015. Even though India has not fully achieved its RE target for 2022, over the past few years, the country has developed a robust tendering mechanism, competitive players for deployment of renewable power, and established itself as a preferable location for clean energy investment, Swain said. Efforts must be made towards "converting national targets to state level action, domestic manufacturing of clean energy components to support the scale of deployment, parallel investment in complementary infrastructure like transmission networks and balancing resources like storage".

• Solid Waste Management and Circular Economy

How India is looking to put lid on plastic waste

NEW DELHI: Life without plastic seems unthinkable today. Global plastic production has grown from 2 million tonnes in 1950 to 348 million tonnes in 2017. But this non-biodegradable material has polluted air, soil and water. Some 11 million tonnes of plastic waste flows annually into oceans, and more than 800 marine and coastal species are estimated to be affected by plastic pollution. India made its first big pitch to curb plastic use on June 5, 2018 – World Environment Day – when it vowed to phase out single-use plastics (SUP) by 2022. The 2018 pledge has led to two major recent developments – last month’s notification of guidelines to make manufacturers and brand owners accountable for managing plastic waste in India, and a global resolution by 175 countries at the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) early this month to forge a “legally binding” international agreement by 2024 to end plastic pollution. These developments have turned the focus on minimising plastic pollution in a manner that helps India move towards a circular economy through efficient collection, recycling and reuse of plastic waste. But there are process and policy hurdles in the path to circularity. “There are two versions of the circular economy idea. The original idea had no space for end-of-pipeline interventions like incineration and landfilling,” said Dharmesh Shah, senior technical advisor, Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE) who attended the UNEA in Nairobi. However, the version that was subsequently introduced by big businesses “does not challenge unsustainable production practices and considers the end-of-pipeline technologies that destroy resources an integral part of circularity,” said Shah. Most governments endorse this approach as it does not ruffle the system, but it is far from the true idea of a circular economy, he added. India’s early efforts on plastic waste were mostly confined to the unorganised sector, but Siddharth G Singh, deputy programme manager of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said plastic regulations in India have acquired an edge with the SUP ban notification that lists single-use items such as carry bags, straws, stirrers, plastic cutlery and earbuds for phase-out. The ministry in February also notified extended producer responsibility (EPR), streamlining collection and recycling of plastic waste, and fixing accountability of producers, importers and brand owners for managing products in an environmentally sound manner until the end of their life cycle. It has for the first time also set up a ‘market mechanism’ for plastic waste management where an efficient approach lets waste generators earn credits that can be sold and purchased. Singh, however, believes the absence of recycling targets between 2021-22 and 2024-25 creates ambiguity. “No technology exists to verify the claims of the use of recycled content in plastic packaging,” he said. Previous attempts to ban or phase out multi-layered plastic were scuppered by the ‘politics of recycling’. High plastic industry representation in committees drives policies in their favour, leaving municipalities to deal with plastic pollution using taxpayers’ money, he said. Once the global agreement to end plastic pollution is in place, international scientific and technical cooperation to manage plastics over their full life cycle, and design reusable and recyclable products and materials will pick up. Shah said the new approach will “target the unsustainable production of plastics, which is where the real resolution lies…. This also addresses the largely ignored issue of toxic substances in plastics. Over 10,000 chemicals are used in manufacturing different types of plastics. They will have to be phased out for a clean circular economy. ”

• Sustainable Mobility

Is it the beginning or the end of the cycle? writes Anil Singh

Is the cycling culture that bloomed during the pandemic withering away with the resumption of normal traffic? Or does the buzz indicate that this is the beginning of a cycling revolution? Cycling and cyclists in Indian cities today are like the lover in Shakespeare’s lost poem, `Shall I die? Shall I fly?’ Indeed, like love, cycling in Mumbai is fraught with danger. Common sense says that it is back to being an adventure sport. One can get knocked down and killed like 12- year-old Aksha Malu last month. The boy and his father were returning home at 5 am on a Sunday with two other kids. They reckoned it was a safe time but no Indian road is ever safe for a cyclist; minutes away from their housing complex on Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road, a cement mixer rammed Aksha’s bike. Experienced bikers too meet with fatal accidents. In November 2017, Ashok Khale (64), a champion cyclist and a mentor for many was killed on the Vashi bridge as he was pedalling from his residence in Dadar to Khopoli on a Sunday. Environmentalist Sunita Narain had a nasty collision while cycling in Delhi not so long ago. The NITI Aayog report on bicycles says that cyclists constituted 2.4 per cent of fatal road accidents in India during 2018. Even otherwise, danger lurks underfoot in potholes and drain grates which are poorly laid and sometimes open. But like love,Indians have taken to cycling despite all the dangers. Cycle sales which were stagnant before the pandemic grew by over two-fold, so much so that one has to wait four months for light-weight, geared cycles which cost up to Rs 3 lakhs. The adoption of cycling as a lifestyle is growing across age groups and is proof that the pandemic has changed mindsets. Entrepreneurs and politicians have been quick to cash in on this. Digital rental bike systems, which one sees in European countries, have cropped up in cities across India. Politicians are wooing GenX voters by setting up cycle tracks wherever possible and even organising cyclothons. On a national level, the India Cycles4Change Challenge launched in June 2020 prioritises the promotion of cycling through a collaborative method. Various state government initiatives such as Karnataka’s free bicycle distribution and West Bengal’s 25 lakh bicycle distribution further promote cycling. The Delhi government has decided to give a 25 per cent subsidy on the purchase of ebikes. Closer home in Mumbai, this Sunday, 13 stretches of road from Marine Drive to Band Stand will be reserved for cycling or any other activity that people happy. One can only hope that this pilot project succeeds like `Ciclovia’ in Bogota, Columbia, where 121 km is kept aside for cycling and fun activity from 7am to 2pm on Sundays, promoting tourism in a big way. Mumbai has built up a cycling culture in the last ten years. Cyclists hit the road early in the morning on weekends. There’s a cycling club in virtually every Mumbai suburb with membership running intohundreds; from schoolboys to senior citizens. They organise long rides during the weekends which cover forts to flowering trees flamingo sites and at times, heritage precincts. Then there are timed long-distance endurance events called brevets. However, the bulk of the riders are youngsters such as Nikhil George (27); a corporate executive whose weekday ride is from Worli to Nariman Point and back before the traffic starts. These young riders take precautions such as helmets, lights, bright uniforms, gloves, water bottles, riding in packs, and carrying their identity cards with them. Maharashtra’s Environment and Tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray has been pushing cycling although in his over-enthusiasm he tried to make a cycling track around Powai and Vihar lakes which are environmentally unsound. His dream project is a 39-km-long and 10-m wide track to be built on the space created by relocating 15,000 hutments along the Tansa pipeline— stretching from the eastern suburb of Mulund to Wadala in Mumbai city ---to seems to have run into trouble. However, phase 1 of the cycle track at BKC is complete. The 8.5km long promenades from Hali Ali to Worli to come up along with the Coastal road will also have a cycling track. Cycles will also prove useful in the last-mile connectivity from the metro stations which soon dot Mumbai. The place where cycling has taken off is Navi Mumbai where the Public Bicycle Sharing System(PBSS) or also known as Yulu Bikes introduced in 2018 has earned carbon credit worth Rs 38.61 cr from over 8.14 lakh rides. More than 2.5 lakhs citizens have already used the system. Now, the civic body has proposed to make a cycle track of around 7.5 km along the iconic Palm Beach Road. The Energy Research Institute (TERI) estimated in its 2018 report, ‘Benefits of Cycling in India: An Economic, Environmental, and Social Assessment, 2018’, that cycling for short distances can result in an annual benefit of Rs 1.8 trillion to the Indian economy, which is equivalent to 1.6% of India’s annual GDP. However, cycling enthusiasts bemoan the lack of advocacy and policy intervention. Bureaucrats themselves admit that there has been a lot of reluctance towards introducing cycles in Mumbai. Inaugurating the public cycle sharing system from Versova Metro station last year, the then MMRDA chief R A Rajeev had said, “There has been a reluctance to introduce bicycles in Mumbai by saying that the roads are congested. There are, however, two aspects to it. We have to introduce more of these facilities and people should also start cycling more. This will create a revolution and also decongest the roads.” He further said that when there are more cyclists on road, city planners will be forced to create space for them. “Create the demand and the city will give you space,” he said. The question however is: how many cyclists will have to die before that happens.

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Human chain to save more than 2500 trees in Guwahati

Citizens of Guwahati plan to come out on the streets yet again to raise their voices against the merciless felling of more than 2500 trees to convert the 4-lane NH 27 (old NH 37) to a 6-lane road. The East Kamrup Forest Division recently revealed that 300 trees, approximately 70-80 years old, were cut during the two years in the COVID-19 pandemic for various infrastructural projects such as flyovers and roads. During the COVID-19 pandemic, while the citizens were stuck inside houses, many trees were chopped for infrastructural development, leaving no options for them to raise their voices. “Citizens have decided that they shall not be silent spectators anymore and shall hug the trees and form a human chain to express their dissatisfaction and create awareness on the importance of conserving age-old trees – following the suit of Sunderlal Bahugana and the women activists in the Chipko Movement, which inspires millions till today,” said a statement released by Fridays For Future, Guwahati. Karnika Goswami, a student of MA Linguistics at Delhi University, said: “Cutting down 2500 trees is a drastic step. We must protect these trees at any cost. This must feel personal to us – to try and save these trees. We must channelise our climate anxieties and come together for the sake of our city.” In the World Air Quality Report, 2021, prepared by a Swiss Organisation, IQAir, it was stated that based on air quality data collected from 6,475 cities in 117 countries, 63 out of 100 cities with the worst air quality were in India. In a study conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), Guwahati turned out to be the most polluted city in the entire Northeast region with a winter average PM2.5 of 81 ug/m3. PM2.5 concentration of Guwahati’s air is currently 32.8 times above the WHO annual air quality standards and falls into the “very unhealthy” category. On the importance of trees inside the city, Aditya Das, biologist at Kamlang Tiger Reserve, said: “Trees contribute to the environment by sequestration of oxygen, improvisation of air quality and important ecosystem services like soil preservation, climate amelioration thereby supporting a large niche of wildlife. Urban trees play a huge role in reducing urban flooding by holding the water runoff and slowing down winds by reducing excessive heat loss from buildings. Most importantly, they are home to urban wildlife. Is cutting trees for infrastructural development, in this case, a 6-lane road, a solution to the problem of convenient mobility or a problem towards long term inconvenience?” The newly released 2nd part of the 6th assessment of the IPCC report alarms: “Globally, heat and humidity will create conditions beyond human tolerance if emissions are not rapidly eliminated. India is among the places to experience these intolerable conditions.” The Paris Agreement of 2015 seeks to keep the global rise in temperatures “well below” 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial times, a reference to the period between 1850 and 1900 while working towards restricting it to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Scientists have warned that until immediate actions are taken to rein in the rise in temperatures, even the 2-degree Celsius goal would become out of reach. “If our intention is to create more road space to accommodate more of our personal vehicles, we must also understand that it will only encourage more and more people to buy cars because the roads and the bridges have not reached full capacity yet. In the next 6 to 12 months, we will realise that the extra widened space which we created is again filled up by cars. So, to question our choice, which is called development, where are we really going with 1000s of trees being cut down for bridges after bridges and multiple lane roads?” asks Ashadeep Baruah, a social activist from Guwahati.

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Human chain to save more than 2500 trees in Guwahati

Citizens of Guwahati plan to come out on the streets yet again to raise their voices against the merciless felling of more than 2500 trees to convert the 4-lane NH 27 (old NH 37) to a 6-lane road. The East Kamrup Forest Division recently revealed that 300 trees, approximately 70-80 years old, were cut during the two years in the COVID-19 pandemic for various infrastructural projects such as flyovers and roads. During the COVID-19 pandemic, while the citizens were stuck inside houses, many trees were chopped for infrastructural development, leaving no options for them to raise their voices. “Citizens have decided that they shall not be silent spectators anymore and shall hug the trees and form a human chain to express their dissatisfaction and create awareness on the importance of conserving age-old trees – following the suit of Sunderlal Bahugana and the women activists in the Chipko Movement, which inspires millions till today,” said a statement released by Fridays For Future, Guwahati. Karnika Goswami, a student of MA Linguistics at Delhi University, said: “Cutting down 2500 trees is a drastic step. We must protect these trees at any cost. This must feel personal to us – to try and save these trees. We must channelise our climate anxieties and come together for the sake of our city.” In the World Air Quality Report, 2021, prepared by a Swiss Organisation, IQAir, it was stated that based on air quality data collected from 6,475 cities in 117 countries, 63 out of 100 cities with the worst air quality were in India. In a study conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), Guwahati turned out to be the most polluted city in the entire Northeast region with a winter average PM2.5 of 81 ug/m3. PM2.5 concentration of Guwahati’s air is currently 32.8 times above the WHO annual air quality standards and falls into the “very unhealthy” category. On the importance of trees inside the city, Aditya Das, biologist at Kamlang Tiger Reserve, said: “Trees contribute to the environment by sequestration of oxygen, improvisation of air quality and important ecosystem services like soil preservation, climate amelioration thereby supporting a large niche of wildlife. Urban trees play a huge role in reducing urban flooding by holding the water runoff and slowing down winds by reducing excessive heat loss from buildings. Most importantly, they are home to urban wildlife. Is cutting trees for infrastructural development, in this case, a 6-lane road, a solution to the problem of convenient mobility or a problem towards long term inconvenience?” The newly released 2nd part of the 6th assessment of the IPCC report alarms: “Globally, heat and humidity will create conditions beyond human tolerance if emissions are not rapidly eliminated. India is among the places to experience these intolerable conditions.” ALSO READ: Meghalaya assembly building to be completed this month The Paris Agreement of 2015 seeks to keep the global rise in temperatures “well below” 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial times, a reference to the period between 1850 and 1900 while working towards restricting it to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Scientists have warned that until immediate actions are taken to rein in the rise in temperatures, even the 2-degree Celsius goal would become out of reach. “If our intention is to create more road space to accommodate more of our personal vehicles, we must also understand that it will only encourage more and more people to buy cars because the roads and the bridges have not reached full capacity yet. In the next 6 to 12 months, we will realise that the extra widened space which we created is again filled up by cars. So, to question our choice, which is called development, where are we really going with 1000s of trees being cut down for bridges after bridges and multiple lane roads?” asks Ashadeep Baruah, a social activist from Guwahati.

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Darjeeling भारत का सबसे कम प्रदूषण वाला शहर है सिलीगुड़ी

पश्चिम बंगाल न्यूज़ डेस्क, पिछले सर्दियों के मौसम में देश के सभी क्षेत्रों में वायु प्रदूषक कणों का स्तर अलग-अलग तीव्रता के साथ बढ़ा है। हालांकि अधिकांश क्षेत्रों में पीएम2.5 का समग्र क्षेत्रीय औसत पिछली सर्दियों की तुलना में कम था, लेकिन कई क्षेत्रों में सर्दियों के कोहरे के चरण में तेज वृद्धि हुई थी। पड़ोसी राज्य बिहार में सिवन और मुंगेर देश के सबसे प्रदूषित शहर पाए गए हैं। दूसरी ओर, पूर्वोत्तर भारत का प्रवेश द्वार सिलीगुड़ी पूर्वी क्षेत्र का सबसे कम प्रदूषित शहर पाया गया है। पूर्वोत्तर भारत की राजधानी आइजोल, मिजोरम और मेघालय की राजधानी शिलांग देश के सबसे कम प्रदूषित शहर हैं। विज्ञान और पर्यावरण केंद्र ने 2021-22 (15 अक्टूबर 2021 से 28 फरवरी 2022) के ठंड के मौसम के दौरान देश भर में सर्दियों की हवा की गुणवत्ता का विश्लेषण किया है। यह विश्लेषण केंद्रीय प्रदूषण नियंत्रण बोर्ड (सीपीसीबी) के आधिकारिक ऑनलाइन पोर्टल वायु गुणवत्ता प्रबंधन के लिए केंद्रीय नियंत्रण कक्ष से उपलब्ध रीयल-टाइम डेटा (औसत 15 मिनट) पर आधारित है। 26 राज्यों और केंद्र शासित प्रदेशों के 161 शहरों में फैले कंटीन्यूअस एम्बिएंट एयर क्वालिटी मॉनिटरिंग सिस्टम (CAACMS) के तहत 326 आधिकारिक स्टेशनों से डेटा एकत्र किया गया था। अनुमिता राय चौधरी, कार्यकारी निदेशक, अनुसंधान और वकालत, सीएसई, और अविकल सोमवंशी, प्रबंधक, अर्बन डेटा एनालिटिक्स लैब, सिलीगुड़ी, पश्चिम बंगाल के अनुसार, पूर्वोत्तर में सबसे कम ठंड के मौसम का औसत है। दूसरी ओर, राज्य में कोलकाता, हावड़ा, आसनसोल, दुर्गापुर, हल्दिया और सिलीगुड़ी में औसतन 21 प्रतिशत की गिरावट और 27 प्रतिशत की चोटी दर्ज की गई।

• Climate Change and Green Economy

हमारी जल सुरक्षा को गंभीर संकट में डाल सकता है बढ़ता तापमान

जलवायु परिवर्तन का युग है यह (This is the era of climate change) नई दिल्ली, 23 मार्च 2022. भारत के बड़े हिस्से में गर्मी की शुरूआत इतनी तेज गर्म लहर के साथ होने का क्या मतलब है? इस सवाल के जवाब पर सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट (सीएसई) की महानिदेशक सुनीता नारायण ने कहा, “इसका मतलब है कि यह जलवायु परिवर्तन का युग है। साथ ही आने वाले दिनों में हम पानी के लिए क्या करेंगे, यह निर्धारित करेगा कि हम ऐसी जलवायु परिस्थितियों से बचे रहेंगे या नहीं।” जलवायु परिवर्तन के प्रभाव (effects of climate change) नारायण ने विस्तार से बताया, “मैं ऐसा इसलिए कह रही हूं क्योंकि हम सभी जानते हैं कि जलवायु परिवर्तन के प्रभाव गर्मी, चिलचिलाते तापमान और परिवर्तनशील और अत्यधिक बारिश के बारे में हैं। दोनों का जल चक्र के साथ सीधा संबंध है। इसलिए जलवायु परिवर्तन के बारे में पानी और उसका प्रबंधन होना चाहिए।” सीएसई, जलवायु परिवर्तन, उप कार्यक्रम प्रबंधक, अवंतिका गोस्वामी ने कहा, भारत में 2021 की स्थिति दोहराई जा रही है, जब देश के कुछ हिस्सों में फरवरी की शुरूआत में तापमान 40 डिग्री सेल्सियस को छू गया था, और यह तब हुआ जब 2021 ला नीना का साल था, जिसमें प्रशांत जल धाराएं विश्व स्तर पर ठंडा तापमान लाने के लिए जानी जाती हैं। भारतीय मौसम वैज्ञानिकों ने सूचित किया है कि ग्लोबल वार्मिग ला नीना के इस प्रभाव की भरपाई करेगी। Rising heat has serious impact on water security सीएसई के शोधकर्ता के अनुसार, बढ़ती गर्मी का जल सुरक्षा पर गंभीर प्रभाव पड़ता है। सबसे पहले इसका मतलब जल निकायों से ज्यादा वाष्पीकरण होना है। नारायण ने आगे कहा कि “इसका मतलब है कि हमें न केवल लाखों संरचनाओं में पानी के भंडारण पर काम करने की जरूरत है, बल्कि वाष्पीकरण के कारण होने वाले नुकसान को कम करने की भी योजना बनानी है। ऐसा नहीं है कि वाष्पीकरण नुकसान पहले में नहीं हुआ हैं, लेकिन वाष्पीकरण की दर में अब बढ़ते तापमान के साथ वृद्धि होगी।” सीएसई के शोधकर्ताओं के अनुसार, एक विकल्प भूमिगत जल भंडारण या कुओं पर काम करना है। भारत के सिंचाई योजनाकार और नौकरशाही काफी हद तक नहरों और अन्य सतही जल प्रणालियों पर निर्भर हैं, उन्हें भूजल प्रणालियों के प्रबंधन में छूट नहीं देनी चाहिए। गर्मी बढ़ने से मिट्टी की नमी सूख सकती है। यह जमीन पर और ज्यादा धूल कर देगा और इससे सिंचाई की महत्ता बढ़ेगी। भारत जैसे देश में जहां अभी भी अधिकांश अनाज वर्षा आधारित क्षेत्रों में उगाया जाता है। बारिश से सिंचित यह भूमि क्षरण को और तेज करेगा। इसका मतलब है कि जल प्रबंधन को वनस्पति योजना के साथ हाथ से जाना चाहिए ताकि मिट्टी की पानी धारण करने की क्षमता में सुधार हो सके, यहां तक कि तीव्र और लंबी गर्मी के समय में भी ऐसा होना चाहिए। Water demand will increase with climate change तीसरा और स्पष्ट रूप से गर्मी पानी के उपयोग को बढ़ाएगी, जिसमें पीने और सिंचाई से लेकर जंगलों या इमारतों में आग से लड़ना शामिल हैं। हम पहले ही दुनिया के कई हिस्सों में और भारत के जंगलों में विनाशकारी जंगल की आग को देख चुके हैं। तापमान बढ़ने के साथ ही यह और बढ़ेगा। जलवायु परिवर्तन के साथ पानी की मांग बढ़ेगी, जिससे यह और भी जरूरी हो जाएगा कि हम पानी या अपशिष्ट जल को बर्बाद न करें। इतना ही नहीं, तथ्य यह है कि अत्यधिक बारिश की घटनाओं की बढ़ती संख्या के संदर्भ में जलवायु परिवर्तन पहले से ही दिखाई दे रहा है। इसका मतलब है कि हम बारिश को बाढ़ के रूप में आने की उम्मीद कर सकते हैं, जिससे बाढ़ के बाद सूखे का चक्र और भी तीव्र हो जाएगा। भारत में पहले से ही एक वर्ष में कम बरसात के दिन होते हैं। ऐसा कहा जाता है कि एक वर्ष में औसतन केवल 100 घंटे बारिश होती है। अब बारिश के दिनों की संख्या और कम हो जाएगी, लेकिन अत्यधिक बारिश के दिनों में वृद्धि होगी। इसका जल प्रबंधन की हमारी योजनाओं पर व्यापक प्रभाव पड़ा है। इसका मतलब है कि हमें बाढ़ प्रबंधन के बारे में और अधिक सोचने की जरूरत है न केवल नदियों के तटबंध के लिए बल्कि बाढ़ के पानी को अनुकूलित करने के लिए ताकि हम उन्हें भूमिगत और भूमिगत जलभृतों, कुओं और तालाबों में संग्रहीत कर सकें। इसका मतलब यह भी है कि हमें बारिश के पानी को बचाने के लिए अलग तरह से योजना बनाने की जरूरत है। उदाहरण के लिए वर्तमान में, महात्मा गांधी राष्ट्रीय ग्रामीण रोजगार गारंटी अधिनियम के तहत बनाए जा रहे लाखों जल ढांचे, सामान्य वर्षा के लिए डिजाइन किए गए हैं। लेकिन अब जैसे ही अत्यधिक बारिश सामान्य हो जाती है, तो संरचनाओं को फिर से बदलने की जरूरत होगी ताकि वे मौसम के दौरान बने रहें। बात सिर्फ इतनी सी है कि हमें जलवायु परिवर्तन के इस युग में न केवल बारिश की बल्कि बाढ़ के पानी की हर बूंद को जमा करने के लिए जरूरी योजना बनानी चाहिए।

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

बढ़ते तापमान पर सीएसई ने जताई चिंता, कहा जल सुरक्षा पर मंडरा सकता है गंभीर संकट

ये जलवायु परिवर्तन का युग है। जलवायु परिस्थितियों से बचाव के लिए किए गए उपाय ही भविष्य भी तय करेंगे। ये कहना है सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट (सीएसई) की महानिदेशक सुनीता नारायण का। ये बातें उन्होंने "भारत के बड़े हिस्से में गर्मी की शुरूआत इतनी तेज गर्म लहर के साथ होने का क्या मतलब है?" सवाल का जवाब देते हुए कही है। उन्होंने विस्तार से बताया, मैं ऐसा इसलिए कह रही हूं क्योंकि हम सभी जानते हैं कि जलवायु परिवर्तन के प्रभाव गर्मी, चिलचिलाते तापमान और परिवर्तनशील और अत्यधिक बारिश के बारे में हैं। दोनों का जल चक्र के साथ सीधा संबंध है। इसलिए जलवायु परिवर्तन के बारे में पानी और उसका प्रबंधन होना चाहिए। सीएसई, जलवायु परिवर्तन, उप कार्यक्रम प्रबंधक, अवंतिका गोस्वामी ने कहा, भारत में 2021 की स्थिति दोहराई जा रही है, जब देश के कुछ हिस्सों में फरवरी की शुरूआत में तापमान 40 डिग्री सेल्सियस को छू गया था, और यह तब हुआ जब 2021 ला नीना का साल था, जिसमें प्रशांत जल धाराएं विश्व स्तर पर ठंडा तापमान लाने के लिए जानी जाती हैं। भारतीय मौसम वैज्ञानिकों ने सूचित किया है कि ग्लोबल वार्मिग ला नीना के इस प्रभाव की भरपाई करेगी। सीएसई के शोधकर्ता के अनुसार, बढ़ती गर्मी का जल सुरक्षा पर गंभीर प्रभाव पड़ता है। सबसे पहले इसका मतलब जल निकायों से ज्यादा वाष्पीकरण होना है। नारायण ने आगे कहा कि इसका मतलब है कि हमें न केवल लाखों संरचनाओं में पानी के भंडारण पर काम करने की जरूरत है, बल्कि वाष्पीकरण के कारण होने वाले नुकसान को कम करने की भी योजना बनानी है। ऐसा नहीं है कि वाष्पीकरण नुकसान पहले में नहीं हुआ हैं, लेकिन वाष्पीकरण की दर में अब बढ़ते तापमान के साथ वृद्धि होगी। सीएसई के शोधकर्ताओं के अनुसार, एक विकल्प भूमिगत जल भंडारण या कुओं पर काम करना है। भारत के सिंचाई योजनाकार और नौकरशाही काफी हद तक नहरों और अन्य सतही जल प्रणालियों पर निर्भर हैं, उन्हें भूजल प्रणालियों के प्रबंधन में छूट नहीं देनी चाहिए। गर्मी बढ़ने से मिट्टी की नमी सूख सकती है। यह जमीन पर और ज्यादा धूल कर देगा और इससे सिंचाई की महत्ता बढ़ेगी। भारत जैसे देश में जहां अभी भी अधिकांश अनाज वर्षा आधारित क्षेत्रों में उगाया जाता है। बारिश से सिंचित यह भूमि क्षरण को और तेज करेगा। इसका मतलब है कि जल प्रबंधन को वनस्पति योजना के साथ हाथ से जाना चाहिए ताकि मिट्टी की पानी धारण करने की क्षमता में सुधार हो सके, यहां तक कि तीव्र और लंबी गर्मी के समय में भी ऐसा होना चाहिए। तीसरा और स्पष्ट रूप से गर्मी पानी के उपयोग को बढ़ाएगी, जिसमें पीने और सिंचाई से लेकर जंगलों या इमारतों में आग से लड़ना शामिल हैं। हम पहले ही दुनिया के कई हिस्सों में और भारत के जंगलों में विनाशकारी जंगल की आग को देख चुके हैं। तापमान बढ़ने के साथ ही यह और बढ़ेगा। जलवायु परिवर्तन के साथ पानी की मांग बढ़ेगी, जिससे यह और भी जरूरी हो जाएगा कि हम पानी या अपशिष्ट जल को बर्बाद न करें। इतना ही नहीं, तथ्य यह है कि अत्यधिक बारिश की घटनाओं की बढ़ती संख्या के संदर्भ में जलवायु परिवर्तन पहले से ही दिखाई दे रहा है। इसका मतलब है कि हम बारिश को बाढ़ के रूप में आने की उम्मीद कर सकते हैं, जिससे बाढ़ के बाद सूखे का चक्र और भी तीव्र हो जाएगा। भारत में पहले से ही एक वर्ष में कम बरसात के दिन होते हैं। ऐसा कहा जाता है कि एक वर्ष में औसतन केवल 100 घंटे बारिश होती है। अब बारिश के दिनों की संख्या और कम हो जाएगी, लेकिन अत्यधिक बारिश के दिनों में वृद्धि होगी। इसका जल प्रबंधन की हमारी योजनाओं पर व्यापक प्रभाव पड़ा है। इसका मतलब है कि हमें बाढ़ प्रबंधन के बारे में और अधिक सोचने की जरूरत है न केवल नदियों के तटबंध के लिए बल्कि बाढ़ के पानी को अनुकूलित करने के लिए ताकि हम उन्हें भूमिगत और भूमिगत जलभृतों, कुओं और तालाबों में संग्रहीत कर सकें। इसका मतलब यह भी है कि हमें बारिश के पानी को बचाने के लिए अलग तरह से योजना बनाने की जरूरत है। उदाहरण के लिए वर्तमान में, महात्मा गांधी राष्ट्रीय ग्रामीण रोजगार गारंटी अधिनियम के तहत बनाए जा रहे लाखों जल ढांचे, सामान्य वर्षा के लिए डिजाइन किए गए हैं। लेकिन अब जैसे ही अत्यधिक बारिश सामान्य हो जाती है, तो संरचनाओं को फिर से बदलने की जरूरत होगी ताकि वे मौसम के दौरान बने रहें। बात सिर्फ इतनी सी है कि हमें जलवायु परिवर्तन के इस युग में न केवल बारिश की बल्कि बाढ़ के पानी की हर बूंद को जमा करने के लिए जरूरी योजना बनानी चाहिए।

• Climate Change and Green Economy

Rising heat has severe implications for water security: CSE

The intense heatwave that has gripped large parts of India so early this summer is The intense heatwave that has gripped large parts of India so early this summer is proof that this is the age of climate change and it can have severe implications for water security, the Centre for Science and Environment said on Tuesday. Speaking on the occasion of World Water Day, CSE Director General Sunita Narain said climate mitigation has to be about water and its management. "What does this intense heat wave that has hit large parts of India so early this summer really mean? It means, especially today, as we mark the World Water Day, that this is the age of climate change. It also means that how we deal with our water in the coming days will determine whether we would survive such extreme climatic conditions. "We all know that climate change impacts are about increased heat and scorching temperatures, and about variable and extreme rain. Both have a direct correlation with the water cycle. Therefore, climate change mitigation has to be about water and its management," Narain said. India is witnessing a repeat of 2021 conditions, when temperatures touched 40 degrees Celsius as early as February in some parts of the country, said Avantika Goswami, deputy programme manager, climate change, CSE. "This was when 2021 was the year of the La Nia, the Pacific water currents that are known to bring cooler temperatures globally. Indian weather scientists have informed that global warming has offset this cooling effect of La Nia," Goswami said. CSE researchers pointed out that rising heat has severe implications for water security and to begin with, it would mean greater evaporation from water bodies. "It means that we need to work not just on storing water in millions of structures, but also plan for reducing losses due to evaporation. It's not that evaporation losses did not happen in the past, but the rate of evaporation will now increase with the soaring temperatures," CSE said. According to researchers, India's irrigation planners and bureaucracies have largely depended on canals and other surface water systems they should not discount the management of groundwater systems. Increased heat can also lead to drying up of moisture in soils, the CSE said, adding that it will make the land dusty and will increase the need for irrigation. In a country like India where the bulk of food is still grown in rain-fed regions, it will intensify land degradation and dust bowl formations. This means water management must go hand in hand with vegetation planning to improve the ability of soils to hold water, even in times of intense and prolonged heat, it said. The organisation cautioned that heat will drive up the use of water, from drinking and irrigation to fighting fires in forests or buildings. "We have already seen devastating forest fires rage in many parts of the world, and in the forests of India. This will only increase as temperatures go up. The demand for water will increase with climate change, making it even more imperative that we do not waste -- either water or wastewater," it said. CSE also said climate change is already showing up in terms of the increasing number of extreme rain events. "This means that we can expect rain to come as a flood, making the cycle of floods followed by droughts even more intense. India already has fewer rainy days in a year -- it is said that it rains for just 100 hours on average in a year. Now the number of rainy days will further go down, but extreme rainy days will increase," it said. "We needed to be obsessive about water and its management yesterday because water is the basis of health and wealth. But now we need to be more than obsessive. We need to be determined and deliberate. On this World Water Day in the age of climate change we need to know that the water agenda is the real make or break of our future" said Narain.

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

12 NCR cities among world’s 25 most polluted in 2021, Bhiwadi the worst

GURUGRAM: The dismal picture of air pollution in Delhi-NCR has been captured in a world air quality pollution report compiled by a Swiss firm, IQAir. A total of 12 NCR cities, including Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram, are among the 25 most polluted places in the world, according to the survey that compared last year’s data with that of 2020. At an average of 106.2 ug/m3, Bhiwadi in Rajasthan was found to have the worst PM2.5 level last year. The other NCR cities on the list were Delhi (96.4 ug/m3), Ghaziabad (102 ug/m3), Noida (91.4 ug/m3), Faridabad (88.9 ug/m3), Baghpat (89.1 ug/m3), Rohtak (86.9 ug/m3), Greater Noida (87.5 ug/m3), Jind (84.1 ug/m3), Gurugram (83.4 ug/m3), Bulandshahr (80.8 ug/m3) and Meerut (80.6 ug/m3). download (1) The report showed that air quality in many of these cities had deteriorated since 2020. While Bhiwadi’s PM 2.5 concentration rose by 9.7 ug/m3 in 2021, that of Delhi surged by 12.3 ug/m3. Gurugram registered a rise of 8.1 ug/m3, Faridabad 5.6 ug/m3, Rohtak 12.5 ug/m3 and Jind 2.5 ug/m3. Despite breathing marginally better air, some of the NCR cities still found mention among the 25 most-polluted. While Bulandshahr registered a decline of 17.6 ug/m3 in PM2.5 level, that of Ghaziabad fell by 4.6 ug/m3. PM2.5 saw a dip of 2.9 ug/m3 in Noida, 2 ug/m3 in Greater Noida and 1.7 ug/m3 in Meerut. The PM2.5 levels in all these cities were way above the safety limits mandated by WHO, which is just 5 ug/m3. PM2.5, particulate matter consisting of fine aerosol particles measuring 2.5 microns or smaller in diameter, is one of the six routinely measured air pollutants across the world and is commonly accepted as the most harmful. It has been found to be a major contributing factor for conditions such as asthma, stroke, heart and lung diseases. Experts pointed out that the air quality in these cities deteriorated with the easing of restrictions on movement during the pandemic. “A comparison of the data of 2020 and 2021 clearly showed that after the restrictions on movement were lifted, we witnessed a rise in pollutants, particularly PM 2.5. As 2020 was spent mostly in lockdown, the PM2.5 concentration was less compared to 2021. We need to act fast to ensure that the air quality does not deteriorate further,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director (res-earch and advocacy) at the Centre for Science and Environment. P. Raghavendra Rao, the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) chairperson, said they were working on a plan taking the entire air-shed into consideration. “Elements like clean energy, zero emission, increase in electric vehicles and improving cycle tracks are some of the measures that we are working on to lower the pollutants in the air. We have to take the entire air-shed of NCR into account while dealing with pollution,” he added. S Narayana, member secretary of HSPCB, said, “If we analyse the data, we can see that the share of PM2.5 was higher during the winter months. But between March and September, it was relatively lower. This may be because of local factors. We are working at various levels to curb air pollution. For most of the NCR cities, the trend is similar. It may be because of stubble burning and low wind movement during winter.”

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Delhi most polluted capital in world, finds air report

The city is topping the list for the fourth consecutive year. Delhi topped a list of 92 capital cities in 2020, 85 such cities in 2019, and 62 such cities in 2018. In terms of annual average PM2.5 levels in 2021, Delhi ranked as the most polluted out of 107 capital cities in the world, according to the 2021 World Air Quality Report. The city is topping the list for the fourth consecutive year. Delhi topped a list of 92 capital cities in 2020, 85 such cities in 2019, and 62 such cities in 2018. The report is based on PM2.5 data from 6,475 locations in “117 countries, regions and territories around the world,” and is prepared by IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company. On the list of capital cities, Dhaka followed Delhi in terms of the annual average PM2.5 concentration, while N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, was third on the list. The report said: “India was home to 11 of the 15 most polluted cities in Central and South Asia in 2021. Delhi saw a 14.6% increase in PM2.5 concentrations in 2021 with levels rising to 96.4 µg/m3 from 84 µg/m3 in 2020. No cities in India met the WHO air quality guideline of 5 µg/m3. In 2021, 48% of India’s cities exceeded 50 µg/m3, or more than 10 times the WHO guideline.” The report draws data from government-operated monitoring stations as well as privately-owned ones, and monitoring stations operated by institutions. According to the report, “Central and South Asia had some of the world’s worst air quality and was home to 46 of the world’s 50 most polluted cities” in 2021. In the Central and South Asia region — including India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Tajikistan — Bhiwadi, in Alwar district, Rajasthan, was the most polluted regional city, with an average PM2.5 concentration of 106.2 50 µg/m3. This was followed by Ghaziabad with 102 µg/m3, and then Delhi with 96.4 µg/m3. Delhi’s annual average PM2.5 level in 2021 was higher than that in 2020, but lower than the 98.6 µg/m3 recorded in 2019, 113.5 µg/m3 in 2018, and 108.2 µg/m3 in 2017. The city’s PM2.5 level was highest in November (224.1 µg/m3) and lowest in September (30.2 µg/m3). Even at its lowest, the average concentration was about six times the WHO guideline of 5 µg/m3. Bhiwadi also topped the list of the ‘world’s most polluted cities’ in 2021 — 50 cities ranked in terms of PM2.5 levels. This was followed by Ghaziabad, and Hotan, China. Delhi was fourth on the list, while Noida was seventh with a PM2.5 level of 91.4 µg/m3, and Gurgaon was eighteenth with 83.4 µg/m3. Faridabad, Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Meerut, and Sonipat are other NCR areas that were on the list. Sources of PM2.5 “include internal combustion engines, power generation, industrial processes, agricultural processes, construction, and residential wood and coal burning. The most common natural sources for PM2.5 are dust storms, sandstorms, and wildfires,” the report stated. Anumita Roychowdhury, the executive director of Research and Advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment, said, “We know this from the regulatory data in India that pollution is bouncing back after 2020 which was a hard lockdown. We then saw the reopening of the economy, and it is expected that the pollution will bounce back. The post-recovery period calls for stringent implementation of action across the National Capital Region. Time-bound implementation would be necessary to arrest the re-bound so that it doesn’t worsen.”

• Climate Change and Green Economy

CSE: High temp may hit water security

Bathinda: Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) director general Sunita Narain has said that the intense heat wave that has hit large parts of the country so early this year clearly point towards the impact of climate change. “On World Water Day, it also points as how we deal with our water in the coming days will determine whether we would survive such extreme climatic conditions,” Narain added. “It is well known that climate changes are about heat - increase and scorching temperatures and about variable and extreme rain. Both have a direct correlation with the water cycle. The climate change mitigation has to be about water and its management,” Narain stated. CSE researchers point out that rising heat has severe implications for water security. To begin with, it would mean greater evaporation from water bodies. Says Narain: “It means that we need to work not just on storing water in millions of structures, but also plan for reducing losses due to evaporation. It is not that evaporation losses did not happen in the past, but the rate of evaporation will now increase with the soaring temperatures.” “Increased heat can also lead to a drying up of moisture in soil,” she added. TNN