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World Antimicrobial Awareness Week: By 2050, antibiotic resistant infections will kill more than 1,000 people every hour in the world, says CSE

The CSE organised "One-Health Action to Preserve Antibiotics" to mark the Antimicrobial Awareness Week from November 18-24. Antibiotic-resistant infections lead to about 700,000 deaths a year globally. If no action is taken, this could increase to 10 million deaths every year by 2050 – which would mean about 27,400 lives per day or about 1,140 lives per hour; 90 per cent of these deaths can happen in Asia and Africa. These numbers, quoted by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) at a highlevel webinar of experts on antimicrobial resistance, spell out how critical the problem is for the world. The webinar – titled One-Health Action to Preserve Antibiotics – was organised on Friday by CSE to mark the ongoing Antimicrobial Awareness Week, announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) from November 18-24. Opening the virtual meet of experts from across the world, CSE Director General Sunita Narain said: “Antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, has emerged today as a full-blown chronic pandemic. At a time when the world is fighting the COVID-19 crisis, marking a week to build awareness on AMR is a welcome step. It indicates that the world is waking up to this massive health crisis, that it is getting ready because COVID-19 has taught us what havoc can be wrought by unprepared responses to a pandemic.” Narain added: “The AMR pandemic is a silent killer but as grave a threat as climate change. This explains why it does not invoke panic among people, though the damage it causes is similar in scale to what the world is witnessing these days.” The CSE webinar brought together some of the world’s foremost experts on the subject, including Haileyesus Getahun, Director of Global Coordination & Partnership, Director of Tripartite (FAO/OIE/WHO) Joint Secretariat on AMR, Division of Antimicrobial Resistance, WHO; Keith Sumption, Chief Veterinary Officer/Leader Animal Health Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); Girish K Sharma, Officer on Special Duty (Animal Health), National Dairy Development Board, India; Otridah Kapona, Lab Scientist-Communicable Diseases/AMR National Focal Point and Coordinator, Laboratory Systems and Networks, Zambia National Public Health Institute, Zambia; Sekesai Zinyowera, National AMR Focal Point, Coordinator of National Microbiology Reference Laboratory, Ministry of Health and Child Care, Zimbabwe; Sarada Devi K L, Professor and Head, Department of Microbiology, Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, India; and Will Gaze, Professor of Microbiology, European Center for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, United Kingdom.

भारतीय समाज में पर्यावरण चेतना का प्रतीक बन गई हैं सुनीता नारायण

हिंदुस्तान में पिछले करीब दो दशकों में पर्यावरण संरक्षण को लेकर पैदा हुई समझ और जागरूकता के पीछे अंतरराष्ट्रीय ख्याति प्राप्त पर्यावरणविद् सुनीता नारायण का बहुत बड़ा योगदान रहा है. उनके इन्हीं प्रयासों को मान्यता प्रदान करते हुए ब्रिटेन की सिटी आफ इडनबर्ग काउंसिल ने उन्हें ‘इडनबर्ग मेडल 2020' से सम्मानित किया है. हरित ईंधन, पर्यावरण प्रदूषण, महानगरों में दम घोंटू वायु प्रदूषण, जल प्रदूषण, ध्वनि प्रदूषण जैसे प्रदूषण से जुड़े तमाम आयामों पर सुनीता नारायण ने भारतीय समाज में चेतना लाने में अहम भूमिका अदा की है. अंतरराष्ट्रीय ख्याति प्राप्त टाइम पत्रिका ने 2016 में नारायण को विश्व की सौ प्रमुख प्रभावशाली हस्तियों में शामिल किया था. 23 अगस्त, 1961 को दिल्ली में उषा और राज नारायण के घर जन्मी सुनीता चार बहनों में सबसे बड़ी हैं. उनके पिता स्वतंत्रता सेनानी रहे और 1947 में भारत के विभाजन के बाद उन्होंने हस्तकला उत्पादों का निर्यात शुरू किया था. सुनीता मात्र आठ साल की ही थीं तभी उनके पिता का निधन हो गया. उनके पिता के चले जाने के बाद उनकी मां ने कारोबार संभालने के साथ ही अपनी चार बेटियों की परवरिश भी की. वह अपनी सारी सफलता का श्रेय अपनी मां को देती हैं जिन्होंने उनके भीतर ​निर्भीक होकर दूरस्थ स्थानों की यात्रा पर जाने और अपने फैसले खुद लेने का हौंसला पैदा किया था. दिल्ली विश्वविद्यालय में 1980 से 1983 के दौरान पत्राचार से स्नातक डिग्री की पढ़ाई करने के दौरान उन्होंने पर्यावरण के क्षेत्र में काम करना शुरू कर दिया था. वह बताती हैं कि संयोगवश उनकी मुलाकात कई ऐसे लोगों से हुई जिनके विचार और रूचियां समान थीं और इस तरह उनके भीतर पर्यावरण संबंधी मुद्दों को लेकर गजब का आकर्षण जैसा पैदा हो गया था. सुनीता कहती हैं कि जब 1970 के दशक में हिमालयी क्षेत्र में जंगलों को बचाने के लिए महिलाओं ने चिपको आंदोलन शुरू किया था तो उन्हें महसूस हुआ कि उन्हें पर्यावरण संरक्षण के क्षेत्र में ही जाना है. वह बताती हैं कि उन दिनों भारत में किसी कॉलेज में पर्यावरण को एक विषय के तौर पर नहीं पढ़ाया जाता था. 1980 में उनकी मुलाकात अचानक प्रख्यात वैज्ञानिक विक्रम साराभाई के बेटे कार्तिकेयन साराभाई से हुई जो उस समय अहमदाबाद में विक्रम साराभाई इंस्टीट्यूट फॉर डेवलपमेंट एंड रिसर्च के निदेशक थे. उन्होंने सुनीता को संस्थान में शोध सहायक के रूप में काम करने की पेशकश की और उसके बाद सुनीता ने पीछे मुड़कर नहीं देखा. वह 1982 से भारत स्थित ‘विज्ञान एवं पर्यावरण केन्द्र' से जुड़ गई थीं. यह हैरानी की बात हो सकती है कि सुनीता जिस क्षेत्र में दशकों से काम कर रही हैं, उसमें उन्होंने विधिवत कोई शिक्षा या डिग्री हासिल नहीं की, लेकिन पर्यावरण और जलवायु संरक्षण के क्षेत्र में विश्व के कई प्रतिष्ठित विश्वविद्यालय उन्हें मानद डिग्रियों से सम्मानित कर चुके हैं. सुनीता नारायण हरित विकास और अक्षय विकास की पुरजोर पैरोकार हैं और वह पर्यावरण संरक्षण में महिलाओं की महती भूमिका को रेखांकित करती हैं. इस समय ‘सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरन्मेंट'(सीएसई) के महानिदेशक पद की जिम्मेदारी संभाल रही सुनीता का दृढ़ विश्वास है कि वातावरण में फैलती अशुद्धता, प्रकृति और वातावरण की होती दुर्दशा से सबसे ज्यादा नुकसान महिलाओं, बच्चों और गरीबों को होता है. उनका यह भी मानना है कि वातावरण की सुरक्षा के लिये जागरूकता फैलाने की जिम्मेदारी महिलाएं ज्यादा सफलतापूर्वक उठा सकती हैं. सुनीता नारायण को 2005 में भारत सरकार ने पर्यावरण संरक्षण की दिशा में उनके प्रयासों के लिए पद्मश्री पुरस्कार से सम्मानित किया था. इसी वर्ष उन्हें स्टाकहोम वाटर प्राइज और 2004 में मीडिया फाउंडेशन चमेली देवी अवार्ड प्रदान किया गया. इडनबर्ग पुरस्कार पर प्रतिक्रिया जाहिर करते हुए सुनीता नारायण ने ‘पीटीआई-भाषा' से कहा, ''जहां तक जलवायु परिवर्तन का सवाल है, वह आज दुनिया के लिए बहुत बड़ा मुद्दा बन गया है. आने वाले समय में यह खतरा बहुत बड़ा है.'' उन्होंने कहा, ‘‘इडनबर्ग पुरस्कार इस बात को मान्यता देता है कि हमने विकासशील देशों की तरफ से जो आवाज उठायी है, वह सही है. इससे अंतरराष्ट्रीय मंच पर यह बात उठी है कि पर्यावरण संरक्षण और जलवायु परिवर्तन में गरीब, विकासशील देशों का क्या हक बनता है? उन पर क्या असर पड़ता है? इसलिए यह पुरस्कार हम लोगों के लिए गर्व की बात है. इससे इन मुद्दों पर अंतरराष्ट्रीय समुदाय का ध्यान फिर से गया है.'' 1990 के शुरुआती दिनों में ही उन्होंने कई वैश्विक पर्यावरण मुद्दों पर गहन शोध करना शुरू कर दिया था. 1985 से ही वह कई पत्र-पत्रिकाओं में पयार्वरण पर लेख लिखकर समाज को इस भयावह समस्या के प्रति जागरूक करने के काम में जुट चुकी थीं. दिल्ली में 1982 में छुट्टियां बिताने के दौरान सुनीता की मुलाकात अनिल अग्रवाल से हुई जो एक प्रख्यात और प्रतिबद्ध पर्यावरणविद् थे जिन्होंने पर्यावरण मुद्दों को भारत में एक दिशा दी थी. उस समय अनिल अग्रवाल सीएसई की स्थापना की दिशा में काम कर रहे थे. उन्होंने सहायक शोधार्थी के रूप में अग्रवाल के साथ काम करना शुरू किया और इस तरह वह सीएसई से जुड़ गईं जिसकी आज वह महानिदेशक हैं. उन्होंने अग्रवाल के साथ स्टेट ऑफ इंडियाज एनवायरन्मेंट रिपोर्ट्स पर भी काम किया. सुनीता कहती हैं कि आज वह जो कुछ भी हैं उसका श्रेय वह अनिल अग्रवाल को देती हैं जिन्होंने उन्हें इस दिशा में आगे बढ़ने को प्रेरित किया था. नारायण अपने मार्गदर्शक और संरक्षक अनिल अग्रवाल के बारे में कहती हैं कि सीएसई में आज 4 —5 लोगों का कोर ग्रुप है जो अग्रवाल के मूल्यों और दूरदृष्टि से बहुत प्रभावित है. उन्होंने कहा, ‘‘वह (अग्रवाल) कभी शिकायत नहीं करते थे, इसके बजाय वह समाधान पेश करते थे.'' 2016 में नारायण को फ्रैंच डेवलपमेंट एजेंसी (एएफडी) के वैज्ञानिक बोर्ड की सदस्य नियुक्त किया गया. इसके अलावा भी वह पर्यावरण एवं सामाजिक विकास संबंधी भारत सरकार की संस्थाओं के साथ ही कई राष्ट्रीय-अंतरराष्ट्रीय संस्थाओं और संगठनों में महत्वपूर्ण पदों की जिम्मेदारी संभाल रही हैं. नारायण ‘बिफोर दी फ्लड' वृत्तचित्र में हॉलीवुड अभिनेता लियोनार्दो डिकैप्रियो के साथ भी नजर आई हैं. इस वृत्तचित्र में उन्होंने भारत में जलवायु परिवर्तन के मानसून पर पड़ने वाले प्रभाव तथा इसके फलस्वरूप किसानों के प्रभावित होने पर बात की है.

India’s first 'Cow Cabinet' to whip up sacred love for dairy, dung and more

India’s largest state Madhya Pradesh has yoked ministers and officials to the country’s first “cow cabinet” to give a leg-up to the rural economy, hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. But critics say the step is only a gimmick to milk sectarian sentiment. The departments in charge of forest, revenue, rural development, home and animal husbandry have been roped into the so-called 'cow cabinet', which held its inaugural session at a cattle shelter in Madhya Pradesh state on Sunday. “Six departments of the state government would work together in the activities of cow protection and betterment,” a Madhya Pradesh government statement added. The ministerial cabinet will also promote bovine by-products such as dung and drinks made from cow urine which some in India say have pharmaceutical properties to cure an array of ailments including cancer. Madhya Pradesh is governed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP. Modi has promised several pro-cow policies since coming to power in 2014. The cow council was also mulling plans to raise 59 million Euros by imposing a “cow tax” on the state’s 73 million people. “Besides generating sufficient funds, it will ensure people’s participation in the sacred work of cow protection,” online publication The Print quoted state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan as saying. Elsewhere, Modi’s home-state Gujarat this summer green-flagged tests with a concoction of cow products for the treatment of Covid-19, which has infected nine million people and claimed 133,000 lives so far in India. No fewer than 850,000 stray cattle wander around Madhya Pradesh, sprawled across 308,252 square kilometers. Chief Minister Chauhan faced criticism this year when he cleaved by 90 percent a state budget meant to feed 180,000 steers in government-funded cow shelters. Few takers for cow projects “The Chauhan government did nothing for the conservation and protection of cows in the last nearly 16 years,” said Kamal Nath, a former state chief minister. Nath, a leader from India’s main opposition Congress party, vowed to build 1,000 cow shelters if voted back to power. But all attempts of either the Congress or the BJP to appeal to Hindus' emotions in the name of the cow have come to very little. The public have donated the equivalent of just 800 euros to state-run cow welfare programs since 2017. Murderous cow vigilantes Many Hindus revere the animal as sacred and BJP-ruled states in India have outlawed consumption of beef or cow slaughter, leading to violent vigilante attacks largely targeting meat traders. At least 44 people, including 36 Muslims, died in such attacks between May 2015 and December 2018, New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a report last year. The Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment separately blamed India’s shrinking cattle headcount to cow protection laws in five farming states including Madhya Pradesh. Love Jihad law In a separate political development, Madhya Pradesh leaders have promised a law against love jihad, a Hindu conspiracy theory that claims Muslims use subterfuge to convert Hindu women through money or marriage. The draft stipulated a five-year prison term for forced conversions amid worries the legislation will again spur vigilante groups into action.

Experts: Protect natural habitats to prevent future pandemics

P andemics such as COVID-19 can be averted in future by restoring and protecting natural habitats, experts have advised. The Head of Conservation Programmes at WWF-Kenya, Nancy Githaiga, said there is a need to address loss and degradation of habitat to minimise vulnerability to pandemics. The loss of nature is estimated at 68 per cent. “As habitats reduce, animal species are coming into more contact with humans. This is leading to zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19. We may continue looking for vaccines against the pandemic, but if we continue living the way we are, more risks will come. We have to solve these issues upstream to reduce vulnerability by striking a balance with nature,” Githaiga told the ongoing Fourth African Conference of Science Journalists.

World Antimicrobial Awareness Week

Antibiotic-resistant infections lead to about 700,000 deaths a year globally. If no action is taken, this could increase to 10 million deaths every year by 2050 – which would mean about 27,400 lives per day or about 1,140 lives per hour; 90 percent of these deaths can happen in Asia and Africa. These numbers, quoted by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) today at a high-level webinar of experts on antimicrobial resistance, spell out how critical the problem is for the world today. The webinar – titled One-Health Action to Preserve Antibiotics – was organised by CSE to mark the ongoing Antimicrobial Awareness Week, announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) from November 18-24. Opening the virtual meet of experts from across the world, CSE Director General SunitaNarain said: “Antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, has emerged today as a full-blown chronic pandemic. At a time when the world is fighting the COVID-19 crisis, marking a week to build awareness on AMR is a welcome step. It indicates that the world is waking up to this massive health crisis, that it is getting ready, because COVID-19 has taught us what havoc can be wrought by unprepared responses to a pandemic.” Narain added: “The AMR pandemic is a silent killer, but as grave a threat as climate change. This explains why it does not invoke panic among people,though the damage it causes is similar in scale to what the world is witnessing these days.” The CSE webinar brought together some of the world’s foremost experts on the subject, including Haileyesus Getahun, Director of Global Coordination & Partnership, Director of Tripartite (FAO/OIE/WHO) Joint Secretariat on AMR, Division of Antimicrobial Resistance, WHO; Keith Sumption, Chief Veterinary Officer/Leader Animal Health Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); Girish K Sharma, Officer on Special Duty (Animal Health), National Dairy Development Board, India; Otridah Kapona, Lab Scientist-Communicable Diseases/AMR National Focal Point and Coordinator, Laboratory Systems and Networks, Zambia National Public Health Institute, Zambia; Sekesai Zinyowera, National AMR Focal Point, Coordinator of National Microbiology Reference Laboratory, Ministry of Health and Child Care, Zimbabwe; Sarada Devi K L, Professor and Head, Department of Microbiology, Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, India; and Will Gaze, Professor of Microbiology, European Center for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, United Kingdom. In 2015, the WHO had launched its Global Action Plan to tackle AMR. Five years after, the momentum is faltering, points out CSE. Says Amit Khurana, Programme Director of CSE’s Food Safety and Toxins Programme: “What is required here is One-Health action – a collaborative effort by multiple disciplines working at local, national and global level to attain optimal health for humans, animals and the environment. But national AMR action plans are struggling to move as planned, because they have remained largely driven by a human healthcare agenda,controlled by healthcare ministries and sector stakeholders, with very limited involvement or support from other sectors such as animalhealth and environmental management.” CSE researchers say that a lack of dedicated budgets allocated by country governments for addressing AMR is another obstacle: this breedsdependence on donor agencies. Says Rajeshwari Sinha, Deputy Programme Manager of CSE’s Food Safety and Toxins Programme: “This indicates that the political commitment being talked about is still largely on paper.” Khurana points out that animal and food sector stakeholders remain apprehensive of rearing food without antibiotics: “Farmers still use growth promoters, countries continue to allow the use of antibiotics for disease prevention, use of critically important antibiotics is still a common practice, antibiotics are still available without prescription and waste from farms still not managed as it should be. The situation is the same in agriculture — antibiotic misuse in crops continues.” Awareness about how to grow food without antibiotics has not yet been created among farmers and producers, he says. In environmental management, there is a dearth of understanding and technical expertise on issues such as how to set discharge limits of antibiotics in waste, or how to manage waste from different point sources (such as farms, healthcare settings etc) in view of the AMR determinants – antibiotics, resistant bacteria and genetic elements that can confer resistance CSE, which has been working for a few years now to understand this health threat, presented a set of recommendations at today’s webinar: Ban antibiotics in growth promotion Regulate over-the-counter sales of antibiotics and restrict mass disease prevention strategies (group preventative use) Limit the use of critically important antibiotics – preserve those with highest priority for human use Reduce the need for chemicals by focusing on animal husbandry, bio-security etc Reduce dependence on intensive systems of food production Manage waste from farms Bring in policies and guidelines on bio-security, sanitation, waste management etc Initiate surveillance and monitoring of waste and effluents, litter etc Introduce standards for antibiotics in waste needed – antibiotics in waste from commercial entities must be categorised as hazardous Increase capacity of environmental regulators Says Narain: “It is clear that it is the developing world which is going to be hugely impacted by this threat. The world will never be able to contain AMR unless stakeholders from all sectors such as human health, animal, environment, crops, food and drug come forward and act as one, in the spirit of a true One-Health approach

Engineering And Planning Related Approach Needed To Make Cities Water-Sensitive, Says NMCG DG

Elaborating on the challenges faced in urban water management, Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Director General of National Mission for Clean Ganga, has proposed steps to make Indian cities water-sensitive which include developing eco-friendly riverfront projects and harnessing the economic potential of the river. In a keynote address during a two-part webinar series on 'Towards Water Sensitive Cities - Experience of Approach and Practices in Australia and India', Mishra said learning from experiences of Australian counterparts can be valuable in making Indian cities water sensitive. The webinar was organised by India's Centre of Science and Environment-School of Water and Waste, India, and Alluvium Consulting, Australia. The webinar series was aimed to sensitise practitioners and advocate for the planning and designing of water-sensitive cities in India, and disseminate the experiences of water-sensitive cities in Australia and India, according to a statement by Jal Shakti Ministry. "Roadmap for implementation of water-sensitive urban design and planning in Delhi" published by CSE was launched by Mishra. He said, "Engineering and planning related approach is needed to make cities water-sensitive." "While elaborating on challenges faced in urban water management, Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga in his keynote speech said, 'Learning from experiences of Australian counterparts can be very valuable in making Indian cities water-sensitive'. He also proposed to develop a city to city partnership for select cities in the Ganga basin with Australian cities," the statement read. "He suggested that a linkage between the built environment and the natural environment is needed for water sensitive urban design. He also endorsed a three-point vision to water sensitive cities- Cities should serve as potential water supply catchment, provide ecosystem services and create water sensitive communities," the statement added He shared that the urban planning framework would now be made water-sensitive. He explained steps to make cities water-sensitive which includes ensuring effective regulation of activities in the floodplains, preventing pollution of the water bodies, rejuvenation of all water bodies and wetlands, to ensure a rich and continuous riparian buffer, to ensure maximum good quality return flow to the river, reuse of wastewater, to harness the economic potential of the river, to develop eco-friendly riverfront projects and to inculcate river-sensitive behaviour among residents. Micheal O Neill, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), Government of Victoria presented the integrated approach followed by his government in urban planning. Suresh Rohilla, Senior Director of the CSE spoke about the need for a road map to water sensitive urban design and planning. A case-study on turning Melbourne into a water-sensitive city was presented by Chris Chesterfield, Urban Water Policy and Planning Specialist (CRCWSC), Australia. G. Mathi Vathanan, Principal Secretary, Housing & Urban Development Department Odisha government, Dr Kajal, Director, Smart Cities Mission, Government of Uttar Pradesh and Vijay Chaurasia, Joint Advisor (PHEE), CPHEEO, MoHUA, Government of India discussed the water-sensitive approach and its implementation in cities in a panel discussion. (ANI)

World Toilet Day 2020: Next Biggest Challenge For India Is To Sustain The ODF Tag, Says Experts

According to World Economic Forum, India’s urban areas produce 120,000 tonnes of faecal sludge on a daily basis. It further states that an estimated two-thirds of the country’s households with toilets aren’t connected to the sewer system in the country. As per the Centre for Science and Environment, 60 per cent of this human waste in India is dumped in open water and on open land – contaminating drinking water and harming other food sources. As India gears up to mark World Toilet Day on November 19, which this year has is with the theme ‘Sustainable Sanitation and Climate Change’, the aim is to raise awareness about faecal sludge management, wastewater management and promote sustainable sanitation practices, NDTV speaks with industry experts to know the current status of India’s sanitation and the road ahead. Currently in India, half of the houses are not connected to proper sewer lines, as a result, even if everyone has a toilet and considering the fact that open defecation is not being practiced, we still have an issue as all the sewer waste is either contaminating our soil, ground resources or river and water beds because the waste is being dumped there and not getting treated. What we need are facilities and investment to help manage all the human waste effectively and it is very crucial. Another important thing is that just like we had separate budget for toilets, we need separate budget or funding for faecal sludge and grey-water management. We are hoping in the next phase of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan or Swachh Bharat 2.0, India will have its focus on these two areas. Sandhya Haribal, Sustainability Consultant from CDD (Consortium For DEWATS Dissemination Society), a not-for-profit organization that innovates, demonstrates and disseminates decentralized nature-based solutions for the conservation, collection, treatment and reuse of water resources and management of sanitation facilities, said that a lot of action has already taken place in terms of sanitation in our country but there is a lot of ground that is still needs to be covered. She added, One thing we need to realise is that sanitation is a continuous process, we cannot achieve few targets and stop talking about it later. Though on paper, India has achieved 100 per cent open defecation, but there are still cases of open defecation. We will need to continue with everything we were doing before and move ahead in our sanitation game. Because of past few years, India has started a conversation on sanitation and now it needs to move ahead with more comprehensive plans and implement safe sanitation across country.

Focus on local emissions to avoid return of bad air

Rain and improved wind speed after Diwali, which cleared off much of the pollution accumulated due to heavy stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana and the cracker bursting in the city, might have given Delhi the much-needed boost going into the winters when the air quality plunges every year. However, experts cautioned that the authorities must focus on local sources to ensure that city does not slip into an air emergency again. VK Soni, head of India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) environment monitoring research centre, said the western disturbance, which started impacting the western Himalayas on Sunday brought widespread and moderate rains to Delhi-NCR, helping Delhi breathe cleaner air. “The number of stubble fires being spotted over Punjab and Haryana are nearly negligible now. With this western disturbance, two major polluting episodes have been taken care of, which means that now local pollution sources and local weather factors will be the contributors for any kind of change in air quality,” Soni said. Analysis of AQI data shows that on Tuesday for the first time since 2017, Delhi experienced a moderate air quality day between November 13 and 17. Delhi’s average air quality index (AQI) on Tuesday was recorded at 171, in the moderate zone, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data. Also, the contribution of stubble fires in the city’s PM 2.5 levels (ultrafine particulate matter with diameter less than 2.5 micrometres) was just 3%. It had peaked to over 40% in October. Experts said that while sharing a common air shed, pollution coming in from neighbouring states contributes to the air quality deterioration in Delhi, but local factors cannot be ignored. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy), Centre for Science and Environment) said that while Delhi has been successful in bending the pollution curve year-after-year, a lot still needs to be done to control pollution, especially in the areas of vehicular emissions and waste management. “There is no denying that work has been done in areas such as controlling industrial emissions and fumes from heavy vehicles crossing the city, etc, but there are still two primary areas where efforts are required. One is reducing vehicular emissions, for which authorities will have to go back to basics and work towards the augmentation of public transport. The situation has become a little tricky now with the limitations due to Covid-19, but this should be a long-term goal for the government,” Roychowdhury said. She added, “Another area where the government needs to concentrate is waste management. In many unauthorised areas there isn’t a proper system to dispose household waste and this waste ultimately ends up being thrown in dhaloas and set ablaze.”

Environmentalist Sunita Narain Wins Edinburgh Medal

Indian Environmentalist and Political Activist Sunita Narain, who is also the director general of New Delhi-based think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), has won this year’s Edinburgh Medal 2020, instituted by the City of Edinburgh Council. The Edinburgh Medal is an award given each year to men and women who have made significant contributions to science and technology and the understanding and well-being of humanity. Conferred by the City of Edinburgh Council in the UK, the Medal citation recognizes Narain’s “strong leadership in championing climate justice for the poor and disenfranchised.” The Medal is being awarded in recognition of the role Narain has played, and continues to play, in formulating policies on climate emergency in India as well as in the global arena. The recognition also underscores strong leadership by her, especially in championing climate justice for the poor and disenfranchised. The Acting British High Commissioner in India, Jan Thompson, will be presenting the Medal at the Indian High Commission office in New Delhi available virtually. Narain has also been named the ‘national climate leader’ from India for 2019 in the first National Climate Leader Awards published in the Global Spotlight Report #22 by Climate Scorecard. On receiving the information, Sunita Narain tweeted “I am really honoured and humbled. Thank you.”

An ecologist’s perspective on COVID-19

“The second man to die of COVID-19 in Spain was Antonio Vieria Montiero Chairman of Spain’s largest bank “Santander”. He died alone in a hospital at the age of 73. After his death his daughter stated that they are a wealthy family and her father passed away alone, suffocating and looking for something free which is Air. His money stayed at home”- Sivaram Swamy. These are revealing words of a knowledgeable Swami. The wealthy man died gasping for a breath of air which mankind has badly polluted. It reminds me of my own protected childhood in an unpolluted India of 1940’s and early 1950’s. As I grew up as an ecologist in 1970’s I realized that things were changing fast. The quality of air and water were deteriorating everywhere in the world including India. We had started to pay a price for development. In the name of development there was rampant destruction of forests, grasslands, mountains and valleys. Roads and railways were being built, concrete jungle had started coming up and black smoke was emanating from chimneys turning our skies dark. The developing world was blindly following the path chosen by the developed west. Human race was now following a self- destructive and suicidal course.There were words of caution coming from the wise and lip services paid by the capitalists and the politicians to rectify the damage that had already been done to the environment. The western world especially the Americans had already initiated damaging the environment. Dr.Barry Commoner was an American Cell Biologist and a college professor. He was a leading ecologist among the founders of modern environmental movements. He published his book, “The Closing Circle”, in 1971 which coincided with the very beginning of Earth Day on April 22, 1970. In his book he warned the Americans that a society which does not follow the basic laws of ecology and nature is courting disaster and turmoil. The world now is in an environmental crisis because the way ecosphere is being used to produce wealth is destructive of the ecosphere itself. The capitalist system of production, which the Chinese Communist Party and many others have blindly copied from the west is self-destructive and the human civilization is following a suicidal course. According to Dr. Barry Commoner “Capitalism is inherently anti-ecological.”. This line of thinking is being followed by most eco-socialists including Bernard Sanders and Naomi Klein who also believe that the capitalism is anti-ecological. India has had her own share of environmental activists notably Shivaram Karanth, Sunder Lal Bahugna, Medha Patkar, Maneka Gandhi, Sumaira Abdulali and Sunita Narain. The now-famous four Laws of Ecology enunciated by Dr. Commoner are as follows. * Everything is connected with everything else. * Everything must go somewhere. * Nature knows the Best. * There is no such thing as a free lunch. The last law is a quote that he has taken from nineteenth century Industrialist and philanthropist John Ruskin. It means there is a cost to everything and whatever appears free will be in a package(like buy one get one free). The COVID-19 pandemic, also called Corona Virus from Wuhan, China was detected in late December 2019 and has affected the human population of the whole world. At the time of writing there were 50.8 million confirmed cases worldwide: 33.1million recovered cases and 1.26 million fatalities. In India there were 8.59 million confirmed cases and 126,621 fatalities. Ironically, COVID-19 pandemic presents us with an incredible example of how Dr. Commoners all Laws of Ecology apply to this now- International health scare. As is well known now Chinese wet markets are according to Chinese scientist Zhenzlog Si (as quoted on NPR)”the predominant food outlets for fresh produce and meat in Chinese cities. There are hundreds of such markets in large Chinese cities and a large variety of plants and animal products are for sale, including live animals kept in notoriously unhealthy spaces. Their excretions and illnesses are part of the overall market arena, which is visited by thousand of shoppers every day. Wet markets are an established and ingrained part of Chinese community and culture, and thus it is no surprise that diseases are now jumping from animals to humans and humans to humans.” This is how exactly the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) appeared in 2002 in China. It spread world wide within a few months although it was quickly contained. It should have served as a notice to mankind that there is possibility that new viral diseasesare jumping from animals to humans. Surprisingly WHO did not take it seriously and the wet markets in China continued to function. According to Dr. Zenzlog Si eating wild animals is considered a symbol of wealth in China because they are rare and expensive. Wild animals are also considered more natural and nutritious compared to farm meat. If anything, Chinese wet markets are the very antithesis of Dr. Commoners laws of ecology. If “Nature knows best” then wild animals should be living wildly and not harvested en mass for consumption. “Everything must go somewhere” equates to the diseases, viruses, bacteria and blood which are produced by animals in captivity and being killed directly next to people working and shopping. “Everything is connected to everything else” sums up this whole truly unfortunate and inhumane situation resulting in illnesses, sufferings, scares, death and destruction of economies all over the world. Although there is no treatment for COVID-19 yet most infected people are developing immunity and getting well thanks to the efforts of corona warriors which includes doctors, paramedics, nurses, ward boys, safai walas, police and para military forces. However, people who were already suffering from some comorbidities are finding it difficult to fight the infection effectively. Progress has been made in managing the disease since it was declared as a pandemic by WHO. The only hope to fight COVID-19 successfully is a vaccine. Efforts all over the world are on and it is hoped that a viable vaccine will be available in the first quarter of the next year. Till then we have not to lower our guard and will have to continue wearing masks, washing hands frequently and maintain social distance strictly. Most importantly as the festival season is arriving, we must abstain from using fire crackers and explosives etc which will further pollute the air. Our mega cities like Delhi are already heavily polluted. Air pollution from an ecologist’s perspective is seriously impeding to fight the pandemic. According to Dr. Maria Neira, WHO Director of Public Health high levels of air pollution result in premature death of seven million people every year. Air pollution increases susceptibility and vulnerability to COVID-19 infections. Exposure to air pollution of the people already suffering from chronic lung diseases, lung cancer, cardio-vascular diseases, kidney and liver diseases increases their chances of getting infected by COVID-19. There are lessons to be learnt from our experiences and the whole world must unite to reduce pollution levels, follow laws of ecology and fight against diseases like COVID-19, SARS, MERS, Bird flu and many other diseases unknown till recently. We have to find ways and means to stop viruses and bacteria from jumping from wild life to humans. COVID-19 is an awful example how easy it is to go off the rails when humans don’t think and act like mother nature.

Delhi: Worst air quality on Deepavali in four years

Despite the blanket ban on firecrackers in the NCR, the air quality in Delhi on Deepavali and a day after the festival was in the ‘severe’ category. The readings were the worst in the last four years, as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data. The prime reasons were Delhiites bursting firecrackers, violating the ban, and Deepavali being in mid-November, which is late in the year (compared to the other three years), when the meteorological conditions are unfavourable. The air quality index (AQI) of Delhi, a day after Deepavali was 435, while it was 297 in 2019, 390 in 2018 and 403 in 2017, as per CPCB’s 4 p.m. bulletin, which is an average of the past 24 hours. The AQI on Deepavali day this year was 414, while it was 312 in 2019, 281 in 2018 and 319 in 2017. The level of PM2.5, a deadly pollutant, in Delhi-NCR was 469.3 ug/m3 at 6 a.m. on Sunday, which is about eight times the safe limit (60ug/m3) as per Indian standards. According to government-run monitoring agency SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research), this year’s Deepavali day had the worst air quality in the past five years. But as per SAFAR, the air quality a day after Deepavali was the best in past five years, which is different from CPCB data. “SAFAR uses data from fewer monitoring stations to arrive at the data compared to the CPCB and they take the value at a different time. This might have led to the difference,” a CPCB official said. Explaining the high pollution this year, Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a research and advocacy organisation in Delhi, said: “Deepavali usually happens earlier in the year and since it was late this year, the winter inversion condition was much severe. The wind speed and the mixing depth was less this year. Due to it, pollutants do not get dispersed easily. Last year, Deepavali was in October-end when conditions are not that bad. Certainly, this is one of the reasons for the high pollution this year.” Due to these reasons, pollution on the days leading to Deepavali this year was also higher than last year. “Effect of crop burning was also higher in Delhi till yesterday [Deepavali day]. With bursting of firecrackers, these two have contributed to the pollution,” Ms. Roychowdhury said. SAFAR also said that there was a peak in levels of PM2.5 during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, probably due to bursting of crackers. “The magnitude of PM2.5 within the severe category is found to be more than predicted which tend to suggest that significant local additional emissions (probably firecracker related) during Saturday night... hourly average concentrations touched more than 1000ug/m3 at midnight,” SAFAR said. The expert said that with data currently available, it is not possible to say whether the effect of firecrackers was more this year. “The restrictions on firecrackers is very difficult to implement because we make that decision only a few days before Deepavali and there is no long-term planning. By that time, people have already manufactured crackers and it is available in the market. If the next Deepavali has to be different, then we should have a strategy and proper roadmap now itself, so that everyone can understand it, prepare better and it will be impactful in controlling pollution,” Ms. Roychowdhury added.

Delhi: Why knee-jerk bans won’t solve problem

NEW DELHI: With people failing to adhere to the ban on firecrackers on Diwali, experts on Sunday said that long-term preparedness was needed for the prohibition to be successful. It was necessary to make the public understand the problem along with strict vigilance for compliance with the ban, they added. Delhi government had imposed the ban on sale, purchase and use of firecrackers on November 5, while National Green Tribunal had imposed a similar ban in the NCR on November 9. Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment, said, “The ban on firecrackers is only possible when there is a long-term approach, along with systematic interventions leading up to Diwali and building sustained strategy for public support. A sudden ban doesn’t work. If a ban needs to be imposed next year, the preparations need to start now.” Karthik Ganesan, fellow, Council on Energy, Environment and Water, said, “The ban was ineffective because it was a knee-jerk reaction perceived by many to be targeting a short-lived source. No concerted action was put in place to address the year-round pollution. It is important to first go after clear sources like transport, waste burning and construction waste before addressing seasonal sources. We must look to wean away those regions dependent on manufacturing crackers to other vocations. This will decrease the availability of crackers in the market.” Prof Sagnik Dey, coordinator at Centre of Excellence for Research on Clean Air, IITDelhi, said, “It is difficult to get people to change their habits or culture overnight. Firecracker ban is one such issue. Largescale interaction and awareness among the public, along with regulatory bans, are required. Unless we take people on board, there will always be rule breakers.” “The problem cannot be resolved overnight, but in a few years with persistent effort. However, we must measure the incremental progress. For example, we should estimate whether the sale or bursting of firecrackers decreased compared with the past year. This will allow us to understand what strategy went wrong so that it can be rectified the next year,” added Dey. Aarti Khosla, director, Climate Trends, said that the ban was flouted due to lawmakers not taking timely action, apart from the very poor understanding of Delhiites who didn’t take air quality as a serious killer. Chandra Bhushan, CEO, International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology, said residents’ welfare associations and schools took the lead against crackers

Edinburgh Medal winner says climate change 'makes poor more marginalised'

A WARNING that human existence is in jeopardy because of climate change will be sounded on Wednesday by this year’s winner of the prestigious Edinburgh Medal. Indian environmentalist Sunita Narain will call for transformational action when she is presented with the gong in a streamed ceremony. Speaking ahead of the event Narain, who appeared alongside Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio in his climate change documentary, said she was “honoured and humbled” to be awarded the medal. “The Edinburgh Medal for 2020 is, in my view, a reminder of our tumultuous times, hit by Covid-19 and climate change and the need to make transformational changes in our world,” said Narain, who was listed as one of the top 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2016. “The urgency of the climate change threat cannot be denied. Climate change is real; it is happening and it is making the poor in our world even more marginalised and even more insecure. In an increasingly unequitable and climate-risked world, poor people find that they cannot cope anymore. We do not have the luxury of time anymore. My generation has squandered the privilege away.” She said the presentation of the medal on Wednesday signified the need for “bold action – inconvenient as it may be”. “We need to take transformational action,” said Narain, Director General of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and editor of the fortnightly magazine, Down To Earth. “We need to do this in ways in which we will build the resilience of the poor and the economies of all.” In her address on Wednesday, Narain will explain how the climate crisis affects the poorest areas of the globe, how the volatile politics of immigration deepen the divide between the marginalised and the rich and how the latter get distracted by trade wars, Brexit, economic crises and many other issues, not recognising it is the climate crisis that has to have priority. “I want to discuss what must be done in our world to make it less insecure, less angry and less carbon risked,” she said. “Climate change, like air pollution, is a great equaliser. Our existence is at stake. Nothing less.” In receiving the medal, Delhi-based Narain joins a recipients’ list of notable men and women of science, including Professor Jane Goodall and Sir David Attenborough, who are judged to have made a significant contribution to the understanding and wellbeing of humanity. Wednesday’s ceremony will be hosted by the Lord Provost and Lord Lieutenant of the City of Edinburgh, Frank Ross, and Jan Thompson, Acting British High Commissioner to India, will present Sunita Narain with the Edinburgh Medal. Dr Deborah O’Neil, founder, CEO and Scientific Officer of NovaBiotics, an Aberdeen-based leading clinical-stage biotechnology company developing first-in-class medicines for medically unmet diseases, will deliver the oration ahead of the medal address. Amanda Tyndall, Creative and Festival Director at Edinburgh Science Festival said: “That we share one world, with all of its problems and opportunities, has never been more apparent. “Pandemic aside, perhaps nothing is more important than that we act with urgency, on a global level, to address the climate crisis and to do so in a way that is sustainable for all,” said Tyndall. “It is for her invaluable work as both an environmentalist and activist that Sunita Narain is the very worthy recipient of this year’s Edinburgh Medal.” Audiences will be able to tune into this free event on Edinburgh Science’s YouTube channel at 2.30pm on Wednesday, November 18. Edinburgh Science Festival 2020 was cancelled due to the global pandemic of Covid-19 but updates on Edinburgh Science projects can be found at www.sciencefestival.co.uk

Water status | Bengaluru is faring well, despite the hiccups

Water experts time and again make it clear that human negligence is the main reason for water crisis in most cities. Almost 30 per cent of the groundwater in the country has slipped into the over-exploited categories they say, even as such trends will only witness more water bodies disappearing, mainly in urban sprawls. Add to this the rapid and disorganised real estate growth, the alarming concretisation of roads and public areas, administrative apathy of officials and irresponsible attitude of citizens, and we are into a larger mess. With such a background and unbridled real estate growth, what is the water status in Bengaluru? The Composite Water Management Index report released by Niti Aayog in 2018 that says 21 major cities, including Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, and Hyderabad, will soon reach the zero ground water level. Ask water conservation expert S. Vishwanath how, in this background, we can look at sustenance when the ecosystem in the city is disturbed, and he says, “According to the Composite Water Management Index ,Bengaluru should have run out of groundwater this year. The Groundwater Authority reports a rise in groundwater tables. It is clear that groundwater recharge methods are working to a large extent. More recharge needs to be done.” A Legislature Committee constituted to study the encroachment of lakes in and around Bengaluru sometime ago said approximately out of 60,000 acres of lake area, nearly 10,800 acres have been encroached upon. The last five decades saw Bengaluru lose more than 60 per cent of its water bodies, and the last two decades have seen the water table sink to 70 metres below ground, i.e., a seven-fold fall, according to Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). While the United Nations and Niti Ayog report that 40 per cent of India’s population will not have access to clean drinking water by 2030, the crisis gets precipitated with continued large-scale migration from villages as sectors such as agriculture, handicrafts, weaving and fishery are drying up. Will the city need better physical infrastructure for correcting distribution losses? Mr. Vishwanath says distribution losses have been substantially reduced by the BWSSB. “With district metering (to individually monitor the water supplied and consumed) and thanks to L&T contracted project, things have worked well. It needs to be reduced further. This year’s copious rain and the systems are in place for a better scene.” And how much water does Bengaluru require for its 1.2 crore population with the trend of lakes drying up and increased concretisation? “At 100 litres per capita per day (LPCD) Bengaluru needs 1,200 million litres per day. We are already getting 1450 MLD from the Cauvery plus 600 MLD from groundwater. Distribution is the key,” says Mr. Vishwanath who is also a civil engineer and urban planner by qualification. “Addressing groundwater is enough if all people harvest rainwater and recharge. One has to go along the demand management,” he adds. There should be no overall scarcity in summer, says Mr. Vishwanath who has had hands-on experience working with HUDCO before he dedicated himself to solving water issues facing urban and rural communities. “The dams that are supplying water to Bengaluru are full. Groundwater is at good levels. Pockets of distribution inefficiency will see some shortages, that’s all.” Touching on problems of gated communities in the past where RWH has had its own set of ineffective results due to negligence, he says it’s high time all apartments and gated communities understand RWH in its entirety. “Recharged water needs to be reused and the groundwater level kept down. Such basic lack of water literacy skills with communities is a problem. In no way will the water collected underground affect the foundations, and one need not go to that extent of worry.” And finally touching on better watershed management that people often refer to in the social media, Mr. Vishwanath says “Urban watershed management is a complex subject. The lakes which are being rejuvenated need to have a connection with the catchment area. By making sure that the catchment area has no uncollected sewage, and by designing for rainwater harvesting systems in the watershed much improvement can occur.”