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Current Affairs

'PRELIMS ****'

Environment

For Civil Services Examination

SCORE

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INDEX

A) Climate

a) Carbon Neutrality Concept

b) Climate Change Indicators: WMO report

c) IPCC 5th Assessment Report

d) Paris Agreement

e) Marrakech Climate Change Conference

f) International Solar Alliance (ISA)

g) Kyoto Protocol (2nd Commitment 2013-20)

h) Kigali Agreement

i) Climate Change Performance Index

j) Miscellaneous concepts related to Climate Change B) Water Conservation

a) Gangetic River Dolphins

b) News related to Ganga River

c) River linking Project and Impact on Environment d) Algal Bloom Issue

e) Illegal Salt Mining and its Impact

f) India's Wetland Report, 2016

g) Deep Sea Mining

h) Mass Coral Bleaching

i) News in Brief

C) Renewable Energy

a) Status of Renewable Energy

b) News related to Solar Energy

c) Global Wind Power Installed Capacity Index

d) News related to Renewable Fuel

D) Forestry and Wildlife

a) Report of Parliamentary Committee on Forest Fires b) Urban Forestry Scheme

c) Draft Notification to Regulate Pet Shops

d) Ban on Import of Animal Skin

e) Animals in News

f) Biodiversity Regions in News

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E) Air Pollution

a) Report on Air Pollution

b) Bharat Stage Emission Standards

c) What is Polluters Pay Model?

d) Household Air Pollution

e) Open Waste Burning and its Impact

f) Graded Response Action Plan on Pollution

g) UN Sets Limits on Global Airline Emissions

h) Miscellaneous Concepts

F) Waste Management

a) Biodegradable Plastics

b) Green Train Corridors

c) Oil Spill

d) Solid Waste Management-Buffer Zone

G) Organization/Conferences

a) International Agro-biodiversity Congress

b) Bird Life International

c) National Biodiversity Congress

d) IUCN World Conservation Congress

e) National Green Tribunal

H) Miscellaneous Environmental News

a) National Mission on Bio-economy

b) Ban on Release of GM Crop

c) HIMANSH

d) Energy Efficiency Implementation Readiness Index e) Awards

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Carbon Neutrality Concept

Context Assam government has initiated a project to make river island Majuli, the country’s first ever Carbon Neutral District by 2020. Further Indira Gandhi International Airport (Delhi) and Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (Hyderabad) has achieved Carbon Neutral status. Carbon Neutrality Carbon neutrality, or having a net zero carbon footprint, refers to achieving net zero carbon emissions by balancing a measured amount of carbon released with an equivalent amount sequestered or offset, or buying enough carbon credits to make up the difference.

Carbon neutrality can be achieved by enhancing energy efficiency of the buildings as well as purchasing the remaining energy need from carbon neutral sources. The approach should not be restricted to onsite generation only.

Carbon Neutral District Carbon Neutral District refers to an area, where buildings do not cause net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. During a certain period, the district may be a net GHG emitter, but during another period it can be a net supplier of carbon neutral energy, thus being net carbon neutral e.g. within a timeframe of one year.

A district can be supplied with bio-energy based district heating, delivered by an energy company. Electricity can be purchased from a renewable energy based power plant outside the area, or the owners or users of the buildings can even invest in renewable power generation facilities in another geographical area.

City planning, construction and operation as well as maintenance of buildings and districts are key areas of improvement, when reducing GHG emissions.

Carbon Neutral Airport Airport Carbon Accreditation recognizes and accredits the efforts of airports to manage and reduce their carbon emissions. There are four levels of certification: ‘Mapping’, ‘Reduction’, ‘Optimization’ & ‘Neutrality’. Carbon neutrality is when the net carbon dioxide emissions over an entire year is zero (i.e. the airport absorbs the same amount of carbon dioxide as it produces). Achieving carbon neutrality for an airport is in almost all cases impossible without external help. For this reason, airports, among many other industries, look to carbon offsetting as the final part of the solution. Carbon offsetting is providing funds or resources to other projects that reduce carbon dioxide so as to make up for the emissions that one is not able to eliminate. For example, an airport could pay for a wind energy facility that replaces a coal-fired power-plant.

Climate Change Indicators: WMO Report

Context The World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin level of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the atmosphere has reached a record high.

Highlights • Globally averaged concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached the symbolic and significant milestone of 400 parts per million CLIMATE

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for the first time in 2015 and surged again to new records in 2016 on the back of the very powerful El Niño event.

• CO2 levels had previously reached the 400 ppm barrier for certain months of the year and in certain locations but never before on a global average basis for the entire year.

• The growth spurt in CO2 was fuelled by the El Niño event, which started in 2015 and had a strong impact well into 2016.

• This triggered droughts in tropical regions and reduced the capacity of

“sinks” like forests, vegetation and the oceans to absorb CO2. These sinks currently absorb about half of CO2 emissions but there is a risk that they may become saturated, which would increase the fraction of emitted carbon dioxide which stays in the atmosphere, according to the Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.

• Between 1990 and 2015 there was a 37% increase in radiative forcing

– the warming effect on our climate – because of long-lived greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide (N2O) from industrial, agricultural and domestic activities.

About Green House Gases Carbon dioxide (CO2) accounted for about 65% of radiative forcing by long-lived greenhouse gases. Human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels has altered the natural balance and in 2015, globally averaged levels were 144% of pre-industrial levels. In 2015, global annual average concentration of CO2 concentrations reached 400.0 ppm. The increase of CO2 from 2014 to 2015 was larger than the previous year and the average over the previous 10 years.

Methane (CH4) is the second most important long-lived greenhouse gas and contributes to about 17% of radiative forcing. Approximately 40% of methane is emitted into the atmosphere by natural sources (e.g., wetlands and termites), and about 60% comes from human activities like cattle breeding, rice agriculture, fossil fuel exploitation, landfills and biomass burning.

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Nitrous oxide (N2O) is emitted into the atmosphere from both natural (about 60%) and anthropogenic sources (approximately 40%), including oceans, soil, biomass burning, fertilizer use, and various industrial processes. Ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), together with minor halogenated gases, contribute about 12% to radiative forcing by long-lived greenhouse gases. While CFCs and most halons are decreasing, some hydro- chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydro-fluorocarbons (HFCs), which are also potent greenhouse gases, are increasing at relatively rapid rates, although they are still low in abundance.

WMO is an intergovernmental organization and specialized agency of the UN for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences. It is a member of the United Nations Development Group.It had originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was founded in 1873.

IPCC 5th

Assessment Report

About IPCC The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the international body for assessing the science related to climate change. The IPCC was set up in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to provide policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation. IPCC assessments provide a scientific basis for governments at all levels to develop climaterelated policies, and they underlie negotiations at the UN Climate Conference – the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC).

IPCC Report • The IPCC in its recent report— Fifth Assessment Report (AR5)— published in 2014 has observed that there has been an increasing trend in the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) since the advent of the industrial revolution, with about half of the anthropogenic CO2 emissions during this period occurring in the last forty years.

• According to the report the period 1983- 2012 is likely to have been the warmest thirty year period of the last 1400 years.

· CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes have contributed a major portion of total GHG emissions during the period 1970 - 2010.

• Till 2011, the world has emitted 1,900 Gt of CO2, thus already consuming around two-thirds of this budget. This means that out of the budget of 2,900 Gt, only 1,000 Gt remains to be used between now and 2100.

• According to the report the change in the climate system is likely to have adverse impact on the economy, livelihoods, cropping pattern, and food security.

Future Projections in the Report a) Further warming will continue if emissions of greenhouse gases continue.

b) The global surface temperature increase by the end of the 21st century is likely to exceed 1.5 C relative to the 1850 to 1900 period for most scenarios, and is likely to exceed 2.0 C for many scenarios c) The global water cycle will change, with increases in disparity between wet and dry regions, as well as wet and dry seasons, with some regional exceptions.

d) The oceans will continue to warm, with heat extending to the deep ocean, affecting circulation patterns.

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e) Decreases are very likely in Arctic sea ice cover, Northern Hemisphere spring snow cover, and global glacier volume

f) Global mean sea level will continue to rise at a rate very likely to exceed the rate of the past four decades

g) Changes in climate will cause an increase in the rate of CO2 production. Increased uptake by the oceans will increase the acidification of the oceans.

h) Future surface temperatures will be largely determined by cumulative CO2, which means climate change will continue even if CO2 emissions are stopped.

Other Terms

WMO: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 191 Member States and Territories. WMO provides a framework for international cooperation in the development of meteorology and operational hydrology and their practical application. WMO promotes cooperation in the establishment of networks for making meteorological, climatological, hydrological and geophysical observations, as well as the exchange, processing and standardization of related data, and assists technology transfer, training and research. It also fosters collaboration between the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services of its Members and furthers the application of meteorology to public weather services, agriculture, aviation, shipping, the environment, water issues and the mitigation of the impacts of natural disasters.

UNEP: The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. UNEP work encompasses: Assessing global, regional and national environmental conditions and trends; Developing international and national environmental instruments and Strengthening institutions for the wise management of the environment. Paris Agreement

Context • The 21st Conference of Parties (COP 21) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) successfully concluded in Paris after intense negotiations by the Parties followed by the adoption of the Paris Agreement on post-2020 actions on climate change. This universal agreement will succeed the Kyoto Protocol.

• Unlike the Kyoto Protocol, it provides a framework for all countries to take action against climate change. Placing emphasis on concepts like climate justice and sustainable lifestyles, the Paris Agreement for the first time brings together all nations for a common cause under the UNFCCC.

Focus area • One of the main focus of the agreement is to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 C above pre- industrial level and on driving efforts to limit it even further to 1.5 C.

• It covers all the crucial areas identified as essential for a comprehensive and balanced agreement, including mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, finance, technology development and transfer, capacity building and transparency of action and support.

Salient features a) The Paris Agreement acknowledges the development imperatives of developing countries by recognizing their right to development and their efforts to harmonize it with the environment, while protecting the interests of the most vulnerable.

b) The Agreement seeks to enhance the ‘implementation of the Convention’ while reflecting the principles of equity and CBDR-RC, in the light of different national circumstances.

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c) Countries are required to communicate to the UNFCCC climate action plans known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs) every five years. Each Party’s successive NDC will represent a progression beyond the Party’s then current NDC thereby steadily increasing global effort and ambition in the long term.

d) The Agreement is not mitigation-centric and includes other important elements such as adaptation, loss and damage, finance, technology development and transfer, capacity building and transparency of action and support.

e) Climate action will also be taken forward in the period before 2020. Developed countries are urged to scale up their level of financial support with a complete road map towards achieving the goal of jointly providing US$ 100 billion by 2020. At the same time, a new collective quantified goal based on US$ 100 billion floor will be set before 2025. f) The Agreement mandates that developed countries provide financial resources to developing countries. Other Parties may also contribute, but on a purely voluntary basis.

g) Developed countries are urged to take the lead in mobilization of climate finance, while noting the significant role of public funds in the mobilization of finance which should represent a progression beyond their previous effort.

h) The Agreement includes a robust transparency framework for both action and support.

i) Starting in 2023, a global stock take covering all elements will take place every five years to assess the collective progress towards achieving the purpose of the Paris Agreement and its long term goals. j) The Paris Agreement establishes a compliance mechanism, overseen by a committee of experts that operates in a non-punitive way, and is facilitative in nature.

A marked departure from the past is the Agreement’s bottom-up approach, allowing each nation to submit its own national plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, rather than trying to repeat a top-down approach advocated by the Kyoto Protocol, giving each country an emission reduction target. Marrakech Climate Change Conference

Context The Marrakech meeting was the 22nd Session of the Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), known as COP 22. It also served as the first meeting of the governing body of the Paris Agreement, known by the acronym CMA.

The conference incorporated the twenty-second Conference of the Parties (COP22), the twelfth meeting of the parties for the Kyoto Protocol (CMP12), and the first meeting of the parties for the Paris Agreement (CMA1). The purpose of the conference was to discuss and implement plans about combating climate change and to “[demonstrate] to the world that the implementation of the Paris Agreement is underway”. Participants work together to come up with global solutions to climate change.

Salient outcomes • International Solar Alliance: India went to Marrakesh with a draft Framework Agreement on International Solar Alliance, which 26 countries signed. The Agreement will take the shape of an international treaty once 15 countries that have signed up, ratify it. www.iasscore.in

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·• Adaptation of African Agriculture (AAA): The triple-An initiative seeks to climate-proof agriculture in Africa by promoting sustainable soil management, better water management, and risk mitigation strategies. 27 African countries are already on the platform.

• Mission Innovation: There will be greater research collaborations between these countries, which together account for almost 80% of all investments into clean energy research. The mission has identified 7 innovation challenges, including smart grids, carbon capture and sequestration, building of storage cells for solar energy, clean energy materials and sustainable biofuels. Science Based Targets initiative got a boost in Marrakech when over 200 companies worldwide committed to emissions reductions targets.

• Climate Vulnerable Forum: Member countries stressed that the target should be to keep global temperature rise to within 1.5 (not 2) degrees Celsius from pre-industrial times. They vowed to update their climate action plans before 2020 to bring in greater ambition, and prepare a long-term low-carbon development strategy for 2050 with a 1.5-degree target in mind. They also said they would strive to reach 100% renewable energy production between 2030 and 2050.

• Sub-national jurisdictions target: 165 sub-national jurisdictions, calling themselves the Under2s, announced that they would reduce their emissions by 80-95 per cent below 1990 levels and limit their per capita emissions to under 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2050. These governments range across states like California, New York and Telangana and cities like Manchester and Sao Paulo, and contribute to over a third of the global economy.

• 2050 Pathway Platform: This is an effort to get countries, cities and businesses to accept long-term targets for climate action. Countries have submitted 5-year or 10-year action plans as part of their commitments under the Paris deal.

• Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage, the framework for a five-year rolling work plan was approved. It will serve as the basis for developing corresponding activities, starting with the first meeting in 2017. Since adaptation has limitations, this is a global mechanism to provide support to countries that sustain ongoing and future harm from climate change. The aim will be to address issues such as extreme events, non-economic losses, displacement, migration, slow-moving climatic changes and risk management.

Future meetings • Negotiations will resume at the annual Subsidiary Bodies meeting, set for May 8-18, 2017, in Bonn, Germany.

• Fiji will assume the COP presidency at COP 23, to be held November 6-17, 2017, in Bonn.

• Poland will host COP 24, set for November 5-16, 2018. International Solar Alliance (ISA)

Context • The International Solar Alliance was inaugurated by the Indian Prime Minister and French President in National Institute of Solar Energy

(NISE) in Gwalpahari, Gurgaon along with the interim Secretariat of the ISA. It has been set up with UN as strategic partner.

• It is the India’s first international and inter-governmental organization of 121 Countries to have headquarters in India with United Nations as Strategic Partner.

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Objective • It creates a collaborative platform for increased deployment of solar energy technologies to enhance energy security and sustainable development.

• It improves access to energy and opportunities for better livelihoods in rural and remote areas and to increase the standard of living.

• It will work with partner countries to formulate projects and programmes to accelerate development and deployment of existing clean solar energy technologies, the potential for which largely remaining untapped.

• It develops innovative financial mechanisms to reduce cost of capital and builds a common knowledge e-Portal.

• It also facilitates capacity building for promotion and absorption of solar technologies and Research and Development among member countries.

• It will encourage multilateral bodies like IRENA, REEEP, IEA, REN21, UN bodies, bilateral organizations, corporates, industry, and other stakeholders to contribute towards the goal of increasing utilization of solar energy in the member countries.

Focus Areas • To achieve the objectives, ISA will have five key focus areas:- a) It will encourage member countries to promote investment in solar technologies/applications to promote income and welfare of the poor and make global environment more climate friendly; b) Formulate projects and programmes to promote solar applications together and with partnership of member countries and with cooperation from international organizations to ensure solar light for energy deprived households by the year 2022;

c) Develop innovative Financial Mechanisms through long tenure financial resources from bilateral, multilateral agencies and other sources to reduce cost of capital;

d) Build a knowledge platform, including a 24 7 e-portal for sharing of policy development experiences and best practices in member countries; and

e) To promote partnerships among R&D centres of member countries for application oriented research & development and delivering technologies to people as well as capacity building through training & educational programmes and exchange of officials/ entrepreneurs/sector experts/ students/interns/ apprentices, user groups etc.

• These focus areas will cater to not just grid connected solar power

(Solar parks, Solar thermal projects, Rooftop solar projects, Canal top projects, Solar on water bodies, Farmers and unemployed youths as generators) but also off-grid and decentralised applications (Village electrification and mini-grids, Solar lanterns, Mobile chargers, Solar powered telecom towers, Milk chilling centres, Potters wheels, Solar spinner for weavers, street lights, Solar pumps, Solar heating/cooling, etc.). These activities will contribute significantly in employment generation in a decentralized manner at the local levels, and also in spurring economic activities.

• Hence with this initiative solar energy will be utilized for economic development.

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Kyoto Protocol (2nd

Commitment 2013-20)

Context The Government on 24 Jan, 2017 gave its nod to ratify the second commitment period(2013-20) of the Kyoto Protocol that commits countries to contain the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). About Kyoto Protocol The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), which commits its Parties by setting internationally binding emission reduction targets. 1. Recognizing that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere as a result of more than 150 years of industrial activity, the Protocol places a heavier burden on developed nations under the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities.”

2. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005.

3. The detailed rules for the implementation of the Protocol were adopted at COP 7 in Marrakesh, Morocco, in 2001, and are referred to as the

“Marrakesh Accords.”

4. First Commitment Period - Its first commitment period started in 2008 and ended in 2012.

5. Second Commitment Period - The second commitment period began on 1 January 2013 and will end in 2020.

6. The Kyoto Protocol legally binds developed countries to emission reduction targets and there are currently 192 parties to the Protocol. Second Commitment Period In Doha, Qatar, on 8 December 2012, the “Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol” was adopted. The amendment includes:

1. New commitments for Annex I Parties to the Kyoto Protocol who agreed to take on commitments in a second commitment period from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2020.

2. A revised list of greenhouse gases (GHG) to be reported on by Parties 3. Amendments to several articles of the Kyoto Protocol which specifically referenced issues pertaining to the first commitment period and which needed to be updated for the second commitment period. 4. During the first commitment period, 37 industrialized countries and the European Community committed to reduce GHG emissions to an average of five(5%) percent against 1990 levels.

5. During the second commitment period, Parties committed to reduce GHG emissions by at least 18 percent below 1990 levels in the eight- year period from 2013 to 2020.

Status of the Doha Amendment 1. Only 75 countries have so far ratified the Doha amendments. It requires

(2nd Commitment period) ratification from a total of 144 of the 192 parties of the Kyoto Protocol to become operational.

2. More than four years after they were finalized, the Doha amendments have still not become operational because majority of the countries, including most developed countries, have not yet ratified it. Kigali Agreement

Context Countries came to an agreement in Kigali, Rwanda to phase out a family of potent greenhouse gases by the late 2040s and move to prevent a potential www.iasscore.in

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0.5 degree Celsius rise in global temperature by the end of the century. In all, 197 countries, including India, China and the United States, agreed to a timeline to reduce the use of HFCs by roughly 85 per cent of their baselines by 2045.

About Hydroflourocarbons Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are a family of greenhouse gases that are largely used in refrigerants in home and car air-conditioners. They are currently the world’s fastest growing greenhouse gases, with emissions increasing by up to 10 per cent each year. They are one of the most powerful, trapping thousands of times more heat in the Earth’s atmosphere than carbon dioxide

(CO2).

Once released into the atmosphere, HFCs decompose relatively quickly; for example, the atmospheric lifetime for HFC-134a is about 14 years.

(CFCs, by comparison, can remain in the atmosphere for 100 years.) The breakdown of HFCs occurs in the troposphere (the lowest portion of the atmosphere), where they are split by reactions with hydroxyl radicals(’”OH). Within the troposphere, the carbon-fluorine bonds in HFCs are highly effective at trapping solar radiation (specifically, infrared radiation) and redirecting that radiant energy toward Earth’s surface. This so-called positive radiative forcing effect contributes to global warming. Significance of Kigali • It amends the 1987 Montreal Protocol. Agreement

• Montreal Protocol initially conceived only to plug gases that were destroying the ozone layer, but now the latest agreement includes gases responsible for global warming.

• This agreement along with the recently ratified Paris agreement pushes countries to cap global warming to “well below 2 degrees Celsius” by 2100.

• The richest countries, including the U.S. and those in the European Union, will freeze the production and consumption of HFCs by 2018, reducing them to about 15 per cent of 2012 levels by 2036.

• China, Brazil and all of Africa, will freeze HFC use by 2024, cutting it to 20 percent of 2021 levels by 2045.

• India is part of a group that will only be freezing HFC use by 2028 and reducing it to about 15 per cent of 2025 levels by 2047.

• Paris agreement that will come into force by 2020 doesn’t legally bind countries to their promises to cut emissions but the currently amended Montreal Protocol will bind countries to their HFC reduction schedules from 2019.

• There are also penalties for non-compliance as well as clear directives that developed countries provide enhanced funding support estimated at billions of dollars globally.

• Grants for research and development of affordable alternatives to hydrofluorocarbons will be the most immediate priority. With the recent agreement, India gets to participate in a positive global climate action, while gaining time to allow its heating, ventilation and air- conditioning sectors to grow and refrigerant manufacturers to find a comfortable route to transition and cost of alternatives to fall. Analysts also concluded that Kigali agreement is fair to the realities of India’s future economic development.

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Climate Change Performance Index

Context India has been ranked 20th in the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2017, which underlined that countries like India are making “great efforts” in the fields of renewables and energy efficiency. Organization The publication was issued by Germanwatch and Climate Action Network Europe.

About Index The Climate Change Performance Index is an instrument supposed to enhance transparency in international climate politics. Its aim is to encourage political and social pressure on those countries which have, up to now, failed to take ambitious actions on climate protection as well as to highlight countries with best-practice climate policies. On the basis of standardised criteria, the index evaluates and compares the climate protection performance of 58

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