UN Climate Ambition Summit 2020

On December 12, 2020, the UN, United Kingdom, and France co-hosted the Climate Ambition Summit 2020, in partnership with Chile and Italy. This was a monumental step on the road to the UK-hosted COP26 next November in Glasgow. It was a virtual event held to mark the completion of five years since the signing of the Paris Agreement.

The objective was to bring leaders together who are ready to make new commitments to tackle climate change and deliver on the Paris Agreement. Countries were expected to set out new and ambitious commitments under the three pillars of the Paris Agreement: mitigation, adaptation and finance commitments. There was to be no space for general statements.

Address by the UN Secretary-General

In his opening remarks the UN Secretary-General António Guterres made the following important points:

• Five years after Paris, we are still not going in the right direction. Paris promised to limit temperature rise to as close to 1.5 degrees as possible. But the commitments made in Paris were far from enough to get there. And even those commitments are not being met.
• Carbon dioxide levels are at record highs. Today, we are 1.2 degrees hotter than before the industrial revolution. If we don’t change course, we may be headed for a catastrophic temperature rise of more than 3 degrees this century.

I call on all leaders worldwide to declare a State of Climate Emergency in their countries until carbon neutrality is reached. Some 38 countries have already done so, recognizing the urgency and the stakes. I urge all others to follow.

• We are not doomed to fail. The recovery from COVID-19 presents an opportunity to set our economies and societies on a green path in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• The trillions of dollars needed for COVID recovery is money that we are borrowing from future generations. We cannot use these resources to lock in policies that burden future generations with a mountain of debt on a broken planet.

The central objective of the UN for 2021 is to build a truly Global Coalition for Carbon Neutrality by the middle of the century. To make it a reality, we need meaningful cuts now to reduce global emissions by 45% by 2030 compared with 2010 levels. This must be fully reflected in the revised and strengthened Nationally Determined Contributions that the Paris signatories are obliged to submit well before COP26 next year in Glasgow.

It is time to:

• put a price on carbon;
• phase out fossil fuel finance and end fossil fuel subsidies;
• stop building new coal power plants;
• shift the tax burden from income to carbon, from taxpayers to polluters; 
• make climate-related financial risk disclosures mandatory; and
• integrate the goal of carbon neutrality into all economic and fiscal policies and decisions.

This is a moment of truth.  But it is also a moment of hope.

• More and more countries have committed to net zero emissions.
• The business community is getting on board the sustainability train.
• We see cities striving to become greener and more livable.
• We see young people taking on responsibility – and demanding it of others.
• Mindsets are shifting. Climate action is the barometer of leadership in today’s world. It is what people and planet need at this time. 

We have the blueprint: the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change. But we all need to pass a credibility test: let’s make the promise of a net zero world a reality now. On the path to COP26, I urge everyone to show ambition, stop the assault on our planet -- and do what we need to guarantee the future of our children and grandchildren.

Address by the Indian Prime Minister

Prime Minister Modi too addressed the Summit. At the Paris Meeting in 2015, India had announced its Nationally Determined Contribution of reducing emissions intensity of GDP by 33-35% by 2030 along with its renewable energy and forest cover targets. At the Climate Ambition Summit, however, Mr. Modi refrained from announcing enhanced ambitions or targets. 

The important points made by Mr. Modi were:

• India was not only on track to fulfilling its climate commitments but would go further.
• India had reduced its emissions intensity by 21% since 2005. 
• Installed solar capacity had grown to 36 GW in 2020. 
• The country’s renewable energy capacity was the fourth largest in the world and would reach 175 GW before 2022.
• We have an even more ambitious target, 450GW of energy capacity by 2030. 
• We have also succeeded in increasing forest cover.
• India had pioneered the International Solar Alliance as well as the Coalition for Disaster Relief.

Mr. Modi added, “In 2047, India will celebrate 100 years as an independent modern nation. Centennial India will not only meet its own targets but also exceed expectations.”

14 Key Nations Commit to Protect Oceans

The world’s most far-reaching agreement to protect and sustain ocean health was announced in early December 2020 by the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (Ocean Panel) set up by 14 countries: Australia, Canada, Chile, Ghana, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Namibia, Norway, Portugal, and the island nations of Fiji, Jamaica, and Palau.

The Ocean Panel is a unique initiative by the 14 world leaders who are building momentum for a sustainable ocean economy in which effective protection, sustainable production and equitable prosperity go hand in hand.

By enhancing humanity’s relationship with the ocean, bridging ocean health and wealth, working with diverse stakeholders and harnessing the latest knowledge, the Ocean Panel aims to facilitate a better, more resilient future for people and the planet. 

Established in September 2018, the Ocean Panel has been working with government, business, financial institutions, the science community and civil society to catalyze and scale bold, pragmatic solutions across policy, governance, technology and finance to ultimately develop an action agenda for transitioning to a sustainable ocean economy. The Ocean Panel is the only ocean policy body made up of serving world leaders with the authority needed to trigger, amplify and accelerate action worldwide for ocean priorities. 

The Ocean Panel’s approach is both ambitious and practical. It recognizes that collaborative partnerships are essential and began its work by seeking input from a diverse array of stakeholders to develop a widely accepted understanding of what a sustainable ocean economy should look like, including an Expert Group and Advisory Network. The Ocean Panel Secretariat, based at World Resources Institute (WRI), assists with analytical work and science, communications and stakeholder engagement. 

Major countries such as France, Russia, China, and the United States were not invited to join the Panel. Since negotiation with such countries is usually difficult, the flounders decided to get a group where high politics wouldn’t get in the way and they could be focused on the task. The idea was to gather a coalition of the willing—a like-minded group of countries with the ocean deeply embedded in their culture and history—to conduct discussions that would be underpinned by science. Consequently, the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy includes nations large and small, rich and poor, spread across all ocean basins. All are economically dependent, to varying degrees, on the seas.

Combined, they represent 40% of the world’s coastlines, 30% of the offshore exclusive economic zones, 20% of the world’s fisheries, and 20% of the world’s shipping fleet. The 14 countries are now inviting other nations to join the effort.

The effort was backed up by a team of 253 scientists that conducted new ocean research and published 16 authoritative papers on topics ranging from an assessment of stemming the flow of plastic waste to combating climate change.

The members of the Panel also were willing to turn conventional thinking on its ear. Instead of considering the ocean as merely a victim of climate change—which it undoubtedly is, as it is both warming and acidifying—the leaders say the seas should be harnessed to become part of the global solution. The key to that is to take an all-in approach—sustainably manage 100% of the ocean, not just the protected areas. Properly managed, the panel says, the ocean economy, including fishing, can expand. Additionally, actions such as restoration of mangroves, kelp beds, and seagrasses that absorb carbon could help offset global emissions by as much as a fifth, and help hold global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius.

The Agreement

Overall, the 14 leaders agreed to sustainably manage 100% of the oceans under their national jurisdictions by 2025—an area of ocean roughly the size of Africa. Additionally, they vowed to set aside 30% of the seas as marine protected areas by 2030, in keeping with the UN campaign known as “30 by 30.” 

Both of those large commitments will help end overfishing and illegal fishing, rebuild declining fish stocks, halt the flow of plastic waste into the seas, and clean up “dead zones” created by runoff from farm waste.

The solutions offered by the Panel could generate 40 times more renewable energy, through development of offshore wind energy production and wave and tidal power, and lift millions of people out of poverty. The Panel’s economists forecast that every $1 invested in a sustainable ocean would return $5 in economic, social, and environmental benefits.

The solutions involve a range of 74 actions, some already in progress. New technology, for example, enables Ghana to track foreign fishing vessels lurking off its coast and crack down on illegal fishing. While the Panel’s call for investment in sewage and waste management infrastructure to curb the flow of plastic waste into the seas is prohibitively expensive and unlikely to happen on a large scale in the coming decades, many developing nations have banned various single-use plastic products and others are deploying catchment systems on major rivers in Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia to capture plastic waste before it is disgorged into the seas.

Plan backed by science

The effort was backed up by a team of 253 scientists that conducted new ocean research and published 16 authoritative papers on topics ranging from an assessment of stemming the flow of plastic waste to combating climate change.

 

IPBES Report on Biodiversity and Pandemics

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is an independent intergovernmental body established by States to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development. It was established in Panama City, on 21 April 2012 by 94 Governments.  It is not a United Nations body.  However, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) provides secretariat services to IPBES. 

In late October 2020, IPBES released a report on “Biodiversity and Pandemics” that emerged from a Workshop held to review the scientific evidence on the origin, emergence and impact of COVID-19 and other pandemics, as well as on options for controlling and preventing pandemics.

The workshop brought together 22 experts from all regions of the world, to discuss:

1) how pandemics emerge from the microbial diversity found in nature; 

2) the role of land use change and climate change in driving pandemics; 

3) the role of wildlife trade in driving pandemics; 

4) learning from nature to better control pandemics; and

5) preventing pandemics based on a “one health” approach.

The key messages of the report were:

1. Pandemics emerge from the microbial diversity found in nature.

• The majority (70%) of emerging diseases (e.g. Ebola, Zika, Nipah encephalitis), and almost all known pandemics (e.g. influenza, HIV/AIDS, COVID-19), are zoonoses – i.e. are caused by microbes of animal origin. These microbes ‘spill over’ due to contact among wildlife, livestock, and people.
• An estimated 1.7 million currently undiscovered viruses are thought to exist in mammal and avian hosts. Of these, 540,000-850,000 could have the ability to infect humans.

• The most important reservoirs of pathogens with pandemic potential are mammals (in particular bats, rodents, primates) and some birds (in particular water birds), as well as livestock (e.g. pigs, camels, poultry).

2. Human ecological disruption, and unsustainable consumption drive pandemic risk.

3. Reducing anthropogenic global environmental change may reduce pandemic risk

4. Land-use change, agricultural expansion, and urbanization cause more than 30% of emerging disease events

5. The trade and consumption of wildlife is a globally important risk for future pandemics

6. Current pandemic preparedness strategies aim to control diseases after they emerge. These strategies often rely on, and can affect, biodiversity.

7. Escape from the Pandemic Era requires policy options that foster transformative change towards preventing pandemics.

The current pandemic preparedness strategy involves responding to a pandemic after it has emerged. Yet, the research reviewed in this report identifies substantial knowledge that provides a pathway to predicting and preventing pandemics. This includes work that predicts geographic origins of future pandemics, identifies key reservoir hosts and the pathogens most likely to emerge, and demonstrates how environmental and socioeconomic changes correlate with disease emergence. Pilot projects, often at large scale, have demonstrated that this knowledge can be used to effectively target viral discovery, surveillance and outbreak investigation. The major impact on public health of COVID-19, of HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Zika, influenza, SARS and of many other emerging diseases underlines the critical need for policies that will promote pandemic prevention, based on this growing knowledge.

To achieve this, the following policy options have been identified:

• Launching a high-level intergovernmental council on pandemic prevention, that would provide for cooperation among governments and work at the crossroads of the three Rio conventions
• Policies to reduce the role of land-use change in pandemic emergence.
• Policies to reduce pandemic emergence related to the wildlife trade:
• Closing critical knowledge gaps

Conclusion

This report is published at a critical juncture in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, at which its long-term societal and economic impacts are being recognized. People in all sectors of society are beginning to look for solutions that move beyond business-as-usual To do this will require transformative change, using the evidence from science to re-assess the relationship

between people and nature, and to reduce global environmental changes that are caused by unsustainable consumption, and which drive biodiversity loss, climate change and pandemic emergence. The policy options laid out in this report represent such a change. They lay out a movement towards preventing pandemics that is transformative: our current approach is to try to detect new diseases early, contain them, and then develop vaccines and therapeutics to control them. Clearly, in the face of COVID-19, with more than one million human deaths, and huge economic impacts, this reactive approach is inadequate.

This report embraces the need for transformative change and uses scientific evidence to identify policy options to prevent pandemics. Many of these may seem costly, difficult to execute, and their impact uncertain. However, economic analysis suggests their costs will be trivial in comparison to the trillions of dollars of impact due to COVID-19, let alone the rising tide of future diseases. The scientific evidence reviewed here, and the societal and economic impacts of COVID-19 provide a powerful incentive to adopt these policy options and create the transformative change needed to prevent future pandemics. This will provide benefits to health, biodiversity conservation, our economies, and sustainable development. Above all, it will provide a vision of our future in which we have escaped the current ‘Pandemic Era’.

Global Biodiversity Outlook 5

On 15^th September 2020, the secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) released the Global Biodiversity Outlook 5.

Key Messages of the Report

• The report outlines eight major transitions needed to slow, then halt nature’s accelerating decline.
• Final report card on Aichi Biodiversity Targets, set in 2010: 6 of world’s 20 goals “partially achieved” by 2020 deadline.
• Towards a landmark new global post-2020 biodiversity framework: GBO-5 synthesizes scientific basis for urgent action.
• Bright spots include: extinctions prevented by conservation, more land and oceans protected, fish stocks bounce back in well-managed fisheries.

Eight Transitions

The Report calls for a shift away from “business as usual” across a range of human activities. It outlines eight transitions that recognize the value of biodiversity, the need to restore the ecosystems on which all human activity depends, and the urgency of reducing the negative impacts of such activity:

1. The land and forests transition: conserving intact ecosystems, restoring eco-systems, combatting and reversing degradation, and employing landscape level spatial planning to avoid, reduce and mitigate land-use change.
2. The sustainable agriculture transition: redesigning agricultural systems through agroecological and other innovative approaches to enhance productivity while minimizing negative impacts on biodiversity.
3. The sustainable food systems transition: enabling sustainable and healthy diets with a greater emphasis on a diversity of foods, mostly plant-based, and more moderate consumption of meat and fish, as well as dramatic cuts in the waste involved in food supply and consumption.
4. The sustainable fisheries and oceans transition: protecting and restoring marine and coastal ecosystems, rebuilding fisheries and managing aquaculture and other uses of the oceans to ensure sustainability, and to enhance food security and livelihoods.
5. The cities and infrastructure transition: deploying “green infrastructure” and making space for nature within built landscapes to improve the health and quality of life for citizens and to reduce the environmental footprint of cities and infrastructure.
6. The sustainable freshwater transition: an integrated approach guaranteeing the water flows required by nature and people, improving water quality, protecting critical habitats, controlling invasive species and safeguarding connectivity to allow the recovery of fresh water systems from mountains to coasts.
7. The sustainable climate action transition: employing nature-based solutions, alongside a rapid phase-out of fossil fuel use, to reduce the scale and impacts of climate change, while providing positive benefits for biodiversity and other sustainable development goals.
8. The biodiversity-inclusive OneHealth transition: managing ecosystems, including agricultural and urban ecosystems, as well as the use of wildlife, through an integrated approach, to promote healthy ecosystems and healthy people.

2020 WWF Living Planet Report

 The global conservation NGO WWF released the 2020 Living Planet Report (LPI) in September 2020. The LPI tracks almost 21,000 populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians around the world. The thousands of individual population trends are brought together to calculate the average percentage change in population sizes using an index. The percentage doesn’t represent the number of individual animals lost; instead, it reflects the average change in animal population sizes.

The data is gathered from almost 4000 sources, using increasingly sophisticated technology such as audio devices to monitor insect sounds; drones and satellite tagging to track populations on the move; and even blockchain technology to track the impact of harvesting on wild populations.

Summary of the 2020 Report

The global Living Planet Index continues to decline. It shows an average 68% decrease in population sizes of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish between 1970 and 2016. A 94% decline in the LPI for the tropical subregions of the Americas is the largest fall observed in any part of the world. 

Why does this matter? It matters because biodiversity is fundamental to human life on Earth, and the evidence is unequivocal – it is being destroyed by us at a rate unprecedented in history. Since the industrial revolution, human activities have increasingly destroyed and degraded forests, grasslands, wetlands and other important ecosystems, threatening human well-being. Seventy-five per cent of the Earth’s ice-free land surface has already been significantly altered, most of the oceans are polluted, and more than 85% of the area of wetlands has been lost. 

Species population trends are important because they are a measure of overall ecosystem health. Measuring biodiversity, the variety of all living things, is complex, and there is no single measure that can capture all of the changes in this web of life. Nevertheless, the vast majority of indicators show net declines over recent decades. 

That’s because in the last 50 years our world has been transformed by an explosion in global trade, consumption and human population growth, as well as an enormous move towards urbanisation. Until 1970, humanity’s Ecological Footprint was smaller than the Earth’s rate of regeneration. To feed and fuel our 21st century lifestyles, we are overusing the Earth’s biocapacity by at least 56%. 

These underlying trends are driving the unrelenting destruction of nature, with only a handful of countries retaining most of the last remaining wilderness areas. Our natural world is transforming more rapidly than ever before, and climate change is further accelerating the change.

Tigers, pandas and polar bears are well-known species in the story of biodiversity decline, but what of the millions of tiny, or as-yet-undiscovered, species that are also under threat? What is happening to the life in our soils, or in plant and insect diversity? All of these provide fundamental support for life on Earth and are showing signs of stress. 

Biodiversity loss threatens food security and urgent action is needed to address the loss of the biodiversity that feeds the world. Where and how we produce food is one of the biggest human-caused threats to nature and our ecosystems, making the transformation of our global food system more important than ever. 

The transformation of our economic systems is also critical. Our economies are embedded within nature, and it is only by recognising and acting on this reality that we can protect and enhance biodiversity and improve our economic prosperity. 

We can estimate the value of ‘natural capital’ – the planet’s stock of renewable and non-renewable natural resources, like plants, soils and minerals – alongside values of produced and human capital – for example, roads and skills – which together form a measure of a country’s true wealth. Data from the United Nations Environment Programme shows that, per person, our global stock of natural capital has declined by nearly 40% since the early 1990s, while produced capital has doubled and human capital has increased by 13%. 

But too few of our economic and financial decision-makers know how to interpret what we are hearing, or, even worse, they choose not to tune in at all. A key problem is the mismatch between the artificial ‘economic grammar’ which drives public and private policy and ‘nature’s syntax’ which determines how the real world operates. 

Together this evidence shows that biodiversity conservation is more than an ethical commitment for humanity: it is a non-negotiable and strategic investment to preserve our health, wealth and security.

UPSC IAS Prelims 2020: Questions on Environment and Ecology

 Question 1. With reference to India's Desert National Park, which of the following statements are correct?

1. It is spread over two districts.

2. There is no human habitation inside the Park

3. It is one of the natural habitats of Great Indian Bustard.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Question 2. Consider the following statements :

1. 36% of India's districts are classified as "overexploited" or "critical" by the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA).

2. CGWA was formed under the Environment (Protection) Act.

3. India has the largest area under groundwater irrigation in the world.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 2 only

(d) 1 and 3 only

Question 3. Among the following Tiger Reserves, which one has the largest area under "Critical Tiger Habitat"?

(a) Corbett

(b) Ranthambore

(c) Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam

(d) Sunderbans

Question 4.  If a particular plant species is placed under Schedule VI of The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, what is the implication? 

(a) A license is required to cultivate that plant. 

(b) Such a plant cannot be cultivated under any circumstances. 

(c) It is a Genetically Modified crop plant. 

(d) Such a plant is invasive and harmful to the ecosystem

Question 5. Which one of the following statements best describes the term 'Social Cost of Carbon'?

(a) It is a measure, in the monetary value of the long-term damage done by a tonne of CO2 emissions in a given year.

(b) the requirement of fossil fuels for a country to provide goods and services to its citizens, based on the burning of those fuels. 

(c) efforts put in by a climate refugee to adapt to live in a new place. 

(d) contribution of an individual person to the carbon footprint on the planet Earth.

Question 6. With reference to Indian elephants, consider the following statements : 

1. The leader of an elephant group is female. 

2. The maximum gestation period can be 22 months. 

3. An elephant can normally go on calving till the age of 40 years only. 

4. Among the States in India, the highest elephant population is in Kerala. 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 and 4 only

(c) 3 only

(d) 1, 3 and 4 only

Question 7. Which of the following Protected Areas are located in Cauvery basin? 

1. Nagarhole National Park 

2. Papikonda National Park 

3. Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve 

4. Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary 

Select the correct answer using the code given below: 

(a) 1 and 2 only 

(b) 3 and 4 only 

(c) 1,3 and 4 only 

(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Question 8. With reference to India's biodiversity, Ceylon frogmouth, Coppersmith Barbet, Gray-chinned minivet and White-throated redstart are

(a) Birds

(b) Primates 

(c) Reptiles

(d) Amphibians

Question 9. Which one of the following protected areas is well-known for the conservation of a sub-species of the Indian swamp deer (Barasingha) that thrives well on hard ground and is exclusively graminivorous ? 

(a) Kanha National Park 

(b) Manas National Park 

(c) Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary 

(d) Tal Chhapar Wildlife Sanctuary

Question 10. Which of the following are the most likely places to find the musk deer in its natural habitat? 

1. Askot Wildlife Sanctuary 

2. Gangotri National Park 

3. Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary 

4. Manas National Park Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 3 and 4 only 

(d) 1 and 4 only

Question 11. Which of the following are the reasons/factors for exposure to benzene pollution ? 

1. Automobile exhaust 

2. Tobacco smoke 

3. Wood burning 

4. Using varnished wooden furniture 

5. Using products made of polyurethane 

Select the correct answer using the code given below : 

(a) 1, 2 and 3 only 

(b) 2 and 4 only 

(c) 1, 3 and 4 only 

(d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

Question 12. What is/are the advantage/advantages of zero tillage in agriculture ? 

1. Sowing of wheat is possible without burning the residue of previous crop. 

2. Without the need for nursery of rice saplings, direct planting of paddy seeds in the wet soil is possible. 

3. Carbon sequestration in the soil is possible. 

Select the correct answer using the code given below: 

(a) 1 and 2 only 

(b) 2 and 3 only 

(c) 3 only 

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Question 13. According to India's National Policy on Biofuels, which of the following can be used as raw materials for the production of biofuels ?

1. Cassava

2. Damaged wheat grains

3. Groundnut seeds

4. Horse gram

5. Rotten potatoes 

6. Sugar beet

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1, 2, 5 and 6 only

(b) 1, 3, 4 and 6 only

(c) 2, 3, 4 and 5 only

(d) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6

Question 14. In India, why are some nuclear reactors kept under "IAEA Safeguards" while others are not? 

(a) Some use uranium and others use thorium 

(b) Some use imported uranium and others use domestic supplies 

(c) Some are operated by foreign enterprises and others are operated by domestic enterprises 

(d) Some are State-owned and others are privately-owned

Question 15. In the context of India, which of the following is/are considered to be practice(s) of eco-friendly agriculture ? 

1. Crop diversification 

2. Legume intensification 

3. Tensiometer use 

4. Vertical farming 

Select the correct answer using the code given below: 

(a) 1, 2 and 3 only 

(b) 3 only 

(c) 4 only 

(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Question 16. In rural road construction, the use of which of the following is preferred for ensuring environmental sustainability or to reduce carbon footprint ?

1. Copper slag 

2. Cold mix asphalt technology

3. Geotextiles

4. Hot mix asphalt technology  

5. Portland cement

Select the correct answer using the code given below :

(a) 1, 2 and 3 only

(b) 2, 3 and 4 only

(c) 4 and 5 only

(d) 1 and 5 only

Question 17. Consider the following statements :

1. Coal ash contains arsenic, lead and mercury. 

2. Coal-fired power plants release sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen into the

environment. 

3. High ash content is observed in Indian coal. 

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? 

(a) 1 only 

(b) 2 and 3 only 

(c) 3 only 

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Question 18. What is the use of biochar in farming ?

1. Biochar can be used as a part of the growing medium in vertical farming.

2. When biochar is a part of the growing medium, it promotes the growth of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms.

3. When biochar is a part of the growing medium, it enables the growing medium to retain water for longer time.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answers:

Q 1 2 3 4 5 6

A c b d a a a

Q 7 8 9 10 11 12

A c a a a d d

Q 13 14 15 16 17 18

A a b d a d d

Standards notified for fuel cell vehicles

 On 23rd September, 2020, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified the Standards for Safety Evaluation of vehicles being propelled by Hydrogen Fuel cells through an amendment to Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989.

This would facilitate the promotion of Hydrogen Fuel Cell based vehicles in the country which are energy efficient and environment friendly.

The prospective manufacturer and suppliers of such vehicles have the standards available for the testing of such vehicles.  These standards are also at par with the available international standards.

500 whales stranded, 380 dead, in Tasmania

On 21^st September 2020, a large number of pilot whales were found stranded in shallow waters off the west coast of Tasmania, which is an Australian island. About 200 of the mammals had washed up on a sandbar near a boat ramp, while 30 others were found several hundred metres away. Another 30 were found further inland along Ocean Beach. Another 200 stranded whales were spotted from a helicopter two days later, less than 10 km to the south.

A team of about 40 trained rescuers began to "re-float" a small number of whales using equipment to push the animals off a sandbar into deeper waters. About 50 whales were rescued, but 380 whales died.

About 30 whales in the original stranding were moved from the sandbars to open ocean, but several of them got stranded again. The latest mass stranding was the biggest in Australia in terms of numbers stranded and died.

Why the whales ran aground is a mystery. The pod may have been drawn into the coast to feed or by the misadventure of one or two whales, which led to the rest of the pod following. They may have taken a wrong turn, chased their prey into shallow waters, or blindly followed a dying matriarch who intended to beach herself. They have a very strong social system, and these animals are closely bonded. That’s why so many were stranded together.

Rescuing them doesn’t always work because they want to return back to the pod. They might hear the acoustics for the vocalizations of the sounds that the others are making, or they’re just disoriented (and in this case extremely stressed), and just probably so fatigued that they don’t know where they are.

Mass strandings off Tasmania are not uncommon, but the recent beaching is the worst in the state’s history and the first involving more than 50 pilot whales since 2009. In 1935, 294 whales beached themselves in the state.

Results of Swachh Survekshan 2020

 On October 2, 2014, the government converted the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, an existing sanitation programme launched in 2012, into Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). The aim of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was to eradicate open defecation and provide 100% access to toilets by 2019. To achieve this stiff goal in a short span of five years, the SBM was introduced as two sub-missions – Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) and Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban).

 

In an effort to encourage cities to improve the level of cleanliness, sanitation and hygiene and at the same time generate large scale citizen participation in Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), the Ministry of Urban Development commissioned an extensive survey called Swachh Survekshan in 2016.

 

Swachh Survekshan is an annual ranking exercise taken up by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), to assess urban areas of country on their levels of cleanliness and active implementation of Swachhta Mission initiatives in a timely and innovative manner.

 

The objective of survey is to encourage large scale citizen participation and create awareness amongst all sections of society about the importance of working together towards making towns and cities a better place to live in. In addition, survey also seeks to promote a spirit of healthy competition between towns & cities; to improve the quality of their services to people, and create cleaner cities and towns.

 

MoHUA started an annual ranking of cities in the year 2016. First Swachh Survekshan conducted that year covered 73 cities and, in subsequent years, a number of cities were added to expand its coverage. The second survey held in 2017 included 434 ULBs, third survey held in 2018 covered 4203 ULBs and fourth edition of survey held in 2019 covered 4237 ULBs.

 

Swachh Survekshan 2020

Swachh Survekshan 2020 was the world's largest cleanliness survey that covered 4242 cities (including 62 Cantonment Boards). The highlights of the 2020 Survey were:

·      Indore was declared the cleanest city in India for the fourth consecutive time.

• Surat in Gujarat and Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra were ranked second and third respectively among the cities with more than a million population.
• Maharashtra’s Karad, Saswad and Lonavala bagged the first three positions for cities having a population less than one lakh.
• Among the cities with a population between one and 10 lakh, Chhattisgarh’s Ambikapur was declared the cleanest, followed by Mysore in Karnataka.
• Chhattisgarh was ranked the cleanest state in the category of states having more than 100 Urban Local Bodies (ULB). It was followed by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Chhattisgarh is the first and only state where every city achieved Open Defecation Free (ODF)++ status.

 

Among the 47 cities with a population exceeding 10 lakhs, the top ten were:

1	Indore
2	Surat
3	Navi Mumbai
4	Vijayawada
5	Ahmedabad
6	Rajkot
7	Bhopal
8	Chandigarh
9	GVMC Visakhapatnam
10	Vadodara

 

Among the 47 cities with a population exceeding 10 lakhs, the  bottom seven were:

41	Meerut
42	Madurai
43	North Delhi (N-DMC)
44	Kota
45	Chennai
46	East Delhi (EDMC)
47	Patna

 

 

Climate report predicts hotter, rainier days in India

 In July 2020, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, released India’s first ever national forecast on the impact of global warming on the subcontinent in this century.

Some of the highlights of the report:

·      Summer heat waves over India are projected to be three to four times higher by the end of the 21st century.

·      Annual rainfall is very likely to increase, along with more severe cyclones and, paradoxically, more droughts.

·      Between 1986 and 2015, the hottest day and coldest night have warmed 0.63°C and 0.4°C, respectively. By the end of the 21st century, these temperatures are projected to rise by approximately 4.7°C and 5.5°C, respectively.

·      The frequencies of warm days and warm nights are projected to increase by 55% and 70%, respectively, relative to the reference period of 1976-2005.

·      The projected rapid changes in India’s climate will place increasing stress on the country’s natural ecosystems, agricultural output, and fresh water resources

 

These projections, based on a climate forecasting model developed at the IITM, Pune, will be part of the next report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), expected to be ready in 2022.

 

Roxy Mathew Koll, scientist at IITM and associated with IPCC scientific report, said in a statement that an observed change of 0.7°C in average temperatures over India had already registered a spike in extreme weather events over the region.

 

New rules to regulate exotic animal trade

In June 2020, the wildlife division of MoEFF introduced new rules to regulate the import and export of ‘exotic wildlife species’. Until now, the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce, oversaw such trade. Under the new rules, owners and possessors of such animals and birds must also register their stock with the Chief Wildlife Warden of their States.

 

Officials of the Wildlife Department will prepare an inventory of such species and have the right to inspect the facilities of such traders to check if these plants and animals were being housed in salubrious conditions. In addition,  stockists will have six months to declare their stock.

 

The ‘exotic live species’ will mean animals named under Appendices I, II and III of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Fauna and Flora. It will not include species from the Schedules of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.

 

CITES is part of a multilateral treaty that includes plant, animals and

birds under varying categories of threat of extinction and which will be jointly protected by members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. India is a signatory to CITES. According to the 2016 UN World Wildlife Crime Report 2016, criminals illegally trade products derived from over 7000 species of wild animals and plants across the world.

 

The FATF Report (described in the previous blog post) described wildlife trafficking as a “global threat”, which also has links with other organized crimes such as modern slavery, drug trafficking and arms trade. The illegal trade is estimated to generate revenues of up to $23 billion a year.

 

India continues to battle wildlife crime, with reports suggesting that many times such species are available for trade on online market places. The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau is the organization that is tasked with monitoring illegal trade.

 

(Source: This is based on a report in The Hindu dated June 29, 2020.)

 

FATF Report on Money Laundering and the Illegal Wildlife Trade

In June 2020, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released its first global report on the illegal wildlife trade. FATF was established by the G-7 Summit that was held in Paris in 1989 in response to mounting concern over money laundering. Recognizing the threat posed to the banking system and to financial institutions, the G-7 Heads of State or Government and President of the European Commission convened the Task Force from the G-7 member States, the European Commission and eight other countries. 

 

The highlights of the FATF Report were:

·      The illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a major transnational organized crime, which generates billions of criminal proceeds each year. IWT fuels corruption, threatens biodiversity, and can have a significant negative impact on public health and the economy.

·      To move, hide and launder their proceeds, wildlife traffickers exploit weaknesses in the financial and non-financial sectors, enabling further wildlife crimes and damaging financial integrity. Despite this, jurisdictions rarely investigate the financial trail left by this crime.

·      Jurisdictions should view the proceeds generated by IWT as a global threat, rather than as a problem only for those jurisdictions where wildlife is illegally harvested, transited, or sold. In particular, criminals are frequently misusing the legitimate wildlife trade, as well as other import-export type businesses, as a front to move and hide illegal proceeds from wildlife crimes. They also rely regularly on corruption, complex fraud and tax evasion.

·      There is a growing role for online marketplaces and mobile and social media-based payments to facilitate movement of proceeds from wildlife crimes. These trends highlight the increasing importance of a coordinated response from public authorities, the private sector and civil society to identify and disrupt financial flows from IWT.

·      Despite IWT’s global impact, public and private sectors in many jurisdictions have to date not prioritized combatting the financial flows connected to IWT in line with risk. Jurisdictions often do not have the knowledge, legislative basis, and resources required to assess and combat the threat posed by these funds. This limited focus on the financial side of IWT has largely prevented jurisdictions from being able to identify and sanction IWT networks.

·      To address the challenges, jurisdictions should consider implementing the following good practices that were observed during the study:

o   Prioritize combatting the financial flows associated with IWT proportionate to risk.

o   Provide all relevant agencies with the necessary mandate and tools to conduct successful financial investigations into IWT.

o   Improve co-ordination between authorities responsible for combatting wildlife crimes and those responsible for conducting financial investigations to ensure authorities more regularly exchange information and follow the financial trail.

o   Cooperate with other jurisdictions, relevant international organizations and the private sector to combat IWT.

·      There is a need to further improve the FATF Global Network’s collective understanding of the risk relating to IWT, including work on the role of non-financial entities in combatting IWT financial flows, greater understanding of the differing geographic supply chains, and good practices to address unique challenges in managing assets recovered during wildlife crime investigations.

·      It is essential that jurisdictions maintain their focus on IWT financial flows to achieve meaningful progress in addressing the challenges identified in the Report.

Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020

UN FAO has released the main findings of the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 (FRA 2020). This assessment examines the status of, and trends in, more than 60 forest-related variables in 236 countries and territories in the period 1990–2020. The information provided by FRA presents a comprehensive view of the world’s forests and the ways in which the resource is changing. Such a clear global picture supports the development of sound policies, practices and investments affecting forests and forestry.

 

The data in FRA 2020 have been obtained through a transparent, traceable, reporting process and a well- established network of officially nominated national correspondents. The information provided by FRA presents a comprehensive picture of the world's forests and the ways the resource is changing. Such a clear global picture supports the development of sound policies, practices and investments affecting forests and forestry.

 

Main Findings

Forest Cover:

·      Forests cover nearly 1/3 of land globally, that is, 4.06 billion ha. In other words, there is around 0.52 ha of forest for every person on the planet.

·      More than half (54%) of the world’s forests are in only five countries:–Russian Federation (20%), Brazil (12%), Canada (9%), the US (8%) and China (5%).

 

The percentage distribution by climatic domain is as follows:

·      Tropical 45%

·      Boreal 27%

·      Temperate 16%

·      Subtropical 11%

 

Naturally regenerating forest and planted forest

Naturally regenerating forest is a forest predominantly composed of trees established through natural regeneration. Planted forest is a forest predominantly composed of trees established through planting and or/deliberate seeding.

 

93% of the forest area worldwide is composed of naturally regenerating forests and 7% is planted. The area of naturally regenerating forests has decreased since 1990 (at a declining rate of loss), but the area of planted forests has increased by 123 million ha.

 

Plantation forests cover about 131 million ha, which is 3% of the global forest area and 45% of the total area of planted forests. The highest share of plantation forest is in South America with 99% of the total planted-forest area and 2% of the total forest area. The lowest share of plantation forest is in Europe, where it represents 6% of the planted forest estate and 0.4% of the total forest area. Globally, 44% of plantation forests are composed mainly of introduced species.

 

Primary forests cover about one billion hectares

The world still has at least 1.11 billion ha of primary forest. Combined, three countries – Brazil, Canada and the Russian Federation – host more than half (61%) of the world’s primary forest. The area of primary forest has decreased by 81 million ha since 1990, but the rate of loss more than halved in 2010–2020 compared with the previous decade.

 

Losses and gains: Where is forest being lost and where is it being gained?

·       Africa had the largest annual rate of net forest loss in 2010–2020, at 3.9 million ha.

·       The rate of net forest loss has increased in Africa in each of the three decades since 1990.

·       Annually South America had a net forest loss of 2.6 million ha in 2010–2020.

·       The rate of net forest loss has declined substantially in South America, to about half the rate in 2010–2020 compared with 2000–2010.

·       Asia had the highest net gain of forest area in 2010–2020.

·       Oceania experienced net losses of forest area in the decades 1990–2000 and 2000–2010.

 

Deforestation

·      Deforestation continues, but at a lower rate.

·      An estimated 420 million ha of forest has been lost worldwide through deforestation since 1990, but the rate of forest loss has declined substantially. In the most recent five-year period (2015–2020), the annual rate of deforestation was estimated at 10 million ha, down from 12 million ha in 2010–2015.

 

What risks do forests face?

·      Forests face many disturbances that can adversely affect their health and vitality and reduce their ability to provide a full range of goods and ecosystem services.

·      About 98 million ha of forest were affected by fire in 2015; this was mainly in the tropical domain, where fire burned about 4% of the total forest area in that year. More than two-thirds of the total forest area affected was in Africa and South America.

·      Insects, diseases and severe weather events damaged about 40 million ha of forests in 2015, mainly in the temperate and boreal domains.

 

Protecting and managing our forests

·      More than 700 million ha of forest are in legally established protected areas

·      There is an estimated 726 million ha of forest in protected areas worldwide. The area of forest in protected areas globally has increased by 191 million ha since 1990.

·      More than 2 billion ha of forest has management plans. The area and proportion of forests with long-term management plans that are documented and periodically revised is an important indicator of the intention to sustainably manage forest resources.

·      Most of the forests in Europe have management plans; on the other hand, management plans exist for less than 25% of forests in Africa and less than 20% in South America.

·      The area of forest under management plans is increasing in all regions – globally, it has increased by 233 million ha since 2000, reaching 2.05 billion ha in 2020.

 

Ownership of forests (as of 2015, the latest year for which global data are available)

·      The world’s forests are mostly publicly owned.

·      73% of the world’s forests is under public ownership, 22% is privately owned, and the ownership of the remainder is categorized as either ‘unknown’ or ‘other’ (mainly comprising forests where ownership is disputed or in transition).

·      Public ownership is predominant in all world regions and most subregions. Of the regions, Oceania, North and Central America and South America have the highest proportions of private forests.

·      Globally, the share of publicly owned forests has decreased since 1990 and the area of forest under private ownership has increased.

 

The area of forest designated primarily for soil and water protection is increasing

·      An estimated 399 million ha of forest is designated primarily for the protection of soil and water, an increase of 119 million ha since 1990. The rate of increase in the area of forest allocated for this purpose has grown over the entire period but especially in the last ten years.

·      About 10% of the world’s forests is allocated for biodiversity conservation.

·      Globally, 424 million ha of forest is designated primarily for biodiversity conservation. In total, 111 million ha has been so designated since 1990, of which the largest part was allocated between 2000 and 2010.

·      The rate of increase in the area of forest designated primarily for biodiversity conservation has slowed in the last ten years.

 

Forest used for production and social services

·      About 30% of all forests is used primarily for production.

·      Globally, about 1.15 billion ha of forest is managed primarily for the production of wood and non-wood forest products. In addition, 749 million ha is designated for multiple use, which often includes production.

·      Worldwide, the area of forest designated primarily for production has remained relatively stable but the area of multiple-use forest has decreased by about 71 million ha since 1990.

·      An area of 186 million ha of forest worldwide is allocated for social services such as recreation, tourism, education research and the conservation of cultural and spiritual sites. The area designated for this forest use has increased at a rate of 186,000 ha per year since 2010.