The ecological footprint

The ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems. It is a standardized measure of demand for natural capital that may be contrasted with the planet's ecological capacity to regenerate.^[1] It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area necessary to supply the resources a human population consumes, and to assimilate associated waste. Using this assessment, it is possible to estimate how much of the Earth (or how many planet Earths) it would take to support humanity if everybody followed a given lifestyle. For 2007, humanity's total ecological footprint was estimated at 1.5 planet Earths; that is, humanity uses ecological services 1.5 times as quickly as Earth can renew them.^[2] Every year, this number is recalculated to incorporate the three-year lag due to the time it takes for the UN to collect and publish statistics and relevant research.

WWF:The Living Planet Report 2012 finds:

• Biodiversity continues to be lost: Populations of species continue to decline, with tropical and freshwater species experiencing the biggest declines. Learn more

• The U.S. has the fifth largest ecological footprint in terms of the amount of resources each person annually consumes. We rank only behind Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and Denmark in the global rankings of the Ecological Footprint. Learn more

• Resource scarcity is already being experienced across the globe, as 2.7 billion people around the world already are forced to cope with water scarcity during at least one month a year.

WWF’s Solutions

Despite these challenges, we can create a prosperous future that provides food, water and energy for the 9 or 10 billion people who will be sharing the planet in 2050.

WWF urges governments at Rio+20 to start valuing nature in order to ensure food, water, and energy security. With the impact of our ecological footprint in mind, we must protect our natural resources while providing socio-economic benefits and allowing for sustainable development.

The challenge of sustaining life on an increasingly crowded planet is growing more complicated every day. How do we feed a growing global population and still maintain a living planet? WWF works to provide recommendations, that when taken together, could enable farms to feed 10 billion people and keep Earth habitable.

The Living Planet Report is the world's leading, science-based analysis on the health of our only planet and the impact of human activity.

Its key finding? Humanity's demands exceed our planet's capacity to sustain us. That is, we ask for more than what we have. The latest edition of the Living Planet Report was released in May 2012. You can read all about its findings in the links on the left, or click on the link and download the full report. 

In a world first, LPR 2012 was launched from space by astronaut André Kuipers in the International Space Station, in collaboration with the European Space Agency

vulture restaurants

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/article3497590.ece

Solar Cities

Our country is passing through a phase of immense and rapid development and hence consequentially the rising demand for energy. Urbanization and industrial growth are only adding to the growing demand. But at the same time, there is also a thrust for using “clean and green” energy so as to reduce the green house gas emissions. Keeping in mind the need of the hour, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has initiated the programme of ‘Development of Solar Cities’. 

 

The programme has been designed to support/encourage Urban Local Bodies to prepare a Road Map to guide their cities in becoming ‘renewable energy cities’ or ‘Solar Cities’. The Solar City programme aims to consolidate all the efforts of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and address the energy problem of the urban areas in a holistic manner. The various initiatives of the Ministry which include promoting solar water heating systems in homes, hotels, hostels, hospitals and industry; deploying Solar Photo Voltaic(SPV) systems/devices in urban areas for demonstration and awareness creation; establishing ‘Akshya Urja Shops’; designing Solar Buildings and promoting urban and industrial waste/ biomass to energy projects would be streamlined under the programme. In a Solar City all types of renewable energy based projects like solar, wind, biomass, small hydro, waste to energy etc. will be installed in an energy efficient manner as well as commensurate with the requirements of the city. The Solar City aims at minimum 10% reduction in projected demand of conventional energy and increasing energy production through renewable energy. The basic aim is to motivate the local Governments for encouraging and adopting renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency measures. The Solar City would be identified on the premise of population; potential of renewable energy resources and energy conservation; initiatives taken by local governments as well as the general public and industry in the same arena. The cities may have population between 0.50 lakh to 50 lakh, however, relaxation is considered for special category States including North-Eastern States and hilly States, Islands and Union Territories. A total of 60 cities/towns were identified to be supported for development as Solar Cities during the 11th Plan period. At least one city in each State to a maximum of five cities in a State may be supported by the Ministry as Solar City.

Aims of Solar City Programme
• To enable and empower Urban Local Governments to address energy challenges at City - level.
• To provide a framework and support to prepare a Master Plan including assessment of current energy situation, future demand and action plans.
• To build capacity in the Urban Local Bodies and create awareness among all sections of civil society.
• To involve various stakeholders in the planning process.
• To oversee the implementation of sustainable energy options through public - private partnerships.

Financial Assistance
Under the programme, financial assistance up to Rs. 50.00 Lakhs per city/town is provided depending upon
population and initiatives decided to be taken by the City Council/Administration as per the following details:
• Up to Rs 10.00 lakhs for preparation of a Master Plan within a year along with few implementable Detailed Project Reports .
• Up to Rs. 10.00 lakhs for setting up of Solar City Cell and it’s functioning for a period of three years.
• Up to Rs. 10.00 lakhs for oversight of implementation during three years.
• Up to Rs. 20 lakhs for capacity building and other promotional activities to be utilized in three years.
 

 

UN aided biodiversity project launched in Himachal

A national project to access genetic resources, their economic values and share their benefits was launched in Himachal Pradesh.

The Rs 46 crore United Nations Environment Programme-Global Environment Facility (UNEP-GEF) project on strengthening the implementation of the biological diversity act and rules with focus on its access and benefit sharing provisions would be taken up jointly with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The hill state is among the five chosen by the government to implement the project on a pilot basis. The other states are Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Sikkim.

Environmental treaties

M-STrIPES

• It's Monitoring System for Tigers’-Intensive Protection and Ecological Status.
•  It’s a software monitoring system launched by the Indian Government in 2010 in some tiger reserves. 
• Aims
  • Assist in Effective Patrolling & Protection
  • Evaluate Status & Trends of Carnivores & Ungulates at Regular Intervals
  • Monitor Habitat Change
  • Evaluate Human Pressures
  • Generate Reports to Provide Quantitative Information for Management Effectiveness Assessment and Decision Making
• It uses GPS to collect data and GIS (Geographical Information System) to analyse collected information

Seabuckthorn

• Seabuckthorn is a medicinal plant found in the Himalayan region. Our country holds tremendous potential in respect of Seabuckthorn fruit production and diverse varieties which have health-promoting properties and can play a crucial role in preventing soil erosion and help nitrogen fixation in cold and desert areas. 
• Seabuckthorn fruit grows in the cold deserts of Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, Lahul-Spiti in Himachal Pradesh and some parts of Arunachal Pradesh. 
• In 2010, the then Minister of Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh had launched the National Mission on Seabuckthorn in Leh. The minister stresses the need for creation of National Consortium of Seabuckthorn to integrate functioning of Defense Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR), Leh, which is one of the laboratories of Defense Research & Development Organization (DRDO) located at Leh (11,500 ft) and allied institutions for promoting its impact at national level.
•  The Mission sets a target for increasing the area under Seabuckthorn to 50,000 hectares of land by 2020 under phase one in four districts of Leh, Kargil, Kinnour and Lahoul and Spiti through a concerted effort by researchers, academicians, self help groups and Ministry of Forest.

BSE launches green equity index for companies

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has launched a new sectoral index — BSE-GREENEX — to measure the performance of companies in terms of carbon emissions and promote green investments.

The index includes top 20 companies based on green house gas numbers, free float market capitalisation and turnover.

"It is based upon purely quantitative and objective performance signals to assess carbon performance," BSE said in a statement, reports IANS.

"In keeping with BSE's efforts to create fund friendly indices, it is the third index which is calculated based on the capping methodology. This index will be helpful to asset managers for creation of various products, to help investors to invest in the green theme of India," it added.

The index is expected to have a feedback effect on companies' reputation.

It will help the government to gauge policy implementation and acceptance with regard to energy usage and efficiency measures, as the market follows an efficient signalling mechanism which adjusts positively or negatively to any news or policy shifts.

This index has been developed by BSE in association with ‘gTrade’ so as to promote green investing, with emphasis on financial performance and long-term viability of companies.

Bihar to set up Asia's first dolphin research centre

With only about 2,000 Gangetic river dolphins left in India, down from tens of thousands just a few decades ago, the Bihar government is planning to set up Asia's first research centre to strengthen conservation efforts to save the endangered mammal.

  

The mammals are killed at an alarming rate with wildlife officials saying poachers kill them for their flesh and oil, which is used as an ointment and aphrodisiac.

Gangetic river dolphins fall under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act and have been declared an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Last year, the Bihar government decided to set up a task force for the conservation of endangered species.

The Gangetic river dolphin is one of the four freshwater dolphin species in the world. The other three are found in the Yangtze river in China, the Indus river in Pakistan and the Amazon river in South America.

The Gangetic river species — found in India, Bangladesh and Nepal — is blind and finds its way and prey in the river waters through 'echoes'.

Wind farms cause climate change: Study

 Wind farms can cause climate change, according to a study, that shows how the technology is already pushing up temperatures, The Telegraph reported on Monday.

Usually at night the air closer to the ground becomes colder when the sun goes down and the earth cools. But on huge wind farms the motion of the turbines mixes the air higher in the atmosphere that is warmer, pushing up the overall temperature.

Satellite data over a large area in Texas, which is now covered by four of the world's largest wind farms, found that over a decade the local temperature went up by almost 1 degree Centigrade as more turbines are built.

This could have long term effects on wildlife living in the immediate areas of larger wind farms, the newspaper noted. It could also affect regional weather patterns as warmer areas affect the formation of cloud and even wind speeds.

The Indian Forest (Amendment) Bill, 2012

• The Bill amends the Indian Forest Act, 1927 (the principal Act). 
•  The Act consolidates the law related to forests and forest produce.  
• It prohibits certain activities, some of which are punishable with imprisonment of up to six months or a fine of Rs 500.  These include making fresh clearances in forests and setting fire to a reserved forest.  
• These offences can be compounded by officers empowered by the state government.  [To compound an offence means to accept compensation in lieu of  punishment.  This relief is also allowed under Section 320 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 for certain offences.] 
• ƒ Under the Act, only officers of the rank of a ranger or above, who draw a salary of at least Rs 100 per month may be empowered to compound offences.  The Bill removes the minimum salary requirement of an officer to be empowered to compound offences.   
• The Bill also requires forest officers to obtain and record the views of the Gram Sabha before they compound an offence in a Scheduled Area.

India Water Week

• India celebrated India Water Week from April 10, 2012. The inaugural ceremony was chaired by the Prime Minister.
• The India Water Week is focussing this year on the important themes of water, food and energy security.
• The Ministry of Water Resources since this year has endeavoured to celebrate India Water Week annually as an international event to focus on water issues.
• It would provide a global platform for water related issues that will bring policy makers, industry leaders, experts, professionals and practitioners together to address the challenges, showcase technologies, discover opportunities, recognizing the excellence of professionals/organizations and celebrate their achievements. 
• The first international event in the series of India Water Week on “Water, Energy and Food Security: Call for Solutions” was organized during April 10-14, 2012 at New Delhi.

Water resource scenario in India

Challenges

• With around 17% of the world’s population but only 4% of its usable fresh water, India has a scarcity of water.
• Rapid economic growth and urbanisation are widening the demand supply gap.
• Climate change could further aggravate the availability of water in the country as it threatens the water cycle.
• Our water bodies are getting increasingly polluted by untreated industrial effluents and sewage.
• Groundwater levels are falling in many parts due to excess drawals leading to contamination with fluoride, arsenic and other chemicals.
• The practice of open defecation, which regrettably is all too widespread, contributes to contaminating potable water sources.

Initiatives

• The Planning Commission has identified the challenge of managing our water resources in a rational and sustainable manner as one of the critical challenges in the Twelfth Five year Plan. It will require action on many fronts and coordination across different sectors of our economy.
• India has launched a National Water Mission as part of Action Plan on Climate Change. The main objective of this Mission is to achieve integrated management of water resources by conserving water, minimizing wastage and ensuring its more equitable distribution both across and within various States of our Union. The Mission proposed a review of the National Water Policy and a draft of the new Policy has been put in the public domain for widespread public consultation.
• The draft National Water Policy recommends taking the river basin / sub-basin as a unit for planning and management of water resources and proposes that departments / organizations at the Centre and the States be restructured and be made multi-disciplinary.
• It also proposes the establishment of water regulatory authorities in each State and a national forum to deliberate upon issues relating to water and evolve consensus, cooperation and reconciliation amongst the various States.
• There is a suggestion that a broad over-arching national legal framework of general principles on water is necessary to pave the way for essential legislation on water governance in every State.
• The National Water Mission sets a target of 20% improvement in water use efficiency. This is particularly critical in the agricultural sector, which uses about three fourth of our water resources and where the water use efficiency is low compared to international standards.

Further steps to be taken

• Management of our irrigation systems should move away from a narrow engineering-construction-centric approach to a more multi-disciplinary and participatory approach
• We need to focus on command area development in a holistic manner in our irrigation projects.
• We need to move towards transparent and participatory mechanisms of pricing of water by the primary stakeholders themselves.
• On the supply side we have been working on watershed management, rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge. Over the next five years, we need to give renewed vigour to all schemes that involve water.
• Conserving our groundwater is now an urgent priority because we depend on it for more than two thirds of our water needs. The decline in the water table across the country is a matter of serious concern. The present legal situation gives every land holder the right to pump unlimited quantities of water from a bore well on his own ground. There is no regulation of ground water extraction and no coordination among competing uses. Inadequate and sub-optimal pricing of both power and water is promoting the misuse of groundwater. We need to move to a situation where ground-water can be treated as a common property resource.
• We need to map the aquifers of India to obtain basic information on ground water availability. This will be initiated in the Twelfth Plan.
• We also need to promote participatory management of aquifers to ensure sustainable and equitable use and promoting cropping patterns which are aligned with the groundwater actually available.
• Access to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation are basic human needs. They are fundamentally linked to the health and wellbeing of our people. Groundwater sources of drinking water often fail due to competition over the same aquifer between public drinking water systems and private irrigation. In the absence of sound legal framework, drinking water systems often lose the contest.  

E waste(management and handling)rules 2011

• It recognises the producers liability for recycling and reducing e-waste in the country. 
• Personal Computer manufacturers, mobile handset makers and white goods makers will be required to come up with e-waste collection centres or introduce take back systems .
• The rules come under the Environment Protection Act (EPA).
• E-wastes are considered dangerous, as certain electronic components contain substances such as lead, cadmium, lead oxide (in cathode ray tubes), toxic gases, toxic metals, biologically active materials, acids, plastics and plastic additives. These substances are considered hazardous depending on their condition and density.
• Under the new rules, producers will have to make consumers aware about the hazardous components present in the product. Also, instructions for consumers for handling the equipment after its use. They will also have to give information booklets to prevent e-waste from being dropped in garbage bins.
• bulk consumers such as enterprises and government will be responsible for recycling of the e-wastes generated by them. The bulk users have to ensure that the e-waste generated by them is channelized to authorised collection centres or is taken back by the producers.
• They also have to maintain records of e-wastes generated by them and make such records available with State Pollution Control Boards or the Pollution Control Committees.
• The State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) will be required to prepare and submit to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) an annual report (based on the data received by consumers) with regard to implementation of these rules, by September 30 of every year.
• On receiving which, the CPCB will have to prepare a consolidated annual review on management of e-waste and forward it to the government along with its recommendations by December 30 of every year.

India State of Forest Report 2011

As per latest India State of Forest Report 2011, amongst all the Indian states, MP has the maximum
Forest Cover area in country.

As per latest India State of Forest Report 2011:

• Geographical area of the country is under Forest and Tree cover: 23.81% i.e. 78.29 million hectare
• Madhya Pradesh has 11.24% of the total forest land in the country
• Arunachal Pradesh with 67,410 kms under forest cover stands, second
• Chhattisgarh with a forest cover of 55,870 kms, stands third
• As compared to the data of 2009 there is a decline of 367 sq km in country’s forest cover.
• 15 states registered aggregate increase of 5000sq km in their forest cover with Punjab at the forefront with an increase of 100sqkm
• 12 states/UTs (mainly the NE states) show a loss of 867sqkm forest.
• Decrease of 281 sq km in Forest cover of Andhra Pradesh is mainly related to harvesting of mature plantation of Eucalyptus & other species
• Fall in Forest cover of North East is attributed to the practice of shifting cultivation in this region
• In terms of % of forest cover in compared to total geographical area, Mizoram tops the chart with 90.68% followed by Lakshadweep with 84.56%

*Some path-breaking chapters added in 2011 report are concerned with:
Assessment of bamboo resources
Production-consumption assessment of wood based on data stock in India’s forests
Assessment of carbon stock in India’s forests