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03:14:42', 'modifydate' => (int) 1666137600, 'seo_url' => 'hunger-hdi/pds-ration-food-security-42.html' ], (int) 57 => [ 'title' => 'SDGs', 'days' => (float) 847, 'currentdate' => (int) 1734969825, 'modified' => '2022-08-30 02:45:06', 'modifydate' => (int) 1661817600, 'seo_url' => 'hunger-hdi/sdgs-113.html' ], (int) 23 => [ 'title' => 'Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS)', 'days' => (float) 1223, 'currentdate' => (int) 1734969825, 'modified' => '2021-08-19 12:40:33', 'modifydate' => (int) 1629331200, 'seo_url' => 'hunger-hdi/mid-day-meal-scheme-mdms-53.html' ] ], (int) 12 => [ (int) 22 => [ 'title' => 'Time Bomb Ticking', 'days' => (float) 727, 'currentdate' => (int) 1734969825, 'modified' => '2022-12-28 02:29:19', 'modifydate' => (int) 1672185600, 'seo_url' => 'environment/time-bomb-ticking-52.html' ], (int) 25 => [ 'title' => 'Water and Sanitation', 'days' => (float) 861, 'currentdate' => (int) 1734969825, 'modified' => '2022-08-16 03:24:37', 'modifydate' => (int) 1660608000, 'seo_url' => 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'title' => 'Corruption', 'days' => (float) 987, 'currentdate' => (int) 1734969825, 'modified' => '2022-04-12 03:14:21', 'modifydate' => (int) 1649721600, 'seo_url' => 'law-justice/corruption-35.html' ], (int) 16 => [ 'title' => 'General Insecurity', 'days' => (float) 1409, 'currentdate' => (int) 1734969825, 'modified' => '2021-02-14 04:34:06', 'modifydate' => (int) 1613260800, 'seo_url' => 'law-justice/general-insecurity-46.html' ], (int) 19 => [ 'title' => 'Disaster & Relief', 'days' => (float) 1409, 'currentdate' => (int) 1734969825, 'modified' => '2021-02-14 04:23:38', 'modifydate' => (int) 1613260800, 'seo_url' => 'law-justice/disaster-relief-49.html' ] ] ] $dataReportCat = [ (int) 8 => 'Farm Crisis', (int) 9 => 'Empowerment', (int) 10 => 'Hunger / HDI', (int) 12 => 'Environment', (int) 13 => 'Law & Justice' ] $curPageURL = 'https://im4change.in/search?page=14&qryStr=Human+Development+Report+2021%2F22' $youtube_video_id = 'MmaTlntk-wc' $SITE_URL = 'https://im4change.in/' $site_title = 'im4change' $adminprix = 'admin' $rn = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) { 'id' => (int) 22, 'title' => 'Time Bomb Ticking', 'subheading' => '', 'description' => '<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">KEY TRENDS </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Extreme temperature shocks reduce farmer incomes by 4.3 percent and 4.1 percent during kharif and rabi respectively, whereas extreme rainfall shocks reduce incomes by 13.7 percent and 5.5 percent <strong>*&</strong> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• It is estimated that to cover 50 percent (5 million ha) of the total acreage under rice-wheat cropping system (RWCS) in India, about 60000 Turbo Happy Seeders and 30000 super SMS fitted combines will be required; at present, there are only about 3000 Turbo Happy Seeders and 1000 super SMS fitted combines are available <strong>*$</strong> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India's share of CO2 in the total emissions in the world is very insignificant in per capita terms. The per capita emission of an Indian citizen is 1.2 tons of CO2 whereas his counterpart in USA contributes 20.6 tons, as per UNDP Human Development Report 2007/2008. The per capita emissions of UK and Japan are 8 times and of USA 17 times higher than that of India. India's contribution to the world total is only 4.6 percent when compared to USA's contribution of 20.9 percent followed by 17.3 percent of China <strong>$$</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> • Municipal areas in the country generate 1.34 lakh metric tonnes per day of municipal solid waste (MSW), of which only 91,152 tonnes per day (TPD) waste is collected and 25,884 TPD treated <strong>$</strong><br /> <br /> • Water pollution is a serious problem in India as almost 75-80 percent of its surface water resources and a growing percentage of its groundwater reserves are contaminated by biological, toxic, organic and inorganic pollutants <strong>$</strong><br /> <br /> • With global mean warming approaching 4°C, an increase in intra-seasonal variability in the Indian summer monsoon precipitation of approximately 10 percent is projected. Large uncertainty remains about the fundamental behavior of the Indian summer monsoon under global warming. Over southern India, increasing wetness is projected with broad agreement between climate models <strong>π</strong><br /> <br /> • A 1-metre rise in sea level would displace about 7 million people in India<strong>* </strong><br /> <br /> • Fossil fuel burning has contributed to most of the greenhouse gas emissions in the past 20 years<strong>*</strong><br /> <br /> • Global GHG emissions due to human activities have grown since pre-industrial times, with an increase of 70 percent between 1970 and 2004<strong>**</strong><br /> <br /> • The largest growth in GHG emissions between 1970 and 2004 has come from energy supply, transport and industry, while residential and commercial buildings, forestry (including deforestation) and agriculture sectors have been growing at a lower rate<strong>**</strong><br /> <br /> • India would face yield losses in rice and wheat along with fall in the rate of growth of gross domestic product owing to climate change<strong>***</strong><br /> <br /> • Increased occurrence of extreme events (such as cyclones) due to climate change will mostly affect the poor<strong>***</strong><br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>*&</strong> Economic Survey 2017-18, Volume-1 (released in January, 2018)[/inside], please <a href="http://mofapp.nic.in:8080/economicsurvey/pdf/082-101_Chapter_06_ENGLISH_Vol_01_2017-18.pdf">click here</a> to read more</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>*$ </strong>Innovative Viable Solution to Rice Residue Burning in Rice-Wheat Cropping System through Concurrent Use of Super Straw Management System-fitted Combines and Turbo Happy Seeder (October, 2017), National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/Policy%20Brief%20Crop%20Burning.pdf">click here</a> to access </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>$$</strong> Statistics Related to Climate Change-India 2015, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, please <a href="http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/climateChangeStat2015.pdf">click here</a> to access</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> <strong>$</strong> SAARC-India Country Report 2015: Statistical Appraisal, produced by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Government of India (please <a href="https://im4change.org/docs/94376SAARC_India_Country_Report_2015.pdf">click here</a> to access)</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> <strong>π</strong> 4-degree Turn down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience (2013), The World Bank</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>*</strong> Ministry of Environment, Government of India<br /> <br /> <strong>**</strong> Climate Change (2007): Synthesis Report brought out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change<br /> <br /> <strong>***</strong> Parikh, Kirit and Parikh, Jyoti (2002): Climate Change-India’s Perceptions, Positions, Policies and Possibilities, OECD<br /> <br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">**page**</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify">Kindly click <a href="https://im4change.org/latest-news-updates/latest-christian-aid-report-identifies-top-10-climate-disasters-of-2022.html">here</a>, <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/Counting_the_Cost_2022.pdf">here</a> and <a href="https://mediacentre.christianaid.org.uk/new-report-top-10-climate-disasters-cost-the-world-billions-in-2022/">here</a> to access the Christian Aid report titled [inside]Counting The Cost 2022: A year of climate breakdown, published in December 2022[/inside].</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">---</span></strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">The key findings of the report titled [inside]Global EV Outlook 2022: Securing supplies for an electric future[/inside], produced by International Energy Agency and others, are as follows (please click <a href="/upload/files/Global%20Electric%20Vehicle%20Outlook%202022.pdf">here</a> and <a href="https://www.iea.org/news/global-electric-car-sales-have-continued-their-strong-growth-in-2022-after-breaking-records-last-year">here</a> to access): </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>India-specific findings: </strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><em>Electric car sales continue to break records, but mineral supply constraints are looming</em> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In Brazil, India and Indonesia, fewer than 0.5 percent of car sales are electric. However, EV sales doubled in a number of regions in 2021 – including in India – which could pave the way for quicker market uptake by 2030 if supporting investments and policies are in place.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, Tata’s Nexon BEV SUV was the bestselling model – accounting for two-thirds of EV sales – and most other offerings were SUVs as well. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, nearly 3,00,000 electric two/three-wheelers were sold in 2021. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Ola Electric unit is one of the world’s largest electric two/three-wheeler factory being built in India.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Zomato, a food delivery service in India, has committed to more than 1,60,000 EVs. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• State-owned Convergence Energy Services Limited aims to procure more than 5 500 electric buses as a part of its Grand Challenge Initiative. The initiative has been launched in five major cities across India, with a goal of expanding to nine cities. The initiative aims to aggregate demand, facilitate procurement and standardise the process across major cities. The tender is planned to be between INR 35 – 55 billion (USD 475 million-USD 744 million), pulling funding from the FAME II scheme, acting as one of the largest tenders of this kind in the world. The date of bus deployment has not been publicised. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India, in 2021, extended its main EV demand stimulating FAME II policy to 2024. It also increased subsidies for electric two-wheelers and made budgetary commitments for battery swapping policies and the development of EV manufacturing and battery supply capacity. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The European Union, India and Japan are increasing subsidies for EVs, in some cases as part of post-COVID19 recovery packages. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India continues to move slowly on EV deployment compared with its other decarbonisation initiatives, e.g. its ambitious Intended Nationally Determined Contribution of 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2022). Yet, India has been showing increasing promise with recent policy developments, such as the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles II (FAME II) scheme which was extended by the government from 2022 to the end of March 2024. The scheme was revised to include a 50 percent increase in purchase incentives for electric two-wheelers to Indian rupees (INR) 15,000 (USD 203) per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of battery capacity. Additionally, the limit on this incentive was relaxed from covering up to 20 percent of the purchase cost of a two-wheeler to 40 percent. The Ministry of Heavy Industries contracted with state-owned Energy Efficiency Services Limited to procure 300 000 electric threewheelers to spur government-led demand aggregation following the FAME II extension. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India had a little more than 1 million EVs on the road at the end of 2021, most of which were electric two/three-wheelers that account for less than 0.5 percent of all vehicles. FAME II is about halfway through its expected programme life, yet has funded only around 10 percent of its target sales volumes. The recent FAME II modification may help address barriers to uptake by reducing upfront purchase cost and sparking innovation to provide broader EV model availability. The electrification of two-wheelers in India is seen as an opportunity to cost effectively electrify at scale, as it is the largest two-wheeler market in the world. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Nineteen states in India offer some form of policy support for EVs, such as purchase incentives, exemptions from road taxes, and subsidies for investment in battery manufacturing and related components. The states of Assam, Goa and Maharashtra recently introduced EV targets, policies and incentives. New Delhi, the capital, hosts the most ambitious EV targets in the country. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• To date, the FAME II programme has provided subsidies (INR 10 billion, USD 135 million) to develop almost 2 900 charging stations across 25 states. In late 2021, the National Highways Authority of India set an objective to install EV charging stations every 40-60 km along national highways, covering 35 000- 40 000 km of highways by 2023. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In January 2022, the Ministry of Power revised its guidelines and standards for EV charging infrastructure. The revisions include: easing provisions for EV owners to charge at home/office using existing electricity connections; a revenue-sharing model related to land use to make charging stations more economical; guidance on providing affordable tariffs; timelines for connectivity of charging stations to the grid; and a fixed ceiling on service charges for electricity. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India’s national government budget announcement for 2022-2023, includes provisions for a battery swapping policy that aims to provide “batteries or energy as a service”. In April 2022, the government (led by NITI Aayog) released a draft proposal of the policy which is open to comments from stakeholders until June. Key elements include: technical and operational requirements for interoperability, safety and performance between EVs, batteries and EVSE; development of unique identification numbers for batteries and swapping stations; testing and certification standards for battery swapping components; open and flexible mandate to enable different battery-as-a-service business models; expanding existing demand-side fiscal support measures (such as FAME II) to include battery swapping; preferential electricity tariffs for public battery swapping stations; and developing standards for the re-use and repurposing of end-of-life EV batteries. The proposed policy is to be rolled out in phases. It will first focus on metropolitan cities with a population larger than four million in the first two years, followed by all major cities and state capitals by the third year. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India has placed an emphasis on electrifying two-wheelers, as evidenced by the 50 percent increase in purchase incentives for twowheelers in the modifications to the FAME II scheme and local policies such as in Delhi. The sales share of electric two/threewheelers increases from 2 percent in 2021 to almost 50 percent in 2030 in the Stated Policies Scenario and further to 60 percent in the Announced Pledges Scenario. The rate of electrification of buses and LDVs is lower, reaching 6 percent and 12 percent in 2030 in the Stated Policies Scenario, respectively. In the Announced Pledges electric buses attain around 25 percent sales share and LDVs about 30 percent sales share in 2030, reflecting India signing on to the COP26 declaration to transition to 100 percent zero emissions LDV sales by 2040. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• EV sales share across all modes (including two/three-wheelers) in India is above 30 percent in 2030 in the Stated Policies Scenario (just over 10 percent excluding two/three-wheelers). In the Announced Pledges Scenario, EV sales shares in India scale up to almost 45 percent in 2030 across all road vehicle modes (30 percent excluding two/three-wheelers).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India aims to install charging stations every 40–60 km along its highways. </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><em>EV battery supply chains and industrial policy</em></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India’s Production Linked Incentives scheme has a strategic focus on advanced automotive technology and components (including EV) and advanced chemistry cell battery (ACC) sectors. The automotive and auto components sector was allocated close to INR 259 billion (USD 3.5 billion). With an aim to build capacity of 50 GWh, the ACC sector was allocated INR 181 billion (USD 243 million). Subsidies are to be provided over a span of five years based on performance metrics such as energy density (ACC only), battery cycle life (ACC only) and number of units sold or components manufactured in India. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• A request for proposals was launched in January 2022 for both schemes, with the government to award contracts by March 2022. For the ACC scheme, bids totalled 130 GWh, close to three times the amount of the manufacturing capacity to be awarded . A total of 95 applicants were approved. Final recipients include both large auto manufacturers and OEMs as well as small and medium enterprises in the industry. For the advanced automotive technology and auto components scheme applications totalled a proposed INR 450 billion (USD 6.1 billion) for all vehicle categories, and were submitted by both incumbant automotive OEMs and new market entrants. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The battery durability standard was adopted by many countries/regions that committed to transpose it into their national legislation. They are Australia, Canada, China, European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Norway, Russian Federation, South Africa, Tunisia, United Kingdom and United States. In the European Union, the provisions are expected to be part of the forthcoming Euro 7/VII legislation.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Several studies, e.g. Brazil, Thailand and India, have been conducted on the impact of electromobility on transmission system level peak load. These studies show that in terms of bulk energy, the impact of EVs expected by 2030 is within the existing generation margins. At the distribution level, the grids in these countries are faced with continuously increasing loads (mostly from appliances), thus grid upgrades are required irrespective of EV loads. However, studies looking at the specific distribution grid impact of EVs remain scarce. </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Other main findings:</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Sales of electric cars (including fully electric and plug-in hybrids) doubled in 2021 to a new record of 6.6 million, with more now sold each week than in the whole of 2012, according to the latest edition of the annual Global Electric Vehicle Outlook.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Despite strains along global supply chains, sales kept rising strongly into 2022, with 2 million electric cars sold worldwide in the first quarter, up by three-quarters from the same period a year earlier. The number of electric cars on the world’s roads by the end of 2021 was about 16.5 million, triple the amount in 2018.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In China, electric car sales nearly tripled in 2021 to 3.3 million, accounting for about half of the global total. Sales also grew strongly in Europe (increasing by 65 percent to 2.3 million) and the United States (more than doubling to 630 000). Chinese electric cars are typically smaller than in other markets. Alongside lower manufacturing costs, this has significantly reduced the price gap with traditional cars. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The median price of an electric car in China was only 10 percent more than that of conventional offerings, compared with 45 percent to 50 percent on average in other major markets. By contrast, electric car sales are lagging in most emerging and developing economies where only a few models are often available and at prices that are unaffordable for mass-market consumers.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• A growing number of countries have ambitious vehicle electrification targets for the coming decades, and many carmakers have plans to electrify their fleets that go beyond policy targets. Five times more electric car models were available globally in 2021 than in 2015, and the number of available models reached 450 by the end of 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The greatest obstacles to continued strong EV sales are soaring prices for some critical minerals essential for battery manufacturing, as well as supply chain disruptions caused by Russia’s attack on Ukraine and by continued Covid-19 lockdowns in some parts of China. In the longer term, greater efforts are needed to roll out enough charging infrastructure to service the expected growth in electric car sales.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Prices for lithium, a crucial mineral for car batteries, were over seven times higher in May 2022 than at the start of 2021, and prices for cobalt and nickel also rose. All else being equal, the cost of battery packs could increase by 15 percent if these prices stay around current levels, which would reverse several years of declines. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created further pressures, since Russia supplies 20 percent of global battery-grade nickel.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Governments in Europe and in the United States have promoted industrial policies aimed at domestic development of EV supply chains, as more than half of all lithium, cobalt and graphite processing and refining capacity is located in China. In addition, China produces three-quarters of all lithium-ion batteries and has 70 percent of the production capacity for cathodes and 85 percent for anodes, both of which are essential components of batteries. More than half of all electric cars in 2021 were assembled in China, and the country is poised to maintain its manufacturing dominance.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• While nearly 10 percent of all cars sold worldwide in 2021 were electric, the figure for global truck sales was just 0.3 percent. This share would need to increase to around 10 percent by 2030 in a scenario aligned with the climate pledges and targets announced to date by countries worldwide – and to 25 percent by 2030 in the IEA’s Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario. Electric trucks have so far been substantially deployed only in China, thanks to strong government support. But other countries have announced plans for heavy truck electrification, and manufacturers are widening their choice of models. Long-range trucks require high-power charges that are currently expensive and often require grid upgrades. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Please click <a href="https://im4change.org/latest-news-updates/four-key-climate-change-indicators-break-records-in-2021-wmo.html">here</a> and <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/State%20of%20the%20Global%20Climate%202021.pdf">here</a> to access the main findings of the [inside]WMO State of the Global Climate in 2021 report (released in May, 2022)[/inside].</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>---</strong><br /> The key takeaways of the report [inside]Drought in Numbers 2022: Restoration for Readiness and Resilience (released in May, 2022)[/inside], which has been prepared by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), are as follows (please <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/Drought%20in%20Numbers.pdf">click here</a> to access):</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><em>Drought at a glance</em></strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Scientific consensus: There is strong evidence that human-induced climate change has led to an increased risk of drought (Hoegh-Guldberg et al, 2018).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Human activities, there is an increase in average surface temperatures around the world (IPCC, 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Drought is deadly: From 1970 to 2019, drought was one of the hazards that led to the largest human losses, with a total of approximately 650,000 deaths. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Among all the climate-related deaths during the period, more than 90 percent occurred in developing countries (WMO, 2021b).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Drought is costly: Economic losses due to drought have increased multifold in the past decades (WMO, 2021b). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Drought is devastating: An estimated 55 million people globally are directly affected by droughts every year, making it the most serious hazard to livestock and crops in nearly every part of the world (WHO, 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Drought affects women and girls disproportionately: Greater burdens and suffering are inflicted on women and girls in emerging and developing countries in terms of education levels, nutrition, health, sanitation, and safety (Algur et al., 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Almost 160 million children are exposed to severe and prolonged droughts - by 2040, it is estimated that one in four children will be living in areas with extreme water shortages (UNICEF, 2019). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Drought is underestimated: Droughts have deep, widespread and underestimated impacts on societies, ecosystems, and economies, with only a portion of the actual losses accounted for (UNDRR, 2021). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Drought preparedness polices make a difference: Proactive measures to reduce risks and increase resilience of ecosystems and communities can be achieved through sustainable land management and ecosystem restoration policies (King-Okumu, C. et al., 2019).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Land restoration is cost-effective: In Niger, farmers have substantially reduced drought risks by creating new agroforestry systems on 5 million hectares over 20 years, with average costs below USD20 per hectare (WRI, 2017). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Education instills readiness: Through a program of ecological restoration-based education, farmers in the Colombian Amazon set up 71 novel nursery gardens, producing 400,000 seedlings of 21 native forest species (Vizcarra, N. 2020). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Media matters: A case study of California in 2017 shows that an increase of about 100 drought stories over two months was associated with a reduction of 11 to 18 percent in typical household water-use (Quesnel, K. J., & Ajami, N. K., 2017). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Turning the tide: Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, along with regenerative land and improved water management practices, is expected to substantially reduce the probability of extreme drought events (Hoegh-Guldberg, O., 2018). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• New horizons: A paradigm shift from ‘reactive’ and ‘crisis-based’ approaches to ‘proactive’ and ‘risk-based’ drought management approaches are indispensable (Tsegai, D. & Brüntrup, M., 2019). </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><em>Drought around the world (1900-2022)</em></strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• More than 10 million people lost their lives due to major drought events in the past century, causing several hundred billion USD in economic losses worldwide, and the numbers are rising (Guha-Sapir, D. et al., 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Severe drought affects Africa more than any other continent, with more than 300 events recorded in the past 100 years, accounting for 44 percent of the global total. More recently, sub-Saharan Africa has <br /> experienced the dramatic consequences of climate disasters becoming more frequent and intense (Taylor et al., 2017; Guha-Sapir, D. et al., 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In the past century, 45 major drought events occurred in Europe, affecting millions of people and resulting in more than USD 27.8 billion in economic losses. Today, an annual average of 15 percent of the land area and 17 percent of the population within the European Union is affected by drought (Guha-Sapir, D. et al., 2021; European Environment Agency, 2017).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In the U.S., crop failures and other economic losses due to drought have totaled several hundred billion USD over the last century – USD 249 billion alone since 1980 (NOAA-NCEI, 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Over the past century, the highest total number of humans affected by drought were in Asia (Guha-Sapir, D. et al., 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><em>Drought impacts on human society</em></strong><br /> <br /> • Over 1.4 billion people were affected by drought in the period of 2000 to 2019. This makes drought the disaster affecting the second-highest number of people, after flooding. Africa suffered from drought more frequently than any other continent with 134 droughts, of which 70 occurred in East Africa (Wallemacq, P. et al., 2015).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The effect of severe droughts was estimated to have reduced India’s gross domestic product by 2 to 5 percent over a period of 10 years (1998 to 2017) (UNDRR, 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• As a result of the Australian Millennium Drought, total agricultural productivity fell by 18 percent in the period of 2002 to 2010 (WMO, 2021a).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The burden of water collection – especially in drylands – falls disproportionately on women (72 percent) and girls (9 percent), who, in some cases, spend as much as 40 percent of their calorific intake carrying water (UNDRR, 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• During the past two years (2020 and 2021), widespread precipitation deficits were recorded across the South American continent (Marinho Ferreira Barbosa et al, 2021) .</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Drought is a major driver of crop yield volatility and, in particular, causes low yields that can lead to substantial financial losses (Bucheli, J. et al., 2021). </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><em>Drought impacts on ecosystems </em></strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The percentage of plants affected by drought has more than doubled in the last 40 years, with about 12 million hectares of land lost each year due to drought and desertification (FAO, 2017).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Ecosystems progressively turn into carbon sources, especially during extreme drought events, detectable on five of six continents (Stocker, B. D. et al., 2019).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• One-third of global carbon dioxide emissions is offset by the carbon uptake of terrestrial ecosystems, yet their capacity to sequester carbon is highly sensitive to drought events (Chen, N. et al., 2020).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The rapid increase in surface temperature correlates with declining biodiversity, including higher extinction rates (Nath, S. et al., 2021; Peace, N. 2020).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Fourteen percent of all wetlands critical for migratory species, as listed by Ramsar, are located in drought-prone regions (WWF/RSIS, 2019).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The megadrought in Australia contributed to ‘megafires’ in 2019 to 2020 that resulted in the most dramatic loss of habitat for threatened species in postcolonial history (Wintle, B. A. et al., 2020); about 3 billion animals were killed or displaced in the Australian wildfires (Eeden, van L. et al., 2020).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Drought-induced peatland fires in Indonesia resulted in decreasing biodiversity, including both the number of individuals as well as plant species (Agus, C. et al., 2019).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Photosynthesis in European ecosystems was reduced by 30percent during the summer drought of 2003, which resulted in an estimated net carbon release of 0.5 gigatons (Schuldt, B. et al., 2020).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• North American scientists confirm that drought reduces vegetation and bird abundance, vegetation richness and diversity, and diversity of arthropods in semi-arid shortgrass prairie (Peterson, E. K. et al., 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Eighty-four percent of all terrestrial ecosystems are threatened by changing and intensifying wildfires (WWF, 2019).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• During the first two decades of the 21st century, the Amazon experienced 3 widespread droughts, all of which triggered massive forest fires (Brando, P.M.et al., 2020). Drought events are becoming increasingly common in the Amazon region due to land-use and climate change, which are interlinked (Aragão, L. E. et al., 2018). If Amazonian deforestation continues unabated, 16 percent of the region’s remaining forests will likely burn by 2050 (Boulton et al., 2022; Brando, P. M. et al., 2020). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• During one of the severest droughts in Costa Rica (2015), species-specific mortality rates reached up to 34 percent (Powers, J. S. et al., 2020).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Drought has reduced the ecosystem productivity of Tibetan grasslands significantly in recent years, including soil drought, which now occurs more frequently and lasts for about 20 percent of the year (Xu, M. et al., 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><em>Predictable futures: We are at a crossroads</em></strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Climate change is expected to increase the risk of droughts in many vulnerable regions of the world, particularly those with rapid population growth, vulnerable populations and challenges with food security (CRED & UNDRR, 2020).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The World Bank estimates that up to 216 million people could be forced to migrate by 2050, largely due to drought, together with other factors such as water scarcity, declining crop productivity, sea-level rise and <br /> overpopulation (The World Bank, 2021). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Within the next few decades, 129 countries will experience an increase in drought exposure mainly due to climate change alone – 23 primarily due to population growth and 38 mostly due to the interaction between climate change and population growth (Smirnov, O. et al., 2016).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• If global warming reaches 3 degrees Celsius by 2100, as has been predicted, drought losses could be five times higher than they are today, with the largest increase in drought losses projected in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic regions of Europe (Cammalleri, C. et al., 2020).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In Angola, more than 40 percent of livestock, a significant livelihood source accounting for 31.4 percent of the agricultural GDP, is currently exposed to droughts and expected to rise to 70 percent under projected climate conditions (UNDRR, 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In the E.U. and U.K., annual losses from drought are currently estimated to be around EUR 9 billion and projected to rise to more than EUR 65 billion without meaningful climate action (Naumann et al., 2021). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• By 2050, between 4.8 and 5.7 billion people will live in areas that are water-scarce for at least one month each year, up from 3.6 billion today (UN Water, 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The IPCC is now in its sixth assessment cycle, in which the IPCC is producing the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) with contributions by its three Working Groups and a Synthesis Report, three Special Reports, and a refinement to its latest Methodology Report.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The Working Group-III contribution, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change was released on April 4, 2022. The Working Group-III report provides an updated global assessment of climate change mitigation progress and pledges, and examines the sources of global emissions. It explains developments in emission reduction and mitigation efforts, assessing the impact of national climate pledges in relation to long-term emissions goals. Kindly <a href="/upload/files/IPCC_AR6_WGIII_SummaryForPolicymakers.pdf">click here</a> to access the Summary for Policymakers (approved version) of the report [inside]Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change (released on April 4, 2022)[/inside]. Please <a href="https://report.ipcc.ch/ar6wg3/pdf/IPCC_AR6_WGIII_FinalDraft_FullReport.pdf">click here</a> to access the IPCC Working Group-III report titled 'Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change'.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Kindly <a href="https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/climate-change/six-takeaways-from-ipcc-ar6-report-long-term-benefits-of-cutting-emissions-today-outweigh-costs-82213">click here</a> to access the main takeaways of the third instalment of its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), published on April 4, 2022. It has been prepared by Avantika Goswami, Centre for Science and Environment.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The six main findings are: </p> <p style="text-align:justify">* Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were 54 percent higher in 2019 than they were in 1990, but growth is slowing</p> <p style="text-align:justify">* Least developed countries emitted only 3.3 percent of global emissions in 2019</p> <p style="text-align:justify">* Pledges to the Paris Agreement are insufficient, emissions must fall 43 percent by 2030 compared to 2019</p> <p style="text-align:justify">* Abundant and affordable solutions exist across sectors including energy, buildings, and transport, as well as individual behavioural changes</p> <p style="text-align:justify">* The impact on GDP would be negligible and the long-term benefits of cutting emissions immediately would outweigh the initial costs</p> <p style="text-align:justify">* Finance falls short, especially in developing countries, but there is sufficient money in the world to close this gap</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The Working Group-II contribution, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability was released on February 28, 2022. The Working Group-II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report assesses the impacts of climate change, looking at ecosystems, biodiversity, and human communities at global and regional levels. It also reviews vulnerabilities and the capacities and limits of the natural world and human societies to adapt to climate change. Kindly <a href="/upload/files/IPCC_AR6_WGII_SummaryForPolicymakers.pdf">click here</a> to access the Summary for Policymakers (approved version) of the report [inside]Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability (released on February 28, 2022)[/inside]. Please <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_FinalDraft_FullReport.pdf">click here</a> to access the IPCC Working Group-II report titled 'Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability'. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">The Working Group-I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report, Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis was released on August 9, 2021. The Working Group-I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report addresses the most up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change, bringing together the latest advances in climate science, and combining multiple lines of evidence from paleoclimate, observations, process understanding, and global and regional climate simulations. Please <a href="/upload/files/IPCC_AR6_WGI_SPM_final.pdf">click here</a> to access the Summary for Policymakers (approved version) of the report [inside]Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis (released on August 9, 2021)[/inside]. Please <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Full_Report.pdf">click here</a> to access the IPCC Working Group-I report titled 'Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis'. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">---</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Please <a href="/upload/files/forest_missing-_cover_story_20220216%281%29.pdf">click here</a> and <a href="https://im4change.org/latest-news-updates/india-s-missing-forests-dte-analysis-exposes-big-gap-in-latest-national-forest-survey-estimates.html">here</a> to access the CSE report titled [inside]25.87 Million Hectares (released in February, 2022)[/inside], which has been prepared by Sunita Narain. Since 1988, when Forest Survey of India (FSI) produced the first “State of Forest Report 1987”, the capability of satellites and of interpretation of forests has improved substantially, but the same is not the case with the state of the country’s forest cover. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">The “India State of Forest Report 2021” (ISFR 2021), released on January 13, 2022, shows a minimal increase of 0.16 million ha (0.2 percent) in the forest cover between 2019 and 2021. The quality of forests also seems to have been stable. There is, in fact, some increase in the “very dense” forest category (with canopy cover of over 70 percent) and in the “open” forest category (canopy cover 10-40 percent), and almost an equal decrease in the moderately dense forest category (canopy cover 40-70 percent). One may argue that this does not merit analysis—criticism or boast. But the fact is that (i) more forests are now growing outside than inside the recorded forest area (forest land under control of the state government’s forest department); (ii) most forests are now concentrated in areas classified as “tribal” by ISFR 2021; (iii) reported forest area is increasing by counting trees outside the forest; and (iv) even the forest stock is growing outside the recorded forest area.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">---</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The main findings of the [inside]India State of Forest Report 2021 (released in January 2022)[/inside], which has been prepared by the Forest Survey of India (under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change), are as follows (please <a href="https://fsi.nic.in/forest-report-2021">click here</a> to access): </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The total forest and tree cover of the country is 80.9 million hectare which is 24.62 percent of the geographical area of the country. As compared to the assessment of 2019, there is an increase of 2,261 sq km in the total forest and tree cover of the country. Out of this, the increase in the forest cover has been observed as 1,540 sq km and that in tree cover is 721 sq km.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Increase in forest cover has been observed in open forest followed by very dense forest. Top three states showing increase in forest cover are Andhra Pradesh (647 sq km) followed by Telangana (632 sq km) and Odisha (537 sq km).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Area-wise Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra. In terms of forest cover as percentage of total geographical area, the top five States are Mizoram (84.53 percent), Arunachal Pradesh (79.33 percent), Meghalaya (76.00 percent), Manipur (74.34 percent) and Nagaland (73.90 percent).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• 17 states/ UTs have above 33 percent of the geographical area under forest cover. Out of these states and UT’s, five states/UTs namely Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have more than 75 percent forest cover while 12 states/UTs namely Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Goa, Kerala, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Assam, Odisha, have forest cover between 33 percent to 75 percent.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Total mangrove cover in the country is 4,992 sq km. An increase of 17 sq Km in mangrove cover has been observed as compared to the previous assessment of 2019. Top three states showing mangrove cover increase are Odisha (8 sq km) followed by Maharashtra (4 sq km) and Karnataka (3 sq km).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Total carbon stock in country’s forest is estimated to be 7,204 million tonnes and there an increase of 79.4 million tonnes in the carbon stock of country as compared to the last assessment of 2019. The annual increase in the carbon stock is 39.7 million tonnes.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">**page**</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify">Please <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/IPCC_WGI-AR6-Press-Release_en.pdf">click here</a> to access the [inside]Press release by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) dated 9th August, 2021[/inside].</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Kindly <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Regional_Fact_Sheet_Asia.pdf" title="/upload/files/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Regional_Fact_Sheet_Asia.pdf">click here</a> to access the regional fact sheet for Asia, which we get from the Working Group I report of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) </p> <p style="text-align:justify">Kindly <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/IPCC_AR6_WGI_SPM.pdf" title="/upload/files/IPCC_AR6_WGI_SPM.pdf">click here</a> to access the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) that presents the key findings of the Working Group I (WGI) contribution to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) on the physical science basis of climate change.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Please <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Full_Report.pdf">click here</a> to access the IPCC Working Group I report titled [inside]Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis[/inside]. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">---</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Ten facts on climate change from the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Full_Report.pdf">IPCC report</a>, according to the Centre for Science and Environment:</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In the next 20 years, the global warming will breach the threshold of 1.5-degree C.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• If we continue to emit greenhouse gases as now, global warming will be above 2-degree C by mid-2100s. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• With every 1-degree rise in temperature, there will be a 7 percent increase in the intensification of extreme rain events. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Carbon dioxide concentration in highest in 2 million years. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Sea-level rise is the fastest in 3,000 years. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Arctic sea ice is lowest in 1,000 years. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Some changes we can't reverse any more, at least for next thousands of years.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Ice melting will continue for the next 1,000 years even if we manage to control our GHG emissions. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Ocean warming will continue, which has increased by 2-8 times from 1970s. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Sea-level rise will continue for hundreds of years.<br /> ---</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Please <a href="https://im4change.org/latest-news-updates/no-time-to-lose-says-sunita-narain-on-the-new-ipcc-report.html">click here</a> to access the [inside]Press release by Centre for Science and Environment dated 9th August, 2021[/inside] on the new IPCC report. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> The key findings of the policy brief titled [inside]The costs of climate change in India: A review of the climate-related risks facing India, and their economic and social costs (released in June 2021)[/inside] prepared by Angela Picciariello, Sarah Colenbrander, Amir Bazaz and Rathin Roy, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), are as follows (please <a href="/upload/files/ODI-JR-CostClimateChangeIndia-final%281%29.pdf">click here</a> to access): </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India is already feeling the impacts of climate change. Heatwaves are becoming more common and severe, with many cities reporting temperatures above 48°C in 2020. Heavy rain events have increased threefold since 1950, but total precipitation is declining: a billion people in India currently face severe water scarcity for at least one month of the year. Rising sea levels are also creating risks as a third of India’s population live along the coast, where the north Indian Ocean has risen by an average of 3.2 mm per year over the last two decades.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The economic costs of climate impacts in India are already immense. In 2020, a single event – Cyclone Amphan – affected 13 million people and caused over $13 billion in damage after it made landfall. Declining agricultural productivity, rising sea levels and negative health outcomes were forecast to cost India 3 percent of gross domestic product at 1°C of global warming.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Low-income and other marginalised groups are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Sustained high temperatures take a disproportionate toll on those who depend on manual outdoor work or live in crowded, poorly ventilated homes. Floods, storm surge and cyclones wreak the most havoc on densely settled, low-income communities not served by risk-reducing infrastructure. One study suggests that declining agricultural productivity and rising cereal prices could increase India’s national poverty rate by 3.5 percent by 2040 compared to a zero-warming scenario; this equates to around 50 million more poor people that year.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Lower-carbon development could yield immediate benefits such as cleaner air, greater energy security and rapid job creation. India’s climate targets are considered to be ‘2°C compatible’, i.e. a fair share of global effort. However, pursuing a cleaner, more resource-efficient path could stimulate a faster, fairer economic recovery and secure India’s prosperity and competitiveness in the long term.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India does not bear responsibility for rising temperatures. Despite being home to 17.8 percent of the world’s population, India accounts for only 3.2 percent of cumulative emissions (Global Change Data Lab, 2021). Yet India cannot achieve its development aspirations without taking climate change into account (Dubash, 2019).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Rising average temperatures are leading to more frequent and severe heatwaves across the country. Between 1985 and 2009, western and southern India experienced 50 percent more heatwave events than in the previous 25 years. Heatwaves in 2013 and 2015 killed more than 1,500 and 2,000 people across the country (Mazdiyasni et al., 2017).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• As rainfall has declined, the proportion of precipitation that is infiltrating the soil and recharging aquifers has also fallen because more land is covered by hard surfaces – asphalt, cement and the like. In parallel, Indian agriculture is increasingly dependent on groundwater even as the physical supply is depleted (Zaveri et al., 2016). As a result of the interplay between climatic and development factors, a billion people in India face severe water scarcity for at least one month of the year; 180 million face severe water scarcity all year round (Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2016). These shortages take place in a context where many people lack adequate water for drinking, sanitation or hygiene.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Global warming has consequently accelerated and average temperatures around the world were 1°C above pre-industrial levels in 2017 (Connors et al., 2019). With rapid, ambitious and well-targeted mitigation action, it may be possible to hold the average global temperature increase to 1.5°C at the end of the century (IPCC, 2018). However, current policies will result in warming of at least 3°C above pre-industrial levels (UN Environment, 2020) – and a much more severe climate crisis, the costs of which will be borne most heavily by low-income and other marginalised groups.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• At the lower end of the spectrum, Kahn et al. (2019) predict that climate change could reduce India’s GDP by around 2.6 percent by 2100 even if the global temperature increase is held below 2°C; however, this rises by up to 13.4 percent in a 4°C scenario. These results are narrowly based on projections of temperature and precipitation changes, and the effect on labour productivity in different sectors. Climate change may also affect labour productivity through additional channels, for instance by increased incidence of endemic vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue, chikungunya, filariasis, Japanese encephalitis and visceral leishmaniasis (Dhiman et al., 2010).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> The key findings of [inside]India's Third Biennial Update Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (released in February 2021)[/inside], prepared by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, are as follows (please <a href="https://www.im4change.org/docs/India%20Third%20Biennial%20Update%20Report%20to%20The%20UNFCCC%20released%20in%20February%202021.pdf">click here</a> to access):</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India's total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (including LULUCF i.e. Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry) has almost doubled from 1,229 MtCO2e (million tonnes of Carbon dioxide equivalent) in 1994 to 2,531 MtCO2e in 2016. The energy sector added almost three-fourth of total emissions (without LULUCF) in 2016, followed by 14.4 percent from agriculture, around 8 percent from Industrial Processes and Product Use (IPPU) and 2.6 percent from waste.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In 2016, electricity production was the single largest source under the energy sector (thanks to its dependence on coal) that was responsible for about 40 percent of the total GHG emissions. In 2016, road transport was responsible for about 9 percent of total GHG emissions by the country. Residential buildings emitted almost 4 percent of total GHG emissions in 2016.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The total emissions of the energy sector were 21,29,428 Gg CO2e (Gigagram of Carbon dioxide equivalent) in 2016, increasing by 11.50 percent from 2014. This sector constituted 93 percent of total national CO2 emissions in 2016. This was primarily from fossil fuel combustion, comprising energy industries and construction, manufacturing industries, transport and other sectors.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The transport sector is largely oil-dependent and accounted for 9.67 percent of the country’s GHG emissions (without LULUCF).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The industrial processes and product use (IPPU) category emitted 2,26,407 Gg of CO2e in the year 2016 and accounted for 8 percent of the total GHG emissions. Within IPPU, cement production is the largest emission source, accounting for about 47 percent of total IPPU sector emissions.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The agriculture sector in the year 2016, emitted 4,07,821 Gg of CO2e, which amounted to around 14 percent of the emissions of India for that year, registering a decrease of 2.25 percent since 2014.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The LULUCF sector was a net sink of 3,07,820 Gg CO2e during 2016, registering an increase in the sink activity of the sector. Cropland dominates the CO2 emissions/removal estimates for India for the year 2016. Forest land, Cropland and Settlement categories were net sinks while Grassland was a net source of CO2. About 15 percent of India’s CO2 emissions were offset by the LULUCF sector.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The waste sector emitted 75,232 Gg CO2e to total GHG emissions in 2016. The waste sector was dominated by emissions from wastewater handling which account for more than 79 percent of the sectoral emissions and remaining 21 percent emissions from solid waste disposal.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• On the financial needs of India’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDCs), estimates have already indicated that India would need at least USD 206 billion (at 2014-15 prices) between 2015 and 2030 for implementing adaptation actions in key areas. Mitigation requirements for even moderate low-carbon development have been projected to be in the range of USD 834 billion until 2030 at 2011 prices. Green Climate Fund finance to India is inadequate and is likely to fall drastically short of meeting India’s finance requirements.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India's annual average temperature is increasing at a statistically significant rate of 0.61 degree Celsius (C) per 100 years over the period 1901-2019. There is a significant increasing trend in the maximum temperature of 1 degree C per 100 years and a relatively lower increase, also significant, in minimum temperatures of 0.22 degree C per 100 years.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The year 2019 was the seventh warmest year on record since 1901 with annual mean surface air temperature +0.36 degree C above the 1981-2010 period average.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Between 1989 and 2018 there have been significant changes in the frequency of dry days, rainy days (rainfall of 2.5 mm or more but less than 6.5 cm), and heavy rainfall (rainfall of 6.5 cm or more).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• A significant decreasing trend (at 99 percent level of confidence) of the frequency of intense cyclonic disturbances during monsoon season is noticed during the last 59 years from 1961 to 2019 over the Indian region.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Based on the observed cyclonic activities during 1891-2019, on an average 5 cyclones developed over the north Indian Ocean region in a year, with an average of 4 cyclone activities developing over the Bay of Bengal and 1 cyclone activity developing over the Arabian Sea.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• During 2019, eight cyclonic storms formed over the north Indian Ocean. Out of these eight systems, one system each formed during the winter and pre-monsoon season, over the Bay of Bengal.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The frequency and duration of heat waves over north-west India and the east coast of India have increased. The duration of heat waves over central and north-west India has increased by about five days over the past 50 years.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Monitoring of winter precipitation and temperature in the Western Himalaya suggests a significant increase in total precipitation but a decrease in snowfall from 1991 to 2015.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Most of the Himalayan glaciers are retreating and the rates of retreat have probably accelerated in the past few decades, but the observed tendencies are not regionally uniform. The mean rate of retreat is 14.2±12.9 ma-1 (Water equivalent per unit area per year), but with high levels of uncertainty in the estimates.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Currently, sea levels along the Indian coast are rising. The long term average of sea level rise is about 1.7 mm/year. However, these are changing at different rates along the Indian coast.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In contrast to the huge emissions from forest fires globally, the emissions from forest fires in India contribute a mere 1.0-1.5 percent of all global emissions from wildfires, even though India accounted for 2 percent of the total global forest area in 2015, according to the Global Forest Resource Assessment (FRA) by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India’s per capita energy consumption grew from 19,669 MJ (megajoules) in 2011-12 to 24,453 MJ in 2018-19(P). In 2018-19(P), primary energy supply added up to 906.09 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• As per present estimates, India has a renewable energy potential of about 1,097,465 MW (Megawatt) for commercially exploitable sources viz. wind – 3,02,251 MW (at 100 m mast height), small hydro - 21,134 MW; bio-energy - 22,536 MW, solar power – 7,48,990 MW and industrial waste - 2,554 MW.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In the year 2018-19(P), India’s per capita energy consumption was 24,453 MJ which is just one-third of the world average. Per capita energy consumption of India grew by 24.32 percent from 2011-12 to 2018-19.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Kindly click <a href="https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/state-of-rural-and-agrarian-india-report-2020-reveals-the-vulnerabilities-faced-by-indian-agriculture.html">here</a>, <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/State-of-Rural-and-Agrarian-India-Report-2020.pdf">here</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwcHmVW7WZ0&feature=emb_logo">here</a> to find the main findings of the [inside]State of Rural and Agrarian India Report 2020 (released on 30th November, 2020)[/inside], which has been produced by Network of Rural and Agrarian Studies (NRAS).</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>---</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">The [inside]Annual Report 2019-20 of the Reserve Bank of India (released in August, 2020)[/inside] (please <a href="/upload/files/Reserve-Bank-of-India-Annual-Report-2019-20.pdf"><span style="background-color:#ffff00">click here</span></a> to access the report) has made some observations about extreme weather events and the environment. They are as follows:</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Consistent with models of climate change, the number of dry days as well as days with extremely high levels of rainfall have increased in India - more intense droughts; downward shifts in average rainfall by 59 mm since 2000; higher frequency of cyclones - India was hit by 8 cyclones in 2019 which is the highest since 1976; high variation in the number of subdivisions receiving excess/ normal and deficient/ scanty monsoon rains; and an increase in the extent of crop area damaged due to unseasonal rains and heavy floods. Please <a href="/upload/files/charts%201.jpg">click here</a> to see the relevant charts.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Global warming has also led to a sharp rise in the annual average temperature in India by 1.8°C between 1997 and 2019 as compared to a 0.5°C increase between 1901 and 2000. This has likely caused a decline in crop yields, undermining farm income. Please <a href="/upload/files/charts%202.jpg">click here</a> to consult the relevant charts.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Water tables have depleted at an alarming rate, with around 52 percent of the wells in India recording decline in water levels between the years 2008 and 2018. This imparts urgency to move from flood irrigation to micro irrigation methods like drip or hose reel, which can save up to 60 percent of the water used and also help in preventing pest incidence. At present, the coverage of micro irrigation is much lower in states which have recorded higher declines in water tables. Alongside, there is a need to adopt crop cycles, credit cycles and procurement patterns to monsoonal shifts. Please <a href="/upload/files/charts%203.jpg">click here</a> to consult the relevant charts.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The Executive Summary of the report entitled [inside]Assessment of climate change over the Indian region (released in June 2020)[/inside], edited by R Krishnan, J. Sanjay, Chellappan Gnanaseelan, Milind Mujumdar, Ashwini Kulkarni and Supriyo Chakraborty, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India, Springer Open (please <a href="https://im4change.org/docs/assessment-of-climate-change-over-the-indian-region.pdf">click here</a> to access) is provided below: </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Observed Changes in Global Climate</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">The global average temperature has risen by around 1°C since pre-industrial times. This magnitude and rate of warming cannot be explained by natural variations alone and must necessarily take into account changes due to human activities. Emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), aerosols and changes in land use and land cover (LULC) during the industrial period have substantially altered the atmospheric composition, and consequently the planetary energy balance, and are thus primarily responsible for the present-day climate change. Warming since the 1950s has already contributed to a significant increase in weather and climate extremes globally (e.g., heat waves, droughts, heavy precipitation, and severe cyclones), changes in precipitation and wind patterns (including shifts in the global monsoon systems), warming and acidification of the global oceans, melting of sea ice and glaciers, rising sea levels, and changes in marine and terrestrial ecosystems.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Projected Changes in Global Climate</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">Global climate models project a continuation of human-induced climate change during the twenty-first century and beyond. If the current GHG emission rates are sustained, the global average temperature is likely to rise by nearly 5°C, and possibly more, by the end of the twenty-first century. Even if all the commitments (called the “Nationally Determined Contributions”) made under the 2015 Paris agreement are met, it is projected that global warming will exceed 3°C by the end of the century. However, temperature rise will not be uniform across the planet; some parts of the world will experience greater warming than the global average. Such large changes in temperature will greatly accelerate other changes that are already underway in the climate system, such as the changing patterns of rainfall and increasing temperature extremes.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Climate Change in India: Observed and Projected Changes</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Temperature Rise Over India</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">India’s average temperature has risen by around 0.7°C during 1901–2018. This rise in temperature is largely on account of GHG-induced warming, partially offset by forcing due to anthropogenic aerosols and changes in LULC. By the end of the twenty-first century, average temperature over India is projected to rise by approximately 4.4°C relative to the recent past (1976–2005 average), under the RCP8.5 scenario.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">In the recent 30-year period (1986–2015), temperatures of the warmest day and the coldest night of the year have risen by about 0.63°C and 0.4°C, respectively.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">By the end of the twenty-first century, these temperatures are projected to rise by approximately 4.7°C and 5.5°C, respectively, relative to the corresponding temperatures in the recent past (1976–2005 average), under the RCP8.5 scenario.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">By the end of the twenty-first century, the frequencies of occurrence of warm days and warm nights are projected to increase by 55 percent and 70 percent, respectively, relative to the reference period 1976-2005, under the RCP8.5 scenario.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The frequency of summer (April–June) heat waves over India is projected to be 3 to 4 times higher by the end of the twenty-first century under the RCP8.5 scenario, as compared to the 1976–2005 baseline period. The average duration of heat wave events is also projected to approximately double, but with a substantial spread among models.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">In response to the combined rise in surface temperature and humidity, amplification of heat stress is expected across India, particularly over the Indo-Gangetic and Indus river basins.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Indian Ocean Warming</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">Sea surface temperature (SST) of the tropical Indian Ocean has risen by 1°C on average during 1951–2015, markedly higher than the global average SST warming of 0.7°C, over the same period. Ocean heat content in the upper 700 m (OHC700) of the tropical Indian Ocean has also exhibited an increasing trend over the past six decades (1955–2015), with the past two decades (1998–2015) having witnessed a notably abrupt rise.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">During the twenty-first century, SST and ocean heat content in the tropical Indian Ocean are projected to continue to rise.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Changes in Rainfall</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">The summer monsoon precipitation (June to September) over India has declined by around 6 percent from 1951 to 2015, with notable decreases over the Indo-Gangetic Plains and the Western Ghats. There is an emerging consensus, based on multiple datasets and climate model simulations, that the radiative effects of anthropogenic aerosol forcing over the Northern Hemisphere have considerably offset the expected precipitation increase from GHG warming and contributed to the observed decline in summer monsoon precipitation.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">There has been a shift in the recent period toward more frequent dry spells (27 percent higher during 1981–2011 relative to 1951–1980) and more intense wet spells during the summer monsoon season. The frequency of localized heavy precipitation occurrences has increased worldwide in response to increased atmospheric moisture content. Over central India, the frequency of daily precipitation extremes with rainfall intensities exceeding 150 mm per day increased by about 75 percent during 1950–2015.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">With continued global warming and anticipated reductions in anthropogenic aerosol emissions in the future, CMIP5 models project an increase in the mean and variability of monsoon precipitation by the end of the twenty-first century, together with substantial increases in daily precipitation extremes.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Droughts</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">The overall decrease of seasonal summer monsoon rainfall during the last 6–7 decades has led to an increased propensity for droughts over India. Both the frequency and spatial extent of droughts have increased significantly during 1951–2016. In particular, areas over central India, southwest coast, southern peninsula and north-eastern India have experienced more than 2 droughts per decade, on average, during this period. The area affected by drought has also increased by 1.3 percent per decade over the same period.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Climate model projections indicate a high likelihood of increase in the frequency (>2 events per decade), intensity and area under drought conditions in India by the end of the twenty-first century under the RCP8.5 scenario, resulting from the increased variability of monsoon precipitation and increased water vapour demand in a warmer atmosphere.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Sea Level Rise</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">Sea levels have risen globally because of the continental ice melt and thermal expansion of ocean water in response to global warming. Sea-level rise in the North Indian Ocean (NIO) occurred at a rate of 1.06–1.75 mm per year during 1874–2004 and has accelerated to 3.3 mm per year in the last two and a half decades (1993–2017), which is comparable to the current rate of global mean sea-level rise.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">At the end of the twenty-first century, steric sea level in the NIO is projected to rise by approximately 300 mm relative to the average over 1986–2005 under the RCP4.5 scenario, with the corresponding projection for the global mean rise being approximately 180 mm.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Tropical Cyclones</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">There has been a significant reduction in the annual frequency of tropical cyclones over the NIO basin since the middle of the twentieth century (1951–2018). In contrast, the frequency of very severe cyclonic storms (VSCSs) during the post-monsoon season has increased significantly (+1 event per decade) during the last two decades (2000–2018). However, a clear signal of anthropogenic warming on these trends has not yet emerged.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Climate models project a rise in the intensity of tropical cyclones in the NIO basin during the twenty-first century.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Changes in the Himalayas</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">The Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) experienced a temperature rise of about 1.3°C during 1951–2014. Several areas of HKH have experienced a declining trend in snowfall and also retreat of glaciers in recent decades. In contrast, the high-elevation Karakoram Himalayas have experienced higher winter snowfall that has shielded the region from glacier shrinkage.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">By the end of the twenty-first century, the annual mean surface temperature over HKH is projected to increase by about 5.2°C under the RCP8.5 scenario. The CMIP5 projections under the RCP8.5 scenario indicate an increase in annual precipitation, but decrease in snowfall over the HKH region by the end of the twenty-first century, with large spread across models.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Conclusions</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">Since the middle of the twentieth century, India has witnessed a rise in average temperature; a decrease in monsoon precipitation; a rise in extreme temperature and rainfall events, droughts, and sea levels; and an increase in the intensity of severe cyclones, alongside other changes in the monsoon system. There is compelling scientific evidence that human activities have influenced these changes in regional climate.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Human-induced climate change is expected to continue apace during the twenty-first century. To improve the accuracy of future climate projections, particularly in the context of regional forecasts, it is essential to develop strategic approaches for improving the knowledge of Earth system processes, and to continue enhancing observation systems and climate models.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> According to the [inside]Economic Survey 2017-18, Volume-1 (released in January, 2018)[/inside], please <a href="http://mofapp.nic.in:8080/economicsurvey/pdf/082-101_Chapter_06_ENGLISH_Vol_01_2017-18.pdf">click here</a> to read more:</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The volatility of agricultural growth in India has declined substantially over time: from a standard deviation of 6.3 percent between 1960 and 2004 to 2.9 percent since 2004. In particular, production of cereals has become more robust to drought. &*<br /> <br /> • The broad pattern of rising temperatures post 1970s is common to both seasons. The average increase in temperature between the most recent decade and the 1970s is about 0.45 degrees and 0.63 degrees in the kharif and rabi seasons, respectively. These trends are consistent with those reported in Rajeevan (2013). Between the 1970s and the last decade, kharif rainfall has declined on average by 26 millimeters and rabi rainfall by 33 millimeters. Annual average rainfall for this period has on average declined by about 86 millimeters.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of dry days (rainfall less than 0.1 mm per day), as well as wet days (rainfall greater than 80 mm per day) has increased steadily over time since 1970. Thus, the imprint of climate change is clearly manifest in the increasing frequency of extreme weather outcomes.<br /> <br /> • Temperature increases have been particularly felt between the last decade (2005-2015) and the period 1950-1980 in the North-East, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Parts of India, for example, Punjab, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh have been the least affected. In contrast, extreme deficiencies in rainfall between the last decade (2005-2015) and the period 1950-1980 are more concentrated in Uttar Pradesh, North-East, and Kerala, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand. <br /> <br /> • Extreme temperature shocks, when a district is significantly hotter than usual (in the top 20 percentiles of the district-specific temperature distribution), results in a 4 percent decline in agricultural yields during the kharif season and a 4.7 percent decline in rabi yields. Similarly, extreme rainfall shocks - when it rains significantly less than usual (bottom 20 percentiles of the district-specific rainfall distribution). The result is a 12.8 percent decline in kharif yields, and a smaller, but not insignificant decline of 6.7 percent in rabi yields.<br /> <br /> <img alt="Impact of weather shocks on agricultural yields" src="tinymce/uploaded/Impact%20of%20weather%20shocks%20on%20agricultural%20yields.jpg" style="height:349px; width:337px" /><br /> <br /> • Unirrigated areas – defined as districts where less than 50 percent of cropped area is irrigated -- bear the brunt of the vagaries of weather. For example, an extreme temperature shock in unirrigated areas reduces yields by 7 percent for kharif and 7.6 percent for rabi. Similarly, the effects of extreme rainfall shocks are 14.7 percent and 8.6 percent (for kharif and rabi, respectively) in unirrigated areas, much larger than the effects these shocks have in irrigated districts.<br /> <br /> • Even after controlling for the level of rainfall, the number of dry days (defined as days during the monsoon with rainfall less than 0.1 millimetres) exerts a significant negative influence on productivity: holding the amount of rainfall constant, each additional dry day during the monsoon reduces yields by 0.2 percent on average and by 0.3 percent in unirrigated areas.<br /> <br /> • Extreme temperature shocks reduce farmer incomes by 4.3 percent and 4.1 percent during kharif and rabi respectively, whereas extreme rainfall shocks reduce incomes by 13.7 percent and 5.5 percent.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><img alt="Impact of weather shocks on farm revenue" src="tinymce/uploaded/Impact%20of%20weather%20shocks%20on%20farm%20revenue.jpg" style="height:165px; width:196px" /></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In a year where temperatures are 1 degree Celsius higher farmer incomes would fall by 6.2 percent during the kharif season and 6 percent during rabi in unirrigated districts. Similarly, in a year when rainfall levels were 100 millimetres less than average, farmer incomes would fall by 15 percent during kharif and by 7 percent during the rabi season.<br /> <br /> • Swaminathan et. al. (2010) show that a 1degree Celsius increase in temperature reduces wheat production by 4 to 5 percent, similar to the effects found here.<br /> <br /> • A study by the IMF, (2017) finds that for emerging market economies a 1 degree Celsius increase in temperature would reduce agricultural growth by 1.7 percent, and a 100 millimetres reduction in rain would reduce growth by 0.35 percent.<br /> <br /> • Climate change models, such as the ones developed by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), predict that temperatures in India are likely to rise by 3-4 degree Celsius by the end of the 21st century (Pathak, Aggarwal and Singh, 2012). These predictions combined with our regression estimates imply that in the absence of any adaptation by farmers and any changes in policy (such as irrigation), farm incomes will be lower by around 12 percent on an average in the coming years. Unirrigated areas will be the most severely affected, with potential losses amounting to 18 percent of annual revenue.<br /> <br /> • Applying IPCC-predicted temperatures and projecting India’s recent trends in precipitation, and assuming no policy responses, give rise to estimates for farm income losses of 15 percent to 18 percent on average, rising to 20 percent-25 percent for unirrigated areas. At current levels of farm income, that translates into more than Rs. 3,600 per year for the median farm household.<br /> <br /> • India pumps more than twice as much groundwater as China or United States (Shah, 2008). Indeed global depletion is most alarming in North India.<br /> <br /> • Analysis of groundwater stations reveals a 13 percent decline in the water table over the past 30 years.<br /> <br /> • Technologies of drip irrigation, sprinklers, and water management—captured in the “more crop for every drop” campaign—may well hold the key to future Indian agriculture (Shah Committee Report, 2016; Gulati, 2005) and hence should be accorded greater priority in resource allocation.<br /> <br /> • Building on the current crop insurance program (Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana), weather-based models and technology (drones for example) need to be used to determine losses and compensate farmers within weeks (Kenya does it in a few days).<br /> <br /> • Inadequate irrigation, continued rain dependence, ineffective procurement, and insufficient investments in research and technology (non-cereals such as pulses, soyabeans, and cotton), high market barriers and weak post-harvest infrastructure (fruits and vegetables), and challenging non-economic policy (livestock).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to the Policy Brief on crop residue burning by National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) entitled [inside]Innovative Viable Solution to Rice Residue Burning in Rice-Wheat Cropping System through Concurrent Use of Super Straw Management System-fitted Combines and Turbo Happy Seeder (October, 2017)[/inside] (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/Policy%20Brief%20Crop%20Burning.pdf">click here</a> to access): <br /> <br /> • Estimates indicate that up to 80 percent of rice residues are burnt by farmers in Punjab. In other North Western states also, rice burning is practiced in a sizeable area. It is estimated that in NW states of India about 23 million tonnes of rice residues are burnt annually. Collection and storage of such a huge quantity of residue is neither practically feasible nor economical.<br /> <br /> • The NASA satellite images of early November 2016 (peak period of rice residue burning) depicts the burning hot spots across south Asia and shows that the intensity of rice residue burning in Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand is very high.<br /> <br /> • The major pollutants emitted by crop residue burning - CO2, CO, CH4, N2O, NOx, SO2, black carbon, non-methyl hydrocarbons (NMHC), volatile organic compounds (VOC) and particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), contribute enormously to global warming.<br /> <br /> • It is estimated that one tonne rice residue on burning releases 13 kg particulate matter, 60 kg CO, 1460 kg CO2, 3.5 kg NOx, 0.2 kg SO2. The black carbon emitted during residue burning warms the lower atmosphere and it is the second most important contributor to global warming after CO2.<br /> <br /> • Apart from the damage caused by air pollution, burning of rice residue also results in loss of soil organic matter and plant nutrients and adversely affects soil health. About 90 percent of N and S and 15-20 percent of P and K contained in rice residue are lost during burning. Burning of 23 million tonnes of rice residues in NW India leads to a loss of about 9.2 million tonnes of C equivalent (CO2-equivalent of about 34 million tonnes) per year and a loss of about 1.4×105 t of N (equivalent to Rs 200 crores) annually. In addition, in-field burning of crop residues also destroys the beneficial micro-flora and fauna of soil causing adverse impact on soil health.<br /> <br /> • Increase in the concentration of PM2.5 and PM10 during the large scale burning of rice residues is a major health hazard. For example, the children are more sensitive to air pollution (smog), as rice residue burning poses some unrecoverable influence on their pulmonary functions.<br /> <br /> • The emission of high levels of PM2.5 and PM10 in the air causes chronic diseases like cardiopulmonary disorders irrecoverable lung capacity or asthma in human population of NW India. The survey and economic evaluation showed a clear increase in medical and health-related expenditure and workdays lost during the rice residue-burning period (September–November) each year in Punjab.<br /> <br /> • These health-related expenditures tend to be higher for children, older people and farm workers who are directly exposed to rice residue burning. The human health costs from rice residue burning in rural areas of Punjab are estimated at Rs. 7.61 crores annually. The costs would be much higher if expenses on averting activities, productivity loss due to illness, monetary value of discomfort, etc., are also included.<br /> <br /> • The practices in current use, for utilizing rice residue, include livestock fodder, livestock bedding, in-situ incorporation, composting, generating electricity, mushroom cultivation, roof thatching, biogas (anaerobic digestion), furnace fuel, biofuel, and paper and pulp board manufacturing. Presently these options together utilize less than 15 percent of the total rice residue produced in NW India. Of the various available options, electricity generation, production of bio-oil and on-farm utilization of rice residue are the major practices in current use.<br /> <br /> • Generation of electricity is an attractive option but, at present, only seven-biomass energy plants have been installed in Punjab and six more are in the pipeline. However, these biomass energy plants together can consume only about 10 percent of the rice residues in the state. A 12 MW rice residue power plant requires 1.20 lakh tons of residues in a year which needs a large dumping ground. In addition, these biomass energy plants produce large amount of ash and there is a serious challenge for its disposal. For the time being, it is dumped in landfills or depressions created by brick kilns.<br /> <br /> • Technologies to produce bio-oil (pyrolysis) and gasification are still under research and development to make them economically viable. Most of the furnaces in the Punjab use 25-30 percent of rice residue mixed with 70-75 percent of other biomass and the present utilization of rice straw is only 0.5 million tonnes annually. Limited utilization of this technology is primarily due to high silica content in rice straw, which causes clinker formation in the boilers.<br /> <br /> • In North West India, super straw management system (SMS)-fitted combines are used for harvesting rice in 70-90 percent of the area under rice-wheat cropping system (RWCS), leaving huge quantities of residues and stubbles on the field. Efficient and economic management of 8-10 t/ha rice residues and seeding of wheat crop on time is a daunting task for the farmers, due to the availability of a short window of about 15 days to complete these operations.<br /> <br /> • The cost of each super straw management systems (SMS) attachment is approximately Rs. 1.2 lakh, and the cost of Turbo Happy Seeder is about Rs. 1.3 lakh. These costs can easily be recovered by the custom hiring service providers, through marginal increase in the charges for custom hiring.<br /> <br /> • Concurrent use of SMS-fitted combines and turbo happy seeder for wheat sowing has distinct production, economic, environmental and societal advantages, some of which are: (a) Increase in average yield of wheat by 2-4 percent compared to conventional till wheat; (b) Economical cost of production, through savings in the cost of labour, fuel, chemicals, etc.; Saves about 20 liters of fuel per hectare due to sowing of wheat in a single operation. A total saving – 20×4.3 Mha = 86 million liters of diesel fuel per season; (c) Increase in nutrient use efficiency, by continuous recycling of residues using Turbo Happy Seeder for over 3-4 years results in producing same yield with 30-40 kg per ha less nitrogen use and hence significantly higher (10-15 percent) nutrient use efficiency; (d) Produces more crop per drop of water, by saving up to 1.0 million liters of water per hectare due to elimination of pre-sowing irrigation. Moreover, residue mulch reduces evaporation loss equivalent to about 45 mm (0.45 million liter) during the wheat season; (e) Reduces risk of biotic and abiotic stresses, by reducing weed growth, crop lodging, karnal bunt infestation and termite attack. Wheat yields were nearly 16 percent more than farmers who followed conventional practices, when heavy rains fell late in the wheat season at grain filling stage in 2014-15; (f) Improves soil health, by improving soil organic matter over time, which enhances soil health, productivity potential and soil biodiversity etc.<br /> <br /> • It is estimated that to cover 50 percent (5 million ha) of the total acreage under RWCS in India, about 60000 Turbo Happy Seeders and 30000 super SMS fitted combines will be required; at present, there are only about 3000 Turbo Happy Seeders and 1000 super SMS fitted combines are available.<br /> <br /> **page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to the report entitled: [inside]Statistics Related to Climate Change-India 2015, prepared by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation[/inside], please <a href="http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/climateChangeStat2015.pdf">click here</a> to access:<br /> <br /> • India's share of CO2 in the total emissions in the world is very insignificant in per capita terms. The per capita emission of an Indian citizen is 1.2 tons of CO2 whereas his counterpart in USA contributes 20.6 tons, as per UNDP Human Development Report 2007/2008. The per capita emissions of UK and Japan are 8 times and of USA 17 times higher than that of India. India's contribution to the world total is only 4.6 percent when compared to USA's contribution of 20.9 percent followed by 17.3 percent of China.<br /> <br /> • While the per capita emissions of many developed countries vary between 7 to 15 metric tonnes, the per capita emissions in India were only about 1.56 metric tonnes in 2010.<br /> <br /> • India accounts for 2.4 percent of the world surface area, but supports around 17.5 percent of the world population. It houses the largest proportion of global poor (30 percent), around 24 percent of the global population without access to electricity (304 million), about 30 percent of the global population relying on solid biomass for cooking and 92 million without access to safe drinking water. The average annual energy consumption in India in 2011 was only 0.6 tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) per capita as compared to global average of 1.88 toe per capita.<br /> <br /> • Around 363 million people (30 percent of the population) live in poverty, about 1.77 million people are houseless and 4.9 percent of the population (aged 15 years and above) are unemployed. The per capita electricity consumption stands low at 917 kWh, which is barely one third of the world's average consumption.<br /> <br /> • The energy sector is the major producer of CO2. Nearly 58.6 percent of India's energy needs are met from coal, which is abundant, locally available and cheap when compared to alternative fuels. As per Central Electricity Authority CO2 Baseline Database for the Indian Power Sector, CO2 emissions in the power sector are continuously increasing in all parts of the country.<br /> <br /> • In India, the methane emissions in the year 1994 were 18,583 Gg, (Giga gram) out of which 78 percent came from agriculture, 16 percent from energy sources and 6 percent from waste disposal.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> • The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) estimates that 77 percent to 68 percent of the forest areas in the country are likely to experience shift in forest types by the end of the 21st century, which needs our immediate attention.<br /> <br /> • The number of vehicles registered in India is on the increase over the last 7 years at an average annual cumulative rate of 10 percent (data from 2004 to 2011). It indicates the increases in the use of fossil fuel and thereby an increase in GHG emissions.<br /> <br /> • In India, an increase in the linear trend of about 0.4 degree C in the surface air temperature has been observed in the past century. A warming trend is visible along the west coast, central India, interior peninsula and the North-Eastern India, but some cooling trends are also visible in the North-West India and parts of South-India (NAPCC, 2008).<br /> <br /> • A trend of about 10 percent to 12 percent (of the normal) increase in monsoon rains were reported along the west coast, northern Andhra Pradesh and north-western India during the last century. A decreasing trend of about 6 percent to 8 percent is observed over the last 100 years over eastern Madhya Pradesh, North-Eastern India and some parts of Gujarat and Kerala (NAPCC, 2008).<br /> <br /> • Food production in India is sensitive to climate change like variations in temperature and monsoon rainfall. Rise in temperature has a direct impact on the rabi crop and every 1 degree C rise will reduce wheat production by 4 to 5 million tons. Every small change in temperature and rainfall has significant effect on the quality and quantity of fruits, vegetables, tea, coffee, basmati rice and aromatic and medicinal plants. It is predicted that a loss of 10 percent to 40 percent in production may occur by 2100 due to climate change (NAPCC).<br /> <br /> • There has been a reduction in the number of known species in India of 'fern & fernallics' from 1200 to 1135 during the reference period 2001-2007.<br /> <br /> • India has the largest cattle and buffalo population in the world of about 300 million, which faces multiple challenges including diseases, inadequate supply of fodder etc. as a result of changing climate.<br /> <br /> • Rapid urbanization in the country will be one of the most dominant trends in the coming years. It is expected that about 40 percent of the population in 2030 would be urban as against 30 percent currently. As population expands and incomes grow, this shift will likely be realized alongside demographic changes that will exponentially increase the demand for urban amenities like housing, energy, transport, water, waste disposal. It is estimated that more than half of India of 2030 is yet to be built. In a way, India's development process is doubly challenging. It not only has to complete the current unfinished development agenda, it has to strategise for future pressures that may increase the magnitude of this development gap.<br /> <br /> • In recognition of the growing problem of Climate Change, India declared a voluntary goal of reducing the emissions intensity of its GDP by 20–25 percent, over 2005 levels, by 2020, despite having no binding mitigation obligations as per the Convention. A slew of policy measures were launched to achieve this goal. As a result, the emission intensity of our GDP has decreased by 12 percent between 2005 and 2010. It is a matter of satisfaction that United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in its Emission Gap Report 2014 has recognized India as one of the countries on course to achieving its voluntary goal.<br /> <br /> • Preliminary estimates indicate that India would need around USD 206 billion (at 2014-15 prices) between 2015 and 2030 for implementing adaptation actions in agriculture, forestry, fisheries infrastructure, water resources and ecosystems.<br /> <br /> • An Asian Development Bank study on assessing the costs of climate change adaptation in South Asia indicates that approximate adaptation cost for India in energy sector alone would roughly be about USD 7.7 billion in 2030s. The report also projects the economic damage and losses in India from climate change to be around 1.8 percent of its GDP annually by 2050.<br /> <br /> • Estimates by NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) indicate that the mitigation activities for moderate low carbon development would cost around USD 834 billion till 2030 at 2011 prices.<br /> <br /> • A preliminary estimate suggests that at least USD 2.5 trillion (at 2014-15 prices) will be required for meeting India's climate change actions between now and 2030.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to the [inside]SAARC-India Country Report 2015: Statistical Appraisal[/inside], produced by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Government of India (please <a href="https://im4change.org/docs/94376SAARC_India_Country_Report_2015.pdf">click here</a> to access)<br /> <br /> • The consumption of fertilizer has shown an increasing trend in India. Between 2006-07 and 2011-12, the consumption of fertilizers has increased by 23 percent. The per hectare consumption of chemical fertilizers has increased from 89.63 kg in 2000-01 to 128.34 kg in 2012-13.<br /> <br /> • There is excessive use of urea and a bias against micronutrients. As against the desirable NPK proportion of 4:2:1, the proportion is 7.9:3.1:1. As nitrogenous fertilizers are subsidized more than potassium and phosphorus-based fertilizers, the subsidy tends to benefit the crops and regions, which require higher use of nitrogenous fertilizers as compared to crops and regions which require higher application of P and K. The excessive use of urea has also affected the soil profile adversely.<br /> <br /> • Water pollution is a serious problem in India as almost 75-80 percent of its surface water resources and a growing percentage of its groundwater reserves are contaminated by biological, toxic, organic and inorganic pollutants.<br /> <br /> • The analysis of three major pollutants (adequate data) in residential/ industrial/ rural and other area with respect to National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) during 2012 revealed that sulphur dioxide (SO2) showed low concentration in most of the locations (356 locations, 96 percent), moderate in 12 locations (3 percent) and high in 2 locations.<br /> <br /> • With respect to Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), 173 locations (47 percent) were in low category, 145 in moderate (39 percent), 42 in high (11 percent) and 10 (3 percent) in critical category during 2012.<br /> <br /> • With respect to Particulate Matter size less than or equal to 10 micron (PM10) only 9 locations (2 percent) showed low PM10 level, 56 locations (15 percent) showed moderate, 84 high (23 percent) and 223 location (60 percent) were in critical category.<br /> <br /> • In 2012, out of the 46 million plus/ metropolitan cities, 1, 6 and 34 cities exceeded the NAAQS with respect to SO2, NO2 and PM10 in the residential/ industrial/ rural/ commercial areas. One city exceeded the standard limit with respect to PM10 in ecologically sensitive area.<br /> <br /> • The total quantity of waste generated in the country (based on weighment exercise by local bodies) is not reported. However, the Ministry of Urban Development, in its manual on solid waste management (in 2000), had estimated a waste generation of 1 lakh MT.<br /> <br /> • During the year 2004-05, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) through National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur conducted survey in 59 cities (35 Metro cities and 24 State Capitals) and estimated 39,031 tonnes per day Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generation in these 59 cities/ towns. The CPCB has reported generation of 50,592 tonnes of MSW per day in the year 2010-11 in the same 59 cities.<br /> <br /> • As per information received from State Pollution Control Boards/ Pollution Control Committees (during 2009-12), 1.27 lakh tonnes per day (TPD) municipal solid waste was generated in the country during 2011-12. Out of which, 89,334 TPD (70 percent) of MSW was collected and 15,881 TPD (12.45 percent) was processed or treated.<br /> <br /> • A GIS-based project on National Hazardous Waste Information System has been developed to provide status of hazardous waste management in the country, according to which, more than 40,000 hazardous waste industries generate about 7-8 million tonnes per year.<br /> <br /> • Municipal areas in the country generate 1.34 lakh metric tonnes per day of municipal solid waste (MSW), of which only 91,152 TPD waste is collected and 25,884 TPD treated.<br /> <br /> • As per assessment by India State of Forest Report 2013 (ISFR 2013), total forest cover of the country is 6.98 lakh sq.km, which is 21.23 percent of the geographical area of the country. In terms of density classes, area covered by very dense forest (VDF) is 83,502 sq.km (2.54 percent), that with moderately dense forest (MDF) is 3.19 lakh sq.km (9.70 percent) and open forest (OF) is 2.96 lakh sq.km (8.99 percent)<br /> <br /> • The National Forest Policy (1988) aims at maintaining two-third of the geographical area in hills of the country under forest and tree cover. Keeping this in view, forest cover in the hills of the country are presented separately. The forest cover in the hill districts of the country is 2.81 lakh sq.km, which is 39.75 percent of the total geographical area of these districts.<br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to the report titled [inside]4-degree Turn down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience (2013), The World Bank[/inside] (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/World%20Bank%20report.pdf" title="World Bank report on climate change">click here</a> to access the report):<br /> <br /> • While covering a range of sectors, this report focuses on how climate change impacts on agricultural production, water resources, coastal zone fisheries, and coastal safety are likely to increase, often significantly, as global warming climbs from present levels of 0.8°C up to 1.5°C, 2°C and 4°C above pre-industrial levels.<br /> <br /> • Significant increases in inter-annual and intraseasonal variability of monsoon rainfall are to be expected. With global mean warming approaching 4°C, an increase in intra-seasonal variability in the Indian summer monsoon precipitation of approximately 10 percent is projected. Large uncertainty, however, remains about the fundamental behavior of the Indian summer monsoon under global warming. Over southern India, increasing wetness is projected with broad agreement between climate models.<br /> <br /> • The projected increase in the seasonality of precipitation is associated with an increase in the number of dry days, leading to droughts that are amplified by continued warming, with adverse consequences for human lives. Some regions that emerge to be at particularly high risk include north-western India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. In India, the droughts in 1987 and 2002-03 affected more than 50 percent of the crop area in the country and caused major declines in crop production.<br /> <br /> • South Asian populations are likely to be increasingly vulnerable to the greater variability of precipitation changes, in addition to the disturbances in the monsoon system and rising peak temperatures that could put water and food resources at severe risk.<br /> <br /> • In South Asia, climate change shocks to food production and seasonal water availability appear likely to confront populations with ongoing and multiple challenges to secure access to safe drinking water, sufficient water for irrigation and hydropower production, and adequate cooling capacity for thermal power production.<br /> <br /> • For the regions studied in this report, global warming above 1.5°C to 2°C increases the risk of reduced crop yields and production losses in Sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and South Asia.<br /> <br /> • Major investments in infrastructure, flood defense, development of high temperature and drought resistant crop cultivars, and major improvements in sustainability practices, for example in relation to groundwater extraction would be needed to cope with the projected impacts under this level of warming.<br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">The graph below shows the share of different sectors (Industry, Agriculture, Forestry etc.) in total GHG (green house gas) emissions in 2004 in terms of CO2-eq*. (Forestry includes deforestation). Global GHG emissions due to human activities have grown since pre-industrial times, with an increase of 70 percent between 1970 and 2004 </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small"><em><strong><img alt="time bomb 1" src="tinymce/uploaded/time%20bomb%201.bmp" style="height:343px; width:611px" title="time bomb 1" /> </strong></em></span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small"><em><strong>Source:</strong> Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report brought out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</em> </span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small"><em><strong>Note: </strong>* CO2-equivalent emission is the amount of CO2 emission that would cause the same time-integrated radiative forcing, over a given time horizon, as an emitted amount of a long-lived GHG or a mixture of GHGs. The equivalent CO2 is obtained by multiplying the emission of a GHG by its Global Warming Potential (GWP) for the given time horizon.</em> </span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">Share in global CO2 emissions (%) United States versus rest of the world </span></strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium"><img alt="time bomb 2" src="tinymce/uploaded/time%20bomb%202.bmp" style="height:341px; width:607px" title="time bomb 2" /></span></strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small"><em><strong>Source: </strong>International Energy Outlook 2005, US Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration of Government of United States of America, 2005.</em> </span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <div style="text-align:justify">Key findings and recommendations of the report titled: [inside]Gajah: Securing the Future for Elephants in India[/inside] (<a href="http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/ETF_REPORT_FINAL.pdf">http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/ETF_REPORT_FINAL.pdf</a>), prepared by the Elephant Task Force, Ministry of Environment and Forests that comprised of distinguished scholars and environmentalists such as: Dr. Mahesh Rangarajan, Ajay Desai, Dr. R Sukumar, Dr. PS Easa, Vivek Menon, Dr. S Vincent, Suparna Ganguly, Dr. BK Talukdar, Brijendra Singh, Dr. Divya Mudappa, Dr. Sushant Chowdhary and AN Prasad are as follows: </div> <div style="text-align:justify"> </div> <div style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The population of elephants found in the wild is over 26,000 in India. There are 3500 captive elephants, with ancient traditions of captive care. The male population of elephants has shown a decline vis-a-vis females that has led to sex ratios heavily skewed towards females. Large developmental and infrastructural projects are fragmenting elephant habitats.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The Indian sub-continent has an estimated population of about 27000-29000, which is about 50 percent of the Asian elephant population. Elephants in Andaman and Nicobar islands are considered to be feral, as they are the descendants of the captive elephants used in timber felling operations.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The land area occupied by elephants is estimated to be around 110,000 square km, which is composed of Protected Areas, Reserved and other categories of forests, plantations, agriculture, and non-forest areas, the report finds. </span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• Every year over 400 people lose their lives to elephants, and most of them are cultivators or labourers. However, the bad news is that more than half of the 100 elephants are killed every year to save standing crops in the fields. Since 1987, India has lost 150 elephants due to train hits. </span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• Since 1987, the country has lost 150 elephants due to train hits. These include 36 percent cases recorded from Assam, 26</span></span></span><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium"> percent</span></span></span> in West Bengal, 14 </span></span></span><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">percent</span></span></span> in Uttarakhand, 10 </span></span></span><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">percent</span></span></span> in Jharkhand, 6 </span></span></span><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">percent</span></span></span> in Tamil Nadu, 03</span></span></span><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium"> percent</span></span></span> in Uttar Pradesh, 03 </span></span></span><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">percent</span></span></span> in Kerala and 2 </span></span></span><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">percent</span></span></span> in Orissa.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The Task Force has expressed deep concern over the loss of habitats of elephants and the selective killing off of tuskers in key populations by ivory poachers. While the Task force in its report has praised the achievements of Project Elephant, which has been in existence since 1992, it has recommended for the creation of National Elephant Conservation Authority (NECA) on the lines of the structure for tiger conservation. A new Consortium of Elephant Research and Estimation (CERE) has also been recommended so as to develop and apply the best methods for enumeration. The Task Force has also recommended for scientific methods for elephant population monitoring and landscape assessment.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• In order to reduce human-elephant conflicts, the report has asked for preparing Conflict Management Task Forces that would comprise of experienced foresters, scientists, wildlife vets and social scientists. It has recommended for mandatory taluka-level hearings at different times in the sowing and harvesting season in all conflict areas that can bring together affected citizens, officials and elected representatives. </span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The new Elephant Landscapes that are recommended by the Task Force are as follows: 1. Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong-Intanki; 2. Kameng-Sonitpur; 3. East Central; 4. North Western; 5. Brahmagiri-Nilgiri-Eastern Ghats; 6. Eastern South Bank; 7. North Bengal-Greater Manas; 8. Meghalaya; 9. Anamalai-Nelliampathy-High Range; and 10. Periyar-Agasthyamalai.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The Task Force has recommended to declare elephant as a National Heritage Animal, which will give it due place as emblem of ecological sensitivity.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• Over 40 per cent of the Elephant Reserves is not under Protected Area or government forest. The Task Force favours Ecologically Sensitive Area status under the Environment Protection Act to regulate activity that may be ecologically negative. </span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The role of Elephant Reserve Committees has been emphasized so as to enable redress, consultation and transparency. </span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The Task Force has ranked the Elephant Corridors that link critical populations according to priority and feasibility for action. The main emphasis is on innovative methods to secure habitats beyond the Protected Areas. These could include Community or Conservation Reserves, Ecosystem Services payments and conservation easements.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The resource earmarked over the 12th Five Year Plan is Rs. 600 crore. A third of the allocation will be to secure vital habitats that serve as links between populations that may be cut off. One sixth of resources asked for are earmarked for conflict issues.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• Citizens Elephant Welfare Committees are expected to take care of elephants in captivity. Gajah Centres and an elephant awareness campaign are on the agenda. An International Elephant Congress of the fifty elephant range states and an Asian partnership for Gajah will see India play a positive role for scientific and ecological cooperation.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The Task Force has noted that Human-elephant conflict is on the rise despite Project Elephant running in the country for the last 18 years and is currently at an all time high, but financial allocations to deal with the problem have not increased proportionally.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• A major task is promotion of measures for mitigation of human elephant conflict in crucial habitats and moderating pressures of human and livestock activities in crucial elephant habitats.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The Task Force has found that the prevailing system of monitoring of Asian elephant populations in India focuses on population size, sex ratio and population structure (in calves, juveniles, sub-adults and adults categories). However, little thought has been given to estimation of numbers and associated sampling-based variation or on the power of any estimate to detect demographic changes in elephant populations (such as increases and declines). In spite of this perturbing fact, estimates for monitoring elephants are made mainly to know the total number of elephants (population size).</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• Occupancy, abundance index, density and demography of elephants across the ranges could be key parameters for correlating them with habitat and anthropogenic and ecological variables to draw meaningful conclusions important for conservation and management.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• Degradation, fragmentation and shrinkage of forest cover to accommodate the increasing human population largely characterized by various developmental activities have severely threatened Indian wildlife. Long ranging species such as Asian Elephant and Tiger that require a large landscape to fulfill their ecological needs have been the most affected ones. Hydroelectric and irrigation projects, roads, railway lines and mining have severely depleted and fragmented the elephant habitat.</span></span></span></div> <div style="text-align:justify"> </div> <div style="text-align:justify"> </div> <div style="text-align:justify">**page**</div> <div style="text-align:justify"> </div> <div style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to [inside]Compendium of Environment Statistics India 2008-2009[/inside], produced by Central Statistical Organization (CSO), </span></div> <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/comp_env_2008-09.pdf"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/comp_env_2008-09.pdf</span></a><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">: </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• India is one of the 12 megabiodiversity countries of the world. From about 70 </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">percent</span></span></span> of the total geographical area surveyed so far, 46,000 plant species and 81,000 animal species representing about 7 percent of the world’s flora and 6.5 </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">percent</span> of the world's fauna, respectively, have been described. Out of the total twelve biodiversity hot spots in the world, India has two; one is the north east region and other the western ghats.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• As per the latest State of Forest Report 2009, the forest cover in the country is 690,889 km sq. and constitutes 21.02 percent of its geographic area. There is a increase of 728 km sq in forest cover in year 2007 as compared to revised assessment made in 2005. The total tree cover of the country has been estimated as 92,769 km sq. or about 2.82 percent of the country’s geographic area.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• More than 60 percent of Indian households depend on traditional sources of energy like fuel wood, dung and crop residue for meeting their cooking and heating needs. Out of total rural energy consumption about 65 per cent is met from fuel wood. Fuel wood consumption during 2001-02 is estimated at 223 million tones, 180 millions tones of which is for household consumption and the balance for cottage industry, big hotels etc. Burning of traditional fuels introduces large quantities of CO2 when the combustion is complete, but if there is incomplete combustion and oxidation then Carbon monoxide (CO) is produced, in addition to hydrocarbons.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• About 24 mha are occupied by the housing, the industry and for other non-agricultural uses, 19.2 mha are snowbound and remote, leaving only 263 million hectare for agriculture, forestry, pasture and other biomass production. Since 1970-71, the net area sown has remained almost the same at around 141 mha levels.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Average annual precipitation is nearly 4000 cubic km. and the average flow in the river system is estimated to be 1880 cubic km. Because of concentration of rains only in the three monsoon months, the utilizable quantum of water is about 690 cubic km.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• A total of 42.6 million people living in 8.2 million households have been enumerated in slums of 640 cities/towns spread across 26 states and union territories in 2001 census. The slum population constitutes 4 percent of the total population of the country. The slum dwellers in the country constitute nearly a seventh of the total urban population of the states and union territories reporting slum population and 23.1 percent of the population of the 640 cities/towns reporting slums. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Cities with population above 100,000 accounts for 60 percent of country’s population in 2001. About 17.7 million population lives in the citites with population above one million, which is 41.6 percent of the total slum population in the country. In absolute numbers, Greater Mumbai has the highest slum population of around 6.5 million followed by Delhi 1.9 million and Kolkata 1.5 million. The slum areas of Surat, Hyderabad, Chennai and Nagpur have more than half a million population each.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to the [inside]Report of the Committee to Evolve Road Map on Management of Wastes in India[/inside], Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi, March, 2010, </span><a href="http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/Roadmap-Mgmt-Waste.pdf"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/Roadmap-Mgmt-Waste.pdf</span></a><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">: </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Waste management differs for different types of wastes and for wastes in different geographical locations such as urban, rural and hilly areas. While the management of non-hazardous domestic waste is the joint responsibility of the citizens and the local government, the management of commercial, industrial and hazardous waste is the responsibility of the waste generators like commercial establishments, healthcare establishments, industries and the pollution control boards.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• As per 2008 statistics, it is estimated that in India we need to manage 0.573 million metric tons (MMT) of municipal solid waste per day of which about 60 </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">percent</span> is organic waste amounting to 0.292 MMT/d. There are only 110 facilities in the country for treating hardly 50 </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">percent</span> of the organic waste generated.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• In the present practice of mixed collection and transportation throughout the country, collection efficiency is only around 60 </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">percent</span> and the rest 40 </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">percent</span> lies uncollected and scattered all over our towns and cities, polluting the surrounding land and water resources. This also leads to proliferation of rodents and vectors spreading diseases and air pollution from dust and smoke when burnt in the open.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• About 24 landfill facilities, jointly having the capacity of holding 0.06 MMT/d have been constructed in the country for landfilling against a total requirement for landfilling of about 0.183 MMT/d of inert wastes.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) assessed Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW) generation in the country to be 1,00,000 Metric Tons or 0.1 million metric tonnes per day (MMT/d) in the year 2001-02. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) made a survey of 59 cities in India during the year 2004-05 to assess the existing status of MSW management which included 35 metro cities and 24 State capitals. Based on this study and on census data of 2008, the MSW generation in the country has been estimated to be 0.573 (MMT/d) in the year 2008.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The average collection efficiency of municipal solid waste ranges from 22 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> to 60 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">. The highest per capita waste generation was in the city of Kochi (0.67 kg/capita/day) and the lowest was (0.17-0.19 kg/c/day) in Kohima, Imphal and Nashik. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The waste characterization showed that municipal solid wastes typically contains 51 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> of organic waste, 17 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> recyclables, 11 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> hazardous and 21 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> inert. However, about 40 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> of all MSW is not collected at all and hence lies littered in the city/town and finds its way to nearby drains and water bodies, causing choking of drains and pollution of surface water.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• There are 86 mechanized compost plants, 20 Vermi-compost plants, 2 refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) plants, and two with energy recovery system established so far in India. Also Sanitary Landfill Facilities (SLF) have been constructed in the country for scientific disposal of MSW, many of which are in operation.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules are not being effectively implemented in most of the local bodies i.e. in about 4377 municipalities and municipal corporations spread throughout the country.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The plastic consumption in India, as per estimate in 2008 by CPCB was 8 MT/annum, out of which about 5.7 MT of plastics are converted into waste annually i.e. 15,722 tons of plastic waste is generated per day. Therefore the per capita generation of plastic waste has been estimated as 5.7 Kg/annum. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The figures available on plastic waste are estimated on the assumption that 70 percent of the total plastic consumed is transformed into waste. It has been reported that 60 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> of total plastic waste generated is recycled and 40 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> is littered and remains uncollected. Therefore, approximately, 6289 tons per day (TPD) i.e. 40 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> of plastics are neither collected,nor recycled and find their way into drains, open lands, rivers, railway tracks and coasts. These in turn, choke drains or get dredged in the soil, making the land infertile.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Thermoplastics, which include Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Low Density Poly Ethylene (LDPE), Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC), High Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE), Polypropylene (PP), Polystyrene (PS) etc, constitute 80 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> of the total plastics.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• In terms of types of plastics, almost 90 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> of the plastic types are recyclable and only 10 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> of the various types of waste are non-recyclable.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• It is estimated that the construction industry in India generates about 10-12 million tons of waste annually.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Approximately 288.20 tons per day (56.87%) out of 506.74 tons per day wastes generated is being treated either through Common Bio-medical Waste Treatment Facilities (159 in number), or captive treatment facilities. There are 602 Bio-medical Waste Incinerators (which include both common and captive incinerators), 2218 autoclaves, 192 microwaves, 151 hydroclaves and 8,038 shredders in the country. About 424 (70.4%) out of 602 incinerators are provided with air pollution control devices and 178 (29.6 %) incinerators are in operation without air pollution control devices.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The E-waste inventory based on the obsolescence rate in India for the year 2005 has been estimated to be 1,46, 000 tonnes, which is expected to exceed 8,00,000 tonnes by 2012.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• There are about 36,000 hazardous waste generating industries in India which generate 6.2 million tonnes out of which land fillable hazardous waste is about 2.7 million tonnes (44%), incinerable hazardous waste is about 0.4 million tonnes (7 %) and recyclable hazardous waste is about 3.1 million tonnes (49 %). Indiscriminate and unscientific disposal of wastes in the past has resulted in several sites in the country to become environmentally degraded. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• There are 141 hazardous waste dumpsites that have been primarily identified in 14 States/UTs out of which 88 critically polluted locations are currently identified. Gujarat (about 29%), Maharashtra (about 25%) and Andhra Pradesh (about 9%) are the top three HW generating States. Thereafter, Chhattisgarh (about 5%), Rajasthan, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu (about 4 %) are found to be major generators of HW. These seven States together, are generating about 80 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> of country's total HW. About 64 Common Hazardous Waste Transportation, Storage and Disposal Sites (TSDFs) have been identified in various States/UTs out of which 35 sites have been notified.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to the report [inside]The State of World Population 2009 (UNFPA)[/inside]: Facing a changing world: Women, population and climate, </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><a href="http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2009/en/pdf/EN_SOWP09.pdf">http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2009/en/pdf/EN_SOWP09.pdf</a>:</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The temperature increase since the late 1800s may seem small—0.74 degrees Celsius—but the impact on people is likely to be profound. The impact will be even greater as temperatures continue rising, by as much as 6.4 degrees Celsius by 2100.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Rice-growing, livestock-raising, and burning organic wastes have more than doubled methane concentrations. The use of artificial fertilizers, made possible by techniques developed in the early 20th century, has released large amounts of another greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide, into air and water.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Since 2000, “anthropogenic” or human-caused carbon-dioxide emissions have been increasing four times faster than in the previous decade. Most of the emissions came from burning fossil fuels.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The World Health Organization estimates that in 2000 some 150,000 excess deaths were occurring annually—in extreme heat waves, storms, or similar events—as a result of climate change that had occurred since the 1970s.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The additional greenhouse gases that come from intense burning of fossil fuels, modern farming methods that rely on fertilizers, and the industrial use of chlorofluorocarbons, particularly in the past 40 years, have thrown the earth’s natural greenhouse effect into a state of disequilibrium. In addition, deforestation, clearing of other vegetation and the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the oceans have reduced the capacity of the world’s “carbon sinks,” which have for millennia absorbed excess carbon from the atmosphere. Less capacity to absorb carbon means there is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, exacerbating what now appears to be a runaway greenhouse effect.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The ten warmest years between 1880 and 2008 are: 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Developing countries will account for the majority of the growth in total volume of carbon-dioxide emissions related to fossil fuels from 2008 through 2030.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Emissions to be lower in 2030 than today only in Europe and Japan, where population is now approaching or already in decline</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Global emissions of black carbon are rising fast, and Chinese emissions may have doubled since 2000.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• From 1850 to 2002, countries we now call developed accounted for an estimated 76 per cent of cumulative carbon-dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel combustion, while the countries we now call developing accounted for an estimated 24 per cent. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Boosted by growing populations and rising affluence, the sum total of all developing countries’ emissions began exceeding the totals of all those of developed countries in 2005 and now make up 54 per cent of the total. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• In 2007, China is believed to have overtaken the United States in total carbon-dioxide emissions resulting from fossil-fuel combustion.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><em>Some of the climate change risks according to the report The State of World Population 2009 (UNFPA) are:</em></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The average global temperature could rise by as much as 6.4 degrees Celsius by the end of this century.24</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• As much as 30 per cent of plant and animal species could become extinct if the global temperature increase exceeds 2.5 degrees Celsius.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• One-third of the reef-building corals around the world could become extinct because of warming and acidifying waters.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Global average sea levels could rise by as much as 43 centimetres by the end of this century.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Arctic ice could disappear altogether during the summer by the second half of this century. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• One in six countries could face food shortages each year because of severe droughts.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• By 2075, between 3 billion and 7 billion people could face chronic water shortages.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">**page**<em> </em></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to the [inside]State of Environment Report India 2009[/inside],</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><a href="http://hindi.indiawaterportal.org/sites/hindi.indiawaterportal.org/files/StateofEnvironmentReport2009.pdf">http://hindi.indiawaterportal.org/sites/hindi.indiawaterportal.org/files/StateofEnvironmentReport2009.pdf</a>: </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• In India, an estimated 146.82 Mha. area suffers from various forms of land degradation due to water and wind erosion and other complex problems like alkalinity/ salinity and soil acidity due to water logging. The varying degrees and types of degradation, stem mainly from unstable use and inappropriate land management practices. Loss of vegetation occurs as a result of deforestation, cutting beyond the silviculturally permissible limits, unsustainable fuel-wood and fodder extraction, shifting cultivation, encroachment into forest lands, forest fires and over-grazing, all of which subject the land to degradational forces. Other important factors responsible for large-scale degradation are the extension of cultivation to lands of low potential or high natural hazards, non-adoption of adequate soil conservation measures, improper crop rotation, indiscriminate use of agro-chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides, improper planning and management of irrigation systems and extraction of groundwater in excess of the recharge capacity.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Over the past fifty years, while India's total population increased by about three times, the total area of land under cultivation increased by only 20.2 per cent (from 118.75 Mha. In 1951 to 141.89 Mha. in 2005-06). Most of this expansion has taken place at the expense of forest and grazing land. Despite fast expansion of the area under cultivation, less agricultural land is available on per capita basis.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The current practice of shifting cultivation in the eastern and north-eastern regions of India is an extravagant and unscientific form of land use. According to a recent estimate, an area of 18765.86 sq. km. (0.59 percent of the total geographical area) is under shifting cultivation. The effects of shifting cultivation are devastating and far-reaching in degrading the environment and ecology of these regions. The earlier 15–20 years cycle of shifting cultivation on a particular land has reduced to two or three years now. This has resulted in large-scale deforestation, soil and nutrient loss, and invasion by weeds and other species. The indigenous biodiversity has been affected to a large extent. As per the statistics, Orissa accounts for the largest area under shifting cultivation in India.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Per hectare consumption of fertilizers has increased from 69.8 kg in 1991-92 to 113.3 kg in 2006-07, at an average rate of 3.3 per cent. There is excessive use of urea and a bias against micronutrients. As against the desirable NPK proportion of 4:2:1, the average use of urea now is 6:2 and 4:1. The Steering Committee of the Planning Commission has observed that “because nitrogenous fertilizers are subsidised more than potassic and phosphatic fertilizers, the subsidy tends to benefit the crops and regions which require higher use of nitrogenous fertilizers as compared to crops and regions which require higher application of P and K.” The excessive use of urea has also affected the soil profile adversely</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The total tree cover of the country has been estimated as 91,663 sq. km. or about 2.79 per cent of the country's geographical area. Between 2003 and 2005, the total forest cover had decreased slightly by 728 sq. km. The states, which have shown a decline in the forest covers, are Nagaland (296 sq. km), Manipur (173 sq. km), Madhya Pradesh (132 sq. km) and Chhattisgarh (129 sq. km). There has been a significant loss of forest cover in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (178 sq. km) because of the Tsunami. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The total forest cover of the country, as per the 2005 assessment, is 677,088 sq. km. which constitutes 20.60 per cent of the geographic area of the country. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Burning of wheat and rice straw and other agricultural residue has also contributed to loss of soil fertility, apart from causing air pollution. Open field burning of straw after combine harvesting is a common practice in states like Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in order to ensure early preparation of fields for the next crop. Punjab alone produces around 23 million tonnes of rice straw and 17 million tonnes of wheat straw, annually. This straw is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. However, instead of recycling it back into the soil by mulching, it is burnt in the fields. This raises the temperature of the soil in the top three inches to such a high degree that the carbon: nitrogen equilibrium in soil changes rapidly. The carbon as CO is lost to the atmosphere, while nitrogen is converted into a nitrate. This leads to a loss of about 0.824 million tonnes of NPK from the soil. This is about 50 per cent of the total fertilizer consumption in the state.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Excessive soil erosion with consequent high rate of sedimentation in the reservoirs and decreased fertility has created serious environmental problems with disastrous economic consequences. In India, the Ganga, Brahmaputra and Kosi rivers carry huge amounts of eroded soil in the form of heavy silt, which deposits as sediments on the river bed. While soil erosion by rain and river in hilli areas causes landslides and floods, deforestation, overgrazing, traditional agricultural practices, mining and incorrect siting of development projects in forested areas have resulted in exposing the green cover to severe soil erosion. Ravines and gullies account for 4 Mha. of land erosion. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• In India, erosion rates range from 5 to 20 tonnes per hectare, sometimes going up to 100 tonnes per hectare. Nearly 93.68 million hectares are affected by water erosion and another 9.48 million hectares are affected by wind erosion annually in India. Thus, erosion leads to impoverished soil on one hand, and silting up of reservoirs and water tanks on the other.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• In India, 228.3 Mha. of geographical area comprises arid (50.8 Mha.), semi-arid (123.4 Mha.) and dry sub-humid regions (54.1 Mha.). Western parts of Rajasthan and Kutch are chronically drought affected.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Total vehicle population of India is more than 85 million (about 1 percent share of the world). The increase in vehicles, as well as the presence of other motorized forms of transportation (taxis, autos, trains, buses, etc.), will contribute to the already existent large amount of vehicular emissions. The worst thing about vehicular pollution is that it cannot be avoided as the vehicular emissions are emitted at near-ground level.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Air borne emissions emitted from various industries are a cause of major concern. These emissions are of two forms, viz. solid particles (SPM) and gaseous emissions (SO2, NO2, CO, etc.).</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The power sector is a major consumer of coal, using about 78 per cent of the country's coal production. Coal-fired thermal units account for around 62.2 per cent of total power generation in the country. India's heavy reliance on coal explains the country's relatively high carbon intensity level. Coal production through opencast mining, its supply to and consumption in power stations, and industrial boilers leads to particulate and gaseous pollution.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• In 2006-07, India had encountered 495.54 million tonne/ year of total absolute emissions of CO2 from the power sector. However, the contribution of India to the cumulative global CO2 emissions is only 5 per cent. Thus historically, and at present, India's share in the carbon stock in the atmosphere is relatively very small when compared to its population.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The household sector is the second largest consumer of energy in India after the industrial sector. National Family Health Survey-3 (NFHS-3) found that 71 per cent of India's households use solid fuels for cooking and that 91 per cent of rural households also do the same. According to National Family Health Survey-3, more than 60 per cent of Indian households depend on traditional sources of energy like fuel-wood, dung and crop residue for meeting their cooking and heating needs. Burning of traditional fuels introduces large quantities of CO2 in the atmosphere, when the combustion is complete, but if there is an incomplete combustion followed by oxidation, then CO is produced, in addition to hydrocarbons.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• There is a great deal of variation in the prevalence of TB according to the type of cooking fuel the household uses. It ranges from a low of 217 per 100,000 residents, (among households using electricity, liquid petroleum gas, natural gas, or biogas), to a high of 924 per 100,000 (among households using straw, shrubs, or grass for cooking). High TB prevalence is also seen amongst households using agricultural crop residue (703/100,000) or other fuels (755/100,000).</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Agriculture remains central to the Indian economy and therefore, receives the greatest share of the annual water allocation. According to the World Resources Institute (2000), 92 per cent of India's utilizable water is devoted to this sector, mostly in the form of irrigation. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• In 1995, the Central Pollution Control Board identified severely polluted stretches on 18 major rivers in India (World Bank 1999). Not surprisingly, the majority of these stretches were found in and around large urban areas.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The geogenic contaminants, including salinity, iron, fluoride and arsenic have affected groundwater in over 200 districts spread across 19 states. Studies have shown that long-term intake of fluoride can cause tooth decay and crippled bones. Arsenic can cause skin cancer and skin pigmentation.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Water pollution is a serious problem in India as almost 70 per cent of its surface water resources and a growing percentage of its groundwater reserves are contaminated by biological, toxic, organic and inorganic pollutants. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Studies on the Ganga River indicate the presence of chemicals such as HCH, DDT, endosulfan, methyl malathion, malathion, dimethoate, and ethion in levels greater than those recommended by the international standards</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• High levels of fertilizer use has been associated with increased incidence of eutrophication in rivers and lakes in several of India's most important water bodies, such as the Hussein Sagar in Hyderabad and Nainital in Uttar Pradesh.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The Central and State Pollution Control Boards have identified 1,532 'grossly polluting' industries in India, although almost none of the industries comply with the emission standards (World Bank 1999).</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The domestic sector is responsible for the majority of wastewater generation in India. Combined, the 22 largest cities in the country produce over 7,267 million litres of domestic wastewater per day, of which slightly over 80 per cent is collected for treatment (CSE 1999)</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Annual production of solid waste in India has been estimated to be 2,000 million tonnes (MOWR 2000).</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Coupled with these incongruities and aberrations in land use, the unsound development strategies have led to increasing threats to biodiversity resources by way of illegal encroachment of 0.07 Mha. of forest, cultivation of 4.37 Mha. and diversion of forest for river valley projects (0.52 Mha.), industries and townships (0.14 Mha.), transmission lines and roads (0.06 Mha.) and an additional 1.5 Mha. for miscellaneous purposes (TERI, 1999).</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">**page**<em> </em></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><em><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to the Ministry of Environment, Government of India </span><a href="http://envfor.nic.in/cc/diduknow.htm"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">http://envfor.nic.in/cc/diduknow.htm</span></a></em><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">:</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium"> A 1-metre rise in sea level would displace about 7 million people in India</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium"> Fossil fuel burning has contributed to most of the greenhouse gas emissions in the past 20 years.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium"> The decade of the 1990s was the warmest, and 1998 was the warmest year on record, since 1861</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium"> The population of ice-dependent penguin species in the Western Antarctic Peninsula has decreased by 20 </span>percent<span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium"> over the last 25 years</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium"> Projections for the 21st century indicate that the earth's average temperature will rise by anything between 1.4 and 5.8ºC</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to [inside]Climate Change: India’s Perceptions, Positions, Policies and Possibilities[/inside] by Parikh, Jyoti K. and Parikh, Kirit (2002), OECD,</span><br /> <a href="http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/22/16/1934784.pdf"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/22/16/1934784.pdf</span></a>:</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium">• Climate change would result in large-scale emigration from coastal zones due to submergence of coastlines after sea levels have risen. This will create large numbers of environmental refugees especially from low-lying delta regions in poor countries. Furthermore, intrusion of sea-water in the ground water and changes in temperature can reduce agricultural and fishing incomes.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium">• India would face yield losses in rice and wheat along with fall in the rate of growth of gross domestic product owing to climate change. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium">• Increased occurrence of extreme events (such as cyclones) due to climate change will mostly affect the poor. One must remember here the cyclone of 1996 that hit Andhra Pradesh.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium">• The power sector is responsible for the highest direct emissions of CO2 in India (42%), followed by iron and steel, road, railways and air transport, and coal. the power sector is permitted to use natural gas. Coal-based fertiliser plants no longer function and coal use in railways is almost phased out.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium">• When carbon is traded, what developing countries like India gain would depend on whether the market is competitive, whether futures markets exist, or whether the carbon is bilaterally traded in a project-by-project basis, as is envisaged under CDM.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to the [inside]Climate change, sustainable development and India: Global and national concerns[/inside] by Jayant Sathaye , PR Shukla and NH Ravindranath, Current Science, Vol. 90, No. 3, 10 February 2006 </span><a href="http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/feb102006/314.pdf"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/feb102006/314.pdf</span></a><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <div style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">The latest high-resolution climate change scenarios and projections for India, based on Regional Climate Modelling (RCM) system, known as PRECIS developed by Hadley Center and applied for India using IPCC scenarios A2 and B2 shows the following: </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> </span></div> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">a. An annual mean surface temperature rise by the end of century, ranging from 3 to 5C under A2 scenario and 2.5 to 4C under B2 scenario, with warming more pronounced in the northern parts of India; </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify">b. A 20 percent rise in all India summer monsoon rainfall and further rise in rainfall is projected over all states except Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, which show a slight decrease. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">c. 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$site_title = 'im4change' $adminprix = 'admin' $rn = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) { 'id' => (int) 22, 'title' => 'Time Bomb Ticking', 'subheading' => '', 'description' => '<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">KEY TRENDS </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Extreme temperature shocks reduce farmer incomes by 4.3 percent and 4.1 percent during kharif and rabi respectively, whereas extreme rainfall shocks reduce incomes by 13.7 percent and 5.5 percent <strong>*&</strong> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• It is estimated that to cover 50 percent (5 million ha) of the total acreage under rice-wheat cropping system (RWCS) in India, about 60000 Turbo Happy Seeders and 30000 super SMS fitted combines will be required; at present, there are only about 3000 Turbo Happy Seeders and 1000 super SMS fitted combines are available <strong>*$</strong> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India's share of CO2 in the total emissions in the world is very insignificant in per capita terms. The per capita emission of an Indian citizen is 1.2 tons of CO2 whereas his counterpart in USA contributes 20.6 tons, as per UNDP Human Development Report 2007/2008. The per capita emissions of UK and Japan are 8 times and of USA 17 times higher than that of India. India's contribution to the world total is only 4.6 percent when compared to USA's contribution of 20.9 percent followed by 17.3 percent of China <strong>$$</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> • Municipal areas in the country generate 1.34 lakh metric tonnes per day of municipal solid waste (MSW), of which only 91,152 tonnes per day (TPD) waste is collected and 25,884 TPD treated <strong>$</strong><br /> <br /> • Water pollution is a serious problem in India as almost 75-80 percent of its surface water resources and a growing percentage of its groundwater reserves are contaminated by biological, toxic, organic and inorganic pollutants <strong>$</strong><br /> <br /> • With global mean warming approaching 4°C, an increase in intra-seasonal variability in the Indian summer monsoon precipitation of approximately 10 percent is projected. Large uncertainty remains about the fundamental behavior of the Indian summer monsoon under global warming. Over southern India, increasing wetness is projected with broad agreement between climate models <strong>π</strong><br /> <br /> • A 1-metre rise in sea level would displace about 7 million people in India<strong>* </strong><br /> <br /> • Fossil fuel burning has contributed to most of the greenhouse gas emissions in the past 20 years<strong>*</strong><br /> <br /> • Global GHG emissions due to human activities have grown since pre-industrial times, with an increase of 70 percent between 1970 and 2004<strong>**</strong><br /> <br /> • The largest growth in GHG emissions between 1970 and 2004 has come from energy supply, transport and industry, while residential and commercial buildings, forestry (including deforestation) and agriculture sectors have been growing at a lower rate<strong>**</strong><br /> <br /> • India would face yield losses in rice and wheat along with fall in the rate of growth of gross domestic product owing to climate change<strong>***</strong><br /> <br /> • Increased occurrence of extreme events (such as cyclones) due to climate change will mostly affect the poor<strong>***</strong><br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>*&</strong> Economic Survey 2017-18, Volume-1 (released in January, 2018)[/inside], please <a href="http://mofapp.nic.in:8080/economicsurvey/pdf/082-101_Chapter_06_ENGLISH_Vol_01_2017-18.pdf">click here</a> to read more</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>*$ </strong>Innovative Viable Solution to Rice Residue Burning in Rice-Wheat Cropping System through Concurrent Use of Super Straw Management System-fitted Combines and Turbo Happy Seeder (October, 2017), National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/Policy%20Brief%20Crop%20Burning.pdf">click here</a> to access </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>$$</strong> Statistics Related to Climate Change-India 2015, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, please <a href="http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/climateChangeStat2015.pdf">click here</a> to access</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> <strong>$</strong> SAARC-India Country Report 2015: Statistical Appraisal, produced by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Government of India (please <a href="https://im4change.org/docs/94376SAARC_India_Country_Report_2015.pdf">click here</a> to access)</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> <strong>π</strong> 4-degree Turn down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience (2013), The World Bank</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>*</strong> Ministry of Environment, Government of India<br /> <br /> <strong>**</strong> Climate Change (2007): Synthesis Report brought out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change<br /> <br /> <strong>***</strong> Parikh, Kirit and Parikh, Jyoti (2002): Climate Change-India’s Perceptions, Positions, Policies and Possibilities, OECD<br /> <br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">**page**</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify">Kindly click <a href="https://im4change.org/latest-news-updates/latest-christian-aid-report-identifies-top-10-climate-disasters-of-2022.html">here</a>, <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/Counting_the_Cost_2022.pdf">here</a> and <a href="https://mediacentre.christianaid.org.uk/new-report-top-10-climate-disasters-cost-the-world-billions-in-2022/">here</a> to access the Christian Aid report titled [inside]Counting The Cost 2022: A year of climate breakdown, published in December 2022[/inside].</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">---</span></strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">The key findings of the report titled [inside]Global EV Outlook 2022: Securing supplies for an electric future[/inside], produced by International Energy Agency and others, are as follows (please click <a href="/upload/files/Global%20Electric%20Vehicle%20Outlook%202022.pdf">here</a> and <a href="https://www.iea.org/news/global-electric-car-sales-have-continued-their-strong-growth-in-2022-after-breaking-records-last-year">here</a> to access): </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>India-specific findings: </strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><em>Electric car sales continue to break records, but mineral supply constraints are looming</em> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In Brazil, India and Indonesia, fewer than 0.5 percent of car sales are electric. However, EV sales doubled in a number of regions in 2021 – including in India – which could pave the way for quicker market uptake by 2030 if supporting investments and policies are in place.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, Tata’s Nexon BEV SUV was the bestselling model – accounting for two-thirds of EV sales – and most other offerings were SUVs as well. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In India, nearly 3,00,000 electric two/three-wheelers were sold in 2021. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Ola Electric unit is one of the world’s largest electric two/three-wheeler factory being built in India.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Zomato, a food delivery service in India, has committed to more than 1,60,000 EVs. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• State-owned Convergence Energy Services Limited aims to procure more than 5 500 electric buses as a part of its Grand Challenge Initiative. The initiative has been launched in five major cities across India, with a goal of expanding to nine cities. The initiative aims to aggregate demand, facilitate procurement and standardise the process across major cities. The tender is planned to be between INR 35 – 55 billion (USD 475 million-USD 744 million), pulling funding from the FAME II scheme, acting as one of the largest tenders of this kind in the world. The date of bus deployment has not been publicised. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India, in 2021, extended its main EV demand stimulating FAME II policy to 2024. It also increased subsidies for electric two-wheelers and made budgetary commitments for battery swapping policies and the development of EV manufacturing and battery supply capacity. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The European Union, India and Japan are increasing subsidies for EVs, in some cases as part of post-COVID19 recovery packages. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India continues to move slowly on EV deployment compared with its other decarbonisation initiatives, e.g. its ambitious Intended Nationally Determined Contribution of 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2022). Yet, India has been showing increasing promise with recent policy developments, such as the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles II (FAME II) scheme which was extended by the government from 2022 to the end of March 2024. The scheme was revised to include a 50 percent increase in purchase incentives for electric two-wheelers to Indian rupees (INR) 15,000 (USD 203) per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of battery capacity. Additionally, the limit on this incentive was relaxed from covering up to 20 percent of the purchase cost of a two-wheeler to 40 percent. The Ministry of Heavy Industries contracted with state-owned Energy Efficiency Services Limited to procure 300 000 electric threewheelers to spur government-led demand aggregation following the FAME II extension. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India had a little more than 1 million EVs on the road at the end of 2021, most of which were electric two/three-wheelers that account for less than 0.5 percent of all vehicles. FAME II is about halfway through its expected programme life, yet has funded only around 10 percent of its target sales volumes. The recent FAME II modification may help address barriers to uptake by reducing upfront purchase cost and sparking innovation to provide broader EV model availability. The electrification of two-wheelers in India is seen as an opportunity to cost effectively electrify at scale, as it is the largest two-wheeler market in the world. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Nineteen states in India offer some form of policy support for EVs, such as purchase incentives, exemptions from road taxes, and subsidies for investment in battery manufacturing and related components. The states of Assam, Goa and Maharashtra recently introduced EV targets, policies and incentives. New Delhi, the capital, hosts the most ambitious EV targets in the country. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• To date, the FAME II programme has provided subsidies (INR 10 billion, USD 135 million) to develop almost 2 900 charging stations across 25 states. In late 2021, the National Highways Authority of India set an objective to install EV charging stations every 40-60 km along national highways, covering 35 000- 40 000 km of highways by 2023. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In January 2022, the Ministry of Power revised its guidelines and standards for EV charging infrastructure. The revisions include: easing provisions for EV owners to charge at home/office using existing electricity connections; a revenue-sharing model related to land use to make charging stations more economical; guidance on providing affordable tariffs; timelines for connectivity of charging stations to the grid; and a fixed ceiling on service charges for electricity. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India’s national government budget announcement for 2022-2023, includes provisions for a battery swapping policy that aims to provide “batteries or energy as a service”. In April 2022, the government (led by NITI Aayog) released a draft proposal of the policy which is open to comments from stakeholders until June. Key elements include: technical and operational requirements for interoperability, safety and performance between EVs, batteries and EVSE; development of unique identification numbers for batteries and swapping stations; testing and certification standards for battery swapping components; open and flexible mandate to enable different battery-as-a-service business models; expanding existing demand-side fiscal support measures (such as FAME II) to include battery swapping; preferential electricity tariffs for public battery swapping stations; and developing standards for the re-use and repurposing of end-of-life EV batteries. The proposed policy is to be rolled out in phases. It will first focus on metropolitan cities with a population larger than four million in the first two years, followed by all major cities and state capitals by the third year. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India has placed an emphasis on electrifying two-wheelers, as evidenced by the 50 percent increase in purchase incentives for twowheelers in the modifications to the FAME II scheme and local policies such as in Delhi. The sales share of electric two/threewheelers increases from 2 percent in 2021 to almost 50 percent in 2030 in the Stated Policies Scenario and further to 60 percent in the Announced Pledges Scenario. The rate of electrification of buses and LDVs is lower, reaching 6 percent and 12 percent in 2030 in the Stated Policies Scenario, respectively. In the Announced Pledges electric buses attain around 25 percent sales share and LDVs about 30 percent sales share in 2030, reflecting India signing on to the COP26 declaration to transition to 100 percent zero emissions LDV sales by 2040. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• EV sales share across all modes (including two/three-wheelers) in India is above 30 percent in 2030 in the Stated Policies Scenario (just over 10 percent excluding two/three-wheelers). In the Announced Pledges Scenario, EV sales shares in India scale up to almost 45 percent in 2030 across all road vehicle modes (30 percent excluding two/three-wheelers).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India aims to install charging stations every 40–60 km along its highways. </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><em>EV battery supply chains and industrial policy</em></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India’s Production Linked Incentives scheme has a strategic focus on advanced automotive technology and components (including EV) and advanced chemistry cell battery (ACC) sectors. The automotive and auto components sector was allocated close to INR 259 billion (USD 3.5 billion). With an aim to build capacity of 50 GWh, the ACC sector was allocated INR 181 billion (USD 243 million). Subsidies are to be provided over a span of five years based on performance metrics such as energy density (ACC only), battery cycle life (ACC only) and number of units sold or components manufactured in India. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• A request for proposals was launched in January 2022 for both schemes, with the government to award contracts by March 2022. For the ACC scheme, bids totalled 130 GWh, close to three times the amount of the manufacturing capacity to be awarded . A total of 95 applicants were approved. Final recipients include both large auto manufacturers and OEMs as well as small and medium enterprises in the industry. For the advanced automotive technology and auto components scheme applications totalled a proposed INR 450 billion (USD 6.1 billion) for all vehicle categories, and were submitted by both incumbant automotive OEMs and new market entrants. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The battery durability standard was adopted by many countries/regions that committed to transpose it into their national legislation. They are Australia, Canada, China, European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Norway, Russian Federation, South Africa, Tunisia, United Kingdom and United States. In the European Union, the provisions are expected to be part of the forthcoming Euro 7/VII legislation.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Several studies, e.g. Brazil, Thailand and India, have been conducted on the impact of electromobility on transmission system level peak load. These studies show that in terms of bulk energy, the impact of EVs expected by 2030 is within the existing generation margins. At the distribution level, the grids in these countries are faced with continuously increasing loads (mostly from appliances), thus grid upgrades are required irrespective of EV loads. However, studies looking at the specific distribution grid impact of EVs remain scarce. </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Other main findings:</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Sales of electric cars (including fully electric and plug-in hybrids) doubled in 2021 to a new record of 6.6 million, with more now sold each week than in the whole of 2012, according to the latest edition of the annual Global Electric Vehicle Outlook.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Despite strains along global supply chains, sales kept rising strongly into 2022, with 2 million electric cars sold worldwide in the first quarter, up by three-quarters from the same period a year earlier. The number of electric cars on the world’s roads by the end of 2021 was about 16.5 million, triple the amount in 2018.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In China, electric car sales nearly tripled in 2021 to 3.3 million, accounting for about half of the global total. Sales also grew strongly in Europe (increasing by 65 percent to 2.3 million) and the United States (more than doubling to 630 000). Chinese electric cars are typically smaller than in other markets. Alongside lower manufacturing costs, this has significantly reduced the price gap with traditional cars. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The median price of an electric car in China was only 10 percent more than that of conventional offerings, compared with 45 percent to 50 percent on average in other major markets. By contrast, electric car sales are lagging in most emerging and developing economies where only a few models are often available and at prices that are unaffordable for mass-market consumers.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• A growing number of countries have ambitious vehicle electrification targets for the coming decades, and many carmakers have plans to electrify their fleets that go beyond policy targets. Five times more electric car models were available globally in 2021 than in 2015, and the number of available models reached 450 by the end of 2021.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The greatest obstacles to continued strong EV sales are soaring prices for some critical minerals essential for battery manufacturing, as well as supply chain disruptions caused by Russia’s attack on Ukraine and by continued Covid-19 lockdowns in some parts of China. In the longer term, greater efforts are needed to roll out enough charging infrastructure to service the expected growth in electric car sales.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Prices for lithium, a crucial mineral for car batteries, were over seven times higher in May 2022 than at the start of 2021, and prices for cobalt and nickel also rose. All else being equal, the cost of battery packs could increase by 15 percent if these prices stay around current levels, which would reverse several years of declines. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created further pressures, since Russia supplies 20 percent of global battery-grade nickel.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Governments in Europe and in the United States have promoted industrial policies aimed at domestic development of EV supply chains, as more than half of all lithium, cobalt and graphite processing and refining capacity is located in China. In addition, China produces three-quarters of all lithium-ion batteries and has 70 percent of the production capacity for cathodes and 85 percent for anodes, both of which are essential components of batteries. More than half of all electric cars in 2021 were assembled in China, and the country is poised to maintain its manufacturing dominance.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• While nearly 10 percent of all cars sold worldwide in 2021 were electric, the figure for global truck sales was just 0.3 percent. This share would need to increase to around 10 percent by 2030 in a scenario aligned with the climate pledges and targets announced to date by countries worldwide – and to 25 percent by 2030 in the IEA’s Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario. Electric trucks have so far been substantially deployed only in China, thanks to strong government support. But other countries have announced plans for heavy truck electrification, and manufacturers are widening their choice of models. Long-range trucks require high-power charges that are currently expensive and often require grid upgrades. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Please click <a href="https://im4change.org/latest-news-updates/four-key-climate-change-indicators-break-records-in-2021-wmo.html">here</a> and <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/State%20of%20the%20Global%20Climate%202021.pdf">here</a> to access the main findings of the [inside]WMO State of the Global Climate in 2021 report (released in May, 2022)[/inside].</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>---</strong><br /> The key takeaways of the report [inside]Drought in Numbers 2022: Restoration for Readiness and Resilience (released in May, 2022)[/inside], which has been prepared by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), are as follows (please <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/Drought%20in%20Numbers.pdf">click here</a> to access):</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><em>Drought at a glance</em></strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Scientific consensus: There is strong evidence that human-induced climate change has led to an increased risk of drought (Hoegh-Guldberg et al, 2018).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Human activities, there is an increase in average surface temperatures around the world (IPCC, 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Drought is deadly: From 1970 to 2019, drought was one of the hazards that led to the largest human losses, with a total of approximately 650,000 deaths. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Among all the climate-related deaths during the period, more than 90 percent occurred in developing countries (WMO, 2021b).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Drought is costly: Economic losses due to drought have increased multifold in the past decades (WMO, 2021b). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Drought is devastating: An estimated 55 million people globally are directly affected by droughts every year, making it the most serious hazard to livestock and crops in nearly every part of the world (WHO, 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Drought affects women and girls disproportionately: Greater burdens and suffering are inflicted on women and girls in emerging and developing countries in terms of education levels, nutrition, health, sanitation, and safety (Algur et al., 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Almost 160 million children are exposed to severe and prolonged droughts - by 2040, it is estimated that one in four children will be living in areas with extreme water shortages (UNICEF, 2019). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Drought is underestimated: Droughts have deep, widespread and underestimated impacts on societies, ecosystems, and economies, with only a portion of the actual losses accounted for (UNDRR, 2021). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Drought preparedness polices make a difference: Proactive measures to reduce risks and increase resilience of ecosystems and communities can be achieved through sustainable land management and ecosystem restoration policies (King-Okumu, C. et al., 2019).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Land restoration is cost-effective: In Niger, farmers have substantially reduced drought risks by creating new agroforestry systems on 5 million hectares over 20 years, with average costs below USD20 per hectare (WRI, 2017). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Education instills readiness: Through a program of ecological restoration-based education, farmers in the Colombian Amazon set up 71 novel nursery gardens, producing 400,000 seedlings of 21 native forest species (Vizcarra, N. 2020). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Media matters: A case study of California in 2017 shows that an increase of about 100 drought stories over two months was associated with a reduction of 11 to 18 percent in typical household water-use (Quesnel, K. J., & Ajami, N. K., 2017). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Turning the tide: Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, along with regenerative land and improved water management practices, is expected to substantially reduce the probability of extreme drought events (Hoegh-Guldberg, O., 2018). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• New horizons: A paradigm shift from ‘reactive’ and ‘crisis-based’ approaches to ‘proactive’ and ‘risk-based’ drought management approaches are indispensable (Tsegai, D. & Brüntrup, M., 2019). </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><em>Drought around the world (1900-2022)</em></strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• More than 10 million people lost their lives due to major drought events in the past century, causing several hundred billion USD in economic losses worldwide, and the numbers are rising (Guha-Sapir, D. et al., 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Severe drought affects Africa more than any other continent, with more than 300 events recorded in the past 100 years, accounting for 44 percent of the global total. More recently, sub-Saharan Africa has <br /> experienced the dramatic consequences of climate disasters becoming more frequent and intense (Taylor et al., 2017; Guha-Sapir, D. et al., 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In the past century, 45 major drought events occurred in Europe, affecting millions of people and resulting in more than USD 27.8 billion in economic losses. Today, an annual average of 15 percent of the land area and 17 percent of the population within the European Union is affected by drought (Guha-Sapir, D. et al., 2021; European Environment Agency, 2017).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In the U.S., crop failures and other economic losses due to drought have totaled several hundred billion USD over the last century – USD 249 billion alone since 1980 (NOAA-NCEI, 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Over the past century, the highest total number of humans affected by drought were in Asia (Guha-Sapir, D. et al., 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><em>Drought impacts on human society</em></strong><br /> <br /> • Over 1.4 billion people were affected by drought in the period of 2000 to 2019. This makes drought the disaster affecting the second-highest number of people, after flooding. Africa suffered from drought more frequently than any other continent with 134 droughts, of which 70 occurred in East Africa (Wallemacq, P. et al., 2015).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The effect of severe droughts was estimated to have reduced India’s gross domestic product by 2 to 5 percent over a period of 10 years (1998 to 2017) (UNDRR, 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• As a result of the Australian Millennium Drought, total agricultural productivity fell by 18 percent in the period of 2002 to 2010 (WMO, 2021a).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The burden of water collection – especially in drylands – falls disproportionately on women (72 percent) and girls (9 percent), who, in some cases, spend as much as 40 percent of their calorific intake carrying water (UNDRR, 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• During the past two years (2020 and 2021), widespread precipitation deficits were recorded across the South American continent (Marinho Ferreira Barbosa et al, 2021) .</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Drought is a major driver of crop yield volatility and, in particular, causes low yields that can lead to substantial financial losses (Bucheli, J. et al., 2021). </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><em>Drought impacts on ecosystems </em></strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The percentage of plants affected by drought has more than doubled in the last 40 years, with about 12 million hectares of land lost each year due to drought and desertification (FAO, 2017).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Ecosystems progressively turn into carbon sources, especially during extreme drought events, detectable on five of six continents (Stocker, B. D. et al., 2019).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• One-third of global carbon dioxide emissions is offset by the carbon uptake of terrestrial ecosystems, yet their capacity to sequester carbon is highly sensitive to drought events (Chen, N. et al., 2020).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The rapid increase in surface temperature correlates with declining biodiversity, including higher extinction rates (Nath, S. et al., 2021; Peace, N. 2020).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Fourteen percent of all wetlands critical for migratory species, as listed by Ramsar, are located in drought-prone regions (WWF/RSIS, 2019).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The megadrought in Australia contributed to ‘megafires’ in 2019 to 2020 that resulted in the most dramatic loss of habitat for threatened species in postcolonial history (Wintle, B. A. et al., 2020); about 3 billion animals were killed or displaced in the Australian wildfires (Eeden, van L. et al., 2020).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Drought-induced peatland fires in Indonesia resulted in decreasing biodiversity, including both the number of individuals as well as plant species (Agus, C. et al., 2019).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Photosynthesis in European ecosystems was reduced by 30percent during the summer drought of 2003, which resulted in an estimated net carbon release of 0.5 gigatons (Schuldt, B. et al., 2020).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• North American scientists confirm that drought reduces vegetation and bird abundance, vegetation richness and diversity, and diversity of arthropods in semi-arid shortgrass prairie (Peterson, E. K. et al., 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Eighty-four percent of all terrestrial ecosystems are threatened by changing and intensifying wildfires (WWF, 2019).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• During the first two decades of the 21st century, the Amazon experienced 3 widespread droughts, all of which triggered massive forest fires (Brando, P.M.et al., 2020). Drought events are becoming increasingly common in the Amazon region due to land-use and climate change, which are interlinked (Aragão, L. E. et al., 2018). If Amazonian deforestation continues unabated, 16 percent of the region’s remaining forests will likely burn by 2050 (Boulton et al., 2022; Brando, P. M. et al., 2020). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• During one of the severest droughts in Costa Rica (2015), species-specific mortality rates reached up to 34 percent (Powers, J. S. et al., 2020).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Drought has reduced the ecosystem productivity of Tibetan grasslands significantly in recent years, including soil drought, which now occurs more frequently and lasts for about 20 percent of the year (Xu, M. et al., 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><em>Predictable futures: We are at a crossroads</em></strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Climate change is expected to increase the risk of droughts in many vulnerable regions of the world, particularly those with rapid population growth, vulnerable populations and challenges with food security (CRED & UNDRR, 2020).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The World Bank estimates that up to 216 million people could be forced to migrate by 2050, largely due to drought, together with other factors such as water scarcity, declining crop productivity, sea-level rise and <br /> overpopulation (The World Bank, 2021). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Within the next few decades, 129 countries will experience an increase in drought exposure mainly due to climate change alone – 23 primarily due to population growth and 38 mostly due to the interaction between climate change and population growth (Smirnov, O. et al., 2016).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• If global warming reaches 3 degrees Celsius by 2100, as has been predicted, drought losses could be five times higher than they are today, with the largest increase in drought losses projected in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic regions of Europe (Cammalleri, C. et al., 2020).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In Angola, more than 40 percent of livestock, a significant livelihood source accounting for 31.4 percent of the agricultural GDP, is currently exposed to droughts and expected to rise to 70 percent under projected climate conditions (UNDRR, 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In the E.U. and U.K., annual losses from drought are currently estimated to be around EUR 9 billion and projected to rise to more than EUR 65 billion without meaningful climate action (Naumann et al., 2021). </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• By 2050, between 4.8 and 5.7 billion people will live in areas that are water-scarce for at least one month each year, up from 3.6 billion today (UN Water, 2021).</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The IPCC is now in its sixth assessment cycle, in which the IPCC is producing the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) with contributions by its three Working Groups and a Synthesis Report, three Special Reports, and a refinement to its latest Methodology Report.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The Working Group-III contribution, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change was released on April 4, 2022. The Working Group-III report provides an updated global assessment of climate change mitigation progress and pledges, and examines the sources of global emissions. It explains developments in emission reduction and mitigation efforts, assessing the impact of national climate pledges in relation to long-term emissions goals. Kindly <a href="/upload/files/IPCC_AR6_WGIII_SummaryForPolicymakers.pdf">click here</a> to access the Summary for Policymakers (approved version) of the report [inside]Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change (released on April 4, 2022)[/inside]. Please <a href="https://report.ipcc.ch/ar6wg3/pdf/IPCC_AR6_WGIII_FinalDraft_FullReport.pdf">click here</a> to access the IPCC Working Group-III report titled 'Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change'.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Kindly <a href="https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/climate-change/six-takeaways-from-ipcc-ar6-report-long-term-benefits-of-cutting-emissions-today-outweigh-costs-82213">click here</a> to access the main takeaways of the third instalment of its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), published on April 4, 2022. It has been prepared by Avantika Goswami, Centre for Science and Environment.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The six main findings are: </p> <p style="text-align:justify">* Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were 54 percent higher in 2019 than they were in 1990, but growth is slowing</p> <p style="text-align:justify">* Least developed countries emitted only 3.3 percent of global emissions in 2019</p> <p style="text-align:justify">* Pledges to the Paris Agreement are insufficient, emissions must fall 43 percent by 2030 compared to 2019</p> <p style="text-align:justify">* Abundant and affordable solutions exist across sectors including energy, buildings, and transport, as well as individual behavioural changes</p> <p style="text-align:justify">* The impact on GDP would be negligible and the long-term benefits of cutting emissions immediately would outweigh the initial costs</p> <p style="text-align:justify">* Finance falls short, especially in developing countries, but there is sufficient money in the world to close this gap</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The Working Group-II contribution, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability was released on February 28, 2022. The Working Group-II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report assesses the impacts of climate change, looking at ecosystems, biodiversity, and human communities at global and regional levels. It also reviews vulnerabilities and the capacities and limits of the natural world and human societies to adapt to climate change. Kindly <a href="/upload/files/IPCC_AR6_WGII_SummaryForPolicymakers.pdf">click here</a> to access the Summary for Policymakers (approved version) of the report [inside]Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability (released on February 28, 2022)[/inside]. Please <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_FinalDraft_FullReport.pdf">click here</a> to access the IPCC Working Group-II report titled 'Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability'. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">The Working Group-I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report, Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis was released on August 9, 2021. The Working Group-I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report addresses the most up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change, bringing together the latest advances in climate science, and combining multiple lines of evidence from paleoclimate, observations, process understanding, and global and regional climate simulations. Please <a href="/upload/files/IPCC_AR6_WGI_SPM_final.pdf">click here</a> to access the Summary for Policymakers (approved version) of the report [inside]Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis (released on August 9, 2021)[/inside]. Please <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Full_Report.pdf">click here</a> to access the IPCC Working Group-I report titled 'Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis'. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">---</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Please <a href="/upload/files/forest_missing-_cover_story_20220216%281%29.pdf">click here</a> and <a href="https://im4change.org/latest-news-updates/india-s-missing-forests-dte-analysis-exposes-big-gap-in-latest-national-forest-survey-estimates.html">here</a> to access the CSE report titled [inside]25.87 Million Hectares (released in February, 2022)[/inside], which has been prepared by Sunita Narain. Since 1988, when Forest Survey of India (FSI) produced the first “State of Forest Report 1987”, the capability of satellites and of interpretation of forests has improved substantially, but the same is not the case with the state of the country’s forest cover. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">The “India State of Forest Report 2021” (ISFR 2021), released on January 13, 2022, shows a minimal increase of 0.16 million ha (0.2 percent) in the forest cover between 2019 and 2021. The quality of forests also seems to have been stable. There is, in fact, some increase in the “very dense” forest category (with canopy cover of over 70 percent) and in the “open” forest category (canopy cover 10-40 percent), and almost an equal decrease in the moderately dense forest category (canopy cover 40-70 percent). One may argue that this does not merit analysis—criticism or boast. But the fact is that (i) more forests are now growing outside than inside the recorded forest area (forest land under control of the state government’s forest department); (ii) most forests are now concentrated in areas classified as “tribal” by ISFR 2021; (iii) reported forest area is increasing by counting trees outside the forest; and (iv) even the forest stock is growing outside the recorded forest area.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">---</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The main findings of the [inside]India State of Forest Report 2021 (released in January 2022)[/inside], which has been prepared by the Forest Survey of India (under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change), are as follows (please <a href="https://fsi.nic.in/forest-report-2021">click here</a> to access): </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The total forest and tree cover of the country is 80.9 million hectare which is 24.62 percent of the geographical area of the country. As compared to the assessment of 2019, there is an increase of 2,261 sq km in the total forest and tree cover of the country. Out of this, the increase in the forest cover has been observed as 1,540 sq km and that in tree cover is 721 sq km.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Increase in forest cover has been observed in open forest followed by very dense forest. Top three states showing increase in forest cover are Andhra Pradesh (647 sq km) followed by Telangana (632 sq km) and Odisha (537 sq km).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Area-wise Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra. In terms of forest cover as percentage of total geographical area, the top five States are Mizoram (84.53 percent), Arunachal Pradesh (79.33 percent), Meghalaya (76.00 percent), Manipur (74.34 percent) and Nagaland (73.90 percent).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• 17 states/ UTs have above 33 percent of the geographical area under forest cover. Out of these states and UT’s, five states/UTs namely Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have more than 75 percent forest cover while 12 states/UTs namely Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Goa, Kerala, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Assam, Odisha, have forest cover between 33 percent to 75 percent.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Total mangrove cover in the country is 4,992 sq km. An increase of 17 sq Km in mangrove cover has been observed as compared to the previous assessment of 2019. Top three states showing mangrove cover increase are Odisha (8 sq km) followed by Maharashtra (4 sq km) and Karnataka (3 sq km).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Total carbon stock in country’s forest is estimated to be 7,204 million tonnes and there an increase of 79.4 million tonnes in the carbon stock of country as compared to the last assessment of 2019. The annual increase in the carbon stock is 39.7 million tonnes.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">**page**</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify">Please <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/IPCC_WGI-AR6-Press-Release_en.pdf">click here</a> to access the [inside]Press release by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) dated 9th August, 2021[/inside].</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Kindly <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Regional_Fact_Sheet_Asia.pdf" title="/upload/files/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Regional_Fact_Sheet_Asia.pdf">click here</a> to access the regional fact sheet for Asia, which we get from the Working Group I report of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) </p> <p style="text-align:justify">Kindly <a href="https://im4change.org/upload/files/IPCC_AR6_WGI_SPM.pdf" title="/upload/files/IPCC_AR6_WGI_SPM.pdf">click here</a> to access the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) that presents the key findings of the Working Group I (WGI) contribution to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) on the physical science basis of climate change.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Please <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Full_Report.pdf">click here</a> to access the IPCC Working Group I report titled [inside]Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis[/inside]. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">---</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Ten facts on climate change from the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Full_Report.pdf">IPCC report</a>, according to the Centre for Science and Environment:</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In the next 20 years, the global warming will breach the threshold of 1.5-degree C.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• If we continue to emit greenhouse gases as now, global warming will be above 2-degree C by mid-2100s. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• With every 1-degree rise in temperature, there will be a 7 percent increase in the intensification of extreme rain events. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Carbon dioxide concentration in highest in 2 million years. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Sea-level rise is the fastest in 3,000 years. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Arctic sea ice is lowest in 1,000 years. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Some changes we can't reverse any more, at least for next thousands of years.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Ice melting will continue for the next 1,000 years even if we manage to control our GHG emissions. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Ocean warming will continue, which has increased by 2-8 times from 1970s. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Sea-level rise will continue for hundreds of years.<br /> ---</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Please <a href="https://im4change.org/latest-news-updates/no-time-to-lose-says-sunita-narain-on-the-new-ipcc-report.html">click here</a> to access the [inside]Press release by Centre for Science and Environment dated 9th August, 2021[/inside] on the new IPCC report. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> The key findings of the policy brief titled [inside]The costs of climate change in India: A review of the climate-related risks facing India, and their economic and social costs (released in June 2021)[/inside] prepared by Angela Picciariello, Sarah Colenbrander, Amir Bazaz and Rathin Roy, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), are as follows (please <a href="/upload/files/ODI-JR-CostClimateChangeIndia-final%281%29.pdf">click here</a> to access): </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India is already feeling the impacts of climate change. Heatwaves are becoming more common and severe, with many cities reporting temperatures above 48°C in 2020. Heavy rain events have increased threefold since 1950, but total precipitation is declining: a billion people in India currently face severe water scarcity for at least one month of the year. Rising sea levels are also creating risks as a third of India’s population live along the coast, where the north Indian Ocean has risen by an average of 3.2 mm per year over the last two decades.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The economic costs of climate impacts in India are already immense. In 2020, a single event – Cyclone Amphan – affected 13 million people and caused over $13 billion in damage after it made landfall. Declining agricultural productivity, rising sea levels and negative health outcomes were forecast to cost India 3 percent of gross domestic product at 1°C of global warming.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Low-income and other marginalised groups are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Sustained high temperatures take a disproportionate toll on those who depend on manual outdoor work or live in crowded, poorly ventilated homes. Floods, storm surge and cyclones wreak the most havoc on densely settled, low-income communities not served by risk-reducing infrastructure. One study suggests that declining agricultural productivity and rising cereal prices could increase India’s national poverty rate by 3.5 percent by 2040 compared to a zero-warming scenario; this equates to around 50 million more poor people that year.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Lower-carbon development could yield immediate benefits such as cleaner air, greater energy security and rapid job creation. India’s climate targets are considered to be ‘2°C compatible’, i.e. a fair share of global effort. However, pursuing a cleaner, more resource-efficient path could stimulate a faster, fairer economic recovery and secure India’s prosperity and competitiveness in the long term.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India does not bear responsibility for rising temperatures. Despite being home to 17.8 percent of the world’s population, India accounts for only 3.2 percent of cumulative emissions (Global Change Data Lab, 2021). Yet India cannot achieve its development aspirations without taking climate change into account (Dubash, 2019).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Rising average temperatures are leading to more frequent and severe heatwaves across the country. Between 1985 and 2009, western and southern India experienced 50 percent more heatwave events than in the previous 25 years. Heatwaves in 2013 and 2015 killed more than 1,500 and 2,000 people across the country (Mazdiyasni et al., 2017).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• As rainfall has declined, the proportion of precipitation that is infiltrating the soil and recharging aquifers has also fallen because more land is covered by hard surfaces – asphalt, cement and the like. In parallel, Indian agriculture is increasingly dependent on groundwater even as the physical supply is depleted (Zaveri et al., 2016). As a result of the interplay between climatic and development factors, a billion people in India face severe water scarcity for at least one month of the year; 180 million face severe water scarcity all year round (Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2016). These shortages take place in a context where many people lack adequate water for drinking, sanitation or hygiene.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Global warming has consequently accelerated and average temperatures around the world were 1°C above pre-industrial levels in 2017 (Connors et al., 2019). With rapid, ambitious and well-targeted mitigation action, it may be possible to hold the average global temperature increase to 1.5°C at the end of the century (IPCC, 2018). However, current policies will result in warming of at least 3°C above pre-industrial levels (UN Environment, 2020) – and a much more severe climate crisis, the costs of which will be borne most heavily by low-income and other marginalised groups.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• At the lower end of the spectrum, Kahn et al. (2019) predict that climate change could reduce India’s GDP by around 2.6 percent by 2100 even if the global temperature increase is held below 2°C; however, this rises by up to 13.4 percent in a 4°C scenario. These results are narrowly based on projections of temperature and precipitation changes, and the effect on labour productivity in different sectors. Climate change may also affect labour productivity through additional channels, for instance by increased incidence of endemic vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue, chikungunya, filariasis, Japanese encephalitis and visceral leishmaniasis (Dhiman et al., 2010).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> The key findings of [inside]India's Third Biennial Update Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (released in February 2021)[/inside], prepared by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, are as follows (please <a href="https://www.im4change.org/docs/India%20Third%20Biennial%20Update%20Report%20to%20The%20UNFCCC%20released%20in%20February%202021.pdf">click here</a> to access):</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India's total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (including LULUCF i.e. Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry) has almost doubled from 1,229 MtCO2e (million tonnes of Carbon dioxide equivalent) in 1994 to 2,531 MtCO2e in 2016. The energy sector added almost three-fourth of total emissions (without LULUCF) in 2016, followed by 14.4 percent from agriculture, around 8 percent from Industrial Processes and Product Use (IPPU) and 2.6 percent from waste.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In 2016, electricity production was the single largest source under the energy sector (thanks to its dependence on coal) that was responsible for about 40 percent of the total GHG emissions. In 2016, road transport was responsible for about 9 percent of total GHG emissions by the country. Residential buildings emitted almost 4 percent of total GHG emissions in 2016.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The total emissions of the energy sector were 21,29,428 Gg CO2e (Gigagram of Carbon dioxide equivalent) in 2016, increasing by 11.50 percent from 2014. This sector constituted 93 percent of total national CO2 emissions in 2016. This was primarily from fossil fuel combustion, comprising energy industries and construction, manufacturing industries, transport and other sectors.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The transport sector is largely oil-dependent and accounted for 9.67 percent of the country’s GHG emissions (without LULUCF).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The industrial processes and product use (IPPU) category emitted 2,26,407 Gg of CO2e in the year 2016 and accounted for 8 percent of the total GHG emissions. Within IPPU, cement production is the largest emission source, accounting for about 47 percent of total IPPU sector emissions.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The agriculture sector in the year 2016, emitted 4,07,821 Gg of CO2e, which amounted to around 14 percent of the emissions of India for that year, registering a decrease of 2.25 percent since 2014.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The LULUCF sector was a net sink of 3,07,820 Gg CO2e during 2016, registering an increase in the sink activity of the sector. Cropland dominates the CO2 emissions/removal estimates for India for the year 2016. Forest land, Cropland and Settlement categories were net sinks while Grassland was a net source of CO2. About 15 percent of India’s CO2 emissions were offset by the LULUCF sector.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The waste sector emitted 75,232 Gg CO2e to total GHG emissions in 2016. The waste sector was dominated by emissions from wastewater handling which account for more than 79 percent of the sectoral emissions and remaining 21 percent emissions from solid waste disposal.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• On the financial needs of India’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDCs), estimates have already indicated that India would need at least USD 206 billion (at 2014-15 prices) between 2015 and 2030 for implementing adaptation actions in key areas. Mitigation requirements for even moderate low-carbon development have been projected to be in the range of USD 834 billion until 2030 at 2011 prices. Green Climate Fund finance to India is inadequate and is likely to fall drastically short of meeting India’s finance requirements.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India's annual average temperature is increasing at a statistically significant rate of 0.61 degree Celsius (C) per 100 years over the period 1901-2019. There is a significant increasing trend in the maximum temperature of 1 degree C per 100 years and a relatively lower increase, also significant, in minimum temperatures of 0.22 degree C per 100 years.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The year 2019 was the seventh warmest year on record since 1901 with annual mean surface air temperature +0.36 degree C above the 1981-2010 period average.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Between 1989 and 2018 there have been significant changes in the frequency of dry days, rainy days (rainfall of 2.5 mm or more but less than 6.5 cm), and heavy rainfall (rainfall of 6.5 cm or more).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• A significant decreasing trend (at 99 percent level of confidence) of the frequency of intense cyclonic disturbances during monsoon season is noticed during the last 59 years from 1961 to 2019 over the Indian region.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Based on the observed cyclonic activities during 1891-2019, on an average 5 cyclones developed over the north Indian Ocean region in a year, with an average of 4 cyclone activities developing over the Bay of Bengal and 1 cyclone activity developing over the Arabian Sea.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• During 2019, eight cyclonic storms formed over the north Indian Ocean. Out of these eight systems, one system each formed during the winter and pre-monsoon season, over the Bay of Bengal.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The frequency and duration of heat waves over north-west India and the east coast of India have increased. The duration of heat waves over central and north-west India has increased by about five days over the past 50 years.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Monitoring of winter precipitation and temperature in the Western Himalaya suggests a significant increase in total precipitation but a decrease in snowfall from 1991 to 2015.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Most of the Himalayan glaciers are retreating and the rates of retreat have probably accelerated in the past few decades, but the observed tendencies are not regionally uniform. The mean rate of retreat is 14.2±12.9 ma-1 (Water equivalent per unit area per year), but with high levels of uncertainty in the estimates.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Currently, sea levels along the Indian coast are rising. The long term average of sea level rise is about 1.7 mm/year. However, these are changing at different rates along the Indian coast.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In contrast to the huge emissions from forest fires globally, the emissions from forest fires in India contribute a mere 1.0-1.5 percent of all global emissions from wildfires, even though India accounted for 2 percent of the total global forest area in 2015, according to the Global Forest Resource Assessment (FRA) by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• India’s per capita energy consumption grew from 19,669 MJ (megajoules) in 2011-12 to 24,453 MJ in 2018-19(P). In 2018-19(P), primary energy supply added up to 906.09 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• As per present estimates, India has a renewable energy potential of about 1,097,465 MW (Megawatt) for commercially exploitable sources viz. wind – 3,02,251 MW (at 100 m mast height), small hydro - 21,134 MW; bio-energy - 22,536 MW, solar power – 7,48,990 MW and industrial waste - 2,554 MW.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In the year 2018-19(P), India’s per capita energy consumption was 24,453 MJ which is just one-third of the world average. Per capita energy consumption of India grew by 24.32 percent from 2011-12 to 2018-19.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Kindly click <a href="https://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/state-of-rural-and-agrarian-india-report-2020-reveals-the-vulnerabilities-faced-by-indian-agriculture.html">here</a>, <a href="https://www.im4change.org/upload/files/State-of-Rural-and-Agrarian-India-Report-2020.pdf">here</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwcHmVW7WZ0&feature=emb_logo">here</a> to find the main findings of the [inside]State of Rural and Agrarian India Report 2020 (released on 30th November, 2020)[/inside], which has been produced by Network of Rural and Agrarian Studies (NRAS).</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>---</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">The [inside]Annual Report 2019-20 of the Reserve Bank of India (released in August, 2020)[/inside] (please <a href="/upload/files/Reserve-Bank-of-India-Annual-Report-2019-20.pdf"><span style="background-color:#ffff00">click here</span></a> to access the report) has made some observations about extreme weather events and the environment. They are as follows:</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Consistent with models of climate change, the number of dry days as well as days with extremely high levels of rainfall have increased in India - more intense droughts; downward shifts in average rainfall by 59 mm since 2000; higher frequency of cyclones - India was hit by 8 cyclones in 2019 which is the highest since 1976; high variation in the number of subdivisions receiving excess/ normal and deficient/ scanty monsoon rains; and an increase in the extent of crop area damaged due to unseasonal rains and heavy floods. Please <a href="/upload/files/charts%201.jpg">click here</a> to see the relevant charts.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Global warming has also led to a sharp rise in the annual average temperature in India by 1.8°C between 1997 and 2019 as compared to a 0.5°C increase between 1901 and 2000. This has likely caused a decline in crop yields, undermining farm income. Please <a href="/upload/files/charts%202.jpg">click here</a> to consult the relevant charts.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">• Water tables have depleted at an alarming rate, with around 52 percent of the wells in India recording decline in water levels between the years 2008 and 2018. This imparts urgency to move from flood irrigation to micro irrigation methods like drip or hose reel, which can save up to 60 percent of the water used and also help in preventing pest incidence. At present, the coverage of micro irrigation is much lower in states which have recorded higher declines in water tables. Alongside, there is a need to adopt crop cycles, credit cycles and procurement patterns to monsoonal shifts. Please <a href="/upload/files/charts%203.jpg">click here</a> to consult the relevant charts.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The Executive Summary of the report entitled [inside]Assessment of climate change over the Indian region (released in June 2020)[/inside], edited by R Krishnan, J. Sanjay, Chellappan Gnanaseelan, Milind Mujumdar, Ashwini Kulkarni and Supriyo Chakraborty, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India, Springer Open (please <a href="https://im4change.org/docs/assessment-of-climate-change-over-the-indian-region.pdf">click here</a> to access) is provided below: </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Observed Changes in Global Climate</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">The global average temperature has risen by around 1°C since pre-industrial times. This magnitude and rate of warming cannot be explained by natural variations alone and must necessarily take into account changes due to human activities. Emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), aerosols and changes in land use and land cover (LULC) during the industrial period have substantially altered the atmospheric composition, and consequently the planetary energy balance, and are thus primarily responsible for the present-day climate change. Warming since the 1950s has already contributed to a significant increase in weather and climate extremes globally (e.g., heat waves, droughts, heavy precipitation, and severe cyclones), changes in precipitation and wind patterns (including shifts in the global monsoon systems), warming and acidification of the global oceans, melting of sea ice and glaciers, rising sea levels, and changes in marine and terrestrial ecosystems.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Projected Changes in Global Climate</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">Global climate models project a continuation of human-induced climate change during the twenty-first century and beyond. If the current GHG emission rates are sustained, the global average temperature is likely to rise by nearly 5°C, and possibly more, by the end of the twenty-first century. Even if all the commitments (called the “Nationally Determined Contributions”) made under the 2015 Paris agreement are met, it is projected that global warming will exceed 3°C by the end of the century. However, temperature rise will not be uniform across the planet; some parts of the world will experience greater warming than the global average. Such large changes in temperature will greatly accelerate other changes that are already underway in the climate system, such as the changing patterns of rainfall and increasing temperature extremes.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Climate Change in India: Observed and Projected Changes</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Temperature Rise Over India</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">India’s average temperature has risen by around 0.7°C during 1901–2018. This rise in temperature is largely on account of GHG-induced warming, partially offset by forcing due to anthropogenic aerosols and changes in LULC. By the end of the twenty-first century, average temperature over India is projected to rise by approximately 4.4°C relative to the recent past (1976–2005 average), under the RCP8.5 scenario.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">In the recent 30-year period (1986–2015), temperatures of the warmest day and the coldest night of the year have risen by about 0.63°C and 0.4°C, respectively.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">By the end of the twenty-first century, these temperatures are projected to rise by approximately 4.7°C and 5.5°C, respectively, relative to the corresponding temperatures in the recent past (1976–2005 average), under the RCP8.5 scenario.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">By the end of the twenty-first century, the frequencies of occurrence of warm days and warm nights are projected to increase by 55 percent and 70 percent, respectively, relative to the reference period 1976-2005, under the RCP8.5 scenario.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The frequency of summer (April–June) heat waves over India is projected to be 3 to 4 times higher by the end of the twenty-first century under the RCP8.5 scenario, as compared to the 1976–2005 baseline period. The average duration of heat wave events is also projected to approximately double, but with a substantial spread among models.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">In response to the combined rise in surface temperature and humidity, amplification of heat stress is expected across India, particularly over the Indo-Gangetic and Indus river basins.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Indian Ocean Warming</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">Sea surface temperature (SST) of the tropical Indian Ocean has risen by 1°C on average during 1951–2015, markedly higher than the global average SST warming of 0.7°C, over the same period. Ocean heat content in the upper 700 m (OHC700) of the tropical Indian Ocean has also exhibited an increasing trend over the past six decades (1955–2015), with the past two decades (1998–2015) having witnessed a notably abrupt rise.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">During the twenty-first century, SST and ocean heat content in the tropical Indian Ocean are projected to continue to rise.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Changes in Rainfall</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">The summer monsoon precipitation (June to September) over India has declined by around 6 percent from 1951 to 2015, with notable decreases over the Indo-Gangetic Plains and the Western Ghats. There is an emerging consensus, based on multiple datasets and climate model simulations, that the radiative effects of anthropogenic aerosol forcing over the Northern Hemisphere have considerably offset the expected precipitation increase from GHG warming and contributed to the observed decline in summer monsoon precipitation.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">There has been a shift in the recent period toward more frequent dry spells (27 percent higher during 1981–2011 relative to 1951–1980) and more intense wet spells during the summer monsoon season. The frequency of localized heavy precipitation occurrences has increased worldwide in response to increased atmospheric moisture content. Over central India, the frequency of daily precipitation extremes with rainfall intensities exceeding 150 mm per day increased by about 75 percent during 1950–2015.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">With continued global warming and anticipated reductions in anthropogenic aerosol emissions in the future, CMIP5 models project an increase in the mean and variability of monsoon precipitation by the end of the twenty-first century, together with substantial increases in daily precipitation extremes.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Droughts</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">The overall decrease of seasonal summer monsoon rainfall during the last 6–7 decades has led to an increased propensity for droughts over India. Both the frequency and spatial extent of droughts have increased significantly during 1951–2016. In particular, areas over central India, southwest coast, southern peninsula and north-eastern India have experienced more than 2 droughts per decade, on average, during this period. The area affected by drought has also increased by 1.3 percent per decade over the same period.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Climate model projections indicate a high likelihood of increase in the frequency (>2 events per decade), intensity and area under drought conditions in India by the end of the twenty-first century under the RCP8.5 scenario, resulting from the increased variability of monsoon precipitation and increased water vapour demand in a warmer atmosphere.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Sea Level Rise</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">Sea levels have risen globally because of the continental ice melt and thermal expansion of ocean water in response to global warming. Sea-level rise in the North Indian Ocean (NIO) occurred at a rate of 1.06–1.75 mm per year during 1874–2004 and has accelerated to 3.3 mm per year in the last two and a half decades (1993–2017), which is comparable to the current rate of global mean sea-level rise.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">At the end of the twenty-first century, steric sea level in the NIO is projected to rise by approximately 300 mm relative to the average over 1986–2005 under the RCP4.5 scenario, with the corresponding projection for the global mean rise being approximately 180 mm.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Tropical Cyclones</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">There has been a significant reduction in the annual frequency of tropical cyclones over the NIO basin since the middle of the twentieth century (1951–2018). In contrast, the frequency of very severe cyclonic storms (VSCSs) during the post-monsoon season has increased significantly (+1 event per decade) during the last two decades (2000–2018). However, a clear signal of anthropogenic warming on these trends has not yet emerged.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Climate models project a rise in the intensity of tropical cyclones in the NIO basin during the twenty-first century.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Changes in the Himalayas</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">The Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) experienced a temperature rise of about 1.3°C during 1951–2014. Several areas of HKH have experienced a declining trend in snowfall and also retreat of glaciers in recent decades. In contrast, the high-elevation Karakoram Himalayas have experienced higher winter snowfall that has shielded the region from glacier shrinkage.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">By the end of the twenty-first century, the annual mean surface temperature over HKH is projected to increase by about 5.2°C under the RCP8.5 scenario. The CMIP5 projections under the RCP8.5 scenario indicate an increase in annual precipitation, but decrease in snowfall over the HKH region by the end of the twenty-first century, with large spread across models.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong>Conclusions</strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify">Since the middle of the twentieth century, India has witnessed a rise in average temperature; a decrease in monsoon precipitation; a rise in extreme temperature and rainfall events, droughts, and sea levels; and an increase in the intensity of severe cyclones, alongside other changes in the monsoon system. There is compelling scientific evidence that human activities have influenced these changes in regional climate.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">Human-induced climate change is expected to continue apace during the twenty-first century. To improve the accuracy of future climate projections, particularly in the context of regional forecasts, it is essential to develop strategic approaches for improving the knowledge of Earth system processes, and to continue enhancing observation systems and climate models.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> According to the [inside]Economic Survey 2017-18, Volume-1 (released in January, 2018)[/inside], please <a href="http://mofapp.nic.in:8080/economicsurvey/pdf/082-101_Chapter_06_ENGLISH_Vol_01_2017-18.pdf">click here</a> to read more:</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">• The volatility of agricultural growth in India has declined substantially over time: from a standard deviation of 6.3 percent between 1960 and 2004 to 2.9 percent since 2004. In particular, production of cereals has become more robust to drought. &*<br /> <br /> • The broad pattern of rising temperatures post 1970s is common to both seasons. The average increase in temperature between the most recent decade and the 1970s is about 0.45 degrees and 0.63 degrees in the kharif and rabi seasons, respectively. These trends are consistent with those reported in Rajeevan (2013). Between the 1970s and the last decade, kharif rainfall has declined on average by 26 millimeters and rabi rainfall by 33 millimeters. Annual average rainfall for this period has on average declined by about 86 millimeters.<br /> <br /> • The proportion of dry days (rainfall less than 0.1 mm per day), as well as wet days (rainfall greater than 80 mm per day) has increased steadily over time since 1970. Thus, the imprint of climate change is clearly manifest in the increasing frequency of extreme weather outcomes.<br /> <br /> • Temperature increases have been particularly felt between the last decade (2005-2015) and the period 1950-1980 in the North-East, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Parts of India, for example, Punjab, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh have been the least affected. In contrast, extreme deficiencies in rainfall between the last decade (2005-2015) and the period 1950-1980 are more concentrated in Uttar Pradesh, North-East, and Kerala, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand. <br /> <br /> • Extreme temperature shocks, when a district is significantly hotter than usual (in the top 20 percentiles of the district-specific temperature distribution), results in a 4 percent decline in agricultural yields during the kharif season and a 4.7 percent decline in rabi yields. Similarly, extreme rainfall shocks - when it rains significantly less than usual (bottom 20 percentiles of the district-specific rainfall distribution). The result is a 12.8 percent decline in kharif yields, and a smaller, but not insignificant decline of 6.7 percent in rabi yields.<br /> <br /> <img alt="Impact of weather shocks on agricultural yields" src="tinymce/uploaded/Impact%20of%20weather%20shocks%20on%20agricultural%20yields.jpg" style="height:349px; width:337px" /><br /> <br /> • Unirrigated areas – defined as districts where less than 50 percent of cropped area is irrigated -- bear the brunt of the vagaries of weather. For example, an extreme temperature shock in unirrigated areas reduces yields by 7 percent for kharif and 7.6 percent for rabi. Similarly, the effects of extreme rainfall shocks are 14.7 percent and 8.6 percent (for kharif and rabi, respectively) in unirrigated areas, much larger than the effects these shocks have in irrigated districts.<br /> <br /> • Even after controlling for the level of rainfall, the number of dry days (defined as days during the monsoon with rainfall less than 0.1 millimetres) exerts a significant negative influence on productivity: holding the amount of rainfall constant, each additional dry day during the monsoon reduces yields by 0.2 percent on average and by 0.3 percent in unirrigated areas.<br /> <br /> • Extreme temperature shocks reduce farmer incomes by 4.3 percent and 4.1 percent during kharif and rabi respectively, whereas extreme rainfall shocks reduce incomes by 13.7 percent and 5.5 percent.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><img alt="Impact of weather shocks on farm revenue" src="tinymce/uploaded/Impact%20of%20weather%20shocks%20on%20farm%20revenue.jpg" style="height:165px; width:196px" /></p> <p style="text-align:justify">• In a year where temperatures are 1 degree Celsius higher farmer incomes would fall by 6.2 percent during the kharif season and 6 percent during rabi in unirrigated districts. Similarly, in a year when rainfall levels were 100 millimetres less than average, farmer incomes would fall by 15 percent during kharif and by 7 percent during the rabi season.<br /> <br /> • Swaminathan et. al. (2010) show that a 1degree Celsius increase in temperature reduces wheat production by 4 to 5 percent, similar to the effects found here.<br /> <br /> • A study by the IMF, (2017) finds that for emerging market economies a 1 degree Celsius increase in temperature would reduce agricultural growth by 1.7 percent, and a 100 millimetres reduction in rain would reduce growth by 0.35 percent.<br /> <br /> • Climate change models, such as the ones developed by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), predict that temperatures in India are likely to rise by 3-4 degree Celsius by the end of the 21st century (Pathak, Aggarwal and Singh, 2012). These predictions combined with our regression estimates imply that in the absence of any adaptation by farmers and any changes in policy (such as irrigation), farm incomes will be lower by around 12 percent on an average in the coming years. Unirrigated areas will be the most severely affected, with potential losses amounting to 18 percent of annual revenue.<br /> <br /> • Applying IPCC-predicted temperatures and projecting India’s recent trends in precipitation, and assuming no policy responses, give rise to estimates for farm income losses of 15 percent to 18 percent on average, rising to 20 percent-25 percent for unirrigated areas. At current levels of farm income, that translates into more than Rs. 3,600 per year for the median farm household.<br /> <br /> • India pumps more than twice as much groundwater as China or United States (Shah, 2008). Indeed global depletion is most alarming in North India.<br /> <br /> • Analysis of groundwater stations reveals a 13 percent decline in the water table over the past 30 years.<br /> <br /> • Technologies of drip irrigation, sprinklers, and water management—captured in the “more crop for every drop” campaign—may well hold the key to future Indian agriculture (Shah Committee Report, 2016; Gulati, 2005) and hence should be accorded greater priority in resource allocation.<br /> <br /> • Building on the current crop insurance program (Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana), weather-based models and technology (drones for example) need to be used to determine losses and compensate farmers within weeks (Kenya does it in a few days).<br /> <br /> • Inadequate irrigation, continued rain dependence, ineffective procurement, and insufficient investments in research and technology (non-cereals such as pulses, soyabeans, and cotton), high market barriers and weak post-harvest infrastructure (fruits and vegetables), and challenging non-economic policy (livestock).</p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to the Policy Brief on crop residue burning by National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) entitled [inside]Innovative Viable Solution to Rice Residue Burning in Rice-Wheat Cropping System through Concurrent Use of Super Straw Management System-fitted Combines and Turbo Happy Seeder (October, 2017)[/inside] (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/Policy%20Brief%20Crop%20Burning.pdf">click here</a> to access): <br /> <br /> • Estimates indicate that up to 80 percent of rice residues are burnt by farmers in Punjab. In other North Western states also, rice burning is practiced in a sizeable area. It is estimated that in NW states of India about 23 million tonnes of rice residues are burnt annually. Collection and storage of such a huge quantity of residue is neither practically feasible nor economical.<br /> <br /> • The NASA satellite images of early November 2016 (peak period of rice residue burning) depicts the burning hot spots across south Asia and shows that the intensity of rice residue burning in Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand is very high.<br /> <br /> • The major pollutants emitted by crop residue burning - CO2, CO, CH4, N2O, NOx, SO2, black carbon, non-methyl hydrocarbons (NMHC), volatile organic compounds (VOC) and particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), contribute enormously to global warming.<br /> <br /> • It is estimated that one tonne rice residue on burning releases 13 kg particulate matter, 60 kg CO, 1460 kg CO2, 3.5 kg NOx, 0.2 kg SO2. The black carbon emitted during residue burning warms the lower atmosphere and it is the second most important contributor to global warming after CO2.<br /> <br /> • Apart from the damage caused by air pollution, burning of rice residue also results in loss of soil organic matter and plant nutrients and adversely affects soil health. About 90 percent of N and S and 15-20 percent of P and K contained in rice residue are lost during burning. Burning of 23 million tonnes of rice residues in NW India leads to a loss of about 9.2 million tonnes of C equivalent (CO2-equivalent of about 34 million tonnes) per year and a loss of about 1.4×105 t of N (equivalent to Rs 200 crores) annually. In addition, in-field burning of crop residues also destroys the beneficial micro-flora and fauna of soil causing adverse impact on soil health.<br /> <br /> • Increase in the concentration of PM2.5 and PM10 during the large scale burning of rice residues is a major health hazard. For example, the children are more sensitive to air pollution (smog), as rice residue burning poses some unrecoverable influence on their pulmonary functions.<br /> <br /> • The emission of high levels of PM2.5 and PM10 in the air causes chronic diseases like cardiopulmonary disorders irrecoverable lung capacity or asthma in human population of NW India. The survey and economic evaluation showed a clear increase in medical and health-related expenditure and workdays lost during the rice residue-burning period (September–November) each year in Punjab.<br /> <br /> • These health-related expenditures tend to be higher for children, older people and farm workers who are directly exposed to rice residue burning. The human health costs from rice residue burning in rural areas of Punjab are estimated at Rs. 7.61 crores annually. The costs would be much higher if expenses on averting activities, productivity loss due to illness, monetary value of discomfort, etc., are also included.<br /> <br /> • The practices in current use, for utilizing rice residue, include livestock fodder, livestock bedding, in-situ incorporation, composting, generating electricity, mushroom cultivation, roof thatching, biogas (anaerobic digestion), furnace fuel, biofuel, and paper and pulp board manufacturing. Presently these options together utilize less than 15 percent of the total rice residue produced in NW India. Of the various available options, electricity generation, production of bio-oil and on-farm utilization of rice residue are the major practices in current use.<br /> <br /> • Generation of electricity is an attractive option but, at present, only seven-biomass energy plants have been installed in Punjab and six more are in the pipeline. However, these biomass energy plants together can consume only about 10 percent of the rice residues in the state. A 12 MW rice residue power plant requires 1.20 lakh tons of residues in a year which needs a large dumping ground. In addition, these biomass energy plants produce large amount of ash and there is a serious challenge for its disposal. For the time being, it is dumped in landfills or depressions created by brick kilns.<br /> <br /> • Technologies to produce bio-oil (pyrolysis) and gasification are still under research and development to make them economically viable. Most of the furnaces in the Punjab use 25-30 percent of rice residue mixed with 70-75 percent of other biomass and the present utilization of rice straw is only 0.5 million tonnes annually. Limited utilization of this technology is primarily due to high silica content in rice straw, which causes clinker formation in the boilers.<br /> <br /> • In North West India, super straw management system (SMS)-fitted combines are used for harvesting rice in 70-90 percent of the area under rice-wheat cropping system (RWCS), leaving huge quantities of residues and stubbles on the field. Efficient and economic management of 8-10 t/ha rice residues and seeding of wheat crop on time is a daunting task for the farmers, due to the availability of a short window of about 15 days to complete these operations.<br /> <br /> • The cost of each super straw management systems (SMS) attachment is approximately Rs. 1.2 lakh, and the cost of Turbo Happy Seeder is about Rs. 1.3 lakh. These costs can easily be recovered by the custom hiring service providers, through marginal increase in the charges for custom hiring.<br /> <br /> • Concurrent use of SMS-fitted combines and turbo happy seeder for wheat sowing has distinct production, economic, environmental and societal advantages, some of which are: (a) Increase in average yield of wheat by 2-4 percent compared to conventional till wheat; (b) Economical cost of production, through savings in the cost of labour, fuel, chemicals, etc.; Saves about 20 liters of fuel per hectare due to sowing of wheat in a single operation. A total saving – 20×4.3 Mha = 86 million liters of diesel fuel per season; (c) Increase in nutrient use efficiency, by continuous recycling of residues using Turbo Happy Seeder for over 3-4 years results in producing same yield with 30-40 kg per ha less nitrogen use and hence significantly higher (10-15 percent) nutrient use efficiency; (d) Produces more crop per drop of water, by saving up to 1.0 million liters of water per hectare due to elimination of pre-sowing irrigation. Moreover, residue mulch reduces evaporation loss equivalent to about 45 mm (0.45 million liter) during the wheat season; (e) Reduces risk of biotic and abiotic stresses, by reducing weed growth, crop lodging, karnal bunt infestation and termite attack. Wheat yields were nearly 16 percent more than farmers who followed conventional practices, when heavy rains fell late in the wheat season at grain filling stage in 2014-15; (f) Improves soil health, by improving soil organic matter over time, which enhances soil health, productivity potential and soil biodiversity etc.<br /> <br /> • It is estimated that to cover 50 percent (5 million ha) of the total acreage under RWCS in India, about 60000 Turbo Happy Seeders and 30000 super SMS fitted combines will be required; at present, there are only about 3000 Turbo Happy Seeders and 1000 super SMS fitted combines are available.<br /> <br /> **page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to the report entitled: [inside]Statistics Related to Climate Change-India 2015, prepared by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation[/inside], please <a href="http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/climateChangeStat2015.pdf">click here</a> to access:<br /> <br /> • India's share of CO2 in the total emissions in the world is very insignificant in per capita terms. The per capita emission of an Indian citizen is 1.2 tons of CO2 whereas his counterpart in USA contributes 20.6 tons, as per UNDP Human Development Report 2007/2008. The per capita emissions of UK and Japan are 8 times and of USA 17 times higher than that of India. India's contribution to the world total is only 4.6 percent when compared to USA's contribution of 20.9 percent followed by 17.3 percent of China.<br /> <br /> • While the per capita emissions of many developed countries vary between 7 to 15 metric tonnes, the per capita emissions in India were only about 1.56 metric tonnes in 2010.<br /> <br /> • India accounts for 2.4 percent of the world surface area, but supports around 17.5 percent of the world population. It houses the largest proportion of global poor (30 percent), around 24 percent of the global population without access to electricity (304 million), about 30 percent of the global population relying on solid biomass for cooking and 92 million without access to safe drinking water. The average annual energy consumption in India in 2011 was only 0.6 tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) per capita as compared to global average of 1.88 toe per capita.<br /> <br /> • Around 363 million people (30 percent of the population) live in poverty, about 1.77 million people are houseless and 4.9 percent of the population (aged 15 years and above) are unemployed. The per capita electricity consumption stands low at 917 kWh, which is barely one third of the world's average consumption.<br /> <br /> • The energy sector is the major producer of CO2. Nearly 58.6 percent of India's energy needs are met from coal, which is abundant, locally available and cheap when compared to alternative fuels. As per Central Electricity Authority CO2 Baseline Database for the Indian Power Sector, CO2 emissions in the power sector are continuously increasing in all parts of the country.<br /> <br /> • In India, the methane emissions in the year 1994 were 18,583 Gg, (Giga gram) out of which 78 percent came from agriculture, 16 percent from energy sources and 6 percent from waste disposal.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> • The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) estimates that 77 percent to 68 percent of the forest areas in the country are likely to experience shift in forest types by the end of the 21st century, which needs our immediate attention.<br /> <br /> • The number of vehicles registered in India is on the increase over the last 7 years at an average annual cumulative rate of 10 percent (data from 2004 to 2011). It indicates the increases in the use of fossil fuel and thereby an increase in GHG emissions.<br /> <br /> • In India, an increase in the linear trend of about 0.4 degree C in the surface air temperature has been observed in the past century. A warming trend is visible along the west coast, central India, interior peninsula and the North-Eastern India, but some cooling trends are also visible in the North-West India and parts of South-India (NAPCC, 2008).<br /> <br /> • A trend of about 10 percent to 12 percent (of the normal) increase in monsoon rains were reported along the west coast, northern Andhra Pradesh and north-western India during the last century. A decreasing trend of about 6 percent to 8 percent is observed over the last 100 years over eastern Madhya Pradesh, North-Eastern India and some parts of Gujarat and Kerala (NAPCC, 2008).<br /> <br /> • Food production in India is sensitive to climate change like variations in temperature and monsoon rainfall. Rise in temperature has a direct impact on the rabi crop and every 1 degree C rise will reduce wheat production by 4 to 5 million tons. Every small change in temperature and rainfall has significant effect on the quality and quantity of fruits, vegetables, tea, coffee, basmati rice and aromatic and medicinal plants. It is predicted that a loss of 10 percent to 40 percent in production may occur by 2100 due to climate change (NAPCC).<br /> <br /> • There has been a reduction in the number of known species in India of 'fern & fernallics' from 1200 to 1135 during the reference period 2001-2007.<br /> <br /> • India has the largest cattle and buffalo population in the world of about 300 million, which faces multiple challenges including diseases, inadequate supply of fodder etc. as a result of changing climate.<br /> <br /> • Rapid urbanization in the country will be one of the most dominant trends in the coming years. It is expected that about 40 percent of the population in 2030 would be urban as against 30 percent currently. As population expands and incomes grow, this shift will likely be realized alongside demographic changes that will exponentially increase the demand for urban amenities like housing, energy, transport, water, waste disposal. It is estimated that more than half of India of 2030 is yet to be built. In a way, India's development process is doubly challenging. It not only has to complete the current unfinished development agenda, it has to strategise for future pressures that may increase the magnitude of this development gap.<br /> <br /> • In recognition of the growing problem of Climate Change, India declared a voluntary goal of reducing the emissions intensity of its GDP by 20–25 percent, over 2005 levels, by 2020, despite having no binding mitigation obligations as per the Convention. A slew of policy measures were launched to achieve this goal. As a result, the emission intensity of our GDP has decreased by 12 percent between 2005 and 2010. It is a matter of satisfaction that United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in its Emission Gap Report 2014 has recognized India as one of the countries on course to achieving its voluntary goal.<br /> <br /> • Preliminary estimates indicate that India would need around USD 206 billion (at 2014-15 prices) between 2015 and 2030 for implementing adaptation actions in agriculture, forestry, fisheries infrastructure, water resources and ecosystems.<br /> <br /> • An Asian Development Bank study on assessing the costs of climate change adaptation in South Asia indicates that approximate adaptation cost for India in energy sector alone would roughly be about USD 7.7 billion in 2030s. The report also projects the economic damage and losses in India from climate change to be around 1.8 percent of its GDP annually by 2050.<br /> <br /> • Estimates by NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) indicate that the mitigation activities for moderate low carbon development would cost around USD 834 billion till 2030 at 2011 prices.<br /> <br /> • A preliminary estimate suggests that at least USD 2.5 trillion (at 2014-15 prices) will be required for meeting India's climate change actions between now and 2030.</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to the [inside]SAARC-India Country Report 2015: Statistical Appraisal[/inside], produced by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Government of India (please <a href="https://im4change.org/docs/94376SAARC_India_Country_Report_2015.pdf">click here</a> to access)<br /> <br /> • The consumption of fertilizer has shown an increasing trend in India. Between 2006-07 and 2011-12, the consumption of fertilizers has increased by 23 percent. The per hectare consumption of chemical fertilizers has increased from 89.63 kg in 2000-01 to 128.34 kg in 2012-13.<br /> <br /> • There is excessive use of urea and a bias against micronutrients. As against the desirable NPK proportion of 4:2:1, the proportion is 7.9:3.1:1. As nitrogenous fertilizers are subsidized more than potassium and phosphorus-based fertilizers, the subsidy tends to benefit the crops and regions, which require higher use of nitrogenous fertilizers as compared to crops and regions which require higher application of P and K. The excessive use of urea has also affected the soil profile adversely.<br /> <br /> • Water pollution is a serious problem in India as almost 75-80 percent of its surface water resources and a growing percentage of its groundwater reserves are contaminated by biological, toxic, organic and inorganic pollutants.<br /> <br /> • The analysis of three major pollutants (adequate data) in residential/ industrial/ rural and other area with respect to National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) during 2012 revealed that sulphur dioxide (SO2) showed low concentration in most of the locations (356 locations, 96 percent), moderate in 12 locations (3 percent) and high in 2 locations.<br /> <br /> • With respect to Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), 173 locations (47 percent) were in low category, 145 in moderate (39 percent), 42 in high (11 percent) and 10 (3 percent) in critical category during 2012.<br /> <br /> • With respect to Particulate Matter size less than or equal to 10 micron (PM10) only 9 locations (2 percent) showed low PM10 level, 56 locations (15 percent) showed moderate, 84 high (23 percent) and 223 location (60 percent) were in critical category.<br /> <br /> • In 2012, out of the 46 million plus/ metropolitan cities, 1, 6 and 34 cities exceeded the NAAQS with respect to SO2, NO2 and PM10 in the residential/ industrial/ rural/ commercial areas. One city exceeded the standard limit with respect to PM10 in ecologically sensitive area.<br /> <br /> • The total quantity of waste generated in the country (based on weighment exercise by local bodies) is not reported. However, the Ministry of Urban Development, in its manual on solid waste management (in 2000), had estimated a waste generation of 1 lakh MT.<br /> <br /> • During the year 2004-05, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) through National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur conducted survey in 59 cities (35 Metro cities and 24 State Capitals) and estimated 39,031 tonnes per day Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generation in these 59 cities/ towns. The CPCB has reported generation of 50,592 tonnes of MSW per day in the year 2010-11 in the same 59 cities.<br /> <br /> • As per information received from State Pollution Control Boards/ Pollution Control Committees (during 2009-12), 1.27 lakh tonnes per day (TPD) municipal solid waste was generated in the country during 2011-12. Out of which, 89,334 TPD (70 percent) of MSW was collected and 15,881 TPD (12.45 percent) was processed or treated.<br /> <br /> • A GIS-based project on National Hazardous Waste Information System has been developed to provide status of hazardous waste management in the country, according to which, more than 40,000 hazardous waste industries generate about 7-8 million tonnes per year.<br /> <br /> • Municipal areas in the country generate 1.34 lakh metric tonnes per day of municipal solid waste (MSW), of which only 91,152 TPD waste is collected and 25,884 TPD treated.<br /> <br /> • As per assessment by India State of Forest Report 2013 (ISFR 2013), total forest cover of the country is 6.98 lakh sq.km, which is 21.23 percent of the geographical area of the country. In terms of density classes, area covered by very dense forest (VDF) is 83,502 sq.km (2.54 percent), that with moderately dense forest (MDF) is 3.19 lakh sq.km (9.70 percent) and open forest (OF) is 2.96 lakh sq.km (8.99 percent)<br /> <br /> • The National Forest Policy (1988) aims at maintaining two-third of the geographical area in hills of the country under forest and tree cover. Keeping this in view, forest cover in the hills of the country are presented separately. The forest cover in the hill districts of the country is 2.81 lakh sq.km, which is 39.75 percent of the total geographical area of these districts.<br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify">According to the report titled [inside]4-degree Turn down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience (2013), The World Bank[/inside] (please <a href="tinymce/uploaded/World%20Bank%20report.pdf" title="World Bank report on climate change">click here</a> to access the report):<br /> <br /> • While covering a range of sectors, this report focuses on how climate change impacts on agricultural production, water resources, coastal zone fisheries, and coastal safety are likely to increase, often significantly, as global warming climbs from present levels of 0.8°C up to 1.5°C, 2°C and 4°C above pre-industrial levels.<br /> <br /> • Significant increases in inter-annual and intraseasonal variability of monsoon rainfall are to be expected. With global mean warming approaching 4°C, an increase in intra-seasonal variability in the Indian summer monsoon precipitation of approximately 10 percent is projected. Large uncertainty, however, remains about the fundamental behavior of the Indian summer monsoon under global warming. Over southern India, increasing wetness is projected with broad agreement between climate models.<br /> <br /> • The projected increase in the seasonality of precipitation is associated with an increase in the number of dry days, leading to droughts that are amplified by continued warming, with adverse consequences for human lives. Some regions that emerge to be at particularly high risk include north-western India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. In India, the droughts in 1987 and 2002-03 affected more than 50 percent of the crop area in the country and caused major declines in crop production.<br /> <br /> • South Asian populations are likely to be increasingly vulnerable to the greater variability of precipitation changes, in addition to the disturbances in the monsoon system and rising peak temperatures that could put water and food resources at severe risk.<br /> <br /> • In South Asia, climate change shocks to food production and seasonal water availability appear likely to confront populations with ongoing and multiple challenges to secure access to safe drinking water, sufficient water for irrigation and hydropower production, and adequate cooling capacity for thermal power production.<br /> <br /> • For the regions studied in this report, global warming above 1.5°C to 2°C increases the risk of reduced crop yields and production losses in Sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and South Asia.<br /> <br /> • Major investments in infrastructure, flood defense, development of high temperature and drought resistant crop cultivars, and major improvements in sustainability practices, for example in relation to groundwater extraction would be needed to cope with the projected impacts under this level of warming.<br /> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify">**page**</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">The graph below shows the share of different sectors (Industry, Agriculture, Forestry etc.) in total GHG (green house gas) emissions in 2004 in terms of CO2-eq*. (Forestry includes deforestation). Global GHG emissions due to human activities have grown since pre-industrial times, with an increase of 70 percent between 1970 and 2004 </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small"><em><strong><img alt="time bomb 1" src="tinymce/uploaded/time%20bomb%201.bmp" style="height:343px; width:611px" title="time bomb 1" /> </strong></em></span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small"><em><strong>Source:</strong> Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report brought out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</em> </span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small"><em><strong>Note: </strong>* CO2-equivalent emission is the amount of CO2 emission that would cause the same time-integrated radiative forcing, over a given time horizon, as an emitted amount of a long-lived GHG or a mixture of GHGs. The equivalent CO2 is obtained by multiplying the emission of a GHG by its Global Warming Potential (GWP) for the given time horizon.</em> </span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">Share in global CO2 emissions (%) United States versus rest of the world </span></strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><strong><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium"><img alt="time bomb 2" src="tinymce/uploaded/time%20bomb%202.bmp" style="height:341px; width:607px" title="time bomb 2" /></span></strong></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small"><em><strong>Source: </strong>International Energy Outlook 2005, US Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration of Government of United States of America, 2005.</em> </span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <div style="text-align:justify">Key findings and recommendations of the report titled: [inside]Gajah: Securing the Future for Elephants in India[/inside] (<a href="http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/ETF_REPORT_FINAL.pdf">http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/ETF_REPORT_FINAL.pdf</a>), prepared by the Elephant Task Force, Ministry of Environment and Forests that comprised of distinguished scholars and environmentalists such as: Dr. Mahesh Rangarajan, Ajay Desai, Dr. R Sukumar, Dr. PS Easa, Vivek Menon, Dr. S Vincent, Suparna Ganguly, Dr. BK Talukdar, Brijendra Singh, Dr. Divya Mudappa, Dr. Sushant Chowdhary and AN Prasad are as follows: </div> <div style="text-align:justify"> </div> <div style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The population of elephants found in the wild is over 26,000 in India. There are 3500 captive elephants, with ancient traditions of captive care. The male population of elephants has shown a decline vis-a-vis females that has led to sex ratios heavily skewed towards females. Large developmental and infrastructural projects are fragmenting elephant habitats.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The Indian sub-continent has an estimated population of about 27000-29000, which is about 50 percent of the Asian elephant population. Elephants in Andaman and Nicobar islands are considered to be feral, as they are the descendants of the captive elephants used in timber felling operations.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The land area occupied by elephants is estimated to be around 110,000 square km, which is composed of Protected Areas, Reserved and other categories of forests, plantations, agriculture, and non-forest areas, the report finds. </span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• Every year over 400 people lose their lives to elephants, and most of them are cultivators or labourers. However, the bad news is that more than half of the 100 elephants are killed every year to save standing crops in the fields. Since 1987, India has lost 150 elephants due to train hits. </span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• Since 1987, the country has lost 150 elephants due to train hits. These include 36 percent cases recorded from Assam, 26</span></span></span><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium"> percent</span></span></span> in West Bengal, 14 </span></span></span><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">percent</span></span></span> in Uttarakhand, 10 </span></span></span><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">percent</span></span></span> in Jharkhand, 6 </span></span></span><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">percent</span></span></span> in Tamil Nadu, 03</span></span></span><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium"> percent</span></span></span> in Uttar Pradesh, 03 </span></span></span><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">percent</span></span></span> in Kerala and 2 </span></span></span><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">percent</span></span></span> in Orissa.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The Task Force has expressed deep concern over the loss of habitats of elephants and the selective killing off of tuskers in key populations by ivory poachers. While the Task force in its report has praised the achievements of Project Elephant, which has been in existence since 1992, it has recommended for the creation of National Elephant Conservation Authority (NECA) on the lines of the structure for tiger conservation. A new Consortium of Elephant Research and Estimation (CERE) has also been recommended so as to develop and apply the best methods for enumeration. The Task Force has also recommended for scientific methods for elephant population monitoring and landscape assessment.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• In order to reduce human-elephant conflicts, the report has asked for preparing Conflict Management Task Forces that would comprise of experienced foresters, scientists, wildlife vets and social scientists. It has recommended for mandatory taluka-level hearings at different times in the sowing and harvesting season in all conflict areas that can bring together affected citizens, officials and elected representatives. </span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The new Elephant Landscapes that are recommended by the Task Force are as follows: 1. Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong-Intanki; 2. Kameng-Sonitpur; 3. East Central; 4. North Western; 5. Brahmagiri-Nilgiri-Eastern Ghats; 6. Eastern South Bank; 7. North Bengal-Greater Manas; 8. Meghalaya; 9. Anamalai-Nelliampathy-High Range; and 10. Periyar-Agasthyamalai.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The Task Force has recommended to declare elephant as a National Heritage Animal, which will give it due place as emblem of ecological sensitivity.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• Over 40 per cent of the Elephant Reserves is not under Protected Area or government forest. The Task Force favours Ecologically Sensitive Area status under the Environment Protection Act to regulate activity that may be ecologically negative. </span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The role of Elephant Reserve Committees has been emphasized so as to enable redress, consultation and transparency. </span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The Task Force has ranked the Elephant Corridors that link critical populations according to priority and feasibility for action. The main emphasis is on innovative methods to secure habitats beyond the Protected Areas. These could include Community or Conservation Reserves, Ecosystem Services payments and conservation easements.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The resource earmarked over the 12th Five Year Plan is Rs. 600 crore. A third of the allocation will be to secure vital habitats that serve as links between populations that may be cut off. One sixth of resources asked for are earmarked for conflict issues.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• Citizens Elephant Welfare Committees are expected to take care of elephants in captivity. Gajah Centres and an elephant awareness campaign are on the agenda. An International Elephant Congress of the fifty elephant range states and an Asian partnership for Gajah will see India play a positive role for scientific and ecological cooperation.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The Task Force has noted that Human-elephant conflict is on the rise despite Project Elephant running in the country for the last 18 years and is currently at an all time high, but financial allocations to deal with the problem have not increased proportionally.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• A major task is promotion of measures for mitigation of human elephant conflict in crucial habitats and moderating pressures of human and livestock activities in crucial elephant habitats.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• The Task Force has found that the prevailing system of monitoring of Asian elephant populations in India focuses on population size, sex ratio and population structure (in calves, juveniles, sub-adults and adults categories). However, little thought has been given to estimation of numbers and associated sampling-based variation or on the power of any estimate to detect demographic changes in elephant populations (such as increases and declines). In spite of this perturbing fact, estimates for monitoring elephants are made mainly to know the total number of elephants (population size).</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• Occupancy, abundance index, density and demography of elephants across the ranges could be key parameters for correlating them with habitat and anthropogenic and ecological variables to draw meaningful conclusions important for conservation and management.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">• Degradation, fragmentation and shrinkage of forest cover to accommodate the increasing human population largely characterized by various developmental activities have severely threatened Indian wildlife. Long ranging species such as Asian Elephant and Tiger that require a large landscape to fulfill their ecological needs have been the most affected ones. Hydroelectric and irrigation projects, roads, railway lines and mining have severely depleted and fragmented the elephant habitat.</span></span></span></div> <div style="text-align:justify"> </div> <div style="text-align:justify"> </div> <div style="text-align:justify">**page**</div> <div style="text-align:justify"> </div> <div style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to [inside]Compendium of Environment Statistics India 2008-2009[/inside], produced by Central Statistical Organization (CSO), </span></div> <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/comp_env_2008-09.pdf"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/comp_env_2008-09.pdf</span></a><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">: </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• India is one of the 12 megabiodiversity countries of the world. From about 70 </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">percent</span></span></span> of the total geographical area surveyed so far, 46,000 plant species and 81,000 animal species representing about 7 percent of the world’s flora and 6.5 </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">percent</span> of the world's fauna, respectively, have been described. Out of the total twelve biodiversity hot spots in the world, India has two; one is the north east region and other the western ghats.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• As per the latest State of Forest Report 2009, the forest cover in the country is 690,889 km sq. and constitutes 21.02 percent of its geographic area. There is a increase of 728 km sq in forest cover in year 2007 as compared to revised assessment made in 2005. The total tree cover of the country has been estimated as 92,769 km sq. or about 2.82 percent of the country’s geographic area.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• More than 60 percent of Indian households depend on traditional sources of energy like fuel wood, dung and crop residue for meeting their cooking and heating needs. Out of total rural energy consumption about 65 per cent is met from fuel wood. Fuel wood consumption during 2001-02 is estimated at 223 million tones, 180 millions tones of which is for household consumption and the balance for cottage industry, big hotels etc. Burning of traditional fuels introduces large quantities of CO2 when the combustion is complete, but if there is incomplete combustion and oxidation then Carbon monoxide (CO) is produced, in addition to hydrocarbons.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• About 24 mha are occupied by the housing, the industry and for other non-agricultural uses, 19.2 mha are snowbound and remote, leaving only 263 million hectare for agriculture, forestry, pasture and other biomass production. Since 1970-71, the net area sown has remained almost the same at around 141 mha levels.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Average annual precipitation is nearly 4000 cubic km. and the average flow in the river system is estimated to be 1880 cubic km. Because of concentration of rains only in the three monsoon months, the utilizable quantum of water is about 690 cubic km.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• A total of 42.6 million people living in 8.2 million households have been enumerated in slums of 640 cities/towns spread across 26 states and union territories in 2001 census. The slum population constitutes 4 percent of the total population of the country. The slum dwellers in the country constitute nearly a seventh of the total urban population of the states and union territories reporting slum population and 23.1 percent of the population of the 640 cities/towns reporting slums. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Cities with population above 100,000 accounts for 60 percent of country’s population in 2001. About 17.7 million population lives in the citites with population above one million, which is 41.6 percent of the total slum population in the country. In absolute numbers, Greater Mumbai has the highest slum population of around 6.5 million followed by Delhi 1.9 million and Kolkata 1.5 million. The slum areas of Surat, Hyderabad, Chennai and Nagpur have more than half a million population each.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><br /> <span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to the [inside]Report of the Committee to Evolve Road Map on Management of Wastes in India[/inside], Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi, March, 2010, </span><a href="http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/Roadmap-Mgmt-Waste.pdf"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">http://moef.nic.in/downloads/public-information/Roadmap-Mgmt-Waste.pdf</span></a><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">: </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Waste management differs for different types of wastes and for wastes in different geographical locations such as urban, rural and hilly areas. While the management of non-hazardous domestic waste is the joint responsibility of the citizens and the local government, the management of commercial, industrial and hazardous waste is the responsibility of the waste generators like commercial establishments, healthcare establishments, industries and the pollution control boards.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• As per 2008 statistics, it is estimated that in India we need to manage 0.573 million metric tons (MMT) of municipal solid waste per day of which about 60 </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">percent</span> is organic waste amounting to 0.292 MMT/d. There are only 110 facilities in the country for treating hardly 50 </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">percent</span> of the organic waste generated.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• In the present practice of mixed collection and transportation throughout the country, collection efficiency is only around 60 </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">percent</span> and the rest 40 </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">percent</span> lies uncollected and scattered all over our towns and cities, polluting the surrounding land and water resources. This also leads to proliferation of rodents and vectors spreading diseases and air pollution from dust and smoke when burnt in the open.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• About 24 landfill facilities, jointly having the capacity of holding 0.06 MMT/d have been constructed in the country for landfilling against a total requirement for landfilling of about 0.183 MMT/d of inert wastes.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) assessed Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW) generation in the country to be 1,00,000 Metric Tons or 0.1 million metric tonnes per day (MMT/d) in the year 2001-02. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) made a survey of 59 cities in India during the year 2004-05 to assess the existing status of MSW management which included 35 metro cities and 24 State capitals. Based on this study and on census data of 2008, the MSW generation in the country has been estimated to be 0.573 (MMT/d) in the year 2008.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The average collection efficiency of municipal solid waste ranges from 22 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> to 60 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">. The highest per capita waste generation was in the city of Kochi (0.67 kg/capita/day) and the lowest was (0.17-0.19 kg/c/day) in Kohima, Imphal and Nashik. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The waste characterization showed that municipal solid wastes typically contains 51 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> of organic waste, 17 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> recyclables, 11 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> hazardous and 21 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> inert. However, about 40 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> of all MSW is not collected at all and hence lies littered in the city/town and finds its way to nearby drains and water bodies, causing choking of drains and pollution of surface water.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• There are 86 mechanized compost plants, 20 Vermi-compost plants, 2 refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) plants, and two with energy recovery system established so far in India. Also Sanitary Landfill Facilities (SLF) have been constructed in the country for scientific disposal of MSW, many of which are in operation.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules are not being effectively implemented in most of the local bodies i.e. in about 4377 municipalities and municipal corporations spread throughout the country.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The plastic consumption in India, as per estimate in 2008 by CPCB was 8 MT/annum, out of which about 5.7 MT of plastics are converted into waste annually i.e. 15,722 tons of plastic waste is generated per day. Therefore the per capita generation of plastic waste has been estimated as 5.7 Kg/annum. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The figures available on plastic waste are estimated on the assumption that 70 percent of the total plastic consumed is transformed into waste. It has been reported that 60 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> of total plastic waste generated is recycled and 40 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> is littered and remains uncollected. Therefore, approximately, 6289 tons per day (TPD) i.e. 40 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> of plastics are neither collected,nor recycled and find their way into drains, open lands, rivers, railway tracks and coasts. These in turn, choke drains or get dredged in the soil, making the land infertile.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Thermoplastics, which include Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Low Density Poly Ethylene (LDPE), Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC), High Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE), Polypropylene (PP), Polystyrene (PS) etc, constitute 80 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> of the total plastics.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• In terms of types of plastics, almost 90 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> of the plastic types are recyclable and only 10 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> of the various types of waste are non-recyclable.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• It is estimated that the construction industry in India generates about 10-12 million tons of waste annually.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Approximately 288.20 tons per day (56.87%) out of 506.74 tons per day wastes generated is being treated either through Common Bio-medical Waste Treatment Facilities (159 in number), or captive treatment facilities. There are 602 Bio-medical Waste Incinerators (which include both common and captive incinerators), 2218 autoclaves, 192 microwaves, 151 hydroclaves and 8,038 shredders in the country. About 424 (70.4%) out of 602 incinerators are provided with air pollution control devices and 178 (29.6 %) incinerators are in operation without air pollution control devices.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The E-waste inventory based on the obsolescence rate in India for the year 2005 has been estimated to be 1,46, 000 tonnes, which is expected to exceed 8,00,000 tonnes by 2012.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• There are about 36,000 hazardous waste generating industries in India which generate 6.2 million tonnes out of which land fillable hazardous waste is about 2.7 million tonnes (44%), incinerable hazardous waste is about 0.4 million tonnes (7 %) and recyclable hazardous waste is about 3.1 million tonnes (49 %). Indiscriminate and unscientific disposal of wastes in the past has resulted in several sites in the country to become environmentally degraded. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• There are 141 hazardous waste dumpsites that have been primarily identified in 14 States/UTs out of which 88 critically polluted locations are currently identified. Gujarat (about 29%), Maharashtra (about 25%) and Andhra Pradesh (about 9%) are the top three HW generating States. Thereafter, Chhattisgarh (about 5%), Rajasthan, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu (about 4 %) are found to be major generators of HW. These seven States together, are generating about 80 </span>percent<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> of country's total HW. About 64 Common Hazardous Waste Transportation, Storage and Disposal Sites (TSDFs) have been identified in various States/UTs out of which 35 sites have been notified.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to the report [inside]The State of World Population 2009 (UNFPA)[/inside]: Facing a changing world: Women, population and climate, </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><a href="http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2009/en/pdf/EN_SOWP09.pdf">http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2009/en/pdf/EN_SOWP09.pdf</a>:</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The temperature increase since the late 1800s may seem small—0.74 degrees Celsius—but the impact on people is likely to be profound. The impact will be even greater as temperatures continue rising, by as much as 6.4 degrees Celsius by 2100.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Rice-growing, livestock-raising, and burning organic wastes have more than doubled methane concentrations. The use of artificial fertilizers, made possible by techniques developed in the early 20th century, has released large amounts of another greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide, into air and water.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Since 2000, “anthropogenic” or human-caused carbon-dioxide emissions have been increasing four times faster than in the previous decade. Most of the emissions came from burning fossil fuels.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The World Health Organization estimates that in 2000 some 150,000 excess deaths were occurring annually—in extreme heat waves, storms, or similar events—as a result of climate change that had occurred since the 1970s.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The additional greenhouse gases that come from intense burning of fossil fuels, modern farming methods that rely on fertilizers, and the industrial use of chlorofluorocarbons, particularly in the past 40 years, have thrown the earth’s natural greenhouse effect into a state of disequilibrium. In addition, deforestation, clearing of other vegetation and the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the oceans have reduced the capacity of the world’s “carbon sinks,” which have for millennia absorbed excess carbon from the atmosphere. Less capacity to absorb carbon means there is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, exacerbating what now appears to be a runaway greenhouse effect.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The ten warmest years between 1880 and 2008 are: 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Developing countries will account for the majority of the growth in total volume of carbon-dioxide emissions related to fossil fuels from 2008 through 2030.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Emissions to be lower in 2030 than today only in Europe and Japan, where population is now approaching or already in decline</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Global emissions of black carbon are rising fast, and Chinese emissions may have doubled since 2000.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• From 1850 to 2002, countries we now call developed accounted for an estimated 76 per cent of cumulative carbon-dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel combustion, while the countries we now call developing accounted for an estimated 24 per cent. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Boosted by growing populations and rising affluence, the sum total of all developing countries’ emissions began exceeding the totals of all those of developed countries in 2005 and now make up 54 per cent of the total. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• In 2007, China is believed to have overtaken the United States in total carbon-dioxide emissions resulting from fossil-fuel combustion.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><em>Some of the climate change risks according to the report The State of World Population 2009 (UNFPA) are:</em></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The average global temperature could rise by as much as 6.4 degrees Celsius by the end of this century.24</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• As much as 30 per cent of plant and animal species could become extinct if the global temperature increase exceeds 2.5 degrees Celsius.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• One-third of the reef-building corals around the world could become extinct because of warming and acidifying waters.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Global average sea levels could rise by as much as 43 centimetres by the end of this century.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Arctic ice could disappear altogether during the summer by the second half of this century. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• One in six countries could face food shortages each year because of severe droughts.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• By 2075, between 3 billion and 7 billion people could face chronic water shortages.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">**page**<em> </em></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to the [inside]State of Environment Report India 2009[/inside],</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"><a href="http://hindi.indiawaterportal.org/sites/hindi.indiawaterportal.org/files/StateofEnvironmentReport2009.pdf">http://hindi.indiawaterportal.org/sites/hindi.indiawaterportal.org/files/StateofEnvironmentReport2009.pdf</a>: </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• In India, an estimated 146.82 Mha. area suffers from various forms of land degradation due to water and wind erosion and other complex problems like alkalinity/ salinity and soil acidity due to water logging. The varying degrees and types of degradation, stem mainly from unstable use and inappropriate land management practices. Loss of vegetation occurs as a result of deforestation, cutting beyond the silviculturally permissible limits, unsustainable fuel-wood and fodder extraction, shifting cultivation, encroachment into forest lands, forest fires and over-grazing, all of which subject the land to degradational forces. Other important factors responsible for large-scale degradation are the extension of cultivation to lands of low potential or high natural hazards, non-adoption of adequate soil conservation measures, improper crop rotation, indiscriminate use of agro-chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides, improper planning and management of irrigation systems and extraction of groundwater in excess of the recharge capacity.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Over the past fifty years, while India's total population increased by about three times, the total area of land under cultivation increased by only 20.2 per cent (from 118.75 Mha. In 1951 to 141.89 Mha. in 2005-06). Most of this expansion has taken place at the expense of forest and grazing land. Despite fast expansion of the area under cultivation, less agricultural land is available on per capita basis.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The current practice of shifting cultivation in the eastern and north-eastern regions of India is an extravagant and unscientific form of land use. According to a recent estimate, an area of 18765.86 sq. km. (0.59 percent of the total geographical area) is under shifting cultivation. The effects of shifting cultivation are devastating and far-reaching in degrading the environment and ecology of these regions. The earlier 15–20 years cycle of shifting cultivation on a particular land has reduced to two or three years now. This has resulted in large-scale deforestation, soil and nutrient loss, and invasion by weeds and other species. The indigenous biodiversity has been affected to a large extent. As per the statistics, Orissa accounts for the largest area under shifting cultivation in India.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Per hectare consumption of fertilizers has increased from 69.8 kg in 1991-92 to 113.3 kg in 2006-07, at an average rate of 3.3 per cent. There is excessive use of urea and a bias against micronutrients. As against the desirable NPK proportion of 4:2:1, the average use of urea now is 6:2 and 4:1. The Steering Committee of the Planning Commission has observed that “because nitrogenous fertilizers are subsidised more than potassic and phosphatic fertilizers, the subsidy tends to benefit the crops and regions which require higher use of nitrogenous fertilizers as compared to crops and regions which require higher application of P and K.” The excessive use of urea has also affected the soil profile adversely</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The total tree cover of the country has been estimated as 91,663 sq. km. or about 2.79 per cent of the country's geographical area. Between 2003 and 2005, the total forest cover had decreased slightly by 728 sq. km. The states, which have shown a decline in the forest covers, are Nagaland (296 sq. km), Manipur (173 sq. km), Madhya Pradesh (132 sq. km) and Chhattisgarh (129 sq. km). There has been a significant loss of forest cover in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (178 sq. km) because of the Tsunami. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The total forest cover of the country, as per the 2005 assessment, is 677,088 sq. km. which constitutes 20.60 per cent of the geographic area of the country. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Burning of wheat and rice straw and other agricultural residue has also contributed to loss of soil fertility, apart from causing air pollution. Open field burning of straw after combine harvesting is a common practice in states like Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in order to ensure early preparation of fields for the next crop. Punjab alone produces around 23 million tonnes of rice straw and 17 million tonnes of wheat straw, annually. This straw is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. However, instead of recycling it back into the soil by mulching, it is burnt in the fields. This raises the temperature of the soil in the top three inches to such a high degree that the carbon: nitrogen equilibrium in soil changes rapidly. The carbon as CO is lost to the atmosphere, while nitrogen is converted into a nitrate. This leads to a loss of about 0.824 million tonnes of NPK from the soil. This is about 50 per cent of the total fertilizer consumption in the state.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Excessive soil erosion with consequent high rate of sedimentation in the reservoirs and decreased fertility has created serious environmental problems with disastrous economic consequences. In India, the Ganga, Brahmaputra and Kosi rivers carry huge amounts of eroded soil in the form of heavy silt, which deposits as sediments on the river bed. While soil erosion by rain and river in hilli areas causes landslides and floods, deforestation, overgrazing, traditional agricultural practices, mining and incorrect siting of development projects in forested areas have resulted in exposing the green cover to severe soil erosion. Ravines and gullies account for 4 Mha. of land erosion. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• In India, erosion rates range from 5 to 20 tonnes per hectare, sometimes going up to 100 tonnes per hectare. Nearly 93.68 million hectares are affected by water erosion and another 9.48 million hectares are affected by wind erosion annually in India. Thus, erosion leads to impoverished soil on one hand, and silting up of reservoirs and water tanks on the other.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• In India, 228.3 Mha. of geographical area comprises arid (50.8 Mha.), semi-arid (123.4 Mha.) and dry sub-humid regions (54.1 Mha.). Western parts of Rajasthan and Kutch are chronically drought affected.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Total vehicle population of India is more than 85 million (about 1 percent share of the world). The increase in vehicles, as well as the presence of other motorized forms of transportation (taxis, autos, trains, buses, etc.), will contribute to the already existent large amount of vehicular emissions. The worst thing about vehicular pollution is that it cannot be avoided as the vehicular emissions are emitted at near-ground level.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Air borne emissions emitted from various industries are a cause of major concern. These emissions are of two forms, viz. solid particles (SPM) and gaseous emissions (SO2, NO2, CO, etc.).</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The power sector is a major consumer of coal, using about 78 per cent of the country's coal production. Coal-fired thermal units account for around 62.2 per cent of total power generation in the country. India's heavy reliance on coal explains the country's relatively high carbon intensity level. Coal production through opencast mining, its supply to and consumption in power stations, and industrial boilers leads to particulate and gaseous pollution.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• In 2006-07, India had encountered 495.54 million tonne/ year of total absolute emissions of CO2 from the power sector. However, the contribution of India to the cumulative global CO2 emissions is only 5 per cent. Thus historically, and at present, India's share in the carbon stock in the atmosphere is relatively very small when compared to its population.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The household sector is the second largest consumer of energy in India after the industrial sector. National Family Health Survey-3 (NFHS-3) found that 71 per cent of India's households use solid fuels for cooking and that 91 per cent of rural households also do the same. According to National Family Health Survey-3, more than 60 per cent of Indian households depend on traditional sources of energy like fuel-wood, dung and crop residue for meeting their cooking and heating needs. Burning of traditional fuels introduces large quantities of CO2 in the atmosphere, when the combustion is complete, but if there is an incomplete combustion followed by oxidation, then CO is produced, in addition to hydrocarbons.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• There is a great deal of variation in the prevalence of TB according to the type of cooking fuel the household uses. It ranges from a low of 217 per 100,000 residents, (among households using electricity, liquid petroleum gas, natural gas, or biogas), to a high of 924 per 100,000 (among households using straw, shrubs, or grass for cooking). High TB prevalence is also seen amongst households using agricultural crop residue (703/100,000) or other fuels (755/100,000).</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Agriculture remains central to the Indian economy and therefore, receives the greatest share of the annual water allocation. According to the World Resources Institute (2000), 92 per cent of India's utilizable water is devoted to this sector, mostly in the form of irrigation. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• In 1995, the Central Pollution Control Board identified severely polluted stretches on 18 major rivers in India (World Bank 1999). Not surprisingly, the majority of these stretches were found in and around large urban areas.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The geogenic contaminants, including salinity, iron, fluoride and arsenic have affected groundwater in over 200 districts spread across 19 states. Studies have shown that long-term intake of fluoride can cause tooth decay and crippled bones. Arsenic can cause skin cancer and skin pigmentation.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Water pollution is a serious problem in India as almost 70 per cent of its surface water resources and a growing percentage of its groundwater reserves are contaminated by biological, toxic, organic and inorganic pollutants. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Studies on the Ganga River indicate the presence of chemicals such as HCH, DDT, endosulfan, methyl malathion, malathion, dimethoate, and ethion in levels greater than those recommended by the international standards</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• High levels of fertilizer use has been associated with increased incidence of eutrophication in rivers and lakes in several of India's most important water bodies, such as the Hussein Sagar in Hyderabad and Nainital in Uttar Pradesh.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The Central and State Pollution Control Boards have identified 1,532 'grossly polluting' industries in India, although almost none of the industries comply with the emission standards (World Bank 1999).</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• The domestic sector is responsible for the majority of wastewater generation in India. Combined, the 22 largest cities in the country produce over 7,267 million litres of domestic wastewater per day, of which slightly over 80 per cent is collected for treatment (CSE 1999)</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Annual production of solid waste in India has been estimated to be 2,000 million tonnes (MOWR 2000).</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">• Coupled with these incongruities and aberrations in land use, the unsound development strategies have led to increasing threats to biodiversity resources by way of illegal encroachment of 0.07 Mha. of forest, cultivation of 4.37 Mha. and diversion of forest for river valley projects (0.52 Mha.), industries and townships (0.14 Mha.), transmission lines and roads (0.06 Mha.) and an additional 1.5 Mha. for miscellaneous purposes (TERI, 1999).</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">**page**<em> </em></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><em><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to the Ministry of Environment, Government of India </span><a href="http://envfor.nic.in/cc/diduknow.htm"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">http://envfor.nic.in/cc/diduknow.htm</span></a></em><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">:</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium"> A 1-metre rise in sea level would displace about 7 million people in India</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium"> Fossil fuel burning has contributed to most of the greenhouse gas emissions in the past 20 years.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium"> The decade of the 1990s was the warmest, and 1998 was the warmest year on record, since 1861</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium"> The population of ice-dependent penguin species in the Western Antarctic Peninsula has decreased by 20 </span>percent<span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium"> over the last 25 years</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium"> Projections for the 21st century indicate that the earth's average temperature will rise by anything between 1.4 and 5.8ºC</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to [inside]Climate Change: India’s Perceptions, Positions, Policies and Possibilities[/inside] by Parikh, Jyoti K. and Parikh, Kirit (2002), OECD,</span><br /> <a href="http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/22/16/1934784.pdf"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/22/16/1934784.pdf</span></a>:</p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium">• Climate change would result in large-scale emigration from coastal zones due to submergence of coastlines after sea levels have risen. This will create large numbers of environmental refugees especially from low-lying delta regions in poor countries. Furthermore, intrusion of sea-water in the ground water and changes in temperature can reduce agricultural and fishing incomes.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium">• India would face yield losses in rice and wheat along with fall in the rate of growth of gross domestic product owing to climate change. </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium">• Increased occurrence of extreme events (such as cyclones) due to climate change will mostly affect the poor. One must remember here the cyclone of 1996 that hit Andhra Pradesh.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium">• The power sector is responsible for the highest direct emissions of CO2 in India (42%), followed by iron and steel, road, railways and air transport, and coal. the power sector is permitted to use natural gas. Coal-based fertiliser plants no longer function and coal use in railways is almost phased out.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:Arial; font-size:medium">• When carbon is traded, what developing countries like India gain would depend on whether the market is competitive, whether futures markets exist, or whether the carbon is bilaterally traded in a project-by-project basis, as is envisaged under CDM.</span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">According to the [inside]Climate change, sustainable development and India: Global and national concerns[/inside] by Jayant Sathaye , PR Shukla and NH Ravindranath, Current Science, Vol. 90, No. 3, 10 February 2006 </span><a href="http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/feb102006/314.pdf"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/feb102006/314.pdf</span></a><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <div style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">The latest high-resolution climate change scenarios and projections for India, based on Regional Climate Modelling (RCM) system, known as PRECIS developed by Hadley Center and applied for India using IPCC scenarios A2 and B2 shows the following: </span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium"> </span></div> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:medium">a. An annual mean surface temperature rise by the end of century, ranging from 3 to 5C under A2 scenario and 2.5 to 4C under B2 scenario, with warming more pronounced in the northern parts of India; </span></p> <p style="text-align:justify">b. A 20 percent rise in all India summer monsoon rainfall and further rise in rainfall is projected over all states except Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, which show a slight decrease. </p> <p style="text-align:justify">c. Extremes in maximum and minimum temperatures are also expected to increase and similarly extreme precipitation also shows substantial increases, particularly over the west coast of India and west central India.</p> ', 'credit_writer' => 'Rural Expert', 'article_img' => '', 'article_img_thumb' => '', 'status' => (int) 1, 'show_on_home' => (int) 1, 'lang' => 'EN', 'category_id' => (int) 12, 'tag_keyword' => '', 'seo_url' => 'time-bomb-ticking-52', 'meta_title' => '', 'meta_keywords' => '', 'meta_description' => '', 'noindex' => (int) 0, 'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'most_visit_section_id' => null, 'article_big_img' => null, 'liveid' => (int) 52, 'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {}, 'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {}, 'edate' => '', 'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {}, '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ '*' => true, 'id' => false ], '[dirty]' => [], '[original]' => [], '[virtual]' => [], '[hasErrors]' => false, '[errors]' => [], '[invalid]' => [], '[repository]' => 'Articles' } $imgtag = false $imgURL = '#' $titleText = null $descText = 'KEY TRENDS • Extreme temperature shocks reduce farmer incomes by 4.3 percent and 4.1 percent during kharif and rabi respectively, whereas extreme rainfall shocks reduce incomes by 13.7 percent and 5.5 percent *& • It is estimated that to cover 50 percent (5 million ha) of the total acreage under rice-wheat cropping system (RWCS) in India, about 60000 Turbo Happy Seeders and 30000 super SMS fitted combines will be required; at present, there are only about 3000...' $foundposition = false $startp = (int) 0 $endp = (int) 200preg_replace - [internal], line ?? include - APP/Template/SearchResult/index.ctp, line 35 Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413 Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374 Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 880 Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791 Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126 Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94 Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96 Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65 Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51
