Global sea level jumped due to El Niño and climate change: NASA
Time to Read :🕑 5 Mins
Why in news?
Global average sea level rose by nearly four times the previous year's increase, jumping about 0.76 centimeters (0.3 inches) from 2022 to 2023. NASA attributes this significant rise to a strong El Niño event and a warming climate.
Key highlight
The NASA-led analysis is based on more than 30 years of satellite observations, with the initial satellite launching in 1992 and the latest in 2020.
Overall, sea levels have risen by around four inches since 1993.
The rate of increase has also accelerated, more than doubling from 0.07 inches per year in 1993, to the current rate of 0.17 inches per year.
Current rates of acceleration mean that we are on track to add another 20 cm of global mean sea level by 2050.
That would be double the amount of change in the next three decades compared to the previous century, creating a future where ooding is far more frequent and catastrophic than today.
The immediate cause of the spike is the El Nino weather evect, which replaced the La Nina from 2021 to 2022, when the sea level rose around 0.08 in-ches.
El Nino involves warmer-than-average ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacic. But there is also a clear human footprint evident in the underlying trend of acceleration.
U.S. recognises Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory
Why in news?
The United States recognizes Arunachal Pradesh as an Indian territory, according to remarks by US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson.
About
US strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by incursions or encroachments, military or civilian, across the Line of Actual Control.
India has repeatedly rejected China's territorial claims over Arunachal Pradesh, asserting that the state is an integral part of the country.
In urban areas, it was conducted under the administrative jurisdiction of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA).
New Delhi has also dismissed Beijing's move to assign invented names to the area, saying it did not alter the reality.
Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman said that the southern part of Xizang (the Chinese name for Tibet) is an inherent part of China's territory, and Beijing never acknowledges and firmly opposes the so-called Arunachal Pradesh illegally established by India.
China, which claims Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet, routinely objects to Indian leaders' visits to the state to highlight its claims.
SC forms expert panel to balance Bustard conservation with sustainable energy goals
Why in news?
The Supreme Court has formed an expert committee to balance the conservation and protection of the endangered Great Indian Bustard with India's international commitments to promoting renewable energy sources.
Core issue
The large-winged birds are on the brink of extinction, with one of the causes being frequent collision with high-powered power cables running adjacent to its core habitats in Gujarat and Rajasthan.
About Committee
A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India said a blanket direction given by the apex court in April 2019 for undergrounding high voltage and low voltage power cables required “re-calibration”.
The court appointed the Director of, Wildlife Institute of India; wildlife and forest conservation experts, including Hari Shankar Singh, Niranjan Kumar Vasu, B. Majumdar, and Devesh Ghadvi; and Joint Secretary with the Renewable Energy Ministry Lalit Bohra and his counterpart in the Environment Ministry.
The committee would also include Ashok Kumar Rajput, Member, Power Systems, Central Electrical Authority, and P.C. Garg, Chief Operating Officer, Central Transmission Utility of India Limited as special invitees.
The remit of the panel would be to determine the scope, extent and feasibility of underground and overhead electric lines in areas identified as priority spots for the birds in Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The committee will explore alternatives to balance sustainable development goals and conservation of the birds.
It could recommend additional measures to identify additional priority areas.
The panel has to file its report in the apex court on or before July 31.
No microplastics: new rules queer the pitch for ‘biodegradable’ plastics
Why in news?
The Environment Ministry has introduced stricter rules for labeling disposable plasticware as "biodegradable." These new rules stipulate that such products must not decompose into microplastics.
About News
Biodegradable plastic and compostable plastic are projected as the two broad kinds of technological fixes to India’s burgeoning problem of plastic waste pollution.
Biodegradable plastic involves plastic goods being treated before they are sold. When discarded, the material is expected to decompose naturally over time though there are no tests yet to determine if such plastics completely degrade.
Compostable plastics, on the other hand, do degrade, but require industrial or large municipal waste management facilities to do so.
Microplastics
A new set of amendments to India’s Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2024, made public last week, defines biodegradable plastics as not only capable of “degradation by biological processes in specific environment such as soil, landfill” but also as materials that do not leave “any microplastics”
The caveat about microplastics in the updated rules does not specify which chemical tests can be used to establish the absence of microplastics, or to what extent microplastics must be reduced in a sample in order to consider them eliminated.
The company offers technologies that, when added to regular single-use plastics, makes them biodegradable.
Sources of microplastics : There are multiple sources of microplastics in the environment and it can come through water, soil, composting medium.
The current standards [in India] only recommend tests that can be done to determine the levels of microplastics but don’t prescribe a definitive test.
Should a standard for microplastics be eventually determined, it should, for fairness sake, include both compostable and biodegradable plastics.
Single-use plastic ban
Microplastics are defined as any solid plastic particle insoluble in water, with dimensions between 1 µm and 1,000 µm (1 µm is one-thousandth of a millimetre).
In recent years, they have been reported as a major source of pollution affecting rivers and oceans.
Concern of plastic
Biodegradable plastics have received extra attention in March 2023, after the Union government banned single-use plastic in 2022, and recommended, among other things, the adoption of biodegradable plastic. However, the question of what exactly constituted biodegradable plastic was unanswered.
Several firms, including some which used technology such as Symphony’s, were left in the lurch as the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) refused to provide them with a ‘provisional certificate’ to licence their products as biodegradable.
This is because the CPCB only considers as biodegradable a plastic sample that has 90% degraded, and such a process takes at least two years.
Manufacturers who showed that their samples had degraded, say 5% in 45 days, were refused a ‘provisional certificate.’ This was because the rules do not specify exactly what degree of degradation would merit such a certificate.
Self-Regulatory Organisations (SRO) for Regulated Entities
Time to Read :🕑 7 Mins
Why in news?
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has finalized the Omnibus Framework for recognizing Self-Regulatory Organizations (SROs) for its Regulated Entities.
Background
As per the announcement made in the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies of the Reserve Bank, as part of its Monetary Policy Statement – 2023-24 dated October 06, 2023, a draft framework titled ‘Draft Omnibus Framework for recognising Self-Regulatory Organisations for its Regulated Entities’ was issued for public comments on December 21, 2023.
SRO Framework
Each sector of the regulated entities (RE) including fintechs will have separate SRO and with the finalisation of the framework the RBI will receive applications from various entities seeking to get SRO status.
With the growth of the REs in terms of number as well as scale of operations, increase in adoption of innovative technologies and enhanced customer outreach, a need was felt to develop better industry standards for self-regulation, the central bank said.
The omnibus framework contains broad parameters viz., objectives, responsibilities, eligibility criteria, governance standards, application process and other basic conditions for grant of recognition, which will be common for any SRO proposed to be recognized by the Reserve Bank,” the RBI said in a circular.
About SRO
An SRO is expected to operate with credibility, objectivity and responsibility under the oversight of the regulator, to improve regulatory compliance for healthy and sustainable development of the sector to which it caters.
The SRO is expected to operate with transparency, professionalism and independence, in order to foster greater confidence in the integrity of the sector.
Compliance with the highest standards of governance is a pre-requisite for an effective SRO. And it has to be a professionally managed set up, the RBI said.
The Directors of the SRO need to fulfil the ‘fit and proper’ criteria as framed by the Board of the SRO on an ongoing basis and have relevant expertise/experience and be persons of high integrity.
At least one-third of members in the Board of Directors including the chairperson shall be independent and without any active association with the category/class of REs for which the SRO is established.
Any change in the directorship or any adverse information about any Director shall be immediately reported to the Reserve Bank.
The Board will ensure that the SRO has adequately skilled human resources and robust technical capability to monitor the sector.
The Board will follow transparent practices for establishing its governance processes.
The process of seeking recognition as an SRO will be robust so as to ensure adherence to a set of stringent parameters essential for the critical role it is expected to play, the RBI said.
Brucethoa isro
Time to Read :🕑 5 Mins
Why in news?
Scientists have named a newly discovered deep-sea isopod found off the Kollam coast "Brucethoa isro" in honor of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
About Species
Researchers have named a new species of deep-sea isopod discovered off the Kollam coast after the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The tiny fish-parasitic crustacean, belonging to the genus Brucethoa, was recovered from the base of the gill cavity of the Spinyjaw greeneye, a marine fish.
The new species has been named Brucethoa isro in honour of the Indian space agency’s “successful space missions, including the recent successful lunar mission titled Chandrayaan-3,” a paper on the finding published in the journal Systematic Parasitology.
Females of the species tend to be larger than the males.
Females grow to about 19 mm in length and 6 mm in width, while males are smaller at around half the size.
The distinctive morphology and behaviour of deep-sea parasitic isopods have long intrigued taxonomists.
Brucethoa isro is the second species within this genus to be documented in India.
Water, an instrument to build world peace
Time to Read :🕑 11 Mins
Why in news?
Observed annually since 1993, World Water Day is a global initiative backed by the United Nations, falling on March 22nd.
About Water Day
Under different themes, the attempt has been to raise awareness among stakeholders about the importance of freshwater.
The theme this year is “Water for Peace”.
As everyone knows, there was a time when clean water was available in wells, ponds, streams, rivers and other sources, but the situation is vastly different now.
There is a problem of water availability with respect to quantity or quality.
India too faces problems
This water crisis may be physical or economic based on multiple factors such as
Rapid urbanisation.
Industrialisation.
Unsustainable agricultural practices.
Climate change.
Erratic rainfall patterns.
Water overuse and inefficient water management.
Pollution.
Inadequate infrastructure.
A lack of ‘belongingness’ among stakeholders.
Runoff due to high rain along with soil erosion and sedimentation.
Water scarcity leads to the poor functioning of ecosystems, threatens food and water security, and, ultimately, affects peace.
According to the World Resources Institute, 17 countries face ‘extremely high’ levels of water stress which is threatening to result in conflict, unrest and peace among people.
India is not an exception to these problems.
In India, water availability is already low enough to be categorised as water stressed, and is expected to reduce further to 1341m3 by 2025 and 1140m3 by 2050. Also, 72% of all water withdrawals are for use in agriculture, 16% by municipalities for households and services, and 12% by industries.
In almost every State and in the main cities of India, there is groundwater table depletion. The example of Bengaluru is one prominent example.
In Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana, the ratio of groundwater consumption to availability is 172%, 137%, 137% and 133%, respectively, which is cause for alarm.
In contrast, in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, it is 77%, 74%. 67%, 57%, and 53%, respectively.
Most perennial rivers/streams now have intermittent flows or have run dry.
In most areas after April-May, there is Less water availability even for drinking and other uses.
Springs in India’s hilly areas are almost dry.
In India, the total number of water bodies is 5,56,601 whose irrigation potential covered 62,71,180 hectares.But, due to a lack of or inappropriate catchment treatment measures, bad design and poor maintenance of water bodies, most of the reservoirs/waterbodies/wetlands have silted up, resulting in reduced storage capacity and lower efficacy.
In most areas, tubewell density and networks have increased. Groundwater discharge is now more than groundwater recharge.
The letting out of sewerage water and other sources of grey water into water bodies and rivers is causing a deterioration in water quality. There is a lack of proper surface and groundwater management. Rainfed regions in India which comprise over 48% of land area produces nearly 45% of the gross agricultural product.
The vital role of rainwater harvesting
Enhancing water availability with respect to quantity and quality and blue and green water is vital since water is more than just a basic human right.
Water is also an instrument of peace-building and enhances the overall quality of life.
Promoting sustainable agricultural production, ensuring water security and maintaining environmental integrity are increasingly becoming important issues. This can only be possible by adopting different resource conservation measures in general and rainwater harvesting (in-situ and ex-situ) and ensuring roof top rainwater harvesting in particular.
Rain water harvesting (RWH) enables resilience against water scarcity and drought by augmenting recharge and aiding irrigation.
The optimum use of surface water by large-scale RWH structures, conjunctive use with groundwater And safe reuse of waste water are the only viable solutions to boost and maintain the current level of food grain production.
The government’s emphasis on ‘per drop more crop’, ‘Gaon ka pani gaon mein’, ‘Khet ka pani khet mein’, ‘Har Medh per ped’ under various programmes such as the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), watershed management, Mission Amrit Sarovar and the Jal Shakti Abhiyan programmes.
Way Forward
There is an emphasis on water conservation and rainwater harvesting, rejuvenation of waterbodies/tanks/wetlands, recharge of borewell and other recharge structures, watershed development and intensive afforestation.
There is the need for a protocol of the revival of ponds/waterbodies (it is unavailable right now). To tackle all these problems there is a great need to study the condition of every waterbody, its water availability, water quality and the state of ecosystem services it supports. (This writer has done some of these in Mewat, Haryana, NCT of Delhi and Odisha.)
There is a need also to create more waterbodies and their revival in every village by looking into the catchment-storage-command area of each waterbody.
There is a need also for these additional interventions to ensure ‘water for peace’:
Monitoring the groundwater table.
The reclamation of the water quality of groundwater.
Rivers and waterbodies.
The pricing of water use.
Having a circular water economy.
Ensuring efficient irrigation techniques such as integrating water resources with micro-irrigations systems and IOT based automation.
Having integrated water resource management.
Installing water meters to reduce water use for domestic purposes.
No free electricity, having a convergence and linkages of line departments.
Fostering community awareness and peoples’ participation, awareness campaigns about water conservation.
Ensuring groundwater use neutrality.
Land neutrality, growing low water requirement crops.
Optimal crop plan having integrated farming system models.
Building resilience against climate change and ensuring the needs of a growing population by adopting an integrated and inclusive approach to manage water which is a finite resource.
Reducing losses from water distribution systems, and ensuring safe wastewater reuse, desalination and appropriate water allocation, tubewell/borewell development.
Enabling the integration and collaboration of research, industry and academia to implement different developed and new technologies.
World Water Day
Time to Read :🕑 5 Mins
Why in news?
World Water Day, celebrated on March 22 every year, is an occasion to realise the importance of freshwater, especially this year amid the ongoing Bengaluru water crisis.
History
In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro saw the first formal proposal of World Water Day under Agenda 21.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution in December 1992 by which March 22 was declared World Water Day.
Significance
The United Nations (UN) marks this day to advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.
On this day, the UN’s flagship report on water and sanitation is launched every year.
Theme
The theme for this year is ‘Water for prosperity and peace’.
Thus, the 2024 edition of the UN’s flagship World Water Development Report (WWDR) report will explore this theme and be released today.
The theme changes every year, but the central focus remains on topics relevant to clean water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), which is in line with the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 6.
Key takeaways from UN’s World Water Day 2024 message
Water can create peace or spark conflict- Tensions in societies arise when water is scarce or polluted or when people struggle for access. We can balance everyone’s water needs only through cooperation.
Prosperity and peace rely on water- Mass migration and political unrest make water cooperation a central part of how nations manage climate change.
Water can lead us out of crisis- Harmony between communities and countries can be fostered by uniting around the fair and sustainable use of water. By approaching this goal at the international level via United Nations conventions and implementing actions at the local level, we can overcome the water crisis peacefully.
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