Environment and Ecology: December 2022 UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

Regenerative Agriculture

Why in News?

The importance of regenerative agriculture was emphasised in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on “Climate Change and Land.”

• It is a ‘sustainable land management practice’ that can be effective in building the resilience of agroecosystems.

What is Regenerative Agriculture?

• Regenerative agriculture is a holistic farming system that focuses on soil health, food quality, biodiversity improvement, water quality and air quality through methods such as reducing the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, reducing tillage, integrating livestock and using cover crops.
• It adheres to the following principles:
• Minimise soil distribution through conservation tillage
• Diversify crops to replenish nutrients and disrupt pest and disease lifecycles
• Retain soil cover using cover crops
• Integrate livestock, which adds manure to the soil and serves as a source of carbon sinks.

What is the Need of Regenerative Agriculture?

• The current intensive agriculture system has led to soil degradation and constant losses. There may not be enough soil to feed the world in next 50 years, according to international scientists. Soil fertility and biodiversity are decreasing across the globe.
• Regenerative agriculture improves soil health through practices that increase soil organic matter, biota and biodiversity. It also aims at enhancing water-holding capacity and carbon sequestration.
• It facilitates soil aggregation, water infiltration, retention and nutrient cycling.
• Regenerative agriculture also reduces erosion, provides habitat and food for diverse species and is beyond sustainability.

Green Cooling Solutions in India by 2040

Why in News?

• According to the report ‘Climate Investment Opportunities in India's Cooling Sector’ released by the World Bank Group, investment opportunities in India’s cooling sector through less carbon-intensive technologies could add up to USD 1.6 trillion.

What are the Highlights of the Report?

• The report analyzed the India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) launched in 2019 and came up with suggestions for prioritizing the government’s investment opportunities in the cooling sector.
• The report does not focus on air conditioning because only 40% of Indians will have air conditioning by 2040 — which is currently around 8% — and the rest for whom passive cooling technologies have to be the focus.
• Investment opportunities across three different sectors — construction, cold chains and refrigerants — have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions significantly and also create nearly 3.7 million jobs.
• Around 34 million people in the country might lose their jobs because of heat stress and subsequent decline in productivity.
• The world is already on a path where there would be many more intense heat waves like the one India witnessed in 2022
• Heat stress is set to increase drastically in a world on its way to a two-three degree rise in temperatures.

What are the Recommendations?

• Sustainable Space Cooling:
  • Sustainable space cooling solutions may reduce annual GHG emissions by 213 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2040.
  • This can be achieved by increasing the efficiency of cooling technologies — air conditioners, ceiling fans and chillers — which can save 30% energy by 2037-38.
• Passive Cooling Strategies:
  • Passive cooling strategies for buildings in cities can reduce energy usage by 20-30% by 2038.
  • A drop in the temperature of a building by one degree Celsius could lower peak electricity demand for cooling by two-four per cent.
• Thermal Comfort:
  • Government should include a thermal comfort programme in its affordable housing Programme, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
  • Thermal comfort through passive cooling technologies in these households could benefit over 11 million urban households and 29 million households in rural areas that the government wants to construct.
  • This would also ensure that the people most affected by rising temperatures are not disproportionately affected.
• District Cooling Systems (DCS):
  • DCS are centralized cooling techniques for clusters of buildings instead of individual buildings, which is much more efficient.
  • District cooling should be made mandatory for real estate complexes that are of high density.
  • DCS generates chilled water in a central plant which can then be distributed to multiple buildings via underground insulated pipes.
• Cold Chain and Refrigeration:
  • It is suggested to use concessional finance from Multilateral Development Banks like the World Bank for investments in strategies to plug the gaps in the cold chain distribution networks.
  • Such investments can help reduce food loss by about 76% and decrease carbon emissions by 16%.

What is ICAP?

• It seeks to recognize “cooling and related areas” as a thrust area of research under the National S&T Programme.
• It is part of India’s national strategy for cooling, whose objective is to reduce country-wide demand for cooling by 25 % by 2037-2038.
• It also seeks to reduce cooling energy requirements by 25% to 40% by 2037-38.
• Training and certification of 1,00,000 servicing sector technicians by 2022-23, in synergy with Skill India Mission.
• It also makes provision for cooling for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Low-Income Group (LIG) housing.
• In line with Montreal Protocol, the plan emphasizes cutting those elements that deplete the ozone layer.
• Its goal is to provide sustainable cooling and thermal comfort for all while securing environmental and socio-economic benefits for the society.

Binturong

Why in News?

• The police and forest officials in Manipur's Ukhrul town have been scanning “gambling dens” following reports of wild animals (dead or alive) such as Binturong being offered as prizes for raffle draws (a lottery in which the prizes are goods rather than money).
• Different types of birds such as the grey-sided thrush and tragopans (often called horned pheasants) have also been spotted.
• Blyth’s tragopan is the State bird of Nagaland.

What are the Key Facts about Binturong?

• About:
  • Binturong, (Arctictis binturong), also called bear cat or cat bear, catlike omnivore of the civet family (Viverridae), found in dense forests of Southeast Asia.
  • It has long shaggy hair, tufted ears, and a long, bushy, prehensile tail. The colour generally is black with a sprinkling of whitish hairs.
  • The binturong is principally nocturnal and crepuscular (that is, active during twilight).
  • It is found most often among the trees, using its prehensile tail as an aid in climbing. It feeds mainly on fruit, such as figs, but it also takes eggs and small animals.
  • In some areas binturongs are tamed and have been reported as being affectionate pets.
• Distribution:
  • Its range extends from Nepal, India, and Bhutan southward to the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java and eastward to Borneo.
  • Conservation:
  • IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
  • CITES listing: Appendix III
  • Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I

What are the Key Facts about Blyth’s Tragopan?

• Distribution:
  • Bhutan, China, India, Myanma.
• Conservation:
  • IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
  • CITES listing: Appendix I
  • Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I

Pharmaceutical Pollution

Why in News?

• According to a research paper, Pharmaceutical Pollution is an overlooked but urgent issue that needs coordinated action from across the pharmaceutical, healthcare and environmental sectors.
• Almost half, or 43% of the world’s rivers are contaminated with active pharmaceutical ingredients in concentrations that can have disastrous ramifications on health.

What is Pharmaceutical Pollution?

• About:
  • Pharmaceutical plants are often incapable of filtering out all the chemical compounds used in their manufacturing process and as such, the chemicals will seep into the surrounding freshwater systems and eventually into the oceans, lakes, streams, and rivers.
  • Wastewater from pharmaceutical manufacturers is also sometimes discharged into open fields and nearby water bodies, thereby increasing the pharmaceutical waste or their by-product load in the environment, landfills, or dumping areas. All this is basically known as pharmaceutical pollution.
• Effects:
  • Effects on Fish and Aquatic Life: A number of studies have indicated that estrogen found in birth control pills and postmenopausal hormone treatments, have a feminizing effect on male fish and can alter female-to-male ratios.
  • Disruption of Sewage Treatment Process: Antibiotics present in the sewage treatment systems can, therefore, inhibit the activities of the sewage bacteria, and therefore seriously affect the organic matter decomposition.
• Effect on Drinking Water:
  • The chemicals present in these pharmaceuticals, find a way into waterways, after being excreted from the body or after being flushed down the toilet.
  • Most municipal sewage treatment facilities can’t remove these pharmaceutical compounds from drinking water and people end up consuming the same compounds.
  • Chronic exposure to these compounds could result in serious health issues.
  • Long-term Effects on the Environment:
  • Some pharmaceutical compounds can persist for long in the environment and in water supplies.
  • These bioaccumulate, enter a cell and move up food chains, becoming more concentrated in the process. This can have disastrous effects on life and environment, in the long run.
• Solutions:
  • Investment in public education on the proper disposal of drugs should be done as part of the drug take-back programs
  • Tougher Regulations to limit large-scale medicine flushing in hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare institutions.
  • Additional research is desperately required to assess the potential human effects of pharmaceutical pollution.
  • Limiting bulk purchases will ensure only the required amount is supplied and therefore,b
  • Proper trashing must be preferred over flushing as it leads to them being incinerated or buried in landfills.

What is the Status of Pharmaceutical Pollution in India?

• World’s Third-Largest Producer:
  • India is the world’s third-largest producer of pharmaceuticals, in which about 3000 drug companies and about 10500 manufacturing units are involved.
  • Pharmaceuticals production has been considered one of the most polluting industries in various parts of India.
• Bulk Drug Capital of India:
  • In India, the dominant pharma industries are located in the city of Hyderabad (known as the ‘Bulk Drug Capital of India”).
  • It accounts for more than about 800 pharma/biotech units.
  • According to the survey, local people argue that the groundwater is highly contaminated in the regions where industries are situated.
• Multi-Drug Resistance Infections:
  • It has been estimated that about 60000 newborns die annually in India because of multidrug-resistance infections, where pharmaceutical water pollution with antimicrobial drugs is responsible for that.

What are the Related Government Initiatives?

• National Action Plan for Antimicrobial Resistance 2017: It was proposed to tackle the problem related to limits on antibiotics in industrial waste.
• Zero Liquid Discharge Policy: Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has introduced guidelines to various pharma industries to achieve zero liquid discharge.
• Around 86 of the 220 bulk drug makers in Hyderabad have zero liquid discharge facilities, which showed that they could recycle almost all the liquid effluent.
• Continuous Monitoring of Effluents: The Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has also announced that industries must install devices to monitor the effluent continuously.

Three Himalayan Medicinal Plants Enter IUCN Red List 

Why in News?

Three medicinal plant species (Meizotropis pellita, Fritillaria cirrhosa, Dactylorhiza hatagirea) found in the Himalayas have been added to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species following a recent assessment.

• This assessment in the Himalayan region shows deforestation, habitat loss, forest fires, illegal trade and climate change pose a serious threat to the species. The fresh data is expected to aid conservation efforts in the region.

What are the Key Highlights of these Species?

Meizotropis pellita

• About:
  • It is commonly known as Patwa, is a perennial shrub with a restricted distribution that is endemic to Uttarakhand.
• Enlisting in IUCN:
  • The study stated that the species is listed as ‘critically endangered’ based on its limited area of occupancy (less than 10 sq. km).
  • The species is threatened by deforestation, habitat fragmentation and forest fires.
• Significance:
  • The essential oil extracted from the leaves of the species possesses strong antioxidants and can be a promising natural substitute for synthetic antioxidants in pharmaceutical industries.

Fritillaria cirrhosa

• About:
  • It is commonly known as Himalayan fritillary, is a perennial bulbous herb.
• Enlisting in IUCN:
  • Considering the rate of decline, long generation length, poor germination potential, high trade value, extensive harvesting pressure and illegal trade, the species is listed as ‘vulnerable’.
• Significance:
  • In China, the species is used for the treatment of bronchial disorders and pneumonia. The plant is also a strong cough suppressant and a source of expectorant drugs in traditional Chinese medicine.

Dactylorhiza hatagirea

• About:
  • It is commonly known as Salampanja, is a perennial tuberous species endemic to the Hindu Kush and Himalayan ranges of Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan.
• Enlisting in IUCN:
  • It is threatened by habitat loss, livestock grazing, deforestation, and climate change, the species is listed as ‘endangered’.
• Significance:
  • It is extensively used in Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and other alternative systems of medicine to cure dysentery, gastritis, chronic fever, cough and stomach aches.

NMCG & Namami Gange Programme

Why in News?

Recently, the Union Minister for Jal Shakti chaired the 10^th meeting of the Empowered Task Force (ETF) of National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG).

• As part of its flagship Namami Gange programme, the Union government has shifted its focus from improving sanitation to conservation, tourism, and economic development of the Ganga river.

What are the Recent Developments in Ganga Rejuvenation?

• Ministry of Tourism working on a comprehensive plan for development of tourism circuits along Ganga in line with Arth Ganga.
• ‘Arth Ganga’ implies a sustainable development model with a focus on economic activities related to Ganga.
• Exhibitions & Fairs across 75 towns along Ganga River planned as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
• Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare (MoA&FW) undertaking various steps to build organic farming and natural farming corridors along River Ganga
• Eco-agriculture being promoted besides efforts to improve water-use efficiency in Ganga villages by MoA&FW.
• Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs focusing on mapping of urban drains and management of solid and liquid waste in Ganga towns under SBM 2.0 and AMRUT 2.0
• The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change mulling scaling up of afforestation activities in the Ganga belt and a detailed plan to take ‘Project Dolphin’ forward is also underway.

What is NMCG?

• About:
  • It is being implemented by the National Council for Rejuvenation, Protection and Management of River Ganga also known as the National Ganga Council.
  • This mission was established on 12^th August 2011 under the Societies Registration Act,1860 as a registered society.
• Objectives:
  • The mission incorporates rehabilitating and boosting the existing STPs (Sewage Treatment Plants) and instant short-term steps to curb pollution at exit points on the riverfront in order to check the inflow of sewage.
  • To maintain the continuity of the water flow without changing the natural season variations.
  • To restore and maintain the surface flow and groundwater.
  • To regenerate and maintain the natural vegetation of the area.
  • To conserve and regenerate the aquatic biodiversity as well as the riparian biodiversity of the river Ganga basin.
  • To allow participation of the public in the process of protection, rejuvenation and management of the river.

What is Namami Gange Programme?

• About:
  • Namami Gange Programme is an Integrated Conservation Mission, approved as a ‘Flagship Programme’ by the Union Government in June 2014 to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution and conservation and rejuvenation of National River Ganga.
  • It is being operated under the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti.
  • The program is being implemented by the NMCG and its state counterpart organizations i.e State Program Management Groups (SPMGs).
  • In phase 2 of Namami Gange Programme (2021-26), the states will focus on expeditious completion of projects and preparation of bankable Detailed Project Report (DPR) for projects in Ganga tributary towns, cutting down delays.
  • Focus is also being given to the revival of small rivers and wetlands.
  • For future, each Ganga district is to develop scientific plan and health card for at least 10 wetlands and adopt policies for reuse of treated water and other by products.
• Main Pillars:
  • Sewage Treatment Infrastructure
  • River-Front Development
  • River-Surface Cleaning
  • Biodiversity
  • Afforestation
  • Public Awareness
  • Industrial Effluent Monitoring
  • Ganga Gram