India’s Specific Targets on GHGs |
| Factsheet There is a misunderstanding that India is resisting calls by developed countries to take on specific targets for the reduction of its Greenhouse Gas (GHG)* emissions despite the fact that its total GHG emissions are the 3rd largest in volume after the US and China. How can an accord be possible, if India and other “major emitters” refuse to accept responsibility in this regard? India has done in this direction more than it requires to do. Firstly, Climate Change is taking place not due to current level of GHG emissions, but as a result of the cumulative impact of accumulated GHGs in the planetary atmosphere. Current emissions are, of course, adding to the problem incrementally. Even if current emissions were, by some miracle, reduced to zero tomorrow, Climate Change will continue to take place. The accumulated stock of GHGs in the atmosphere is mainly the result of carbon-based industrial activity in developed countries over the past two centuries and more. It is for this reason that the UNFCCC stipulates deep and significant cuts in the emissions of the industrialized countries as fulfillment of their historic responsibility. Secondly, the UNFCCC itself does not require developing countries to take on any commitments on reducing their GHG emissions. This was also recognized in the subsequent Kyoto Protocol which only set targets for developed countries, the so-called Annex I** countries. It is inevitable that the pursuit of social and economic development by developing countries will result in an increase in their GHG emissions, for the foreseeable future. This is recognized in the UNFCCC itself. Despite this, India has already declared that even as it pursues its social and economic development objectives, it will not allow its per capita GHG emissions to exceed the average per capita emissions of the developed countries. This effectively puts a cap on our emission, which will be lower if our developed country partners choose to be more ambitious in reducing their own emissions. Thirdly, India can, by no stretch of imagination, be described as a so-called “major emitter”. Our per capita CO2 emissions are currently only 1.1 tonnes, when compared to over 20 tonnes for the US and in excess of 10 tonnes for most OECD countries. Furthermore, even if we are No. 3 in terms of total volume of emissions, the gap with the first and second-ranking countries is very large. The US and China account for over 16% each of the total global emissions, while India trails with just 4%, despite its very large population and its rapidly growing economy. Fourthly, for developing countries like India, the focus of Climate change action cannot just be current emissions. There is the equally important issue of Adaptation to Climate Change that has already taken place and will continue to take place in the foreseeable future even in the most favorable Mitigation scenarios. India is already subject to high degree of climate variability resulting in droughts, floods and other extreme weather events which compels India to spend over 2% of its GDP on adaptation and this figure is likely to go up significantly. Therefore, the Copenhagen package must include global action on Adaptation in addition to action to GHG abatement and reduction. ------------------------------------------------------------- * In order,Earth's most abundant greenhouse gases are water vapor,carbondioxide,methane, nitrous oxide , ozone and CFCs. When these gases are ranked by their contribution to the greenhouse effect, the most important are water vapor, which contributes 36–72%, carbon dioxide, which contributes 9–26% , methane, which contributes 4–9% and ozone, which contributes 3–7% . **Annex I countries Annex I countries (industrialized countries): Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a scientific intergovernmental body,[1][2] set up at the request of member governments.[3] It was first established in 1988 by two United Nations organizations, the World Meteorological Organization(WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and later endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly through
Resolution 43/53. Its mission is to provide comprehensive scientific
assessments of current scientific, technical and socio-economic
information worldwide about the risk of climate change caused
by human activity, its potential environmental and socio-economic
consequences, and possible options for adapting to these consequences or
mitigating the effects.[4] It is chaired by Rajendra K. Pachauri.
Thousands
of scientists and other experts contribute (on a voluntary basis,
without payment from the IPCC) to writing and reviewing reports, which
are reviewed by representatives from all the governments, with summaries for policy makers being
subject to line-by-line approval by all participating governments.
Typically this involves the governments of more than 120 countries.[5]
The
IPCC does not carry out its own original research, nor does it do the
work of monitoring climate or related phenomena itself. A main activity
of the IPCC is publishing special reports on topics relevant to the
implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),[4] an
international treaty that acknowledges the possibility of harmful
climate change. Implementation of the UNFCCC led eventually to the Kyoto Protocol. The IPCC bases its assessment mainly on peer reviewed and published scientific literature.[6] Membership of the IPCC is open to all members of the WMO and UNEP.[7]
The IPCC provides an internationally accepted authority on climate change,[8] producing
reports which have the agreement of all the leading climate scientists
and the consensus of every one of the participating governments. It has
successfully provided authoritative policy advice with far-reaching
implications for economics and lifestyles. In a context of unremitting
opposition from fossil fuel interests, governments have been slow to implement the advice.[3] The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was shared, in two equal parts, between the IPCC and Al Gore.
The principles of the IPCC operation[10] are
assigned by the relevant WMO Executive Council and UNEP Governing
Council resolutions and decisions as well as on actions in support of
the UNFCCC process.
The aims of the IPCC are to assess scientific information relevant to:[4]
It has given report to Ministry of Environment and Forest about :
There
is an increase in the drought development for those areas of various
regions that have either projected decrease in precipitation or have
enhanced level of evapotranspiration in the 2030s.
An increase in recruitment and catches of oil sardine during the post-southwest monsoon season along the coastal region
Rain-fed
rice yields are projected to increase up to 15% in many districts in
the east coast but reduce by up to 20% in west coast
Observed Changes in Climate and Weather Events in India
There are some observed changes in climate parameters in India. India's Initial National Communication, 2004 (NATCOM 1)5 to UNFCCC has consolidated some of these. Some highlights from NATCOM and others are listed here. No firm link between the documented changes described below and warming due to anthropogenic climate change has yet been established.
At
the national level, increase of -0.4 C has been observed in surface air
temperatures over the past century. A warming trend has been observed
along the west coast, in central India, the interior peninsula, and
north-eastern India. However, cooling trends have been observed in
north-west India and parts of South India.
While the observed monsoon rainfall at the all-India level does not show any significant trend, regional
monsoon variations have been recorded. A trend of increasing monsoon
seasonal rainfall has been found along the west coast, northern Andra
Pradesh, and north-western India (+10% to +12% of the normal over the
last 100 years) while a trend of decreasing monsoon seasonal rainfall
has been observed over eastern Madhya Pradesh, north-eastern India, and
some parts of Gujarat and Kerala (-6% to -8% of the normal over the last
100 years).
Instrument
records over the past 130 years do not indicate any marked long-term
trend in the frequencies of large scale droughts and floods. Trends
are however observed in multi-decadal periods of more frequent droughts,
followed by less severe storm droughts. There has been an overall
increasing trend in severe storm incidence along the coast at the rate
of 0.011 events per year. While the stress of West Bengal and Gujarat
have been observed in Orissa, Goswami 6 et al, by analyzing a daily
rainfall data set, have shown (i) a rising trend in the frequency of
heavy rain events, and (ii) a significant decrease in the frequency of
moderate events over central India from 1951 to 2000.
Using
the records of coastal tide gauges in the north Indian Ocean for more
than 40 years, Unnikrishnan and Shankar 7 have estimated, that sea level
rise was between 1,06-1,75 mm per year. These rates are consistent with
1-2 mm per year global sea level rise estimates of IPCC.
The
Himalayas possess one of the largest resources of snow and ice and it
glaciers form a source of water for the perennial rivers such as the
Indus, the Ganga, and the Brahmaputra. Glacial melt may impact their
long-term lean season flows, with adverse impacts on the economy in
terms of water availability and hydro generation.
The
available monitoring data on Himalyan glaciers indicates that while
recession of some glaciers has occurred in some Himalayan regions in
recent years, the trend in not consistent across the entire mountain
chain. It is accordingly, too early to establish long-term trends, or the causation in respect of which there are several hypotheses. Under
the National Action Plan, these data will be updated and refined
continuously and additional reliable data will be collected.
|
LAND OF MAXIMUM BIODIVERSITY-------TROPICAL
UNESCO DESIGNED MAN AND BIOSPHERE PLAN IN THE YEAR----1970
BASEL CONVENTION----- TO CONTROL TRANS BOUNDARY MOVEMENT OF HAZARDOUS WASTE AND THEIR DISPOSAL
ANTWERP CONVENTION---PRIOR INFORMED CONSENT PROCEDURE FOR CERTAIN HAZARDOUS CHEMICAL AND PESTICIDES IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE (
CHECK)
RAMSAR CONVENTION---WETLAND CONSERVATION
STOCKHOLM CONVENTION----PERSISTANT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS
Help for Chendru Mandavi the ‘Tiger Boy’
Chendru Mandavi (78) famous as the “Tiger Boy” was recently hospitalized following a
paralytic stroke. Chendru Mandavi, the septuagenarian belongs to the primitive Muria
Tribe. His friendship with the Tigers prompted Swedish filmmaker Arne Sucksdorff to
make “A Jungle Tale” in 1960. Also a photo feature on Chendru and his tiger was created
by Stephen James. Chendru Mandavi became world renowned after Sucksdorff’s wife
Current Affairs Published on www.gktoday.in from January 1, 2012 to
September 10, 2012
Astrid, who stayed in the forest along with her husband, wrote a book titled ‘Chendru: The boy and the tiger’.
Ms Fenco Emmanuili, a German national has come to the aid of an ailing tribesman. She provided an assistance of Rs
1.17 Lakhs to Chendru via the district administration.
The Delhi Cabinet on 9 October 2012 agreed for an agreement with INTACH for conservation and refurbishment work of 16 monuments in New Delhi.
Infact, A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with the INTACH in October 2008 for survey, documentation, protection, conservation and refurbishment of Ancient Monuments of Local Importance and the work was to be done in two phases.
In the first phase, INTACH has completed the field surveys, photo documentation, brief descriptions, and site plans of 95 documents showing all topographic features. Based on this the department is processing the notification for protection of various monuments.
Infact, A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with the INTACH in October 2008 for survey, documentation, protection, conservation and refurbishment of Ancient Monuments of Local Importance and the work was to be done in two phases.
In the first phase, INTACH has completed the field surveys, photo documentation, brief descriptions, and site plans of 95 documents showing all topographic features. Based on this the department is processing the notification for protection of various monuments.
And, During the second phase of the INTACH Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) , 17 monuments were selected for carrying out chemical cleaning and preservation, scientific conservation, land scrapping the surrounding, developing cultural notice board and signage and illuminating the monuments. These works have been executed by INTACH.
With the impressive outcome of the earlier MoU and extensive resources and expertise of INTACH, the Government has now decided to further utilise its services for survey, protection and conservation of 16 other monuments.
About INTACH
The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) is an autonomous non-governmental Indian NGO which was founded in 1984 by Rajiv Gandhi that seeks to preserve Indian Art and Cultural heritage. In 2007, the United Nations awarded INTACH a special consultative status with United Nations Economic and Social Council
Its headquarters are in New Delhi and today it has chapters in 117 Indian cities, as well as chapters in Belgium, the UK and the United States. INTACH is the only non-governmental Indian non-profit society working for the awareness and conservation of Indian culture and heritage.
With the impressive outcome of the earlier MoU and extensive resources and expertise of INTACH, the Government has now decided to further utilise its services for survey, protection and conservation of 16 other monuments.
About INTACH
The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) is an autonomous non-governmental Indian NGO which was founded in 1984 by Rajiv Gandhi that seeks to preserve Indian Art and Cultural heritage. In 2007, the United Nations awarded INTACH a special consultative status with United Nations Economic and Social Council
Its headquarters are in New Delhi and today it has chapters in 117 Indian cities, as well as chapters in Belgium, the UK and the United States. INTACH is the only non-governmental Indian non-profit society working for the awareness and conservation of Indian culture and heritage.
‘India one of the top clean energy economies’
The PEW Charitable Trust (an eminent American non-profit organisation) in its report held that India has emerged as
one of the top performing clean energy economies in the 21st century, with Indian receiving US $10.2 billion
investments in clean energy. India’s clean energy sector sustained to flourish in 2011, with private investment raising
54% to $10.2 billion, placing India at 6th position amid the G-20 nations.
Clean energy is another name for renewable or alternate energy.
What placed India amongst the top clean energy economies of the world?
Green tribunal says ‘NO’ to Jindal Steel
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) set aside theEnvironmental Clearance
(EC) granted to the 4 MTPA Coal Mining Project of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd and 4
MTPA Coal Washery at Gare in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh
Why this verdict was made by NGT against Jindal Steel’s Project?
This verdict from NGT came on grounds of faulty public hearing. NGT after viewing the CD of the public hearing
conducted on 5.1.2008, held that the entire "public hearing was a farce and makes a mockery of the public hearing
process".
The company had been granted EC in May 2009. The NGT has directed that the public hearing may be conducted again
but not under the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) who conducted it earlier.
What is National Green Tribunal (NGT)?
Specific Absorption Rate (SAR)
Specific absorption rate is the measure of the rate at which energy is absorbed by the body when exposed to a radio
frequency (RF) in electromagnetic field. The term is not restricted to the absorption of Electromagnetic Feild (EMF) and
can be used in terms of absorption of other forms of energy by tissue, including ultrasound. In short SAR is
the power absorbed per mass of tissue and its unit is Watts per kilogram (W/kg).
Why the term was in news recently?
An Inter-ministerial committee was set up by the government under Ministry of Communications &
Information Technology to examine the effect of EMF Radiation from base stations and mobile phones on
human health and environment and to suggest safety limits for exposure to radio frequency energy produced by
mobile hand-sets i.e. Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) levels of exposure from a mobile hand-set and disclosure of
information for the hand-sets.
What is the SAR limit suggested by the committee?
It has suggested SAR limit for mobile handsets of 1.6 watt/kg averaged over a 6 minutes period and taken over a
volume containing a mass of 1 gram of human tissue.
What is the importance of keeping the radio frequency levels under control?
Current Affairs Published on www.gktoday.in from January 1, 2012 to
September 10, 2012
In the current context, with the boom in communication technology and expanse of mobile network the
exposure of humans to the EM field has increased drastically. Quite a number of law suits and writ petitions have
been filed by individuals / groups alleging health effect of radiation.
What is the effect of EMF on human health?
As per studies human beings are bio electrical systems. The heart and the brain are regulated by internal
bioelectrical signals. Environmental exposures to EMF can interact with fundamental biological processes in the
human body and in some cases this may cause discomfort. In a human body due to the proximity of a mobile
phone to the head, the head is the targeted recipient of the electro-magnetic energy from many wireless systems
whose impulses are transmitted to other organs and parts. A high frequency signal modulated at certain low
frequency or a signal i.e. pulsed may have harmful effects than an un-modulated study carrier, as reported in
literature.
Modulation signals are one important component in the delivery of EMF signals to which cells, tissues, organs
and individuals can respond biologically. Modulating signals have a specific beat defined by how the signal varies
periodically over time. Modulation signals may interfere with normal, nonlinear biological functions.
People who are chronically exposed to low level wireless antenna emissions and users of mobile handsets have
reported feeling several unspecific symptoms during and after its use, ranging from burning and tingling
sensation in the skin of the head, fatigue, sleep disturbance, dizziness, lack of concentration, ringing in the ears,
reaction time, loss of memory, headache, disturbance in digestive system and heart palpitation etc.
There are reports indicating adverse health effects of cell phones which emit electro-magnetic radiation, with a
maximum value of 50% of their energy being deposited when held close to the head. However, The effects of
long term exposure to wireless technology including emissions from cell phones and whole body exposure to RF
transmission from cell tower antenna is simply not known yet with certainty.
Scientific studies as yet have not been able to confirm a cause-and-effect relationship. The research has not so
far separated these symptoms from electromagnetic radiation hence all the above symptoms can also be
attributed to stress.
What is Electro-pollution ? What is its impact on environment?
The electromagnetic radiation pervading the environment is now increasingly realized and this has added to the
list of another pollutant in the environment i.e. electro-pollution.
Some Studies reported that mortality at communication towers over 200 ft. may be a threat to the healthy
population of birds and electromagnetic radiation from cell phone towers may probably be the reasons for the
vanishing butterflies, bees, insects and sparrows. Some other Studies have also shown that there seems to be
effects on birds exposed to the electromagnetic field radiation and losing navigational ability. They get
disoriented and begin to fly in different direction. However, these studies were unable to find a direct link of
exposure of EMF radiation to adverse effects on birds.
BIOSPHERE
LIES 6KM ABOVE SEALEVEL,10KM BELOW SEA LEVEL
In
Iceland the first environment scheduled on environment performance index(in
2010)
Major
source of sulphur di oxide emission is burning fossil fuel.
The National parks of India are IUCN category
II protected areas. India's first national park was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park, now known
as Jim
Corbett National Park. By 1970, India
only had five national parks. In 1972, India enacted the Wildlife
Protection Act and Project Tiger to safeguard the habitats of conservation
reliant species
No
|
Name
|
State
|
Established
|
Area (in km²)
|
1
|
1987
|
250
|
||
2
|
1986
|
220
|
||
3
|
1982
|
448.85
|
||
4
|
1974
|
874.20
|
||
5
|
1974
|
106.27
|
||
6
|
1979
|
23.99
|
||
7
|
1986
|
231.67
|
||
8
|
1988
|
145
|
||
9
|
1976
|
34.08
|
||
10
|
1992
|
117.10
|
||
11
|
1992
|
426.23
|
||
12
|
2004
|
317.67
|
||
13
|
1921
|
1318.5
|
||
14
|
1981
|
141
|
||
15
|
2004
|
250
|
||
16
|
1980
|
3162
|
||
17
|
1999
|
340
|
||
18
|
1977
|
490.29
|
||
19
|
1978
|
97
|
||
20
|
1983
|
0.27
|
||
21
|
1992
|
110
|
||
22
|
1989
|
1552.73
|
||
23
|
1965
|
258.71
|
||
24
|
1994
|
79.45
|
||
25
|
1990
|
472.08
|
||
26
|
1984
|
754.40
|
||
27
|
1987
|
361.28
|
||
28
|
1976
|
2.82
|
||
29
|
1980
|
162.89
|
||
30
|
1980
|
6.23
|
||
31
|
1981
|
4100
|
||
32
|
1987
|
86
|
||
33
|
1954
|
183.89
|
||
34
|
1989
|
117.10
|
||
35
|
1981
|
1258.37
|
||
36
|
2012
|
216
|
||
36
|
1993
|
202.02
|
||
37
|
2003
|
100.88
|
||
38
|
1955
|
940
|
||
39
|
1982
|
200
|
||
40
|
1994
|
1.42
|
||
41
|
1974
|
471.71
|
||
42
|
1977
|
40
|
||
43
|
1981
|
28.73
|
||
44
|
1977
|
1784
|
||
45
|
1981
|
400
|
||
46
|
1987
|
600.32
|
||
47
|
1959
|
375.22
|
||
48
|
1983
|
281.50
|
||
49
|
1994
|
14.59
|
||
50
|
1990
|
500
|
||
51
|
2003
|
12.82
|
||
52
|
1987
|
0.64
|
||
53
|
1978
|
107
|
||
54
|
1986
|
483
|
||
55
|
1960
|
|||
56
|
||||
57
|
||||
58
|
||||
59
|
||||
60
|
||||
61
|
||||
62
|
||||
63
|
||||
64
|
Nandankanan National Park
|
|||
65
|
||||
66
|
||||
67
|
||||
68
|
||||
69
|
||||
70
|
||||
71
|
||||
72
|
||||
73
|
758
|
|||
74
|
1982
|
305
|
||
75
|
||||
76
|
||||
77
|
||||
78
|
||||
79
|
||||
80
|
1981
|
392
|
||
81
|
||||
82
|
||||
83
|
||||
84
|
1969
|
104
|
||
85
|
Sariska National Park (tiger reserve)
|
866
|
||
86
|
||||
87
|
237
|
|||
88
|
||||
89
|
1980
|
845.70
|
||
90
|
||||
91
|
||||
92
|
||||
93
|
||||
94
|
||||
95
|
1955
|
625
|
||
96
|
||||
97
|
||||
98
|
Qazinag National Park is a commissioned future national park in the Baramulla
district in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It is part of a proposal for a trans-Karakoram Peace park with Pakistan.
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