Web: www.nextias.com 1 Ph. 011-49858612, 8800338066 Time: 45 min Date: 23-10-2021 Environment & Ecology Glasgow Climate Meet: India doesn’t rule out ‘net zero’ Commitment Syllabus: GS 3/ Environment In News ● CoP 26 is soon to begin in Glasgow with focus on commitment to Net Zero. ○ India doesn’t rule out ‘net zero’ commitment but insists on earlier pledges for tech transfer funds from developed countries. Focus of the Meeting ● To have all nations commit to a 'net zero', or a year by when a country’s fossil fuel emissions would peak and at some point be neutralised. ○ All countries doing this by 2050, would mean a chance of restricting average temperature rise to 1.5 Celsius. ■ Provided emissions fall to around 45% of 2010 levels by 2030. ● Deep and significant cuts to fossil fuel use. ○ This could affect the development trajectory of India and other developing countries. India’s Stand ● India hasn’t entirely ruled out the possibility of agreeing to a ‘net zero’ target. ○ A study by the think tank Council for Energy Environment and Water projects that for India to achieve a net-zero target by 2070, ■ Usage of coal especially for power generation would need to peak by 2040 and drop by 99% between 2040 and 2060. ■ The consumption of crude oil across sectors would also need to peak by 2050 and fall substantially by 90% between 2050 and 2070. ● India will not budge on demands from developed nations on making good on previous commitments such as
○ Removal of gases from the atmosphere by technologies carbon capture and storage.
Why a call for net-zero?
● For the last two years, a very active campaign has been going on to get every country to sign on to a net-zero goal for 2050.
● It is being considered as the only way to achieve the Paris Agreement target
○ To keep the planet’s temperature from rising beyond 2°C compared to pre-industrial times.
● The net-zero formulation does not assign any emission reduction targets on any country.
India: Transforming to a Net-Zero Emissions Energy System
● A report released jointly by TERI(The Energy and Resources Institute) and Shell.
● It draws a pathway for the domestic energy system towards net-zero emissions by 2050, while achieving India’s sustainable economic development ambitions.
India’s NDC
● India, the world’s third largest emitter.
○ India's average per capita emissions was 1.96 tons/person/annum, the European Union’s was 8.4 and the United States was 18.
● In 2015 NDCs India committed to
○ Increase the share of non-fossil fuel sources to 40%
○ Reduce its emissions intensity per unit of GDP by nearly 33-35% of 2005 levels
○ Create a carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tons of CO2 equivalent.
● Contribution of Corporates
○ Indian corporates are also stepping up,
■ The Tata Group winning awards on sustainability,
■ Mahindra committed to net-zero by 2040, and Reliance by 2035.
● Recently, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has released a comprehensive assessment named ‘From Pollution to Solution: a global
assessment of marine litter and plastic pollution’.
Key Findings
● Tripled Amount of Plastic:
○ The amount of plastics in the oceans has been estimated to be around 75-199 million tonnes at present.
○ Without meaningful action, emissions of plastic waste into aquatic ecosystems are projected to nearly triple by 2040.
● Extreme Pressure on Planet:
○ The report talks about the extreme pressures being exerted on the planet due to plastic pollution and the need for urgent action to offset it.
○ The report flagged that under a business-as-usual scenario and in the absence of necessary interventions, the amount of plastic waste entering aquatic ecosystems could nearly triple by 2040.
○ Plastics labelled as biodegradable may take hundreds of years to degrade in the oceans; litter poses similar risks to individuals, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
● Main Source of Marine Litter:
○ The main sources of marine litter and plastic pollution are land-based.
○ Approximately 7,000 million of the estimated 9,200 million tonnes of cumulative plastic production between 1950 and 2017 became plastic waste.
● Alteration in Global Carbon Cycle:
○ Plastic can also alter global carbon cycling through its effect on plankton and primary production in marine, freshwater and terrestrial systems. Greenhouse gas emission from plastics:
● Effect on Global Economy:
○ Marine litter and plastic pollution also significantly affect the global economy.
○ The economic costs of marine plastic pollution with respect to its impacts on tourism, fisheries and aquaculture, together with other costs such as those of clean-ups, were estimated to be at least USD 6-19 billion globally in 2018.
○ It is projected that by 2040 there could be a USD 100 billion annual
financial risk for businesses if governments require them to cover waste management costs at expected volumes and recyclability.
○ High levels of plastic waste can also lead to a rise in illegal domestic and international waste disposal.
Plastic
● Plastic is a synthetic organic polymer made from petroleum with properties ideally suited for a wide variety of applications, including packaging, building and construction, household and sports equipment, vehicles, electronics and agriculture.
● Plastic is cheap, lightweight, strong and malleable. Over 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year.
● Sources of Plastic:
○ The main sources of marine plastic are land-based, from urban and storm runoff, sewer overflows, beach visitors, inadequate waste disposal and management, industrial activities, construction and illegal dumping.
○ Ocean-based plastic originates mainly from the fishing industry, nautical activities and aquaculture.
○ Under the influence of solar UV radiation, wind, currents and other natural factors, plastic fragments into small particles, termed microplastics (particles smaller than 5 mm) or nanoplastics (particles smaller than 100 nm).
● Plastic Waste In India:
○ Plastic waste contributes about 5-6 per cent of total solid waste generated in India.
○ India consumes about 13 million tonnes of plastic and recycles only about 4 million tonnes.
Major Concerns with Plastic
● Pollution: Plastic waste is blocking sewers, threatening marine life and generating health risks for residents in landfills or the natural environment.
● Financial costs of marine plastic pollution: According to conservative forecasts made in March 2020, the direct harm to the blue economy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will be $2.1 billion per year.
○ Boats become entangled in abandoned or discarded fishing nets or their engines may become blocked with plastic debris.
● Enormous Social Costs: Residents of coastal regions suffer from the harmful health impacts of plastic pollution and waste brought in by the tides and are inextricably linked to the fishing and tourism industry for their livelihoods.
● Food and Health: Invisible plastic has been identified in tap water, beer, salt and are present in all samples collected in the world’s oceans, including the Arctic.
○ The transfer of contaminants between marine species and humans through the consumption of seafood has been identified as a health hazard .
● Climate change: Plastic, which is a petroleum product, also contributes to global warming. If plastic waste is incinerated, it releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, thereby increasing carbon emissions.
● Tourism: Plastic waste damages the aesthetic value of tourist destinations, leading to decreased tourism-related incomes and major economic costs related to the cleaning and maintenance of the sites.
Global Efforts To Tackle it
● Legal efforts have been made at the international and national levels to address marine pollution.
● The most important are:
○ The 1972 Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping Wastes and Other Matter (or the London Convention)
○ The 1996 Protocol to the London Convention (the London Protocol)
○ The 1978 Protocol to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL).
○ The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) considers plastic marine debris and its ability to transport harmful substances as one of the main emerging issues affecting the environment.
○ At the 2015 G7 summit in Bavaria, Germany, the risks of microplastics were acknowledged in the Leaders’ Declaration.
○ GloLitter Partnerships (GLP): It is a project launched by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and initial funding from the Government of Norway.
○ Clean Seas Campaign:
■ The United Nations Environment Programme launched the Clean Seas Campaign in 2017
■ Aim: The goal was to galvanize a global movement to turn the tide on plastic by reducing the use of unnecessary, avoidable and problematic plastics including single-use plastics and phasing out intentionally added microplastics.
■ Since then, 63 countries have pledged to do their part to improve plastics management through, among other measures, reducing the prevalence of single-use plastic products.
■ The campaign will now highlight source to sea issues and solutions and call for urgent global action.
■ The Campaign contributes to the goals of the Global Partnership on
Marine Litter and the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment.
Initiatives of India
● The Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 clearly stipulate that urban local bodies (ULBs) should ban less than 50 micron thick plastic bags and not allow usage of recycled plastics for packing food, beverage or any other eatables.
○ The Rules also require that local bodies should provide separate collection, storage and processing of plastic waste in their areas.
● The government has set an ambitious target of eliminating single-use plastics by 2022.
● India is a signatory to MARPOL (International Convention on Prevention of Marine Pollution).
● In addition, Prevention of Marine Pollution is also dealt with by Merchant Shipping Rules, 2009 framed under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958.
● Designing a Product: Identifying plastic items that can be replaced with non-plastic, recyclable, or biodegradable materials is the first step.
● Find alternatives to single-use plastics and reusable design goods by working with product designers. Countries must embrace circular and sustainable economic practices throughout the plastics value chain to accomplish this.
● Pricing: Plastics are inexpensive because they are made with substantially subsidised oil and may be produced at a lower cost, with fewer economic incentives to employ recycled plastics. Promoting alternative materials or reused and recycled plastics are necessary.
● Technologies and Innovation: Developing tools and technology to assist governments and organisations in measuring and monitoring plastic garbage in cities.
● ‘Closing the loop’ project of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific assists cities in developing more inventive policy solutions to tackle the problem. A similar approach can be adopted in India.
● Promoting a plastic-free workplace: All catering operations should be prohibited from using single-use plastics. To encourage workers and clients to improve their habits, all single-use goods can be replaced with reusable items or more sustainable single-use alternatives.
● Producer responsibility: Extended responsibility can be applied in the retail (packaging) sector, where producers are responsible for collecting and recycling products that they launch into the market.
● Municipal and community actions: Beach and river clean-ups, public awareness campaigns explaining how people’s actions contribute to marine plastic pollution (or how they may solve it) and disposable plastic bag bans and levies.
● Multi-stakeholder collaboration: Government ministries at the national and local levels must collaborate in the development, implementation and oversight of policies, which includes participation from industrial firms, non-governmental organisations and volunteer organisations.
● Other Steps: Several steps to combat plastic pollution like identifying hotspots for plastic leakage can assist governments in developing effective policies that address the plastic problem directly.
○ Ministers adopted the proposal to host the Digital BRICS Forum annually to facilitate sharing of information and knowledge, practices, initiatives, etc. on agreed cooperation areas.
● Appreciation of India's efforts
○ BRICS Ministers appreciated India's efforts in keeping up the momentum of BRICS cooperation in ICTs.
About BRICS
Background
● July 2006: The leaders of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries met for the first time in St. Petersburg, Russia, on the margins of the G8 Outreach Summit.
● September 2006: Shortly afterwards, the group was formalised as BRIC during the 1st BRIC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, which met on the sidelines of the UN Assembly in New York City.
● June 2009: After a series of high-level meetings, the 1st BRIC summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
● September 2010: The BRIC group was renamed as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) after South Africa was accepted as a full member at the BRIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting in New York.
● During the Sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza (Brazil) in 2014, the leaders signed the Agreement establishing the New Development Bank (NDB - Shanghai,
China). They also signed the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement to provide short-term liquidity support to the members.
Composition
● BRICS consists of the major emerging economies from the world, comprising 41% of the world population.
● It contributes 24% of the world GDP.
● It has a 16% share in world trade.
● The total combined area of 29.3% of the total land surface of the world.
Three pillars of intra-BRICS cooperation
● Political and Security: It aims to enhance cooperation and dialogue on issues of global and regional security, developments in the global political space for
peace, security and prosperity. The priorities under this pillar are:
■ The ideas shared in the first energy summit convened by the UN
General Assembly are also our priorities in the International Solar Alliance.
■ Closing the energy access gap by 2030, decarbonising energy systems by increasing solar and wind power capacity and mobilising large scale financing and technological dissemination in renewable energy are key objectives.
■ COP26 is working hard to ensure no one is left behind. Thus, international cooperation is at the heart of the conference
● 2 New Programmes Launched:
○ Management of Solar PV panels & battery usage waste & Solar Hydrogen programme.
○ Hydrogen initiative:
■ It is aimed at enabling the use of solar electricity to produce hydrogen at a more affordable rate than what is available currently (USD 5 per KG), by bringing it down to USD 2 per KG.
■ Making hydrogen cost competitive with natural gas presents major challenges for both supply and performance.
■ However, bringing down the costs can unlock a cascade of benefits.
■ The MSME clusters can replace diesel gensets with hydrogen, which are viable even at today’s solar hydrogen prices.
■ The discussions also focused on how ISA’s waste management
programme will be pivotal for the growing volume of waste & toxic materials, lack of waste specific legislation, and high cost of waste treatment.
India and United Kingdom Cooperation
● The UK has made clean power transition a top priority.
● The main challenge is the transition to green power, figuring out how to build and operate electricity grids and meeting our global power needs sustainably, affordably, and reliably.
● Solution: To meet these challenges, we need new transmission lines coordinated with mini grids and off-grid energy access solutions, supported by modern power systems.
● The UK and India will together bring the ‘Green Grids Initiative’ and ‘One Sun,
One World, One Grid’ at COP26. This is aimed at mobilizing the global technical, financial and research cooperation because by working together, the scale and pace of the clean power transition aim could be delivered.
● Origin: The concept of a single global grid for solar was first outlined at the First Assembly of the ISA in late 2018.
● Aim: It envisions building and scaling inter-regional energy grids to share solar energy across the globe, leveraging the differences of time zones, seasons, resources, and prices between countries and regions.
● Benefit: OSOWOG will also help decarbonise energy production, which is today the largest source of global greenhouse gas emissions.
● Cooperative efforts: Aiming to synergize its efforts and actions with other similar initiatives globally, OSOWOG has joined hands with GGI to form a unified GGI-OSOWOG initiative, which aims to contribute to the collaborative, rapid development of resilient grids globally – building on continental, regional and national grid infrastructure programs.
● Multi pronged: The UK COP Presidency, the Government of India, and the Presidency of the ISA, are expected to announce this collaboration at COP26, to facilitate increased technical, financial, and research cooperation to help deliver the joint vision of the two initiatives.
● Leap towards renewable energy: This collaboration will be another leap towards a global ecosystem of interconnected renewables shared for mutual benefits and global sustainability and collectively become one of the most resilient steps to mitigate Climate change and support the global energy transition.
International Solar Alliance (ISA)
● It was launched at COP21 (2015), the UN climate meeting in Paris.
● This is a treaty-based intergovernmental organization.
● The Headquarters is in India with its Interim Secretariat being set up in Gurugram.
● It has 122 sun-belt countries as its prospective member countries and currently has 98 Signatory countries globally.
○ It is the largest grouping of states, after the United Nations.
● The sunshine countries lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
● Vision: Let us together make the sun brighter.
● Mission: Every home no matter how far away, will have a light at home.
● The Assembly is the apex decision-making body of the ISA. It meets annually at the Ministerial level at the seat of the ISA.
● ISA is set to launch the World Solar Bank in UNFCCC COP26 scheduled in 2021.
Syllabus: GS 2/Agreements Involving India &/or Affecting India’s Interests/Effect of Policies & Politics of Developed & Developing Countries on India’s Interests
In News
● Recently, Forty-three countries have called on China to “ensure full respect for the rule of law” for the Muslim Uighur community in Xinjiang.
About
● The declaration, signed by the United States as well as several European and Asian member states and others.
○ They accused China of a litany of human rights violations against the Uighurs, including torture, forced sterilisation and forced disappearances.
● Countries call on China to allow immediate, meaningful and unfettered access to Xinjiang for independent observers, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and her office.
Who are Uyghurs / Uighurs?
● The Uyghurs are a predominantly Muslim minority Turkic ethnic group, whose origins can be traced to Central and East Asia.
● Their native region is considered to be the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
in the People’s Republic of China.
○ There are also smaller Uyghur communities living in the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Afghanistan, Norway, Turkey, Belgium, Russia, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia.
● The Uyghurs are considered to be one of the 55 officially recognized ethnic
minority communities in China.
● However, China recognises the community only as a regional minority and rejects that they are an indigenous group.
Why are they facing issues?
● Xinjiang is technically an autonomous region within China.
○ The region, rich in minerals, and shares borders with eight countries, including India, Pakistan, Russia and Afghanistan.
● The Uighurs are Muslim, they don’t speak Mandarin as their native language, and have an ethnicity and culture that is different from that of mainland China.
● Over the past few decades, as economic prosperity has come to Xinjiang, it has brought with it in large numbers the majority Han Chinese, who have cornered
the better jobs, and left the Uighurs feeling their livelihoods and identity were under threat.
○ This led to sporadic violence, in 2009 culminating in a riot that killed 200 people, mostly Han Chinese, in the region’s capital Urumqi.
● According to reports, since 2016, over a million Uyghur Muslims have been detained in Xinjiang re-education camps by the Chinese Government.
○ The main purpose of these re-education camps was to ensure adherence to the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party.
● Pakistan’s disputed territory of Gilgit-Baltistan, which borders the Xinjiang region, is a critical part of the $62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
○ While the territory has mutual importance for Islamabad and Beijing,
Pakistan has found itself accommodating Chinese political and diplomatic needs, which include cracking down on Uighurs in the region.
○ Recently, Pakistan has used counter-terrorism measures against Uighur
militants affiliated with South Asian jihadist groups and has begun seeking out Uighurs for deportation.
Accusation on China
● Chinese authorities have been accused of imposing forced labour, systematic
forced birth control and torture, and separating children from incarcerated parents.
● Several countries, including the US, Canada and the Netherlands, have accused China of committing genocide - defined by international convention as the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group".
● China has been forcibly mass sterilising Uyghur women to suppress the population, separating children from their families, and attempting to break the cultural traditions of the group.
● A UN human rights committee in 2018 said it had credible reports that China was holding up to a million people in "counter-extremism centres" in Xinjiang.
● The Australian Strategic Policy Institute found evidence in 2020 of more than 380 of these "re-education camps" in Xinjiang, an increase of 40% on previous estimates.
China’s stand
● China denies all allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, claiming its system of "re-education" camps are there to combat separatism and Islamist militancy in the region.
● It has long denied accusations of ethnic cleansing against Uighurs and other Muslim Turkic people in Xinjiang.
● China was willing to host a “friendly” visit to the region, but did not agree to an inquiry by the UN human rights commissioner.
● China accused Washington, Paris and London of having a “terrible human rights record.
○ It accused the U.S. of “ethnic cleansing” against Native Americans and accused France of committing “crimes against humanity” in its former colonies.
Response of Global Community
● A host of Muslim countries — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Pakistan — have resisted condemning China for its treatment of the Uighurs and have accommodated China on a number of issues, including deportation.
● The Turkish government has been extending asylum to Uighurs since 1952.
● the United States has sounded the alarm about Chinese atrocities in Xinjiang and outside of its borders
○ In June 2020, the Trump Administration passed the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act, a federal law that has brought considerable international attention to human rights abuses.
● The Human Rights Watch had released a report in 2017 calling upon the Chinese government to immediately free the detainees and shut down the political education centres.
India’s Response
● The Indian government has maintained near silence on the Uyghur crisis.
Way Forward
● The countries should reconsider their position and urge China to immediately stop the persecution of Uyghur.
● India should care about the Uyghur issue and become informed about what is happening and it needs to join the multilateral push to bring China to account for the Uyghur genocide.
Recently, Amur Falcons have reached the Tamenglong district of Manipur – the annual stopover.
Image Courtesy: ebird.org
About
● Scientifically termed as ‘Falco amurensis’.
● The Amur falcon is a small raptor of the falcon family.
● Distribution and Migration: They breed in Siberia and Northern China and migrate to winter in Southern Africa.
○ Migrates west through India and across the Arabian Sea to Southern Africa.
● Food: Feeds on dragonflies and insects.
● Threats: illegal trapping and killing during migration, prone to habitat loss from agricultural practices and land reclamation.
● Conservation Status: The birds are the least concern under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
○ The hunting of the bird was punishable under the Manipur Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and could lead to three years of imprisonment and a fine of ₹ 25,000.
● Indian Army has deployed Pinaka and Smerch Multiple Rocket Launcher
Systems (MRLS) at a forwarding position near the China border to counter any threat arising across the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
● Both Pinaka and Smerch have 12 rockets in each launcher.
○ Both these weapon systems (Pinaka and Smerch) are designed to fire a variety of ammunition like high explosives and submunitions against area targets.
About
● Smerch system:
○ It is procured from Russia and is the longest range conventional rocket
system in Indian army inventory having a maximum range of 90 Km.
○ A battery of four launchers can fire a salvo of 48 rockets in 40 seconds neutralising an area of 1200m by 1200m.
● Pinaka weapon system:
○ It is an autonomous rocket artillery system that can engage area targets up to 38km at mean sea level.
■ At these altitudes, the ranges are enhanced significantly which further augments the deep strike capability of the weapon system.
○ It is an indigenously developed multi-barrel rocket launch (MBRL) system developed by DRDO for the Army.
■ It is an artillery missile system, and its development was started in the late 1980s, as an alternative to ‘Grad’, Russia-made multi-barrel rocket launching systems.
○ A battery of six launchers of Pinaka can fire a salvo of 72 rockets in 44 seconds thereby neutralising an area of 1000m by 800m.
○ The upgraded version of the Pinaka ammunition system is already on the production line and can fire up to a range of 75km with superior precision which significantly enhances the existing capability manifolds.
● The DRDO has successfully flight-tested ABHYAS - the High-speed Expendable
Aerial Target (HEAT) from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur off the coast of the Bay of Bengal in Odisha.
About
Purpose:
● The indigenous unmanned aerial vehicle will be used as a target for the evaluation of various missile systems.
Features:
● ABHYAS is powered by a gas turbine engine due to which, aircraft will sustain a long endurance flight at a subsonic speed.
● This target aircraft has been equipped with a MEMS-based Inertial Navigation System (INS) in order to navigate along with Flight Control Computer (FCC) for guidance and control.
● It has been programmed for fully autonomous flight. The check-out of air vehicles is completed through a laptop-based Ground Control Station (GCS).
Indian Telegraph Right of Way (Amendment) Rules, 2021
Syllabus: GS2/ Governance
In News
● Central Government notifies Indian Telegraph Right of Way (Amendment) Rules, 2021.
About
Objective:
● To incorporate the provisions related to nominal one-time compensation and
uniform procedure for establishment of Overground Telegraph Line in the Indian Telegraph Right of Way Rules, 2016.
Key Points:
● There will be no fee other than Administrative fee and Restoration charges for establishing, maintaining, working, repairing, transferring or shifting the underground and overground telegraph infrastructure.
● These amendments will ease Right of Way related permission procedures for the establishment and augmentation of Digital Communications Infrastructure across the country.
Benefits:
● These amendments will ease Right of Way related permission procedures for the establishment and augmentation of Digital Communications Infrastructure Across the country.
● With a robust pan India digital infrastructure, the digital divide between rural-urban and rich-poor will be bridged; e-governance and financial inclusion will be strengthened; doing business will be easy; information and communication needs of citizens and enterprises will be fulfilled, and ultimately the dream of India’s transition to a digitally empowered economy and society will be translated into reality.
