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-----------------------------------------------------------------------Manidha Neeyam I.A.S & I.P.S Free Coaching Centre |

PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF

ANIMALS (PETA)

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

(PETA), is an animal rights organization based in

Norfolk, Virginia, USA. With two million members

and supporters worldwide, it says it is the We

can use this as an effective instrument of

economic diplomacy, something that was done

years ago by the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal

Nehru, who used to gift animals, including

elephants, to friendly countries as part of

diplomacy, largest animal rights group in the

world. Ingrid Newkirk is its international

president. Founded in 1980,. It focuses on four

core issues: factory farming, fur farming, animaltesting, and animals in entertainment, and also

campaigns against fishing, the killing of animals

regarded as pests, the keeping of chained

backyard dogs, cock fighting, dog fighting, and

bullfighting. It aims to inform the public through

advertisements, undercover investigations, animal

rescue, and lobbying. Its slogan is "animals are not

ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for

entertainment."

OUSSUDU LAKE

One of the popular places in Puducherry, Oussudu

Lake which was declared a sanctuary last year,

Home to hundreds of migratory birds, the

Oussudu Lake was declared a sanctuary by the

territorial administration during the end of 2008.

The lake measures 390 hectares. Sixty per cent

of it is with Puducherry, while the rest is in

TamilNadu.

COASTAL ZONE DRAFT WILL BE ALLOWED TO

LAPSE

Bringing relief to the fishing community which

feared displacement, the government on Friday

announced that the draft Coastal Management

Zone (CMZ) Notification, 2008 would be allowed

to lapse on July 22. Instead, the existing Coastal

Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 1991, will be

amended to take into account the challenges

likely to arise from climate change-induced sea

level rise, and the growing pressure of population

on coastal resources.

Prof. Swaminathan drafted the CMZ document in

2005 and now recommended that it be

abandoned as it had failed to address the issues of

fishermen.

The lives and livelihood of nearly 25 per cent of

our population living within 50 km of the

shoreline, as well of the nearly 10 million fisher-

folk, will depend upon the decisions we take now

to develop enforceable regulations for integrated

attention to both ecological and livelihood

security,

WORLD BANK ANNOUNCES TIGER

CONSERVATION PROGRAMME

World Bank initiates a new international Tiger

conservation programme. The partnership with

the Smithsonian Institution is a personal project of

the banks president, Robert Zoellick. The

initiative will seek to strengthen and expand a

patchy system of tiger reserves across the 13

countries, including India, Indonesia, Thailand,

China and Russia, that are home to the worlds

rapidly diminishing tiger population.

Experts believe there are only about 3,500 tigers

left. A century ago they were thought to number

100,000.

But their survival is threatened by the illegal trade

in tiger parts, which are used for traditional

remedies in Asia, and intense pressure on land for

development.


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The joint Smithsonian-World Bank conservation

effort will begin by training hundreds of forest

rangers in new anti-poaching techniques at the

Smithsonians centre near Washington, and

strengthen ties between countries where tigers

live. Environmentalists see tiger conservation as

crucial to saving Asias remaining forests. Without

the prestige of the tiger, they argue, it will be

harder to prevent the destruction of forests for

development.

"9 VILLAGES RESISTANCE FORUM"

Indian villagers of the nine settlements near

Alibag in Raigad district of the western state of

Maharashtra stage a protest in Poinad, 130kms

northeast of Mumbai. The "9 Villages Resistance

Forum" (9 Gaon Sangharsh Samiti) is fighting four

proposed thermal power plants which it fears

poses a threat to fertile agricultural land.

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

Glacier National Park is located in the U.S. state of

Montana, bordering the Canadian provinces of

Alberta and British Columbia to the North and the

Blackfeet Indian Reservation to the East. Glacier

National Park contains two mountain ranges,

sometimes referred to as the southern extension

of the Canadian Rockies mountain ranges, with

over 130 named lakes, more than 1,100 different

species of vascular plants and hundreds of species

of animals. This vast pristine ecosystem, spread

across 1,584 mi (4,101 km), is the centerpiece of

what has been referred to as the "Crown of the

Continent Ecosystem", a region of protected land

encompassing 16,000 mi (44,000 km).

GREEN POLITICS

Green politics is a political ideology which places a

high importance on environmental goals, and on

achieving these goals through broad-based,

grassroots, participatory democracy. Green

politics is advocated by supporters of the Green

movement, which has been active through Green

parties in many nations since the early 1980s. The

political term Green, a translation of the German

Grn, was coined by die Grnen, the first

successful Green party, formed in the late 1970s.

The term political ecology is sometimes used in

Europe and in academic circles.

Supporters of Green politics, called Greens, share

many ideas with the ecology, conservation,

environmental, feminist, and peace movements.

In addition to democracy and ecological issues,

green politics is concerned with civil liberties,

social justice and nonviolence.

CITES

CITES (the Convention on International Trade in

Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also

known as the Washington Convention) is an

international agreement between governments,

drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1973

at a meeting of members of the International

Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Its aim is

to ensure that international trade in specimens of

wild animals and plants does not threaten theirsurvival and it accords varying degrees of

protection to more than 33,000 species of animals

and plants.

White pollution, a term used here to describe

the huge consumption and wastage of plastic, is

becoming a growing problem in China. China


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consumes more plastic bags than any other

country, using 37 million barrels of crude oil on

plastic bag production every year. The NDRC said

the ban has now saved between 2.4 million and 3

million tonnes of crude oil, and would also cut

carbon dioxide emissions by up to 9.6 million

tonnes annually.

TIMELINE OF CLIMATE CHANGE HISTORY

1824

French physicist Joseph Fourier is first to describe

a "greenhouse effect" in a paper delivered to

Paris's Acadmie Royale des Sciences.

1861

Irish physicist John Tyndall carries out research on

radiant heat and the absorption of radiation by

gases and vapors including CO2 and H2O. He

shows that carbon dioxide can absorb in the

infrared spectrum, and it can cause a change in

temperature. Tyndall famously declares: "The

solar heat possesses. . . the power of crossing an

atmosphere. But when the heat is absorbed by

the planet, it is so changed in quality that the rays

emanating from the planet cannot get with thesame freedom back into space. Thus the

atmosphere admits of the entrance of the solar

heat, but checks its exit. The result is a tendency

to accumulate heat at the surface of the planet."

1896

Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius first proposes

the idea of a man-made greenhouse effect. He

hypothesizes that the increase in the burning of

coal since the beginning of industrialization could

lead to an increase in atmospheric CO2 and heat

up the earth. Arrhenius was trying to find out why

the earth experienced ice ages. He thought the

prospect of future generations living "under a

milder sky" would be a desirable state of affairs.

1938

British engineer Guy Stewart Callendar compiles

temperature statistics in a variety of regions and

finds that over the previous century the mean

temperature had risen markedly. He alsodiscovers that CO2 levels had risen 10 percent

during the same period. He concludes that CO2

was the most likely reason for the rise in

temperature.

1955

John Hopkins University researcher Gilbert Plass

proves that increased levels of carbon dioxide

could raise atmospheric temperature. By 1959

Plass is boldly predicting that the earth'stemperature would rise more than 3 degrees

Fahrenheit by the end of the century.

In the same year chemist Hans Suess detects the

fossil carbon produced by burning fuels, although

he and Roger Revelle - director of the Scripps

Institute of Oceanography - declare that the

oceans must be absorbing the majority of

atmospheric carbon dioxide, they decide to

conduct further research.

1958

Revelle and Suess employ geochemist Charles

Keeling to continuously monitor CO2 levels in the

atmosphere. After only two years of

measurements in Antarctica an increase is visible.

The graph becomes widely known as the Keeling

Curve and becomes an icon of global warming

debate and continues to chart the year on year

rise in CO2 concentrations to this day.

1970

The first "Earth Day" takes place on April 22nd

across America. Twenty million people participate

in the event organized by Democratic Senator

Gaylord Nelson. It follows and precedes a series of


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U.S. Department for Energy reports highlighting

concern about global warming

1979

The first World Climate Conference is held inGeneva attended by a range of scientists and

leads to the establishment of the World Climate

Program.

1985

Scientists at the World Climate Program

conference at Villach in Austria confidently predict

that increased CO2 concentrations will lead to a

significant rise in the mean surface temperatures

of the earth. A hole in the ozone layer isdiscovered over Antarctica.

1987

Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depleting

substances(ODS). Officially the hottest year on

record to date. Three years later the 1980s is

confirmed as the hottest decade since records

began.

1988

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

(IPCC) is set up by the World Meteorological

Organization (WMO) and by the United Nations

Environment Program (UNEP). The IPCC will

provide reports based on scientific evidence which

reflect existing viewpoints within the scientific

community.

Parts of the Mississippi river are reduced to a

trickle and Yellowstone National Park becomes a

tinderbox. In June, Dr James Hansen of the NASA

Goddard Institute for Space Studies delivers his

famous testimony to the U.S. Senate. Based on

computer models and temperature

measurements he is 99 percent sure that the

[human caused] greenhouse effect has been

detected and it is already changing the climate.

1990

The IPCC delivers its first assessment on the state

of climate change, predicting an increase of 0.3 C

each decade in the 21st century -- greater than

any rise seen over the previous 10,000 years.

1992

The United Nations Conference on Environment

and Development -- better known as the Earth

Summit -- takes place in Rio de Janeiro attended

by 172 countries. It is the first unified effort to getto grips with global warming and leads to

negotiations which result in the Kyoto Protocol.

1995

The hottest year on record. Four years later the

1990s are confirmed as the hottest decade in

1000 years.

The IPCC report for that year states that "the

balance of evidence suggests a discernible humaninfluence on global climate."

1997

The Kyoto Protocol: Industrialized countries agree

to cut their emissions of six key greenhouse gases

by an average of 5.2 percent. Under the terms of

the agreement each country -- except developing

countries -- commits to a reduction by 2008 --

2012 compared to 1990 levels. Notably, the U.S.

Congress vote 95 to 0 against any treaty which

doesn't commit developing countries to

"meaningful" cuts in emissions.

2001


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Newly elected U.S. President George W. Bush

renounces the Kyoto Protocol stating that it will

damage the U.S. economy. The third IPCC report

declares that the evidence of global warming over

the previous 50 years being fueled by human

activities is stronger than ever.

2003

Europe experiences one the hottest summers on

record causing widespread drought claiming the

lives of over 30,000 people.

2005

Following ratification by Russia -- the 19th country

to do so -- in November 2004, the Kyoto Protocolbecomes a legally binding treaty. America and

Australia continue their refusal to sign up claiming

reducing emissions would damage their

economies.

2007

175 countries in total have ratified the Kyoto

Treaty. Under new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd,

Australia ratifies the treaty. The IPCC report for a

fourth time states that "warming of the climate is

unequivocal" and that the levels of temperature

and sea rise in the 21st century will depend on the

extent or limit of emissions in the coming

years.Former vice-president Al Gore and the IPCC

jointly win the Nobel Peace Prize for services to

environmentalism.

2008

160 square miles of the Wilkins Shelf breaks away

from the Antarctic coast. Scientists are concerned

that climate change may be happening faster than

previously thought.

Following the Bali talks/roadmap, negotiators

from 180 countries launch formal negotiations

towards a new treaty to mitigate climate change

at the Bangkok Climate Change Talks.

What is Ice Age?

The general term "ice age" or, more precisely,"glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-

term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's

surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion

of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and

alpine glaciers.

An ice age is a natural system. Within a long-term

ice age, individual pulses of extra cold climate are

termed "glaciations". Glaciologically, ice age

implies the presence of extensive ice sheets in the

northern and southern hemispheres; by this

definition we are still in an ice age (because the

Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets still exist).

MICRO-ORGANISMS TO HELP MANAGE CITY

WASTE

The decision to use Effective Micro-organisms is

part of the monsoon preparedness work of

Chennai Corporation. This is part of the monsoon

preparedness efforts of the civic body to protect

residents of the localities near the dump yards

from fetid smell, a plague of mosquitoes and flies

and the fear of malaria and other fevers.

Effective Microorganisms is a combination of

various naturally occurring beneficial micro-

organisms mostly found in foods, including

phototrophic bacteria, lactic acid bacteria and

yeast.

These secrete beneficial substances such asvitamins, organic acids, chelated minerals and

antioxidants when they come into contact with

organic matter in the dump yards. The organisms

applied in liquid form to the solid waste would

speed up the process of converting it into

biofertilizer. The odour from the waste can be

managed as it is converted into harmless and


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useful products. Decomposition of waste usually

takes several months, but with the help of these

micro-organisms it will take only four to six

weeks.The micro-organisms would also change

soil micro flora and fauna so that disease-inducing

soil becomes disease-suppressing soil.

GOSAT and ENVISAT satellites.

The Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite

(GOSAT) Project is a joint effort promoted by the

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the

National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES)

and the Ministry of the Environment (MOE).

NIES organized the research team dedicated to

the GOSAT project within its organization in April

2004, and since then has been working for the

research and development with respect to GOSAT

"IBUKI". Launched in 2002, Envisat is the largest

Earth Observation spacecraft ever built. Launched

by European space agency , It carries ten

sophisticated optical and radar instruments to

provide continuous observation and monitoring of

the Earth's land, atmosphere, oceans and ice caps.

Envisat data collectively provide a wealth of

information on the workings of the Earth system,including insights into factors contributing to

climate change.

AHMEDABAD ISRO CENTRE TO MAP HIMALAYAN

REGION

The Indian Space Research Organisations (ISRO)

Space Application Centre in Ahmedabad will

undertake mapping and tracing of the Himalayanregion to keep track of the movement of glaciers

and their health. This is to put in place governance

and management of the Himalayan eco-system.

Government recently released a report,

Governance for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem:

Guidelines and Best Practices (G-SHE). The report

will be a key input in the formulation of a National

Mission for sustaining the Himalayan ecosystem

under Indias National Action Plan for Climate

Change.

The mission aims to scientifically study theimpact of climate change on Indian Himalaya and

put in place adaptation measures to meet the

growing challenge. The mission will bring together

the efforts of climatologists, glaciologists, other

experts as well as local stakeholders.

The G-SHE report was meant to be a working

document, to provide the basis for new

approaches and practices. The report has been

put in the public domain, including on the Ministry

website. Comments and inputs have been sought

from the State governments, domestic and

international institutions, civil society, local

communities and other stakeholders.

Glaciologists institute

The government decided to set up a National

Institute of Himalayan Glaciologists in Dehra Dun.

It would become Indias main centre of excellence

for monitoring the Himalayan glaciers. India willjoin hands with Bhutan, China and Nepal to study

the health of the glaciers. Government also

announced the setting up of 15 fully automated

weather stations in Jammu and Kashmir,

Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and

Arunachal Pradesh to monitor the climate in the

Himalayan region and help authorities in

preparing data and research profile. The first of

these would become operational in a couple of

days at Almora in Uttarakhand.

COPENHAGEN NEGOTIATING TEXT: 200 PAGES

TO SAVE WORLD?

In 2012 the Kyoto Protocol to prevent climate

changes and global warming runs out. To keep the

process on the line there is an urgent need for a

new climate protocol. At the conference in


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Copenhagen 2009 the parties of the UNFCCC meet

for the last time on government level before the

climate agreement need to be renewed.

Therefore the Climate Conference in Copenhagen

is essential for the worlds climate and the Danish

government and UNFCCC is putting hard effort in

making the meeting in Copenhagen a success

ending up with a Copenhagen Protocol to prevent

global warming and climate changes.

The Climate Conference will take place in the

Bella Center.

Governmental representatives from 170 countries

are expected to be in Copenhagen in the days of

the conference accompanied by other

governmental representatives, NGO's, journalists

and others. In total 8000 people are expected to

Copenhagen in the days of the climate meeting.

The draft agreement being discussed ahead of

Decembers crucial Copenhagen summit is long,

confusing and contradictory. It is a blueprint to

save the world

Traditional sticking points

The text includes sections on the traditional

sticking points that have delayed progress on

climate change for a decade or longer:

How much are rich countries willing tocut their greenhouse gas emissions, and

by when?

Will large developing nations such asChina make an effort to put at least a

dent in their levels of pollution?

How much money must flow from thedeveloped world to developing countries

to secure their approval? How much to

compensate for the impact of past

emissions, and how much to prevent

future emissions?

According to U.N. rules, for a new treaty to be

agreed, every country must sign up. The treaty is

designed to follow the Kyoto protocol, the worlds

existing treaty to regulate emissions, the first

phase of which expires in 2012. Because the U.S.

did not ratify Kyoto, the climate talks have been

forced on to parallel tracks, with one set of

negotiations, from which the U.S. is excluded,

debating how the treaty could be extended. This

new text comes from the second track, which lays

out a plan to include all countries in cooperative

action.

The U.N. Framework Convention on Climate

Change has the ultimate objective, set at the Earth

Summit in Rio in 1992, to prevent dangerous

anthropogenic interference with climate.

ECO TAX FOR VISITING MUSSOORIE

Uttarakhands most picturesque resort Mussoorie

it could literally mean a breath of fresh air. The

Uttarakhand government has decided to

introduce Eco Tax upon entry into the Queen of

Hills with immediate effect, which is a first in thehistory of Mussoorie. It will be in line with the

years old Naini Lake Tax charged from tourists in

Nainital.

The tax Rs 100 for heavy vehicles and Rs 30 for

cars and jeeps will be levied by the Mussoorie

Municipal Board either through its employees or

contracted agents from motorists at Kolhukhet,

Mussoories entry point. The objective of Eco Tax

is to collect revenue for preserving the towns

environment, its heritage, apart from maintainingits sanitation and cleanliness. The money will be

spent on encouraging plantation and educating

tourists against using plastic while in Mussoorie.

BT BRINJAL-INDIAS FIRST GENETICALLY

MODIFIED FOOD CROP


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India's biotechnology regulator Genetic

Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) on

Wednesday gave thumbs up Bt brinjal in the

backdrop of the controversy surrounding GM

crops. GEAC assessed the recommendations of a

special committee that had accumulated data for

over nine years to study the bio-safety of Bt

brinjal. Bt brinjal is the first modified genetically

modified vegetable that has been introduced to

Indians.The experts, however, have raised

concern over the nvironmental implications due

to GM crops.

GM crops are those in which genetic material

(DNA) is altered for some perceived advantage

either to the producer or the consumer. Bt cotton

was the first transgenic crop to be introduced in

the country in 2002. Since then there has been a

lot of controversy surrounding it with experts

debating on its performance and impact on the

environment and health of cattle. India, as a party

to the Convention on Biodiversity and having

ratified the Cartagena Protocol (CP), is committed

to the safe handling of living modified organisms

(LMOs) or genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

The Protocol provides a broad framework onbiosafety especially focusing on trans-boundary

movements of GMOs and also covers seeds that

are meant for intentional release into the

environment, as well as those GMOs that are

intended for food, feed or used in food

processing.

GLOSSARY

Adaptation: Adjustment in natural or human

systems, in response to actual or expectedclimatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates

harm or exploits beneficial opportunities. Various

types of adaptation can be distinguished,

including anticipatory and reactive, autonomous

and planned, public and private.

Adaptation Fund: The Adaptation Fund was

established to finance concrete adaptation

projects and programs in developing countries

that are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. The Fund is

financed with a share of proceeds from the Clean

Development Mechanism (CDM) and receives

funds from other sources.

Adaptive capacity: The ability of a system to

adjust to climate change (including climate

variability and extremes) in order to take

advantage of opportunities, moderate potential

damages, or cope with the consequences.

Adaptive management: A systematic process for

continually improving management policies and

practices by learning from the outcomes of

previously employed policies and practices,

through an explicitly experimental approach.

Additionality: In the CDM context this refers to

whether the carbon offsets generated by a project

are backed up by emission reductions additional

to those that otherwise would occur without the

financial and technical incentive of the CDM

mechanism. An activitys emissions as they would

have been in the absence of the CDM project

constitute the baseline against which additionality

is measured. The creation and sale of offsets from

a CDM project lacking additionality may lead to an

increase in emissions to the atmosphere, relative

to the emissions released if the potential pur-

chaser of the offset instead directly reduced their

own emissions at home.

Afforestation: Planting a new forest on land that

has either never or not recently been forested.

Annex I parties: Annex I parties include the

industrial countries that were members of the

OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation

and Development) in 1992, plus countries with

economies in transition (the EIT Parties), including

the Russian Federation, the Baltic states, and

several Central and Eastern European states. They

have committed to limit their greenhouse gas

emissions. Non-Annex-I parties: The group of

primarily developing countries without such

commitments, which instead have acknowledged


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general obligations to formulate and implement

national programs on mitigation and adaptation.

Anthropogenic: Directly caused by human actions.

For example, burning fossil fuels to supply energy

leads to anthropogenic GHG emissions, whereas

natural decay of vegetation leads to non-

anthropogenic emissions.

Assigned amount units (AAUs): The total volume

greenhouse gasesmeasured in tons CO2ethat

each Annex I country is allowed to emit during the

first phase of the Kyoto Protocol.

Bali Action Plan: The two year plan launched at

the 2007 United Nations Climate Change

Conference in Bali, Indonesia to negotiate long-

term cooperative action on climate change

beyond 2010 and to reach an agreed outcome in

Denmark in late 2009. The plan has four pillars:

mitigation, adaptation, finance, and technology.

Biodiversity: Biodiversity is the variety of all forms

of life, including genes, populations, species, and

ecosystems.

Biofuel: A fuel produced from organic matter or

combustible oils produced by plants. Examples of

biofuel include alcohol, black liquor from the

paper-manufacturing process, wood, and soybean

oil. Second-generation biofuels: Products such asethanol and biodiesel derived from woody

material by chemical or biological processes.

Cap and trade: An approach to controlling

pollution emissions that combines market and

regulation. An overall emissions limit (cap) is set

for a specific time period and individual parties

receive permits (either through grant or auction)

giving them the legal right to emit pollution up to

the quantity of permits they hold. Parties are free

to trade emission permits, and there will be gains

from trade if different parties have differentmarginal pollution abatement costs.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS): A process

consisting of separation of CO2 from industrial

and energy-related sources, transport to a storage

location, and long-term isolation from the

atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide (CO2): A naturally occurring gas

that is also a by-product of burning fossil fuels

(fossil carbon deposits such as oil, gas, and coal),

of burning biomass, of land-use changes, and of

several industrial processes. It is the principal

anthropogenic greenhouse gas that affects the

Earths radiative balance. It is the reference gas

against which other greenhouse gases are

measured and therefore has a Global Warming

Potential of 1.

Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e): A way of

expressing the quantity of a mixture of different

greenhouse gases. Equal amounts of the different

greenhouse gases produce different contributions

to global warming; for example, an emission of

methane to the atmosphere has about 20 times

the warming effect as the same emission of

carbon dioxide. CO2e expresses the quantity of a

mixture of greenhouse gases in terms of the

quantity of CO2 that would produce the same

amount of warming as would the mixture of

gases. Both emissions (flows) and concentrations

(stocks) of greenhouse gases can be expressed in

CO2e. A quantity of greenhouse gases can also be

expressed in terms of its carbon equivalent, by

multiplying the quantity of CO2e by 12/44.

Carbon fertilization: The enhancement of the

growth of plants as a result of increased

atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration.

Depending on their mechanism of photosynthesis,

certain types of plants are more sensitive to

changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration.

Carbon footprint: The amount of carbon

emissions associated with a particular activity or

all the activities of a person or organization. The

carbon footprint can be measured in many ways,

and may include indirect emissions generated in

the whole chain of production of inputs into an

activity.

Carbon intensity: Typically, the amount of

economywide emissions of carbon or CO2e per

unit of GDP, that is, the carbon intensity of GDP.

May also refer to the carbon emitted per dollar of

gross production or dollar of value added by a

given firm or sector. Also used to describe the

amount of carbon emitted per unit of energy or


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fuels consumed, that is, the carbon intensity of

energy, which depends on the energy sources,

fuel mix, and efficiency of technologies. The

carbon intensity of GDP is simply the product of

the economywide average carbon-intensity of

energy and energy-intensity of GDP.

Carbon lock-in: Actions which perpetuate a given

level of carbon emissions. For example, expansion

of roads and highways will tend to lock in carbon

emissions from fossil fuels for decades unless

there are countervailing policies to limit fuel use

or control vehicle use.

Carbon sink: Any process, activity or mechanism

which removes carbon dioxide from the

atmosphere. Forests and other vegetation are

considered sinks because they remove carbon

dioxide through photosynthesis.

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM): A

mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol through

which developed countries may finance

greenhouse-gas emission reduction or removal

projects in developing countries, and thereby

receive credits for doing so which they may apply

towards meeting mandatory limits on their own

emissions. The CDM allows greenhouse gas

emission reduction projects to take place in

countries that are signatories but have no

emission targets under the Kyoto Protocol.

Climate sensitivity: The change in global mean

surface temperature in response to a doubling of

the atmospheric CO2e concentration. A key

parameter for translating projected emissions into

projections of warming and thus impacts.

Consumptive use of water: Water removed from

available supplies without return to a water

resources system (for example, water used in

manufacturing, agriculture, and food preparation

that is not returned to a stream, river, or water

treatment plant).

Coping capacity: The ability of people,

organizations and systems, using available skills

and resources, to face and manage adverse

conditions, emergencies or disasters. Refers to

short-term capacity in response to an event,

whereas adaptive capacity refers to the long-term

ability to make systematic changes to reduce the

impact of climate change.

Damage function: In the climate change context,

the relation between changes in the climate and

reductions in production or consumption, or

losses of assets (potentially including ecosystems

or human health).

Deadweight loss: A cost that generates no

benefit.

Downscaling: A method that derives local- to

regional-scale (10 to 100 km) information from

larger-scale (200+ km) climate-projection models

or data analyses. Dynamic downscaling uses high

resolution models for a particular region run

within a large-scale global model; statistical down-

scaling uses statistical relationships that link the

large-scale atmospheric variables with local or

regional climate variables. Early warning system:

A mechanism to generate and disseminate timely

and meaningful warning information to enable

individuals, communities and organizations

threatened by a hazard to prepare and to act

appropriately and in sufficient time to reduce the

possibility of harm or loss.

Ecosystem services: The ecosystem processes or

functions that have value to individuals or society,

for example, the provision of food, water

purification, and recreational opportunities.

Evapotranspiration: An important part of the

water cycle, it is the combined process of

evaporation from the Earths surface (from

sources such as the soil and bodies of water) and

transpiration from vegetation (loss of water as

vapor from plants, primarily through their

leaves).Forest degradation: The reduction in

forest biomass through unsustainable harvest or

landuse practices including logging, fire, and other

anthropogenic disturbances.

Geoengineering: Geoengineering is the large-

scale engineering of our environment to combat

or to counteract the effects of climate change.

Proposed measures include injecting particles into

the upper atmosphere to reflect sunlight and the


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fertilization of the oceans with iron to increase

uptake of CO2 by algae.

Gini coefficient: A commonly used measure of

inequality of income or wealth distribution,

varying between 0 (perfect equality) and 1.

Green tax: A tax that aims to increase envi-

ronmental quality by taxing actions which harm

the environment.

Greenhouse gas (GHG): Any of the atmospheric

gases that cause climate change by trapping heat

from the sun in Earths atmosphereproducing

the greenhouse effect. The most common

greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide (CO2),

methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), ozone (O3),

and water vapor (H2O).

Integrated assessment: A method of analysis that

combines results and models from the physical,

biological, economic and social sciences, and the

interactions between these components, in a

consistent framework, to project the

consequences of climate change and the policy

responses to it.

Intellectual property rights (IPRs): Legal property

rights over artistic and commercial creations of

the mind, including patents on new technologies,

and the corresponding fields of law.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

(IPCC): Established in 1988 by the World

Meteorological Organization and the United

Nations Environment Program, the IPCC surveys

worldwide scientific and technical literature and

publishes assessment reports that are widely

recognized as the most credible existing sources

of information on climate change. The IPCC also

prepares methodologies and responds to specific

requests from the subsidiary bodies of the United

Nations Framework Convention on ClimateChange (UNFCCC). The IPCC is independent of the

UNFCCC.

Kyoto Protocol: An agreement under the United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change (UNFCCC) that was adopted in 1997 in

Kyoto, Japan, by the parties to the UNFCCC. It

contains legally binding commitments to reduce

greenhouse gas emissions by developed countries.

Leakage: In the climate change context, the

process whereby emissions outside of a mitigation

project area increase as a result of emission

reduction activities inside the project area, thus

reducing the effectiveness of the project.

Land use, land-use change, and forestry

(LULUCF): A set of activities including human-

induced land use, land-use change, and forestry

activities which lead to both emissions and

removals of greenhouse gases from the

atmosphere. A category used in reporting

greenhouse gas inventories.

Maladaptation: Activities or actions that increase

vulnerability to climate change.

Mitigation: A human intervention to reduce the

emissions or enhance the sinks of greenhouse

gases.

National Adaptation Programs of Action

(NAPAs): Documents prepared by least developed

countries (LDCs) identifying the activities to

address urgent and immediate needs for adapting

to climate change.

No regrets project: In the climate change context,a project that would generate net social and/or

economic benefits irrespective of whether the

project affects the climate or whether the climate

affects the project.

Polluter pays principle: A principle in envi-

ronmental law whereby the polluter must bear

the cost of the pollution. Thus the polluter is

responsible for the cost of measures to prevent

and control pollution.

Positive feedback: When one variable in a systemtriggers changes in a second variable that in turn

affect the original variable; a positive feedback

intensifies the initial effect, and a negative

feedback reduces the effect.

Precautionary principle: A principle that holds

that, in the absence of scientific certainty that


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serious or irreversible harm would not occur as a

result of an action or policy, the burden of proof

lies with those that favor the action or policy. In

the United Nations Framework on Climate Change

(UNFCCC), it is a provision under Article 3

stipulating that the parties should take

precautionary measures to anticipate, prevent, or

minimize the causes of climate change and

mitigate its adverse effects, and that a lack of full

scientific certainty about possibly serious or

irreversible damages should not be used as a

reason to postpone such measurestaking into

account that policies and measures to deal with

climate change should be cost-effective in order

to ensure global benefits at the lowest possible

cost.

Public good: A good whose consumption is non-

exclusive (so that it is impossible to prevent

anyone from enjoying the benefit) and non-rival

(so that the enjoyment of the benefit by one

individual does not diminish the quantity of

benefits available to others). Climate change

mitigation is an example of a public good as it

would be impossible to prevent any one individual

or state from enjoying the benefit of a stabilized

climate, and the enjoyment of this stabilized

climate by one individual or state would not

diminish the ability of others to benefit from it.

RDD&D: Research, development, demonstration,

and deployment of new methods, technologies,

equipment, and products.

Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and

forest Degradation (REDD): REDD refers to a suite

of actions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas

emissions from forested land. Financial incentives

for REDD are potentially a part of the policy

response to climate change.

Reforestation: Planting of forests on lands that

were previously forested but that have been

converted to another use.

Resilience: The ability of a social or ecological

system to absorb disturbances while retaining the

same basic structure and ways of functioning, the

capacity for self-organization, and the capacity to

adapt to stress and change.

Risk assessment: A standardized methodology

consisting of risk identification, risk quantification,

risk reduction, and risk mitigation.

Robust decision making: In the face of

uncertainty, choosing not the measure or policy

that would be optimal under the most likely

future world, but the one that would be

acceptable across a range of possible futures. The

process involves evaluating options to minimize

expected regret across a variety of models,

assumptions, and loss functions, rather than to

maximize returns under a unique likely future.

Safety net: Mechanisms that aim to protect

people from the impact of shocks such as flood,

drought, unemployment, illness, or the death of a

households primary income earner.

Sequestration: In the climate context, the process

of removing carbon from the atmosphere and

storing it in reservoirs such as new forests, soil

carbon or underground storage. Biological

sequestration: The removal of CO2 from the

atmosphere and storing it in organic matter

through land-use change, afforestation,

reforestation, carbon storage in landfills, and

practices that enhance soil carbon in agriculture.

Social learning: Social learning is the process by

which people learn new behavior through overt

reinforcement or punishment, or via observing

other social actors in their environment. If people

observe positive, desired outcomes for others

exhibiting a particular behavior, they are more

likely to model, imitate, and adopt the behavior

themselves.

Social norms: Implicit or explicit values, beliefs,

and rules adopted by a group to self-regulate

behavior through peer pressure; the yardstick

individuals use to assess what is acceptable or

unacceptable behavior.

Social protection: The set of public interventions

aimed at supporting the poorer and more

vulnerable members of society, as well as helping

individuals, families, and communities manage

riskfor example, unemployment insurance

programs, income support, and social services.


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Solar photovoltaics (PV): The field of technology

and research related to the conversion of sunlight,

including ultra violet radiation, directly into

electricity; the technology applied in the creation

and use of solar cells, which make up solar panels.

SRES scenarios: A set of descriptions or storylines

of possible futures used in climate change related

modeling developed for the IPCC. The scenarios

are used to project future emissions based on

assumptions about changes in population,

technology, and societal development. Four

scenario families comprise the SRES scenario set:

A1, A2, B1 and B2. A1 represents a future world of

very rapid economic growth, global population

that peaks in mid-century and declines thereafter,

and rapid introduction of new and more efficient

technologies. A2 represents a very heterogeneous

world with continuously increasing global

population and regionally oriented economic

growth that is more fragmented and slower than

in other storylines. B1 represents a convergent

world with the same global population as in the

A1 storyline but with rapid changes in economic

structures toward a service and information

economy, reductions in material intensity, and the

introduction of clean and resource-efficient

technologies. Finally, B2 represents a world in

which the emphasis is on local solutions to

economic, social, and environmental

sustainability, with continuously increasing

population (lower than A2) and intermediate

economic development.

Stationarity: The idea that natural systems

fluctuate within an unchanging envelope of

variability, delimited by the range of past

experiences.

Supplementarity: The Kyoto Protocol states that

emissions trading and Joint Implementation

activities are to be supplemental to domestic

policies (e.g. energy taxes, fuel efficiency

standards) taken by developed countries to

reduce their GHG emissions. Under some

proposed definitions of supplementarity,

developed countries could be required to achieve

a given share of their reduction targets

domestically. This is a subject for further

negotiation and clarification by the parties.

Technology transfer: The process of sharing of

skills, knowledge, technologies, and methods of

manufacture to ensure that scientific and

technological developments are accessible to a

wider range of users.

Technology-push: The allocation of R&D

resources motivated largely by inherent scientific

interest, rather than market demand.

Threshold: In the climate change context, the

level above which sudden or rapid change occurs.

Transaction costs: Costs associated with the

exchange of goods or services that are additional

to the monetary cost or price of the good or

service. Examples include search and information

costs or policing and enforcement costs.

Uncertainty: An expression of the degree to which

a value (such as the future state of the climate

system) is unknown. Uncertainty can result from

lack of information or from disagreement about

what is known or even knowable. It may have

many types of sources, from quantifiable errors in

the data to uncertain projections of human

behavior. Uncertainty can therefore be

represented by quantitative measures, for

example, a range of values calculated by various

models, or by qualitative statements, for example,

reflecting expert judgment. However, in

economics, uncertainty refers to Knightian

uncertainty, which is immeasurable. This is in

contrast to risk, wherein the occurrence of certain

events is associated with a knowable probability

distribution.

United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change (UNFCCC): A convention adopted

in May 1992 with the ultimate objective of the

stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in

the atmosphere at a level that would prevent

dangerous anthropogenic interference with the

climate system.

Virtual water: The amount of water that is

directly or indirectly consumed in the production

of a good or service.


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Vulnerability (also climate vulnerability): The

degree to which a system is susceptible to, and

unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate

change, including climate variability and extremes.

Vulnerability is a function of the character,

magnitude, and rate of climate change and

variability to which a system is exposed, as well as

the systems sensitivity and adaptive capacity.

Weather derivatives: Financial instruments to

reduce risk associated with adverse weather

conditions by, for example, providing for

payments associated with a specified weather

event (such as an unusually cool or hot month of

August).

Weather-index insurance: Insurance where the

indemnity (or payout) is based on the realization

of pre-agreed values of an index of a specific

weather parameter, measured over a pre-

specified period of time, at a particular weather

station. The insurance can be structured to

protect against index realizations that are either

so high or so low that they are expected to cause

crop losses. The indemnity is calculated based on

a pre-agreed sum insured per unit of the index

(e.g. US$/millimeter of rainfall).

Win-win-(win): In the Report, this refers to

measures that are beneficial for adaptation and

mitigation (and development).

2020 TARGET FOR CLEAN GANGA MISSION

The National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA)

approved an ambitious project to prevent the

discharge of untreated municipal sewage and

industrial effluent into the Ganga by 2020.

An estimated investment of Rs. 15,000 crore over

the next 10 years will be required to create the

necessary treatment and sewerage infrastructure

for the Mission Clean Ganga. The resources will

be provided by the Centre and States over a 10-

year period to be shared suitably after

consultations with the Planning Commission.

REDD OR DEAD?

What is Redd?

Redd Reducing Emissions from Deforestation

and Degradation would allow countries that

can reduce emissions from deforestation to be

paid for doing so.

Where did the idea come from?

Papua New Guinea and nine other countries

proposed it in 2005 at a U.N. climate meeting. It is

now likely to be one of the cornerstones of any

agreement at the Copenhagen climate conferencein December. It would start in 2013, and could

eventually channel tens of billions of dollars a year

from rich to poor countries.

How would it work?

Countries would have to show from historical

data, satellite imagery and direct measurement of

trees the extent, condition and carbon content

of their forests. Verification, reporting and

monitoring would be done by communities thatdepend on the forests or by independent

organisations. Protected trees would have to be

shown to have been threatened. Who pays?

There are several proposals. Countries could

either be paid by voluntary funding rather

like existing official aid given by one country to

another or cash could be linked to trade in

carbon credits.

Does everyone agree?

No. There are 32 Redd proposals, from countries,

groups of countries and NGOs. The two gaining

most ground are from Brazil. Once a model is

agreed upon, many problems will remain. There is

as yet no agreed way to accurately measure the


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carbon content of different kinds of forests. The

rights of the tens of millions of people who live in

forests could be at risk if carbon companies move

in, valuing the forests more highly than them. And

land ownership is often a difficult issue to resolve

and ownership of trees, even more so.

CONTAMINATED U.S. SHIP PLATINUM IILANDS

ALANG YARD IN CONTROVERSY

The ship-breaking yard at Alang, off the Bhavnagar

coast in Gujarats Saurashtra region, is again in the

thick of a controversy over the move to allow an

allegedly contaminated ship to berth there.

The authorities disagreed that the ship, Platinum

II, was laden with radioactive materials, and

said it carried only some hazardous chemical

paints barred under U.S. norms. Also said the

problem was common in all pre-1980 ships which

contained some asbestos and hazardous chemical

paints. However, the Supreme Court already laid

down guidelines for disposal of the hazardous

substances.

State government authorities, meanwhile, had

little idea of the origin of Platinum II, a U.S.vessel, which environmentalist groups claimed

was renamed after the dead ship SS Oceanic,

which itself was a new name given to the

controversial SS Independence. Banned under

U.S. norms, the ship was believed to have been

lying idle at the Dubai port for more than one and

half years and was moved to Alang without the

knowledge of even State government authorities.

According to Gopal Krishna, convener of the

Indian Platform on Ship-Breaking, an umbrellaorganisation of environmentalists and human

rights activists, the ship contained about 210

tonnes of materials contaminated by

Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), highly toxic

substances, and about 200 tonnes of asbestos-

containing materials. State government

authorities, however, claimed that the Alang yard

was equipped to handle much larger quantities of

toxic materials than what Platinum II was

believed to be carrying.

350.org.

350.org is an international environmental

organizationheaded by author Bill McKibben,

Headquarters Berkeley, California, USA with the goal

of cutting atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions to

80% by 2050 from 2006 baseline emissions of 9,180

million tons of carbon.350.org takes its name from

the research of NASA scientist James E. Hansen, who

posited in a 2007 paper that 350 parts-per-million

(ppm) of CO2 in the atmosphere is a safe upper limit

to avoid a climate tipping point. The current record

level is 389 ppm of CO2, an almost 40-percent

increase from the pre-industrial revolution level of

278 ppm. In 1988 the Earth's atmosphere surpassed

the 350 ppm mark, while global CO2 emissions per

capita rose.

INDIA, CHINA SIGN MOA ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Reiterating that the United NationsFramework Convention on Climate

Change and the Kyoto Protocol are the

most appropriate framework for

addressing climate change, India and

China signed a Memorandum of

Agreement (MoA) to establish a

partnership in the area for strengthening

dialogue and practical cooperation.

They agreed to set up an India-ChinaWorking Group on Climate Change that

will hold annual meetings alternately in

China and India to exchange views on

important issues concerning international

negotiations and domestic policies and

measures.


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Both countries were working closely for afair and equitable outcome at

Copenhagen in keeping with the UNFCCC,

the Kyoto Protocol and the Bali Action

Plan.

BALI ACTION PLAN

After the 2007 United Nations Climate Change

Conference on the island Bali in Indonesia in

December, 2007 the participating nations adopted

the Bali Road Map as a two-year process to

finalizing a binding agreement in 2009 in

Copenhagen. The conference encompassed

meetings of several bodies, including the 13th

Conference of the Parties to the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP

13) and the 3rd Meeting of the Parties to the

Kyoto Protocol (MOP 3 or CMP 3).

The Bali Road Map includes the Bali Action Plan

(BAP) that was adopted by Decision 1/CP.13 of theCOP-13. It also includes the Ad Hoc Working

Group on Further Commitments for Annex I

Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-

KP)negotiations and their 2009 deadline, the

launch of the Adaptation Fund, the scope and

content of the Article 9 review of the Kyoto

Protocol, as well as decisions on technology

transfer and on reducing emissions from

deforestation.

COPENHAGEN ACCORD

This is the text of the climate accord worked out by President Obama and the leaders of several key nations

in Copenhagen on Dec. 18.

1. We underline that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. We emphasise our strong

political will to urgently combat climate change in accordance with the principle of common but

differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. To achieve the ultimate objective of the Convention

to stabilize greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous

anthropogenic interference with the climate system, we shall, recognizing the scientific view that the

increase in global temperature should be below 2 degrees Celsius, on the basis ofequity and in the context of

sustainable development, enhance our long-term cooperative action to combat climate change. We

recognize the critical impacts of climate change and the potential impacts of response measures on countries

particularly vulnerable to its adverse effects and stress the need to establish a comprehensive adaptation

programme including international support.

2. We agree that deep cuts in global emissions are required according to science, and as documented by the

IPCC Fourth Assessment Report with a view to reduce global emissions so as to hold the increase in global

temperature below 2 degrees Celsius, and take action to meet this objective consistent with science and on

the basis of equity. We should cooperate in achieving the peaking of global and national emissions as soon as

possible, recognizing that the time frame for peaking will be longer in developing countries and bearing in

mind that social and economic development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities ofdeveloping countries and that a low-emission development strategy is indispensable to sustainable

development.

3. Adaptation to the adverse effects of climate change and the potential impacts of response measures is a

challenge faced by all countries. Enhanced action and international cooperation on adaptation is urgently

required to ensure the implementation of the Convention by enabling and supporting the implementation of

adaptation actions aimed at reducing vulnerability and building resilience in developing countries, especially


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in those that are particularly vulnerable, especially least developed countries, small island developing States

and Africa. We agree that developed countries shall provide adequate, predictable and sustainable financial

resources, technology and capacity-building to support the implementation of adaptation action in

developing countries.

4. Annex I Parties commit to implement individually or jointly the quantified economy-wide emissions targetsfor 2020, to be submitted in the format given in Appendix I by Annex I Parties to the secretariat by 31 January

2010 for compilation in an INF document. Annex I Parties that are Party to the Kyoto Protocol will thereby

further strengthen the emissions reductions initiated by the Kyoto Protocol. Delivery of reductions and

financing by developed countries will be measured, reported and verified in accordance with existing and any

further guidelines adopted by the Conference of the Parties, and will ensure that accounting of such targets

and finance is rigorous, robust and transparent.

5. Non-Annex I Parties to the Convention will implement mitigation actions, including those to be submitted

to the secretariat by non-Annex I Parties in the format given in Appendix II by 31 January 2010, for

compilation in an INF document, consistent with Article 4.1 and Article 4.7 and in the context of sustainable

development. Least developed countries and small island developing States may undertake actions

voluntarily and on the basis of support. Mitigation actions subsequently taken and envisaged by Non-Annex I

Parties, including national inventory reports, shall be communicated through national communications

consistent with Article 12.1(b) every two years on the basis of guidelines to be adopted by the Conference of

the Parties. Those mitigation actions in national communications or otherwise communicated to the

Secretariat will be added to the list in appendix II. Mitigation actions taken by Non-Annex I Parties will be

subject to their domestic measurement, reporting and verification the result of which will be reported

through their national communications every two years. Non-Annex I Parties will communicate information

on the implementation of their actions through National Communications, with provisions for international

consultations and analysis under clearly defined guidelines that will ensure that national sovereignty is

respected. Nationally appropriate mitigation actions seeking international support will be recorded in aregistry along with relevant technology, finance and capacity building support. Those actions supported will

be added to the list in appendix II. These supported nationally appropriate mitigation actions will be subject

to international measurement, reporting and verification in accordance with guidelines adopted by the

Conference of the Parties.

6. We recognize the crucial role of reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation and the

need to enhance removals of greenhouse gas emission by forests and agree on the need to provide positive

incentives to such actions through the immediate establishment of a mechanism including REDD-plus, to

enable the mobilization of financial resources from developed countries.

7. We decide to pursue various approaches, including opportunities to use markets, to enhance the cost-

effectiveness of, and to promote mitigation actions. Developing countries, especially those with low emitting

economies should be provided incentives to continue to develop on a low emission pathway.

8. Scaled up, new and additional, predictable and adequate funding as well as improved access shall be

provided to developing countries, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Convention, to enable

and support enhanced action on mitigation, including substantial finance to reduce emissions from


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deforestation and forest degradation (REDD-plus), adaptation, technology development and transfer and

capacity-building, for enhanced implementation of the Convention. The collective commitment by developed

countries is to provide new and additional resources, including forestry and investments through

international institutions, approaching USD 30 billion for the period 2010 . 2012 with balanced allocation

between adaptation and mitigation. Funding for adaptation will be prioritized for the most vulnerable

developing countries, such as the least developed countries, small island developing States and Africa. In the

context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation, developed countries commit

to a goal of mobilizing jointly USD 100 billion dollars a year by 2020 to address the needs of developing

countries. This funding will come from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral,

including alternative sources of finance. New multilateral funding for adaptation will be delivered through

effective and efficient fund arrangements, with a governance structure providing for equal representation of

developed and developing countries. A significant portion of such funding should flow through the

Copenhagen Green Climate Fund.

9. To this end, a High Level Panel will be established under the guidance of and accountable to the

Conference of the Parties to study the contribution of the potential sources of revenue, including alternative

sources of finance, towards meeting this goal.

10. We decide that the Copenhagen Green Climate Fund shall be established as an operating entity of the

financial mechanism of the Convention to support projects, programme, policies and other activities in

developing countries related to mitigation including REDD-plus, adaptation, capacity-building, technology

development and transfer.

11. In order to enhance action on development and transfer of technology we decide to establish a

Technology Mechanism to accelerate technology development and transfer in support of action on

adaptation and mitigation that will be guided by a country-driven approach and be based on national

circumstances and priorities.

12. We call for an assessment of the implementation of this Accord to be completed by 2015, including in

light of the Conventions ultimate objective. This would include consideration of strengthening the long-term

goal referencing various matters presented by the science, including in relation to temperature rises of 1.5

degrees Celsius.THE ASIAN BROWN CLOUD

The Asian brown cloud is a layer of air pollution that covers parts of South Asia, namely the northern Indian

Ocean, India, and Pakistan. Viewed from satellite photos, the cloud appears as a giant brown stain hanging in

the air over much of South Asia and the Indian Ocean every year between January and March, possibly alsoduring earlier and later months. The term was coined in reports from the UNEP Indian Ocean Experiment

(INDOEX). In some humidity conditions, it forms haze. It is created by a range of airborne particles and

pollutants from combustion (e.g. woodfires, cars, and factories), biomass burning and industrial processes

with incomplete burning. The cloud is associated with the winter monsoon (November/December to April)

during which there is no rain to wash pollutants from the air.


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GREEN INDIA 2047

TERI - The Energy Research Institute launched the GREEN India 2047 project on the Earth Day, 1995. The

purpose of that effort was to assess what India had done to its natural resource wealth in the first 50 years of

Independence. The first phase of this project was completed before Independence Day 1997, and a

presentation made to the then Prime Minister Shri I K Gujral and several of his cabinet colleagues. Subsequent

phases of this work revealed that while India had progressed economically, our record as a society in ensuring

the conservation and proper care of the environment and natural resources had been less than satisfactory. It

was also found that environmental protection is not merely a luxury or the pursuit of a dream in the eyes of

idealistic environmentalists. TERI .New Delhi Director-General noted environmentalist R.K.Pachauri.

FOURTH OF INDIA TURNING INTO DESERT: ISRO

No less than a fourth of Indias geographical area, or 81 million hectares, is undergoing a process ofdesertification, reveals a first-of-its-kind desertification status map of the country created by the

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in collaboration with several scientific institutions across

the country.

A host of reasons are responsible for this phenomenon, including changes in rainfall pattern andover-exploitation of natural resources. The spatial inventory, which uses satellite imagery from an

Indian Remote Sensing Satellite, Resourcesat, also reveals that a third of the countrys area (or

105.48 million hectares) is degraded.

At least eight processes were at work, of which water erosion is the most pronounced (affecting10.21 per cent of the total geographical area), followed by reducing vegetation cover (9.63 per cent)

and wind erosion (5.34 per cent). Together 32.07 per cent of the total geographic area is being

transformed by land degradation.

State-wise, Rajasthan has the largest area (21.77 per cent of the total geographical area) undergoingland degradation, followed by

Jammu and Kashmir (12.79 per cent), Maharashtra (12.66 per cent) and Gujarat (12.72 per cent).

ISROs Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad served as the nodal coordinating organisation forthe study.

The research paper adds that about 15.8 per cent of the countrys geographical area is arid, 37.6 percent semi-arid and 16.5 per cent falls in the dry sub-humid region. Put together, about 228 million

hectares, or 69 per cent of the country constitute dry land.


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NATIONAL POLICY ON BIO-FUELS GETS NOD

The Union Cabinet approved the national policy on bio-fuels and its implementation. It also gave its nod for

setting up of a National Bio-fuel Coordination Committee and a Bio-fuel Steering Committee. The new policy

endeavours to facilitate and bring about optimal development and utilisation of indigenous biomass feed

stocks for production of bio-fuels.

The salient features of the new policy include

bio-diesel production will be taken up from non-edible oil seeds in waste/degraded /marginal lands; an indicative target of 20 per cent blending of bio-fuels, both for bio-diesel and bio-ethanol, by 2017

has been proposed;

minimum support price (MSP) for non-edible oil seeds would be announced with periodic revision toprovide fair price to the growers;

minimum purchase price (MPP) for purchase of bio-ethanol and bio-diesel would be announced withperiodic revision;

major thrust will be given to research, development and demonstration with focus on plantations,processing and production of bio-fuels, including second generation bio-fuels and financial

incentives, including subsidies and grants.

If it becomes necessary, a National Bio-fuel Fund could be considered. A National Bio-fuel Coordination Committee, headed by the Prime Minister, will be set up to provide

policy guidance and coordination.

A Bio-fuel Steering Committee, chaired by Cabinet Secretary, will be set up to overseeimplementation of the policy.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has been designated as the co-ordinating Ministry forbio-fuel development and utilisation while specific roles have been assigned to other ministries

concerned.

An Indo-U.S. MoU has been signed on bio-fuels with focus on joint R&D, particularly on secondgeneration bio-fuels such as, cellulosic ethanol and algal biodiesel.


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CHIKUNGUNYA

Chikungunya (in the Makonde language "that leans downward") virus (CHIKV) is an

insect-borne virus, of the genus Alphavirus, that is transmitted to humans by virus-

carrying Aedes mosquitoes. There have been recent breakouts of CHIKV associated

with severe illness. CHIKV causes an illness with symptoms similar to dengue fever.

CHIKV manifests itself with an acute febrile phase of the illness lasting only two to

five days, followed by a prolonged arthralgic disease that affects the joints of theextremities. The pain associated with CHIKV infection of the joints persists for

weeks or months, or in some cases years.

WHAT'S YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT?

Carbon footprint refers to the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide

into the atmosphere that we generate directly or indirectly,

Not just vehicle exhausts, almost everything we do or use leaves a carbon footprint

be it the paper we use, the computers we work on, the packaging of our groceries,

or the disposables such as cups, cartons, and plastic bags that are so much a part of

our life. Leave alone the carbon footprint left by the raw materials used in

manufacturing these goods, their manufacturing process consumes fossil-fuel

generated electricity, while the transportation process causes more emissions by way of vehicle exhausts and so

does even the tarred road if one were to take into account the emissions caused by the tar refining process.

A carbon footprint is made up of the sum of two parts, the primary footprint (shown by the green slices of the pie

chart) and the secondary footprint (shown as the yellow slices).

1. The primary footprint is a measure of our direct emissions of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels including

domestic energy consumption and transportation (e.g. car and plane). We have direct control of these.

2. The secondary footprint is a measure of the indirect CO2 emissions from the whole lifecycle of products we use -

those associated with their manufacture and eventual breakdown. To put A carbon footprint of up to one tonne

per person per year is sustainable globally, but the average city dweller far exceeds this,


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Carbon Trust, an independent carbon foot printing agency, measured the carbon footprint of a popular two-litre

packaged orange drink and found it to be equal to a carbon dioxide emission of 1.7 kg! This came from the

emissions during its processing, packaging and transportation. Using 1KWhr of electricity leaves a 10 kg carbon

footprint. While some energy-saving methods would entail initial investments, even these would pay off over one

to four years through energy savings.

For instance, invest in energy saving CFL bulbs or LED lamps. Replace your old fridge if it is over 15 years old with

an energy-efficient one. Use solar lamps and cookers if possible. And then, there are other things you can do, that

don't cost you a paisa. In fact, you stand to save money in the process. And the planet!

2000-2009: WARMEST DECADE ON RECORD

The past 10 years have been the warmest in recorded history, according to the UK Meteorological(Met) Office.

Figures released at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen show despite 1998 being the warmest yearon record, has been the warmest decade recorded in 160 years.

In a separate announcement, the World Meteorological Organisation in Geneva that 2009 will beone of the 10 warmest individual years recorded. The provisional figure for warming during the year

is 0.44C above the long-term average of 14C.

A third paper released today, from the German research group Germanwatch, showed thatBangladesh, Burma and Honduras were the three countries most affected in the past 20 years by

extremes of climate.

Also in the top ten were Vietnam, Nicaragua, Haiti, India, the Dominican Republic, the Philippinesand China.

Only four developed countries were in the top 20 of countries most prone to weather disaster: Italyat 12, Spain at 14, Portugal at 14 and the U.S. at 18.

The 2003 drought in southern Europe, which led to tens of thousands of deaths and huge insurancelosses, as well as a series of category 5 hurricanes in the U.S. are responsible for these rich countries

being placed so highly in the league table.


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FRANCE: CARBON TAX RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL

Nicolas Sarkozys dreams of putting France on the frontline of the fight againstglobal warming are in disarray, after his flagship carbon tax was ruled

unconstitutional two days before it was due to come into effect.

In an unexpected and embarrassing blow, the court responsible for ensuring thevalidity of French legislation rejected the reform as ineffective and unfair.

It ruled that rather than being the revolutionary measure Mr. Sarkozy promised, thetax would have let off many industrial polluters, while placing a disproportionately

heavy burden on ordinary households.

INDIA SET TO LEAD EFFORT FOR BINDING BIODIVERSITY TREATY

India is set to take the lead in pushing for a single legally binding treaty for access to andbenefit sharing of biological resources at the 10th Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD) to be held at Nagoya, Japan, in October.

The CBD was one of the key agreements adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio deJaneiro.

The convention, while reaffirming the sovereign rights of nations over their biologicalresources, established three main goals.

1. Conservation of biological diversity.


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2. sustainable use of its component and3. Fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from the use of generic

resources.

GREEN RATING MUST FOR GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS

In a landmark decision, the Union government has made it mandatory for all newbuildings of the public sector undertakings and the government to seek new green

rating norms in an effort to ensure energy efficiency and tackle climate change threats.

Under the GRIHA scheme, buildings would be rated by technical expertise from TERI,which is headed by R.K. Pachauri. The aim of a green building design was to minimise

the demand for non-renewable sources and maximise its utilisation.

GRIHAThe national rating system for green buildings in India, GRIHA has been developed and

operationalized by TERI. GRIHA is an acronym for Green Rating for Integrated HabitatAssessment. It was conceived by TERI and developed jointly with the Ministry of New

and Renewable Energy to the Indian Government. It is a green building design

evaluation system and is suitable for all kinds of buildings in different climatic zones of

the country.

TERI

The Energy and Resources Institute, commonly known as TERI (formerly Tata EnergyResearch Institute), established in 1974, is a research institute based in New Delhi

focusing its research activities in the fields of energy, environment and sustainabledevelopment.

TERI is an independent, not-for-profit, research institute focused on energy,environment and sustainable development, devoted to efficient and sustainable use of

natural resources.

The origins of TERI lie in Mithapur, a remote town in Gujarat, where a TATA engineer,Darbari Seth, was concerned about the enormous quantities of energy his factory spent

on desalination. He proposed the idea of a research institute to tackle the depletion of

natural resources and energy scarcity. J. R. D. Tata, chairman of the TATA Group, liked

the idea and accepted the proposal. TERI was setup with a modest corpus of 35 millionrupees. On the invitation of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, TERI registered in

Delhi in 1974 as the Tata Energy Research Institute. As the scope of its activities

widened over a period of time, it was renamed The Energy and Resources Institute in

2003.


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The Institute's Director General Rajendra K. Pachauri is also the chairman of the 2007Nobel Prize awarded Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. TERI's Executive

Director is Dr Leena Srivastava.

IPCC EXPRESSES REGRET OVER GLACIER MELTING CONCLUSION

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a scientific

intergovernmental body tasked with evaluating the risk of climate change caused by

human activity. The panel was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological

Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), two

organizations of the United Nations. The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with

former Vice President of the United States Al Gore.

A paragraph in the 2007 Working Group II report ("Impacts, Adaptation and

Vulnerability"), chapter 10 included a projection that Himalayan glaciers could disappear

by 2035.

Glaciers in the Himalaya are receding faster than in any other part of the world (see

Table 10.9) and, if the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing by

the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high if the Earth keeps warming at the current

rate. Its total area will likely shrink from the present 500,000 to 100,000 km2 by the year

2035 (WWF, 2005).

This projection was not included in the final summary for policymakers. The IPCC has

since acknowledged that the date is incorrect, while reaffirming that the conclusion in

the final summary was robust. They expressed regret for "the poor application of well-

established IPCC procedures in this instance".

MANSAGAR LAKE

Mansagar Lake is a manmade water body, situated between Amber and Jaipur, in JaipurDistrict.


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It was formed due to instituting a dam across river Darbhawati between Khilangarh hillsand the hilly ridge on the opposite hill.

Jal Mahal, an architectural monument, is situated in the midst of the lake. Surroundedby hills, it is the home for a variety of migratory and resident birds.


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CHANG LA PASS

The Changla Pass or Chang La Pass (el. 5,425 m (17,799 ft)) is a high mountain pass in India.The

Changla Pass is on the route to Pangong Lake from Leh. It is named after the nomadic tribes ofthe region Changpa. La in Changla indicates pass. A temple dedicated to Changla Baba has been

created by grateful travellers, invoking the spirit of the pass. The small town of Tangste is the

nearest settlement. The Changla Pass is the main gateway for the Changthang Plateau situated

in the Himalayas. The nomadic tribes of the region are collectively known as the Changpa or

Chang-pa. The Chang La is the third highest motorable vehikel pass in the world.

A REPOSITORY OF SEEDS ON CLIFF TOP OF HIMALAYAS

Nestled 17, 500m high on a clif

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