the hindu newspaper article collection on environmental issues

Chasing a mirage

However well-intentioned it might be, the Supreme Court direction to the Centre to constitute a special committee to pursue the outdated plan of linking India's rivers is based on a misplaced premise. Achieving huge inter-basin transfer of waters in the Himalayan and peninsular river systems is a complex goal for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the displacement of a large number of people.

Even if funds were not a constraint and the inter-linking idea were to be declared technically sound, the national record on resettlement of people displaced by mega dam projects does not inspire confidence. What is equally important is that the 2008 National Council on Applied Economic Research report on the “Economic Impact of Interlinking of Rivers Programme”, which seems to have guided some of the discussions, explicitly did not consider the plan's environmental aspects or cost-benefit calculus. Moving waters across river basins cannot be achieved without energy-intensive heavy lifts and destructive modification of ecologically important landscapes. Also, in the Himalaya plan component, there is the additional challenge of taking along neighbouring countries. It is no surprise then that the National Commission on Integrated Water Resources Development Plan, which went into the proposals a decade ago, favoured development of water resources within river basins over massive inter-basin transfers.

Negative externalities are a concomitant of any big river link project, and the proposals identified by NCAER involve 30 links. Sharing of river waters even under an agreed formula has not been easy, as the Cauvery issue has shown. What is more, the reaction of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala to the Supreme Court direction indicates that they remain unenthusiastic, because of concerns over proposals for the Polavaram and Pamba-Achankovil-Vaippar links. A decade ago, when water surpluses in the Mahanadi and Godavari were assessed by the NCIWRDP, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh disagreed. Given this trend, what reason is there to believe that States would be more willing to apportion waters now? As the Supreme Court has pointed out on various occasions, environmental impact assessment must be the cornerstone of any project. In this context, the Ministry of Environment and Forests found no cause to support the Ken-Betwa link and declined to clear it last year. The way forward to improve the prospects of water-deficit basins is to work on more efficient and less destructive options. These include devoting resources for rainwater harvesting programmes of scale, raising irrigation efficiency, curbing pollution and effecting local water transfers for agricultural and municipal use.

Published: February 17, 2012 00:03 IST | Updated: February 17, 2012 00:03 IST

Paper chase

In the era of the iPad and Kindle, good old-fashioned paper still holds its own. Each year, the world consumes more than 300 million tonnes of it, and consumption has grown by 400 per cent over the past 40 years. But there are issues to address in managing its use — and re-use. Wasteful use of paper by individuals and the corporate world is one concern, although the newspaper industry, for instance, has over the years managed to bring down the wastage rate. A more important issue relates to the optimal recycling of ‘post-consumer,' or used, paper. The Union government's Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has taken the right initiative — albeit rather belatedly — by floating a Discussion Paper on the collection and recycling of waste paper as a prelude to formulating a national policy. Such a policy could lay down guidelines and procedures and sensitise citizens and industry-consumers to improve segregation, collection and reuse to evolve a sustainable mechanism to achieve a significant level of recovery.

The use of recycled cellulosic fibre for paper-making has been picking up globally. In India, the share of this raw material has risen from 7 per cent in 1970 to 47 per cent in 2011. This has reduced dependence on wood from 84 per cent in 1970 to 31 per cent in 2011. Waste paper imports for this purpose cost India about a billion dollars in 2011; the figure was $5.1 million in 1980. This is because waste paper recovery here is only 27 per cent currently, as opposed to 73 per cent in Germany, for example. In India, the collection of waste paper and other paper products such as corrugated cartons is today an industry in itself, providing income and employment opportunities to a large workforce of semi-skilled and skilled people in the informal sector. But this operation requires a better business model to facilitate an integrated system of collection, source segregation and scientific handling, and a mandated mechanism. Projects launched by the Bangalore and Hyderabad Municipal Corporations to develop waste collection ventures are steps in the right direction. The stakeholders, especially those in the private sector, should support the government's initiative and help shape a policy that would help them, the environment, and the workforce involved by means of institutional mechanisms. Industry and chambers of commerce should evolve voluntary guidelines to contribute to an efficient system of waste paper collection. After all, removing as much paper as possible from the garbage cycle and channelling it through organised methods would not only significantly reduce the environmental load on the eco-system but also lower, even eliminate, the import bill.

Lessons from the Durban Conference

Sandeep Sengupta

If India wants ‘equity' back in the climate change debate, it must develop a grand strategy and a strong negotiating team to see it through.

You know your negotiating strategy is in trouble when countries ranging as far as Norway in the developed world to partners like South Africa and neighbours like Bangladesh start quoting Gandhi and Nehru back to you.

Two months ago, this was the unfortunate situation Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan had to face at the Durban conference on climate change. That she managed, through a passionate last-minute speech, to ensure that all was not lost for India goes to her credit. But the fact that India found itself outwitted and cornered at the endgame of these negotiations, with no option but to resort to an angry ministerial plea, is an indication of how far New Delhi has lost its way on the issue.

As the dust from the conference settles, and a new United Nations deadline approaches for countries to submit their formal views on the subject by the month end, it is time to reappraise India's performance at Durban, and see what lessons it can learn from it.

Three objectives

India had gone to Durban with three predominant objectives. First, to secure the continuance of the Kyoto Protocol, whose ‘first commitment period' is scheduled to end in 2012. Second, to ensure that its particular concerns on equity, intellectual property rights and unilateral trade measures, neglected in previous negotiating rounds, were substantively integrated in the future climate agenda. And third, to preserve the notion of ‘differentiation' between developed and developing countries, recognised through the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities' (CBDR) in both the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.

Notwithstanding the euphoric declarations of victory in some national newspapers that uncritically peddled the government line, the overall results of the conference do not make comfortable reading for India. On the plus side, one may point to the fact that industrialised countries have now agreed to a ‘second commitment period' of the Kyoto Protocol, which requires them to reduce their emissions in a legally binding manner, potentially up to 2020. This is something India was anxious to secure, not least given its high investment in, and exposure to, the Clean Development Mechanism of the Protocol. The progress made in operationalising the technology mechanism that India championed might perhaps also be counted as a success. But these apart, there is little else from Durban that it can cheer about.

The continuation of the Kyoto Protocol, important as it may be, offers little more than an ephemeral gain. With the United States refusing to ratify the treaty; Canada blatantly disregarding its previous ratification; and Japan, Australia and Russia equally disinclined towards it, it is only the European Union's commitment at Durban that has still kept the Protocol alive. But it is unlikely to survive in its current form beyond this extended phase. And, going by past record, its ability to enforce serious emission reductions in developed countries also remains equally dim.

What India gave up in return at Durban however holds far more serious consequences. The most important decision that Parties took at Durban was to terminate the ongoing negotiating process on ‘Long-term Cooperative Action' (LCA) that had been launched under the Bali Action Plan in 2007, by the end of 2012. Adopted following tough negotiations, this had notably maintained the ‘firewall' between developed and developing countries and also the ‘linking clause' that had made mitigation by the latter contingent on the level of technological and financial support that they received from the former.

Copenhagen & Cancun

The 2009 Copenhagen Accord and the 2010 Cancun Agreements were both negotiated under this mandate. Even though they diluted the Bali ‘firewall', they nevertheless reaffirmed the core UNFCCC norms, that nations would need to combat climate change on the basis of ‘equity' and in accordance with the CBDR principle, respecting the various provisions of the Convention.

The new decision at Durban that now replaces the LCA negotiating track with the ‘Durban Platform for Enhanced Action' remarkably fails to make even a passing reference to these foundational principles. Calling instead for the ‘widest possible cooperation by all countries,' a preferred formulation of the West, it launches a new process to develop a ‘protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force' by 2015, which is to be ‘applicable to all Parties', and enter into force from 2020.

Given the uncertainties of what this new mandate might ultimately produce, India did well to ‘loosen up' its legally-binding character by insisting on the inclusion of the third option. But the fact that a key decision was adopted for the first time in the entire 20-year history of international climate talks without even a cursory mention of ‘equity' and CBDR should give policymakers in New Delhi serious pause. What makes this omission even more striking is that it occurred, not through any oversight, but despite India's persistent and voluble invocation of these norms throughout the two-week long conference, and the months preceding it.

Absence of bedrock principles

Some have argued that since the new process is set to operate ‘under the Convention', all its principles and provisions will automatically apply, and hence do not need repetition. While this may hold some force, the absence of these bedrock principles from the Durban Platform text should be seen clearly for what it is: a successful attempt by the developed world to detach the future climate negotiations from their existing normative moorings, and to revise the very basis on which their legal obligations, and the legitimacy of the positions and arguments of countries like India, have so far been based.

India also failed in its bid to gain substantive recognition for the issues of intellectual property rights and unilateral trade measures. Even on ‘equity', the issue closest to its heart, all that it managed to secure in the end is a ‘workshop' on ‘equitable access to sustainable development', itself an ambiguous formulation, under a mandate that is now scheduled to expire. To what extent ‘equity' will find any formal operational recognition beyond 2012 remains an open question.

The outcome of the Durban conference — and India's failure to attain most of its stated objectives — should now raise serious questions about the wisdom of its negotiating strategy, and especially its alliance management. It should also raise questions about the capacity that it has brought to bear in these negotiations to date. At Durban, India fielded a delegation of 34 members, as opposed to 96 from the U.S., 101 from the EU, 228 from Brazil, 167 from China, and even 102 from Bangladesh. And insiders well know what the teeth-to-tail ratio even within this small group is.

Complexity of climate negotiations

However capable our top negotiators are, the sheer weight and complexity of climate negotiations today will inevitably lead to more slippages in the future unless this capacity constraint is urgently, and meaningfully, addressed. This overstretch is partly also the reason why key decision makers are left with little time to think more deeply and open-mindedly about the newer challenges that are confronting India today, and to develop effective and imaginative responses to them.

In recent years, India's climate foreign policy has undergone considerable oscillation, in not always explicable ways. While climate change is a complex issue, and genuine differences of opinion can exist among our politicians and bureaucrats on how best to approach it, it is far too important and strategic a concern for the country in the long run to be weakened by either individual caprice or collective groupthink.

If the interests of 1.2 billion Indians are to be adequately safeguarded in the coming decade and beyond, it is imperative that India develops both a coherent grand strategy to address climate change that enjoys broad cross-party parliamentary support, and a strong negotiating team to see it through.

Get your act together

In a few months' time, in June 2012, the international community will reconvene in Brazil to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the historic Rio Earth Summit. The developed world will then no doubt try to use the precedent set at Durban to press for a more general erasure of the principle of ‘differentiation' within international environmental law itself. If this is an outcome that India wishes to avoid, it needs to rapidly get its act together on this issue. Durban is a wake-up call that it must not ignore.

(Sandeep Sengupta is a doctoral candidate in International Relations at Oxford University and has worked professionally on global environmental issues.)

Published: February 4, 2012 00:56 IST | Updated: February 4, 2012 00:58 IST

Let water, not profits, flow

As a finite, life-giving resource, access to water must remain a fundamental right. The state, as custodian under the public trust doctrine, should uphold the right of the citizen to clean, safe drinking water. It is such a strong, rights-based approach that should underpin official policy on water in India. Many areas in the country are water-stressed, and there are simmering inter-State disputes on sharing river waters. The National Water Policy 2012, now published in draft for public comments, should ultimately take a holistic view of the issue. The draft text makes some references to the importance of water for people and Nature, but is disproportionately focussed on treating water as an economic good. Such an approach predicated on realising the costs that go into the supply of water can only distort access and prices in the long run, affecting less affluent citizens. To suggest, for instance, that the state should exit the service-provider role and become a regulator is only a step away from abandoning the equity objective. Private sector water services have clearly failed in many countries, including those in the global North, and local governments have taken over again. In the current year, for-profit private water companies in England are raising tariffs, while the publicly-owned service in Scotland is not. Just over a decade ago, water wars in Bolivia reversed privatisation moves. Evidently, private partnership imposes the burden of extra costs.

Few will argue that there is no case for reforms in the way water is managed as a resource in India. In urban and semi-urban areas, the lack of adequate public investments has weakened municipal systems. This has led to commodification and unsustainable extraction from aquifers for rising rates of profit. In this context, the proposal to separate groundwater rights from land title by amending the Indian Easements Act, 1882 merits serious consideration. Coming up with an alternative framework acceptable to all stakeholders, however, is a big challenge. Moreover, an assessment of the national water balance at the basin level is essential for amending the law. This the Centre should pursue, as the Planning Commission has suggested, during the 12 Plan. Such data can persuade the States to support comprehensive legislation to address inter-State riparian issues. Again, if there is any one factor that renders much of India's water unusable, it is industrial pollution. This issue calls for urgent action, and the policy can cover major ground if it lays greater emphasis on making the ‘polluter pays' principle work. A clean-up can make a lot more of India's water bodies and groundwater available for use by people.

Published: January 14, 2012 00:01 IST | Updated: January 14, 2012 00:03 IST

Saving people, and tigers

The distressing incident of a tiger killing a farmer and devouring part of the cadaver in Maharashtra's Yavatmal district highlights the need for scientific efforts to reduce conflicts between people and wild animals. Encounters between tigers and humans are likely to occur in less than one per cent of the country's geographical area today. Tiger numbers have dwindled because they were hunted down either as dangerous vermin that stood in the way of expansion of agriculture or as prized trophies. In spite of legal protection, poaching remains a threat. Also, habitat capable of supporting the large cats has shrunk and become increasingly fragmented. Yet some communities living close to forests face conflicts. It is important to understand that man-eating is not a widespread phenomenon, and the species generally avoids human encounters. Some tigers do get involved in opportunistic attacks and may begin stalking humans as normal prey. Man-eating is more common in the Sunderbans, where such attacks are often by more than one tiger. The answer to this human-tiger conflict lies in good conservation science and in mitigation measures that help people co-exist with the carnivores at the landscape level.

To many scientists, the most effective interventions to achieve a reduction in attacks by tigers are those designed to eliminate human pressures on the habitat. Relocation of people from tiger territory with handsome compensatory packages is a superior alternative to crisis management techniques that invariably follow attacks. Problems in voluntary relocation such as lack of alternative land, corruption, and cultural factors do persist, but suitable incentives can persuade more forest residents to move out. It may still be necessary to use lethal methods to remove some problem tigers in order to avoid widespread retaliatory actions by villagers. Protective fencing of habitations is sometimes advocated, but as studies by independent and Project Tiger researchers show, encounters take place mostly in free-ranging situations, particularly in forests where villagers graze livestock. All this makes it clear that it is vital to maintain a strong prey base within the habitat. This can ensure that wild tigers do not seek out cattle. Connectivity between forest fragments free of habitations also needs to be ensured. India now has far fewer tigers than leopards. Unlike the spotted cats, they do not adapt themselves well to the presence of humans nearby. Both species are involved in conflicts, but tigers are less resilient. Creating wider undisturbed habitat will benefit both.

Published: January 10, 2012 00:24 IST | Updated: January 10, 2012 00:25 IST

Building sustainable habitats

At a time when efforts should focus on enforcing existing codes to improve sustainability of habitats, the Union Ministry of Urban Development has decided to bring in new rules to address concerns related to climate change. It has taken the first step towards putting in place legally enforceable habitat standards to promote green urban development. Regulations and control measures are effective policy instruments, but new ones will matter little if nothing has been achieved with what already exists. The Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC), which could help reduce energy consumption by about 1.7 billion units of electricity a year, came into being four years ago. It remains voluntary, and is applicable only to large commercial buildings. Barring Orissa, no State has so far adopted it. Policymakers who argue that India has modelled itself on countries such as United Kingdom, which have kept the codes for sustainable buildings voluntary, are conveniently overlooking other innovations adopted by them to push their efforts forward. For instance, in the U.K., where about 42 per cent of all carbon emissions come from buildings, owners must produce Energy Performance Certificates of their properties put up for sale or rent. This helps buyers or tenants to choose efficient properties, which in turn ensures that the building design and construction are environmentally responsible.

In the absence of clear-cut emission targets in India, the goal posts for the proposed sustainable habitat standards remain unclear. This also raises the question of how to formulate regulation standards effectively. Metropolitan regions like Hamburg, the 2011 green capital of Europe with a population of 4.3 million, have shown that setting emission targets helps devise effective regulations and propel innovative urban schemes. Hamburg set an unambiguous goal to reduce CO2 emission by 40 per cent by 2020 from its 1990 base level and by 80 per cent by 2050. To achieve this, it adopted a mandatory energy-saving ordinance binding on its buildings, designed a public transport network that provided most citizens access within 300 metres of their place of stay, and created a 1,700 km bicycle lane network. The results are striking. The CO2 emissions are already down by 15 per cent. While comprehensive regulations and benchmarks are necessary, influencing major policy shifts to create sustainable habitats should be the priority. The thrust must be on making easy-to-implement codes at the local body level, and improve the supply of sustainable building technologies and materials.

Published: January 3, 2012 00:15 IST | Updated: January 3, 2012 02:53 IST

Protecting the Western Ghats

The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel reporting to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has made several salutary recommendations for the long-term conservation of this global biodiversity hotspot. Renowned for their flora and fauna, along with the Eastern Himalayas, these mountains and valleys hugging the Arabian Sea coast for a length of 1,500 km need an overarching protection regime that cares as much for the tribal people they have sheltered as for their biological diversity. The experts studied scientific reports and Supreme Court judgments, consulted the State governments involved, and listened to village panchayats. A central message that emerges is that the entire ghat region meets the criteria for declaration as an ecologically sensitive area. Within this broad framework, the report makes the point that there are Ecologically Sensitive Zones of three levels of significance, which can be demarcated at the taluk or block level. The MoEF, which is empowered under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 to declare any region as deserving of special protection, should consider this seriously. Such protection is essential to rule out incompatible activities such as mining, constructing large dams, and setting up polluting industries.

If there is one single reason to protect the whole of the Western Ghats, it is the phenomenon of endemism. According to reliable estimates, they have more than 1,500 endemic species of flowering plants, and at least 500 such species of fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. New species continue to be reported. It is striking that the ghats represent an extraordinary sliver of diverse life in a populous country and have in fact survived with community support. The MoEF would therefore do well to heed the advice of the expert group and unhesitatingly reject environmental clearance for two controversial dam projects — Athirapilly in Kerala and Gundia in Karnataka. The locations of both come under the most sensitive ecological zone category. In this context, it is relevant that a decade ago the Kerala High Court directed the State Electricity Board to repair and restore all existing dams to maximise power output. Doing so can eliminate the need for a destructive new structure at Athirapilly. A second issue relates to mining in Goa. Here the panel has rightly called for an indefinite moratorium on clearances for new mines in sensitive zones and phasing out of the activity in fragile areas by 2016. The guidelines proposed are sound overall. Translating them into action through a statutory apex body such as a Western Ghats Ecological Authority holds the key.

Published: December 5, 2011 00:12 IST | Updated: December 5, 2011 00:12 IST

Evergreen hornbills

Hornbills are beautiful birds familiar to many as farmers of the forest that ensure the dispersal of fruit seeds. Nine species of these large birds are found in India, mainly in the Northeast and the Western ghats; Narcondam island in the Andamans hosts the critically endangered Narcondam hornbill. The great hornbill, a magnificent bird reaching a length of three-and-a-half feet, is distinguished by a big yellow beak with a casque and striking tail feathers. Sadly, accelerating habitat loss threatens its future, and hunting has depleted populations. It is protected at the highest level under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, but that can do little to save the habitat. In the Western ghats, the proposed hydroelectric project at Athirapilly across the Chalakudy river will destroy precious landscape sheltering the species, and three others — the Malabar pied, the Malabar grey, and Indian grey hornbills. This area is part of the Athirapilly-Vazhachal-Chalakudy riverine region, a biodiversity hotspot. There is some hope that continuing scientific studies on hornbills in the Western ghats will save the birds; they have highlighted the role of undisturbed forests, as opposed to degraded ones, in sustaining healthy populations. It is heartening that the Kerala Forest department, in partnership with researchers and Kadar tribal people, is carrying out a large-scale exercise of monitoring nesting-holes over an extensive area of hornbill habitat.

Scientific studies done in Arunachal Pradesh establish that the great hornbill thrives in unlogged forest, in comparison with selectively logged forest and plantations. A similar pattern emerged in a study covering the Agasthyamalai and the Anamalais in Tamil Nadu. Clearly, the abundance of hornbill species depends heavily on the availability of suitable fruit and nesting trees. But more important is the evidence that the great hornbill is particularly vulnerable to habitat alteration. What this highlights is the need to preserve the fragile remnants of the Western ghats, and carefully nurture food-providing trees in fragmented forests. The community-based conservation model involving the Kadar being implemented in Kerala can add vital data to existing knowledge on nesting activity. An experiment to place artificial nest cavities in large evergreen trees in the Anamalais a few years ago did attract great hornbills — but disappointingly, no nesting activity took place at the end of two seasons. Hornbill conservation must proceed along the twin paths of weaning away tribal hunters — some of whom use the beaks as decorative crests — through the provision of substitutes, and nursing forest fragments back to health using science.

Published: November 30, 2011 00:09 IST | Updated: November 30, 2011 00:09 IST

Protecting the Himalayas

The ministerial declaration issued by India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Bangladesh addressing food, water, energy, and biodiversity concerns in the Himalayan region is a welcome initiative to protect this biodiversity-rich mountain range. The vast area faces a variety of problems that directly affect the local communities, and threaten ecosystem services provided to millions of people in neighbouring countries. Some of the serious issues that need urgent attention are accelerated forest loss, soil erosion, resource degradation, and loss of habitat and biodiversity. Climate change is a major source of worry, and needs intensive study because of its potential for severe ecological damage. It is a step forward therefore that four countries in the subcontinent convened the Climate Summit for a Living Himalayas in Bhutan and evolved a consensus-based mitigation effort primarily for the eastern part. The task before the signatories is to build institutions that will pursue research and share knowledge, beginning with a centre for the study of climate change. Sustained effort is necessary to achieve the key goals: access to reliable and affordable energy; food and water security; demarcation of connected conservation spaces; and sustainable use of biodiversity for poverty alleviation.

The Himalayan region includes many climatic systems: tropical, sub-tropical, temperate, and alpine. Thanks to sheer inaccessibility, this remote and difficult landscape has mostly escaped the ill-effects of the industrial farming system, such as pesticide and insecticide use and the introduction of hybrid or transgenic crops. Himalayan biodiversity provides a resource base for an estimated 80 million people, mostly subsistence farmers and pastoral communities. The challenge is to provide strong support systems to help them adapt to climate change. And yet data that can aid conservation of biodiversity are far from comprehensive. India, for instance, acknowledged at the summit that an inventory of the Eastern Himalayas, the target region for protection, at the level of genes, species, ecosystem, and landscape is yet to be completed. This task can brook no delay. The Himalayas form part of global natural heritage, and the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change must provide substantial funding for research, capacity-building, and preservation. It is also important to harness traditional knowledge and get local communities to participate in conservation programmes. A good example of this is the protection plan for snow leopards in India's Spiti valley. The Himalaya protection programme can achieve even more, if Pakistan, China, and Afghanistan join the initiative.

Published: November 1, 2011 00:12 IST | Updated: November 1, 2011 03:57 IST

Seven billion and counting

Is the population bomb ticking again? The world has crossed the milestone of seven billion people, and there is renewed debate on the impact of a growing number of humans on the planet's finite resources. Neo-Malthusian arguments, centred mostly on environmental concerns, are pitted against the optimistic view that economic development will safely stabilise birth rates. The population question is complex and there is no panacea for the travails of hundreds of millions of deprived citizens who need food, shelter, safe water, and energy. It is distressing that more than 800 million people live in slums and a similar number, mostly women, are not literate. In the popular imagination, growing populations can only have a negative outcome, depleting scarce resources faster — more so in an era of economic uncertainty. The dilemma therefore is whether to enlarge the pie or reduce the number of hands competing for a share. Empirical evidence supports the humane answer, which is simply to have more development. Crucially, this demands sharing the fruits of economic growth with the less privileged through access to education, health care, and welfare, besides re-distribution of wealth. Particularly significant is the role played by education and empowerment of women.

Developing countries with higher population growth rates are often viewed as the source of an emerging environmental crisis. That perspective is narrow and flawed, given the patterns of resource consumption. As India's Nobel laureate Amartya Sen observed in a 1994 essay titled “Population: Delusion and Reality” (New York Review of Books), “one additional American typically has a larger negative impact on the ozone layer, global warmth, and other elements of the earth's environment than dozens of Indians and Zimbabweans put together.” That was true even before the world had six billion people, and the pattern remains unchanged, although a small minority of profligate emerging economy consumers now have a comparable ecological footprint. What reinforces fears of overpopulation the most is the visibly desperate living condition of large numbers of the poor. It is this that governments must address on top priority. They also need to prepare for a difficult future in which greater life expectancy coupled with falling birth rates would produce an ‘inverted pyramid' — an enlarging geriatric population and shrinking numbers of young men and women. Equally important is preserving the natural environment, which has thus far enabled increasing levels of food production. Only a rising quality of life can lead to voluntary stabilisation of the world's population, which is projected by the United Nations to touch 9.3 billion by 2050.

OPINION » EDITORIAL

October 15, 2011

A Megha bonanza

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The Indo-French atmospheric research satellite, Megha-Tropiques, is now safely ensconced in orbit, a fact that will gladden the hearts of many scientists around the world. This is just the second satellite that will gaze down on the formation of clouds and powerful storms in the tropical regions of the world. The ageing U.S.-Japanese Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), launched in 1997 and still operational, has provided a bonanza of information. There are high expectations from Megha-Tropiques, which will concentrate even more on the tropics and provide greater coverage of the region. This satellite will measure the flow of energy and the build-up of water vapour at different levels in the atmosphere, both critical factors in the evolution of large cloud systems. By deciphering the complex linkages between land, ocean, and atmosphere, it will be possible to greatly improve weather and climate models, making for better monsoon prediction. It should also provide vital clues for determining whether a warming climate could lead to more rain or less. And the benefits will not be restricted to India. That the 21 science teams formed for the mission have drawn scientists from 11 countries is a testament to its global importance. After a three-month period during which the instruments on the satellite will be calibrated and another six months when data will go only to the international science teams, data from the satellite will be freely accessible to all. A number of groups from various countries, including India, have plans to feed the data in real-time into their simulation models for weather prediction. In the meantime, another Indo-French satellite, SARAL, which will study the oceans, is being prepared for launch next year.

Along with the Megha-Tropiques, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) also carried three tiny satellites as co-passengers, two of them designed and developed by the faculty and students of Indian academic institutions. The three-kilogramme Jugnu nanosatellite came from IIT Kanpur and the 11-kilogramme SRMSat from the SRM University near Chennai. The PSLV had launched the 40-kilogramme ANUSAT from Anna University in 2009, and last year it put up the STUDSAT, weighing less than one kilogramme, built by a consortium of seven engineering colleges in Bangalore and Hyderabad. This sort of effort must be encouraged. For one thing, novel technologies can be tested quite cheaply. More importantly, putting together any satellite, however small, that will survive the rigours of launch and then work in the hostile environment of space is a tremendous challenge. It is unquestionably an excellent way to train the technology leaders of tomorrow that India needs.

Published: October 15, 2011 01:41 IST | Updated: October 15, 2011 01:41 IST

Clean up the air

City-dwelling Indians are at higher risk for respiratory illnesses, heart disease, and lung cancer — because the concentration of fine particulate matter in the air is way above the guidelines of the World Health Organisation. The recently released WHO data related to Particulate Matter measuring 10 micrometres or less (PM10) for 33 Indian cities are staggeringly high. These particles enter the bloodstream through the lungs, with grave consequences for health; urban outdoor air pollution is thought to cause 1.3 million deaths a year worldwide. The cities with the worst air quality are Ludhiana, Kanpur, Delhi, Lucknow, Indore, and Agra, in that order. Significantly, the WHO pollution atlas has a lot in common with the map prepared by the Central Pollution Control Board for cities that do not meet ambient air quality standards. This is an issue of serious concern because PM10 levels in ambient air in 27 Indian cities range from 80 micrograms per cubic metre in Ahmedabad to 251 in Ludhiana, against the WHO guideline norm of 20. Sadly, the average citizen can do little to mitigate the pollution. Achieving good air quality requires intervention at the policy level in key areas — vehicular emissions, polluting small-scale manufacturing, and burning of biomass and coal.

The abysmal air quality in Indian cities calls for determined, speedy action. Thus far the response to the problem has been directed towards improving the quality of automotive fuels, mandating higher emission standards for automobiles, using CNG for commercial vehicles in Delhi and LPG in some other places, organising surprise checks on polluting industries, and so on. That these have not made a significant difference to air quality is clear proof of their inadequacy. Delhi experienced a perceptible improvement in air quality thanks to CNG, but it has begun to slide in the last few years. The WHO figures indicate that Amritsar and Kochi have lower PM10 levels than other cities, but even these are almost double the guideline figure. The answer lies in providing alternatives to fossil-fuel driven vehicles, taxing inefficient use of cars, and encouraging non-motorised transport such as cycling. No time should be lost in expanding and liberally subsidising public transport. Unfortunately, India is motorising at a rate much faster than the United States or countries in Europe did in the 20th century. The result is massive urban vehicular congestion. The imperatives of economic growth do demand better and faster mobility but this has to be achieved in smart ways that do not subject entire populations to terrible health risks.

Published: October 7, 2011 23:49 IST | Updated: October 7, 2011 23:49 IST

Cities and climate change

Rapid urbanisation has enabled cities to become engines of economic growth and helped reduce urban poverty levels. But the same process has made them highly vulnerable to the severe effects of climate change. Although cities use only two per cent of the land mass, they are responsible for 75 per cent of human-induced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions released into the atmosphere, making them the biggest contributors to global warming. To bring world attention to this disquieting fact, UN Habitat has chosen the theme of Cities and Climate Change for this year's World Habitat Day. The larger objective is to drive home the point that unless growth is intelligently planned for and energy use patterns are rethought radically, cities run a big environmental risk, which would make them susceptible to climate-change-induced disasters such as sea level increase and frequent flooding. Urban sprawl, combined with unsustainable transportation planning and energy guzzling building practices, has been the main source for the GHG emission. Urban waste now accounts for only 3 per cent of total emissions, but given the accelerated expansion of urban populations, increasing waste volumes could become a big concern in the conceivable future.

How have the Indian policymakers measured up to these challenges? A mission on sustainable habitat has been constituted as part of the National Action Plan on Climate Change. Instead of seriously promoting a green growth model and pushing for radical reforms in urban planning, the mission has been pursuing an ineffective incremental approach. It has not influenced any major policy shifts at the State or city level. Despite the rapid increase in commercial building construction, the new Energy Conservation Building Code, framed four years ago, is yet to be made mandatory, nor have the States integrated it into their building regulations. Given the present trends, electricity-related emissions are likely to increase by 390 per cent in four decades (UNEP, 2010) and could cost the cities dear. It is now established that every one per cent increase in the density of urban areas would reduce the carbon monoxide level by 0.7 per cent. Specific environmental targets have not been built into the urban planning process. A high-density, poly-nodal, public-transport oriented urban pattern that would reduce travel distances and encourage non-motorised travel has not found favour with India's city planners. It is vital that urban and climate change policies synergise at the local body level and a sustainable growth pattern is adopted on priority. Simultaneously, the resilience of cities, particularly of their poor areas, has to be vastly improved so that they can better manage the impact of climate change.

Published: September 27, 2011 23:51 IST | Updated: September 27, 2011 23:50 IST

Valuing biodiversity

Countries endowed with genetic resources contained in rich flora and fauna will welcome the addition of 19 party-signatories to the Nagoya Protocol, which forms part of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. India has been a votary of the accord, which aims at promoting fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources, and informed, agreed terms of access to such wealth. The protocol also applies to traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources and the benefits flowing from their use. What is important is that the 61 countries that have signed on so far, and others that may follow, must ratify the text of the Convention, for it to enter into force. Once operationalised, it will provide a framework for the drafting of domestic laws in member states. Such legislation is necessary to ensure the transfer of benefits to communities that have nurtured natural resources. India has launched a domestic process under the Biological Diversity Act to document, regulate, and manage its genetic resources. But it has a long way to go in creating comprehensive documentation and involving local communities as stakeholders.

The Nagoya Protocol assumes importance in a globalised era of intensive exploitation of natural resources for commerce. Several requests are made to governments for the transfer of genetic resources abroad for research. Often these efforts are sponsored by corporates, particularly in the area of plant genetics for agriculture. It is vital that India strengthens its regime of access and benefit-sharing in such a scenario, a goal that can be aided by the Nagoya Protocol. What must be emphasised here is the importance of protecting the rights of farmers and traditional communities to extant natural resources, avoidance of restrictive patent regimes in agriculture, and the equitable sharing of proceeds of beneficial research. The danger of allowing one-sided commercial exploitation of genetic resources, such as pathogens for vaccine production, was underscored last year by Union Minister Jairam Ramesh who was holding the Environment portfolio at the time. This would merely aid for-profit activities at the cost of the host nation. India, which is scheduled to host the UN Biodiversity summit in 2012, must persuade all industrialised nations, which have a major stake in the plant and other genetic resources of the world, to ratify the Nagoya Protocol and make it a meaningful international instrument. Here is an unprecedented opportunity for all countries to begin to assign value to their natural capital, and work for the protection of mountains, forests, wetlands, birds, animals, and even lesser forms of life.

Published: September 3, 2011 00:42 IST | Updated: January 10, 2012 13:14 IST

The hidden river

The world's largest underground ‘ocean' — a water-body about the size of the Arctic Ocean and located 700 to 1,400 km below the ground and extending from Indonesia to the northern tip of Russia — has found its match. Scientists have discovered in Brazil the longest underground river — running for a length of 6,000 km at a depth of nearly 4 km. It flows all the way from the Andean foothills to the Atlantic coast in a nearly west-to-east direction like the mighty Amazon River. The discovery was made public at a recent meeting of the Brazilian Geophysical Society in Rio de Janeiro. The river ‘Hamza,' named after the discoverer, an Indian-born scientist Valiya Mannathal Hamza who is working with the National Observatory at Rio, makes it the first and geologically unusual instance of a twin-river system flowing at different levels of the earth's crust in Brazil. If the slowing down of certain seismic waves caused by the damp spot helped uncover the underground ocean, the unusual temperature variation with depth measured in 241 inactive oil wells helped locate the subterranean river. Except for the flow direction, the Amazon and the Hamza have very different characteristics. The most obvious ones are their width and flow speed. While the former is 1 km to 100 km wide, the latter is 200 km to 400 km in width. But the flow speed is five metres per second in the Amazon and less than a millimetre per second speed in the Hamza.

Several geological factors have played a vital role in the formation and existence of these subterranean water bodies. The underground ocean, discovered in 2007, has been formed when the plate carrying the Pacific Ocean bottom gets dragged and ends up under the continental plate. Water at such depths would normally escape upwards but the unusual conditions that exist along the eastern Pacific Rim allow the moisture to remain intact. In the case of the Hamza, the porous and permeable sedimentary rocks behave as conduits for the water to sink to greater depths. East-west trending faults and the karst topography present along the northern border of the Amazon basin may have some role in supplying water to the river. If the impermeable rocks stop the vertical flow, the west to east gradient of the topography directs it to flow towards the Atlantic Ocean. Unlike the Hamza, the 153 km-long underground river in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula and the 8.2 km-long Cabayugan River in the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park in the Philippines have come into being thanks to the karst topography. Water in these places drills its way downward by dissolving the carbonate rock to form an extensive underground river system.

Published: August 25, 2011 23:43 IST | Updated: August 25, 2011 23:46 IST

A massive tree

Cataloguing the diversity of life on earth remains one of the incomplete goals of science. Taxonomists have tried to come up with a credible number for the species that have been identified as unique — and succeeded in entering some 1.2 million in a centralised database. The problem with this number is that it is a fraction of the whole; the majority of species both on land and in the oceans has not been catalogued. It is in this context that a new species count put out by a group of scientists becomes noteworthy. Camilo Mora and colleagues propose in an open access paper titled “How Many Species Are There on Earth and in the Ocean?” (published in the journal PLoS Biology) that the number of those with complex cell structures could be 8.7 million, plus-or-minus 1.3 million. Of them, the marine species could be about 2.2 million. This estimate is a projection based on consistent and predictable patterns in the system of classifying animals and plants. The real significance lies not in the absolute number — there could be many more species, other scientists think — but in the scale of effort needed to identify and save them in a human-dominated future. Given the magnitude of the task, taxonomy as a discipline should be drawing many more researchers. It also needs massive infusions of funding.

Underpinning the estimate arrived at by Dr. Mora and his group is the thesis that there has been a definite pattern to the discovery of new classes of animals from the year 1750. Reasonable predictions were possible in the past based on the classification pyramid that scientists could build. Now, based on that model, it is suggested there may be 7.7 million species of animals, 298,000 plants, and 611,000 fungi, among others. It will take an accelerated global campaign to validate these figures. It is worth pointing out that only about 15,000 new discoveries are added to the tally annually. At the same time, the mounting resource demands of 6.9 billion humans are altering habitats at such a rapid pace that the resulting extinction rates greatly exceed the natural rates of loss. In many parts of the world, there is a fading echo of biodiversity. This demands a stronger response from governments to document life. Funding to establish more taxonomy centres in universities, for DNA analysis and for scientific expeditions, is crucial. Where funding and expertise are available, the results are impressive. Many amphibians given up as lost in India have been rediscovered and catalogued in recent years, particularly in the Western Ghats. Saving what remains of species diversity is vital, and greater understanding of what exists will help make that possible.

Published: August 11, 2011 23:11 IST | Updated: August 11, 2011 23:11 IST

Tarred again

Mumbai must feel a sense of deja vu as the tar balls hit its beaches again. A year ago in August, the coastline and its fragile mangrove-rich ecology were affected by an oil spill resulting from a ship collision. Not much seems to have changed, as the city weakly tackles a fresh pollution crisis created by oil that is apparently leaking from the sunken ship m.v. Rak. What emerges from the handling of the incident is the lack of progress in providing an emergency response. Union Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan has prioritised containment of the spill, which is the logical thing to do — but what is as important is to follow this up with the Ministry of Defence and State governments and frame a more effective protocol to handle such events. The designated agency under the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOS-DCP) is the Coast Guard. The CG has been incrementally augmenting its capacity and hardware to handle marine spill contingencies. Unfortunately, this approach is not up to the challenge at a time when regional shipping, including oil tanker traffic, is rising sharply. Moreover, there is the problem of asymmetrical capacities of the Coast Guard and the ports, State Pollution Control Boards and oil industries. In a spill, each of these agencies has distinct responsibilities and a defined area of operation, but not all possess the infrastructure or training to respond.

Under the international contingency planning system, the response to spills is tiered and requires a minimum capability to handle an incident involving less than 700 tonnes of oil. Higher tier standards prescribe capabilities for 10,000 tonnes and more. This is the metric India's ports need to meet quickly. Given the long coastline to be covered, the central government has its task cut out. The priority should be to ensure that all national ports are capable of responding to a crisis with the necessary infrastructure and manpower. State Pollution Boards, which remain poorly staffed and under-funded, must be strengthened and made accountable for their most important function during an oil spill — minimising the impact in inter-tidal zones, beaches, and up to a depth that the CG cannot enter. There is also the question of realising the cost of a clean-up, and the losses suffered. The central government needs to sign up to sound protocols on compensation and civil liability. The Convention on Hazardous and Noxious Substances drafted one last year; when this enters into force, it will enable the payment of major compensation based on the gross tonnage of the ship. India needs to do much better in protecting itself from environmental and economic losses arising from oil spills.

Published: July 31, 2011 22:22 IST | Updated: July 31, 2011 22:22 IST

Noise by numbers

The ambient noise data coming from real-time monitoring systems in India's cities indicate that people are at risk of suffering harmful health consequences. Chronic noise in urban centres has been dangerously increasing mainly because of motorisation. In March, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests took a significant step forward to quantify the problem by setting up real-time monitoring centres in seven cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad. These sites are now putting out data round the clock and what they reveal is worrying. The ambient noise in residential and commercial areas is far in excess not just of a healthy level, but the standards set by law as well. This is unacceptable. There is robust medical evidence linking exposure to chronic noise of a certain level with harm. The effects include loss of hearing sensitivity in specific frequencies and non-auditory effects like hypertension, heart rate disorders, and psychological stress. It is time the Centre and the States took this public health challenge seriously. The remedies are there in the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, which were amended last year to incorporate rising pollution concerns. New sources identified for control included automotive horns, firecrackers, and musical instruments; public places were defined for enforcement purposes.

The major problem so far in enforcing the law on noise has been the absence of reliable data. A dramatic scaling up of the real-time monitoring system, which is a limited project now with a footprint of only 35 locations in seven cities, can reveal the magnitude of the challenge. It is welcome that the number of locations will be doubled in the existing cities and similar facilities extended to 18 others by 2012. But the data generated by the sensors should be in the public domain on the Internet, if the system is to serve any meaningful purpose. Restricting access to those in authority would obviously defeat the objective. According to the rules, any person can make a complaint to the Designated Authority, such as the police, if the ambient noise exceeds the prescribed standard by 10 dB(A) or more. Yet, without the means to measure the noise level, citizen won't be able to make a complaint and the authority won't be able to intervene. In parallel, the government must launch a campaign to highlight the rules and the ill-effects. India's metros are adding hundreds of new vehicles each day to overcrowded roads. In the absence of a driving culture and legal literacy, drivers are trying to honk their way ahead. This harmful cacophony must stop.

Published: June 24, 2011 00:01 IST | Updated: June 24, 2011 00:03 IST

Renewing e-waste

The e-waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011, notified by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, have the potential to turn a growing problem into a development opportunity. With almost a year to go before the rules take effect, there is enough time to create the necessary infrastructure for collection, dismantling, and recycling of electronic waste. The focus must be on sincere and efficient implementation. Only decisive action can eliminate the scandalous pollution and health costs associated with India's hazardous waste recycling industry. If India can achieve a transformation, it will be creating a whole new employment sector that provides good wages and working conditions for tens of thousands. The legacy response of the States to even the basic law on urban waste, the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, has been one of indifference; many cities continue to simply burn the garbage or dump it in lakes. With the emphasis now on segregation of waste at source and recovery of materials, it should be feasible to implement both sets of rules efficiently. A welcome feature of the new e-waste rules is the emphasis on extended producer responsibility. In other words, producers must take responsibility for the disposal of end-of-life products. For this provision to work, they must ensure that consumers who sell scrap get some form of financial incentive.

The e-waste rules, which derive from those pertaining to hazardous waste, are scheduled to come into force on May 1, 2012. Sound as they are, the task of scientifically disposing of a few hundred thousand tonnes of trash electronics annually depends heavily on a system of oversight by State Pollution Control Boards. Unfortunately, most PCBs remain unaccountable and often lack the resources for active enforcement. It must be pointed out that, although agencies handling e-waste must obtain environmental clearances and be authorised and registered by the PCBs even under the Hazardous Wastes (Management, Handling and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2008, there has been little practical impact. Over 95 per cent of electronic waste is collected and recycled by the informal sector. The way forward is for the PCBs to be made accountable for enforcement of the e-waste rules, and the levy of penalties under environmental laws. Clearly, the first order priority is to create a system that will absorb the 80,000-strong workforce in the informal sector into the proposed scheme for scientific recycling. Facilities must be created to upgrade the skills of these workers through training and their occupational health must be ensured.

Published: June 23, 2011 01:49 IST | Updated: June 23, 2011 01:49 IST

Parrots or crows?

The impressive cognitive capability of parrots and corvids (crows, jays, ravens, and jackdaws) has been extensively documented in scientific literature. These two have a large brain relative to body size. Apparently, this is true of all mammals that exhibit greater cognitive development. In the case of crows, which generally rank very low in human esteem, the relative size of the brain is the same as that of chimpanzees. But the size of the brain alone does not translate to higher cognitive capability. A study of all cognitively advanced animals, including some species of corvids and parrots, shows that they share a unique characteristic — a larger forebrain. The cerebrum that is associated with higher brain function such as memory, thought, and action is located in the forebrain. It is therefore not surprising that these birds — which have forebrains that are relatively the same size as that of apes — often demonstrate ape-like intelligence.

With the higher level of intelligence established, scientists have tried to compare the levels of cognition of parrots and corvids. Unfortunately, most of the experiments have used single tasks (either tool use or non-tool use) to arrive at a conclusion. Such an approach is not ideal as the tests tend to favour the natural ability of one species, and hence will not necessarily shed light on problem-solving capabilities. A paper published recently in the PLoS One journal (“Flexibility in problem solving and tool use of kea and New Caledonian crows in a multi access box paradigm” by Alice M. I. Auersperg et al.) assessed the problem-solving skills of six kea parrots and five New Caledonian crows by using a combination of four tests, two of which involved tool-use. Overall, the kea performed much better than the crows. While none of the crows employed more than one solution, the kea parrots were quicker in discovering multiple solutions. While the naturally stick-tool using crows scored over their competitors, they were slower than the parrots in the second tool-use test involving a ball. The kea is not known to use sticks in the wild and this may be due to its beak curvature. Yet one managed to insert a stick into the opening by employing a sophisticated technique. That the study brought out the innate characteristics — the neophobia of the crows, which hampered their performance, and the neophilia of the parrots, which allowed them to act even on novel objects — highlights the compelling need to use a combination of tests to compare relative cognitive capabilities and development.

Keywords: birds' cognitive capabilities

Rein in the emotions

At this point, when there is an overflow of emotions on the Mullaperiyar dam issue, the priority cannot be going into the merits of the arguments pressed by Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Suffice it to note that Kerala fears for the safety of the 116-year-old dam situated in Idukki district and wants a new dam to be built in its place. Tamil Nadu's stand is that the dam, which supplies water, mainly for irrigation purposes, to several of its districts, is perfectly safe and the fears are baseless. Both sides see vital interests — questions of life and death — at stake. The process of finding a sustainable solution is under way: in a matter of weeks, an empowered committee appointed by the Supreme Court of India will give its opinion on the safety questions after examining the reports of various experts. Meanwhile, there has been some ugly fallout — stray acts of violence reported from different locations — on both sides of the border. Chauvinistic forces have tried to exploit the situation but the major political leaders in both States have responded soberly and responsibly while reiterating their positions on the issue. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has called on political parties to desist from making inflammatory speeches on the issue, and on Keralites not to succumb to the machinations of “mischief-mongers.” Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has appealed for absolute restraint on the part of his State. Kerala's position was clear, he explained — water for Tamil Nadu, safety for its people — and the State government wanted to resolve the issue, keeping the good relations with Tamil Nadu intact.

The sobriety at the top needs to be followed up on the ground. Every effort must be made to deal firmly with the disruptive elements behind the violence. Equally important, people in both States need to be assured that this is an issue that can be resolved scientifically and amicably. The Mullaperiyar dispute is not about water-sharing, which would allow give and take at a political level. The resolution of the safety issues, and consequential questions, must necessarily come through the agency of technical expertise — and in this case along a legal track. But what political leadership at the top can do is to reach across the border and engage constructively to damp the overheated situation. As Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has pointed out, Kerala and Tamil Nadu can count on mutual trust, goodwill, and esteem, built up and nurtured over a long period. In creating an atmosphere conducive to finding and implementing a scientific, just, and sustainable solution to the Mullaperiyar issue, the media, writers, academics, cultural leaders, and other sections of the intelligentsia in both States have a vital role to play.

October 28, 2011Recycle the bulb

India consumes a few hundred million energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps every year and the volumes are growing. This is welcome news not just for the lighting industry, which places the number of pieces manufactured in 2010 at around 304 million, but also for climate change mitigation efforts. Yet this also presents a waste management challenge. The problem with fluorescent lamps is that they contain small amounts of mercury. Unfortunately, India has not evolved a good system to recover this hazardous heavy metal from end-of-life lamps. Moreover, the trend is towards dosing CFLs made in India with levels of mercury that exceed the international norm, apparently to improve their performance. A recent study by Toxics Link, a non-governmental organisation, indicates that mercury levels in domestic CFLs may even be four to six times the norm in developed countries. The issue was acknowledged by the Central Pollution Control Board three years ago. Since disused CFL and mercury-laden lamps, and fluorescent tubes, are generally dumped in municipal waste or sold to unorganised recyclers, there is harmful release of mercury into the soil, water, and air. This is happening in spite of the forward-looking “Guidelines for Environmentally Sound Mercury Management in the Fluorescent Lamp Sector” the Board issued in 2008.

Mercury can cause serious, well-recognised health effects when there is chronic exposure. Permanent damage to skin, eyes, and respiratory tract and other symptoms are caused upon skin contact, inhalation of vapour, or ingestion. The onus is on the State Pollution Control Boards, which are responsible for the handling and management of hazardous waste, to ensure that environmental exposure to this toxic chemical is eliminated. The imperative is to reduce the amount of mercury that goes into CFLs through standards and regulatory controls and enforce the principle of extended producer responsibility for the collection and disposal of waste. This cannot be achieved without the active involvement of municipal authorities, manufacturers, and the trade. The way forward would be to provide a financial incentive to consumers for turning in old mercury lamps of all types, particularly conventional fluorescent tube lights and CFLs, and to ensure their scientific disposal through a network of authorised recyclers. Such a system can succeed because there is greater awareness of negative externalities among consumers today. For instance, shoppers are willing to pay extra for plastic bags as required by the new Environment Ministry rules; many use their own bags. In the case of used light bulbs, consumers stand to gain if the rewards-based system is introduced. Recycling mercury lamps should be an environmental priority.

December 13, 2011India lost the plot at Durban

In any reasonable reckoning, the outcome of the 17th meeting of the Committee of Parties (COP) of the United Framework Convention on Climate Change at Durban was a triumph for European climate diplomacy, placing it firmly once again in the position of a global climate leader. In the run-up to Durban, Europe had offered to support a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol in exchange for a “road map” that would point the way towards a legally binding agreement on mitigating global warming that would involve all parties. Precisely that agenda was realised with the establishment of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action — which is charged with producing, by 2015, a suitably ambitious “protocol, legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force,” to enter into force by 2020. In exchange, a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol is now on board, even if its exact duration and the extent of commitment of the developed countries remain to be negotiated in the coming year. At Durban, the European Union succeeded in putting together a substantial coalition, including the small island states, the least developed and some other developing countries, and the emerging economies of Brazil and South Africa, behind a climate agenda that is, in scientific terms, unambitious in its mitigation goals and clearly aimed at passing the climate burden on to the large developing countries.

It is clear that India was unprepared for the groundswell of support for a compact to deliver a global climate agreement binding on all nations. The Manmohan Singh government, egged on to intransigence by significant sections of civil society, sent a delegation that had no positive mandate, alienating it from all those countries whose interests lie in an early climate agreement. India, together with China, which was supportive of India throughout the meeting, was more or less isolated. The strategic mishandling of Durban is evident from the fact that after opposing for two weeks the very idea of an ‘agreement to have an agreement,' India finally assented to the Durban Platform without even the token inclusion of any of its core concerns such as equity. Repeated references to the principle without any attempt to put more flesh and bones on it made India appear more of a querulous holdout than a champion of developing country concerns. New Delhi has its work cut out in preparing for the tough negotiations due to commence next year. It needs to make up the ground ceded at COP 17. At a more fundamental level, it is high time the government realised that the interests of the 1.2 billion people that it so frequently invokes at climate negotiations lie as much in an early climate agreement as in adequate access to global atmospheric space, and grasped the complexity of translating this into negotiating realities.