Environmental Issues

The burgeoning problem of managing e-waste is a cross cutting and persisting challenge in an era of rapid urbanisation, digitalisation and population growth. The first set of e-waste Rules was notified in 2011 and came into effect in 2012. An important component of the Rules (2011) was the introduction of …

The Foundational Literacy and Numeracy report was released by Dr Bibek Debroy, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM). The report was released at #TheIndiaDialog organised by Institute for Competitiveness and US-Asia Technology Management Center, Stanford University, on February 23 & 24, 2023. The second edition of the State of …

The time has come for a paradigm shift in the international climate regime which has to move from a ‘country-centric’ approach to ‘people-centric’ approach to climate actions. The Valedictory Session- ‘Mainstreaming Sustainable Development and Climate Resilience for Collective Action’ of World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) 2023. The International Solar Alliance were …

The Centre is expected to clarify, later this year, the specifics of a carbon trading market in India. An amendment to the Energy Conservation Act, passed in 2022 and, separately, approval by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change via the Paris and Glasgow agreements ensured that carbon markets (where …

The sum and variation of our biological wealth, known as biodiversity, is essential to the future of this planet. The importance of our planet’s biodiversity was strongly articulated at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Montreal, Canada. On December 19, 2022, 188 country representatives adopted an agreement to “halt and …

Although the high seas make up more than half of the surface of the Earth and 61% of all oceans, only 1% of international waters are under protection. Illegal fishing, overfishing and other forms of damage to the ecosystem, such as deep-sea mining, oil and gas drilling, can hardly be …

Miyawaki is a technique pioneered by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, that helps build dense, native forests in a short time. In this technique, various native species of plants are planted close to each other so that the greens receive sunlight only from the top and grow upwards rather than sideways. As …

After the passing of the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill last December, the Centre is now in the final stages of notifying an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that will require polluting industries to achieve certain standards of energy efficiency and permit them to ‘trade’ these improvements. The notification specifying which sectors …

⦁ India is expected to welcome the first batch of 12 cheetahs from South Africa this weekend, after eight of these big cats were ferried from Namibia ⦁ The cheetahs, five of them female, have taken off from Johannesburg aboard an Indian Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster aircraft. ⦁ They …

⦁ The Supreme Court of India has given permission to fishermen using purse seine fishing gear to fish beyond territorial waters (12 nautical miles) and within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) (200 nautical miles) of Tamil Nadu, but observing certain restrictions. ⦁ The Court’s interim order of January 24, 2023, …

⦁ Authorities have confirmed the presence of a migratory bird for the first time inside the Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR). The fourth bird survey held at the PTR has spotted 231 bird species in total, including 14 threatened and 20 endemic species. ⦁ The four-day survey began on January 26 …

Board of India (AWBI) wants to name February 14 as Cow Hug Day and has appealed to the public to embrace cows, claiming that it would bring “emotional richness” and increase “individual and collective happiness”. Dairy farmers, on the other hand, alleged that the Board did not even help them …

Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Bhupender Yadav today addressed the Ministerial Session on ‘Adapting to an Uncertain Future: Reshaping of Global Partnerships’ at India Energy Week in Bengaluru. To reshape the global partnership, India has adopted a “whole-of-society” approach with governments engaging at national, sub-national and …

An Expert Committee was constituted by Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India under the chairmanship of Dr. Anupam Verma (former National Professor), IARI, New Delhi to review 66 pesticides which are banned/restricted in other countries but continued to be registered …

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s latest Budget is noteworthy for the emphasis she has laid on the government’s commitment to move towards net-zero carbon emission by 2070. As an article presented at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos last month notes, India holds the key to hitting global climate …

The CITES trade database has recorded 28 incidents of red sanders confiscation, seizure and specimens from the wild being exported from India, a fact sheet prepared by TRAFFIC, a global wildlife trade monitoring organisation has revealed. CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is …

The State-level Vulture Conservation Committee (SVCC) has decided to conduct a synchronised vulture census in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. The census has been planned before March as the nesting season is in progress, Chief Wildlife Warden Srinivas Reddy has said. At the SVCC’s first meeting held on January 25, …

A swallowtail butterfly disappearing from its previously known ranges from Myanmar and southern China to Vietnam has been recorded for the first time in India. Three butterfly enthusiasts — Atanu Bose, Loren Sonowal and Monsoon Jyoti Gogoi — recorded the “extremely rare” Noble’s Helen (Papilio noblei) from three locations in …

Researchers have uncovered 92 nesting sites containing a total of 256 fossil eggs in central India’s Narmada Valley belonging to titanosaurs, which were among the largest dinosaurs to have ever lived. The finding, published in the journal PLOS ONE, reveals intimate details about the lives of titanosaurs in the Indian subcontinent. …

In what could be termed as a first for dholes (wild dogs), a partial albino dhole (Cuon alpinus) has been photo-documented in the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary. This is not only the first-ever record of albinism in dholes from India but also from its entire distribution range in 11 countries. The …