NEWS UPDATE #120
Common Dreams reports: Arctic scientists have warned that the increasingly rapid melting of the ice cap risks triggering 19 “tipping points” in the region that could have catastrophic consequences around the globe. The recently released Arctic Resilience Report found that the effects of Arctic warming could be felt as far away as the Indian Ocean.
Small vegetable farmers in Maharashtra suffer blow from demonetization
Gouri Agtey Athale, VillageSquare
Farm labor in the area has come from the even more drought-prone areas of Solapur and Latur. Sangita Ankush Mahanwar, who migrated from Barshi in Solapur district 15 years ago, said they were paid their weekly wages in Rs 100 notes. And since she has a bank account under the Jan Dhan Yojana, she has no issues over exchanging old now illegal notes. Her unstated view was she has no disposable money; where is she going to get Rs 500 or Rs 1000 notes? What they earn, they spend, just about making ends meet. (Related: Farmers, daily wage laborers in Odisha badly hurt by demonetization)
Karnataka sees third straight drought, Congress worried
Sowmya Aji, The Economic Times
Karnataka is staring at the third straight drought since the Siddaramaiah government came to power in 2013. Acute agriculture distress is likely to lead to a drastic drop in grain production. The northeast monsoon has failed, hitting the rabi crop, on the heels of a poor southwest monsoon that harmed the kharif. The state administration and the Congress are extremely worried with state polls just 16 months away.
Hydro power projects in Himalayan region face flood risk
The Hindu
According to a modelling study by Swiss researchers on the impact of climate change in the Himalayas, 441 hydro power projects spanning India, Nepal, Pakistan and China, that is, 66 per cent of the constructed and the potential projects, are on possible Glacier Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) tracks. This means they could be gorged with extra water from melting glaciers. Almost a third of these projects could experience GLOF discharges well above what these dams account for, says a study.
Drop Sagarmala project, it would lead to eco-devastation, displacement along Indian coast: Civil society meet
CounterView
A civil society consultation on Sagarmala, a Government of India project conceived under former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, and modified by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to turn coastal areas into “gateways to India’s prosperity”, has reached the conclusion that it would mean large-scale ecological devastation and displacement along the coastal areas. Alleging that it would lead to “large scale land and ocean grabbing, displacing people and their right to life, livelihood and dignity”, the consultation, organized by National Fishworkers’ Forum (NFF) and National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), asked the Government of India to drop the project or face major protests along the coastal regions.
Pulse paradox
Jitendra, Down to Earth
A record production of pulses is in the offing. But neither farmers nor consumers stand to benefit because the government is withdrawing procurement from farmers and flooding the market with imported
pulses. In Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, the market price for moong has crashed to below Rs 30,000 per tonne. Government estimates reveal that it has procured only 3,300 tonnes from 330 farmers in 200 centres in Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and MP—that is about only 16.5 tonnes from each centre.
Adani Group’s Australia deal sealed, SBI to give him $1-billion loan
The Indian Express
In what could be one of the largest credit facilities extended by an Indian bank for an overseas project, the State Bank of India (SBI) will provide a loan of $ 1 billion (over Rs 6,000 crore) to Adani Mining, the Australian subsidiary of Adani Enterprises, for its mine project in Queensland. The Adani group, headed by Gautam Adani, and the SBI have signed a memorandum of understanding which provides for a credit facility of up to $ 1 billion, subject to the detailed assessment of the company’s mine project at Carmichael, near Clermont in Western Queensland.
Pollution From India, China Reaches Stratosphere, Affects Monsoon
TV Padma, The Third Pole
Pollutants from India and China are not only increasing in quantity but are also being pumped to greater heights in the atmosphere, thanks to the South Asian summer monsoon system, scientists have discovered. In turn, this pollution is affecting the very pattern of the South Asian monsoon. The polluting aerosols, from the burning of fossil fuels and, to a lesser extent, biomass, also absorb heat from the sun’s radiation, further increasing global warming.
‘95% Of China’s Power Plants Have Pollution Filters, In India, 10% Do’
Alison Saldanha, IndiaSpend
Delhi’s smog may have made national headlines in early November 2016–when air-quality levels exceeded by 40 times safe limits set by the World Health Organization (WHO)–and subsequently receded from public attention. But as IndiaSpend was interviewing Pallavi Aiyer, author of ‘Choked’, a new book that investigates Delhi and India’s air-pollution crisis, the air was unhealthy or worse in the majority of 17 cities where our sensors are installed. Aiyer, a journalist who’s lived and reported from some of the most polluted cities in the world, including Beijing and Jakarta, argues that many countries have been in India’s situation, and India would do well to learn from their experiences.
Kerala quarries stuck between rock & hard place
The Times of India
With the environment clearance becoming mandatory for quarrying operations, more than two-thirds of the quarries in the state are likely stop their operations resulting in a major raw material crunch in the construction sector. With the Supreme Court observing on Friday that the state government works hand in glove with quarry owners, the government is likely to act strict against unauthorized quarries.
Green Erosion
Kanchi Kohli, India Legal
In the last few months, there have been three key debates that have dominated the discourse on environmental decision-making in India. The first is about the Ken-Betwa interlinking project (which will send surplus water from Ken river in UP to Betwa river in MP); the second is changing laws to make spaces like forests more productive and the third is whether community level consent is feasible. These issues give us a peek into how the government views both environmental risk and democratic decision-making.
India to build plant to produce Ethanol from Paddy residue
Commodity Online
The Indian government has decided to build a new plant to produce Ethanol from crop residue, said union Oil minister. The plant with an outlay of Rs 500 crore will be set up in Bathinda in the state of Punjab. The plant will convert the paddy residue into Ethanol which will provide an additional income to the farmers in the state. The minister said that the foundation stone of the plant will be laid in the next 15 days.
Ice Stupa Architect Sonam Wangchuk Wins the Rolex Award for Enterprise
Janaki Lenin, The Wire
Sonam Wangchuk became only the second Indian to win a Rolex Award for Enterprise on November 15, 2016. He received 100,000 Swiss francs (Rs 67 lakh) and one of the world’s most expensive watches engraved with his name from actress Michelle Monaghan. Every other year, Rolex supports individuals with innovative ideas that make the world a better place. To solve water problems in a cold desert, Wangchuk came up with a path-breaking idea: freeze millions of litres of water in the form of ‘ice stupas’.
Book review: Angry, swirling waters
Amita Bhaduri, India Water Portal
“The gravity of the Kedarnath disaster in June 2013, which killed thousands of people, shocked the public almost to the point of numbness”… begins the forward by Bill Aitken in Hridayesh Joshi’s account of the disaster Rage of the river: The untold story of the Kedarnath disaster. It’s a sentence which will whirl in your mind while you read Joshi’s book. This is an English translation of a book originally published in Hindi titled Tum Chup Kyon Rahe Kedar. Aitken, a Scottish-born, naturalised Indian travel writer and mountaineer and author of The Nanda Devi Affair warns that a massive earthquake was predicted in Uttarakhand which was long overdue.
Warning of Global Havoc as Possible Arctic ‘Tipping Points’ Pile Up
Common Dreams
Arctic scientists have warned that the increasingly rapid melting of the ice cap risks triggering 19 “tipping points” in the region that could have catastrophic consequences around the globe. The Arctic Resilience Report found that the effects of Arctic warming could be felt as far away as the Indian Ocean, in a stark warning that changes in the region could cause uncontrollable climate change at a global level. Temperatures in the Arctic are currently about 20C above what would be expected for the time of year, which scientists describe as “off the charts”. Sea ice is at the lowest extent ever recorded for the time of year. (Related: Global Warming in the Arctic: A Sensitive Climate Gone Off the Rails)
Paris climate deal: Trump says he now has an ‘open mind’ about accord
The Guardian
Donald Trump has said he has an “open mind” over US involvement in the Paris agreement to combat climate change, after previously pledging to withdraw from the effort. Asked by the New York Times whether he would pull the US out of the Paris climate accord, which has been signed by 196 nations, Trump said: “I’m looking at it very closely. I have an open mind to it.” The president-elect also wavered on his previously stated position that climate change is a “hoax” and just a “very, very expensive form of tax”. (Related: Trump to scrap Nasa climate research in crackdown on ‘politicized science’)
The small African region with more refugees than all of Europe
Patrick Kingsley, The Guardian
According to several interviewees, including the local governor, this social alienation was partly fuelled by rapid climate change. North-east Nigeria borders Lake Chad, a vast inland lake that supplies water to about 70 million people in four countries – Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger. But since the 1970s, it has shrunk by 90% – from 25,000km2 to less than 2,500km2. And those who live near its former shores say this shrinkage is one indirect cause of violence in the region, and the subsequent displacement.
Peru declares state of emergency over deadly forest fires
The Guardian
Peru has declared a state of emergency in seven districts in the north of the country where forest fires have killed two, injured four and burnt nearly 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of land, including five protected natural areas. Wildfires have spread to 11 regions across the country, according to Peru’s civil defence institute, in what scientists say may be the worst drought in more than a decade. Peru’s environment minister, Elsa Galarza, said a special brigade of firefighters had been deployed to the worst-affected areas in the north. (Also read: Israel fires: Tens of thousands flee as fires hit Haifa)
Vietnam scraps nuclear power plans as costs double
REnew Economy
Vietnam has become the latest country to dump its nuclear power plans – and to rule nuclear out of its energy mix for the foreseeable future – after the the country’s National Assembly voted on Thursday to abandon plans to build two new plants in partnership with Russia and Japan. The Vietnamese government said in a statement that the decision, made in a closed session of parliament, was taken for economic reasons, after the price for the proposed plants – approved in 2009 – had doubled to nearly 400 trillion dong, or $US18 billion.
Protected forests in Europe felled to meet EU renewable targets – report
The Guardian
Protected forests are being indiscriminately felled across Europe to meet the EU’s renewable energy targets, according to an investigation by the conservation group Birdlife. Up to 65% of Europe’s renewable output currently comes from bioenergy, involving fuels such as wood pellets and chips, rather than wind and solar power. Bioenergy fuel is supposed to be harvested from residue such as forest waste but, under current legislation, European bioenergy plants do not have to produce evidence that their wood products have been sustainably sourced.
Exxon Mobil Accuses the Rockefellers of a Climate Conspiracy
John Schwartz, The New York Times
Exxon Mobil, under fire over its past efforts to undercut climate science, is accusing the Rockefeller family of masterminding a conspiracy against it. The company, which has been accused of scheming to pay surrogates to deny the threat of climate change, is trying to turn the tables by calling its opponents the real conspirators. It is fighting state attorneys general, journalists and environmental groups in an all-out campaign to defend its image. But the oil and gas giant has directed some of its fiercest fire at the descendants of John D. Rockefeller, who in 1870 founded Standard Oil, the company that became Exxon Mobil.
Is this the beginning of the end for coal?
Fiona Harvey, The Guardian
This week Canada joined the growing list of major developed countries saying they will phase out coal power. The announcement comes against the backdrop of global demand for coal falling last year for the first time in nearly two decades, a development that could presage a new era of lower-carbon energy generation – or merely a blip in the long-term dominance of the highly polluting fuel. The reversal of the upward trend in demand for coal marked “an inflexion point” for the world economy, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the gold standard for energy data.