NEWS UPDATE #116
Live Mint reports: Environment minister Anil Dave has said that his ministry was thinking of giving environmental clearances for industrial projects within 60 days, or half of the present 120 days. “When the Modi government took charge, it used to take 300 days to grant clearances; this has been reduced to 120 days” he said.
15.2% of Indians are undernourished: Global Hunger Index
Live Mint
Like most of its south Asian neighbours, India has a “serious” hunger problem with 15.2% of its citizens undernourished and 38.7% of under-five children stunted, said the Global Hunger Index report released by the Washington based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) on Tuesday. According to the report’s global rankings for 2016, India, which ranked 97 among 118 developing nations, fares worse than all its neighbours such as China (29), Nepal (72), Myanmar (75), Sri Lanka (84) and Bangladesh (90), except for Pakistan (107). Also, India’s global hunger index or GHI score of 28.5 is worse than the developing country average score of 21.3. (Related: Dalits, Adivasis disproportionately affected by poverty, pushing India’s Global Hunger Index to 97th rank: Report)
Union environment minister assures green clearances within 60 days
Abhiram Ghadyalpatil, Live Mint
Environment minister Anil Dave said on Sunday that his ministry was thinking of giving environmental clearances for industrial and other projects within 60 days, reducing the time it takes to grant clearances by half. When the Narendra Modi government took charge in May 2014, it used to take 300 days to grant environment clearances, Dave, a Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh said at a global investors’ summit in Indore. “This has been reduced to 120 days and now I think we can bring it down to two months or 60 days. My ministry is thinking of giving clearances in 60 days only,” the minister said. (Related: Centre drags its feet on national environment regulator)
Kigali agreement: India’s HFC target is equal to shutting down 1/6th of its thermal power stations
Shreya Shah, Indiaspend.com
India’s participation in a global agreement on climate change will reduce India’s greenhouse gases equal to closing one-sixth of India’s thermal power stations over the next 35 years, according to an IndiaSpend calculation, based on carbon-dioxide equivalent emissions from thermal power stations in 2012. As many as 197 countries reached a legally binding agreement in Rwanda on October 15 to phase down the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons – gases that can have global warming potential up to 12,000 times more than carbon dioxide. (Also read: National Green Tribunal seeks views from five states on making CNG main fuel for automobiles)
Experts cast doubt on India’s Rs 400 billion tree-planting plan
Samanth Subramanian, The National
India’s environment ministry is preparing to disburse 400 billion rupees (Dh22bn) to state governments to plant thousands of hectares of new trees, but experts are not convinced that this will be enough to reverse the damage to the country’s forest cover. Bureaucrats from state governments met in New Delhi on Friday and Saturday to consult with the environment ministry about the rules by which these funds will be distributed. The rules will be framed within a month, said S S Negi, the director general of forests.
From plate to plough: A clear trend towards non-vegetarianism in India
Ashok Gulati & Smriti Verma , The Indian Express
We dig into India’s largest household consumption surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). They were conducted in 1993-94, 2004-05 and 2011-12, each time with a sample size of over one lakh households, with a one-month recall period. We define non-vegetarians as those consuming either eggs or fish or meat or any combination of these. By this definition, 62.3 per cent of Indian households consumed non-vegetarian food in 2011-12, up from 56.7 per cent in 1993-94, and 58.2 per cent in 2004-05. So the trend is quite clear — non-vegetarianism is on the rise.
CAG questions Vizhinjam Port, says Adani is the sole beneficiary
Asianet News
Vizhinjam International Multi-purpose Deepwater Seaport, the much-hyped international trans-shipment terminal project in Kerala capital, is against the best interests of the state, a draft report of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has pointed out. Adani Group, which is building the seaport on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis, is the only beneficiary of the project, the auditor said. The draft report prepared by Amar Patel, the Principal Account General (Audit), in July, was sent out to Vizhinjam Seaport Limited seeking clarification.
Massive flood on Bhutan-India border triggers blame game
Omair Ahmad, Scroll.in
The Manas national park situated in the foothills of the Himalayas in the Indian state of Assam is reeling from a flood since October 12. The park is spread over 2,837 square kilometres, with 500 sq km as its core area, and up to 60% of its wider area has been reportedly submerged since the floodwaters breached the embankment at Panchmile under the Bansbari Range on Wednesday night. Assam government officials are blaming the authorities in upstream Bhutan for releasing a huge volume of water from the Kurichhu hydroelectricity project. (Also read: National Green Tribunal recognises the right of Himachal village councils to decide on the construction of hydropower dams)
GREEN MASSACRE – Yettinahole project to claim 6,300 trees
Rakesh Prakash, The Times of India
The Western Ghats and their fringes will be shorn of more than 6,300 trees as Karnataka is set to start the controversial Yettinahole project to provide drinking water to the state’s arid southern districts. The green toll reads like this: 6,327 trees, including 1,332 bamboo stalks. On September 15, the forest & environment ministry gave the green signal for diversion of 13.93 hectares of forest land abutting the Ghats.
Bengaluru to get 150 electric buses soon
Suchith Kidiyoor, Bangalore Mirror
Having trial-launched India’s first electric bus in February 2014, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation’s (BMTC’s) board, after much dilly-dallying over the proposal to procure electric buses citing high costs, has finally given its in-principle clearance to induct 150 electric buses. With this, Bengaluru is likely to be the first city in the country to launch city bus transport operations using such a large fleet of electric buses.
Questions Linger Over Integrity Of Farmers Bodies Demanding GM-Crop Commercialisation
Sakshi Post
An anti-GM crop body on Thursday alleged that a consortium of seven farmers’ bodies which has demanded commercialisation of genetically-modified (GM) crops, has a dubious background and that one of them was even a front organisation for the agro-chemical industry. Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) said it is strange that these organisations are asking specifically for GM-based hybrids in the name of farmers without any proof that they have higher yields than CMS-based hybrids.
Governments lack resources to implement climate change policies, say experts
Kashmir News Service
While explaining the risks posed by climate change to the environment, experts said today that though policies have been framed by the governments to address these challenges, the implementation is slow or lacking.
The experts said that governments lack economic resources to implement the policies. “We need to go into modus operandi to address the challenges posed by the climate change,” said Mihir Mathur, an Associate Fellow at the Earth Science and Climate Change Division at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) during an interactive session with journalists.
BRICS bank “ignores” transparency on environmental issues, refuses to involve civil society for policy framework
Counter View
Experts warn that, “The BRICS Bank works to position itself as a major player for sustainable development, several big obstacles stand in its way.” “First and foremost”, they point out, “The NDB has not yet defined what it sees as sustainable development or set forth sustainability criteria for its investments. While the Bank has an exclusion list, which identifies certain investments as ineligible for NDB financing, that list does not include, for instance, unsustainable fuel sources like coal.” (Related: Civil society groups from 10 countries term scheduled BRICS summit in Goa imperialist, capitalist, anti-poor)
Greenhouse gases reach symbolic milestone; opens “new era”-WMO
Reuters
Greenhouse gases rose to a symbolic milestone in 2015, taking climate change into a new phase which could last generations even if governments act to curb man-made global warming, the U.N. World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday. Globally averaged concentrations of carbon dioxide, the main man-made greenhouse gas, reached 400.0 parts per million (ppm) in the atmosphere for the first time on record and were 44 percent above levels before the Industrial Revolution, it said.
Renewables made up half of net electricity capacity added last year
Adam Vaughan, The Guardian
Green energy accounted for more than half of net electricity generation capacity added around the world last year for the first time, leading energy experts have found. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said the milestone was evidence of a rapid transformation in energy taking place, and predicted capacity from renewable sources will grow faster than oil, gas, coal or nuclear power in the next five years. (Related: World energy report sees oil industry heading for a fall )
Scientists just showed what it truly means when a huge Antarctic glacier is unstable
Chris Mooney, The Washington Post
West Antarctica as a whole contains enough ice to raise sea levels more than 3 meters (10 feet), and the Amundsen Sea’s ocean-front glaciers themselves account for about 1.2 meters (4 feet). Two of the largest are Pine Island Glacier, about 25 miles wide at its front that faces the ocean, and capable of someday driving about 1.7 feet of sea level rise, and Thwaites glacier, the true monster, which is 75 miles wide where it hits the ocean. It contains about 2 feet of potential sea level rise but also, it is feared, could destabilize the ice in all of West Antarctica if it goes. (Related: The latest disaster risk from climate change — huge glacial floods)
World Bank chief calls Asia’s coal boom a disaster, but is helping to finance it
Isabel Esterman, Mongabay
According to a new report, the Asian coal boom described by World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim as a “disaster” has been quietly enabled by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. After two years of sifting through a commercial banking database, researchers found the IFC has financial ties to 41 new coal projects launched since 2013. These projects include highly controversial power plants like the Mahan plant in India, the proposed Lanao Kauswagan power station in the Philippines and the Rampal coal plant in Bangladesh, each of which has prompted protests by local activists who fear the projects will cause severe environmental, social and human rights problems. ((Related: 1) UN tells Bangladesh to halt mangrove-threatening coal plant 2) Rampal Power Plant: Fly ash a big threat to environment)
Land grabbing intensity doubled in last four years, says report
Jitendra Choube, Down to Earth
Around the world, 26.7 million hectares of agricultural land have been handed over to foreign investors since the year 2000. Hence, these investors possess approximately 2 per cent of the arable land worldwide, or roughly the equivalent to the total area covered by the United Kingdom and Slovenia together. This finding comes from a new report titled ‘Land Matrix Analytical report II: International Land deals for Agriculture for Agriculture’. It was released on October 11. The Land Matrix Initiative (LMI) is an international non-profit which works towards collecting data through its chain of global partners to improve transparency around large-scale land acquisitions.
Brazil prosecutors charge 21 with homicide for Samarco dam spill
Reuters
Brazilian prosecutors charged 21 people with qualified homicide on Thursday for their roles in the collapse of a tailings dam at the Samarco Mineração SA iron ore mine last November that killed 19 people. The charges follow what is now considered to be the largest environmental disaster in Brazil’s history. The dam collapse released millions of tonnes of muddy mine waste, wiping out several small communities. Samarco, its co-owners Vale SA and BHP Billiton Ltd, and Brazilian engineering company VOGBR Recursos Hidricos e Geotecnica Ltd which certified the dam’s safety, were charged with environmental crimes. (Also read: World Bank Tribunal Rules Against El Salvador Gold Mine Involved in Water Conflict)
Adani coal project being implemented by “forcibly” acquiring land: Australian traditional owners tell UN official
Counter View
The traditional owners, fighting against the Adani Group’s $15.95 billion mining project in Australia, have told United Nations (UN) Rapporteur Michel Forst that the Indian business giant and the government have used “coercive powers under Native Title and State Development legislation” to acquire their land. The move follows the state government of Queensland this week invoking what the indigenous people termed “draconian powers over the rights of the community” as it was “feeling the heat from the extractive industry lobby and their political and media mates”.
Mock trial at The Hague calls on ICC to take action against biotech giant Monsanto
Russia Today
US seed developer Monsanto is facing charges related to “ecocide” in a mock trial being staged by anti-GM food activists in The Hague. Dubbed a three-day “moral trial” and arranged by an international coalition of rights and environmental groups, the event includes people’s assemblies at the Hague and around the globe. “This tribunal might not be legally binding, but it will highlight the urgent need for similar legal mechanisms to hold corporations accountable for the damage they cause in the pursuit of profit,” said Global Justice Now food campaigner Heidi Chow in a statement.
Campaign melodrama: As the world burns
Kurt Cobb, Resource Insights
We are too many people consuming too much per person and creating waste in the form of greenhouse gases that are overwhelming the Earth’s natural thermostat. The solution to our problems cannot be to do more of the same. And yet, that is precisely what both major U.S. presidential candidates champion. It is, of course, political suicide to propose a downsizing of American life to something commensurate with the survival of advanced human societies. Such a downsizing would have to coincide with much greater redistribution of existing wealth in order to insure social peace–which is why politicians of all kinds avoid the issue. (Related: Why has climate change been ignored in the US election debates?)
Dakota Access Pipeline: Police fire on media drones, mass arrests, treaty rights declared
Russia Today
rotests over development of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) in North Dakota led to more than 125 arrests and a highway blockade over the weekend, as pipeline opponents claimed “unceded territory” in the direct path of construction. Meanwhile, local law enforcement fired on two unmanned media drones, claiming that “protesters attacked a helicopter with a drone,” and that the helicopter pilot and passengers were “in fear of their lives.” The weekend developments marked a distinct heightening of tensions between self-proclaimed water protectors and law enforcement.(Related: Filmmaker Faces 45 Years In Prison For Reporting On Dakota Access Protests)