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Govt declares all protected areas plastic-free, Greenpeace calls the move only 'symbolic'
Will this initiative to tackle plastic pollution have any significant effect?
The environment ministry banned plastics in all protected areas around the country yesterday, thus declaring them "plastic free zones". However, Greenpeace India is not that excited about it.
"@moefcc bans plastic in any form in all protected areas and declare them Plastic Free Zones ahead of #WorldEnvironmentDay2018," Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan tweeted tonight.
.@moefcc bans plastic in any form in all protected areas and declare them “Plastic Free Zones” ahead of #WorldEnvironmentDay2018. Directs states & UTs to organise awareness campaigns to sensitise people. Protected areas in Bengal and Odisha are already plastic free zones.
This move was taken ahead of World Environment Day on June 5, and India is supposed to host the celebrations this year.
United Nations environment chief Erik Solheim was in the country recently and he signed a letter of intent on India hosting the World Environment Day.
WHAT GREENPEACE INDIA SAID ABOUT THE INITIATIVE
Greenpeace India has termed the recent move by the environment ministry as a "symbolic initiative" because protected areas cover only 5 per cent of land areas.
"Plastic consumption needs to be reduced at the source and production should be controlled to achieve real reduction in plastic waste," Climate and Energy Campaigner of Greenpeace India Nandikesh Sivalingam said.
"The solution is to turn off the plastics tap and decisively end the non-essential, single-use applications of the material," he said. Climate and Energy
CAMPAIGNER OF GREENPEACE INDIA NANDIKESH SIVALINGAM
Sivalingam said it is important to expand the move to reserved forests as well. There are already protected areas in some states where plastic items or bottles are checked while entering and it is ensured that they are checked again to see whether the items taken in are there with the persons or not, he said.
"Increasing public revulsion over single-use plastics should be seen by policy makers and regulators as a sign that citizens want from their leaders better protection against the continuing onslaughts of an industry committed to pursuing bigger profit margins at the expense of a planet already drowning in plastic," Sivalingam said.
STEPS TO BE TAKEN AFTER PROTECTED AREAS ARE DECLARED PLASTIC-FREE:
Environment Secretary CK Mishra had said all protected areas and forest reserves will be plastic-free zones and it will be mandatorily enforced
He said non-recyclable plastics has been banned and various steps will be taken "so that plastic is not allowed inside the protected areas"
States and union territories have been directed to organise awareness campaigns to sensitise people about the issue
The official added that other alternatives to plastics would be provided gradually.
NTCA may revisit guidelines on tiger safaris in India
Member secretary of the Central Zoo Authority raised various issues related to tiger safaris
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) may revisit guidelines on establishment of tiger safaris in the country, according to minutes of an official meeting.
The meeting was held in Delhi last month mainly to discuss tiger safaris in Madhya Pradesh’s Kanha and Pench tiger reserves. The proposals to establish tiger safaris in these two tiger reserves were not given a go ahead due to different reasons, said the minutes of the meeting held at the NTCA office here.
However, member secretary of the Central Zoo Authority (CZA), who was also attending the meeting, raised various issues related to tiger safaris. The member secretary pointed out that “no live prey should be fed to tigers in safaris” and that there should be separate infrastructure for management of safari, among others.
He also said that prior approval of the CZA need to be taken before start of construction activities for the safari. It was decided that the Field Directors, Kanha and Pench tiger reserves shall revise their proposals as per the points raised by the CZA representative and resubmit to the NTCA, the minutes said.
“The additional director general (Project Tiger) and Member Secretary (NTCA) thanked the participants and stated that in view of the objections raised by the member secretary, CZA, guidelines to establish tiger safari need to be revisited,” said the minutes of the meeting, copy of which was received in response to an RTI query filed by wildlife activist Ajay Dubey.
Welcoming the move to revisit the guidelines, Dubey said that conservation of the big cats should never be compromised.
The NTCA had in 2016 issued the guidelines for setting up of tiger safaris in tiger reserves in order to check tourist pressure in critical habitat of the big cats. There are six tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh — Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Panna, Bori-Satpura, Sanjay-Dubri and Pench — which have about 308 big cat, according to a central government report of 2014.
There are an estimated 2,226 tigers in India, it said.
Efforts are on around the world, to mitigate impacts of plastic pollution.
According to UN estimates, every year the world uses 500 billion plastic bags. Half of the total plastic used is single-use or disposable items such as grocery bags, cutlery and straws.
India generates about 15,342 tons of plastic waste per day (TPD).
India has been chosen as the global host of the World Environment Day, that will focus on galvanising greater action against single-use plastic pollution on June 5 this year, by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, now also known as UN Environment). After demonstrating global leadership on climate change, India will lead the charge on ‘Beat plastic pollution’, the theme for World Environment 2018.
According to UN estimates, every year the world uses 500 billionplastic bags while half of the plastic used is of single use or in disposable items such as grocery bags, cutlery and straws. Each year, at least eight million tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans, the equivalent of a full garbage truck every minute.
Efforts are on around the world, to mitigate impacts of plastic pollution. Chinarecently moved to ban the import of 24 types of solid waste including plastic. Britain’s 25-year environment plan launched by Prime Minister Theresa May this January has a specific target of eliminating avoidable plastic waste by 2042.
Norway not only recycles all of its plastic, it also imports waste from other countries to run its waste-to-energy incineration plants.
A recent study has revealed a decline in plastic bags on the seabed off the coast of Britain, pointing out that measures to tackle waste are working. However, the overall amount of plastic litter stayed the same.
The theme for this year’s World Environment Day, ‘Beat plastic pollution’, urges governments, industry, communities and individuals to come together and explore sustainable alternatives and urgently reduce the production and excessive use of single-use plastic polluting our oceans, damaging marine life and threatening human health.
Asserting India’s commitment to ‘green social responsibility’, Harsh Vardhan, India’s environment minister, said that Indian philosophy and lifestyle has long been rooted in the concept of co-existence with nature. “If each and every one of us does at least one green good deed daily towards our green social responsibility, there will be billions of green good deeds daily on the planet,” the minister said.
The Indian government has committed to organising and promoting the World Environment Day celebrations through a series of engaging activities and events generating strong public interest and participation. From pan-Indian plastic clean-up drives in public areas, national reserves and forests to simultaneous beach clean-up activities – India will lead the initiative by setting an example.
Erik Solheim, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Head of UN Environment, dubbed plastic pollution “a global emergency affecting every aspect of our lives.”
“It’s in the water we drink and the food we eat. It’s destroying our beaches and oceans. India will now be leading the push to save our oceans and planet.”
Children play on a plastic-littered beach in Mumbai. Photo by Ravi Khemka / Wikimedia Commons.
India’s struggle with plastic
In India, 70 percent of total plastic consumption is discarded as waste. Around 5.6 million tonnes per annum (TPA) of plastic waste is generated in country, which is about 15,342 tonnes per day (TPD).
Government data shows that 17 states and union territories have imposed complete ban on manufacture, sale and use of plastic carry bags, but there is “no proposal to impose ban on the use of polythene bags completely throughout the country”.
Maharashtra, India’s second most populous state, which produces plastic products worth Rs. 500 billion ,notifieda state-wide a ban on most single-use plastics in April this year.
India’s capital city of Delhi introduced a ban on disposable plastics last year.
The use of plastic carry bags has been partially banned in some pilgrimage centres, tourist and historical places located in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
The government has notified the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, which regulate manufacture, sale, distribution and use of plastic carry bags including those of compostable plastic, and plastic sheets for packaging or wrapping applications.
Plastic banned at Manas National Park, Assam. Photo by Sahana Ghosh / Mongabay.
Sustained efforts
Naysan Sahba, director of UNEP Division of Communications and Public Information, says as hosts to this year’s World Environment Day, Indian communities large and small will lead a global charge to beat plastic pollution through civic engagement and celebration.
“With support from an inspiring cross section of Indian society, ranging from cricket pitches to board rooms, we’re witnessing an unprecedented national commitment to this global cause with the potential to make this the largest and most consequential World Environment Day ever,” Sahba told Mongabay-India.
Conservation and development specialist Balakrishna Pisupati said India hosting the June 5 event sends a strong signal to the world that it wants to take up certain leadership roles in environment management including combating plastic pollution.
“But we have to walk the talk. We need to have policies in place, public actions in place and we have to look at plastics in different ecosystems. India should seize this opportunity to tell the world that it is prepared to deal with these challenges and in that context what India would need to do is plan how it engages with states, individuals, academia, industry in terms of the entire dimension of plastic pollution,” Pisupati said.
For sustained efforts, the country should have a larger perspective on plastics and not see the entire thing as a waste management element, he said.
“To a large extent in India, plastics management is seen more as a waste management rather than generation of plastics. If India wants to continue with this type of leadership, it has to plan what it needs to do in the next three years, five years or ten years time,” Pisupati explained.
Pisupati batted for co-ordinated action between states and the Centre.
“It should come up concrete guidelines on use, recycling and disposal of plastic. There should be clear guidelines to implement actions, including targets and deadlines. It should have a much larger network of people who can come up with innovative solutions to manage this particular problem. And more awareness campaigns to sustain the momentum,” he added.
One of the garbage dumps in Mumbai from where plastic wastes flow into the sea. Photo by S. Gopikrishna Warrier.
The India Meteorological Department has forecasted a normal southwest monsoon this year. It is likely to be 97 percent of the long period average (LPA) with a model error of ± 5 percent.
The IMD also predicts a low probability of deficient rainfall.
Experts question whether it will help the farmers.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecasted that the country is likely to experience ‘normal’ rainfall in the 2018 southwest monsoon season. The forecast spells good news for the country’s agriculture sector and is also expected to be good for the economy.
“The monsoon seasonal rainfall is likely to be 97 percent of the long period average (LPA) with a model error of ± 5 percent,” read a statement by the IMD. India’s average rainfall for the southwest monsoon for the 50-year period (1951-2000) is 890 millimetres.
The forecast also predicted “maximum probability for normal monsoon rainfall (96-104 percent of the LPA) and low probability of deficient rainfall during the season”.
File picture of monsoon clouds building along the Kerala coast. Photo by Raji Warrier.
Normal rainfall in the southwest monsoon season is important for the country as it aids farmers. This four-month season is also crucial as over 65 percent of India’s annual rainfall comes during this season.
Earlier this month, Skymet Weather, the private weather forecaster, predicted that monsoon in 2018 is likely to be normal at 100 percent with an error margin of +/-5 percent. It had ruled out any chance of drought.
The IMD issues the forecast for the southwest monsoon seasonal (June to September) rainfall for the country in two stages. The first stage forecast is issued in April and the second stage forecast is issued in June.
“Monsoon is likely to be normal at 97 percent of the long period average for the four-month period from June to September,” said the IMD’s director general K. J. Ramesh while adding the forecast means that the country is likely to have a third successive year of normal rainfall.
In 2017, the rainfall was quite close to normal at 95 percent of the LPA and in 2016 it was 97 percent of the long period average.
“Along with the updated forecast, separate forecasts for the monthly (July and August) rainfall over the country as a whole and seasonal (June-September) rainfall over the four geographical regions of India will also be issued,” the IMD emphasised. The Met Department officials, however, refused to predict any month-wise forecast for the monsoon rainfall.
The southwest monsoon brings relief after the scorching summer. Photo by Raji Warrier.
Lesser chances of deficient rain
According to the IMD’s forecast, there is a 54 percent probability of the country witnessing normal or above normal monsoon while the chances of a deficient and below normal monsoon are 44 percent only. However, there is only a small two percent chance of excess rainfall in this season.
“As the extreme sea surface temperature conditions over the Pacific and Indian oceans particularly ENSO conditions over the Pacific (El Nino or La Nina) are known to have a strong influence on the Indian summer monsoon, IMD is carefully monitoring the sea surface conditions over the Pacific and Indian oceans,” the statement said.
While the overall monsoon rainfall is normal, its distribution and intensity have been a concern area for the government.
“The government is monitoring the variability of the weather phenomena and development of abnormal weather like deficient monsoon rainfall, flood, flash flood, cyclone, rain-induced landslides, heat/cold wave, etc. on a continuous basis. Heavy rain events (more than 100 mm/day) over central India are found to have increased in the recent decades while weak and moderate rainfall events are decreasing,” Harsh Vardhan, India’s minister for earth sciences, told the Parliament earlier this month.
“Heat waves typically occur between March and June. Heat waves are more frequent over the Indo-Gangetic plains of India. There is an increase in heat wave frequency over central and northwest India,” he added.
Forecast accuracy is improving
S. Pai, senior scientist with IMD, asserted that the Met Department’s prediction accuracy has improved over the years.
“In the 1996-2006 period, the forecast was within +/-8 percent of actual values during seven years. Within these seven years, the forecast was within +/-4 percent during two years. On the other hand, during 2007-2017, the forecast was within +/-8 percent of the actual values during eight years with forecast within +/-4 percent during five years. These figures clearly indicate the improvement made in the operational forecast system in the recent 11 years period compared to earlier 11 years,” Pai explained.
Will a normal monsoon benefit the farmers?
A good monsoon will aid farmers and boost farm productivity but experts argue that despite record production, farmers are not getting the benefit.
Monsoon is the lifeline for agriculture in the country. Photo by S. Gopikrishna Warrier / Mongabay.
“A forecast of good monsoon by the IMD for the third year in a row is certainly good news. But the point is that for three years we had record production and yet farmers are dying. Agrarian distress is growing because prices crashed by an average of 15-40 percent. When will farmers have reasons to celebrate a bountiful monsoon?” said Devinder Sharma, an agriculture policy expert.
“Even if the monsoon is normal across the country the point is that the farmers are still dying. The reason is that the country does not know how to manage surplus food,” Sharma stressed.
The Indian government has acknowledged air pollution as a national issue and proposed a National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) to address it.
The proposed programme aims to strengthen the air quality monitoring network, focus on rural areas and monitor indoor air pollution. It also pushes for indigenous studies to understand health impacts of air pollution.
Experts feel that the draft programme plan is high on words but lacks targets, a clear strategy and milestones. It also relies heavily on technology and leaves too much to state governments to implement. They also feel that the plan lacks teeth to ensure compliance.
The Indian government has acknowledged air pollution as an issue that requires a comprehensive national action programme. It recently unveiled a draft National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) outlining plans to tackle pollution across the nation, including upgrading the air quality monitoring network.
This is the first such action plan for all of India on an issue that has been constantly in the spotlight for its adverse impact on the health of citizens. With pressure from advocacy groups, global and national media and citizen groups, national-level action on air pollution was a long time in coming.
However, according to experts, the draft programme plan lacks clear pollution reduction targets and city-wise or region-wise milestones, relies heavily on the state governments to lead the battle against air pollution and lacks the teeth to ensure compliance.
The programme plan was unveiled by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) earlier this month. The ministry has sought views, comments and suggestions from all stakeholders by May 17.
The move comes close on the heels of MoEFCC and the country’s top pollution watchdog, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), relaxing the December 2017 deadline for thermal power plants to meet emission standards till 2022.
“In India, there was never a national scale programme on air quality. The earlier focus was on cities but then there are so many polluted cities so unless we have a national scale programme to control pollution it is difficult to manage the problem,” said Sumit Sharma, associate director with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
“Of course, the NCAP is not perfect but it is a good starting point. It has to evolve,” he added.
“Curbing air pollution at the national level requires action and coordinated efforts across state boundaries,”said Aishwarya Sudhir, researcher with Climate Trends. “We have multiple sources contributing to the problem requiring action at the grassroots as well as at the policy level and the NCAP is as close as we can get to understand the complex nature of the cleaning up that’s required. But the plan in itself has no time-bound targets to address the issue leaving it vague and unaccounted for.”
A national action plan on tackling air pollution in India has been long overdue. Photo by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.com.
Over the past few years, poor air quality in Indian cities has become a national issue. It started with international studies pointing out severe levels of air pollution in Indian cities resulting in premature deaths of millions in India. But what really jolted the Indian authorities were high levels of air pollution in Delhi and adjoining regions over past few winters.
In 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) had ranked Delhi as the most polluted city in the world. In 2016, Delhi’s ranking improved. But four Indian cities, Gwalior (2), Allahabad (3), Patna (6) and Raipur (7), still figured in WHO’s list of top 10 most polluted cities of the world.
It was followed by strict orders by the Supreme Court of India and the National Green Tribunal to curb air pollution. The pressure from courts and intense public debate has pushed authorities to brainstorm over steps to tackle air pollution and acknowledge it as a national issue.
What is the NCAP proposing?
Noting that its goal will be to “meet the prescribed annual average ambient air quality standards at all locations in the country in a stipulated time frame,” the programme emphasises on augmenting an effective ambient air quality monitoring network across India including the rural areas, improving efficiency of monitoring, focusing on indoor air pollution, carrying out indigenous studies to understand health impact of air pollution on Indians and creating a national emission inventory.
In terms of numbers, it proposes to increase the manual air quality monitoring stations to 1,000 from 691 at present and add 50 more stations in rural areas. Currently, there are 691 stations in 303 of the 4,000 cities in India, and none in rural areas.
The document notes that rural areas maybe badly polluted, contrary to popular belief that rural areas are free from air pollution. Additionally, rural areas suffer from outdoor air pollution as well as indoor air pollution.
The NCAP also proposes to strengthen the number of stations monitoring particulate matter (PM) 2.5 to 1,000 from 67 stations at present. PM is one of the hazardous constituents of air pollution. Fine particles can penetrate deep into the lungs and some may even get into the bloodstream resulting in serious diseases.
India to focus on rural areas too under the proposed national plan. Photo by Neil Palmer (CIAT)/Wikimedia Commons.
The plan also discusses the need for strengthening the network of real-time and continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations especially in cities in the heavily polluted Indo-Gangetic plains and for setting up a 10-city supernetwork to capture the overall air quality dynamics of the nation, the impact of interventions and trends.
NCAP also stresses on the need of scientific air quality management plans for 100 non-attainment cities. Non-attainment cities are those which were found to be the violating the prescribed National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) consistently during the 2011-2015 period.
The plan also references international studies on air pollution in India, noting that these studies use extrapolation techniques for air quality and health/disease related data which may not be realistic. The inclusion of this reference could perhaps be linked to the former environment minister Prakash Javadekar who had raised objections against international studies on air pollution and mortality in India.
“While there is no denial on serious health implications, attributing one to one correlation and number of deaths due to air pollution needs to be further investigated and supported by indigenous studies. More authentic Indian data and studies may further strengthen our efforts and public participation in improving air quality,” the programme document reads.
The total estimated cost of the series of actions listed in the NCAP over the next two years is Rs. 6.37 billion. But this estimate does not account for city-specific plans, which will entail costs that are to be borne by individual state governments.
Crop burning is a major source of air pollution in north India in winters. Photo by Neil Palmer (CIAT)/Wikimedia Commons.
“In last decade the condition of pollution in cities, where air pollution is monitored, has moved from bad to worse. From that perspective, MoEFCC has come out with a plan, NCAP, for the first time. It also says that cities need to have a plan to meet the air quality standards,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi-based environment thinktank.
She said that the good part of the plan is that the ministry is going to put money into expanding the air quality monitoring across India which should help in assessing the problem in a better way.
Experts question implementation of the NCAP
In December 2017, while replying to a query in Rajya Sabha, India’s environment minister Harsh Vardhan for the first time made public the fact that the government was working on the NCAP. But its details were not made public at the time.
Following that, in February 2018, Harsh Vardhan stated that under the NCAP, the government is targeting to reduce air pollution levels of the non-attainment cities levels by 35 percent in the next three years and 50 percent in the next five years.
Subsequently, a non-governmental organisation Greenpeace India obtained the NCAP concept note and related documents through Right To Information and made it public in March 2018. Those documents too contained details about the target of reducing air pollution by 35 percent in the next three years and by 50 percent in the next five years.
But the latest NCAP document released by the MoEFCC is silent on specific pollution reduction targets.
Experts also say that the plan is toothless and lacks clear targets. “It is still very advisory in nature. It doesn’t have strong teeth which will enable compliance. They have initiated a process but they need to come up with a more clear strategy for legal compliance with standards in a time-bound manner,” Roychowdhury explained.
Indo-Gangetic belt suffers from high air pollution. Photo by Wikimedia Commons.
She also stressed on having a “regional approach” while talking about high pollution in the Indo-Gangetic belt stating that “pollution doesn’t follow political boundaries”. Several cities in the Indo-Gangetic plains like Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, and Patna suffer from high pollution.
Echoing similar sentiments, Nandikesh Sivalingam, who is a senior campaigner with Greenpeace India, said for the NCAP to have any impact it needs to have clear time-bound targets for reducing pollution.
“The national government needs to take ownership of the task of reducing emissions from large sources like industry and power sector which create a regional impact. Just city-specific plans alone will not be enough to reduce pollution at the regional level,” he added.
Environmental lawyer Ritwick Dutta emphasised that the NCAP “heavily relies on technology”.
“It only speaks high words. It neither has any clear strategy nor targets even when pollution is reaching toxic levels across Indian cities,” Dutta added.
Is the environment ministry indulging in doublespeak?
The environment ministry has come out with the NCAP to deal with pollution at the national scale. But it is not the first time that ministry has tried to take action on air pollution.
In December 2015, even as the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris was on, the MoEFCC notified strict norms to reduce air pollution and water usage by the thermal power plants (TPPs). The MoEFCC tightened emission standards for particulate matter (PM), sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury and reduced water usage limits by coal-fuelled thermal power plants. These standards were were to be achieved by December 2017 leading to significantly reduced air pollution from TPPs.
But the thermal power plant industry opposed the move citing technical difficulties and huge financial cost, especially in the older plants. The industry’s case was supported by the power ministry too.
Following this, the CPCB (which is administered by the environment ministry) wrote to TPPs in December 2017, informing them they have time till 2022 to adopt new technologies in a phased manner.
The deadline for meeting emission standards has been relaxed by five years for India’s thermal power plants, one of the major contributors to air pollution. Photo by Ashish.prajapati90/Wikimedia Commons.
In an affidavit submitted by the MoEFCC to the Supreme Court on March 27, 2018, the MoEFCC has listed out arguments which have been put forward by the ministry of power to allow TPPs time upto 2022 to adopt stricter standards. Mongabay-India has access to this affidavit.
Additionally, the environment ministry revealed in the affidavit that the power ministry is seeking relaxation in rules regarding utilisation of fly ash from the TPPs. A MoEFCC notification on Jan. 25, 2016, had directed TPPs for 100 percent utilisation of fly ash generated from the plants by Dec. 31, 2017.
However, as per the MoEFCC’s affidavit, the power ministry informed them that it is not possible to achieve at present and thus has sought extension till 2022 for this as well. The MoEFCC told the Supreme Court that it was considering this request and a final decision is yet to be taken.
Experts are unhappy with this move as they feel TPPs are a major source of air pollution in India.
“The MoEFCC wasted two years without taking any meaningful step towards implementation of emission standards for coal power plants. What is more worrying is that CPCB illegally extending the deadline for implementation by five more years while it initially claimed that two years was more than enough,” said Sivalingam.
Ritwick Dutta said the industry was confident of getting an extension. “All the thermal power plants should have shifted to clean technology from 2017 but the industry took no action. That means they were confident that they will get the deadline extended and that’s what happened at last. Two years were wasted without any action and the result is for everyone to see,” said Dutta
