India’s Efforts to Counter Climate Change
#Environment
✅India is the world’s third largest economy and fifth largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter, accounting for about 5% of global emissions. India’s emissions increased 65% between 1990 and 2005 and are projected to grow another 70% by 2020.
✅By other measures, India’s emissions are low compared to those of other major economies. India accounts for only 2% of cumulative energy-related emissions since 1850. On a per capita basis, India’s emissions are 70% below the world average and 93% below those of the United States.
✅India is also at the frontlines of facing the impacts of climate change. Shifting rainfall patterns, recurring floods, stronger cyclones and droughts or soil erosion are exacerbating the challenge of poverty eradication and necessitate the allocation of scarce national resources for preventing loss of human life.
✅Despite resource constraints, India is undertaking ambitious actions to undertake adaptation and mitigation actions, including thorough lowering of the energy intensity of our economic growth, increasing energy efficiency across sectors and making greater use of renewable.
✅India has doubled the Clean Energy Cess on coal, which very few countries have, and the Clean Energy Fund already has over 3 billion US dollars to be used for promoting clean technologies India’s National Solar Mission is being scaled up five-fold from 20,000 megawatts to 100,000 megawatts.
India in the international forums on climate change:
✅India is currently setting up voluntary targets in the international forums to commit itself to the mission to combat climate change. It is also playing a major role in climate change mitigation.
✅India’s proactive role in mitigating climate change is due to the domestic compulsion of tackling issues like the need for poverty eradication, food and nutritional security, universalization of health and education, water security, sustainable energy, employment.
✅India is of the opinion that the developing countries’ need for inclusive growth, sustainable development, poverty eradication and universal access to energy must be made the fundamental differentiation between them and the developed nations. Currently, the Conventions recognise the historical emissions of the developed nations as the basis for differentiation between the developed and developing nations.
REDD+
✅Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) is a mechanism developed by Parties of the UNFCCC.
✅It creates financial value for the carbon stored in forests to offer incentives for the developing nations to reduce emissions from forested lands and invest in low-carbon paths.
✅The developing nations will receive results-based payments for results-based actions.
✅The REDD+ goes beyond simply deforestation and forest degradation by including the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.
✅It is estimated that the financial flows for the GHG emission reduction from REDD+ could reach up to $30 billion per year.
✅This improved North-South flow of funds can ensure a significant reduction of carbon emissions and the promotion of inclusive development. It could also improve biodiversity conservation and secure vital ecosystem services.
✅Forests are a vital carbon sink and thus, it is vital to increase its resilience to climate change.
Efforts taken at the international level to combat climate change
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
✅The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) founded the IPCC to provide for a mechanism to study the effects of global warming at a governmental level.
✅IPCC is a UN body that assesses the science related to climate change.
✅It provides the policymakers with regular scientific assessments on climate change, its implications and potential future risks while also providing adaptation and mitigation options.
✅It complements UNFCCC and vice versa.
Radioactive wastes are of two types
✅low-level radioactive wastes (LLW) which include civilian applications of radionuclides in medicine, research and industry, materials from decommissioned reactors, protection clothing worn by persons working with radioactive materials or working in nuclear establishments.
✅High-level radioactive wastes (HLW) results from spent nuclear fuel rods and obsolete nuclear weapons.
Non-ionizing radiations
✅Non-ionizing radiations are constituted by the electromagnetic waves at the longer wavelength of the spectrum ranging from near infra-red rays to radio waves (includes higher wavelength ultraviolet rays, microwaves).
✅These waves have energies enough to excite the atoms and molecules of the medium through which they pass, causing them to vibrate faster but not strong enough to ionise them.
✅They may damage eyes which may be caused by reflections from coastal sand, snow (snow blindness) directly looking towards the sun during an eclipse.
✅They injure the cells of skin and blood capillaries producing blisters and reddening called sunburns.
