Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Massive sea erosion in Karna, Kerala and Tamil Nadu: Govt
Government on Wednesday said a massive sea erosion has taken place in the coastal belt of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu due to various reasons including mining of beach sand. In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Water Resources Vincent H Pala said a massive sea erosion has taken place in the coastline of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. "As per information available from the states, a length of 249.56 kilometre coastline in Karnataka, 478.14 km in Kerala and 641 km in Tamil Nadu has been reported effected by sea erosion due to sea waves, winds, tides, storms, mining of beach sand etc," he said when asked about the reason. The Minister also informed the House that governments of these three states have submitted "some project proposals" for consideration under National Coastal Protection Project for External Assistance. "These have been examined and forwarded to Asian Development Bank (ADB) for consideration," he said. Asian Development Bank has considered the "Project Preparatory Technical Assistance" with a grant of USD one million for preparing a sustainable coastal protection and management projects which include the states of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra, the Minister added. Bureau Report
Five-fold rise in frequency of 'intense' cyclones: Study
The frequency of "intense" cyclones in Arabian Sea has increased five-fold over a period of 12 years due to sea warming, according to a new study. "Global warming has resulted in disruption of natural decadal cycle in the sea surface temperature (SST) of Arabian Sea after 1995," a research study by Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) said. Due to this, there was a five-fold rise in frequency of intense cyclones between 1995 and 2007 when compared to the previous 25 years (1970-1995), the research paper said. The effects of this climate-shift are also perceptible over the adjacent landmass as it has led to warmer winters and decreased decadal monsoon rainfall, it said. "The Indian summer monsoon is driven by the land-ocean thermal contrast and a warmer ocean would weaken the summer monsoon," NIO's Prasanna, who contributed significantly to the research, said. "Hence, the negative decadal anomaly in the all-India summer monsoon rainfall during the late 1990s appears to be linked to weakening of land-ocean thermal-gradient under the secular warming of the Arabian Sea," he added. The study points out that it is not just the frequency but also the intensity of cyclones that has increased in the recent years.
Scientists can account for only half of global warming
Current climate change models prepared by scientists can explain only half the warming that took place on earth in the ancient past, says a new study. The study contains an analysis of published records from a period of rapid climatic warming about 55 million years ago known as the Palaeocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM). "In a nutshell, theoretical models cannot explain what we observe in the geological record," said oceanographer Gerald Dickens, study co-author from Rice University. "There appears to be something fundamentally wrong with the way temperature and carbon are linked in climate models," he added. During the PETM, for reasons that are still unknown, the amount of carbon in earth's atmosphere rose rapidly. For this reason, the PETM, which has been identified in hundreds of sediment core samples worldwide, is probably the best ancient climate analogue for present-day earth. But besides the rapidly rising levels of atmospheric carbon, global surface temperatures rose dramatically during the PETM, something that present models cannot predict or have taken into account. Average temperatures worldwide rose by about seven degrees Celsius -- about 13 degrees Fahrenheit -- in a short span of 10,000 years. Many of the findings come from studies of core samples drilled from the deep seafloor over the past two decades. When oceanographers study these samples, they can see changes in the carbon cycle during the PETM. "You go along a core and everything's the same, the same, the same, and then suddenly you pass this time line and the carbon chemistry is completely different," Dickens said. "This has been documented time and again at sites all over the world."
Based on findings related to oceanic acidity levels during the PETM and on calculations about the cycling of carbon among the oceans, air, plants and soil, Dickens and co-authors determined that carbon dioxide levels in the air went up by about 70 percent during the PETM.
Based on findings related to oceanic acidity levels during the PETM and on calculations about the cycling of carbon among the oceans, air, plants and soil, Dickens and co-authors determined that carbon dioxide levels in the air went up by about 70 percent during the PETM.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Dirty air, lack of water threaten Ladakh
Ladakh is no longer pristine. Rising temperatures are drying up glaciers in this trans-Himalayan cold desert and generator smoke from the power -strapped twons across the rugged mountains in northernmost India are eating into the fragile ecosystem, destroying its sparse green cover.
The effect of climate change is very high in the mountains. More than 10 percent of the glaciers have melted and at the most I give Ladakh another 30-40 years, if measures are not taken to save the fragile ecosystem and conserve water," Sonam Gorjyes, director of the Ladakh Ecological Group, said. The signs of change are apparent in the topography. Barely 15 km from crowded Leh lies a desolate stretch of white sand dotted with nearly 50 small Buddhist shrines at the foot of a mountain, next to an ancient palace of the king of Ladakh. A decade ago, Bollywood badshah Shah Rukh Khan and actress Monisha Koirala smouldered on the exotic stretch in an emotionally-packed shot in Mani Ratnam's hit movie "Dil Se". Ten years on, the little bend along the river Indus is home to a settlement, shacks, a tourist spot and acute water scarcity. In the district headquarters, Leh, the scene is even more alarming. Depleting ground water, ghetto-like buildings, an explosion of hotels, guest houses, motels, eateries and bazaars that run on diesel generators from noon till dawn, and a profusion of SUVs and cars belching noxious fumes make for a visitors' nightmare. The pungent smoke of the diesel first hits the eyes and then the nose as one enters the town. Coupled with the thin oxygen cover at an altitude of over 3,500 metres, the process of breathing stabilisation and altitude acclimatisation takes longer than the mandatory 24 hours. "Do not move for at least 36 hours and roll up the windows of your vehicle," instructs the taxi driver with an anti-pollution shield covering his nose and mouth. At least 40 percent of people in the town working outside homes cover their faces to avoid the diesel smoke -- which does not dissipate easily in the thin air. The construction of flush toilets in hotels, army bases and modern apartments have added to the water woes because the water used cannot be recycled owing to the absence of recycling systems, eco-experts rued. "The water system in Ladakh is snow-fed. Precipitation is less than 40 mm a year. So, most of the villages and towns, including Leh, is dependent on the melting snow. Statistics compiled by the Indian Air Force shows that temperature of Ladakh has risen by one degree Celsius over the last 35 years which is alarming for the region," said Gorjyes, whose group has been working for the last 25 years to promote renewable energy in the area. The average humidity in Ladakh is below 40 percent. A group of green NGOs met here in April to discuss climate change. The report of their deliberations, published by the UN organisation for mountain ecology, ICIMOD, said 35 percent of the glaciers in the region will disappear by another 20 years and temperatures across the Tibetan and trans-Himalayan region will rise by 2.5 degrees Celsius by 2050. The Himalayas have around 45,000 glaciers. The boom in tourism, the lifeline of this ancient trading post spread across 97,000 square km along the Himalayan and Karakoram Silk Route, is accelerating degradation, local eco-tourist operators said. According to department of wildlife officials who met the operators for the first time June 30 in Leh to discuss curbs on tourism to save Ladakh's environment, "75,000 tourists visited the district in 2008 and the number would go up by 2009-end". Ladakh, said Jigmet Thakpa, chief conservator and wildlife warden of the district, "boasted of a wide biodiversity with 36 mammals, 309 species of birds, 370 species of butterflies, 11 reptiles and 22 types of fish found in the streams. "But they have to be protected. We are trying to change to the nature of tourism in the countryside by building 300 homestays in the state with women's self-help groups and have restricted indiscriminate use of water and littering." The district has just been brought under the purview of the Non-Biodegradable Material Management Handling and Disposal Act (2007) passed by the Jammu and Kashmir government. The notification was issued May 14. "Women's groups are monitoring the imposition of the ban on non-biodegradable material across the district. The situation is alarming. All the small glaciers are gone," said filmmaker Stanzin Dorjai Gya, whose movie on Ladakh, "Living With Climate Change", has been screened worldwide. Laments divisional forest officer of Leh B. Balaji: "The whole world is focussing on islands, while high altitude cold deserts like Ladakh are being ignored. The crops are in peril due to locust attacks from China. It might result in a famine-like situation any time."
The effect of climate change is very high in the mountains. More than 10 percent of the glaciers have melted and at the most I give Ladakh another 30-40 years, if measures are not taken to save the fragile ecosystem and conserve water," Sonam Gorjyes, director of the Ladakh Ecological Group, said. The signs of change are apparent in the topography. Barely 15 km from crowded Leh lies a desolate stretch of white sand dotted with nearly 50 small Buddhist shrines at the foot of a mountain, next to an ancient palace of the king of Ladakh. A decade ago, Bollywood badshah Shah Rukh Khan and actress Monisha Koirala smouldered on the exotic stretch in an emotionally-packed shot in Mani Ratnam's hit movie "Dil Se". Ten years on, the little bend along the river Indus is home to a settlement, shacks, a tourist spot and acute water scarcity. In the district headquarters, Leh, the scene is even more alarming. Depleting ground water, ghetto-like buildings, an explosion of hotels, guest houses, motels, eateries and bazaars that run on diesel generators from noon till dawn, and a profusion of SUVs and cars belching noxious fumes make for a visitors' nightmare. The pungent smoke of the diesel first hits the eyes and then the nose as one enters the town. Coupled with the thin oxygen cover at an altitude of over 3,500 metres, the process of breathing stabilisation and altitude acclimatisation takes longer than the mandatory 24 hours. "Do not move for at least 36 hours and roll up the windows of your vehicle," instructs the taxi driver with an anti-pollution shield covering his nose and mouth. At least 40 percent of people in the town working outside homes cover their faces to avoid the diesel smoke -- which does not dissipate easily in the thin air. The construction of flush toilets in hotels, army bases and modern apartments have added to the water woes because the water used cannot be recycled owing to the absence of recycling systems, eco-experts rued. "The water system in Ladakh is snow-fed. Precipitation is less than 40 mm a year. So, most of the villages and towns, including Leh, is dependent on the melting snow. Statistics compiled by the Indian Air Force shows that temperature of Ladakh has risen by one degree Celsius over the last 35 years which is alarming for the region," said Gorjyes, whose group has been working for the last 25 years to promote renewable energy in the area. The average humidity in Ladakh is below 40 percent. A group of green NGOs met here in April to discuss climate change. The report of their deliberations, published by the UN organisation for mountain ecology, ICIMOD, said 35 percent of the glaciers in the region will disappear by another 20 years and temperatures across the Tibetan and trans-Himalayan region will rise by 2.5 degrees Celsius by 2050. The Himalayas have around 45,000 glaciers. The boom in tourism, the lifeline of this ancient trading post spread across 97,000 square km along the Himalayan and Karakoram Silk Route, is accelerating degradation, local eco-tourist operators said. According to department of wildlife officials who met the operators for the first time June 30 in Leh to discuss curbs on tourism to save Ladakh's environment, "75,000 tourists visited the district in 2008 and the number would go up by 2009-end". Ladakh, said Jigmet Thakpa, chief conservator and wildlife warden of the district, "boasted of a wide biodiversity with 36 mammals, 309 species of birds, 370 species of butterflies, 11 reptiles and 22 types of fish found in the streams. "But they have to be protected. We are trying to change to the nature of tourism in the countryside by building 300 homestays in the state with women's self-help groups and have restricted indiscriminate use of water and littering." The district has just been brought under the purview of the Non-Biodegradable Material Management Handling and Disposal Act (2007) passed by the Jammu and Kashmir government. The notification was issued May 14. "Women's groups are monitoring the imposition of the ban on non-biodegradable material across the district. The situation is alarming. All the small glaciers are gone," said filmmaker Stanzin Dorjai Gya, whose movie on Ladakh, "Living With Climate Change", has been screened worldwide. Laments divisional forest officer of Leh B. Balaji: "The whole world is focussing on islands, while high altitude cold deserts like Ladakh are being ignored. The crops are in peril due to locust attacks from China. It might result in a famine-like situation any time."
Small islands want deeper emissions cuts
Greenhouse gas-cutting targets set by 16 leading nations in Italy this week will not protect island states from climate change, the chair of an alliance of small nations said.
The world has an obligation to ensure that 'no island is left behind,'" said Grenada's UN ambassador Dessima Williams, head of The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). "It is a cruel irony that without adequate global commitments, the countries contributing least to global warming will be the ones most affected by its consequences," she added. At a summit in L'Aquila, Italy, leaders of the Major Economies Forum (MEF) -- a combination of the Group of Eight (G8) countries and emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil and Indonesia -- agreed to cap the rise in the Earth's average temperature to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above 18th-century levels. But AOSIS said it wants that cap set at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above 18th-century levels. "Two degrees of temperature rise is still unacceptable, because it exceeds safe thresholds necessary for the protection and survival of small islands," according to Williams. "For the smallest and most vulnerable among us, climate change is already here, causing damage," she said. The alliance also rebuked the MEF for failing to provide details of how emissions will be curbed, and by how much. AOSIS called for several specific goals, including an 85 percent overall reduction in global emissions below 1990 levels by 2050. The grouping also wanted developed nations to commit to a 45 percent reduction in emissions from 1990 levels by 2020. "Given the decades-long time lags between accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and changes in average temperatures, a mere temperature goal is insufficient," Williams said. "Targets need to be specific, measurable, quantifiable and defined by reference to the 1990 baseline emissions agreed to under the Kyoto Protocol." At the L'Aquila summit, the MEF committed "to identify a global goal for substantially reducing global emissions" by 2050, but it did not say how the reductions would happen, or specify who would be reducing emmision.
The world has an obligation to ensure that 'no island is left behind,'" said Grenada's UN ambassador Dessima Williams, head of The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). "It is a cruel irony that without adequate global commitments, the countries contributing least to global warming will be the ones most affected by its consequences," she added. At a summit in L'Aquila, Italy, leaders of the Major Economies Forum (MEF) -- a combination of the Group of Eight (G8) countries and emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil and Indonesia -- agreed to cap the rise in the Earth's average temperature to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above 18th-century levels. But AOSIS said it wants that cap set at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above 18th-century levels. "Two degrees of temperature rise is still unacceptable, because it exceeds safe thresholds necessary for the protection and survival of small islands," according to Williams. "For the smallest and most vulnerable among us, climate change is already here, causing damage," she said. The alliance also rebuked the MEF for failing to provide details of how emissions will be curbed, and by how much. AOSIS called for several specific goals, including an 85 percent overall reduction in global emissions below 1990 levels by 2050. The grouping also wanted developed nations to commit to a 45 percent reduction in emissions from 1990 levels by 2020. "Given the decades-long time lags between accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and changes in average temperatures, a mere temperature goal is insufficient," Williams said. "Targets need to be specific, measurable, quantifiable and defined by reference to the 1990 baseline emissions agreed to under the Kyoto Protocol." At the L'Aquila summit, the MEF committed "to identify a global goal for substantially reducing global emissions" by 2050, but it did not say how the reductions would happen, or specify who would be reducing emmision.
BSP leader's institute polluting Gomti river: Officials
An educational campus, owned by Bahujan Samaj Party general secretary Akhilesh Das has been charged with polluting the Gomti river, where thousands o fish have died due to discharge of hazardous effluents from it, officials said tuesday.
Situated on the outskirts of the state capital, the campus has two engineering colleges
, a dental college and a management school named after Das's father, late Banarsi Das, a former chief minister of the state. Das is considered close to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati. While the institution has erected a huge Ganesh Temple at its entrance, which allegedly encroaches upon the Lucknow-Faizabad highway, effluents from the campus were draining into the Gomti river which flows behind the campus. The case of polluting the river by the institution was raised at a meeting of the state environment department here Monday, following which the authorities concerned issued a show-cause notice. "While going into reports about large scale death of fish in the Gomti river, the pollution control
board officials discovered that the discharge from Banarsi Das group of institutions was largely responsible for causing pollution, so we had to initiate necessary measures," principal secretary (environment) Alok Ranjan said on Tuesday. "The institution authorities have been given 15 days' time to submit their plan to put up an effluent treatment plant, failing which we would have no option but to initiate prosecution proceedings," he added.
Situated on the outskirts of the state capital, the campus has two engineering colleges
, a dental college and a management school named after Das's father, late Banarsi Das, a former chief minister of the state. Das is considered close to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati. While the institution has erected a huge Ganesh Temple at its entrance, which allegedly encroaches upon the Lucknow-Faizabad highway, effluents from the campus were draining into the Gomti river which flows behind the campus. The case of polluting the river by the institution was raised at a meeting of the state environment department here Monday, following which the authorities concerned issued a show-cause notice. "While going into reports about large scale death of fish in the Gomti river, the pollution control
board officials discovered that the discharge from Banarsi Das group of institutions was largely responsible for causing pollution, so we had to initiate necessary measures," principal secretary (environment) Alok Ranjan said on Tuesday. "The institution authorities have been given 15 days' time to submit their plan to put up an effluent treatment plant, failing which we would have no option but to initiate prosecution proceedings," he added.
Cooking fires weakening Indian monsoon, says expert
Soot from the wood-based cooking fires used by 70% of Indians is forming a cloud of pollutants that is impeding the monsoon winds, according to a senior scientist.
The Asian Brown Cloud, as the blanket of pollutants over South Asia and the Tibetan plateau is called, is not only weakening the monsoon but is responsible for half the warming observed in the Himalayas, Syed Iqbal Hasnain, senior fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute, said here Monday evening. He was delivering a talk organised by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation on the melting of Himalayan glaciers due to climate change. Scientists fear the melting will lead to water scarcity in the north and south of the Himalayas, affecting well over a billion people. "With 70% of the Indian population using biomass for cooking, the Asian Brown Cloud covers the entire sub-continent at a height of around 3,000 feet," said Hasnain, a former vice chancellor of Kozhikode University and formerly from New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University. The effect of this cloud gets worse in the cold atmosphere of the Himalayas where the soot gathers and impedes wind, he explained. Apart from the weak monsoon that is causing consternation in India now, the cloud also held up the westerly winds in winter. "There was not much of a winter in Kashmir this year," Hasnain pointed out. "And hardly any winter snow." It had a bad effect on horticulture. Scientists have measured the average temperature in the Himalayas had risen by 1.2 degrees Celsius in the last 100-odd years. Hasnain said 0.6 degrees of this was due to increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide -- the commonly known villain in global warming -- and the other 0.6 degrees is due to black carbon (BC), as the soot is called by scientists. Hasnain said the effect of BC in reducing monsoon rainfall had also been shown by a recent study carried out by the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. "We have measured BC up on the East Rathong glacier in Sikkim. The concentration is three times as should be." He explained that BC is reducing albido -- the ability of snow to reflect heat -- and thus accelerating melting of the glaciers. East Rathong glacier has reduced in area from 7.125 sq km in 1962 to 0.46 sq km in 2009, a loss of 93 percent. Another glacier Hasnain has been studying -- Kolahai in Kashmir -- has receded 10 metres per year since 1965. "The smaller glaciers, those below 10 square kilometres, are disappearing much faster than the big ones like the Gangotri glacier," Hasnain said. "And these small glaciers are the majority among the 15,000-odd glaciers in the Himalayas." He rued that hydroelectric projects being planned in the lower slopes of the Himalayas were not taking glacier melt into account. "When these glaciers start melting, they form lakes, and there is a serious danger of these lakes bursting, which will bring huge amounts of silt, rocks and dirt to choke the dams being built downstream."
The Asian Brown Cloud, as the blanket of pollutants over South Asia and the Tibetan plateau is called, is not only weakening the monsoon but is responsible for half the warming observed in the Himalayas, Syed Iqbal Hasnain, senior fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute, said here Monday evening. He was delivering a talk organised by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation on the melting of Himalayan glaciers due to climate change. Scientists fear the melting will lead to water scarcity in the north and south of the Himalayas, affecting well over a billion people. "With 70% of the Indian population using biomass for cooking, the Asian Brown Cloud covers the entire sub-continent at a height of around 3,000 feet," said Hasnain, a former vice chancellor of Kozhikode University and formerly from New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University. The effect of this cloud gets worse in the cold atmosphere of the Himalayas where the soot gathers and impedes wind, he explained. Apart from the weak monsoon that is causing consternation in India now, the cloud also held up the westerly winds in winter. "There was not much of a winter in Kashmir this year," Hasnain pointed out. "And hardly any winter snow." It had a bad effect on horticulture. Scientists have measured the average temperature in the Himalayas had risen by 1.2 degrees Celsius in the last 100-odd years. Hasnain said 0.6 degrees of this was due to increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide -- the commonly known villain in global warming -- and the other 0.6 degrees is due to black carbon (BC), as the soot is called by scientists. Hasnain said the effect of BC in reducing monsoon rainfall had also been shown by a recent study carried out by the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. "We have measured BC up on the East Rathong glacier in Sikkim. The concentration is three times as should be." He explained that BC is reducing albido -- the ability of snow to reflect heat -- and thus accelerating melting of the glaciers. East Rathong glacier has reduced in area from 7.125 sq km in 1962 to 0.46 sq km in 2009, a loss of 93 percent. Another glacier Hasnain has been studying -- Kolahai in Kashmir -- has receded 10 metres per year since 1965. "The smaller glaciers, those below 10 square kilometres, are disappearing much faster than the big ones like the Gangotri glacier," Hasnain said. "And these small glaciers are the majority among the 15,000-odd glaciers in the Himalayas." He rued that hydroelectric projects being planned in the lower slopes of the Himalayas were not taking glacier melt into account. "When these glaciers start melting, they form lakes, and there is a serious danger of these lakes bursting, which will bring huge amounts of silt, rocks and dirt to choke the dams being built downstream."
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