New environment clearance norms

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has come out with new norms for environmental clearances even as it faces allegations of delaying project approvals.

The Ministry has decided that from July all final environment impact assessment reports — essential for any clearance — must be prepared only by agencies accredited by the National Accreditation Board of Education and Training and the Quality Council of India. Consultants must include an accreditation certificate with the report.

The Ministry has also decided to put a time limit on the validity of the terms of reference issued to undertake detailed assessment reports, effective from April.

Valid for two years

Since these terms are site-specific and dynamic and dependent on site features, land use and the nature of development, they will only be valid for two years, with a possible extension of one extra year.

The decisions — aimed at improving the transparency and speed of the assessment and clearance process — come at a time when the Ministry is reportedly facing flak from other ministries responsible for infrastructure development, who say that project approvals are getting delayed.

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Lights to go off for ‘Earth Hour’ tomorrow

It’s time to plan for a candle light dinner on Saturday as Delhi will join other world cities in observing the ‘Earth Hour’ by turning off the lights for an hour from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm IST.

With almost 50 million supporters across the globe and a network in over 100 countries, the annual ‘Earth Hour’ initiative, organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature, has emerged as one of the largest global campaigns to combat climate change.

Pledging its support to the initiative, the city government has already started a campaign asking people to observe the event by switching off all the lights and electrical appliances for an hour on Saturday.

“I appeal to all the residents to observe the Earth Hour tomorrow. We have already launched a campaign to make the event a great success,” Delhi Environment Secretary Dharmendra told PTI.

He said the government had already asked shopping malls, hotels, restaurants, educational institutions and major markets to observe the event which is celebrated across major cities of the world on the last Saturday of March annually to pledge support for protecting the environment.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, herself a strong votary of eco-friendly measures, will participate in an event at the lawns of the India Gate and switch off the lights there at 8.30 pm IST.

“I can assure you that all the households can have romantic candle light dinners sitting at their homes on March 27,” Ms. Dikshit had said at a function organised by WWF here.

City Discoms BSES and NDPL have also pledged their support to the ‘Earth Hour’ initiative and appealed to their consumers to observe the event.

“On NDPL’s part we have undertaken a campaign for consumer sensitisation which includes putting up of posters, hoardings, banners at all customer touch points,” said an NDPL official.

Several hotels and malls have also announced their support to the initiative and plans to organise special events.

An official of the InterContinental Hotels Group said the hotel will encourage in-house guests to switch off lights in their rooms and join the ‘guestogether’ parties being hosted by them between 8.30 and 9.30 pm.

Hotel ‘Crowne Plaza Today’ in Gurgaon will turn off all the non-essential lights to mark the ‘Earth Hour’ and organise a candlelight dinner for their guests.

The WWF India said the event will also be celebrated in Pune, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangaluru, Chennai and Kolkata, apart from several other cities where people will be urged to turn off the lights in their homes and offices for a hour.

It said Delhi and Mumbai will be leading the country in making the campaign a success in India. Both the cities had observed the event last year and saved a total of 1,000 MW of power.

Started in Sydney in Australia in 2007, the ‘Earth Hour’ had become a global event in 2008 with participation of 35 countries. India joined the Earth Hour campaign last year.

Delhi alone had saved 700 MW of power by supporting the campaign.

In 2009, millions of people took part in the third ‘Earth Hour’. Over 4,000 cities in 88 countries officially switched off lights to pledge their support for saving the planet.

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Precious drops

WORLD WATER DAY - If we do not take conservation of water seriously, we are likely to have a dry future

How often have you walked down a road and seen a pipe with fresh water bubbling up and flowing down into a drain? It is a common place occurrence, but how many of us will take the trouble of calling the BWSSB and informing them of the leak? Bangalore has the dubious distinction of being one of the primary cities in the country for wasting fresh water.

Population growth, climate change, pollution, and careless management of this scarce commodity is the cause of this escalating problem. On the occasion of World Water Day today, nd and with a hot and difficult summer looming ahead, it's time we took water conservation seriously. Waste water from sinks, showers, toilets according to figures off the BWSSB website equal the three stages of the Cauvery water projects.

This is a mind boggling and frightening scenario.

Shivkumar from the Karnataka Council for Science and Technology says: “Bangalore has a peculiar problem. Water has to be pumped 95 kms from the river Cauvery to the city and up the gradient of 500 metres. This is why 300 crores of the BWSSB funds go on electricity to pump this water. However, Bangalore is lucky to have a natural undulating gradient to be able to collect rainwater and we do have good showers periodically. So instead of planning mega projects it's better to conserve ground water and harvest rain water for the city. There is a 41 per cent loss of fresh water and we do not know where it goes, 16 per cent is the water supplied in unmetered water fountains across the city, so 57 per cent is a very large figure of unaccounted water loss. The water pipes in the city are over 100 years old and with road expansion, they are now almost in the middle of the road. Huge amounts of money will be required to change the entire piping system. Some sort of accountability is being brought in by the BWSSB Chairman in each locality.”

The Director of the India Water Portal, Vijay Krishna says that on the occasion of World Water Day or any day, as citizens we have to make sure that regulations concerning rainwater harvesting are taken seriously.

“We have all taken fresh water supplies for granted and we need to plug leaks and conserve water seriously today. The Cauvery Water supply is in its fourth stage. There is no more water left to tap and Bangalore cannot sustain this huge growth in population. Large companies must also look at waste water treatment where waste water can be used for flushing, cleaning and use outside in the garden, rather than using fresh water supplies.”

Explaining the new system which the BWSSB has come out with where the engineer of every layout is responsible for the outflow of water, Shivkumar says, “There are meters in individual homes, but there are also meters attached for bulk supply so the inflow and outflow is being monitored. Plugging of leaks is taken seriously and hopefully with citizen participation and awareness, fresh water is being carefully used.”

Both officials warn that if the citizens of Bangalore do not take cognizance of the problem of pressure on fresh water supplies and help themselves with rain water harvesting, Bangalore is heading for a massive problem with regard to lack of fresh water in real time, today, now, and not in 2015.

Tighten those taps, check leaks , have bucket baths and avoid hosing down your cars and lawns from today onwards. Check out http://www.bwssb.org/water_conservation.html to see the various methods of conservation of water that the BWSSB suggests.

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Ban on new projects in highly polluted industrial areas in Delhi

Delhi government has put new projects and those on expansion on hold till August in highly polluted industrial areas after an environmental assessment of such clusters by the Central Pollution Control Board and IIT found immense air, water and land pollution.

"The environment ministry in January had asked us to impose a moratorium in the Nazafgarh drain basin, identifying it as a critically polluted area based on Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI)," a senior Delhi government official said today.

The moratorium is also imposed on industrial clusters in Anand Parvat, Naraina, Okhala and Wazirpur which lie on the Nazafgarh drain basin and have exhausted their environmental capacity over the years.

The environment assessment of the industrial clusters by the CPCB and IIT, Delhi had found that of the 88 most-polluting industrial clusters, 43 had reached an upper limit in terms of air, water and land pollution.

Till the moratorium is in place, the environment ministry assisted by CPCB and local bodies will frame a guideline to improve the conditions in the clusters.

Similarly, construction and expansion in at least 22 industrial clusters in Ghaziabad and six in Noida in Uttar Pradesh has also been put on hold as they have been identified as critically polluted clusters, a senior environment official added.

Noida Phase I, II, III in Noida and Mohan Nagar, Rajinder Nagar, Kavi Nagar, Loni, Roop Nagar and Bulandshahar Road industrial areas are some of the clusters where further expansion has been banned.

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Wild life migration in full swing to Wayanad Wild life Sanctuary

When the mercury rises in the Neelgiri Biosphere the seasonal migration of wild animals has begun from the adjacent wild life sanctuaries in Karnataka and Tamilnadu to Wayanad Wild Life Sanctuary (WWLS) in search of fodder and water.

The sanctuary is a haven for the wild animals such as wild elephants, gaur, different species of antelopes, bears and numerous birds during the summer season. Easy availability of fodder and water through out the year is the attraction of the sanctuary.

The annual migration usually begins from the end of February and it will continue till the advent of monsoon. The forest department has made highly structured measures to assure the availability of fodder, water and protection measures for the migrating wild guests.

Though water scarcity is not affected the sanctuary till now, two temporary check dams is being built inside the sanctuary, where the streams may dry up during summer, a forest official told The Hindu on Sunday . He added that they have a tender machine with a water storage capacity of 3000 litres and we can pump water where ever necessary.

More over, the construction work of a new earthen dam will begin soon at Muthappankolly, an important habitat of wild elephants in Muthanga range under the WWLS at a cost of Rs.3 lakhs, he said.

As a part of the fodder management, the coarse grasslands have been trimmed to grow the soft grasses in the sanctuary for ensuring the fodder security for the herbivores, the officials said.

The sanctuary has been closed till 31 March as a part of generating a trouble free movement for the migrating wild animals from Muthumalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu and Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, The official said.

Apart from the 17 permanent anti poaching camps and two watch towers at important strategic points inside the sanctuary as many as 9 newly erected tree top machans (temporary watch towers) have been started functioning this year and forest officials including guards and watchers have been deployed there to alert against poaching and wild fire.

Jungle patrolling has also been introduced during the season led by a deputy forest range officer and the regular patrolling under the forest range officers in 4 ranges under the sanctuary is intensified inside the sanctuary. As a fire season as many as 130 watchers have been deployed inside the sanctuary including 70 newly appointed temporary watchers .

The watchers were equipped with binoculars for observation and wireless apparatus. Free rationing is also provided for the as they are working in remote areas, the officials said.

Courtesy: The Hindu

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Rediscovered rare bird in Afghan protected list

Afghanistan’s fledging conservation agency moved on Sunday to protect one of the world’s rarest birds after the species was rediscovered in the war-ravaged country’s northeast.

The remote Pamir Mountains are the only known breeding area of the large-billed reed warbler, a species so elusive that it had been documented only twice before in more than a century.

A researcher with the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society stumbled upon the tiny, olive-brown bird during a wildlife survey in 2008 and taped its distinctive song. Later, a research team caught and released 20 of the birds — the largest number ever recorded.

On Sunday, Afghanistan’s National Environment Protection Agency added the large-billed reed warbler to its list of protected species, which was established only last year.

Mustafa Zahir, the agency’s director-general, acknowledged the difficulties of trying to protect wildlife in a country preoccupied with the Taliban insurgency. On Friday, suicide attackers killed 16 people in Kabul, the capital, and thousands of Afghan and NATO forces are fighting to root out the hard-line Islamists from their southern stronghold.

But Mr. Zahir, who is the grandson of Afghanistan’s former king, said the discovery of the large-billed reed warbler provided some welcome positive news.

“It is not true that our country is full of only bad stories,” Mr. Zahir said. “This bird, after so many years, has been discovered here. Everyone thought it was extinct.”

The bird’s discovery in Afghanistan kicked off a small flurry in conservation circles.

The large-billed reed warbler was first documented in India in 1867 but wasn’t found again until 2006 — with a single bird in Thailand. The Pamir Mountains, in the sparsely populated Badakhshan province near China, is now home to the world’s only known large population of the bird.

The Afghan environmental agency also added 14 other species to the protected list on Sunday. It now includes 48 species including the rare snow leopard, the Asiatic cheetah and the markhor, a type of wild goat with large spiral horns.

While conservation efforts are in their infancy in Afghanistan, there have been some recent successes. Authorities in Badakhshan last week seized a snow leopard from villagers who had trapped it and planned to sell it. The snow leopard — one of an estimated 150 left in the wild — will be freed once its injuries from the trap are healed, Mr. Zahir said.

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