Environment

. National Ambient Air Quality Standards envisaging 12 pollutants have been notified under the EPA, 1986 along with 115 emission/effluent standards for 104 different sectors of industries, besides 32 general standards. Government is executing a nation-wide programme of ambient air quality monitoring known as National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP). The network consists of six … Read more

Kyoto protocol set ambitious goals for countries but couldn’t meet them. Reasons for the failure of Kyoto protocol are as follows: Though Kyoto was legal, it didn’t have provision of enforcing penalties, as a result developed countries failed to meet the target  and also got away with that. Developing countries criticized this protocol from the … Read more

Under this initiative, TRIFED will integrate its Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana with this global environmental intervention termed as TICD (TRIFED’s Initiative to Combat Desertification). TRIFED will be partnering with the German Cooperation (GIZ) to involve the tribal community for rehabilitating the degraded land while supplementing the income of tribal community. 4P1000 Initiative: The international … Read more

Food Security  Rising temperatures, heat extremes, floods, droughts and rainfall variability can disrupt rainfed agricultural food production and adversely impact crop yield.  For instance, as per a NITI Aayog document, of the total pulses, oilseeds and cotton produced in the country, 80% pulses, 73% oilseeds and 68% cotton come from rain-fed agriculture. Water Security Droughts … Read more

Forest fires are a regular phenomenon in our country often observed during the fire season. A number of 37,059 fires were detected in year 2018 using MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer) sensor data. Every year large areas of forests are affected by fires of varying intensity and extent. Based on the forest inventory records, 54.40% … Read more

All mines are temporary structures. They can remain active for many years, but they will eventually run out of minerals and cease operations. This does not automatically mean that the environment and wildlife will no longer suffer. Responsible owners would backfill the underground mine. However, not all mine operators would resort to this option because … Read more

Inorganic plant nutrients are water soluble nitrates and phosphates that cause excessive growth of algae and otheraquatic plants. The excessive growth of algae and aquatic plants due to added nutrients is called Eutrophication.   Impact of Eutrophication on environment: Creation of dense blooms of noxious, foul-smelling phytoplankton known as Algal Blooms that reduce waterclarity and … Read more

According to Ramsar Convention, wetland is defined as, “areas of marsh, fen, peat land or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed 6 metres”. Key Features of the … Read more

. Single-use plastics, often also referred to as disposable plastics, are commonly used for plastic packaging and include items intended to be used only once before they are thrown away or recycled. These include, among other items, grocery bags, food packaging, bottles, straws, containers, stirrers, styrofoam cups or plates etc.   Impacts of single use … Read more

Ethanol is a green fuel and its blending with petrol also saves foreign exchange Government has 10% blending target for mixing ethanol with petrol by 2022 & 20% blending target by 2030 The liquid biofuel in greatest production is ethanol (ethyl alcohol), which is made by fermenting starch or sugar. Brazil and the United States … Read more