Roads to hell
Indian industrialists, from Bajaj to the Tatas and Birlas, have walked away with environmental rape, partly because they lack conscience
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The last of the humble farmer
In any democratic country, environmental concerns can get integrated with developmental programmes only if the leader is sensitive to them
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Change is for the obdurate
The country needs our anger today
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For frugality and sensible use
A recent letter from a reader has disturbed me enormously. B P Radhakrishna, president of the Geological Society of India, in response to a story in Down To Earth about how drought was affecting
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World class products
This last fortnight, after two disparate experiences, I came to realise there is not much difference between colas and cars. Let me explain how. A year ago, we released a study on the cocktail
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Climate: the market's Achilles heel
Last fortnight I wrote about making space for emissions. Let s discuss how this can be done. Let s discuss this with governments meeting, possibly for the millionth time, to discuss the global
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Khirthar's plant biodiversity under threat, says study
The recently completed first ever research on the plant biodiversity of the Khirthar Range has found around 197 species, many with medicinal properties, which are under serious threat of extinction due to human activities, including construction, extensive chopping of trees and large shrubs for use as fuel wood, as well as ecological stress. The three-year study, funded by the Higher Education Commission (HEC), suggests immediate large-scale conservation and development of the plant biodiversity of the Khirthar Range, which, it says, has great potential for commercial exploitation for medicinal purposes that would not only reduce pressure on the wild stocks, it would also help alleviate poverty. Other recommendations include the provision of alternate sources of income and fuel to the locals and the initiation of measures to ensure minimum disturbance to the natural habitat while developing Gorakh Hill as a resort. "It's the first ever research on plant biodiversity of the entire Khirthar Range. Earlier, a baseline study was conducted in 2000, but that was only restricted to Khirthar National Park,' said Professor Dr Anjum Perveen of the University of Karachi's botany department, who conducted the research. She said that more research was needed to explore the entire plant biodiversity of the Khirthar Range that extends southwards for about 190 miles from the Mula River in east-central Balochistan to Cape Muari (Monze) west of Karachi on the Arabian Sea. "My research is a small step that needs to be strengthened by further studies. I would have loved to go to the top of the highest peak, Kutte-ji-Qabar (at about 6,878 feet above sea level) that remains covered with snow for many months, but couldn't do so without any logistical support and had to be content with the area within our reach,' she said. It was because of these limitations that eight sites were selected for research. These included Khirthar National Park, Rani Kot, Kutte-ji-Qabar, Batro Jabal, Pir Ghazi Shah and Gorakh Hill (the second highest peak of the Khirthar Range), Dureji and Tiko Baran. "A great source of limestone, gravel, salt, sand and marble, the entire Khirthar Range, that includes protected areas of Khirthar National Park, Mahal Kohistan Wildlife Sanctuary and the Sumbak Game Reserve, is covered with calcareous rocks and has a desert climate. The average temperature ranges between 44 to 48 degrees centigrade in summer and 30 to 35 degrees centigrade in winter at daytime. At night, it drops to as low as 10 to 15 degrees centigrade. The altitude varies from about 1,000 metres in the south to 2,400 metres in the north,' she responded when asked about the geographical and climatic conditions of the area. Incredible diversity The team recorded 197 plant species, distributed in 60 families, the most dominant being Poaceae, followed by Compositae, Papilionaceae and Solanaceae. Species like Neurada procumbens, Corallocarpus epigaeus, Commelina albescens, Moringa concanensis, Plantago ciliata, Plantago stocksii, Olea ferruginea, Salvadora persica, Asparagus sp., Aristolochia bracteolata, Caralluma edulis, C. tuberculata, Cometes surratense and Viola stocksii were rare species, most of which were found on Gorakh Hill. The frequently found species were Fagonia indica, Rhazya stricta, Acacia nilotica and Grewia tenax and Dodanea viscose. The two endemic species were Justicia vahlii and Ruellia sindica while Bergia suffruticosa, Seetzenia lanata and Sophora alopecuroides were the three new findings. Acacia nilotica was being extensively used as a fuel wood while Nannorophs ritchieana for making baskets and mats. Many of these plants surviving in drought conditions, she said, had medicinal properties. Some could be grown in the city and prove to be a wonderful replacement for many decorative plants that required a lot of water. For instance, Dodonaea viscosa can be used to make hedges. Among the large number of plants having medicinal properties included Plantago ciliata (ispagol), Olea ferruginea (kaho), Peganum harmala (harmal), Rhazya stricta (sewear), Tecomella undulate (rohida), Withania coagulans (paneer booti), Asparagus gharoensis (musli), Ephedra ciliata (Ephedra) and Tribulus longipetalous (gokhru). "We visited the sites from time to time during the study period and made efforts to include the representative, topographic and physiographic conditions. Though collecting specimens from inaccessible heights was an arduous task itself, the greater danger was posed by criminal elements who rule these areas and it was difficult to move independently,' she said. When asked about the most difficult and diverse spot in terms of plant biodiversity, Dr Perveen said that Gorakh Hill was the most rich. "The 5,688ft high Gorakh Hill Station is surrounded by high mountains. The most unique feature of this area is that the mercury column remains below 20 degrees centigrade even in June and July. These climatic conditions make it distinctive in vegetation, too,' she said, quickly adding that the plants had been severely damaged by construction works. "The present vegetation is already under stress due to prolonged droughts, extensive grazing, chopping and poor soil conditions. Making Gorakh Hill a resort is an excellent idea, but development shouldn't come at the cost of ecological destruction. In fact, this indigenous plant wealth can be turned into an income-generating source if the government educates locals about its significance and trains them in setting up plant nurseries,' she suggested.
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Why does farm production stagnate?
India and the world population has doubled or tripled since the World War II. The world and India produces seven times more food than 60 or more years ago when many nations were in a shambles and farms were marred by mines and other hazardous chemicals in the aftermath of millions killed by bombs and gun battles, though not India, which was not a big theatre of war, but of the war of Independence. Imperial rulers were preoccupied with German and Japanese invaders and with conquering them. India was the fodder of the war machine with 2.5 million soldiers to fight on every front to defeat the Axis power. The war had seen the Bengal Famine with tens of thousands dying of hunger, but official records called it malnutrition, not starvation. That was the Imperial nomenclature, valid ever since until today. Yet in the bygone 20th century we have seen great strides, we have seen great visible progress in pursuit of Mahatma Gandhi's goal of wiping every tear from every Indian face. Irrigation dams by the score have been built and dry farms have had irrigation canals and channels supplying life-giving water. Where canals could not reach hand pumps or powered pumps have been installed to irrigate farms. Punjab, Haryana, western UP and many other States prospered, but not all areas. From 30 million tons of grain, India today produces as much as 210 million tons. For a long time, India was supposed to be self sufficient, not needing to import any grain, though for some years now, as part of the policy of food security a buffer stock has been built and wheat and rice have been imported. Sometimes exotic basmati rice has been exported and cheaper and large quantities of cheaper imported to try and feed Indians, but the exercise has not fully succeeded. In spite of the great Indian success story, when India's economy is one of the fastest growing at a clip of nine per cent per year why do we in free India, 40 per cent of us remain below the poverty line, sleep on an empty stomach, why 42 per cent of all children starve or are very poorly fed? Yet, literacy and education are fundamental rights, food is not. There are no free lunches, though midday school feeding programmes are much in place, yet honored more in the breach than in the observance, because 80 per cent of the money provided must be and is known to be siphoned off by the time it reaches the panchayat or the village or the city school into the pockets of all kinds of people, be they suppliers, petty or senior officials and politicians, down now to the village panch, leave alone the sarpanch. Is that the way of the Third World, if not all world, because corruption in the First Word is far more sophisticated; it runs into millions and billions of dollars, not in peanuts or a few rupees, hundreds or thousands of them. Such is the system, like it or not? Is that why 30 per cent growth some areas of the services sector and nine per cent overall, farm or grain production grows only at 2.6 per cent and in years of monsoon failure or excess of it, the growth is what in modern parlance is sophisticated jugglery of world negative as nobody wants to speak the truth that output has gone down or dropped. Management and official jargon has taken a new leap in falsehood and lies as truth is totally at a discount and invention and magic with words is the norm. That is Harvard or management school education, push the dirt under the rug, don't allow it to be exposed. Thanks to multinational producers and sellers of genetically modified seeds or biotechnology, salesmen push the hybrid seeds for well irrigated farms to grow more cotton whereas rainfed farms can take only ordinary seeds, cheaper and ten times costlier. At the time when farmers in Nagpur or Vidharbha and Andhra should be reaping a big crop, they find zero shoots. They have borrowed money to buy this costly seeds. They are deep in debt, of principal and interest. They have been cheated. Since they cannot afford to pay, the moneylender knocks at their men with musclemen in tow, throws them out of their hearth and home and occupies their parched farm. What does the poor farmer do now? He takes his life, next members of his family start doing the same. Thousands of farmers have been doing so for some decades now, although heartless money lenders have been doing this for centuries gone by. That is the story of Indian village, village after village. Now that a general election is less than 15 months away to choose a new Lok Sabha and three States in the north east are in the process to elect legislatures and six more States will do so before the end of the year or early next year, the Government is engaged in double quick time to line up doles for the voters, especially for the farmers, who are the backbone of a democracy, who hold the maximum number of cards. The magicians that the Prime Minister, his Finance Minister, and their boss, the Chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance are, have ordained that Rs.32,000 crores of buoyant government revenues must be dispensed with as debt relief to farmers to woo them for the grand old party. This is less than ten per cent of the bank loans of Rs.3,42,000 crores the farmers owe to the banks, but it is the government which will reimburse them so that they can balance their books and prudential banking does not receive a jolt. But the farmers at the mercy of private money lenders who charge 2 to 3 per cent are unlikely to benefit. Will they continue to die and starve as before? Only time will tell. God save them, for who else can? Lalit Sethi, NPA
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BUFING syndrome for Obama
<p>Obama will grace COP15. And that is the biggest story out here. The story is so big that negotiators are forced to take this fact into their negotiating account. Why? It is because Obama cannot afford to lose a game. It does not really matter if the atmosphere or the planet goes to hell. Bottom line is that Obama must be able to claim a victory. <!--[endif]--><o p=""></o></p>
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Ship breaking
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Ship breaking</strong></span></p> <p><object height="398" width="530"><param name="flashvars" value="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fsearch%2Fshow%2F%3Fq%3Dship%2Bbreaking%26w%3D40105063%2540N03&page_show_back_url=%2Fsearch%2F%3Fq%3Dship%2Bbreaking%26w%3D40105063%2540N03&method=flickr.photos.search&api_params_str=&api_text=ship+breaking&api_tag_mode=bool&api_user_id=40105063%40N03&api_safe_search=3&api_content_type=7&api_media=all&api_sort=relevance&jump_to=&start_index=0" /><param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=109615" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fsearch%2Fshow%2F%3Fq%3Dship%2Bbreaking%26w%3D40105063%2540N03&page_show_back_url=%2Fsearch%2F%3Fq%3Dship%2Bbreaking%26w%3D40105063%2540N03&method=flickr.photos.search&api_params_str=&api_text=ship+breaking&api_tag_mode=bool&api_user_id=40105063%40N03&api_safe_search=3&api_content_type=7&api_media=all&api_sort=relevance&jump_to=&start_index=0" height="398" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=109615" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="530"></embed></object></p> <p>Until the 1960s, ship breaking was considered a highly mechanized operation, concentrated in industrialized countries, mainly in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Italy. Over the years it has gravitated toward countries with low labor costs, weak regulations on occupational safety, and limited environmental enforcement. Currently, the global center of the ship breaking and recycling industry is located in South Asia, specifically Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. These three countries account for 70–80 percent of the international market for ship breaking of ocean-going vessels.</p>
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The parallels between EU financial crisis and carbon market collapse
<p><em>Extreme caution needs to be taken while mulling of linking different carbon markets</em></p> <p>Ever since the green shoots of carbon markets sprung up in countries outside the European Union (EU),
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Diesel prices: don’t miss the point
<p style="line-height: 22px; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 5px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Fuel price reform is inevitable and necessary, but clean fuel and public
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Diesel price hike: no scope for roll back
<p style="line-height: 22px; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 5px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Not raising diesel prices would harm economy much more'</em></p>
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India should guide the world on fighting climate change
<p><strong><img alt="" src="http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/media/iep/homepage/msanwal_blog.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 117px;" />Moving sustainability from ideas to reality and regaining the
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Struggling with global climate change
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><strong><img alt="" src="http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/media/iep/homepage/msanwal_blog.jpg" style="width:
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The Lima Deal: differentiation ends, negotiations begin for sharing the global carbon budget
<p><span style="line-height:115%;color:rgb(51,51,51)">Lima witnessed the end game of a 20 year old negotiation around doing away with differentiation between countries at different levels of development
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For a whole new world
The cyber revolution is swamping the world. But what is it engendering - concept of the global village or information elitism?
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The price of power
As political parties, environmentalist banner-holders and indigenous industries cry themselves hoarse over the entry of the Cogentrix facility, moot ecological issues seem to take a backseat
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Saving the World Bank
The new Inspection Panel, whose first brief is Nepal"s Arun III dam, is most certainly a radical step towards self-examination. It may cure the ills that afflict the World Bank - if it doesn"t itself succumb to the infection first, say the autho
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Ethics dumped
The world over, the pockets where the poor live are used as environmental dumps. PAUL WAPNER debates the environmental ethics of International politics