Government has established National Adaptation Fund on Climate Change

Government has established the National Adaptation Fund on Climate Change (NAFCC) with a budget provision of Rs.350 crores for the year 2015-16 and 2016-17, with an estimated requirement of Rs.181.5 crores for financial year 2017-18. The objective of the fund is to assist State and Union Territories that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change in meeting the cost of adaptation. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has been appointed as National Implementing Entity (NIE) responsible for implementation of adaptation projects under the (NAFCC). The templates for project preparation and guidelines for implementation of the project have been prepared. The guidelines have outlined the objective, priorities, eligible activities, approval process, implementation, monitoring and evaluation mechanism. The focus of the fund is to assist adaptation projects and programmes to support concrete adaptation activities that reduce the effects of climate change facing communities and sectors. 

As of now, there is no provision for any external assistance to be credited to NAFCC. The scheme has been recommended and approved by the competent authority in the month of July, 2015. As such no financial support from NAFCC has been provided so far for adaptation activities under National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC). 

The Adaptation Fund is to assist States that are particularly vulnerable, based on the needs and priorities identified under the SAPCC and the relevant Missions under NAPCC.

Year 2014 ranked as Earth's hottest year since 1880

The year 2014 was ranked as the Earth’s hottest year since 1880 as per the two separate analyses done by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists. The findings of NASA and NOAA were released on 16 January 2015.

Both NASA and NOAA conducted independent analyses based on satellite and ground readings, but they arrived at similar conclusions.

The global average temperature for 2014 was roughly 1.24°F (or 0.69°C) warmer than the 20th-century average that included record heat in the western United States, Europe, Australia, and much of the Pacific Ocean.
 
Rankings of 10 warmest years
1. 2014 
2. 2010 
3. 2005
4. 2007 
5. 1998
6. 2002 
7. 2013 
8. 2009 
9. 2003 
10. 2006 

Findings
As per GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP), since 1880, Earth’s average surface temperature has warmed by about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degrees Celsius), which was caused by the increase in carbon dioxide into the planet’s atmosphere. 

The 2014 temperatures were the warmest ones, but scientists still expect to see year-to-year fluctuations in average global temperature caused by phenomena such as El Nino or La Nina. 

The phenomena El Nino and La Nina in the Pacific Ocean played an important role in the flattening of the long-term warming trend over the past 15 years. Moreover, 2014’s record warmth occurred during an El Nino-neutral year.

Regional differences in temperature are more strongly affected by weather dynamics than the global mean temperature. 

Study Process
The scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York mapped the five-year global temperature averages from 1880 to 2014.

The GISS analysis incorporated surface temperature measurements from 6300 weather stations, ship- and buoy-based observations of sea surface temperatures and temperature measurements from Antarctic research stations. 

This raw data was analyzed using an algorithm that measures the varied spacing of temperature stations around the globe. The result is an estimate of the global average temperature difference from a baseline period of 1951 to 1980.

UN Climate Change Summit 2014 held in New York

UN Climate Change Summit 2014 was held at UN headquarters in New York on 23 September 2014 to put the planet on course towards reversing global warming.

The purpose of the 2014 Climate Summit was to raise political momentum for a meaningful universal climate agreement in Paris in 2015. Moreover, it aimed to galvanize transformative action in all countries to reduce emissions and build resilience to the adverse impacts of climate change.

It is the largest gathering of world leaders on climate change after the Copenhagen conference on climate change that ended in disarray in 2009. However, absence of leaders of China and India puts the cloud over the event.

Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio was also present on the UN summit on climate change.  UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hosted the summit of all 120 leaders.

Contributions announced by the world leaders in the summit

• A new coalition of governments, business, finance, multilateral development banks and civil society leaders announced their intent to mobilise over 200 billion US dollars for financing low-carbon and climate-resilient development.
• Countries strongly reaffirmed their support for mobilising public and private finance to meet the 100 billion US dollar goal per annum by 2020.
• Leaders expressed strong support for the Green Climate Fund and many called for the Fund’s initial capitalization at an amount no less than 10 billion US dollars. Six others committed to allocate contributions by November 2014.
• The European Union committed 3 billion US dollars for mitigation efforts in developing countries between 2014 and 2020.
• The International Development Finance Club (IDFC) announced that it is on track to increase direct green/climate financing to 100 billion US dollars a year for new climate finance activities by the end of 2015.
• Leading commercial banks announced their plans to issue 30 billion US dollars of Green Bonds by 2015, and announced their intention to increase the amount placed in climate-smart development to 10 times of the current amount by 2020.
• A coalition of institutional investors committed to decarbonizing 100 billion US dollars by December 2015.
• The insurance industry committed to double its green investments to 84 billion US dollars by the end of 2015.
• Three major pension funds from North America and Europe announced plans to accelerate their investments in low-carbon investments across asset classes up to more than 31 billion US dollars by 2020.

UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

The summit talks are separate from the negotiations held under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to negotiate 1997 Kyoto Protocol. UNFCCC will culminate with the Paris conference in December 2015.

BNP Paribas launched equity index linked green bond to mitigate climate change

BNP Paribas on 18 September 2014 launched equity index linked green bond. It was launched in collaboration with the World Bank which will help raise funds for products seeking to mitigate climate change. It is the first equity index linked with green bond.

The details of the equity linked green bond
• The 30 stock equity index will be linked to the World Bank Green Bond
• It comprises of companies selected on the basis of their corporate sustainability ratings.
• The bond will have exposure to the performance of the Ethical Europe Equity Index.
• The equity index-linked green bond is forward development of the green bond market.
• It will help expands the investor base to seeking to benefit from the financial performance of a sustainable equity index, while supporting climate.
• The stocks of equity index that are based on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance, are selected from corporates analysed by Vigeo, a global ESG rating agency.

About BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas is a French bank and financial services company with headquarters in Paris, and a global headquarters in London.

BNP Paribas established its first branch in Kolkata in 1860 and is one of the leading corporate banks in India. BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment business is an active player in Fixed Income and Debt Capital Markets, Cash Management & Trade, Corporate Finance and Institutional Equities.

Greenhouse gas levels hit new high, says UN

Surging levels of carbon dioxide sent greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to a new record in 2013, while oceans, which absorb the emissions, have become more acidic than ever, the UN said on 9th September. Concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide all broke fresh records in 2013, said the report. 

Global concentrations of CO2, the main culprit in global warming, soared to 396 parts per million last year, or 142 percent of pre-industrial levels, defined as before 1750. That marked a hike of 2.9 parts per million between 2012 and 2013 alone, the largest annual increase in 30 years, according to the Greenhouse Gas Bulletin. 

The report also showed that so-called radiative forcing, or the warming effect on our climate attributed to greenhouse gases like CO2, increased 34 percent from 1990 to 2013. A quarter of emissions are absorbed by the oceans, while another quarter are sucked into the biosphere, naturally limiting rates of warming gases in the atmosphere. But CO2 remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years and in the oceans for even longer. 

The gases stored in the oceans also have "far-reaching impacts," WMO warned, since more CO2 in the water leads to increased acidity, altering the ocean ecosystem. Every day, the world's oceans absorb some four kilos (8.8 pounds) of CO2 per person each day, WMO said, calling current ocean acidification levels "unprecedented at least over the last 300 million years."

Special Rhino Protection Force for protection of Rhinos

SRPF: Special Rhino Protection Force

SRPF is to be setup to protect Rhinos from poaching in Assam. It will be created in Assam with the help of Central funds. The plan to setup the SRPF was announced by the Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar on 6 September 2014 during his visit to Kaziranga National Park.

The Special Rhino Protection Force will be raised by recruiting local youth to bring down the number of incidents of rhino poaching in Kaziranga National Park and other areas.  

The Centre endorsed a zero-tolerance stand towards rhino poaching and to be more proactive. In 2014, 22 rhinos had been killed while 24 poachers were arrested and 20 others lost their lives in encounters with security forces in 2014. 
Apart from this, the Government would also setup a task force to enquire into encroachment of forest land in Assam.

Supreme Court rejected the plea of the Gujarat government on moving Gir lions

Supreme Court on 15 August 2014 rejected the plea of Gujarat government to relocate the Gir lions from Gir National Park in Gujarat to Kuno Palpur Wildlife sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.

The Gujarat government had challenged the Union government decision to relocate Gir lions to proposed Kuno Palpur wildlife sanctuary as an alternative home for the Asiatic lions.

The decision was taken as a conservation measure to save the lions from the risk of epidemics disease, because the lions are spread over a limited area in Gujarat. 
Earlier in April 2013, the apex court had ruled in favor of relocation and directed the 12-member expert committee to implement this order in six months. 
However, in February 2014, the Gujarat government filed a curative petition against the decision.

About Gir Asiatic Lions

Gir Asiatic Lions scientifically called Panthera leo persica, are found only in Gir National Park of Gujarat. These lions are the last surviving population of the Asiatic lions which occupy a compact tract of dry deciduous forest and open grassy scrublands in southwestern part of saurashtra region of state of Gujarat. Compared to their counterparts in Eastern African Savanna landscape, Asiatic lions are found in forests and thorny thickets.

Asiatic lions are highly social animals, living in units called prides and their cubs are born blind. They are listed as endangered species in the IUCN Red Data Book.

National Mission to Improve the Accuracy of Monsoon Forecasts

Under the National Monsoon Mission initiative institutions of Earth System Science Organisation (ESSO), the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (ESSO-IITM), Pune, India Meteorological Department (ESSO-IMD), Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (ESSO-INCOIS), Hyderabad and National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (ESSO-NCMRWF), NOIDA, have embarked upon to build a state- of-the-art coupled ocean-atmospheric climate model for a) improved prediction of monsoon rainfall on extended range to seasonal time scale (16 days to one season) and b) improved prediction of temperature, rainfall and extreme weather events on short to medium range time scale (up to 15 days) so that forecast skill gets quantitatively improved further for operational services of Earth System Science Organisation- India Meteorological Department (ESSO-IMD). 

One of the Implementation Agreements - Dynamical Seasonal Prediction of Indian Summer Monsoon Rainfall (Establishment of Monsoon desk) was signed during the visit of President Obama in November 2010 under which Indian and US scientists are working jointly on seasonal forecast. ESSO-NCMRWF is putting efforts to improve the adopted unified model in collaboration with UK for seamless prediction of monsoon rainfall forecasts in all temporal ranges (Short-up to 72 hours, Medium-3 to 10 days and extended beyond 10 days) including extreme weather phenomena. 

The dynamical forecast for 2013 based on this model was 104 to 108 % of LPA and observed rainfall was 106 % of LPA. The forecast for 2014 was 96% of LPA. On the other hand ESSO-IMDs monsoon forecasts based on statistical tools are also found to be reasonably accurate .In addition, the extended range prediction of monsoon rainfall was initiated during monsoon 2014. 

Bor Sanctuary becomes 47 Tiger Reserve of India

The Minister of State (Independent Charge), Environment, Forests & Climate Change Prakash Javadekar approved the recommendation on a proposal from the State of Maharashtra for notifying the Bor Sanctuary, New Bor Sanctuary and the New Bor Extended Wildlife Sanctuary as a tiger reserve.

Bor is the 47th tiger reserve in the country and the 6th tiger reserve of Maharashtra. With the approval of this sanctuary as tiger reserve it would receive funding and technical support which would strengthen tiger conservation, besides eco-development to benefit fringe people.

The Bor Wildlife Sanctuary, notified by the State in 1970, is rich in biodiversity with a wide variety of flora and fauna, including tiger, co-predators, prey animals and birds. The habitat is scenic and is on the boundary of Nagpur and Wardha districts, amidst the Satpura-Maikal landscape, forming catchment of the river Bor. The sanctuary, which covers 138.1214 sq.km., is also an important corridor between Tadoba-Andhari and Pench Tiger Reserves of the State. 

After 25 years Olive Ridley Conservation Programme resumed in Tamil Nadu

After 25 years, Olive Ridley Conservation Programme was resumed on 23 May 2014 in Tamil Nadu by Wildlife wing of the Forest Department. Department has set up a hatchery at Besant Nagar.

Further, the department has built a concrete tomb near the hatchery to create awareness of Olive Ridley turtle conservation. As per the data of the department, this season had witnessed more than 700 Olive Ridley deaths along the coast between Chennai and Marakkanam.

In the current egg-laying season (between January and March), the groups identified 85 nests with 9784 eggs. All of them were collected and deposited in the hatchery. Of the total, only 8834 eggs have hatched.

On an average, there were more than 150 eggs in each nest, and it would take 45 days for them to hatch.

On the eve of World Turtle Day the foresters reviewed the hatching rate and the mortality rate of the young ones that were released into the sea between Neelangarai and Marina beach.

7 million died in 2012 due to Air pollution: WHO

Estimates released by WHO on 25 March 2014 reports that in 2012 around 7 million people died (1 in 8 persons) as a result of air pollution exposure. In its suggestion it says that reduction of air pollution could save millions of lives.

This finding of WHO has confirmed that in the present world, air pollution is the world’s largest single environmental health risk. This data had revealed a link between that the exposure between the indoor and outdoor air pollution and cardiovascular diseases (strokes and ischaemic heart disease). It also has linked air pollution with the cancer. The report has also linked air pollution with development of respiratory diseases like acute respiratory infections and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. 

Highlights of the findings of the estimate regionally
Low and middle income countries in the WHO South-East Asia and Western Pacific Regions had the largest air pollution-related burden in 2012. The estimates say that indoor air pollution resulted in deaths of total 3.3 million and the outdoor air pollution resulted in 2.6 million deaths.  

Specific disease that causes deaths mainly due to cardiovascular diseases in two cases outdoor air-pollution and indoor pollution. 

Outdoor air pollution-caused deaths – breakdown by disease:
• 40% – ischaemic heart disease
• 40% – stroke
• 11% – chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• 6% - lung cancer
• 3% – acute lower respiratory infections in children

Indoor air pollution-caused deaths – breakdown by disease:
• 34% - stroke
• 26% - ischaemic heart disease
• 22% - COPD
• 12% - acute lower respiratory infections in children
• 6% - lung cancer

These estimates are based on the 
• Latest WHO mortality data from 2012 
• Evidence of health risks from air pollution exposures

Estimated of the exposure to outdoor air pollution of people in different part of the world was formulated through a new global data mapping that included satellite data, ground-level monitoring measurements and data on pollution emissions from key sources as well as modeling of how pollution drifts in the air.

First Climate Change theatre opened in India

First Climate Change theatre was opened at Pushpa Gujral Science City in Kapurthala, Punjab on 16 January 2014. The theatre will educate people on climate change. This is the second theatre in the world to be opened after Canada.

The theatre is 18 metre in diameter and it is set up in a dome-shaped building with a seating capacity of 125 persons. The 25-minute film shows what worst can happen if humans do not take action on current or impending problems which could threaten civilization.

The film starts by giving a glimpse of future - floods, droughts, earthquakes and other natural disasters. Then Earth introduces itself and talks to the audience about current situation and impacts it is experiencing due to global warming.

National Tiger Conservation Authority approved fifth tiger reserve in Maharashtra

The National Tiger Conservation Authority on 28 November 2013 approved the fifth tiger reserve of Maharashtra in Nagzira. The Nagzira tiger reserve will be developed between Bhandara and Gondia districts, which will be the home of surplus tigers of the state. The tigers, who wander outside the Tadoba reserve territory, will go in Nagzira-Navegaon tiger reserve. The Nagzira sanctuary, which was of 150 square kilometer and the Navegaon National Park, was of 130 square kilometer, which has been increased to 700 square kilometer to form a new tiger reserve.
The four tiger reserves in Maharashtra are Melghat, Tadoba, Pench and Sahyadri. The state Government has issued a notification for the tiger reserve in Maharashtra.

MoEF constituted a committee to Study the impact of Hydel Projects in Uttarakhand

Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on 15 October 2013 constituted an expert committee to study whether the environmental degradation caused by hydro-electric projects on Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers led to Uttarakhand floods.
The expert committee will be headed by Prof. Ravi Chopra, Director of People’s Science Institute, Dehradun. The committee consists 17 members.

The terms of reference of the Expert Committee are:
1.The committee will examine the extent to which the projects were responsible for the Uttarakhand floods.
2.Committee will also examine the impact of the proposed 24 hydropower projects on the biodiversity of the region and look into the degradation caused by functioning as well as on-going hydro-projects.
3.The committee will also suggest suitable environmental safeguard measures to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts in respect of ongoing projects for which Environment Clearance have been granted including tourism projects and also suggest changes in project parameters if they feel it necessary.
4.The committee will also draft a Himalayan Policy for Uttarakhand keeping in mind the unique ecological, social and cultural characteristics of the state and suggest environment friendly development activities.
5.The MoEF has given the committee a period of three months to study the impact and submit a final report by 14 January 2014.

WWF-India suggested national action plan for protection of rhinos

After decades of conservation success, which resulted in the population of rhinos in Assam rising to more than 2,500 at present, the spurt in poaching over the last couple of years seems to indicate that poaching syndicates are strengthening.
Thus expressing concern over spurt in rhino poaching in Assam, WWF-India has on the occasion of World Rhino Day urged the Union Environment and Forest Ministry to urgently adopt a National Rhino Conservation Plan (NRCP). It also pointed to the increasing use of automatic weapons in poaching.
The NGO has asked Union minister of state for environment and forest, Jayanti Natarajan, to take the lead in putting NRCP in place by bringing together four rhino-bearing states of Assam, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
The adoption of NRCP will increase coordination among the rhino-bearing states and enable sharing of best practices and information on poaching syndicates. This will help in better protection of Indians rhinos.
The WWF-India has also pointed out that increasing use of firearms like AK-47 rifles in killing rhinos, especially at Kaziranga National Park, indicated growing sophistication and easy access to deadly weapons among poaching syndicates.

India's First Marine Eco-Sensitive Zone declared in Gulf of Kutch

The Ministry of Environment and Forest on 9 September 2013 declared India's first marine eco-sensitive zone around Marine National Park in Gulf of Kutch, Gujarat. This decision prohibits any industrial activity in the area. It will apply stringent environmental regulations in the region for developmental works in 36 villages and 31 rivers flowing into the Arabian Sea.
The ministry declared 313 sq km around the park as an eco-sensitive zone through a notification. Of this, 208 sq km is land while the remaining is on the seaside.

The notification says that land use for recreational, commercial or industrial development will not be permitted in the area except for residential purpose. Mining, including fresh water mining, and release of polluted water and waste will also be prohibited. The ministry even disallowed fishing by trawlers.

The ministry has also directed the government to prepare a zonal ecology conservation master after consulting the inhabitants of these 36 villages. The plan should restore denuded areas as well as existing water bodies. The plan should also have provision for management of catchment areas, watershed management, groundwater and soil conservation.

Scientist discovered new Species of Bird in Phnom Penh named it Cambodian tailorbird

Scientist in month of June 2013 discovered a complete new species of bird hiding in plain sight in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh.

The bird has been named the Cambodian tailorbird (Orthotomus chaktomuk) and was first spotted in 2009 during routine checks for avian flu.

The detailed outline of the discovery has been mentioned in the Oriental Bird Club journal, Forktail. Tailorbirds are in the family of warbler and got their name of their careful preparation of their nests, weaving leaves together.

It is extremely unusual for undiscovered bird species to be found in urban contexts. The modern discovery of an un-described bird species within the limits of a large populous city is veru much uncommon. The discovery indicates that new species of birds may still be found in familiar and unexpected locations.

Number of Royal Bengal Tiger in Sudarbans exceeds 2011 census estimates

As per a new study conducted in collaboration with World Wildlife Fund For Nature (WWF) and Wildlife Institute of India, the number of Royal Bengal tigers in the four ranges of the Sundarban Tiger Reserve (STR) and the adjoining South 24 Parganas districts is 103 which is more than the estimates of the 2011 census.

As per Study:

• Of the 3,500 sq km of the Indian side of Sundarbans, about 40-45 per cent is water. This leaves about 2,000 sq km for the tigers. There was presence of a tiger in every 20 sq km of the delta.
• The density of tiger population varied for a tiger from 14 sq km to 18 sq km in a mainland forest.
• Sundarbans is still a healthy habitat despite shortage of the prey base for the animal.

World's largest Redd project finally approved in Indonesia

Rimba Raya, the world's largest REDD+ project, has finally been approved by the Indonesian government and verified under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), a leading certification standard for carbon credits.

The 64,000-hectare forest carbon project in Indonesia's Central Kalimantan Province on the island of Borneo is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 119 million tons over its 30-year life-span. The emissions reductions will come from avoiding drainage of area's carbon dense peatlands and conversion of its forests to oil palm plantations.

According to SCS Global Services, the auditor that verified the project's carbon accounting, Rimba Raya reduced emissions by 2.1 million tons between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010, resulting in the largest-ever number of Verified Carbon Units (VCUs) generated in a single year.

Impact of Mobile Towers on Birds

The Ministry of Environment and Forests had constituted an ‘Expert Committee to study the possible impacts of communication towers on wildlife including Birds and Bees’ on 30th August 2010 under the chairmanship of Dr. Asad Rahmani, Director, Bombay Natural History Society. The report of the expert committee submitted to the Ministry in September 2011 confirms the adverse effects of electromagnetic radiations (EMR) from mobile phones and communication towers on the health of human beings. However, it also points out that exact co-relation between radiation of communication towers and health of wildlife is so far not established. The report also states that although existing literature depicts adverse effects of electromagnetic radiations (EMR) on the biological systems of living beings, more research is required to assess the true impact of EMR on free-living floral and faunal species, including birds and bees in the country.