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Editorial
Advisors Narne Prabhakar Kaza Krishna Rao Dr. N. Harinath Dr. V. Haraprasad
Advisory Board M. Gopala Krishna, IAS (Retd.) C.S. Ramalakshmi, I.F.S, Dr. N. Bhaskara Rao Prof. P.G. Sastry Er. G. Prabhakar Prof. D.N. Reddy Dr. Rameshwar Rao S. Raghupathy Prof. I.V. Muralikrishna
GLOBAL AND LOCAL
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his year World Environment Day is being celebrated in the background of COVID-19 pandemic on the theme "it is time for nature". Now it became clear for all nations that the loss due to this pandemic is several fold greater than the expenditure for greening the earth.
Nature has given clear signals to mankind in the form of frequent natural disasters culminating in this Corona pandemic. The stress on natural eco-systems is leading to water scarcity, rise in temperature, desertification and the consequences are catastrophic events that are taking place in
Editor Dr. P. Narayana Rao
an unprecedented manner. Forest fires in Brazil, United States and Australia, locus infestations across East Africa and Asia are few examples. COVID-19 has taught us many lessons. Over
Associate Editors Sweta Pendyala Dr. B.Ramana Naik
crowded urban areas particularly metropolitan centres are the spreading hot spots in every country. It is also observed that there is a direct relationship between air pollution and vulnerability to this pandemic. This pandemic showed that the lockdowns are only partial solutions and cen-
Sub - editor Swarajyam P.
tralized decision making is not going to solve this problem. So decentralized decision making to suit to local conditions has succeeded in preventing the spread of this disease. Empowering peo-
Design
ple in local governments is the effective solution in taking up this challenge. The state of Kerala
arcongraphics@gmail.com
became shining example for the people of our country and even abroad. Though 73rd and 74th Edited, Printed & Published by P. Narayana Rao on behalf of society for environment and education, hyderabad.
Amendments were made long ago to our Constitution giving autonomy in several functions especially in natural resource management, it is only in Kerala the implementation was done in true spirit. This pandemic also highlighted the necessity of creating environmental assets like
Address for communication
afforestation and lake regeneration by utilizing the vast human potential existing in our rural
302, Padma Nilayam, St.No. 1, Shanti Nagar,
areas thereby reducing the rural - urban migration. Public Health Centres at local level have to
Hyderabad - 500 028.
be strengthened by augmenting the necessary staff and leveraging the latest technologies.
email: nraopotturi@yahoo.com contact: 9247385331
People's participation at Panchayat level is the real deterrent to the spread of infectious diseases. Land use planning and mapping are essential for preservation of local natural resources. During this pandemic, central and state governments have grappled with the problem of lack of data
(The views expressed by authors may not be necessarily be the same as those of magazine)
which could have been easily generated by involving local people. To move forward and to encounter future pandemics we have to act locally by thinking globally. June 2020
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Environment & people
Time for nature
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Meet the real-life superstar Panthdeep Singh:
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Need for a greener Green Revolution
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Biodiversity & Agriculture: Nature’s Matrix & Future of Conservation
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content
Listen to your gut: Why having a good microbiome matters in
Covid-19 fight
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Why the worst locust attack Environmentalism in a time of COVID
32
BIODIVERSITY IN INDIA: ISSUES, CHALLENGES AND INITIATIVES TAKEN
Environment & people
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in decades has invaded north India
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Inadequate safe drinking water
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Community transmission: Can India control COVID-19?
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Eco cartoons
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Zerund: Recycling waste brick by brick!
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Time for nature T
he foods we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink and the climate that makes our planet habitable all come from nature. For instance, each year, marine plants produce more than a half of our atmosphere's oxygen, and a mature tree cleans our air, absorbing 22 kilos of carbon dioxide, releasing oxygen in exchange. Despite all the benefits that our nature give us, we still mistreat it.That is why we need to work on that. That is why we need this Observance. World Environment Day, hosted by Colombia this 2020, is the most renowned day for environmental action. Since 1974, it has been celebrated every year on 5 June: engaging governments, businesses, celebrities and citizens to focus their efforts on a pressing environmental issue. This year, the theme is biodiversity – a concern that is both urgent and existential. Recent events, from bushfires in Brazil, the United States, and Australia to locust infes-
tations across East Africa – and now, a global disease pandemic – demonstrate the interdependence of humans and the webs of life, in which they exist. But, do we really know its importance? Maybe our biodiversity trivial will help. Biodiversity and its connection to humans Biodiversity is the foundation that supports all life on land and below water. It affects every aspect of human health, providing clean air and water, nutritious foods, scientific understanding and medicine sources, natural disease resistance, and climate change mitigation. Changing, or removing one element of this web affects the entire life system and can produce negative consequences. Human actions, including deforestation, encroachment on wildlife habitats, intensified agriculture, and acceleration of climate change, have pushed nature beyond
its limit. It would take 1.6 Earths to meet the demands that humans make of nature each year. If we continue on this path, biodiversity loss will have severe implications for humanity, including the collapse of food and health systems. The emergence of COVID-19 has underscored the fact that, when we destroy biodiversity, we destroy the system that supports human life. Today, it is estimated that, globally, about one billion cases of illness and millions of deaths occur every year from diseases caused by coronaviruses; and about 75 per cent of all emerging infectious diseases in humans are zoonotic, meaning that they are transmitted to people by animals. Nature is sending us a message. (Source: un.org)
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The youngest sarpanch in Punjab, national award winner, recognised by the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj in a documentary titled Champion of Change – Panthdeep Singh has carved a niche of his own with innovative ideas and clear conviction to improve the lives of the people in Chhina. M Sai Madhur
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n educated young protagonist rejecting the superficial sophistication of urban life to reform a remote village in the country is an oft-repeated trope in Indian Cinema. However, it would be deemed improbable for such stories to exist in reality. The people of Chhina village Environment & people
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in the Gurdaspur district of Punjab would like to disagree. Panthdeep Singh, who completed his Master's in Business Economics from Gurunanak Dev University quit his job from an MNC and later a job in the government sector in December 2018 to dedicate his life to the develop the living standards of his village. He is the youngest Sarpanch in Punjab, elected at the age of 21. Panthdeep has been instrumental in revamping Chhina into an exemplary village equipped with amenities that are generally confined to the urban and the suburban areas of the country. He has worked significantly in bringing awareness about cleanliness, infrastructural
development, gender equality and several other issues among the residents of Chhina. Panthdeep's efforts were recognised by the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj in a documentary titled Champion of Change, produced by National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, in August 2019. Environment & People got in touch with Pathdeep to know how Chhina is tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and his future ambitions as the Sarpanch of Chhina. What motivated you to choose this path? I wanted to make my village a role
model for all villages in the country. I wanted the residents of Chhina to have access to basic amenities, a clean environment and good infrastructure. To improve the living standards of the village, I quit my job in an MNC and then in the public sector. How was the plan of making Chhina an Open Defecation Free village executed? Until we improve the basic living standards of the people, we cannot talk about the overall development of the village. We had to elaborate on the cons of defecating in the open and emphasise on the need of having and using a toilet at home. Initially, we had to identify the ones who went out to defecate. We knew that we have to first build toilets for the ones deprived of it and then, we coordinated with the district authorities to build toilets for every house in the village under the Swachh Bharat Mission. We carried out a series of awareness programs to educate the people about the cons of open defecation. Several documentaries and films on this issue were shown to the ones who go out in the open, to motivate them to abolish the practice. A door-to-door campaign explaining the noxious effects of the practice was implemented. All these efforts were only possible with the cooperation and support of the residents, and eventually, Chhina was declared ODF on March 31, 2017. How can this plan be scaled up nationally? We need leaders with noble intentions and administrative capabilities. Unfortunately, most Sarpanchs lack literacy and I have observed that people from rural areas look up to leaders who are educated and are willing to follow them. I had this advantage of being a gold medalist and having the exposure of living in a city which is why the people of my town have faith in me. Another crucial aspect is financing. We had planned a sewerage project connecting every house in the entire village. It would have normally incurred around 32.5 lakhs had it been a contractor, but we completed it within 8.5 lakhs. We made it possible because of the support from the youth of Chhina. As they say Jab aap achchi niyyat se kaam karte hain toh aapko kaamyaabi milti hain, we need lead-
ers with resolve and a plan of action to change the mindsets of the people in rural areas. How do you think changing mindsets will help? Though tough, it isn't impossible. I went to a house and, the lady of that family told me that she has a very compact house and the only space left to build a toilet was adjacent to the kitchen. She was adamant that she could not cook and excrete in adjacent rooms because it would be unhealthy and unhygienic. Coincidentally, the loo in my home was also adjacent to the kitchen. I took her home and explained that despite having the toilet beside the kitchen for 25 years, all my family members were healthy and hygienic. That is when she agreed with me. Convincing people to change their mindsets with examples that are relatable to them is required. Earlier, when the water tankers used to release water, the residents would fill their buckets. Unfortunately, they didn't have the privilege of taps in their homes and used pipes which led to massive wastage of water. We tried to provide an alternative and installed taps in every home. However, there wasn't a drastic change in the wastage as people would open the tap for the buck-
ets to be filled, but would not close the taps. That made me realise that the problem was not only due to the lack of equipment but also the mindset. Subsequently, when the pump operator would release water, I would go to a street and knock at every door – asking them permission to let me close their taps. When I did this for a couple of days, word spread that tap bandh karlo warna Sarpanch khud aajayega. This is how we started conserving water and if we look at the ratio: Illiteracy in the extreme rural areas is high. It obviously would lead to a conservative attitude and an orthodox mindset among the people. Changing this for the betterment of the way of life of your own is important and necessary. We need leaders with a vision, commitment and clarity. How Chhina is tackling the COVID-19 pandemic? The COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented. Initially, I read the guidelines given by the World Health Organisation. As it was being shown in the news, we knew that it would be disastrous for us if the virus spread throughout the country. After a meeting was held in our panchayat, we took a bold decision of declar-
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Cleanliness has been a top priority for you, do you think it will be a priority for everyone in a postCOVID era? Yes, there has been a change in the lifestyle of the residents. We have started taking cognizance of the importance of cleanliness in our lives. People are willing to take the extra mile to clean the surroundings of their houses. The perception of a clean lifestyle in rural areas is changing.
ing lockdown on March 20, 2020. We sanitised the entire town using sodium hypochlorite every 48 hours, as it is the only known effective disinfectant. We knew that people would like to get together in the evening in our town. We made sure that circles were drawn in front of every house with a minimum distance of 2 meters between them. One person from every house was made to stand on it and, we gave detailed instructions emphasising the importance of physical distancing and cleanliness. We had conducted around seven-eight awareness sessions regarding the pandemic. We supplied masks and sanitisers for free in all the
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households. We set up live kitchens to help the needy by providing them cooked-food. We provided ration and groceries to the people who couldn't afford them. It has been a cumulative effort with contributions from every citizen of Chhina in their way. Fortunately, there have been no positive cases yet. Hopefully, this continues. Even though the lockdown restrictions have been eased by the Government, we have been stern in our decision of not allowing citizens to enter/go out of the village until it is necessary, we shall continue to do the same until the situation becomes normal.
What are your ambitions for the future of Chhina? The reason why I came back to Chhina is that someone told me that my village was dirty. I wanted to prove a point that the same person thinks that Chhina is better on par with the plush cities in Punjab. My only vision was to provide a better lifestyle for my people. However, infrastructure is not the only sphere where I want to focus on. Health, Education, Gender Equality, and Poverty Reduction are the primary focuses of an administration point-ofview because infrastructure only helps when people are self-sufficient. We have taken substantial measures in empowering women. The inauguration ceremonies and foundation stones are presided by women, completely abolishing VIP Culture. We have set up name-plates for every house, which also includes the name of the woman in the family and the chief of the house is the woman. These are small steps which encourage equality of gender. I want Chhina to be a role model for other rural areas in the country concerning the lifestyle, basic amenities (which are generally limited to the cities), state-of-theart facilities, beautification and the living standards of the residents. I hope that I will be able to achieve these targets with the help of my people.
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Environment & people
Sourav Das
"A
t the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom," states a very popular extract from Jawaharlal Nehru's address on the eve of Independence. On August 15, 1947, India was reborn, free from the shackles of the colonisers. Looking forward with optimism, she was alive, awake but with an empty stomach. The initial years of independence were plagued with food shortages. The agricultural system destroyed by the British was in a deficit of funds, infrastructure and, the farmers were mostly poor and laden with debt. Agriculture not being sustainable India had to import food, which was nothing short of irony for a historically agrarian country with such diversity of food crops. There was a dire need for a system which would implement a methodical and
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Is the Green revolution green enough? Once considered a miracle in Indian Agriculture, has now become the very problem it ought to solve. scientific approach to this problem. In 1965, a leading geneticist MS Swaminathan proposed an agricultural approach completely new to India, an approach built on a principle of sustainability, scalability and economic value which mainly focused on high yield crops. This kicked off rapid modernisation and mechanisation of Indian Agriculture, popularly known as Green Revolution. The Green Revolution turned India from an importer to a major exporter of food grains.
The green revolution was first implemented in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, and over the years southern states have also adopted this agricultural methodology. Green Revolution introduced mechanisation, high yield variety seeds, irrigational infrastructure, use of artificial fertiliser and pesticides. Initially, the government subsidised seeds, fertilisers and pesticides to encourage farmers use them. Over a few crop cycles, India slowly headed towards sustained self-reliance in terms
of food. Initially, Gangetic plains and Punjab were chosen because of their vast availability of water. Eventually, Punjab became the leading producer of wheat and, as this trend spread across India, states of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh now lead the production of paddy. Apart from India being self-reliant in terms of food production, another immediate consequence of the green revolution was an increase in wealth and standard of living among the rural populace. Farmers in India have always been portrayed as povertystricken and helpless, but the Green Revolution has given a new class of modern agriculturists who have been breaking this stereotype. For instance, B V Siva Sankar Naidu a Bengal gram farmer from Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh has been very prosperous in the trade. In a brief conversation with him, he explains how they use mechanised tilling after the first rains, which helps increase the water retention capacity of the soil. Fertilisers are used in every 15 days before seeds are sown and, unwanted grass and weeds are removed by mechanised tilling. Though fertilisers and higher quality seeds need some initial investment, they help him obtain good returns on each acre of land. The harvesting process is also fairly mechanised. The crop cutting is done manually in their area. However, the separation of the grains and seeds are mechanised. On enquiring further about the profitability of farming in Kurnool district, he states that the initial investment per acre can be Rs 9,000 to 10,000 per acre mainly due to requirement of fertilisers but, the return on investment for a crop season covers the budget. He further adds that the situation is quite the same for most other farmers in his village and farming using modern practices along with good availability of water is economically viable. As the demand and competition in the industry is on a rise due to the burgeoning population, farmers are forced to squeeze more and more produce from their lands to meet the
demands and also for their own survival. This exposes the underlying flaws in the Green Revolution. The heart of Green Revolution lies in the adoption of a high yield seed variety and of external elements to boost the yield. Though usage of high yield varieties is efficient and profitable, they need copious amounts of water and fertilisers to produce the desired output. Over the years, freshwater has become more and more scarce. Green Revolution was built on the assumption that water is an abundant natural resource. Naturally, the sources dried up over the last few decades. Over use of pesticides and fertilisers is also a huge concern, and rampant use of them to increase production pollutes the soil. Nitrogenous compounds, phosphates seep into freshwater bodies used for drinking. Today Green Revolution has become the cause of farmer debts, economic crisis, which ultimately lead to suicides. Green revolution worked well for areas which have natural irrigation but, in other places it caused scarcity of water leading to crop failures and huge losses. Farmers often need to invest heavily on water pumps and other irrigation machinery to compensate for lack of freshwater bodies. Even the fertilisers pollute and damage the soil rendering it useless for farming as is, prompting the use of more fertilisers and this pattern continues. Heavy investments on irrigation machinery, fertilisers and occasional crop failures trap farmers in a cycle of debt. Green revolution has become the very problem it promised to overcome. "Green revolution is not so rosy after all," says Umendra Dutt, founder of Kheti Virasat Mission, an NGO which has pioneered in promoting organic farming and upliftment of farmers affected by the Green Revolution. In a brief interview, he talks about how Green Revolution has affected the farming community and ecology. He also mentions how organic farming is a much better alternative. Here is an extract from the conversation
Environement & People had with Umendra Dutt.
How has the Green Revolution affected? My narrative is influenced by grassroots. The Green Revolution is not so rosy after all, it is violent, red and not much good, to see in it. The good elements are temporary and unsustainable. It caused the destruction of civilisation, cultural ethos, health, ecology, ecosystem, sustainability and food sovereignty. To what extent has the Green revolution contributed to the pollution? It involved sowing the crops and poisoning the field, air, water and soil with chemicals, then harvesting the poisoned
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crops and feeding the nation poisoned food. This only focuses on the yield, which I call a syndrome, the 'yield syndrome'. It has destroyed the agro-biodiversity, exhausted the aquifers as well as has affected the food culture and the heritage of not only Punjab but the entire country. The Green revolution enabled the country to produce food indigenously. How would like to describe it? India still imports huge amounts of urea, potash, NPK and other fertiliSers because the Green Revolution is dependent on these and, without them, it cannot sustain. Previously it was a begging bowl for wheat and, now it is for chemicals. So, the bowl has been there consistently. What is your take on the high
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yield variety seeds usually sold by controversial agrotech companies? Several companies are selling high yield varieties, genetically modified seeds. I think these attack our agricultural and food sovereignty.
farmers to grow 30 to 50 different kinds of vegetables, so, it is biodiversity-rich agriculture. We are also promoting organic cotton now. We are advocating for handlooms, organic cotton khadi and traditional handicrafts.
How can organic farming be scaled up? Only organic farming is sustainable and can feed the world. It is also essential to save humanity and other life forms on earth. When I say organic farming, it also includes water conservation, rainwater harvesting, large scale tree plantation, saving birds, soil microorganisms, honey bees and other pollinators. Organic farming is a holistic approach to farming and not a compartmentalised one. A Green Revolution is a reductionist approach. In the case of Andhra Pradesh, the state is adopting a zero budget farming approach which is very good and is working. So I think Andhra Pradesh is way ahead and other states should learn from Andhra Pradesh.
What is the roadmap you have drawn for the future with respect to organic farming? We are planning to start open universities to teach organic farming. Organic farms will be converted into open universities where experienced farmers will teach their contemporaries from different regions to grow crops organically. They will spread good practices and methods. In conclusion, the green revolution did benefit us to an extent but, recently its limitations and side effects seem too glaring to ignore. Green Revolution was designed in a desperate phase when there was a shortage of food grains, and India was afflicted with poverty and hunger. During this phase, an aggressive approach such as this seemed to be an ideal option to bail out the country from starvation. We still have a growing population and, a huge percentage of it still comes under the below poverty line. Feeding them is a great challenge in itself but, considering the pace at which the environment is degrading, we do need to think of more eco-friendly options. Organic farming seems like an extremely viable option and, should be given a chance. Maybe, we do need a second Green Revolution, a more eco-friendly one and a more sustainable one.
What has been the impact through the Kheti Virasat Mission? Kheti Virasat Mission has helped convert around 25,000 farmers and especially women farmers into organic farming. Presently, in every district, we have organic farmers. How beneficial is your approach for farmers when compared to the Green Revolution that allows one crop a year? Our farmers are growing 50 to 100 different crops a year. We are also encouraging the multi-tier cropping system. It also allows
Eco
IQ
1. Which type of lighting saves the most energy? a. Halogen Bulb
b. Incandescent Light Bulb
c. CFL Bulb
2. 2. Which is more environment-friendly? a. Recyclable plastic bag b. Reusable Canvas bag c. Both are equally environment-friendly
3. 3. An electric device, when switched off but connected to the mains, still draws electricity? a. True
b. False
4. Which uses the most amount of water? a. Bath
b. Shower
c. Bathing from a bucket
5. At a traffic light, you should: a. Turn off the engine
b. Keep the engine in idle
c. Doesn't matter
6. Recharging a single-use battery is a good way to save the environment: a. True
b. False
7. Which harms the environment the least? a. Petrol cars
b. Diesel cars
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BIODIVERSITY IN INDIA: ISSUES, CHALLENGES AND INITIATIVES TAKEN
Loss of Biodiversity has always been a pressing problem in the world, especially in India. Therefore, including many world organisations, the Indian government is also contributing to promoting the conservation of biodiversity. Nishitha Pokala
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s a part of World Environment Day celebrated on June 5 every year, this year's theme was focused on biodiversity. The theme centres on the urge to guard earth's resources and reinstate them. Biodiversity is a principle resource that needs to be diligently conserved, as it holds the key to the progress of a country. India, as a country, always suffered through the loss of biodiversity, which is currently occurring at an unnerving rate. The time has come to focus on the issues and chalEnvironment & people
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lenges faced by our country that is leading to the loss of biodiversity in India. Habitat destruction by humans along with the startling increase in the pollution, exploitation of natural resources, the introduction of genetically modified organisms and several other factors, are the major causes of deprivation of biodiversity. While our government is constantly striving to descend the effects caused by bereavement of biodiversity, they are facing many inevitable challenges their way and, there is a need to act quickly to counter these problems. Challenges for India to curb the loss of Biodiversity: The major challenge faced by the Indian government is the need to destroy the natural habitats of fauna and replace them with houses, hotels and malls as well as bystreets, highways and utilities that support them because of drastic increase in population. Urban areas especially are severely affected and have very scarce bio-
diversity. At least 10 per cent of India's wild flora and probably more of its wild fauna are on the list of threatened species; many are on the verge of extirpation. There are many species of flora and fauna which have been obliterated without the knowledge of humankind as their existence remained unknown manifesting the diversity of biota. South Indian city, Bengaluru has always been an important place for urbanisation. Earlier, the city was called 'India's Garden City', which has now been subjected to a major transformation with the accelerated growth of apartments, buildings, malls and commercial complexes. The choices made by humankind and their behaviour have an adverse effect on
Biodiversity. We humans now use 40 per cent of the planet's annual net photosynthesis production. One example regarding the same -the topography of Hyderabad was quite dry and grungy due to the impact of urbanisation. Tree plantations were conducted extensively across the city to increase the greenery and scenic beauty of the place. The species selected were a thoughtful mix of local and exotic, mainly focused on increasing the picturesque of the city. Later, these were destroyed to build malls, houses to meet the demands of expanding population. Global warming has also led to the dissipation of biodiversity. Depletion in the ozone layer resulted in the extinction of many carbon sensitive species contributing to the degradation of natural ecosystems.
India also has significant global hotspots of biodiversity. Overpopulation, poverty and fuel deficiency are undeniably the major challenges faced by our world, leading to the exploitation of all the available resources. Taking all these factors into consideration, the Indian government has launched few initiatives to promote Biodiversity. Initiatives taken by Indian government in 2020 to promote biodiversity Recently, Union Environment Minister of India had addressed a few initiatives towards the conservation of biodiversity. He stressed on the fact to optimize our consumption and promote a sustainable lifestyle. Emphasizing on this year's theme, Javadekar said that our solutions are in nature and thus, safeguarding it is very
important. He launched the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Biodiversity Samrakshan Internship Program, which intends to engage 20 students with a postgraduate degree for one year through an online competitive process. The program proposes to entail creative students who are enthusiastic in learning about the biodiversity and resource management, to learn about natural resource management and biodiversity conservation and to support the projects of NBA in various states and Union Territories. A campaign has also been launched by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau with UNEP that wishes to focus on these environmental challenges, to raise awareness, and to favour resolutions. A Webinar Series on the promotion of Biodiversity and Biological Diversity Act, 2002, was also launched along with the WWF Model Conference of Parties (MCoP), involving the youth of India. It was to steer in a new beginning and indulge in conversations around the effect of humanity's footprint on biodiversity and also the prominence of sustenance of biodiversity. The Indian government has also come up with a 10-year plan to protect birds and their habitats. Government is also rigorously working towards addressing risks like alien species, global warming and developments that threaten nature by assuring equal distribution of profits from the use of genetic resources. This idea involves a series of plans to preserve the unique and endangered species of birds, especially critically endangered ones. The government also proposed landscape approach to control their descending numbers, to save birds and spare their habitats from turning into wastelands. This program is keenly taking care of anthropogenic activities leading to intensifying levels of greenhouse gas emissions having a direct impact on the environment. Therefore, programs like these intend to narrow down such impacts on avifauna. On account of World Environment Day, Prakash Javadekar started "Nagar Van" with 200 corporations and cities across India, mainly intending to increase the forest cover in urban areas. The minister said, "Our lifestyle is with
nature. Rural areas have forests, but urban areas don't have as much. We have decided to launch today the Nagar Van program with 200 corporations. Urban forests will work as urban lungs. I appeal to people to work together and make it a people's movement. We will reward people who participate and make it a success. Plant trees and increase their number as they are oxygen tanks." (Source: The Hindu) As many species of river otters have been heavily hunted in the past, there is an alarming need to rescue them. As a result, SAI Sanctuary Trust in Coorg will be pushing for a river otter sanctuary, to protect this almost vanished species. Although our government is steadily striving towards conserving Biodiversity, we should also do our part by conserving the best we can. We can no longer remain spectators. We must and should promote Biodiversity to lead a resourceful life.
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Environment & people
Zerund: Recycling waste brick by brick! Plastic waste being a global problem is common knowledge, but the steps undertaken by individuals to deal with the issue are not so common. Ruehie Karri
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ho would have thought it was possible to combine manufacturing construction materials with the recycling of waste? Yet, this very green idea has been carried out successfully by Zerund Bricks, a Guwahati-based start-up that is proud of its contribution to the wellness of our environment in a major way. Brick kilns are touted to be one of the largest sources of black carbon, which contributes to nearly 20 per cent of the total black carbon emissions. They are inefficient and harmful to the environment due to the copious amounts of particulate matter, sul-
phur dioxide, black carbon and other toxins that are released into the atmosphere. Switching to alternate technologies will mitigate these emissions by more than 90 per cent and, this is exactly what the team Zerund Bricks intends to do. The brains behind this innovation, Rupam Choudhury, Mousum Talukdar and David Pratim Gogoi are civil engineers hailing from Assam Engineering College. By using 60-70% of the raw materials from waste products such as plastic waste and fly ash and saying no to firing bricks in kilns, this start up is paving the way for construction industries to become eco-friendly. Their patented Plastic Embedded Lightweight bricks are 10% lighter than the traditional bricks and work as an excellent green alternative. Initially designed as a project for their final year in college, this idea blossomed into a full-blown start-up after the three cofounders received an overwhelming response about their venture. Zerund Bricks: how did it begin? David: Meticulous research for our final
year project began in March 2018. Mousum suggested experimenting with plastic waste while manufacturing bricks. He was responsible for a lot of the ideation and research that went into finalising the product. After submitting a prototype to our college, we threw ourselves into several brainstorming stretches to kickstart our company. Several trial and error sessions later, most of which involved analysing how to process the plastic as well as identifying the right proportions to mix with the brick mixture, the mission was accomplished. We did not want to melt the plastic as that would result in toxic carbon emissions. Instead, we designed our machine that would grind the plastic waste into a fine powder with no side-effects, whatsoever. By September 2018, we had registered our company and started producing 200-250 bricks per day. Now our production has increased tenfold with nearly 2500 bricks being manufactured daily. Walking us through the manufacturing process David: The first step would be to grind the plastic into powder, using one of our
specially customised machines. The powdered plastic, called microbeads, is one of the main components of the brick-making mixture. The other components include fly ash, cement and organic chemicals. Using electric machines, belt conveyors and other equipment, the lowcost bricks are manufactured. What is the unique selling point of your product? Rupam: We've stayed as far away from the conventional brick manufacturing process as possible to make a mark in this industry. Not only did we do away with firing up bricks in kilns but also came up with an attractive pricing strategy for our product. Six regular red
Zerund Bricks? David: We make use of waste products like fly ash and plastic as part of the raw material mixture. The National Thermal Plant Corporation (NTPC) in Kokrajhar, Assam disposes of the fly ash generated as a by-product from its operations, by sending it to us. We recycle close to 300 tonnes monthly. Breaking it down to a daily basis, 10 tonnes (10,000 kilograms) of fly ash is utilised. 16 tonnes of plastic waste is put to use in the manufacturing process monthly. Roughly, 500 kilograms on a day-to-day scale. The future of Zerund Bricks David: Till recently, we were operating
Advice on the safe use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers To protect yourself and others against COVID-19, clean your hands frequently and thoroughly. Use alcohol-based hand sanitizer or wash your hands with soap and water. If you use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, make sure you use and store it carefully. Keep alcohol-based hand sanitizers out of children’s reach. Teach them how to apply the sanitizer and monitor its use. Apply a coin-sized amount on your hands. There is no need to use a large amount of the product.
clay bricks priced at Rs 9 each, cost Rs 54 and makeup for one Zerund brick priced at Rs 42 per brick. Slashing the existing rates by nearly 15-20 per cent, this makes the investment very cost-effective. Also, as much as an increase of 10-12 per cent is seen in the thermal insulation provided by these bricks. The use of plastic as a raw material increases resistance to water absorption. As a result, water retention capacity is almost 15% lower than the regular bricks, providing stronger structures during rainfall, which is just what is required in that region. Considering all the features, Zerund Bricks make for a very useful and eco-friendly product indeed. How much of a difference have you seen ever since the inception of
from a single plant in Azara, Guwahati. By a stroke of luck, we happened upon a fully equipped plant, which was up for lease and this got us thinking. A quick search of plants that were already equipped, but, not being used was carried out and, we acquired the plant in Bongaigaon, Assam in March of this year. With over 1000+ clients and sales of more than 2.5 lakh bricks, Zerund Bricks has made a name for itself. The team at Zerund are also looking forward to expanding operations throughout Northeast India, starting with Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. The aim is to become India's largest brick manufacturers, albeit with an environmental conscience!
Avoid touching your eyes, mouth and nose immediately after using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, as it can cause irritation. Hand sanitizers recommended to protect against COVID-19 are alcohol-based and therefore can be flammable. Do not use before handling fire or cooking. Under no circumstance, drink or let children swallow an alcoholbased hand sanitizer. It can be poisonous. Remember that washing your hands with soap and water is also effective against COVID-19.
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Angus Wright
When we were children, a long auto trip would require a stop every hour or so to clean the windshield of the insects that had been intercepted.
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oday’s windshields are spared this indignity—a convenience for motorists but a terrifying signpost of danger for the well being of the planet and humanity. It would be difficult to exaggerate the current peril we face as we push forward into what is now understood as the beginning of a new mass extinction. Yet efforts to curb this potential catastrophe are hindered by limited understanding of the relevant sciences, both natural
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and social. And a keystone issue is agriculture, both as partial cause of the crisis, and potential contributor to its solution. This is understood technically, but restricted limits of debate continue to force a restricted set of proposed solutions. To take an extreme example, E. O. Wilson, one of the world’s best-known biologists, recently proposed that half of the Earth’s surface should be put into protected status for the sole purpose of preserving biodiversity. While his proposal is unusually bold, the general idea of a vast expansion of protected areas is common among some conservationists in the United States and elsewhere. At present, something less than fifteen percent of planetary surface is in some kind of protected status, with various international agencies committed to expanding protected areas to seventeen percent. Implementation of what Wilson calls a “Half-Earth” strategy would require that more than three times as much land than at present be designated as “protected” areas for the primary purpose of biodiversity protection. Wilson acknowledges that a Half-Earth approach would require an extreme intensification of agricultural production on land outside protected areas in order to provide enough food for human needs. He does little to contemplate what kind of intensification would be required. Neither does he acknowledge the impact conventional intensification would have on biodiversity. Since he relies on previous production gains under industrial agriculture as evidence of the possibility of greater gains using similar techniques, he apparently does not see any serious drawbacks to such techniques. Some conservationists who favor strategies similar to Wilson’s, speak of agricultural land as “sacrifice zones,” in which intensification, making liberal use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers and other industrial style techniques, would necessarily reduce nonfood organisms to a bare minimum, a “sacrifice” necessary for the pesky species Homo sapiens. Ironically, these conservationists’ support for land-sparing converges with agribusiness’ interests to increase industrial agricultural intensification. In the growing scientific literature, this
perspective has come to be called “land-sparing,” with the idea that agricultural intensification must be used to spare as much land as possible from human activity in order to leave the rest for the flourishing of nonhuman species. In contrast to the land-sparing approach, others who are equally as interested in biodiversity conservation have proposed a “land sharing” approach, in which it is argued that high food production and biodiversity conservation may be achieved most efficiently if pursued simultaneously in a planned fashion. This point of view is suspicious of what
emphasize the need to have an agriculture that is favorable for the survival of species. The first sees the protected area as the only place where biodiversity is conserved; the second sees a benign form of agriculture that itself contains the whole of the biodiversity. In the second edition of our book, Nature’s Matrix, we argue that both sides of this debate are wrong. Most of Earth’s terrestrial surface contains patches of natural, unmanaged, vegetation. The “landscape” is, by definition, those patches plus the “matrix” in which they are located.
they call the “fortress” protection ideology, in which areas are designated to be free of any human activity, assuming that in such areas all species initially there will survive in perpetuity. The land-sharing point of view is frequently characterized, perhaps incorrectly, as one in which the agricultural activity itself needs to be sufficiently benign for all the biodiversity in the area, such that purely protected areas are unnecessary.
A simplified summary suggests that for one side, the only thing that matters are the patches of natural vegetation (and thus they need to be protected), while for the other side the only thing that matters is a matrix that is conducive to the survival of species. Both sides are wrong. Very basic ecology acknowledges that local extinctions of species occur regularly, even in the most protected of areas. Local extinctions are, in fact, a normal part of nature. What determines ultimate survival is whether the matrix of the landscape allows for migration and/or reproduction. Protected areas are very seldom large enough to provide conditions for the survival
Either-or Versus Both-and The land-sparers emphasize increasing agricultural production to minimize land-use devoted to agriculture. The land-sharers
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of most species. If species do not move freely through that matrix, then local extinctions can balloon into regional, and even global, extinctions. Thus, the ability for organisms to migrate and reproduce in agricultural areas is critical. The survival of a species in even the most protected areas will be otherwise undermined by surrounding industrial agricultural “sacrifice zones.” What we propose in our second edition of Nature’s Matrix is not a strictly “land sharing’ approach, since we recognize the need for maintaining protected areas. However, we also recognize that the goal of producing enough food to satisfy human nutritional demand does not require the conversion of those protected areas to agriculture, no matter how biodiversity friendly. We agree with Kremen’s recent analysis of the debate, noting that instead of an eitheror approach, we need a “both–and” approach that “favors both large, protected regions and favorable surrounding matrices.”2 We fur-
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ther argue that a matrix favorable to biodiversity can only be achieved by an alliance of diverse social movements and organizations. Promoting the Nature’s Matrix Approach In the United States and other industrialized nations, there are a variety of organizations that implicitly or explicitly favor this “nature’s matrix” perspective, including most environmental organizations. Among the most important are land trust organizations that sign contracts with land owners to create or maintain agriculture that
is supportive of relatively high species diversity. Organizations bringing together practitioners and researchers of low input or organic agriculture, agroecology, rotational grazing, and production of perennial crops all usually favor species friendly production techniques. In Europe, and to a lesser degree in the United States, governments offer cash payments or other reimbursements to farmers who adopt production plans that directly and indirectly favor wildlife.3 These initiatives are complemented in many urban areas by planning for parks, parkways, and greenbelts that offer wildlife-friendly areas within urban boundaries, and in the best of circumstances, connect urban landscapes directly to biodiversity friendly agriculture. In the biodiverse tropics, support for high quality matrices include organizations of those who are already practicing biodiversity-friendly agriculture, such as those cultivating shade grown coffee and cacao. These organizations are supported by trade certification schemes for “shade grown” and “bird friendly” products. In Asia, there are smallholder rice systems which support high biodiversity, and organizations which support them. Frequently these organizations include land reform movements, organizations of producers within designated extractive reserves, indigenous peoples, and family farm confederations, most of which have officially adopted policies promoting agroecological farming techniques that tend to create highquality, biodiversity-friendly matrices. The organization La Via Campesina, an international alliance of peasant and smallscale agricultural producers, promotes such approaches. There is a general recognition among such organizations that, for a variety of reasons, their members have often practiced agriculture that tends to destroy or degrade species-rich environments, but that
understanding strengthens their resolve to support positive change that, they believe, will tend to support more successful, smallscale agricultural production as well as biodiverse landscapes. As in industrialized countries, a substantial portion of the environmental movement in the global south supports policies promoting agroecological approaches to agriculture that promote complex landscapes friendly to high levels of biodiversity. The Search for Empirical Validation Empirical study of the two strategies has been less than convincing, due to limitations in both time and space. How long a time period is appropriate? Useful studies must begin with actually occurring landscapes, landscapes in which an intricate dance involving agriculture and species survival has a long history. Counting insect splats on our windshield over the average period of five years will not likely lead us to the same conclusions as 50 year personal observations. Indeed, there is virtually uniform acknowledgment from the community of scientific ecologists that local extinctions are extensive, leading some to refer to the “extinction debt” of particular landscape patterns. This reality means that we have little idea of when the dance might be declared over, making it exceedingly difficult to set empirically appropriate beginnings and ends to studies. We may be able to measure population density at a given point in time, but knowing whether any given population is decreasing its numbers to near extinction is a difficult empirical problem. Similarly, if two such landscape level approaches are to be compared, where does one draw the boundary between one approach and the other? Most actually occurring landscapes seem to be a blend of the two strategies in ways that make it very difficult to compare because only an arbitrary spatial boundary can be determined, and yet, if none is determined, what should be measured? In addition, very few advocates of either position insist on a simple either/or dichotomy and are compelled to recognize that all regional landscapes are some kind of a mix. In contrast to Wilson’s sharply arbitrary “half-earth” suggestion, most involved in the debate on both sides understand that it is a matter of emphasis rather than a question of choosing between polar opposites.
Not surprisingly, a proliferation of carefully designed studies meant to compare sparing and sharing approaches have led to conclusions that add detail to understanding the problem but that fall far short of demonstrating the superiority of one approach over the other. In spite of a very measured and reasonable effort by Kremen in 2015 to put an end to an increasingly polarized debate, Wilson and others continue efforts to sharpen the idea of an “either-or” approach by vastly
approach, where both natural vegetation patches and a high quality matrix comprise the landscape, the essential problem with the land-sparing perspective can be summarized in two related points: first, land-sparing strategies assume that protected areas are far more protective of biodiversity than is the case; and, second, the strategies assume that the negative effect of industrial agriculture on biodiversity is minimal and can remain so even under measures to intensify production. Both of these assumptions rest on an idea of
increasing the territorial ambitions of the land-sparing advocates while avoiding critical discussion of the damaging effects of industrial agriculture. And the growing attempt to study the problem empirically may confuse rather than enlighten. Despite a significant amount of research, convincing empirical evidence establishing one approach over the other is not to be found. There are a number of reasons for this lack of resolution, reasons that are fundamental to the nature of the problem and unlikely to be resolved. For those of us who argue for a landscape
control over nature that is illusory. The insects flying out of a reserve understand little of the poison that awaits them in the neighboring soybean landscape. This false sense of control over both human life and ecological processes derives at least partially from a particular way of thinking shaped by a particular moment in political time and space, and is not likely to serve either humanity or biodiversity well. (Source: ipsnews.net)
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The molecule that the coronavirus attacks in our bodies – Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 – is present not just in our lungs, but in our gastrointestinal tract as well.
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hen we think of the symptoms of coronavirus, we think of the lungs – people on ventilators or with nasty coughs, struggling to breathe. That’s because a COVID-19 positive patient often presents with fever, persistent cough, muscle pain and fatigue. But the molecule which the virus attacks in our bodies – Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 or ACE2 – is present not just in our lungs, but in our gastrointestinal tract as well. This is what could be behind the significant number of cases in which patients show gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhoea,
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nausea and vomiting. A recent commentary in Gut, a British Medical Journal publication, highlighted important evidence from China which showed that if a patient presents with gastrointestinal issues, like diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting, more than a quarter of them may not have respiratory symptoms. Unlike previous work, which had shown that less than 4% of COVID-19 patients had gastrointestinal symptoms, this study put the rate at 11%. Others have suggested that the rate may be as high as 60%. In these small studies, the researchers also linked patients with gastrointestinal presentations to poorer outcomes. When they compared them to those without gastroin-
testinal symptoms, patients had more severe disease, higher fevers and a greater risk of liver injury. In a separate study of those with a mild form of COVID-19, researchers compared those who had gastrointestinal or respiratory symptoms, or both, with those presenting only with respiratory symptoms. They found that 23% of patients had gastrointestinal presentations alone, while 57% had both a gut and a respiratory illness. It also took longer for those with digestive symptoms to clear the virus. Gut invaders It is interesting to note that the first case of novel coronavirus reported in the US had two days of nausea and vomiting and episodes of diarrhoea in addition to their respiratory symptoms. The virus was detected
in samples from this patient’s nose, their throat but also isolated from stool samples collected. Analysis of specimens taken from the gastrointestinal tract of 95 COVID19 patients has identified the virus in the oesophagus, stomach, duodenum and rectum. The virus also showed up in about half of the stool samples collected. The suggestion is that the gastrointestinal symptoms are caused by the virus invading the ACE2-containing cells that are found throughout the bowel. This together with the presence of the virus in the stool suggest the gastrointestinal tract as another possible route of infection and transmission.
It appears that SARS-CoV-2 is detectable in the stool for several days after it has cleared from respiratory tract samples. So patients who have recovered from COVID-19 or are asymptomatic could be shedding virus into their stool without knowing it, potentially increasing the risk of transmission to others. Why your microbiome matters Why do symptoms in your gut mean you might get a worse case of COVID19? It’s likely that the composition of your microbiome – the millions of bacteria and other organisms that usually live in our gastrointestinal tract – is a critical part of how an individual responds to COVID-19. One group of researchers created a
risk score based on biomarkers in the blood that can be increased or decreased depending on the composition of your microbiome. They found that the higher the score, the worse the outcome from COVID-19. This association was stronger for older individuals. It may be that the health of our gut bacteria has a critical role in how our immune system reacts to the disease. So it’s important to maintain a healthy microbiome to fight COVID-19. How do you do that? The key is to eat to feed your microbiome. Eating plant-based food you cook yourself and limiting ultra-processed and take-away foods are to be commended, while supplementing your diet with natural probiotics such kombucha, kimchi and natural yoghurt. This will optimise your microbiome, not just for COVID-19, but for your long-term health as well. Gut feeling With the pandemic continuing, we should all pay more attention to our guts. Much of the focus to date has been on ventilators, intensive care and the respiratory consequences of the novel coronavirus infection. However, if you have new onset sickness and vomiting or diarrhoea, and no other explanation, it may be COVID-19 and you may need to seek help. And if it’s true that the gastrointestinal tract is another source for virus transmission in both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals, it remains paramount that people follow the advice to stay home and stay safe with a combination of shielding, social distancing and regular hand-washing. Finally, it is worth considering how to maintain a healthy microbiome in these challenging and unprecedented times – eating well may just make a difference to your COVID-19 outcome. (Source: The Conversation)
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India, Iran, Pakistan and a few African nations are reeling under the worst locust invasion in decades, with more waves expected in coming days. SANDHYA RAMESH and SAMYAK PANDEY
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here’s strength in numbers, goes the old adage. The desert locust, a voracious grasshopper wreaking havoc across vast swathes from African nations to India, takes the saying to new levels. It can eat its own body weight in food — around 2 g — and fly over 150 km in a day, riding the wind to ease the strain of long flights. If the conditions are right, millions of locusts gather into swarms the size of cities that can devour tonnes of food in a day. According to UN Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates, a swarm the size of Paris can eat the same amount of food in a day as half the population of France (based on the calculation that one person eats 2.3 kg of food a day). Among poorer nations, a locust infestation means a serious threat to food security. A similar situation is afoot
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currently, with the food security of some of Africa’s poorest nations at risk amid what the FAO has described as the worst locus infestation in a generation. Having arrived in India through Iran and Pakistan, the locusts have not just registered their presence in the border states of Rajasthan and Gujarat, but in the interiors of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh as well. The FAO has said much of these “movements were associated with strong westerly winds from Cyclone Amphan in the Bay of Bengal”. While the rabi crops, recently harvested, survived the onslaught, the locusts can take a
heavy toll on India’s kharif produce if not controlled by the time the harvest season arrives. It’s a grave prospect for farmers already struggling to shake off the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown. As India and other countries work to control the pests before they cause more damage, ThePrint tells you all you need to know about them. What makes locusts swarm Locusts are grasshoppers, different from their peers in their ability to change behaviour, habits and migrate over large distances. Grasshoppers, or hoppers, are solitary creatures that don’t live in groups. But if driven by hunger caused by drought or food scarcity, they start to gather together while foraging for food. As their population increases in an area, they start becoming “gregarious”. In ecology, gregariousness is the tendency of animals to form social groups to hunt or eat together. It tends to induce hoppers to start coordinating their movements and form swarms. Gregarious hoppers are referred to as locusts. There are three forms of swarms: Small pockets confined to certain areas, called outbreaks; slightly larger groups, called an upsurge, that are still geographically confined; and mega groups, called plagues, of locusts that are separated by breeding locations but gather together in swarms. Locusts are believed to become gregarious when they constantly touch each other on their hind legs. The touching and tickling of hind legs release a large amount of serotonin, a ‘happy hormone’ also found in humans and released in the body during exercise. Experiments have shown that this can occur in as few as 10 locusts if they are tightly packed. The process of gregariousness also induces changes in appearance, turning them from green to a shade of yellow-brown, and strengthening their muscles. When locusts swarm, they adopt aligned movement and fly or march together.
Nymphs, which are the flightless young of the locusts, march, and fly when their wings sprout. Desert locusts can fly over 130 km a day, and stay in the air for a long time. An FAO explainer states they have been known to cross the Red Sea, a distance of 300 km. A swarm is said to have flown a distance of over 5,000 km, from West Africa to the Caribbean, in 10 days in 1988. There can be as many as 40 million to 80 million locusts in a 1 square kilometre swarm. Female locusts can lay eggs at least thrice in their lifetime (roughly three to five months), at intervals of 6-11 days. Populations are said to have the capacity to multiply up to 20-fold in three months. Not a new enemy The swarms that have been attacking India in the recent past are unique in their strength and nature, but India frequently battles desert locust onslaughts. They usually arrive in July-October. In the 2019-20 cropping season, around 3.75 lakh hectares of crops were devoured by locust attacks in India with a loss of over Rs 100 crore, Ministry of Agriculture estimates suggest. Locusts have destroyed over 2 lakh hectares of crops in India since the beginning of May, and threaten another 6 lakh hectares of crop, an agriculture ministry official told ThePrint. Experts attribute the current deep invasion of locusts to the fact that while rabi crops have been harvested, kharif sowing is yet to begin. The low availability of crops is leading the swarms to devour leaves on trees, and vegetable, fruit and cotton crops, and move deeper into India in search of fodder. The swarm that is currently attacking India and other nations has its roots in heavy cyclones and rainfall over the past two years, a trend that has been attributed to climate change. The desert locust typically lives in the Arabian peninsula, in the arid regions of east Africa. Heavy rains in 2018 in the Horn of Africa region led many countries like Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia to flood, right after a very severe drought the previous year. For the locusts in the region, the wet conditions proved favourable. With even dormant eggs “reawakened”, they bred through three generations, leading to an 8,000-fold increase in locust numbers.
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By early 2019, the locust population in Africa had already reached swarm levels. From Africa, they moved to Iran, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia. Newer swarms formed and spread to Pakistan, where they devastated the cotton economy. The FAO said in January that the ongoing locust outbreak “is the worst to strike Ethiopia and Somalia for 25 years and the worst infestation that Kenya had experienced in 70 years”. They even flew back to Africa in the spring of 2019. Finally, this year, they landed in Rajasthan, swiftly moving into the country within a week. In 2019, the Thar desert received unexpected rainfall that proved favourable for locusts to breed. According to the latest locust watch bulletin from the FAO, spring breeding contin-
ues in Iran and Pakistan where control operations are in progress. As vegetation dries out because of the summer season, more swarms will move from these areas to the summer breeding areas along both sides of the IndoPakistan border in several waves until at least early July. History of damage India has not witnessed any full-blown locust cycle since 1962, except for a few surges in 1978 and 1993. Locusts have been known throughout history. They’ve been recorded in ancient Egypt through depictions on tombs dating back to 2500 BCE. The Bible records swarms from 1450 BCE. They’re also mentioned in the Quran and several other holy books.
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They’ve been recorded in ancient China, Greece, Rome, Syria, and other parts of the world. More recently, in the 19th century, a species of hopper known as the Rocky Mountain locust, now extinct, devastated large parts of the US. In 1875, a giant swarm reportedly consisting of over 12 trillion insects, spanning an estimated area of 5.1 lakh sq km — that is, bigger than Maharashtra and Karnataka put together — blacked out the sky over multiple states, like Colorado and Nebraska. They ate everything green, and more, including wool off sheep’s backs, harnesses off horses’ backs, and even the clothes people were wearing. This swarm was the largest gathering of any animal ever recorded. To curb the damage, desperate governments started introducing bounties for killed locusts, and farmers dug up pits and burnt them with flamethrowers. People even resorted to eating them. Grasshoppers and locusts are said to be among the most nutritious edible insects, with thrice the amount of protein than other kinds of meat. They’re a delicacy in many parts of the world, although this is changing with increased pesticide use. The Rocky Mountain locust population slowly started dwindling with changing farming activity. Ploughing, irrigation and mining are thought to have killed thousands of nests of eggs in the soil, bringing down their numbers. Within 20 years, this species disappeared off the face of the earth. The Rocky Mountain locust was last seen in 1902 and is now extinct. Its extinction is considered to be one of the biggest ecological mysteries. Today, North America and Antarctica are the only continents in the world to not have locusts. Damage and mitigation However, humans have a distinct advantage in fighting locusts now as compared to their ancestors — deeper knowledge and technology.
Farmers have switched to crops that can be harvested much before swarming season, and the locusts themselves can be controlled and killed with pesticides. Monitoring for locust breeding is essential as it is much easier to destroy eggs than fully grown locusts. At present, the primary method of controlling desert locust swarms is through organophosphate chemicals (the prime ingredient in herbicide and pesticide) applied in small concentrated doses by vehicle-mounted and aerial sprayers along with knapsackand hand-held sprayers. In rural areas of India, farmers have been known to beat steel utensils during late afternoons and evenings, and play loud music at night and create wood-fire, to ward off locust swarms from farms, albeit temporarily. Additionally, newer technology in the form of serotonin inhibition has shown promise in laboratory settings. Locust swarming has reduced drastically over the past few decades and is relatively rare today. Even then, it is imperative for vulnerable countries in Africa and Asia to closely monitor locusts and prepare for potential swarms. As the current locust swarms attacking crops in India have bred and matured in Iran and Pakistan, New Delhi has offered assistance to both the countries to jointly combat the locust menace. However, only Iran has accepted the offer so far. The External Affairs Ministry has approached state-owned HIL for the manufacture and supply of the pesticide Malathion Technical to Iran. India also has a locust warning and control organisation (LWO), formed in 1939 and overseen by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. The LWO monitors locust scenarios over desert areas. It has two headquarters, one in Faridabad (near New Delhi) for administrative duties and one in Jodhpur (Rajasthan) for technical operations. During the summer, a monthly meeting is held on the Indo-Pakistan border for locust officers from India and Pakistan to exchange information. Strident efforts are underway across the countries to control the current ‘plague’. But how the swarms are finally arrested remains to be seen. The answer, you can say, is blowing in the wind. (Source: theprint.in)
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global index of 180 countries has placed India 145th in regards to water quality and sanitation. India’s most famous river, the Ganges, is currently in a state of pollution. Low water quality and a supply of groundwater that is rapidly depleting is threatening to plunge India into a situation where famine and water-borne disease are commonplace. India’s population is on the rise India’s population is projected to reach more than 1.5 billion by 2030. This, in turn, increases demand for energy, resources and space. The implication of this is increased industrial output. This entails greater emissions of greenhouse gases, larger volumes of solid waste (much of which will be dumped at landfill) and increased deforestation as India urbanises and industrialises at a rapid
pace. Higher levels of pollution have caused large swathes of India’s groundwater to become contaminated, increasing the risk of contaminants in the form of both chemicals and pathogens. Inadequate safe drinking water, pollution to blame? India as a nation has undergone rapid industrialisation. India’s cities are growing at an unprecedented rate. As the population increases and more and more individuals move from rural to urban locations, power and housing needs increase accordingly. This has led to mass scale construction projects, as well as the necessary development of new power plants to provide for the ever growing cities. India now holds the fourteen most polluted June 2020
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cities in the world. Kanpur, in Uttar Pradesh, is at the top of the list. It has the world’s highest atmospheric concentration of PM2.5 (fine particulate matter), at 173 micrograms per cubic metre. India does not fare much better in lists based on PM10 pollution. Delhi is the world’s most polluted megacity in this regard, with Mumbai (India’s most populous city) in fourth place. Delhi also places sixth on the list of most polluted cities in terms of PM2.5 pollution. Such high levels of pollution in the air can also imply significant amounts of pollution in nearby water supplies. Bengaluru is one of the Indian cities where polluted water is causing severe issues. The city epitomises India’s current issues with drinking water. The Karnataka state capital – dubbed India’s ‘Silicon Valley’ – is one of ten global metropolises the Center for Science and Environment (CSE) says faces severe water shortages in the future. Since 1973, a digital tech industry boom has seen built-up land in Bengaluru increase from eight to 73 percent according to Down to Earth magazine. Dr TV Ramachandra of the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru told Health Issues India that paved surfacing could cover 98.5 percent of Bengaluru’s landscape by 2025. Contamination of groundwater, Dr Ramachandra claims, could be responsible for the rapid rise in chronic conditions in residents within the city. Contaminated Indian water, China to blame? The Brahmaputra river is being contaminated with bacteria and iron due to construction upstream in neighbouring China, claims Sarbananda Sonowal, chief minister of Assam. The river originates in the Tibetan Himalayas, flowing from China into India, through Arunachal Pradesh and Assam before flowing into Bangladesh. Officials in India claim construction within the Chinese segment of the river has caused pollution so severe it is present at a detectable level as far downstream as Assam. Laboratory testing of the river’s water within Assam has declared the water to be turbid and unfit for human consumption. Despite these accusations, some rebuttals have pointed out that construction, as well as large scale deforestation is occurring along
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the Indian section of the river, and that this may also be playing a role in the river’s contamination. Ground water, a depleting resource India will face severe shortages of water by 2050, a UNESCO report warns. This finding was backed up by a report published in The Lancet, which suggests that by 2050 India could be facing the very real threat of regular famine due to lack of groundwater. Rivers and groundwater resources are becoming increasingly heavily polluted across the country. The Central Pollution Control Board identifies 275 Indian rivers as
polluted – more than double the figure five years ago. The high levels of contamination across the country mean nineteen percent of the world’s people who lack access to clean water live in India. In the short term, this could result in situations similar to that seen in Cape Town, in which a “day zero” situation was approached where drinking water would no longer be available within the city. With dwindling supplies of unpolluted water available, this could become a regular occurrence within India if the situations is not resolved. Famine to be commonplace by 2050?
In the long term, the depletion of groundwater will lead to large scale reductions in agricultural output. In a country needing to feed a population exceeding a billion, the results of this could be catastrophic. The Lancet study suggests a shift in dietary habits within the country could slow the depletion. They found that diets high in meat had the greatest impact on groundwater depletion, as not only do the animals themselves require water, crops used for animal feed also require vast amounts of groundwater. Alongside this, wheat and rice consumption was also found to be a major contributor
to groundwater depletion. The study suggests a shift towards vegetables and pulses as the bulk of the nations diet, as these foods were found to be the most ecologically friendly. As India — particularly in urban regions — shifts closer towards a western diet filled with fast food, this manner of dietary change appears a far less likely possibility. Climate change may be playing a role in depleting water sources Water shortages are being seen as more of a common occurrences as temperatures and weather patterns change. Summers of recent years have been exceptionally hot,
with heatwaves becoming more frequent across the country. In mid-March of 2018, 91 major reservoirs were at just 32 percent of their capacity. Poor winter rains have left a number of India’s major river basins at a fraction of their water capacity. The capacity of the River Ganges basin – home to more than 400 million people – has dropped by 16.5 percent. The Sabarmati has fallen by 17.96 percent and the Tapi by 33.3 percent. A UN report from 2018 has predicted a 1.5 °C temperature rise globally by 2040 – with potentially devastating implications for India’s water supply. As temperatures rise they do not do so in an even manner. The figure is simply an average. In reality such a rise implies that heatwaves and more drastic cold temperatures are likely to be more common. Both of these issues can have devastating effects on water supply, in turn affecting the ability to grow crops. Water treatment of the Ganges During the last election cycle, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ran a campaign to clean drinking water and invest funds into sanitising the famous Ganges river. A plan has been proposed to have funding over a five and ten year period. According to an article published in Bloomberg, India plans to invest 1.3 billion USD into a system of sewage treatment plant along the Ganges river with the aim to clean the water for 118 towns along the banks. Water drainage during storms or the monsoons remain an issue since many cities find themselves flooded due to poor drainage systems. Such floods and the stagnant water they leave behind can have ill effects on public health. In 2018 the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has compared a dip in the Ganges to being as ‘injurious to health’ as a packet of cigarette. The risk of contracting infectious diseases from the Ganga water is high. The toxicity of the river is made significantly worse by industrial activity along the riverbanks. Disease outbreaks linked to water Contaminated water can cause outbreaks of diseases such as cholera. Due to the practice of open defecation, this is commonplace within India. Many rural communities draw their water from wells or ponds located near to the village. If open
defecation occurs in the vicinity of these water sources, the entire village’s drinking supply may become contaminated. If the contaminated water is used for irrigation, this can also cause any resultant crops to also be contaminated. The problem has become widespread in the state of Odisha, with the state government admitting they struggle to provide safe drinking water to tribals and rural populations. Many of these communities do not possess any public toilet facilities and so open defecation is a common occurrence, leaving the population vulnerable to water borne disease. Stagnant water following floods, or collected in artificial containers in cities can also pose a problem to public health. Stagnant water provides a breeding ground for mosquitoes, this can lead to outbreaks of malaria, dengue fever, and chikungunya, particularly if occurring in built up urban areas. Such a case was brought to media attention last year in Lucknow. A number of hospitals, as well as buildings surrounding the hospitals, were presenting unsanitary conditions such as the improper disposal of garbage and stagnant water claimed a team sent by the Health Department to inspect the area. This had led to the presence of mosquitoes around the hospital, putting the health of patients at risk. Water as a human right The UN General Assembly in July 2010 adopted a resolution acknowledging that clean drinking water and sanitation are integral to the realization of all human rights. It called upon all states and international organizations to provide financial resources, to help build capacity and transfer technology specially to the developing countries to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation to all. India voted in favour of this resolution, though there are currently no large scale plans by the centre to implement the policy. Water supplies are handled by the states, with disparities occurring between them in terms of quality of water. Despite voting in favour of the resolution, India is far from providing clean water to all its citizens as a basic human right. (Source: healthissuesindia.com)
Eco Facts The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2)in our atmosphere, as of May 2020, is the highest it has been in human history
NASA data show that average global temperatures in 2019 were 1.8 degrees F (0.98 degrees C) warmer than the 20th century average. [3] In fact, the five warmest years in the 1880–2019 record have all occurred since 2015
Eleven percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans are due to deforestation — comparable to the emissions from all of the passenger vehicles on the planet.
Tropical forests are incredibly effective at storing carbon, providing at least a third of the mitigation action needed to prevent the worst climate change scenarios. Yet naturebased solutions receive only 3% of all climate funding
Natural climate solutions such as restoring degraded forests could create as many as 39 jobs per million dollars spent — that's a jobcreation rate more than six times higher than the oil and gas industry.
Roughly 3.2 billion people are currently impacted by land degradation worldwide. Restoration is critical and cost-effective. Every US$ 1 invested in restoration generates, on average, 10x that amount in benefits.
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The Centre continues to cling to claims that community transmission of COVID-19 is not occurring in India. However, according to a report drafted by epidemiologists, public health practitioners and experts in preventive and social medicine, “community transmission is already well-established across large sections or sub-populations in the country.”
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s previously noted by Health Issues India, “community transmission refers to an individual testing positive for COVID-19 without having had contact with a confirmed patient or a travel history to a country affected on a large scale by the pandemic.” There was earlier ostensible confirmation of “limited community transmission” of COVID-19 in India by the Union Government. However, the issue has been the subject of controversy given the impression by some that authorities are attempting to downplay the issue. The presence of community transmission would explain the current case count — now surging across the nation and nearing 200,000 cases. It would also fit in with the course of events that saw untold thousands of migrant workers and day labourers flee urban centres in droves to return — often by foot and in significant crowds — to their home villages. The mass exodus of workers at the beginning of the lockdown presented ample opportunity for COVID-19 to spread. These infected individuals may
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then have passed the disease to fellow migrant workers among the crowd and, in turn, taken the disease back to their home towns and villages. The report, compiled by experts from the Indian Public Health Association (IPHA), Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine (IAPSM) and Indian Association of Epidemiologists (IAE), has been submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The report offers a bleak view of the situation. “It is unrealistic to expect that COVID19 pandemic can be eliminated at this stage given that community transmission is already well-established across large sections or sub-populations in the country,” the report said. “The expected benefit of this stringent nationwide lockdown was to spread out the disease over an extended period of time to flatten the curve and effectively plan and manage so that the healthcare delivery system is not overwhelmed. “This seems to have been achieved albeit after [the fourth] lockdown with extraordinary inconvenience and disruption of the economy and life of the general public.” In addition to criticisms of the lockdown, a major concern was that influential epidemiologists and academics focused on disease transmission were not consulted. “Had the Government of India consulted epidemiologists who had better grasp of disease transmission dynamics compared to modellers, it would have perhaps been better served,” the report asserted. The lockdown has achieved the globally cited aim of “flattening the curve” and relieving pressure on health institutions by slowing the rate of infection — and thereby patients needing the facilities of India’s already overstretched intensive care units (ICUs). However, it has not stopped the disease from spreading. The rate of onset of COVID-19 has been staggering. Much like many European nations and the United States, the encroachment of the disease began slowly. Indeed there were only 606 cases on March 25 when lockdown measures were imposed. In the subsequent two months, cases have risen to 199,785. Despite the surge in cases and potential for community transmission, the country is now seeking to open up the lockdown measures. With the exception of containment zones, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has announced a phased relaxation
of quarantine measures in what is being termed “Unlock 1.0.” As Health Issues India recently reported, the loosening of quarantine measures in noncontainment zones will occur in three phases. The first phase, effective from June 8th, will permit the reopening of places of worship, hospitality businesses such as hotels and restaurants, and shopping malls. The second phase will see the reopening of educational institutions.
could see cases surge. Likewise the lockdown cannot remain in place forever. A total economic stall could leave India in a position where infrastructure, healthcare and otherwise, is left to decay. Millions could be left in poverty, leaving them vulnerable to other health concerns as a result. India must proceed with caution. Community transmission combined with a poorly defined and enforced removal of
The third phase will see the country return to a state far more akin to pre-lockdown India, permitting international air travel; metro rail; entertainment facilities such as cinemas, theatres, entertainment parks and auditoriums; exercise facilities such as gyms and swimming baths; and similar facilities. It will also see a decision made concerning the resumption of “social/ political/ sports/ entertainment/ academic/ cultural/ religious functions and other large congregations.” While the lockdown has had its criticisms — such as the countless people left in situations without work or homes and in danger of starvation — a disordered removal
lockdown measures at a time when disease numbers are rising in the country at an unprecedented rate could result in a situation where all control is lost. It is a very real possibility that the disease at this stage may simply become endemic. If cases rise further COVID-19 could become a permanent fixture of India’s disease landscape, joining the ranks of malaria and tuberculosis as a consistent and major public health issue. (Source: healthissuesindia.com)
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Last year, Time magazine named Greta Thunberg their Person of the Year. The now-seventeen-year-old climate activist from Sweden has inspired a global movement, assuming the role of a bastion for environmentalism. Across the world, young people have protested for their future, for the future of their environment, and their planet – including in India.
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hunberg has taken world leaders to task in very public forums – among them Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom she challenged in a video published last year by Brute India. “Dear Mr Modi,” she said, “you need to take action now against the climate crisis, not just talking about it because if you keep going on like this, doing business as usual, and just talking about and bragging about the little victories, you are going to fail. And if you fail, you are going to be seen as one of the worst villains in human history in the future. And you don’t want that.” The world at present is beset by a number of crises. There is, of course, the global pandemic of COVID-19, the disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – more commonly referred to simply as the coronavirus. There are mass protests over racial injustice. And in the midst of all this, there is the environmental crisis we have been grappling with for quite some time – one which poses nothing less than an existential threat, should we fail to act. India is particularly vulnerable to the climate crisis. On the occasion of Mother Earth Day earlier this year, I wrote “India, of course, is no stranger to how nature’s suffering is leading to an inclement climate, a ravaged ecosystem characterised by instability, and the manifold byproducts. Just last year, swathes of the country were lashed by floods – in one instance effectively submerging one of its major cities, Mumbai. The country is vulnerable to extreme heatwaves, to water scarcity (as World Water Day earlier this year reminded us), and to the spread of infectious diseases owing to temperature changes. Climate change is wreaking havoc across swathes of the country, whilst air pollution chokes out those Environment & people
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living in cities and rural areas alike whilst it lacerates the environment around them.” Of the many public health threats India faces, from malnutrition to disease, climate change would serve only to exacerbate them in the absence of concerted action. To India’s credit, it has taken steps to address its environmental crisis – yet to balance its socioeconomic needs with the necessity of action to preserve the environment and fight climate change is a difficult balancing act to maintain. In a sense, this is analogous to the COVID-19 crisis. After a period of lockdown, India is beginning to ease restrictions – but experts have warned that such a move may be premature. As my colleague Nicholas Parry wrote earlier this week, “removal of the lockdown measures is on the cards across the coming months, all while community transmission is occurring under the radar. It is likely that as lockdown measures are removed more cases will continue to spread unnoticed and pass into so-called “green zones” in which transmission is not yet occurring, spreading the disease further.” Some have theorised that the COVID-19 crisis may actually be a boon for environmentalism. Many of India’s air pollution hotspots, for example, saw dramatic improvements in air quality amidst the lockdown. Yet the silver lining may be fleeting. As the World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged, “efforts to control COVID-19 transmission have reduced economic activity and led to temporary improvements in air quality in some areas. In contrast, as carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that drive climate change persist for a long time in the atmosphere, temporary emissions reductions only have a limited effect on atmospheric concentrations. “Carbon dioxide levels at observing stations around the world in the first months of 2020 have been higher than in 2019. Environmental improvements resulting from the COVID-19 response may be reversed by a rapid expansion of polluting economic activities once the measures have ended, unless there is a clear focus to promote equity, environmental health, around a just transition to a green economy.” India has a way to go in this regard – rethinking its energy infrastructure, curbing the rate of deforestation, and making concerted efforts to improve air and water quality are among the challenges the country
faces. Mother Ganga is a case in point – but it is not alone. That most sacred of rivers epitomises the public health and environmental disaster that is the grim state of India’s rivers, many of them too polluted to sustain human life. Proponents of environmentalism have much to do in India. On World Environment Day last year, I wrote of the manifold public health and socioeconomic crises plaguing India as a consequence of its environmental crisis. This year, climate protests have gone virtual. We are seeing a so-called ‘carbon crash’ – one that BBC News describes as “an unrivalled drop in carbon output.” Yet envi-
the economy, we must consider seriously whether we can afford business as usual. The World Economic Forum and Thomson Reuters Foundation last month published an article containing a number of measures – scaling up green public transport, planting more trees to combat deforestation, and bolstering infrastructure. It notes that “building seawalls, dikes or other protection against growing risks from flooding and sealevel rise could save about $250 per $1 spent in India by 2050.” In fighting climate change and stepping up environmentalism efforts, India has much to gain. To forego this, India has much to
ronmentalism efforts must continue. As the BBC report acknowledges, “even though we will see a massive fall this year, the concentrations of CO2 that are in the atmosphere and warming our planet won’t stabilise until the world reaches net-zero.” India has been regarded as the worst country in the world for environmental health. No phenomena – the present COVID19 crisis included – pose as grave a threat to humanity as does the degradation of our environment. As we look towards reopening
lose. World Environment Day occurs in circumstances both anomalous and familiar. In a time of global reflection, the onus is on all from the bottom up to work together to preserve our environment. COVID-19 has shown the disruption a public health crisis can exert in a few short months. Without committing to environmentalism, we will see this play out again and again in the years and decades to come. (Source: healthissuesindia.com)
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Pesticides Pesticide use has risen fivefold since 1950, with over 4 million tons used on fields globally every year. Across the planet, 41% of insect species are in decline and one-third risk extinction.
End of Season: The coronavirus season seems to be coming to an end (it will no doubt be back), leaving a new environmental threat in its wake. Environment & people
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