Year End Review – Environment

Spearheaded by the UAE in partnership with Indonesia, MAC was launched at the COP27 Summit in Egypt to scale up and accelerate the conservation and restoration of the mangrove forests.

Mangrove Alliance for Climate (MAC):

• The alliance will raise awareness about the role of mangroves as a "nature-based solution to climate change".
• The alliance will be amplified at the G20 Summit that will be held between November 15 and 16, 2022 in Bali under the presidency of Indonesia.
• The MAC seeks to scale up, and accelerate conservation, restoration and growing plantation efforts of mangrove ecosystems for the benefit of communities globally, and recognize the importance of these ecosystems for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Mangroves:

• A mangrove is a shrub or a small tree that grows along the coastlines and has roots in salty sediments, often underwater. They also grow in swamps.
• Mangrove forests can survive extreme weather conditions and require low oxygen levels to survive.
• The mangroves cannot survive freezing temperatures and thus are found mainly in tropical and subtropical latitudes.
• UNESCO celebrates July 26 as the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem to raise awareness about mangrove ecosystems and to promote their conservation.
• According to MAC, Mangrove forests can store ten times more carbon per hectare than terrestrial forests. Also, they can store carbon up to 400 per cent faster than land-based tropical rainforests.
• According to Global Mangrove Alliance (GMA), when the mangroves are cut, the carbon stored in these plants gets released into the air. So, preserving them to keep the carbon emissions levels low is necessary.
• Once the plants die, they take the stored carbon into the soil. This is called "Blue Carbon".
• Moreover, Mangrove forests act as natural barriers against rising tides and storms. Each year, they prevent property damages of over $65 billion.

Mangroves in India:

• India contributes to nearly half of the total mangrove cover in South Asia.
• According to the Forest Survey report 2021 released in January, mangroves cover in the country is 4,992 square km, which is 0.15 per cent of the country's total geographical area. Since 2019, the cover has risen by only 17 sq km.
• West Bengal has the highest percentage of mangrove cover in India, mainly because it has Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world. It is followed by Gujarat and Andaman, and Nicobar islands.
• Other states that have mangrove cover are Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Kerala.

Green Credits Initiative?

• In a landmark announcement at the COP28 (1st December 2023), the Indian PM launched the 'Green Credit Initiative,' a pathbreaking program aimed at reshaping global environmental policies.
• He also launched the official portal of the Green Credit Initiative at COP28.

Features of Green Credits Initiative:

• This initiative involves creating an inventory of degraded wastelands, which can be utilised for planting by individuals and organisations.
• Participants undertaking environmentally positive actions will receive tradable green credits.
• The entire process, from registration to plantation, verification, and issuance of green credits, will be digitised.
• The portal will collect ideas, knowledge, and experiences related to tree planting and environmental conservation.
• This platform aims to influence global policies, practices, and the demand for green credits.
• The Green Credits Initiative mirrors the Green Credit Programme launched by the Union government in October, 2023.

About Green Credit Programme:

• To take ahead the 'LiFE' - 'Lifestyle for Environment' movement announced by the Prime Minister in 2021, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change introduced Green Credit Programme (GCP) in 2023.
• GCP is an innovative market-based mechanism designed to incentivize voluntary environmental actions across diverse sectors, by various stakeholders like individuals, communities, private sector industries, and companies.
• The GCP's governance framework is supported by an inter-ministerial Steering Committee.
  • The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) serves as the GCP Administrator, responsible for program implementation, management, monitoring, and operation.
• The GCP will cover 8 types of activities:
  • Tree plantation which is meant to promote activities for increasing the green cover across the country.
  • Water management is meant to promote water conservation, water harvesting, and water use efficiency or water savings, including treatment and reuse of wastewater.
  • Sustainable agriculture is meant to promote natural and regenerative agricultural practices and land restoration to improve productivity, soil health, and nutritional value of food produced.
  • Waste management is meant to promote circularity, sustainable and improved practices for waste management, including collection, segregation, and environmentally sound management.
  • Air pollution reduction is meant to promote measures for reducing air pollution and other pollution abatement activities.
  • Mangrove conservation and restoration, which is meant to promote measures for conservation and restoration of mangroves.
• In its initial phase, the GCP focuses on two key activities:
  • Water conservation and
  • Afforestation
• Draft methodologies for awarding Green Credits have been developed and will be notified for stakeholder consultation.
• The Green Credit Registry and trading platform, being developed by ICFRE along with experts, would facilitate the registration and thereafter, the buying and selling of Green Credits.

India Cooling Action seeks to:

• reduce cooling demand across sectors by 20% to 25% by 2037-38,
• reduce refrigerant demand by 25% to 30% by 2037-38,
• Reduce cooling energy requirements by 25% to 40% by 2037-38,
• recognize “cooling and related areas” as a thrust area of research under national S&T Programme,
• training and certification of 100,000 servicing sector technicians by 2022-23, synergizing with Skill India Mission.

The following benefits would accrue to the society over and above the environmental benefits:

• Thermal comfort for all – provision for cooling for EWS and LIG housing,
• Sustainable cooling – low GHG emissions related to cooling,
• Doubling Farmers Income – better cold chain infrastructure – better value of produce to farmers, less wastage of produce,
• Robust R&D on alternative cooling technologies – to provide push to innovation in cooling sector.

International Big Cat Alliance

India has proposed to launch a mega global alliance under its leadership to protect big cats.

• The proposed International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) will work towards the protection and conservation of the 7 major big cats.
• The 7 major big cats included are tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, puma, jaguar and cheetah.

Members - Membership to the alliance will be open to 97 “range” countries, as well as other interested nations, organisations, etc.

Focus - IBCA will focus on the rehabilitation and conservation of the seven big cats namely tigers, lions, leopards, snow leopards, pumas, jaguars and cheetahs.

• It provides a platform for spreading information on standardised practices, capacity building, resource pooling, research and development, awareness generation on big cat conservation.

Funding - For the first 5 years, IBCA will be supported by India’s “total grant assistance” of $100 million.

• After that the IBCA is expected to sustain itself through membership fees, and contributions from bilateral and multilateral institutions and the private sector.

Big cats in India - India is the only country in the world to have tigers, lions, leopards, snow leopards and cheetahs in the wild.India has all the big cats, except the pumas and jaguars.

Similar Initiative - CITES Big Cat Task Force

CITES Big Cat Task Force

CITES COP19 has proposed a tentative budget of $150,000 for the Task Force which will be secured by external funding from the United States.

• The 19th Conference of Parties (COP19) to CITES adopted the decision on a Big Cat Task Force from the previous COP (CoP18-Geneva, 2019) with a few amendments.
• The Task Force is a forum to discuss challenges that affect enforcement and implementation of laws regarding illegal trade in big cats.
• Participation of these Parties in the Task Force could facilitate and promote exchanges concerning possible best practices and solutions.

Functions of Big Cats Task Force

• Discuss enforcement and implementation issues related to the illegal trade in specimens of big cats.
• Exchange intelligence and other information (like status, scale, and dynamics) on the illegal trade in big cats, especially those listed in the CITES appendix.
• Share information about techniques and tools for identifying big cat specimens in trade, and identify needs and knowledge gaps.
• Develop strategies and make recommendations to improve international cooperation regarding the enforcement of CITES concerning illegal trade in specimens of big cats.

Membership of the Task Force

• Parties most affected by illegal trade in big cats which include 44 countries across the world.
• Representatives from the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) partner organizations.
• Other Parties and organizations and experts who could contribute.
• Species of priority concern of Big Cats Task Force
  • Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)
  • Clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa)
  • Lion (Panthera leo)
  • Jaguar (Panthera onca)
  • Leopard (Panthera pardus)
  • Tiger (Panthera tigris)
  • Snow leopard (Panthera uncia)

The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has released the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021.

What is the India State of Forest Report?                                       

• It is an assessment of India’s forest and tree cover
• It is published every 2 years by the Forest Survey of India under the MoEFCC.
• The first survey was published in 1987. ISFR 2021 is the 17th.
• Data is computed through wall-to-wall mapping of India’s forest cover through remote sensing techniques.
• ISFR is used in planning and formulation of policies in forest management as well as forestry and agro forestry sectors.

What are the key findings?

Total forest and tree cover of the country is 80.9 million hectare, which is 24.62% of the geographical area of the country.

Increase in forest cover

• The forest and tree cover continues to increase over the past two years. 
• India’s forest cover -

o 21.7% in 2020

o 21.6% in 2019.

• The states with highest increase in forest cover is in order - Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha.
• Tree cover has increased by 721 sq km.
• Mangroves have increased by 17 sq km.
• Bamboo forests have grown from 13,882 million culms (stems) in 2019 to 53,336 million culms in 2021.
• The total carbon stock in country’s forests is estimated at 7,204 million tonnes, an increase of 79.4 million tonnes since 2019.

Decrease in forest cover

• Five states in the Northeast - Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland have shown loss in forest cover.
• 35% of the forest cover is prone to forest fires.

How the growth varies across different kinds of forests?

• Inference - Natural forests has degraded to less dense open forests.
• Complete degradation of forests where scrubs has increased.

What explains the decline in the North eastern states?

• Forested areas of Mizoram is 84.5% of its total geographical area.
• For Arunachal Pradesh it is 79.3%.
• The two states have respectively lost 1.03% and 0.39% of their forest cover
• Manipur has lost 1.48 %, Meghalaya 0.43%, and Nagaland 1.88%.
• The decline is due to

o a spate of natural calamities, particularly landslides and heavy rains

o anthropogenic activities such as shifting agriculture, pressure of developmental activities and felling of trees.

What is the concern?

• North eastern states are repositories of great biodiversity.
• Declining forests will in turn increase the impact of landslides
• Impact water catchment in the region
• Challenges due to different ownership pattern - community ownership and protected tribal land.

What else does the report cover?

• ISFR 2021 has some new features.
• For the first time forest cover in tiger reserves, tiger corridors and the Gir forest which houses the Asiatic lion has been assessed
• Between 2011-2021 forest cover in

o tiger corridors has increased by 37.15 sq km (0.32%),

o tiger reserves has decreased by 22.6 sq km (0.04%).

• Forest cover has increased in 20 tiger reserves in these 10 years, and decreased in 32.
• Buxa, Anamalai and Indravati reserves have shown an increase in forest cover while the highest losses have been found in Kawal, Bhadra and the Sunderbans reserves.
• Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh has the highest forest cover ( nearly 97%).

What will be the impact due to climate change?

• By 2030, 45% of forests will experience the impact.
• Vulnerable Forests - except Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland all states will be highly vulnerable climate hot spots.
• Ladakh (forest cover 0.1-0.2%) is likely to be the most affected.
• Shifting Trends Of Vegetation Types - India’s forests are already showing shifting trends of vegetation types, Sikkim has shown a shift in its vegetation pattern for 124 endemic species.
• Forest Fire Hotspots detected by the SNPP_VIIRS sensor -

o In 2019-20 - 1.2 lakh

o In 2020-21 - 3.4 lakh.

• The highest numbers of fires were detected in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

IPBES

• IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body established to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being, and sustainable development.
• It was established in Panama City (US), in April 2012.
• It is not a United Nations body.

The Global Land Initiative, also known as the G20 Global Land Initiative, is an initiative to prevent, stop, and reverse land degradation. The initiative's goal is to reduce degraded land by 50% by 2040. In November 2020, G20 leaders launched the initiative, which is implemented through the Initiative Coordination Office (ICO) under the UNCCD's oversight. The ICO is guided by the Initiative Steering Committee, which consists of G20 members, the UNCCD's Secretariats, FAO, UNEP, non-member countries, and other institutions that contribute to the ICO's work.

The Gandhinagar Implementation Roadmap (GIR) and the Gandhinagar Information Platform (GIP)

• The Gandhinagar Implementation Roadmap (GIR) and the Gandhinagar Information Platform (GIP) are centred around the restoration of landscapes of forest fire impacted areas and mining affected areas, in order to reinforce the G20 Global Land Initiative (GLI) implementation.
• This does not preclude global action across other ecosystems based on the Kunming Montreal GBF and other relevant initiatives and frameworks such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs, the Paris Agreement, the UNCCD Strategic Framework, the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030, as well as national priorities

Objective and Ambition of the Gandhinagar Implementation Roadmap

The roadmap seeks to enhance, on a voluntary basis, mutual collaboration among participating countries to accelerate ecological/ecosystem restoration of the identified landscapes. The initiative has 2 key objectives:

1. Enhance focus on ecological/ecosystem restoration of land by reinforcing the capacity of habitats to sustain the diversity of their species in particular the keystone/ indicator/ umbrella species, in accordance with the respective priorities as determined by scientific evidence
2. Accelerate action on the identified landscapes by operationalizing the Roadmap’s tangible pillars of work to help achieve the objectives under the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and other relevant frameworks and initiatives including the G20 voluntary target of restoration of 50% degraded land by 2040. Under this roadmap the participating countries on a voluntary basis shall share progress, knowledge, and best practices to enhance ecological/ecosystem restoration of landscapes through the Gandhinagar Information Platform.

 Ambition Participating countries, on a voluntary basis resolve to:

1. a) Bring all forest fire degraded lands under effective restoration by 2030 (over a 2011-2020 reference period as envisaged in CBD COP Decision 15/5) and enable their ecological/ecosystem restoration by 2040, on a voluntary basis.
2. b) [Bring all mining-impacted land areas under effective restoration by 2030 (over a 2011-2020 reference period as envisaged in CBD COP Decision 15/5) as per country’s plan and circumstances and enable their ecological/ecosystem restoration by 2040, on a voluntary basis.

Gandhinagar Information Platform – An enabler for implementation of the GIR Overall Objective of the Gandhinagar Information Platform The platform shall display progress on the voluntary ambitions of the GIR and act as an information sharing hub for policies, best practices and actions. The platform will also foster collaboration between the nodal institutions/experts/organization while showcasing traditional and indigenous knowledge on ecological/ecosystem restoration of the identified landscapes and adopting a solutions approach to enable affordable, replicable and flexible solutions for the improvement of global restoration efforts. Initiative scope and activities

 The GIP will enable the operationalization of the GIR in the following ways –

1. Engage stakeholders – The Indian Council of Forestry Research & Education (ICFRE) and Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), will coordinate with nodal institutions/experts/organizations for the collation of data, best practices and information received from participating countries as well as be responsible for the design, development and maintenance of the GIP.
2. Enable collaboration on a voluntary basis – The best practices, policies and success stories shared on the GIP shall enable cross-learning as well as for ecological/ecosystem restoration.
3. Innovation through traditions – Highlight traditional knowledge and role of other partners and stakeholders (e.g., Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities and others as appropriate) for the ecological/ecosystem restoration.
4. Access to and sharing of information across a network of experts, researchers and civil society organizations invited by participating countries for capacity building activities