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15th Sep 2021
NEW REPORT SUGGESTS HOW LAND-USE FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY IN INDIA CAN BE ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE
A new report on how land-use for renewable energy in India can be environmentally sustainable was released recently.
- The report called for optimising the size of land used, its location and impact on human habitation, agriculture and conservation of natural resources to reduce environmental damage.
- India will use significant stretches of land by 2050 to install renewable energy generation capacities and the land-use increase may have an impact on the environment.
- Around 50,000-75,000 square kilometres of land will be used in 2050 for solar energy generation and for an additional 15,000-20,000 sq km for wind energy projects.
- The resulting land cover changes, including indirect effects, will likely cause a net release of carbon up to 50 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour (gCO2 / kwh).
- The amount of carbon release will depend on the region, scale of expansion, solar technology efficiency and land management practices at solar parks.
- Unlike coal-based power, renewable energy generation does not fundamentally change the character of land.
- In India, electricity generation has to compete with alternative uses for land such as agriculture, urbanisation, human habitation and nature conservation.
- Open Natural Ecosystems (ONE), classified as wastelands, covered around 300,000 sq km (10 per cent) of India’s land surface.
- The largest stretches are found in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.
- These have the “highest densities and diversity of large mammalian fauna” and also support livelihoods of local populations.
- These habitats should excluded when considering location of renewable energy projects.
- There has also been a steady decline in common land and so, consensus is needed for land requirements for renewable energy.
- Developing Land Utilization Policy: As land is constitutionally placed in the state list, its conservation and management is to be taken care of by the respective state government.
- Digitization of land records is required in order to modernise the land record system.
- Prioritizing use of Wasteland: The state governments, can identify waste/barren land and superimpose it on the Solar and Wind Atlas to earmark areas for setting up of solar and wind projects.
- Model Land Lease Policy: It improves the project profitably as the expenditure incurred towards procurement of land decreases.
- Time limits for Project Development: Create land banks across different states and regions, which are then offered to solar and wind project developers for investment purposes.
- Using Brownfield Sites: Degraded land can be suitably utilized for solar and wind power projects based on techno-commercial feasibility.
- Land Zonation Exercise
- Use of GIS Technology
- Setting up Wind-Solar Hybrid Projects
- Promoting Land Neutral Technologies
- Undertaking Social Impact Assessment
- Exploring Community Business Models
- Himalaya Diwas is celebrated annually on 9th September in Uttarakhand since 2015.
- It is celebrated with the aim to conserve Himalayan ecosystem and region.
- Theme 2021: Contribution of Himalayas and our responsibilities.
- The Himalayas are a mountain range in Asia separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau.
- The range runs west-northwest to east-southeast in an arc 2,400 kms long.
- It is the youngest mountain range, formed due to subduction of Indian tectonic plate under the Eurasian Plate.
- The range is spread in five countries: Bhutan, India, Nepal, Tibet (China), and Pakistan.
- They are bordered on:
- Northwest by Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges
- North by Tibetan Plateau
- South by Indo-Gangetic Plain
- It varies in width from 350 km in the west to 150 km in the east.
- The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the highest Mount Everest.
- Over 100 peaks exceeding 7200 m in elevation lie in the Himalayas.
- World's major river systems- Indus, Ganges, and Tsangpo-Brahmaputra rise from Himalayas with combined home to some 600 million people around the river basins.
- Himalayan hill towns face several challenges because of:
- Poor Building Planning & Designs
- Poor Infrastructure (Roads, Sewage, Water Supply etc.)
- Unprecedented cutting of trees
- Natural disasters
- Climate change
- Himalayas trigger the Monsoons every year, and protect India from the cold and dry winds of Central Asia.
- They are a source of diverse medicinal plants and multiple rivers and streams.
- Himalayan host biodiversity and provide firewood and a large variety of raw material for forest-based industries.
- They provide defence, tourism, hydroelectricity, forest wealth, minerals and pilgrimage.
- The rivers originating from Himalayas carry fertile soil from the mountains to the plains.
- Rejuvenation of dying springs in Tokoli Gad Catchment of Tehri Garhwal district using Geo-chemical & Geo-physical techniques’ by IIT Roorkee.
- Cultural mapping of river Ganga from Gaumukh to Ganga Sagar by Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).
- Under the project, the tangible and intangible heritage of river Ganga and the cities, is being documented.
- Uttarkashi, Tehri Garhwal, Haridwar & Rudraprayag are important Himalayan cities covered.
- Uttarakhand river’s atlas: It intends to map all rivers in Uttarakhand and give them a unique identification number.
- Many factors have caused changes in rainfall patterns in the NE region, which include drying of the land and increased snowfall in Eurasian region.
- Climate change has induced water problem in NE, visible by drying up of mountain springs, which feed every other water source in the region.
- As many as 200 mountain springs- direct primary sources of water have dried up due to a decrease in rainfall.
- Due to climate change and rising temperatures, there is rise in rainfall intensity and reduction in its temporal spread as well as a marked decline in winter rain.
- Drying of springs may be because of human-induced geological and land use changes, along with the impact of climate change, especially rainfall.
- There is grim situation for all mountainous regions of NE states as they are mostly dependent on the springs.
- People in plains, especially in Assam, will also be affected by drying up of the springs.
- Among the top five states most vulnerable to climate change in the Himalayan region, four are from North East India.
- Among the top seven states with the highest increase in land degradation in the last 10 years, six are in the North East.
- Nagaland has 47% of its land area under degradation.
- In the top eight states of India with soil acidification, seven are in the northeast.
- Highest among these is Nagaland- almost 7.5 lakh hectares of land area is acidic (around 45% of the total area of the state), followed by Manipur.
- In Assam, the groundwater levels are closely related to the flow of water in the Brahmaputra.
- So, if there is little rainfall in the catchments it will affect the flow of the rivers and along with that the ground water levels will also be impacted.
- Soils of the Brahmaputra are mostly sandy and their water retention capacity is low, which creates a scare of water scarcity.
- Assam has the least area under irrigation, least forest area available per 1,000 rural households and the second lowest per capita income among the Indian Himalayan states.
- This makes it the most vulnerable Himalayan state to climate change, followed by Mizoram.
- Riverine islands of Brahmaputra have been identified as the most vulnerable to health impacts of climate change owing to frequent floods caused by heavy rainfall in the region and in upstream areas.
- Assam experienced major floods in 1954, 1962, 1972, 1977, 1984, 1988, 1998, 2002, 2004 and 2012.
- Assam suffers losses of Rs 200 crore or more every year due to foods.
- Acidification of soil or land takes place when the pH balance of the soil shifts towards acidic nature due to an excessive presence of hydrogen ions.
- Acidity is measured in terms of the concentration of hydrogen ions (pH) in the soil as they are essential for formation of all acids.
- Soil acidity increases when metallic minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium are lost from the soil and only hydrogen ions remain.
- These minerals get removed from soils due to heavy rainfall and flooding. They also get removed with crop residue or harvest hay.
- Land in the North East is naturally acidic because it receives heavy rainfall every year.
- Climate change-induced high frequency of heavy rainfall events will further exacerbate the acidification, which will decrease the quality of soil.
- It called for an inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue for stability in Afghanistan.
- It focused on the developments in Afghanistan, and adopted BRICS Counter Terrorism Action Plan.
- The BRICS leaders called for settling the situation by peaceful means.
- They condemned the terrorist attacks at the Hamid Karzai International Airport, Afghanistan.
- The document titled the ‘New Delhi Declaration’ called for addressing the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and urged the need to uphold rights of women, children and minorities.
- It emphasized the importance of the principle of non-interference in international affairs.
- Issues related conflicts in Myanmar, Syria, the tension in the Korean peninsula, Israel-Palestine violence were discussed.
- It recommended strategy to strengthen counter pandemic cooperation and multilateral reform due to COVID-19 Pandemic.
- The summit called for reform of the UN Security Council and urged to revitalize the UN General Assembly.
- There was an agreement on Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation between the space agencies of the member nations.
- BRICS is a group of the world’s leading emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, established in 2006.
- Headquarters: Shanghai, China
- It is an annual summit between the supreme leaders of five nations.
- The Chairmanship of the forum is rotated annually among the members, in accordance with the acronym B-R-I-C-S.
- BRICS cooperation in the past decade has expanded to include an annual Programme of over 100 sectoral meetings.
- BRICS accounts for about 40% of the world’s population and about 30% of the GDP making it a critical economic engine.
- It is an emerging investment market and global power bloc.
- It seeks to intensify cooperation within the grouping and among the individual countries for more sustainable, equitable, and mutually beneficial development.
- Takes into consideration each member’s growth, development, and poverty objectives to ensure relations are built on the respective country’s economic strengths.
- It is emerging as a new and promising political-diplomatic entity with diverse objectives of reforming global financial institutions.
- Geo-Politics: India finds itself in the middle of Geopolitics today.
- This has made difficult for India for balancing its strategic interests between the U.S and the Russia-China axis.
- BRICS platform provides an opportunity for India to balance Russia-China axis.
- Global Economic Order: BRICS countries shared a common objective of reforming the international financial and monetary system.
- BRICS community plays an important role in the G20, in shaping global economic policies and promoting financial stability.
- Voice of Developing Nations: As the western countries are raising challenges on issues from World Trade Organisation to climate change, the developing countries are crippling under these policies.
- BRICS has emerged as the voice of developing countries.
- Raja Mahendra Pratap was an Indian freedom fighter, journalist, and the first President in the Provisional Government of India in Afghanistan.
- He was a Marxist revolutionary and social reformer, was an active participant in politics since his early age.
- He was born in a princely state of Mursan in the Hathras District of Uttar Pradesh on 1 December 1886.
- In 1895 Pratap went to the Government High School in Aligarh.
- Later he went to the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental Collegiate School which became Aligarh Muslim University.
- He could not complete his graduation and left MAO in 1905.
- He went to Kolkata in 1906 to attend the Congress session, met several leaders involved in the Swadeshi movement.
- He also started the movement to burn the foreign-made clothes in his state.
- On 20th December 1914, he left India for European countries to liberate India from the British colonial rule.
- In 1915 he went to Afghanistan, established first provisional Government of India in Kabul.
- He published “World Federation Monthly Magazine” in Japan, 1929, to free India from British rule.
- He followed Mahatma Gandhi and accepted the Gandhian philosophy of non-violence.
- After independence, he continued his struggle for transfer of power to the common man.
- Believed that the Panchayat Raj was the only tool, which can give the real power in the hands of people.
- He was president of Indian Freedom Fighters’ Association, and All India Jat Mahasabha.
- He was nominated for Noble Peace Prize in 1932.
POSTED ON 15-09-2021 BY ADMIN
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