Climate Change Debate Post G20 India Summit
Category: GHG emission
Environmental Issues of South Asia Region
South Asian countries have been dealing with several issues of social, political, cultural, and economic nature among many others. The environmental issues however are slowly becoming more and more pronounced in the region, with the rise in natural catastrophes, energy crises, and scarcity of resources. Mainly consisting of developing nations of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, this region since the early 20th century, first, most of them as a colony and later as independent states, have been experiencing economic upheavals. Notably, most of the environmental issues surged post-1960s due to high economic activities, industrialization, population […]
Top 5 Global Environmental Concerns for 2019
Environmental concerns are on the rise with some becoming more critical by the year. UN has declared 2019 the year of Biodiversity, asking all of us to do our bit to save the environment and the various species inhabiting the planet. Below are few more environmental threats in need of mitigation.
Earth Overshoot Day and Our Environment Real-Time
As per the Global Footprint Network (GFN) the world has already consumed this year’s annual budget of natural resources. Having reached its maximum limit on 1st August itself, the earth overshoot day serves as an annual report card, reminding us of our promises to reduce carbon footprint, control climate change and conserve our environment. Notably, humans already overshot nature’s annual budget in early 1970s itself and ever since this has been creeping up. Another significant fact is that every day, every minute past the overshoot day is equivalent of drawing down from the natural resource savings than living of interest. To understand […]
Energy Policy Making for Optimal Resource Management
The global oil demand is expected to remain healthy for the next few years, especially in the developing countries of Asia and Africa. Though currently suffering from a slowdown due to the US-China trade war and the rise in renewable technological innovation, one cannot simply write-off oil or for that matter any other conventional fuel like coal or gas, as it forms an integral part of the new energy mix of many nations (both developing and the developed) even today, which deploy tools of policy making for the purpose. However, the new energy mix, of the present age, brings the […]
India & Green Economy
The last few years have been tough for India, not just in context of economic reforms but also environment— specifically in terms of climate. As per the India Meteorological Department, 2017 was the fourth warmest year of the country, with the last quarter of 2017 being the hottest since 1901. In the beginning of the 20th century, India, a British colony then, suffered from significant climate change marked by severe droughts and famines, which were further fueled by fatal British economic policies. Notably, India’s economic backwardness wasn’t due to any niggardliness of geography, but was rather anthropogenic. There was no […]
The Times of ‘Anthropogenic’ Climate Change
In 2007, a team of climate experts presented a case for assuaging the global greenhouse gas emissions, in the Fourth Assessment Report of the International Panel for Climate Change. It elaborated on the impending threats: rising temperatures, change in rainfall patterns, melting of glaciers, rise of global mean sea level among others. 10 years later the reality is no different, albeit concerted efforts on part of global community have been made. Greenhouse gas emission, the primary anti-hero of the climate story, has heightened the global warming through natural or anthropogenic processes. The main sources being increased burning of fossil fuels, Deforestation […]
Climate Security in Times of Energy Insecurity
There is a surge in energy demand world-over, which is increasingly still being met by conventional fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas. (Coal is the king in Asia-Pacific, at least till 2040). In last few decades, this has led to serious implications in form of increase in carbon dioxide, methane and carbon monoxide in the atmosphere, resulting in rise of temperature. With rise in global warming, the countries are now fast looking out for ways to reduce their carbon footprint, and most of them targeting their energy basket. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has in its […]
The Anthropogenic Climate Change
Climate is the centrifugal force which de facto is the lifeline of all things that exist- cultural practices, societies, commerce or political charters. It has for ages dictated the way mankind has functioned and the 21st century is no different. Climate has been altering the world map, catalyzing large scale migration and prompting immediate global climate action. With the Paris Treaty coming into force on November 4th, Marrakech defining the future action plan and Fiji being all set to host COP23 in Bonn- the bar has been set high. However the real question is how far-fetched is the idea of […]