My Science School

In November 2014, the U.S. and China (President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping) unveiled a deal to reduce their greenhouse gas output, with China agreeing to cap emissions for the first time and the U.S. committing to deep reductions by 2025. China, the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, agreed to cap its output by 2030 or earlier, if possible. The agreement was seen as being a significant boost to international efforts to reach a global deal on reducing emissions beyond 2020, at a U.N. meeting in Paris the following year.

Administration officials acknowledged that Mr. Obama could face opposition to his plans from a Republican-controlled Congress. While the agreement with China needs no congressional ratification, lawmakers could try to roll back Mr. Obama’s initiatives, undermining the United States’ ability to meet the new reduction targets.

 

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In the last two to three decades, hill-State Uttarakhand in the Himalayan region has seen several natural disasters. However, in June 2013, the disaster-prone area witnessed one of its worst natural disasters in the form of torrential rains and resultant flashfloods, claiming the lives of thousands of people and animals while not-so-quietly altering its landscape. The flashfloods also wiped out settlements and decimated livelihoods. The National Institute of Disaster Management, in one of its first reports in 2015 blamed “climatic conditions combined with haphazard human intervention” for the disaster. Environmentalists point out that adequate steps haven’t been taken to prevent or handle such disasters, including the recurrent Brahmaputra floods that have decimated several regions, especially Assam, over many years now.

 

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REDD+, elaborately known as “Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks” in developing countries, is a programme under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Though the talks began in 2005, the key aspects of this programme were finished by 2013. It is an important part of global steps to control climate change, and seeks to encourage developing countries to contribute to climate change mitigation efforts by “reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by showing, halting and reversing forest loss and degradation; and increasing removal of GHSs from the earth’s atmosphere through the conservation management and expansion of forests”.

It creates a financial value for the carbon stored in forests by offering incentives for developing countries to reduce emissions from forested lands and invest in low-carbon paths to sustainable development. Developing countries would receive results-based payments for results-based actions. REDD+ goes beyond simply deforestation and forest degradation and includes the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.

 

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An Arctic record was broken on August 26, 2012 and it was not good news. According to the U.S.-based National Snow and Ice Data Centre, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Norwegian, Danish and other government monitoring organisation that was the day the Arctic sea ice hit its lowest extent ever recorded since the beginning of the satellite record in 1979 – satellites showed it had shrunk to 4.1 million sq.km. The record it broke was 4.3 million sq.km. set in 2007. The heat and the subsequent melting have continued over the years, and 2019 was in line for the second lowest Arctic sea ice extent record.

If the Arctic begins to experience entirely ice-free summers, scientists say, the planet will warm even more, as the dark ocean water absorbs large amounts of solar heating that used to be deflected by the cover of ice. The new findings were published as climate negotiators in Poland are trying to reach a global consensus on how to address climate change.

 

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On June 13, 2012 Australia’s then Environment Minister Tony Burke announced that the country would establish the world’s largest network of marine reserves. About one-third of the island-nation’s waters, running to over three million sq.km of reef and marine life around the country’s border will be covered, he said. While creating 60 reserves and also protecting the Coral Sea, the plan will also restrict fishing and oil and gas exploration, in a major step towards safeguarding the environment.

Highly protected areas such as the Coral Sea off Australia's north-eastern coast and the adjoining World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef will also be protected from oil and gas exploration. Both areas, which cover a total 1.3m sq km, have shallow reefs that support tropical ecosystems with sharks, coral, sponges and many fish species.

The numbers of marine reserves off the Australian coast will be increased from 27 to 60.

 

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The earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, turned out to be more than just a natural disaster. It caused a nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Fukushima prefecture, north of Japan. Several reactors at the plant were damaged, raising concerns over radiation leaks. The government set up a 30-km no-fly zone around the facility, and 20 km around the plant were evacuated. Later, the evacuation area was further increased when a spike in levels of radiation was evident in local food and water supplies. Several thousand residents left their homes even as radiation levels remained high months later. About nine years after the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl occurred, the site is cleared of immediate danger, but it still has a lot of clearing up to do.

 

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Established a year earlier under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010, the National Green Tribunal began functioning in July 2011. This specialized body is “equipped with the necessary expertise to handle environmental disputes involving multi-disciplinary issues’ and is guided by principles of natural justice. It has aimed at disposing of causes related to forest, environment, biodiversity, air and water. While the principal bench function s from New Delhi, the zonal benches function from Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai. The setting up of the tribunal was seen a huge step towards realizing environmental democracy. Hundreds of appeals/petitions are heard and judgments delivered every year. For instance, over 500 judgments were delivered by the tribunal in 2016, in cases relating to pollution, conservation, industry operations, thermal power plants, mining operations, and environmental compensation, among others.

 

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The United Nations (the U.N.) declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity. Throughout the year, several key initiatives were organized to spread awareness on the need to promote biodiversity conversation and encourage everyone – as individuals and groups – worldwide to take mindful steps to stop the loss of biodiversity. That year, the U.N.’s Convention on Biological Diversity held its 10th biannual meeting in Nagoya, Japan. This international legally binding treaty, which came into force in 1993, aims to encourage actions that will lead to a sustainable future.

Biodiversity — the variety of all life forms, from genes up — is vital because diversity makes for healthy, stable ecosystems. From coral reefs to the Kalahari, these natural 'balancing acts' are intrinsically valuable. But beyond beauty and amenity, ecosystems also provide essential 'services' such as breathable air, clean water and fertile soils. Fisheries, agriculture, medicine and many traditions and ways of life all depend on biodiverse ecosystems.

Clearly, biodiversity is key not just to life on Earth, but to economies and cultures. And for the poor, who often depend directly on land and sea for subsistence, it is literally a lifeline.

 

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Also called the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Deepwater Horizon oil spill is considered to be the largest marine oil spill in history. It occurred on April 20, 2010 when the Deep Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Louisiana, the U.S. The rig was leased by London-based oil company BP. By the time the leak from the exploratory well was capped 87 days later, more than three million barrels of oil had leaked into the waters while the explosion itself had claimed 11 lives. The disaster has had environmental, health and economic impacts.

An estimated 53,000 barrels were flowing into the Gulf of Mexico every day.

The accident also made extensive damages to the marine environment. According to the Centre for Biological Diversity, the oil spill killed over 82,000 birds, 25,900 marine mammals, 6,000 sea turtles and tens of thousands of fish, among others.

 

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