The world has reached “a milestone of multiculturalism”, the United Nations announced this week, as Algeria became the final country to cease offering leaded fuel to drivers. The news has been hailed by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who said “lead in fuel has run out of gas – thanks to the cooperation of governments in […]
environment
Land degradation a continuing crisis
In spite of assurances from the Prime Minister, India’s issue with land degradation seems to only continue to worsen. According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), land degradation affects approximately 29.7 percent of the country’s total geographical area. During the 2018-19 period, an estimated 97.85 million hectares of India’s land underwent degradation per the […]
Air quality standards to be rethought next year
India is to review its air quality standards next year, addressing an environmental and public health issue of significant concern. New national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) are likely, reports indicate. Discussions are said to be considering ultra-fine particulate matter (PM0.1), smaller than fine particulate matter or PM 2.5 which denotes particular matter of 2.5 […]
Five must-know facts about cloudburst weather events
With the frequency of cloudbursts events increasing over India’s Himalayan region and beyond, experts consider this to be direct evidence of the impact of climate change on weather systems. These events that are often difficult to predict have occurred across Jammu, Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, dramatically increasing the threat of floods that have the […]
Landmark IPCC report reaffirms knowledge of climate threats and offers stark warnings
The UN’s latest major climate report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provides stark warnings of what it describes as the ‘code red’ situation humanity is facing through the effects of anthropogenically-influenced global warming. The comprehensive IPCC WG1 is the latest IPCC report since 2013 when the Fifth Assessment report was published. […]
Medical waste output at 56,000 tonnes
India’s medical waste output stood at more than 56,000 tonnes between June 2020 and 2021, according to government figures. The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change recently reported that the total country’s total output of biomedical waste tallied at 56,898 tonnes. Maharashtra registered the largest amount of medical waste generated, at 8,317 tonnes. […]
Did stubble burning fuel Delhi’s third wave?
New research claims that the practice of stubble burning may have been a key driver of Delhi’s third wave of COVID-19 infections. The study, published in Urban Climate, identified a tenfold increase in the national capital during the biomass burning season which sees agricultural workers in the neighbouring states of Haryana and Punjab burn the […]
Rainfall: Deadly Mumbai downpours highlight climate change’s continued scourge
Torrential rainfall in Mumbai has left dozens of people dead and many without drinking water. As of Monday morning, the city recorded more than 250 millimetres of rain in the preceding 24 hours. The deadly Mumbai rains resulted in a landslide, causing considerable damage and loss of life. The Chembur suburb witnessed 21 deaths and […]
Endangered species: Preserving wildlife a public health need
At first glance, the crises of endangered species and pandemics may seem separate. But they are, in fact, interrelated as a recent Foreign Policy analysis outlines. According to the piece, authored by Lindsey Kennedy and Nathan Paul Southern, “the trade of illegal wildlife products is everywhere, but the pandemic offered a brief opportunity to crack […]
Exclusive interview with T. M. Chen of CCIL: Conservation, climate, and communities
Conservation is key, for our environment and for our health. We discuss with T. M. Chen, president of Continental Carbon India Limited (CCIL) and Master of Chemical Engineering from National Tsing Hua University, to further investigate this topic. “The drastic climate change caused by the greenhouse effect is seriously affecting our lives,” Chen said on […]