Economic Inequality in India (Critical Analysis)

Economic inequality includes income inequality as well as wealth inequality. According to Oxfam India, income inequality is the inequality in which there is disparity in the incomes commanded by the top percentile of the population in comparison to the bottom percentiles, while wealth inequality measures disparities in wealth instead of income.

Status of economic inequality in India:

• Income Inequality: According to the World Inequality Lab report 2020, income inequality is substantially rising in India with the top 10% income share growing from 30% in the 1980s to over 56% in 2019.
• Wealth Inequality: Wealth inequality in India is rising with the Gini wealth coefficient having risen to 83.2% in 2019 from 81.2% in 2008.
• As per an Oxfam report, India's richest 1% of the population holds 42.5% of national wealth while the bottom 50% owns a mere 2.8%.
• India’s top 10% of the population holds 74.3% of the total national wealth.

Consequences of Economic Inequality:

• Low social mobility and slower poverty reduction: Extreme inequality inhibits social mobility and results in inequality in opportunities due to lack of proper education, training in skills, lack of connections and assets.
• Social unrest, as high inequality is likely to undermine democracy, promote corruption and cronyism. The gap between the rich and poor is helping to fuel authoritarianism.
• Inequality and the climate crisis are interwoven. Developing countries and poor communities have less capacity than their richer counterparts to adapt to climate change and severe weather events including access to new environmentally friendly technologies. Further, inequality can also influence the balance of power among those arguing for and against curbing carbon emissions.
• Income and wealth inequalities are often translated into political inequality and power asymmetries among various groups (which may be defined by ethnicity, language, gender or caste etc.) potentially leading to even more inequalities and even lead to breakdowns in institutional functions, weakening the effectiveness of policies etc.

Way forward:

• Policy reorientation:
• Progressive taxation, in order to redistribute resources across society.
• Social spending on public services such as education, health and social protection. Evidence from more than 150 countries shows that overall investment in public services and social protection can tackle inequality.
• Free up women's time by easing the millions of unpaid hours they spend every day caring for their families and homes. Invest in public services including water, electricity and childcare that reduce the time needed to do this unpaid work.
• Low-productivity workers should be incentivized to move to sectors that are more productive. Simultaneously, fundamental reforms like labor protections, institutional and policy support for social safety nets need to be delivered to increase the productivity of these sectors.

Several initiatives have been taken up by the Government to eliminate inequality and foster inclusive growth, such as: expanding the social security net through Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (Accident Insurance), providing institutional support for entrepreneurship with the help of MUDRA Bank etc.

Challenges & Management of Forest Fires in India (Critical Analysis)

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According to the forest inventory records, 54.40% of forests in India are exposed to occasional fires, 7.49% to moderately frequent fires and 2.405% to high incidence levels. In recent years, forest fires were witnessed in Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Uttarakhand alone has witnessed over 1,000 incidents of forest fire over the last six months.

Reasons Behind Forest Fires include:

• Natural causes: High atmospheric temperatures and dryness (low humidity) offer favorable circumstances for a fire to start. Other natural causes are lightning, friction of bamboos swaying due to high wind velocity and rolling stones that result in sparks setting off fires in highly inflammable leaf litter on the forest floor.
• Anthropogenic causes: It includes practice of shifting cultivation, throwing burning bidis/cigarettes, flushing tendu leaves, etc. More than 95% forest fires are caused either by negligence or unknowingly by humans.

Measures :

• Preventive: Forest fires are usually seasonal. They usually start in the dry season. Hence, through adequate checks forest fires can be prevented. This can be done through: Mapping of potentially vulnerable areas and establishment of preventions and containment plans Creation of firefighting resources such as equipments, transportation, communication devices and trained manpower. Awareness generation: People who rely on the forests for their livelihood and tourists who visit the forests should be made aware of the threat of forest fires. Clear guidelines must be given to people and vehicles that traverse through forests.

• Curative: Fire fighters use Helicopters, airplanes and ground-based personnel to spray fire retardant chemicals, or pump water to fight the blaze. This is very expensive and not widely practiced in India. Creation of fire line:  A fire line is a line through a forest which has been cleared of all vegetation. Once the blaze has burnt out all combustibles in the affected compartment, it vanishes out and the neighbouring compartments are saved. Creation of counter fire: Firefighters create a second fire called counter fire. The counter fire rushes towards the wildfire, leaving a stretch of burnt ground. As soon as the two fires meet, the blaze is extinguished.

Challenges of Forest Fire Management in India are:

• Lack of appropriate policy and planning to tackle forest fire: Existing forest policy and other documents, including plans etc. lack clear guidelines for forest fire management.

• Lack of proper institutional mechanisms: A proper institutional mechanism with the sole responsibility of fire management is lacking within the forest department.

• Emphasis on response only: Very less or negligible importance is given to other issues regarding forest fires i.e., mitigation, preparedness, human resource development, awareness creation, etc.

• Lack of scientific approach to collect fire data and document it: The Forest Survey of India has recently started compiling forest fire data, however, at the State level, there is no concrete effort to collect and document such data and use them in research and planning.

• Other issues: These include lack of initiatives to involve the local communities, irresponsible behaviour of citizens, lack of funding and coordination with minimal information sharing etc.

Steps Taken by the Government for Forest Fire Management in India:

• National Plan for forest fire management:

• Strengthening of organizational framework: Through appropriate modification and alteration in State Forest Departments’ structural framework and provision for sufficient human power.

• National Forest Fire Danger Rating System: Designing uniform system of Forest Fire Danger Rating and reporting for all States/Union Territories.

• Creation of a national forest fire control board: With the task of supervising the control of devastating forest fire in exigencies in fragile areas like the Himalayan zone, Western Ghats etc.

• Promotion of people’s participation: Through involvement of NGOs, Voluntary Organisations, Village Forest Committees (VFCs) etc.

• Forest Fire Prevention & Management Scheme (FFPMS): It is a centrally sponsored scheme with an aim to focus solely on the issue of forest fire prevention and management and related activities, to address the growing concern over adverse effects of forest fires.

• Real time data monitoring: The Forest Survey of India has developed the Forest Fire Alert System to monitor forest fires in real time. The system uses satellite information gathered from NASA and ISRO.

In this context, investing in modern technologies for fire detection, as well as adequate fire suppression and safety equipment, while at the same time, working to build capacity across the ranks of forest officers and improving accountability will help India to control forest fires.

WAY FORWARD:

• India has set ambitious policy goals to meet its INDC commitments under the Paris deal. A large share of its carbon sink for this is planned to be created through improving the quality and quantity of its forests. However, The World Bank has pointed out that forest fires pose a serious threat to India’s ability to expand its forest and tree cover by 2030.

• Uncontrolled fires are a complex problem that requires a comprehensive and long term policy. It demands proper co-ordination mechanisms between the community, state governments, the forest departments, National Disaster Management Authority and the MoEF&CC. Hence the government should come up with a national policy on forest fires. In fact, the National Green Tribunal has repeatedly asked the MoEF&CC to come out with a national policy on forest fires.

• The NDMA should be given a greater role in the management of forest fires. Since forest fires are not typically treated as disasters, the disaster management authorities have so far played a minor role in this matter. Hence, forest fires should be treated as disasters so that disaster management authorities can play a major role in planning and managing them.

• Community participation is vital for the success of any disaster management strategy. Hence in case of forest fire management, the active participation of people, especially the tribal communities needs to be ensured. For the same, initiative like joint forest management and social forestry can be encouraged. 

• In a climate uncertain future, India’s vulnerability towards forest fires is expected to rise in the coming years. Considering its socioeconomic impact on the country, tackling forest fires is of prime important. 

National Green Tribunal (NGT) (Critical Analysis)

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 The National Green Tribunal (NGT) is a statutory and quasi-judicial body established for effective and expeditious disposal of cases that are related to the protection and conservation of the environment, forests, and other natural resources. It aims to give relief and compensation for any damages caused to persons and properties. An order/decision/award of Tribunal is executable as a decree of a civil court.

The Achievements of the NGT are:

• Speedy justice in environmental matters: Since it began operations in July 2011, the NGT has heard 32,626 cases, of which 29,760 have been disposed of till May, 2020.
• Strengthening the concept of environmental justice in India: Over the years, the NGT has emerged as a vital player in environmental regulation, passing strict orders on issues including pollution, deforestation, waste management, protection of the rights of tribal communities etc.
• For example, the NGT, in 2017, imposed an intervening time ban on plastic bags of less than 50-micron thickness in Delhi.

• Incorporation of technical aspects in judgments: The NGT has employed legal and scientific methods and has assessed environment impact assessment reports before deciding on cases.
• New set of legal practitioners: The NGT has created a new breed of legal practitioners with expertise in environmental laws.

Despite its achievements, Challenges associated with its functioning :

• Lack of institutional mechanism: There is no specific mechanism to ensure compliance of its orders or to re-work its orders if found infeasible to implement.
• Most of the landmark orders of the NGT related to Ganga water pollution, Delhi air pollution, illegal mining, and solid waste management remain unenforced.
• Generic orders: Since July 2018, the Tribunal has disposed of over 700 cases, all at different stages of hearing, while directing the concerned authorities “to look into the matter and take appropriate action in accordance with law”.
• Large number of dismissals: Since 2018, the NGT dismissed many appeals filed before it, most of them on procedural grounds.
• Restricted jurisdiction: Two important legislations i.e. Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 have been kept out of NGT’s jurisdiction.
• Obstacle to development: Decisions of the NGT have been criticized and challenged due to their repercussions on economic growth.
• Vacancies: The NGT has only three judicial and three expert members against the sanctioned strength of ten each. This forces the Tribunal to outsource most of its technical work and constitute external committees to look into various aspects of cases.

Therefore, amendments should be made to the NGT Act to give powers to the Tribunal to follow up on its directions and to widen its scope for effective protection of the environment, while maintaining the balance with developmental activities. There is need for more autonomy and widen NGT’s scope for effective protection of environment in balance with human developmental activities. In its next decade, the NGT must continue to remain a proactive ‘inconvenience’ to all those who, while pontificating grandiloquently on the need for environmental protection, take actions that make economic growth ecologically unsustainable.

India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA) (Critical Analysis)

The World Bank Group in its recent report highlighted the need for the agriculture sector to embrace digital technologies. In this regard, the government is in the process of finalising the 'India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA)', which will lay down a framework for “Agristack”. It would serve as a foundation to build innovative agri-focused solutions by leveraging emerging technologies to contribute effectively to create a better ecosystem for agriculture in India.

It will help the government in:

- Increasing farmers’ income:

• Localized solutions and tailored recommendations to the farmers as per their needs will enable accurate and smart farming and will enhance their productivity and profitability.
• Integration with the market economy may result in better realization of prices to farmers by eliminating intermediaries.
• Reducing the gap between farmers and consumers will benefit both farmers (better prices for food grains) and consumers (low cost of food items).

- Improving efficiency of the agriculture sector:

• Creation of the farmers’ IDs would enable ‘single sign-on’ for access to all government services offered to farmers, which will subsequently improve delivery of services.
• Ensuring synchronisation between various planning and execution of policies, programmes, and schemes of the Central and State governments, and also of the private sector and Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs) will play a major role in improving efficiency of the agriculture sector.
• Access to high-quality data will further promote R&D and innovation in agriculture.
• Involvement of private players will bring in expertise in the sector. For instance, an MoU with Patanjali to develop a mobile application for advising farmers on soil nutrition, accurate quantification on farmer crop and yield, fertilizer recommendations, and training farmers.

Associated Concerns:

• Issue of data privacy and consent: This may result in exploitation of farmers’ data by private players, especially in the absence of a data protection legislation.
• Commercialization of agriculture extension activities: There is a concern that agristack is the precursor to complete privatisation of government services extended to agriculture and the private companies may charge exorbitant prices for these services.
• Poor implementation of the digital land records programmes: Some states have not implemented digitization of land programmes and some others have implemented them only partially.
• Risk of commodifying agriculture and farmer data: Agristack could strengthen the asymmetry in information flow by providing all information about farmers and their farming easily to corporations. For instance, supply of data to corporations who looked at farmers as a consumer base for their agri inputs like seed, chemical fertiliser and pesticides, etc.
• Digital divide: There is a digital divide in rural India both in terms of ‘access’ and ‘digital education’ of the farmers. 
• Exclusion of landless cultivators: As they do not have digital land records, it will result in their exclusion.
• Issue of women farmers: They will face problems as majority of the land titles continue to be held by men.

Faced with these concerns, measures like creation of adequate privacy and data security infrastructure to ensure protection of farmers’ data, educating farmers to bridge information asymmetry and digital divide through schemes like PM Grameen Digital Saksharata Abhiyan (PMGDISHA), including experts and representatives of farmers to ensure inclusive and accommodative policies etc. can be adopted to fulfill aspirations like doubling farmer’s income and achieving related SDGs.

Environmental Nanotechnology & Its Contribution to Sustainable Environment (Critical Analysis)

 

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Environmental Nanotechnology is the application of nanotechnology techniques to reducing or preventing damage to our environment. It may contribute by cleaning the pollutants, reducing the pollutants, making our devices more efficient and reducing cost of green technologies. 

Significance of environmental nanotechnology: 

• It will ensure optimum resource utilization, which ensures sustainable development 
• It will be helpful in reduction of pollution, which leads to a reduction in ecological footprint.
• It has an impact on making efficient renewable energy. 
• Promoting nature-based solutions 

Potential contribution of Environment nanotechnology for sustainable environment: 

• Removing pollutants from water: Environmental nanotechnology helps clean up organic chemicals polluting groundwater. E.g. Iron nanoparticles can be used to clean up organic solvents that are polluting the groundwater effectively. 
• Cleaning up of oil spills: Using photocatalytic copper tungsten oxide nanoparticles to break down oil into biodegradable compounds.
• Ensuring Potable Drinking Water: Use of Graphene-based water filters are expected to increase the accessibility of clean drinking water.
• Generating less pollution during manufacturing of materials: Use of silver nano particles as catalysts can significantly reduce the polluting by products in the process used to manufacture propylene oxides.
• Producing solar cells that generate electricity at competitive cost: Silicon nanowires embedded in a polymer result in low cost but high-efficiency solar cells.
• Increasing the electricity generated by windmills: The use of carbon nanotubes in windmill blades results in stronger and lower weight windmill blades. This helps in more amount of electricity generated by each windmill. 

Nanotechnology has potential solutions to various environmental and climate change related issues being faced by India. It’s high time that India’s Mission on Nano Science and technology is restructured to include R&D in the field of environment as one of its key goals.

Rising Instances of Avalanches in the Himalayas (Critical Analysis)

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Avalanche is a rapid, downslope movement of a large detached mass of snow, ice and associated debris such as rock fragments, soil and vegetation. Recent Disaster Management Report says  that there is a rise in incidents of Avalanche in the Himalayas, e.g., Avalanche near Nanda Devi peak in Uttarakhand in 2021.  

Major Reasons for Rising instances are : 

• Global warming led to a rise in temperature – Himalaya experienced a rise of 0.65-degree Celsius temperature in the last 25 years. It is responsible for snowmelt and instability of glaciers at high  altitudes. 
• The step height of Himalaya – It increases gradient leading to instability in glaciers. 
• Heavy snowfall and following intense solar rays, responsible for snowmelt 
• Use of Dynamite for Infrastructure projects like tunnels, highways, railways resulting in loosening of rock segments.
• Deforestation and re-forestation destabilize soil and impact compactness of earth crust, leading to high-intensity Avalanche. 

Mitigation measures for Avalanche disaster as per NDMA guidelines :

• Structural terrain modification: Supporting structure construction to a steep slope, 
• Direct protection structures are built immediately adjacent to the infrastructure to be protected, e.g., Rail-track, Highways. 
• Planned release of small snow slides with explosives before large snow accumulation.
• Zoning- No disturbance zone based on geological studies of the region, e.g., No deforestation, no infrastructural projects are being allowed in sensitive areas. 
• Mapping areas with large seismic gaps.

Currently, scientists are not able to predict with certainty when and where avalanches will happen.  However, they can estimate hazard levels by checking on the snowpack, temperature, and wind  conditions.

India's vulnerability to earthquakes (Critical Analysis)

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The Indian subcontinent is one of the most earthquake prone regions of the world. In the last few decades, India has witnessed many devastating earthquakes e.g. Kashmir 2005, Gujarat 2001 and Uttarkashi 1991, which caused significant loss of human life as well as physical infrastructure. 

 

India's Vulnerability to Earthquakes: 

• Huge area prone to Earthquake: An Earthquake Disaster Risk Index (EDRI), prepared by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), showed that about 56% area of India is vulnerable to moderate to major earthquakes where about 82% of the population live. About 12% of the land is liable to severe earthquake shaking.  
• Geographical location: The reasons for high magnitude earthquakes in India are hidden in the tectonic setting of India. The Indian plate is pushing against the Eurasian plate at a rate of approximately 45 mm/year and rotating slowly anticlockwise. The entire Himalayan Region is considered to be vulnerable to high intensity earthquakes as it lies at the boundary of two  converging plates.  
• Human-induced seismicity: Vulnerability to earthquakes increases due to several human  actions such as  

1. Construction of unscientific dams, mining, water reservoir impoundment and power projects in areas prone to earthquakes 
2. Inadequate attention to earthquake resistant construction standards in vulnerable areas. For instance, the proposed Pancheshwar dam project on the India-Nepal border is a large-scale project in the geologically sensitive Himalayan area. 

• Indirect vulnerabilities: The earthquakes also have some serious and far-reaching consequences. For example, earthquakes are also responsible for landslides, soil liquefaction and other calamities in the affected areas.

Measures For Better Resilience to Earthquakes:  

• Earthquake zone blueprint: There is a need to prepare a vulnerability map of the country  based on different intensities of earthquakes. The vulnerability risk information should be disseminated among the people and they should be educated about the ways and means of minimising the adverse impacts of disasters.  
• Monitoring and identifying the gaps in the existing seismic risk assessment methods: Establishing earthquake monitoring centres (seismological centres) for regular monitoring in the vulnerable areas. Use of Geographical Positioning System (GPS) can be of great help in monitoring the movement of tectonic plates. 
•  Prioritizing Action Plan: Prioritize the cities and regions based on the severity of risk for implementing mitigation programs using the EDRI model. There is a need for formal training among professionals in earthquake-resistant construction practices. 
• Earthquake-proof planning and design of buildings: Make it mandatory to adopt earthquake-resistant designs in the vulnerable areas. There should be proper monitoring and enforcement of earthquake-resistant building codes and town planning by-laws. 
• Technological solution: The new technological solution must be adopted to make houses earthquakes resilient as well as predicting patterns of earthquake occurrences. 
• Periodical drills & awareness: Disaster like earthquakes cannot be preempted and hence people should be ready to handle any kind of situation. This is possible if periodic drills and mock exercises are conducted. People’s participation, cooperation and awareness are the key to success.

Unlike other disasters, it is not possible to prevent the occurrence of earthquakes; hence, the only solution to minimise loss of lives and properties is effective disaster preparedness and mitigation against them. It is thus necessary to empower communities to ensure the seismic safety of the built environment by encouraging the use of simple, easy and affordable technical solutions and institutional arrangements.

Footloose Industries (Critical Analysis)

Footloose industry is a general term for an industry that can be placed and located in a wide variety of places. Footloose industries are seen as not tied to cost advantage from any particular location and so they can set up in any location. Furthermore, they are not dependent on any specific raw material, weight losing or otherwise. It can also easily relocate across boundaries in response to changing situation. Examples include diamond industry, computer chips production, mobile manufacturing, many other high technology industries  

Characteristics  :

• Their products have high value addition and are small in size. Transportation cost of the products is only a small fraction of the total cost 
• They employ a relatively small labour force as compared to traditional industries. 
• These are generally non-polluting industries. 
• The industries largely depend on component parts, which can be obtained anywhere. 
• It needs skilled workers as the industrial process is advanced and work requires high-quality precision such as the diamond cutting and polishing industry in Surat. 

Factors That Influence the Location  :

• Transportation facilities: An important factor in their location is accessibility by transportation network enabling the workers to commute hassle free. The extensive network of metro, railways and roads in the Delhi-NCR region has helped the growth of the service industry in Gurugram and Noida. 
• Economies of Cluster/Agglomeration: They are located close to similar industries to swap ideas and supply raw materials/finished products. For e.g aerospace industry around Bangalore. 
• Availability of cheap land: They are located on the edge of cities because of cheaper cost of land. For e.g. the development of software industry in the periphery of Delhi. 
• Easy access to workers: The computing and information technology industry are not tied to raw materials and can choose their own location. Software technology parks in cyber cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad, have a large workforce who can travel from cities as well as nearby suburban areas. They are also located close to research centres like universities. 
• Amenities for workers: Footloose industries are more likely to be located in places with a perceived high quality of life such as those with adequate healthcare, recreational and educational amenities, where productive workforce can be attracted. For e.g. development of Silicon Valley in California as a technology hub in the USA. 
• Close to residential areas: Footloose industries are usually non-polluting and thus, they can be located close to residential areas. 

Footloose industries can provide employment in areas that lack locational advantages such as access to weight losing raw materials like coal, iron ore, limestone etc. Impetus should be given for the development of the footloose industries in such areas to increase employment opportunities. Further, India could also gain a competitive advantage in high value goods in the global market.

Institutional Framework for Disaster Management in India (Analysis)

P.C. - RESEARCHGATE

Disaster management in India has evolved from an activity-based reactive setup to a proactive institutionalized structure and from a relief based approach to a ‘multi-dimensional pro-active holistic approach for reducing risk’. 

The current institutional framework is characterized by following mechanisms: 

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA): 

• The National Disaster Management Act, 2005 Act provides for the setting up of NDMA at national level, and, the SDMA at the state level and the DDMAs at the district level. 
• NDMA is the apex body for disaster management, which has the responsibility for laying down the policies, plans, and guidelines for disaster management. The guidelines of NDMA assist the Central Ministries, Departments, and States to formulate their respective Disaster Management (DM) plans.

 National Executive Committee (NEC): 

• It acts as the coordinating and monitoring body for  disaster management. The NEC may give directions to the relevant Ministries/Departments of the Centre, the State Governments, and the State Authorities regarding measures to be taken by them in response to any specific threatening disaster situation or disaster as per needs of the State.

National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR):

• A multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR) was constituted to include stakeholders including people representing different interests in the field of disaster management apart from centre and state governments.

 National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM):

• It is the nodal agency responsible for human resource development, capacity building, training, research, documentation and policy advocacy in the field of disaster management.

 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF): 

• The NDRF is a specialist response force that can be deployed in a threatening disaster situation or disaster.

 The National Disaster Management Plan, 2016:

• It provides a framework and direction to the  government agencies for all phases of the disaster management cycle. It provides for a comprehensive plan for different hazards with role and function clarity of all authorities involved.

Similar structures exist at the State and District level for tackling disaster managements. These include State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), State Executive Committee and District  Disaster Management Authority (DDMA).

Need of the hour is to ensure effective functioning of these mechanisms by overcoming their various shortcomings like hierarchical, bureaucratic, command and control, 'top down', approach that gives the central, state, and district authorities sweeping powers. 

 Going forward, 

• India can also work on institutionalizing mechanisms for community based disaster, management, disaster resilient infrastructure etc. Further, issues like having no concrete plan or policy for anticipating requirements and mobilization of funds, lack of trained manpower need to be resolved for the purpose of effective disaster management.

Impact of Global Warming on the Coral Life System (Critical Analysis)

P.C. - ICRI

Coral life system harbour the highest biodiversity of any ecosystem globally and directly support over 500 million people worldwide.

However, over the last three years, coral reefs ecosystem around the world have suffered from mass coral bleaching events. They are now among the most threatened ecosystems on Earth, largely due to unprecedented global warming and climate changes, combined with growing local pressures.

Impact of global warming on the coral life system :

• As temperature rises, mass coral bleaching events and infectious disease outbreaks are becoming more frequent. The bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef in 2016 and 2017, for instance, killed around 50% of its corals.
• Bleached corals are likely to experience reduced growth rates, decreased reproductive capacity, increased susceptibility to diseases and elevated mortality rates.
• Ocean acidification, or increased CO2 levels has reduced calcification rates in reef-building and reefassociated organisms, causing their skeletons to become weaker and growth to be impaired.
• Sea level rise may lead to increases in sedimentation for reefs located near land-based sources of sediment. Sedimentation runoff can lead to the smothering of coral.
• Changes in storm patterns, due to climate change, may lead to stronger and more frequent storms that can cause the destruction of coral reefs.
• Changes in coral ecosystem also affect the species that depend on them, such as the fish and invertebrates that rely on live coral for food, shelter, or recruitment habitat.
• Changes in precipitation result in increased runoff of freshwater, sediment, and land-based pollutants contribute to algal blooms and cause murky water conditions that reduce light.
• Altered ocean currents lead to changes in connectivity and temperature regimes that contribute to lack of food for corals and hampers dispersal of coral larvae.
• It is also expected that there will be a gradual decrease in the quantity of marine plants such as phytoplankton in warmer waters, effectively reducing the amount of nutrients available to animals further along the food chain.
• In addition, the collapse of coral life system due to global warming can have direct impacts on tourism, aquaculture, and pharmaceutical industries as well as reduce the overall resilience of coastal communities.

Way forward :

• Limiting global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, addressing local pollution and destructive fishing practices provide chance for the survival of coral life system globally. Also, transformation of mainstream economic systems towards circular economic practices can help in mitigating rising global temperatures.
• According to UNESCO, the coral reefs in all 29 reef-containing World Heritage sites would cease to exist by the end of this century if global warming is not reduced. Reinforcing commitments to the Paris Agreement may be mirrored in all other global agreements such as the Sustainable Development Goals. SDG 13, for instance, calls for urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

Eutrophication (Critical Analysis)

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Eutrophication is a process by which a water body gets enriched in dissolved nutrients (mainly Nitrates and Phosphates) that stimulate the growth of aquatic plant life (usually algal bloom) resulting in the depletion of oxygen (hypoxia). 

Factors lead to discharge of nutrients in the waterbody:  

• Fertiliser leaching and runoff: Surface run-off of nutrients from an agricultural field, lawns, golf courses etc. into a water body. 
• Direct Sewage Discharge and Industrial Waste into Water Bodies: Other than adding  nutrients to the water body, the thermal wastewater may also enhance the growth of plants. 
• Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs): they normally discharge high amounts of nutrients (animal feed, faeces and other wastes) that find a way into the water body. 
• Aquaculture: Growing shellfish, fish and plants (without soil) in water containing dissolved nutrients leads to increased fertility of the water body.

Effects of Eutrophication: 

• Degrades water quality: creation of dense blooms of noxious, foul-smelling phytoplankton reduces water clarity and degrades water quality, making it unsafe for consumption. 
• Decreases biodiversity: Algal blooms limit light penetration, reducing growth and causing  die-offs of plants in littoral zones. It increases the Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) of water and results in suffocation and death of marine organisms leading to formation of ‘Dead Zones’.  
• Invasion of New Species: Eutrophication may cause competitive release by making abundant a normally limiting nutrient. This process causes shifts in the species composition of ecosystems.  Example: water hyacinth and common carp. 
• Loss of waterbody: The excess algae and plant matter eventually decompose. As silt and organic debris pile up, the lake grows shallower, eventually turning into a bog (large mass of floating plants) and finally into marshy land.  
• Ocean acidification: Decomposition of organic matter in the ocean produces large amounts of carbon dioxide. This lowers the pH of seawater and acidification slows the growth of fish and  shellfish and can prevent shell formation in bivalve mollusks.  

Measures to tackle Eutrophication: 

• The quality of water, especially the nutrient composition, should be assessed at regular intervals. 
• Regulations should be brought to mitigate nutrient losses, such as standards, technology requirements, or pollution caps for various sectors. 
• Nutrient reducing actions should be incentivised through exemption in taxes and fees, subsidies, or environmental markets.
• The natural ecosystems that capture and cycle nutrients should be preserved and restored.
• Educational outreach programs to raise awareness and promotion of Composting and Phosphorus free detergents should be undertaken.  

A large number of water bodies especially in urban areas are facing eutrophication. In cognizance to this, the National Green Tribunal has highlighted the need of mapping water bodies on GPS platforms and suggested unique ID for all water bodies existing in Delhi. It directed local bodies and concerned departments to ensure 100% treatment of sewage entering rivers across the country.