Environment

Social forestry means the management and protection of forests and afforestation on barren  lands with the purpose of helping in the environmental, social and rural development. The  National Commission on Agriculture (1976) has classified social forestry into three categories. The main thrust of social forestry is to reduce pressure on the  traditional forest areas by … Read more

. The salient features of the Draft National Water Policy (2012) are presented  below: Emphasis on the need for a national water framework law, comprehensive legislation for optimum development of inter-State rivers and river valleys, amendment of Irrigation Acts,  Indian Easements Act, 1882, etc. Water, after meeting the pre-emptive needs for safe drinking water and … Read more

Global warming due to GHGs and Ozone depletion may have following adverse consequences: Faster snow melting and glacier depletion Melting of glaciers will put close to half of  world’s population under threat from flooding in short term and draughts, water and  power shortages in long run. Siachin Glacier has retreated by around 1 km in … Read more

. India’s policy on climate change can be broadly divided into two phases – one in which it strictly adhered to ‘Historical Responsibility’  slogan and the other when it diluted it as it became a bigger economy and bigger polluter. India has  become third largest emitter of GHG in absolute terms only behind China, which … Read more

.  The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and  Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits has been negotiated under the aegis of CBD to  fulfill one of the objectives of CBD i.e. to promote equitable sharing of benefits arising  out of use of genetic resources. It was signed by CoP in Nagoya, Japan. Once … Read more

Kyoto protocol set ambitious goals for countries but couldn’t meet them. Reasons for the failure of Kyoto protocol are as follows: Though Kyoto was legal, it didn’t have provision of enforcing penalties, as a result developed countries failed to meet the target  and also got away with that. Developing countries criticized this protocol from the … Read more

. In a bid to curb carbon emissions and global warming, Kyoto  Protocol was signed among various countries and it entered into force in 2005 which  marked the beginning of its first commitment period till 2012 (second commitment  period was agreed from 2013-20). It was an extension of UNFCCC and a concrete plan to  bring … Read more

A signatory to the Stockholm Declaration (1972) on Environment, India enacted laws to control water (1974) and air (1981) pollution soon after. But it was only after the Bhopal gas leak disaster in 1984 that the country legislated an umbrella Act for environmental protection in 1986. Exemptions All inland waterways projects and expansion/widening of national … Read more