Global Forest Watch paints an awful environment picture as trees getting burned around the world and the trend has just peaked in the last two decades.
Climate change is the lone factor blamed for this, which results in extra-ordinarily higher temperatures coupled with drier conditions. Environment news updates in India are right here.
In 2021, fires wiped off 9 million hectares of trees wherein over five million were in Russia alone. Environment news updates in India.
With the new data, researchers are empowered to identify trees destroyed by fires and what number of trees were cut down for agriculture and logging or were burned intentionally. Environment news updates in India.
In fact, the year 2021 proved pretty devastating that consumed a vast patch of land measuring Portugal in its extent. Environment news updates in India.
Renowned analyst at Global Forest Watch John MacCarthy terms the situation as” It is staggering.” Environment news updates in India.
“It’s roughly twice what it was just 20 years ago. It is kind of astonishing just how much fire activity has increased over such a short amount of time.”
From fires, great losses are suffered which have their impacts felt widely and deeply, especially in northerly countries like Canada and Russia. Environment news updates in India.
Forest fire was forecast earlier and such is considered a part of the forest functioning but the extent of such damage was never seen before. Environment news updates in India.
Nonetheless, 9.3 million hectares was reduced to ashes around the world and Russia has been the worst sufferer.
What’s most concerning is that fires are becoming more frequent, more severe and have the potential to unlock a lot of the carbon that’s stored in soils there,” observes James MacCarthy. Environment news updates in India.
For trees and soil stock carbon diaoxide which is among the major gases heating up our atmosphere and experts attach greater worth to it for checking the menace of climate change. Environment news updates in India.
Such a fiery scenario is attributed to climate change while criticism is also heaped upon it, for the prolonged drier conditions which claim more number of trees.Environment news updates in India.
Regions lying north of the globe experience sweltering climate too and this gives rise to longer fiery spells.
In fact, in Russia, devastation caused by fire went higher (and wider) by 31% and this was due to the harsh heatwave again resulting from human activities. Such activities are deeply callous with no sign of environmental consideration. Environment news updates in India.
Dr Doug Morton, in the capacity of chief of Biospheric Sciences Laboratory at NASA, doubled down on such scenario, “Climate change is increasing the risk of hotter, faster and larger fires,”
And that’s nowhere more visible than forests and woodlands where you have plenty of fuel to burn.”Environment news updates in India.
Besides, deforestation , which is regarded as an improper practice (but which is necessary too), also contributes to forest fires. Environment news updates in India.
Now, venturing into the Amazon forests in Brazil, more trees fell, which is in fact, 6 times more while winding down agriculture and logging also rank among the possible causes of such nature’s blazing fury. Environment news updates in India.
“Deforestation changes local and regional climates and removes a lot of the evapotranspiration that help keep temperatures low and more humid,” verifies James MacCarthy. Environment news updates in India.
“So cutting down these forests is actually making them hotter and drier, and making them more prone to fires.”Environment news updates in India.
Even though Mother Nature still bestows kindness on us and the fallen sons of nature (the charred trees) are likely to rise (grow) again but for this to happen, a century long wait which is similar to a sentence for any offence. Environment news updates in India.
Making things worse, such a large scale tree loss, adversely impacts biodiversity, soil erosion and healthy water elements. Environment news updates in India.
The UN also articulates its anguish on such gross negligence. Extreme fires are expected to flare up by 50% by the turn of this century. Environment news updates in India.
Now, as the only remedial measure left, scientists stress upon heavier cuts upon carbon emissions globally.
Last year, world leaders met in Glasgow on the sidelines of COP26 and vowed to weed out deforestation but such a pledge should be in foursquare practice so as to fuel the idea of a better life and breathable environment for the future generations.
Meanwhile McCarthy calls for collective efforts to prevent forest fires rather than dousing them. Environment news updates in India.
“About 50% of national fire budgets are for responding to fires and less than 1% is really for preparing and planning,” he maintains.
France Considers Fresh Climate And Energy Policies Post Environmental Catastrophe:
Giving teeth to her determination last month, the French PM Elisabeth Borne declared “radical responses to the climate emergency”. The declaration comes following a summer marked by numerous climatic disasters, counting as heatwaves, fires, droughts and fierce storms. Environment news updates in India.
Now she calls for a “far-reaching consultation” which would take off in September and new legislation will be drafted for energy and climate. Environment news updates in India.
Such is, as it appears, a herculean process while in June month, in its annual report, the High Council For Climate (HCC) asked the government to “jumpstart” to walk its climate commitments. Environment news updates in India.
In the limited scope, the European Green Deal calls for an unprecedented acceleration” in choking greenhouse gas emissions. Environment news updates in India.
HCC maintains that the annual rate of reduction must double, to reach an average of -4.7% per year over the period 2022-2030.
This is now mandatory in all EU member states that emissions should be cut down by 50% by the time 2030 sets in and in the backdrop of 1990 levels. Environment news updates in India.
Such goals will necessitate the governments to augment their efforts manifold as the Council of State blames them for climate lethargy. Environment news updates in India.
Wind Project To Proliferate In 2024:
Dozens of new wind power projects are in the pipeline and the year 2024 will see its peak. The yen for clean energy has led to this strategy and the sentiment is echoed in the report released by Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) together with MEC+, a premier consulting agency with strong focus on renewable energy. Unlock credible insights as environment news updates in India here. Environment news updates in India.
To drift away from fossil fuels and to transition into a new clean and green horizon, India looks to draw half of its energy through non-fossil fuel sources by 2030. Such an aspiration calls for setting up of 60 GW wind power installations.
Till now, we have been able to achieve only 40 GW wind power promise. Environment news updates in India.
As a matter of factly, wind industry installations have not kept up steadily since 2017 and the bloodstained second wave of Covid-19 is the reason for such a hiatus. Environment news updates in India.
Now to cover up the delay in the project, the Ministry of New And Renewable Energy allows a timeline extension which is for seven and a half months after the scheduled commissioning date (SCD) for the undertakings having power purchase agreements signed before June 2021 which thrust the SCD of 0.7 GW projects to 2022.
Going by the report, auction culture is supposed as the main cause behind the slowdown in 2017. Useful environment news updates in India.
With such a culture, mega orders were drafted which were powered by competitive bids immensely competitive.
Consequently, wind projects were established in some substations of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu and such locations were potentially favourable with reasonable land costs. Such factors combined to hinder the project pace and gradually became more expensive than the solar power.
Report indicates that for the running year, India is gleeful of spiking 3.2 GW and 4.1GW in the next year which would be augmented to 4.6 GW in 2024. After this, decline is scheduled to 4 GW and 3.5 GW in the following two years.
Currently in wind energy, India flourishes with 13.4 GW of promising projects and installations are on cards until 2024. After 2024, fresh projects will be hybrid in design which would be the combo of solar and wind energies and power would be minted this way.
The report underlined, “The linking of utility-scale wind and solar technology will be a crucial lever for volumes in 2024-25.”
Mr Siddharth Jain, in the capacity of MD MEC+, issued a statement, “India’s track record has indicated that the wind installation market is a lumpy market. Considerable momentum has been built in the pipeline since 2017-2018, but inordinate delays in project execution have challenged the assumptions of developers. Despite these obstacles, wind’s role as a supplement to solar energy strengthened in 2021. Wind solar hybrid project PPAs have grown within corporate procurement and DISCOMs contracts, targeted toward meeting peak power needs.”
Then, late payments were also an obstacle in the renewable energy projects in India. The Covid-19 pandemic which refuses to bog down, overburdened supply chains and the amounts owed to agencies in electricity distribution are some factors that we hate to see.
Take the case of RE generators, whose standing balance has increased by 73% (19,400 crores or $2.62 billion) as in December 2021 while in December 2020, it was 11,200 crores translating into $1.5 billion.
The report states, “Overdue amounts and increased payment cycles will create a roadblock in achieving the targets set by the Central and State governments.”
