General Awareness

ENVIRONMENT - December 2018

Dec 2018

Jan 04, 2020

Thailand Retailers Ban Single-use Plastic Bags

Thailand began the year with a ban on single-use plastic bags at major stores, continuing a campaign launched by the government and retailers toward a complete ban in 2021 to reduce waste and debris in the sea.
Public awareness of the risk to animals and the environment from such waste was raised last year in a series of incidents where animals including a deer and a baby dugong were found dead with plastics in their digestive systems.
Thailand was ranked sixth among the world's top countries that dumps waste into the sea.

A Nod to E-vehicles

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) will set up 100 "fast public e-charging stations with capacities of 150 kilowatt", in a bid to push energy efficient vehicles, its chairman, Dharmendra said, while presenting the council's budget for the 2020-21 financial year.

Jan 03, 2020

Shipping Fuel Regulation to Cut Sulphur Levels Comes into Force

Sulphur will be cut drastically from global shipping transport fuels in 2020, in a move that should reduce some forms of air pollution, and may help towards tackling the climate emergency – but which could also lead to a rise in the price of flights.
From January 2020, ships will only be allowed to use fuel oil with very low sulphur content, under rules brought in by the International Maritime Organisation. This cut in sulphur content has been more than a decade in the planning, and almost all shipping around the world is expected to comply, or face penalties.
The new regulations are aimed at cleaning up sulphur emissions, which can cause acid rain and other forms of air pollution, rather than tackling the climate emergency.

Compensatory Afforestation Process May be Overhauled

Any project involving the destruction of forests may soon be able to meet the compensatory afforestation target it has to meet by simply buying ready-made plantations, if a controversial plan being considered by the environment ministry is finalised.
The ministry plans to overhaul the compensatory afforestation process by accrediting private or public-private partnership companies to raise plantations near reserved forests that can be bought by developers of projects involving diversion of forest land.
The proposal was accepted in principle by the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the environment ministry according to minutes of a FAC meeting held in December.

Jan 02, 2020

Palau is First Country to Ban Reef Toxic Sun Cream

The Pacific nation of Palau became the first country to ban sun cream that is harmful to corals and sea life.
From January 1, 2020, sun cream that includes common ingredients, including oxybenzone, is not allowed to be worn or sold in the country.
As per Palau's President Tommy Remengesau, we have to live and respect the environment because the environment is the nest of life.
The island nation markets itself as a pristine paradise for divers.
A lagoon in Palau's Rock Islands is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Dec 31, 2019

Centre Says Forest Cover rising, Triggers a Debate

As per the India State of Forest 2019 report, India recorded a 0.56% improvement in its forest cover since 2017, taking total forest cover to 21.67% of India's geographical area, although experts expressed concerns about plantations being included in the definition of forests and the relative youth of many of the country's forests. Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, who released the report, said that India is among very few countries that may be recording an increase in forest cover.
The overall marginal increase in forest cover masks loss of forests inside recorded forest areas, which include reserve forests, protected forests and other forested areas in government records. An assessment of forest cover in the tribal districts of India shows a major loss of 741 sq km inside recorded forest areas in these districts since 2017.
The data also masks the massive loss of forests in several north-eastern states, including Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram.

Delhi Breaks 118 Years Winter Record

With a numbing cold continuing to sweep Delhi-NCR, the region recorded its second-coldest December since 1901, the weather department said. The mean maximum temperature for December was less than 20 degrees Celsius only in 1919, 1929, 1961 and 1997. In December this year, the mean maximum temperature (MMT) till Thursday was 19.85 degrees Celsius. It is expected to dip to 19.15 degrees Celsius.

Dec 30, 2019

Madhya Pradesh Gets its First Elephant Colony

Last November, elephants in herds, 38 of them, wandered into the forests of Bandhavgarh looking for food and water, like each year. A year on, they have stayed back in Madhya Pradesh for the first time over seasons and even bred two new calves, choosing not to return to the withering forests of north Chhattisgarh.
The herd has found plenty of space, food and water within the core are of the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, and that's why it may have stayed back, believes Reserve Deputy Director Sidharth Gupta.
Stating that the species is migratory, he says: "... That we have two new members now indicates that the species is comfortable here."

'World's Oldest Rhino' Fausta Dies in Tanzania Aged 57

Fausta, an eastern black rhino, was first sighted in the Ngorongoro crater in 1965, when she was three.
She roamed the crater freely for more than 54 years, but health issues in her old age required her to spend her final few years receiving specialist care in a sanctuary.
Fausta never had calves - something conservationists in Ngorongoro suggest may have contributed to her long life.
By 2016, Fausta's eyesight was deteriorating and she was suffering from the lingering effects of hyena attacks.

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