23-Aug-2018: NITI Aayog launches 5 Thematic Reports on Sustainable Development in Indian Himalayan Region
Recognizing the uniqueness of the Himalayas and the challenges for sustainable development, NITI Aayog had set up 5 Working Groups (WGs) in June 2017 to prepare a roadmap for actions in 5 thematic areas. The themes include: Inventory and Revival of Springs in Himalayas for Water Security, Sustainable Tourism in Indian Himalayan Region, Transformative Approach to Shifting Cultivation, Strengthening Skill & Entrepreneurship Landscape in Himalayas and Data/Information for Informed Decision Making. While these thematic areas are quite significant for the Himalayas. Mountain specificities require specific solutions for resilience building that address socio-economic and environmental challenges in the mountain setting. The reports from the five working groups discuss the significance, the challenges, the ongoing actions and a future roadmap.
The reports lists challenges in all 5 thematic areas. Nearly 30% of springs crucial to water security of people are drying and 50% have reported reduced discharge. Himalayan Tourism growing annually at 6.8% has crated huge challenge related to solid waste, water, traffic, loss of bio-cultural diversity etc. With the projected arrival of tourists in IHR States to more than double by 2025, urgent actions will be needed to address critical issues of waste management and water crisis in addition to other environmental and social issues. In the north eastern States, thousands of the households continue to practice slash and burn (shifting cultivation) that need to be addressed in view of ecological, food and nutritional security. Predominantly unskilled workforce remains a challenge for the mountains as well that need high priority to address migration of youths. Also challenges related to data availability, data authenticity, compatibility, data quality, validation, user charges for Himalayan States need addressal for informed decision making at different levels of governance.
The key messages from reports include: Spring Mapping and Revival, using 8 steps protocol be taken up across Himalayan States in phased manner. Apply carrying capacity concept to all major tourist destinations; implement and monitor tourism sector Standards and apply performance based incentives for States faring well on the standards. Assessment of nature & extent of Shifting Cultivation area, improved policy coherence, strengthened tenurial security & improved access to related programs/schemes are key recommendations to transform shifting cultivation. Strengthening of skill & entrepreneurship will require focus on identified priority sectors where mountains have advantage, investment in trainers, assessors and training centers in industry partnership. Having a Central Data Management Agency for Himalayas to provide data with high fidelity scenario while addressing data sharing, access, authenticity and comparability issues will go a long way in addressing data related issues.
The call for actions include setting up of a Himalayan Authority for coordinated and holistic development of entire Himalayan region and launching of “Himalaya Calling”: An Awareness to Action Campaign as people’s movement. The call for actions also includes suggestions for setting up of Mission on Spring Water Management in Himalayas, National Mission/Program on Transforming Shifting Cultivation in North Eastern States, demand driven network of skill and entrepreneurship development Centers in Himalayan States, consortium of institutions of high learning for mountain specific research and technology, link with Hindukush Himalaya Monitoring and Assessment program (HIMAP) and Setting up Central Data Management Agency for Himalayan Database at GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development.
28-Jul-2018: Tamil Nadu has the highest number of exotic plants among 471 aliens
As many as 471 plant species that are alien or exotic — not native to India — are ‘Naturalised,’ for they can thrive in the country’s wildernesses by forming stable populations.
This list of naturalised exotic or alien species, ranging from the common guava (Psidium guajava) to prolific invasive such as lantana (Lantana camara), has been compiled in a recent study published in Biological Invasions, an international journal dedicated to the patterns and processes by which organisms invade ecosystems they are not usually found in.
Ecosystem altered: Naturalised species reproduce naturally in the environments they colonise. Invasive species do this so prolifically that they alter the workings of the natural ecosystems they colonise or invade. Lantana, for instance, replaces undergrowth and prevents native undershrub and plants from surviving.
An international team — including scientists from the University of Delhi’s Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems (CEMDE), the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) in Kolkata, Uttarakhand’s Central Himalaya Environment Association and Andhra Pradesh’s Sri Krishnadevaraya University — collated information on alien plant species from several sources, ranging from online plant lists to old compilations of India’s national and regional flora.
Tamil Nadu leads: The team also developed the first lists of naturalised plants for each State; these lists reveal that 110 alien plants now naturally occur in more than 31 States in India. At 332, Tamil Nadu has the highest number of naturalised exotics, followed by Kerala (290), while Lakshadweep has the least (17).
The distribution across Indian States of over 20 of these naturalised species (in the list of 471) is unknown.
A majority of these naturalised plants are herbs such as the invasive Siam weed Chromolaena odorata, native to south and central America.
We have to worry about the invasive species among these. The government needs to strengthen quarantine measures adopted before a plant is brought to the country. We have to stop planting exotics just because they are fast-growing.
More than 13,000 plant species are now naturalised in ecosystems across the world due to human activity; many of these later turn invasive and impact local flora and fauna. Last year, a study identified India as one of the ‘hotspots’ of naturalised plant species and among the seven regions in the world that have the highest number of invasive species. The ENVIS Centre on Floral Diversity hosted by the BSI lists more than 170 invasive plant species in India.
24-Jun-2018: Air pollution causes malnutrition in trees
Air pollution from farms, diesel engines and factories is leaving trees malnourished by killing off the fungi that feed them nutrients.
Trees across Britain and Europe have recently shown signs of illness, including discoloured leaves and sparse growth of leaves.
Toxic levels of nitrogen in rainwater also appear to be breaking up ancient fungal highways, known as the "wood-wide web," through which trees exchange essential compounds.
Between 15 and 90 percent of forests in the UK are thought to be stricken by pollutants that trickle down into the soil and disrupt the communities of microbes gathered around tree roots.
Now it has been found that the culprit is air pollution -- causing "malnutrition" in trees by harming beneficial fungi in the roots.
The roots rely on the mycorrhizal fungi to extract soil nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. In return the roots pass carbon to the fungi, a mutually beneficial relationship crucial to the tree's health.
But tougher fungi, which return fewer nutrients, now thrive instead -- making the tree suffer from a lack of nutrition. As a result, researchers say legal limits on air pollution are set too high and need to be reduced.