NEWS UPDATE #142

The Guardian reports: It was designed as an impregnable deep-freeze to protect the world’s precious seeds from any global disaster and ensure humanity’s food supply forever. But the Global Seed Vault, buried in a mountain deep inside a Norwegian island the Arctic circle, has been breached after global warming produced extraordinary temperatures over the winter.

Narendra Modi Cabinet Approves Plan to Build Ten Nuclear Reactors
The Wire
India’s cabinet approved plans on Wednesday, May 17, to build ten nuclear reactors with a combined capacity of 7,000 megawatts (MW), more than the country’s entire current capacity, to try to fast track its domestic nuclear power programme. The decision by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government marks the first strategic response to the near collapse of Westinghouse, the US reactor maker that had been in talks to build six of its AP1000 reactors in India.

India’s Poorest Areas Most Vulnerable to Heat Waves, As Planning Targets Cities
Mukta Patil, IndiaSpend
People living in underdeveloped parts of central India are most vulnerable to the health impacts of heat waves, a Heat Vulnerability Index (HVI) for India has found. The index considered various factors including a person’s age, caste, income and health, as well as the green cover in an area, as having a bearing on people’s heat vulnerability, and its analysis of 640 (of the 707) districts in the country finds ten districts to be “very high risk.” Six of these are in relatively underdeveloped areas in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. In contrast, the 20 districts in the “very low risk” category are mostly in the relatively developed states of Kerala and Goa and the union territory of Lakshadweep.

As the Tamil Nadu farming crisis grows, the Centre has predicted a record national harvest
Vipul Vivek, IndiaSpend.com
As the impact of the worst northeast monsoon in 140 years unfolds across Tamil Nadu, farmers sowed a third less land than they did in 2015-’16, water levels in six major reservoirs continued to plunge, and suicides in the farm sector increased over five years. In the midst of this agrarian turmoil in a state that produced 5.6% of India’s rice in 2014-’15, the agriculture ministry has predicted a record national harvest. (Related: Climate change impact on agriculture leads to 1.5 per cent loss in India’s GDP)

Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave passes away
The Hindu
Union Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave died of a cardiac arrest in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here on Thursday morning. Mr. Dave’s last day in office was spent meeting not just the Prime Minister but also activists who opposed the possible environmental release of transgenic mustard, and those were not the only loose ends that he tied up. (Related:  After Dave, what does future hold for GM Mustard?)

The Adani Port In Kerala Runs Into Rough Weather
Countercurrents.org
The Vizhinjam sea port being constructed by Adani Ports and SEZ Private Limited has run into rough weather as the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report has found that the  unfavourable conditions in the concession agreement of the project have gone against the interests of the Kerala State government.  The CAG  report says that the standard concession period for PPP (public-private participation) projects is 30 years. But it has been fixed as 40 years. This would help Adani collect an additional revenue of INR 292 billion.

India uses up more groundwater than US & China
Subodh Varma, The Times of India
Indiscriminate withdrawal has led India to showing an annual groundwater usage that is more than the combined usage by the US and China. Studies by Nasa using satellite imagery show that the Indus basin, which includes the high food producing states of Punjab and Haryana, is one of the most stressed aquifers in the world. If the current trends continue, by 2030 nearly 60% of Indian aquifers will be in a critical condition. This means that some 25% of the agricultural production will be at risk -a devastating scenario.

‘Entire Western Ghats must be declared eco-sensitive’
The Times of India
The notification of nearly 60,000 sqkm (37%) of the western ghat area by central government as ecologically sensitive area (ESA) has raised apprehensions among activists, as they are wary of the remaining 63% being thrown open to unregulated growth. The ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEF) has been dilly-dallying on declaring the protected area due to various reasons, including opposition from states regarding keeping ecosensitive areas out of bounds for industries and other activities.

Ganga Receives First Legal Notice After Getting Human Status
Bloomberg-Quint
After being accorded human status recently, river Ganga received its first legal notice from the Uttarakhand High Court today asking it to explain why its land was given for construction of a trenching ground. The notice was issued by a division bench of the high court comprising Justice VK Bisht and Justice Alok Singh on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a Rishikesh resident Swaroop Singh Pundir. (Related: Ganga living entity case: Govt turns to Supreme Court to challenge HC order)

The future of India’s coast depends on a line that the government is treating as a commercial secret
Vinita Govindarajan, Scroll.in
Revealing the coordinates of India’s High Tide line would equal the disclosure of the designs of satellites, missiles and rockets by the Indian Satellite Research Organisation. This is what the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, which is an autonomous centre of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, said in its response to a Right to Information application seeking information on the freshly mapped High Tide Line. The Centre refused to share the information, saying it would harm its scientific and economic interests.

Economy growing at over 7 per cent, while jobs increase by only 1.1 per cent
Subodh Varma, The Economic Times
While the economy is growing at just over 7 per cent per year, jobs increased by just 1.1 per cent last year, according to a recently-released report covering eight key sectors of the non-farm economy. An earlier report had pegged joblessness at a five year high of 5 per cent in 2015, and under-employment at a staggering 35 per cent of the over-15 years labour force. Both reports are based on large surveys carried out by the Labour Bureau.

NCST notes irregularities in employment of tribals displaced by Rourkela Steel Plant
Down to Earth
While examining alternative employment for tribals displaced by the Rourkela Steel Plant in Odisha, in a meeting on May 16, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) noted discrepancies in data given by plant authorities. The commission also directed Odisha state officials and executives of the steel plant to report on action taken on NCST’s directives, within a month. It asked the Union Ministry of Steel to constitute a high level committee under to investigate whether the land acquired for the steel plant was given to a private organisation and if government’s permission was obtained.

Karnataka wants citizens to take responsibility of maintaining and protecting lakes
Subhojit Goswami, Down to Earth
In a bid to put a stop to a steady destruction of the water bodies, the Karnataka Lake Conservation and Development Authority (KLCDA)has proposed to levy lake view and maintenance tax for those staying in apartments around lakes. This tax is excluding the lake cess that builders pay while undertaking any construction. Even commercial complexes will be within this purview. Alternatively, people have to become registered lake wardens or adopt a portion of the lake to protect and maintain it. The proposal will be soon placed before the state government. (Also read: Open defecation, waste dumping on Yamuna floodplains will invite penalty of Rs 5,000: NGT)

Young Scientist Discovers New Species of Crabs in Meghalaya
Juhi Chaudhary, The Wire
A young scientist has just discovered a new species of cave-dwelling crabs in the north-eastern Indian state of Meghalaya. It is the first ever species of a cave dwelling crab to be ever discovered in India. Meghalaya boasts some of the world’s longest natural caves and it is in one such cave that these tiny creatures were discovered by 29-year-old Parveen Farzana Absar.

Why Ken-Betwa link may have to wait
Jay Mazoomdar, The Indian Express
Of the three gatekeepers in the Environment Ministry, the National Board For Wildlife (NBWL) and the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) recommended the Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) for clearance in 2016. Now with a favourable report tabled at a meeting of the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) last week, the stage is set for statutory green nods for the project. And yet, the validity of such clearances, if issued at this stage, may not stand legal scrutiny. That is because the recommendations of the NBWL and the EAC, in fact, call for a fresh project report, which, in turn, will require a fresh assessment of its potential impact.

Arctic stronghold of world’s seeds flooded after permafrost melts
Damian Carrington, The Guardian
It was designed as an impregnable deep-freeze to protect the world’s most precious seeds from any global disaster and ensure humanity’s food supply forever. But the Global Seed Vault, buried in a mountain deep inside the Arctic circle, has been breached after global warming produced extraordinary temperatures over the winter, sending meltwater gushing into the entrance tunnel. The vault is on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen and contains almost a million packets of seeds, each a variety of an important food crop.

Bonn climate talks end amidst uncertainty over US engagement with Paris Agreement
Vijeta Rattani, Down to Earth
No real progress achieved. For most of the issues under APA, informal notes have been put out to summarise discussions and reiteration to take the work forward. The budget presented for 2018-2019 is only 7.9 per cent increase from the current budget. Money for means of support has gone down in the budget. No progress made on pre-2020 actions. EU collaborating with China and Canada for a joint global leadership on climate change. India’s renewable policy gained particular attention during the session on facilitative sharing of views on developing countries.

Climate Change Is Turning Dehydration Into a Deadly Epidemic
Jane Palmer, The Wire
The majority of people with the unexplained disease are men, and it strikes predominantly in hot, humid regions where people are engaged in strenuous outdoor labour: farming, fishing or construction work. Dehydration, which seems an obvious factor, causes acute kidney disease that is easily reversed by drinking water, rather than this chronic form. This has left two burning questions: what causes this new form of kidney disease, and will it be likely to spread as the world gets warmer?

Methane mystery: fossil fuels spewing less methane, but gas continues to accumulate
Jacqueline Hernandez, Mongabay
Methane levels are on the rise again after a decade-long slowdown, but scientists still don’t know why. New research provides a ‘top down’ estimate of methane emissions due to fossil fuels, yielding a more rigorous look at how much methane the industry is responsible for. Improved monitoring technology can be used to get a more accurate reading of each nation’s methane emissions – and may be able to solve the mystery of the missing methane.

Swiss vote for gradual nuclear phaseout, energy makeover
The Economic Times
The Swiss voted on Sunday in favour of a massive overhaul of the country’s energy system by gradually replacing the power from its ageing nuclear reactors with renewable sources. A full 58.2 per cent of Swiss voters supported the shift, according to a final tally after Sunday’s referendum, with only four of the country’s 26 cantons voting “no”. The move has been in the making since shortly after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant was destroyed in the March 2011 tsunami disaster, when the Swiss government decided to gradually close its nuclear plants.

Labor senator breaks ranks and says Adani’s Australia coalmine would be a ‘huge mistake’
The Guardian
Australian senator Lisa Singh has said the Adani coalmine would be “a huge mistake for this country” in a departure from the official Labor position. The opposition maintains the controversial project can proceed on its merits, but without any government support. Singh, a left-leaning Tasmanian senator, told Guardian Australia on Tuesday the coal project had absolutely no merit.

Peru lost more than 1 million hectares of Amazon forest over a period of 15 years
Alexa Eunoé Vélez Zuazo, Mongabay
1.8 million hectares of Amazonian forests were lost between 2001 and 2015 with peaks of loss occurring in 2005, 2009 and 2014. The main causes of forest loss are deforestation and soil degradation, small and medium scale agriculture, large-scale agriculture, pasture for livestock, gold mining, coca cultivation and road construction, according to a MAAP report. Deforestation hotspots are concentrated in Peru’s central Amazon, in Huánuco and Ucayali, but there are also other important hotspots located in Madre de Dios and San Martín, according to a MAAP. (Also read: Piaroa indigenous leader murdered in Venezuelan Amazon)

Last major primeval forest in Europe on ‘brink of collapse’
Christian Davies, The Guardian
Scientists and environmental campaigners have accused the Polish government of bringing the ecosystem of the Białowieża forest in north-eastern Poland to the “brink of collapse”, one year after a revised forest management plan permitted the trebling of state logging activity and removed a ban on logging in old growth areas. Large parts of the forest, which spans Poland’s eastern border with Belarus and contains some of Europe’s last remaining primeval woodland, are subject to natural processes not disturbed by direct human intervention.

Evidence of water from Persian Gulf and Red Sea found in the Bay of Bengal
Sunderarajan Padmanabhan, Down to Earth
In a finding that could help in better understanding the future global climate scenario, scientists have found evidence that waters from the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea make their way into the Bay of Bengal. While signals of the presence of Persian Gulf water was found at the depth range of 200 to 400 metres in the Bay, that of Red Sea water was found at depths between 500 and 1000 metres. The findings are significant as deep circulations of the oceans are key elements of the global climate system and are invoked in the context of both past climate and climate change studies.

Food Industry Enlisted Academics in G.M.O. Lobbying War, Emails Show
Eric Lipton, The New York Times
Corporations have poured money into universities to fund research for decades, but now, the debate over bioengineered foods has escalated into a billion-dollar food industry war. Companies like Monsanto are squaring off against major organic firms like Stonyfield Farm, the yogurt company, and both sides have aggressively recruited academic researchers, emails obtained through open records laws show. The emails provide a rare view into the strategy and tactics of a lobbying campaign that has transformed ivory tower elites into powerful players.

Financial Weapons Of Mass Destruction: Top 25 US Banks Have 222 Trillion Dollars Derivatives Exposure
Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse blog,
The recklessness of the “too big to fail” banks almost doomed them the last time around, but apparently they still haven’t learned from their past mistakes.  Today, the top 25 U.S. banks have 222 trillion dollars of exposure to derivatives.  In other words, the exposure that these banks have to derivatives contracts is approximately equivalent to the gross domestic product of the United States times twelve.

Climate change is turning Antarctica green, say researchers
Nicola Davis, The Guardian
Antarctica may conjure up an image of a pristine white landscape, but researchers say climate change is turning the continent green. Scientists studying banks of moss in Antarctica have found that the quantity of moss, and the rate of plant growth, has shot up in the past 50 years, suggesting the continent may have a verdant future. “Antarctica is not going to become entirely green, but it will become more green than it currently is,” said Matt Amesbury, co-author of the research from the University of Exeter.