Topic Of The Day:-“A Fresh Warning: What Geo-6 Means For India”
India must recognise the human cost of poorly enforced environment laws
The sixth edition of the Global Environment Outlook from the UN Environment Programme has come as another stark warning: the world is unsustainably extracting resources and producing unmanageable quantities of waste. The linear model of economic growth depends on the extraction of ever-higher quantities of materials, leading to chemicals flowing into air, water and land. This causes ill-health and premature mortality, and affects the quality of life, particularly for those unable to insulate themselves from these effects. The UN report, GEO-6, on the theme “Healthy Planet, Healthy People,” has some sharp pointers for India. It notes that East and South Asia have the highest number of deaths due to air pollution; by oneestimate, it killed about 1.24 million in India in 2017. As India’s population grows, it must worry that agricultural yields are coming under stress due to increase in average temperature and erratic monsoons. Theimplications of these forecasts for food security and health are all too evident, more so for the 148 million people living in severe weather ‘hotspots’. Evidently, the task before India is to recognise the human cost of poorly enforced environment laws and demonstrate the political will necessary to end business-as-usual policies. That would mean curbing the use of fossil fuels and toxic chemicals across the spectrum of economic activity.
There are some targeted interventions that only require the resolve to reduce air and water pollution, and which in turn promise early population-level benefits. Aggressive monitoring of air quality in cities through scaled-up facilities would bring about a consensus on cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, and provide theimpetus to shift to cleaner sources of energy. It is significant that GEO-6 estimates that the top 10% of populations globally, in terms of wealth, are responsible for 45% of GHG emissions, and the bottom 50% for only 13%. Pollution impacts are, however, borne more by the poorer citizens. Combating air pollution would, therefore, require all older coal-based power plants in India to conform to emission norms at the earliest, or to be shut down in favour of renewable energy sources. Transport emissions are a growing source of urban pollution, and a quick transition to green mobility is needed. In the case of water, the imperative is to stop the contamination of surface supplies by chemicals, sewage and municipal waste. As the leading extractor of groundwater, India needs to make water part of a circular economy in which it is treated as a resource that is recovered, treated and reused. But water protection gets low priority, and State governments show no urgency in augmenting rainwater harvesting. New storage areas act as a supply source when monsoons fail, and help manage floods when there is excess rainfall.
WORDS AND MEANINGS:-
1) unsustainably
Meaning : not able to be maintained at the current rate or level.
Synonyms : unfeasible
Antonyms : suitable
Example : “macroeconomic instability led to an unsustainable boom”
2) extracting
Meaning : remove or take out, especially by effort or force(v).
Synonyms : exact
Antonyms : disperse
Example : “the fossils are extracted from the chalk”
3) insulate
Meaning : protect (something) by interposing material that prevents the loss of heat or the intrusion of sound.
Synonyms : isolate
Antonyms : mingle
Example : “insulate and draught-proof your home”
4) estimate
Meaning : roughly calculate or judge the value, number, quantity, or extent of.
Synonyms : estimation
Antonyms : ignorance
Example : “the aim is to estimate the effects of macroeconomic policy on the economy”
5) implications
Meaning : the conclusion that can be drawn from something although it is not explicitly stated(n).
Synonyms : conclusion
Antonyms : proof
Example : “the implication is that no one person at the bank is responsible”
6) evident
Meaning : clearly seen or understood; obvious.
Synonyms : indisputable
Antonyms : concealed
Example : “she ate the biscuits with evident enjoyment”
7) recognise
Meaning : identify (someone or something) from having encountered them before; know again.
Synonyms : discern
Antonyms : ignore
Example : “I recognized her when her wig fell off”
8) enforced
Meaning : caused by necessity or force; compulsory.
Synonyms : imposed
Example : “a period of enforced idleness”
9) curbing
Meaning : restrain or keep in check.
Synonyms : contain
Antonyms : advance
Example : “she promised she would curb her temper”
10) resolve
Meaning : settle or find a solution to (a problem or contentious matter)(v).
Synonyms : courage
Antonyms : fear
Example : “the firm aims to resolve problems within 30 days”
11) impetus
Meaning : the force or energy with which a body moves.
Synonyms : impulse
Antonyms : hindrance
Example : “hit the booster coil before the flywheel loses all its impetus”
12) impacts
Meaning : the action of one object coming forcibly into contact with another.
Synonyms : bang
Antonyms : failure
Example : “there was the sound of a third impact”
13) Combating
Meaning : take action to reduce or prevent (something bad or undesirable).
Synonyms : cope
Antonyms : yield
Example : “an effort to combat drug trafficking”
14) augmenting
Meaning : make (something) greater by adding to it; increase.
Synonyms : develop
Antonyms : abridge
Example : “he augmented his summer income by painting houses”