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  “Governments should declare a climate emergency in their countries as the world faces a "catastrophic temperature rise. Can anybody still deny that we are facing a dramatic emergency? The commitments to keep the global temperature rise this century to below 2 degrees Celsius did not go far enough and are not being met: "Five years after Paris, we are still not going in the right direction"." UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Paris accord. India worked hard on the climate agenda and has already reduced the emissions intensity by 21% from 2005 levels while augmenting solar capacity from 2.63 GW in 2014 to 36 GW in 2020. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address at Climate Action Summit marking five years of the landmark Paris agreement said “India is not only on track to achieve its Paris agreement but to exceed them beyond expectations. We must not only revise our ambitions but also review our achievements a

 By Dr. Arvind Kumar, President, India Water Foundation Global fossil CO2 emissions reached a new record high of 36.7 Gigatonnes in 2019, 62% higher than in 1990 with human activities emitted 42 billion tonnes of CO ₂ in 2019 alone. With CO2 emissions in the early 2020s fallen by an estimated 7% due to COVID-19, let us not take a step back to further our efforts towards curbing the emissions and especially when we have to ensure our commitments under Paris Agreement. Given this glaring statistics, how can we fill the gaps to close this climate variability? The above facts are presented in United in Science Report 2020 compiled by World Meteorological Organization under the direction of the United Nations Secretary-General to bring together the latest climate science related updates from a group of key global partner organizations such as Global Carbon Project (GCP), UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO-IOC), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), UN Env

“As nature degrades, new opportunities emerge for the spread to humans and animals of devastating diseases like this year’s corona virus’ remarks Elizabeth Mrema, Executive Director of the Convention on Biological Diversity. This is in light of the Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 (GBO-5), released by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The publication offers a rich overview of the state of nature and reflects a report card on progress of 20 global biodiversity Aichi targets agreed in 2010. With a 2020 deadline, what insights does it present? Highlighting that we still lack behind in targets relating to sustainable agriculture, pollution, conservation of species, corals, forests, etc and in the light of non-achieving these targets, we are likely to face pandemics like the current COVID-19, wild fires, water crisis and so on. The report calls for paradigm shift from “business as usual” across a range of human activities but showcases concern to safeguard eco-systems and pr

  By Dr. Arvind Kumar, President, India Water Foundation Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said, ‘World Ozone Day is observed to create awareness related to climate change and ozone depletion and asked people to look for ozone-friendly, HCFC free, energy-efficient appliances to minimize the Ozone layer impact’. Indeed, without this delicate natural umbrella, our lives and livelihoods would rather be unproductive and unsustainable. Today we celebrate 35 years of global ozone layer protection marking “Ozone for life”, entire globe bows in solitary to the landmark Vienna Convention and Montreal Protocol. What is so special about it that assisted in transitioning our eco-friendly pathways towards healthy life-supporting OZONE Layer? Scientific confirmation of the depletion of the ozone layer by products such as CFCs, HCFCs, family of halons prompted the international community to establish a mechanisms and time-targeted actions towards protection of the ozone layer. According to “Scient

By Dr. Arvind Kumar, President, India Water Foundation This difficult challenge amidst COVID-19 pandemic is perhaps the right time to implement initiatives and solutions that promote clean air for all and support cleaner air strategies. Residents of the national capital of Delhi inhaled the cleanest air in more than five years, with Air Quality Index (AQI) count settling at 41, the capital’s lowest reading, according to a report in the Times of India. This is an achievement indeed, but the gains earned during the pandemic lockdown should not fade away in despair when normalcy prevails. Effective governance is essential in terms of systematic collection of air quality data along with a scientific approach to air quality management. L ow-cost sensor technology can be installed at multiple places to monitor the data and this collection of multiple data can be helpful in synchronizing the related issues and in formulation of the policies accordingly. System of #AirQuality and Weather For

South Africa has GOLD, but no WATER. Crisis has already hit Cape Town, South Africa, which neared its day zero in 2018 because they had no water. On the flip side, with Gold blooming during COVID-19 and trading at $1,820 per ounce amidst the pandemic, is it becoming a safety valve for investment? With World Bank estimating that delivery of UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 6 by 2030 requires over $100bn of additional capex globally every year, can we anticipate investing in ‘White Gold rather than Yellow’? The choice is yours! ‘WATER has emerged as the new OIL’ and threatened socio-economic gains and has raised a potent fuel for wars and conflict with changing geo-political situation beyond national borders. Water scarcity is one of the largest global risks over the next decade, according to the World Economic Forum. It is seen that Tanzania’s mining sector has contributed over 15% over 3 months and investors are increasingly looking at gold as an important investment whil

With the onset of the pandemic and recurrent lockdowns globally the year 2020 has left its own mark.   Though the earth had an opportunity to heal itself nevertheless it has presented a huge challenge before us i.e. re-emergence of plastic pollution debate.  Every day approximately 8 million pieces of plastic pollution find their way into our oceans. There may now be around 5.25 trillion macr o and microplastic pieces floating in the open ocean. UNICEF estimates that by the end of the year, we need 2.2 billion surgical masks, 1.1 billion gloves, 13 million goggles, and 8.8 million face shields along with Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs). It’s not been long since we celebrated June 8th as World Oceans Day giving us a reminder about the importance of oceans' role in our everyday life. With the waste generated and disposed harming the biodiversity and marine ecosystem, the health of the oceans is fraught in distress, wreaking havoc on the delicate marine ecology. Pandem

The year of 2020 signs the triple onset of Super Year for Nature and Biodiversity, U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and the Last Decade of SDGs goals earmarking the start of what many understand will be the most important decade of the century. In 2019, with the inception of the U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration in March and the Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Change was launched. It’s time we put the spotlight to harness the power of nature again. COVID-19 has caught us off guard with zoonotic diseases is on the rise, whether Ebola, Nipah or the present COVID-19. When we destroy animal habitats or trade illegally in wildlife, the spill-over effect on humans is bound to increase. On the other hand, witnessing fall of Green House emissions by 33%, breathing clean air, rivers and water bodies are regaining their lost pristine properties, ozone hole is closing. In short, our mother nature is healing. But this is temporary and short term gains. In actual, we certainly ha

When the world is fighting COVID-19, the current stand-off at the Galwan River Valley in Ladakh has struck hard the India-China relations once again. China is giving India a tough and complex challenge politically, strategically, economically and environmentally. China’s military and economic clout provides it better prospects in international community where India has to struggle hard to make its presence felt. We have no military strategy to find amicable solutions towards China’s provocative and coercive military tactics. While safeguarding its territorial and strategic interests, India is yet to hone up its diplomatic skills while China advance its strategic objectives through coercion, military might trying to eliminate the perceived threats to its interests. The current stand-off at the Galwan River Valley in Ladakh, in the disputed Kashmir region, for instance believed to have started on 5 May 2020 is prompted by a road that branches off from the all-important 255 km

Truly said, CSOs are often acknowledged as the ‘Jagrit Nagrik (awakened citizen)’, depicting the eyes and ears of people is on the verge of exclusion from the mainstream efforts. Expectations from CSOs are always on the higher end since they are the informal channel of communication amongst various stakeholders. If our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi highlights that “India’s fight against corona is truly people-driven”, why should CSOs be at the edge? In the light of Atmanirbharta, it is necessary to ‘strengthen’ not ‘shrink’ their structure and advisory role because CSOs are building blocks of a strong democratic society. There has been plethora of initiatives and budget allocation announced for various sectors. For instance, the Government’s soft stimulus of mammoth Rs 20 lakh crore package to COVID battered MSME sector without any collateral is encouraging. But, where are CSOs mentioned in the recent World Bank’s praise for the $1 billion ‘Atmanirbhar (self-relianc

By Dr. Arvind Kumar, President, India Water Foundation The Coronavirus pandemic is the most challenging crisis the world has faced since World War II with unprecedented threat to humanity, paralleled consequences of economic recession, social tensions and psychological health crisis. In fact, it's a human crisis with growing instability and devastating socio-economic unrest. Today, we stand united to garner emotional strength to tackle its profound consequences by responding to the emergency and recover from the socio-economic shock. We are facing a tough situation, radical choices to hear the million voices with a global picture of the COVID-19 invasion seriously grim. According to the UN International Labour Organisation, five to 25 million jobs will be eradicated while UNESCO forecast that 1.5 billion students out of school. In Asia and the Pacific, the impacts of the pandemic have reverberated soundly among its population of more than 4 billion and in its network of vi

By Dr. Arvind Kumar, President, India Water Foundation Congratulations on winning the #Padmaawards for the year 2020. We, at India Water Foundation is elated to hear individual’s diverse and momentous endeavors. The award is a reflection of the endless dedication and sincere efforts towards their work which they truly deserve. Their innovative and out-of-box solutions make them distinguished as true Champions of Change. On the eve of 71st Republic Day 2020, Padma awards were given to citizens of India in recognition of their contribution to the society in spheres such as education, literature, science, medicine, social service, etc. Eminent personalities like George Fernandes, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Kannada spiritual icon Sri Vishveshateertha Swami of Pejavar Matt were chosen for the second-highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan posthumously. We have individuals like Harekala Hajabba, who understood the importance of education in today's time and put in eff