Environment

CLIMATE CHANGE

  • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) established in 1988 by World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and UNEP, following a number of reports showing that Green House Gases (GHG) were increasing rapidly due to human activities.
  • The IPCC has three Working Groups (WG) and a Task Force.
  • The main activity of the IPCC is to provide at regular intervals an assessment of the state of knowledge on climate change through Working Group technical reports, WG summaries for policy-makers and an overall synthesis report.
  • It is mentioned in WG I which is the key message of the report that atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration has increased by 40% since the pre-industrial times, unprecedented in at least 800,000 years.
  • Global mean surface temperatures increased by 0.89C between 1901 and 2012 while global mean sea level increased by 19 in between 1901 and 2010.
  • The main findings of WG II are climate change has already affected agriculture, human health, ecosystems on land & oceans, water supplies and some people’s livelihoods.
  • WG III talks about the growing emissions and mitigation strategies. As per IPCC WG III, emissions grew faster than ever since 2000. Most of the growth is coming from middle income countries like China and India.
  • To limit the increase in Global mean temperature to 2 degree C relative to pre-industrial level, GHG emissions at global level have to be reduced by 40-70% compared with 2010 by 2050 and near zero by 2100.
  • India is a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Government of India attaches great importance to climate change issues.
  • India has launched its Second National Communication (NATCOM) in fulfillment of commitment under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
  • India’s emissions were estimated to be in order of 6 million tonnes of the carbon dioxide equivalent Green House Gas (GHG) emissions in 2007. However, India’s CO2 emissions are only about 4% of total global CO2 emissions.
  • On 30th June 2008, India launched its National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).
  • Under NAPCC, 8 National Missions are being implemented. These missions are:
  1. National Solar Mission,
  2. National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency,
  3. National Mission of Sustainable Habitat,
  4. National Water Mission,
  5. National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Eco- system,
  6. National Mission for a Green India,
  7. National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture
  8. National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change.
  • As a follow-up to the announcement made by the then Prime Minister in 2009, all the State Governments were requested to prepare SAPCC in line with the objectives of NAPCC.
  • 28 States have prepared State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC).

OZONE LAYER PROTECTION

  • Ozone, a tri-atomic molecule of oxygen is formed from oxygen naturally in the upper levels of the earth’s atmosphere by high-energy Ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun.
  • About 90% of ozone formed in this way lies between 10 and 50 kilometer above the earth’s surface, called the stratosphere.
  • The stratospheric ozone layer absorbs all the harmful UV-B radiation emanating from the sun. It protects plant and animal life from UV-B radiation.
  • The UV-B radiation has the potential to cause skin cancer, eye cataract, suppress body’s immune system, decrease crop yield etc., which led to the adoption of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer in 1985 and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer in 1987.
  • India was mainly producing and using nine of the 96 Ozone Depleting Substances (ODSs), controlled under the Montreal Protocol. These are chloroflurocarbons (CFCs) viz., CFC-ll, CFC-12, CFC-113; carbon tetrachloride (CTC), hydrochlorofluorocarbon-22 (HCFC—22), halon-1211, halon-1301, methyl chloroform and methyl bromide.
  • The Ministry has set up the Ozone Cell as a National Ozone Unit to render necessary services for effective implementation of Protocol and its OFS phase-out programme.
  • The Ministry has also established an Empowered Steering Committee which is responsible for implementation of the Montreal Protocol provisions.
UPSC Prelims 2025 Notes