UPSC Essentials: Key terms of the past week with MCQs

— Attending the event in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt on Tuesday, Union Minister for Environment Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav said that India is home to one of the largest remaining areas of mangroves in the world — the Sundarbans — and has years of expertise in restoration of mangrove cover that can be used to aid global measures in this direction.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The MAC

— An initiative led by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Indonesia, the Mangrove Alliance for Climate (MAC) includes India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Japan, and Spain. It seeks to educate and spread awareness worldwide on the role of mangroves in curbing global warming and its potential as a solution for climate change.

— However, the intergovernmental alliance works on a voluntary basis which means that there are no real checks and balances to hold members accountable. Instead, the parties will decide their own commitments and deadlines regarding planting and restoring mangroves. The members will also share expertise and support each other in researching, managing and protecting coastal areas.

The current state of the mangroves

— South Asia houses some of the most extensive areas of mangroves globally, while Indonesia hosts one-fifth of the overall amount.

— India holds around 3 percent of South Asia’s mangrove population. Besides the Sundarbans in West Bengal, the Andamans region, the Kachchh and Jamnagar areas in Gujarat too have substantial mangrove cover.

— However, infrastructure projects — industrial expansion and building of roads and railways, and natural processes shifting coastlines, coastal erosion and storms, have resulted in a significant decrease in mangrove habitats.

— Between 2010 and 2020, around 600 sq km of mangroves were lost of which more than 62% was due to direct human impacts, the Global Mangrove Alliance said in its 2022 report.

The significance of mangroves

— Mangroves have been the focus of conservationists for years and it is difficult to overstate their importance in the global climate context. Mangrove forests — consisting of trees and shrub that
live in intertidal water in coastal areas — host diverse marine life. They also support a rich food web, with molluscs and algae-filled substrate acting as a breeding ground for small fish, mud crabs and shrimps, thus providing a livelihood to local artisanal fishers.

— Equally importantly, they act as effective carbon stores, holding up to four times the amount of carbon as other forested ecosystems. Mangrove forests capture vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and their preservation can both aid in removal of carbon from the atmosphere and prevent the release of the same upon their destruction.

(Source: What is the Mangrove Alliance for Climate, which India joined at COP27? by Navmi Krishna)

Point to ponder: How mangroves are affected by climate change?

2. MCQ:

The 2004 Tsunami made people realize that mangroves can serve as a reliable safety hedge against coastal calamities. How do mangroves function as a safety hedge? (2011)

a) The mangrove swamps separate the human settlements from the sea by a wide zone in which people neither live nor venture out

b) The mangroves provide both food and medicines that people are in need of after any natural disaster.

c) The mangrove trees are tall with dense canopies and serve as an excellent shelter during a cyclone or tsunami

d) The mangrove trees do not get uprooted by storms and tides because of their extensive roots.

Greenwashing

Why in news?

— In the first official acknowledgment of ‘greenwashing’, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday warned private corporations to desist from such practices and mend their ways within a year. There will be zero tolerance for greenwashing, he said at the ongoing climate meeting in Sharm el-Shaikh.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

— The use of unfair practices in climate action is not new. Corporations, and sometimes even countries, attempt to exaggerate the actions they are taking to help the fight against climate change, and also the impacts of these actions. In the process, they provide misleading information, make unverifiable claims, and sometimes plainly lie about their products or processes.

— There is a growing tendency among firms and governments to mark all kinds of activities as climate-friendly, as something that would lead to emissions reduction, or avoidance of emissions. Many of these claims are unverifiable, misleading, or dubious. While they help in boosting the image of the entity, sometimes even helping them garner benefits, they do nothing in the fight against climate change.

— While Guterres spoke against greenwashing in the context of net-zero targets being pursued by many corporations and sub-national governments, greenwashing is prevalent across a whole range of environmental activities. Developed countries, for example, are often accused of greenwashing their normal business investments in developing countries, or their bilateral aid, by highlighting climate co-benefits of the financial flows, sometimes with very little justification.

— The Volkswagen scandal, in which the German car company was found to have been cheating in emissions testing of its supposedly green diesel vehicles, was a case of greenwashing. Several other multinational corporations, including oil giants like Shell and BP, and Coca Cola have faced accusations of greenwashing.

— Greenwashing presents a false picture of the progress being made on the climate change front, thereby pushing the world towards disaster, while at the same time rewarding entities for irresponsible behaviour.

Fairly widespread

— The processes and products that can potentially cut emissions are so many that it is practically impossible to monitor and verify all. There is lack of regulation and standardisation in most of these spaces. The processes, methodologies and institutions to measure, report, create standards, verify claims and grant certifications are still being set up.

— In the meanwhile, large number of organisations have sprung up claiming expertise in these areas and offering their services for a fee. Many of these organisations lack integrity and robustness, but their services are still availed by corporations because it makes them look good.

Credits and offsets

— The trade in carbon credits comes under the scanner in any discussion on greenwashing. Carbon trade is a legitimate exercise. In fact, it is officially encouraged. Countries or firms that reduce emissions beyond their mandate are granted carbon credits, which can then be bought for money by entities that need it to achieve their targets. There was a carbon market under the Kyoto Protocol, and a new one is being created under the Paris Agreement as well.

— But the scope of carbon markets has increased manifold since it was first conceptualised. Informal carbon markets also exist. There are now credits available for all kinds of activities — for growing trees, for planting a certain kind of crop, for installing energy-efficient equipment in office buildings. Basically, any activity that has the potential to reduce or avoid emissions can earn credits. The credits are often certified by unofficial third party companies and sold to others. Such transactions, particularly in informal, bilateral or voluntary markets, have been flagged for lack of integrity and double counting.

— Even the official market is not immune to charges of double counting and greenwashing. Countries like India or Brazil had accumulated huge carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol and wanted these to be transitioned to the new market being set up under the Paris Agreement. But many developed countries resisted this, questioning the integrity of the credits and claiming they did not accurately represent reductions in emissions. Carbon offsets from forests are one of the most controversial.

The way forward

— An expert group formed by the UN Secretary General last year to suggest remedial actions on this front submitted its report Tuesday. Among other things, it recommended that corporations pursuing net zero targets must not be allowed to make fresh investments in fossil fuels, must be asked to present short-term emission reduction goals on the path to achieving net zero, and must bring an end to all activities that lead to deforestation. In addition, the corporations have been advised not to use offset mechanisms at the start of their journey to net-zero status.

— The expert group has also recommended the creation of regulatory structures and standards as soon as possible.

— While the measures are likely to curb these activities to some extent, it is also true that the entire architecture of global fight against climate change is based on trust. There are elements of measurement, reporting and verification, but as mentioned earlier, the vast array of activities makes it extremely difficult, if not entirely impossible, to police every process and product.

(Source: Red flags over ‘greenwashing’ at COP27 — what is it? by Amitabh Sinha)