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प्रकृ ति Environment 环境 persekitaran สิ่งแวดล้อม omgeving

PRAKRITI
QUARTERLY
NEWSLETTER

Volume 3 Jan - Mar 2023 Issue 1

Air Quality Management Association (AQMA)

 Indian Institute of Technology Madras
The Institute was established in 1959.​ It is a residential institute with nearly 550
faculty, 8000 students and 1250 administrative & supporting staff. The Institute
has sixteen academic departments and a few advanced research centres in
various disciplines of engineering and pure sciences, with nearly 100
laboratories organised in a unique pattern.​IIT Madras has been ranked as No. 1
institute in 'Engineering' Categories in National Institutional Rankings
Framework (NIRF), Govt. of India for the sixth consecutive year.​

Department of Civil Engineering

Since IIT Madras inception in 1959, the Department of Civil Engineering has
grown into a full-fledged department with nationally and internationally
acclaimed academic programs. The department boasts of state-of-the-art
facilities, a wide variety of core civil engineering courses and a faculty of
international repute. The major laboratories include ​Building Technology &
Construction Management​, Environmental & Water Resources Engineering​,
Geotechnical Engineering​, Structural Engineering​ and Transportation
Engineering​

Air Quality Management Association (AQMA)

Air Quality Management Association (AQMA)” a non-government-organization
registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975 (Tamil Nadu
Act 27 of 1975) on 25th March 2022. All of the renowned and eminent
scientific, engineering, medical, and educational institutes, center and state
pollution control boards, and leading organizations deals with air quality
instrumentation including IITs, NITs, VITs, CSIR-NEERI, Medical Colleges, CPCB,
TNPCB, KSPCB, and Envirotech Instruments. The core members of AQMA
formed this organization to address issues of ambient air quality, indoor air
quality, health risks, technological interventions, and policy formulation.

CEPHA NETWORK

The Clean Environment and Planetary Health in Asia (CEPHA) network aims to
enhance inter-sectoral interdisciplinary engagement to co-create lasting
partnerships that will help instigate a clean environment transformation in Asia
(India, China, Thailand, Malaysia, and neighbouring countries) through low-
carbon development, focusing on innovative solutions that can provide multiple
health, environmental and socioeconomic benefits.
 CONTENT TABLE
OUR DESK

2 Editorial Desk

3 Editor's Note

ARTICLES

04 From the presidents desk

Prof. Shiva Nagendra S M

05 Global accords in mitigating effects on climate change

Mr. Sanjay Sampath

Digging into the Dirt: The Shocking Presence of Heavy

07
Metals in Road Dust
Dr. Jithin Jose & Dr. B. Srimuruganandam

12 Glimpses of CEPHA (Jan - Mar '23)

Mr. Sarup Das

14 Around the World

PRAKRITI PAGE 01
 EDITORIAL DESK

Prof. Shiva Nagendra SM Prof. Sotiris Vardoulakis

President, AQMA Director, CE4HEAL

Dr. Madhusudanan M Mr. Sanjay Kumar Sampath

Project Consultant Project Consultant & CEO
Air Research Laboratory Envitran Smart System Pvt. Ltd.

Sarup Das Gopika I

Research Scholar Research Scholar

Clean Environment : Clean Air

Healthy Community

PAGE 02 PRAKRITI
 EDITOR'S NOTE
Dr. Madhusudanan M
Project Consultant
Air Research Laboratory, IITM

We bring to you the volume 3, issue 1

for 2023, our quarterly newsletter.
CEPHA Network (Clean Environment
and Planetary Health in Asia) a environmental issues, we shall
project under Global Care Research continue to discuss in coming
Fund (GCRF)- UK Research and chapters as well. Our aim being
Innovation (UKRI), continue to improving environmental conditions
patronage our newsletter. This year while paying attention to reducing
onwards the Air Quality negative impacts on the
Management Association (AQMA) environment, the steps taken by us
has come forward to be the flagship though small in nature but
for support and contributions to the significant. We would like to re-
newsletter. The last quarter was wheel the major programmes in
productive, result-oriented and which our connectivity benefitted to
partnership-building. We continued create awareness and meaningful
our activities like the AQM Lecture dialogues.
series and successfully conducted
our regular programmes. The Air We hope that readers will find this
Quality Management Association edition of the Newsletter
(AQMA) membership drive is in comprehensive and look forward to
progress and we shall come out with your feedback, suggestions,
better plans and programmes in a snippets, scientific articles and
big way. comments. We will also seek your
cooperation in disseminating the
In this quarter the focus is on ‘Pro- newsletter to all interested
environmental behaviour & success audiences. I take this opportunity to
stories in climate change’. The welcome Mr Sanjay Kumar Sampath,
subject being connected to Senior Project Consultant to our
different aspects of the editorial board.

PRAKRITI PAGE 03
 FROM THE PRESIDENTS DESK
Prof. Shiva Nagendra S M
President, AQMA
Professor, Dept. of Civil
Engineering, IIT Madras
As March arrives, it brings along a
lot of festivals in India and abroad.
Holi, the festival of colors is
celebrated across India in full
fervour and in this spirit I welcome
one more month of exciting
occurrences in the AQMA and
CEPHA. This month also marks the
completion of one year of the
registration of the AQMA, which
was officially registered in March
2022. In the coming months we also
plan to be more proactive with the
AQMA with some additional
leadership with a goal to provide
more value to our membership with
new events and workshops and
additional diverse membership.
Our topic for this month's
newsletter, Prakrithi, is Pro
Environmental Behaviour and
success stories in climate change.
While global actions are necessary
for an overall impact in climate
change, local actions are probably
more important. While the Indian
PAGE 04
movie RRR is causing global waves,
our local actions of RRR, Reduce
Recycle and Reuse (RRR) is just as
important. AQMA and CEPHA play
an important role.
I also want to welcome Sanjay
Sampath to the Editorial Board of
the Prakrithi newsletter. In the
coming days, I also anticipate him
playing a key role in the AQMA,
along with helping lead the startup
company Envitrans Smart Systems
Pvt Ltd which was started by
Dheeraj and Rangarajan in the IIT
Air Quality Department in 2017 and
has a very pro environmental vision
of improving the environment
through technology. Finally, I want
to encourage each person reading
this newsletter to spread pro
environment behaviour and to
contribute articles for our upcoming
Newsletters (aqma.iitm.in@gmail.com).
PRAKRITI
 GLOBAL ACCORDS IN MITIGATING
EFFECTS ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Mr. Sanjay Sampath

CEO, Envitran Smart Systems Pvt
Ltd.
CEO, Green Curve Consulting
Project Consultant, IIT Madras

The possible future impacts of treaty agreed to reduce their

climate change are now more or
less accepted universally today
which has led to a surge in
environmentalism across the globe.
While we are still deep in the
woods, there is now a little more
hope for humanity to act in unison.
Based on my over two decades of
experience at a global level in this
field, these are some of the key
global steps that have helped us to
be where we are today.
greenhouse gases emissions to pre
1990 levels. While this objective may
not have been achieved, for the first
time, there was a monetary boost to
technologies such as solar and wind
which were not competitive to a
point where today, these
technologies are increasingly
competitive across the world.

Kyoto Protocol: The Kyoto

Protocol in 1997 which was the
first sincere global effort in
combating climate change.
Famously, Bill Clinton, the then
US president did not ratify this
accord, which resulted in the US
sitting out. Under this program
Countries which ratified this

PRAKRITI PAGE 05
 Paris Agreement of 2015: This
agreement aims to limit global
warming to under 2 degrees
Celsius above preindustrial
levels with an ideal goal being
under 1.5 degrees Celsius. While
this agreement has been ratified
by 190 countries, it is still
controversial amidst criticism
from environmentalists that it
doesn’t go far enough to combat
the existential threats caused by
climate change and capitalists
who believe that rampant
poverty will be caused in the
short term because of high input
costs for energy intensive
industries caused by a strict
implementation of these
accords. My personal belief is
that this accord is a good start
which builds on some of the
successes of the Kyoto protocol
stated above.
At the end of the day, Global
accords have a limited role to play
PAGE 06
in mitigating climate change. If
anything, they are a great catalyst
to change human behavior and
specifically consumer behavior.
Peak Oil costs, increasing air
pollution impacts of fossil fuel-fired
vehicles along with their tremendous
energy and performance
inefficiency in comparison to high-
end electric vehicles (Which will
become exponentially cheaper with
time), the efforts in digging coal
while solar technology becomes way
more cost effective are all reasons
why the world will automatically
move towards to less carbon
intensive world. The only question
that I have is will we reach there
early enough to prevent major
catastrophes, or will it be late in
terms of significant destruction by
the time we reach there, or will we
have to see undue duress by the
time we reach there, with the
poorest communities across the
world being the most affected by
the time we get there.
PRAKRITI
 DIGGING INTO THE DIRT: THE
SHOCKING PRESENCE OF HEAVY
METALS IN ROAD DUST
Dr. Jithin Jose
Department of Civil Engineering
IIT Madras, Tamil Nadu, India
pauljithinjose@gmail.com
Road dust is a complex mixture of
material that is primarily originating
from the erosion and fragmentation
of pavement materials, tire wear,
and the accumulation of pollutants
deposited by vehicular emissions,
industrial activities, and other
natural sources[1]. Over the years, it
has not received the attention it
rightfully deserves. The
pervasiveness of road dust in urban
centers contributes to a wide range
of deleterious health effects[2][3].
Inhalation of fine dust particles is
linked to adverse cardiovascular
and respiratory outcomes, whilst
larger particles can irritate the
eyes, skin, and other organs of the
body.
Heavy metals in road dust have
PRAKRITI
Dr. B. Srimuruganandam
School of Civil Engineering,
VIT, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India
bsrimuruganandam@vit.ac.in
received a lot of attention in recent
years because of their potential
harm to human health, ecosystems,
and the environment[4]. Particulate
emissions from road dust are a
complex mixture which includes
heavy metals, emitted by vehicle
exhaust and non-exhaust, and the
erosion and fragmentation of
pavement materials[5]. Lead,
copper, zinc, cadmium, chromium,
and nickel are among the heavy
metals commonly found in road
dust.
This article is based on a paper
published in the journal
Environmental Geochemistry and
Health titled “Investigation of Road
Dust Characteristics and Its
Associated Health Risks From An
Urban Environment”[6]. In the study
PAGE 07
 mentioned above, it is concluded hotspots within the study region.
that dangerously high concentration This trend is also seen in many cities
of heavy metals is present at many of the country (Table 1).
Table 1: Heavy metal composition in cities throughout the country (units in mg/kg)

Heavy New Delhi

Vellore [6] Bokaro [7] New Delhi [8] Kolkata [10] Asansol [11]
Metals [9]

Sr 72.63 117 NA NA NA NA

Co 5.70 10 23.3 NA 6.56 NA

Cr 50.44 57 170.8 60 26.41 NA

Cu 77.87 26 168.7 160 33.08 132.00

Ga 152.46 NA NA NA NA NA

Zn 633.27 78 264.7 680 177.80 192.00

In 590.92 NA NA NA NA NA

Mn 281.03 1200 699.2 440 334.51 NA

Ni 11.68 24 37.2 NA NA NA

Pb 80.57 48 128.7 NA 246.26 110.00

Rb 52.44 NA NA NA NA NA

PAGE 08 PRAKRITI
 Over the course of conducting that
study and preparing the article for
publication, it is realized that high
concentration of heavy metals in
road dust might be a ticking time-
bomb in many urban centers in the
world. This article is a very brief
review on sources of heavy metals in
road dust, their health effects, and
some mitigation strategies.
Some of the common sources of
heavy metals in road dust are
vehicle emissions, brake and tire
wear and pavement material[5][7].
Combustion engines emit exhaust
gases containing heavy metals,
which can become adsorbed onto
airborne particles and subsequently
settle on road surfaces. As vehicles
continue to travel, the particles get
resuspended and contribute to the
overall road dust composition. The
abrasion of brake linings and tires
during normal operation results in
the release of heavy metal-
containing particles, which
accumulate on road surfaces. Brake
linings, for instance, often contain
copper and other metals, while tire
wear contributes to the presence of
zinc, cadmium, and other elements
in road dust. Road surfaces,
particularly those made from
asphalt or concrete, can contain
trace amounts of heavy metals.
Over time, the mechanical and
chemical weathering of these
PRAKRITI
materials results in the release of
heavy metal particles into the road
dust. Industries such as metal
processing, mining, and
manufacturing can release heavy
metals into the atmosphere, which
eventually settle on road surfaces.
Additionally, the use of heavy
metal-containing products in
construction, such as galvanized
steel or treated wood, can
contribute to the presence of heavy
metals in road dust.
The inhalation, ingestion, or dermal
exposure to heavy metals in road
dust can have severe health
consequences, particularly for
vulnerable populations such as
children and the elderly[8]. Heavy
metals can accumulate in the body,
leading to a range of health issues
including respiratory and
cardiovascular diseases[9], kidney
damage[10], and neurological
disorders[11]. The smaller the
particles, the deeper they can
penetrate into the respiratory
system, increasing the risk of health
complications. Heavy metals in road
dust can be transported by wind
and water, infiltrating soil and
aquatic environments. Once in these
ecosystems, heavy metals can have
toxic effects on plants, animals, and
microorganisms, resulting in the
disruption of food chains and
ecosystem functions [12][13]. Heavy
PAGE 09
 metal contamination of water vegetated barriers and permeable
bodies can also affect the quality of pavement, can help to capture and
drinking water and pose risks to filter heavy metal particles from
human health. road dust before they infiltrate soil
and water systems. Encouraging the
Limiting the exposure of city use of electric vehicles, public
dwellers to road dust is necessary to transportation, cycling, and walking
reduce the health effects can contribute to the reduction of
associated with it. Dust reduction vehicle emissions and the
methods like sweeping, and the use generation of heavy metal-
of dust suppressants can help to containing road dust. Strengthening
reduce the resuspension of heavy regulations on industrial emissions
metal-containing road dust. and the use of heavy metal-
Additionally, maintaining road containing products in construction
surfaces and promptly repairing can help to minimize the release of
damage can minimize the release of heavy metals into the environment
heavy metals from pavement and their subsequent accumulation
materials. The implementation of in road dust.
green infrastructure, such
as

PAGE 10 PRAKRITI
 References

[1] Jose, J. & Srimuruganandam, B. Source apportionment of urban road dust using four
multivariate receptor models. Environ. Earth Sci. 80, 666 (2021).
[2] Chen, S. et al. Fugitive road dust PM2.5 emissions and their potential health impacts.
Environ. Sci. Technol. 53, 8455–8465 (2019).
[3] Yamaya, M. et al. Inhalation of Road Dust by Residents in Polluted Areas. Arch. Environ.
Health Int. J. 47, 131–134 (1992).
[4] Mirzaei Aminiyan, M. et al. The ecological risk, source identification, and pollution
assessment of heavy metals in road dust: a case study in Rafsanjan, SE Iran. Environ. Sci.
Pollut. Res. 25, 13382–13395 (2018).
[5] Zhang, C., Qiao, Q., Appel, E. & Huang, B. Discriminating sources of anthropogenic heavy
metals in urban street dusts using magnetic and chemical methods. J. Geochem. Explor. 119–
120, 60–75 (2012).
[6] Jose, J. & Srimuruganandam, B. Investigation of road dust characteristics and its
associated health risks from an urban environment. Environ. Geochem. Health (2020)
doi:10.1007/s10653-020-00521-6.
[7] Singh, A. K. Elemental chemistry and geochemical partitioning of heavy metals in road dust
from Dhanbad and Bokaro regions, India. Environ. Earth Sci. 62, 1447–1459 (2011).
[8] Rajaram, B. S., Suryawanshi, P. V., Bhanarkar, A. D. & Rao, C. V. C. Heavy metals
contamination in road dust in Delhi city, India. Environ. Earth Sci. 72, 3929–3938 (2014).
[9] Pant, P. et al. The PM 10 fraction of road dust in the UK and India: Characterization, source
profiles and oxidative potential. Sci. Total Environ. 530, 445–452 (2015).
[10] Das, A. et al. Lead isotopic ratios in source apportionment of heavy metals in the street
dust of Kolkata, India. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 15, 159–172 (2018).
[11] Gope, M., Masto, R. E., George, J. & Balachandran, S. Exposure and cancer risk
assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the street dust of Asansol city,
India. Sustain. Cities Soc. 38, 616–626 (2018).
[12] Sindern, S. et al. Heavy metals in river and coast sediments of the Jakarta Bay region
(Indonesia) — Geogenic versus anthropogenic sources. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 110, 624–633 (2016).
[13] Jaishankar, M., Tseten, T., Anbalagan, N., Mathew, B. B. & Beeregowda, K. N. Toxicity,
mechanism and health effects of some heavy metals. Interdiscip. Toxicol. 7, 60–72 (2014).
[14] Alissa, E. M. & Ferns, G. A. Heavy Metal Poisoning and Cardiovascular Disease. J. Toxicol.
2011, e870125 (2011).
[15] Benjelloun, M. et al. Chronic lead poisoning: a ‘forgotten’ cause of renal disease. Saudi J.
Kidney Dis. Transplant. Off. Publ. Saudi Cent. Organ Transplant. Saudi Arab. 18, 83–86 (2007).
[16] Rao, J. V. B., Vengamma, B., Naveen, T. & Naveen, V. Lead encephalopathy in adults. J.
Neurosci. Rural Pract. 5, 161–163 (2014).
[17] Li, H.-H. et al. Pollution characteristics and risk assessment of human exposure to oral
bioaccessibility of heavy metals via urban street dusts from different functional areas in
Chengdu, China. Sci. Total Environ. 586, 1076–1084 (2017).
[18] Luo, X.-S. et al. Incorporating bioaccessibility into human health risk assessments of heavy
metals in urban park soils. Sci. Total Environ. 424, 88–96 (2012).

PRAKRITI PAGE 11
 GLIMPSES OF CEPHA/AQMA
(JAN-MAR '23)
Mr. Sarup Das
R e s e a r c h S ch o l a r
IIT Madras, Chennai
Air Quality Management Lecture
(AQML) Series is being conducted
on the 3rd/4th Friday of every
month by AQMA & CEPHA Network,
Department of Civil Engineering, IIT gives vast knowledge to the young
Madras. The lectures are giving by researchers a different aspects of
the experts in Air Quality research. Wide range of
Management, Educators, Scientists, participants being there from all the
Engineers, Regulators and many aforementioned fields and well
others from all over the world. It appreciated worldwide.

AQML Speaker Lecture Title

Denise L. Mauzerall,
AQML Air Pollution Trends in India –
Professor, Environmental
#28 Disentangling the Role of
Engineering and
(Jan Meteorology and Changing
International Affairs,
2023) Emissions
Princeton University, USA

Dr. Mahesh P A,
AQML Professor, Department of Environmental pollution
#29 Respiratory Medicine, JSS exposures and respiratory
(Feb 2023) Medical College, health
JSSAHER, Mysore, India
Prof. Arsen Krikor Melikov Ventilation strategies for
AQML Department of Environmental & reduction of airborne
#30 Resource Engineering, transmission in indoor
(Mar 2023)
Technical University of Denmark environment

PAGE 12 PRAKRITI
 Group Photos

PRAKRITI PAGE 13
 AROUND THE WORLD
ENVIRONMENT AND JUDICIARY
ILLEGAL MINING NEAR YAMUNA FLOODPLAIN
National Green Tribunal (NGT) has
directed a joint committee to
prepare a plan of action to prevent
CPCB REPORT TO THE NGT ON MICROPLASTICS
Reported that there is no standard
method for sampling and analysis of
microplastics in the environment,
Central Pollution Control Board
(CPCB) informed to the NGT. The
International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) is currently
working on the subject. Central
Institute of Petrochemicals
Engineering & Technology under
Union Ministry of Chemicals &
Fertilizers, National Centre for
Sustainable Coastal Management
under Union Ministry of Environment,
Forest and Climate Change of India
and Union Ministry of Earth
Science’s National Centre for
Coastal Research are some
PAGE 14
illegal mining on the floodplain of
rivers like Yamuna at Delhi.
organisations involved in
microplastic analyses. Sources of
generation of microplastics,
including industries, waste
management, wastewater treatment
and ocean activities, have been
identified in India. However, the
exact quantum of microplastics
generated from the identified source
has not been determined.
The CPCB report was in compliance
with the NGT order dated April 5,
2022, in Original Application No.
251/2022 in reference to a news
article published in daily The Hindu
on March 29, 2022 titled Detecting
microplastics in human blood.
PRAKRITI
 AROUND THE WORLD

ENVIRONMENT AND JUDICIARY

WORKFORCE FOR JAMMU & KASHMIR POLLUTION
CONTROL COMMITTEE
The NGT directed the Chief
Secretary (CS) for Jammu and
Kashmir to take steps to strengthen
the workforce for Jammu and
Kashmir Pollution Control
Committee (J&KPCCC). The J&KPCC
is staffed by only seven persons,
which is “not adequate to enforce
the environmental regulatory
mechanism”, the court was informed.

ILLEGAL MINING OF GYPSUM NEAR INDO-PAK BORDER

The NGT directed the Additional
Chief Secretary for mines and
geology, Rajasthan, to look into
illegal gypsum mining as it not only
harms the environment but also
results in loss of revenue for the
state. It was found 172.5 tonnes of
gypsum was illegally mined within
250 metres of the border, for which
a penalty of Rs 2,96,000 has been
collected.

NGT ASKS FOR REPORT ON SAMBHAR FESTIVAL

The Sambhar festival to be held natural habitat of the lake,
from February 17-19, 2023 in Jaipur, particularly on account of use of
Rajasthan came under the National loudspeakers. The official was asked
Green Tribunal (NGT) scanner for its to coordinate with the Wetland
alleged adverse impact on the Authority, the principal chief
migratory birds and the natural conservator of forests (Wildlife) of
habitats of Sambhar lake. The the state, district magistrate of
tribunal directed the chief secretary Jaipur and integrated regional office
of Rajasthan to find out whether the of the Union Ministry of Environment,
activities to be conducted during Forest, and Climate Change
the festival will have any negative (MoEF&CC) at Jaipur for the study.
impact on the migratory birds and

PRAKRITI PAGE 15
 AROUND THE WORLD
ENVIRONMENT AND JUDICIARY
OPEN SPACE AREA IN DEVELOPED PLOTS OF 10,000 SQ
METER OR MORE MANDATORY
The Supreme Court (SC) mandated
builders to reserve 10 per cent area
for open space and recreational
purposes in plots of area 10,000
square metres or more developed by
them.
Such open space area must be
transferred to the local authority
PAGE 16
free of cost through a registered gift
deed, SC said, upholding Rule 19 of
the Development Control Rules for
the Chennai Metropolitan Area. The
case dealt with ‘open space
regulation area’ (OSR) in developed
plots. The areas covered by the OSR
cannot be diverted for any other
purpose.
PRAKRITI
 AROUND THE WORLD
108TH INDIAN SCIENCE CONGRESS
The 108th Indian Science Congress
organised at Rashtrasant Tukdoji
Maharaj Nagpur University during
January 2023. Ada Yonath was the
chief guest for the Valedictory
Function. The President of the
Indian Science Congress, Dr
Vijayalakshmi Saxena, Vice
Chancellor Dr Subhash Chaudhari,
Divisional Commissioner, Nagpur Dr
Vijayalakshmi Bidri and the newly
elected President of the Indian
Science Congress - Dr Arvind Saxena
were present on the occasion.

Awards to Scientists:
Ashut Mukherjee Memorial Award - Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood
Dr. C. V. Raman Birth Centenary Award - Prof. S. R. Niranjana
S. N. Bose Birth Centenary Award – Prof. Subhash Chandra Parija
S. K. Mitra Birth Centenary Award – Dr. Ranjan Kumar Nandy
H. J. Bhabha Memorial Award – Dr. Kaushal Prasad Mishra
D. S. Kothari Memorial Award – Dr. Shyamal Roy

Names of other award winners

Prof. R. C. Mehrotra Memorial Life Time Achievement Award – Dr. U. C.
Banerjee - Amity University, Mohali
Prof. S. S. Katiyar Endowment Lecture Award – Dr. Kesturu S. Girish – Tumkur
University, Karnataka
Prof. Archana Sharma Memorial Award in Plant Science – Dr. Rajiv Pratap Singh
- BHU, Varanasi
G. K. Manna Memorial Award – Dr. Basant Kumar Das – ICAR Kolkata

PRAKRITI PAGE 17
 AROUND THE WORLD
A SINKING TOWN IN UTTARAKHAND:
JOSHIMATH
Nearly 700 buildings in tunnels, and roads has led to the
Joshimath, a culturally and current problem.
historically important holy town Residents started spotting cracks
in Uttarakhand, have developed in the walls of buildings nearly a
cracks. year back. Since then, they have
Joshimath is ecologically fragile been alerting the authorities. The
as it is built on an ancient present situation is grave, and
landslide site. It always had a activists and social workers are
low bearing capacity. The now demanding the
unplanned construction of dams, rehabilitation of residents.

During January, 2023, 678 homes in nine wards in the state had developed cracks
and became unfit for residing, as per the government figures.

Photo by Satyam Kumar

PAGE 18 PRAKRITI
 AROUND THE WORLD
A SINKING TOWN
JOSHIMATH
Situated 1,875 metres above sea
level, Joshimath is an important
gateway to several Himalayan
expeditions, trekking trails, and
pilgrim centres. It is also an
important halting place and resting
point for the pilgrims who visit
Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib in the
summers and tourists who visit Auli
in the winter. According to experts,
the fragile mountainous region
could not bear the brunt of rampant
development and the construction
of roads and luxurious hotels. The
PRAKRITI
IN UTTARAKHAND:
buildings in Joshimath first
developed cracks in the 1960s. That
was the first proof of cracks forming
in the mountains of Joshimath, and it
was felt that it could be dangerous
for the residents. The local authority
has made alternate arrangements
for 4,000 people in Joshimath and
the nearby Pipalkoti. A detailed
report of ISRO and other expert
committees are awaited. Major
decisions on ongoing developments
will be based on such study findings.
Photo by Satyam Kumar
PAGE 19
 AROUND THE WORLD
THE FACTSHEET ABOUT CLIMATE
ACTIONS
Important issues what is due to respective countries for
action and discussion: -
Climate finance and loss and damage
COP (Conference of Parties) 27 to being an 'in-between' COP.
Discussion on devastating extreme weather events such as heatwaves and
floods, the Russian war, and a “generational” energy emergency.
Two groups of countries—historical and current polluters, and the rest of the
world.
The first group must drastically reduce emissions while the rest of the world
has the right to development.
COP 24 in Katowice, the Paris Rulebook, adaptations of general provisions of
Paris Agreement the “rules, modalities and procedures”.
Reporting of national targets or NDCs, reporting on performance of targets
and finance.
COP 26 and share of proceeds from each trade to developing countries for
adaptation.

Major issues for Negotiations are:

Reducing GHG emissions: Mitigation.
Adapting to climate impacts: Global Goal on Adaptation.
Money for mitigation and adaptation: Climate finance.
Money for irreparable climate damages that adaptation cannot prevent: Loss
and damage.
The report card: Global Stocktake.
Beyond the negotiations: Global events framing COP 27.

PAGE 20 PRAKRITI
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