Environment India

Reduce air pollution to avoid land conflicts due to solar projects, recommends study Due to high air pollution, India is witnessing an estimated loss of US$ 245-835 million every year. Improvement in air quality will in turn improve the performance of the solar power projects, says a study. Soiling Effect According to the researchers who conducted the study, cleaner air and better performance of solar power projects would also mean that India could save a crucial resource like land by which conflicts with communities and the environment could also be avoided. According to the study, aerosols in the atmosphere attenuate incoming solar radiation through scattering and absorption and this is known as the “atmospheric attenuation effect.” In addition, aerosols often get deposited over panel surfaces and affect their PV performances. High air pollution translates into low efficiency of solar power projects which leads to higher auxiliary power consumption (use of robots for cle...

  Sloth bear, dhole, tiger most affected among apex predators globally due to road development: Study The sloth bear, tiger and dhole are among 36 apex predators worldwide affected the most due to road construction in their native habitats, a study published February 21, 2022, in the journal Nature, has stated. The sloth bear was the most affected predator as its habitat was in the Indian subcontinent, “where roadless areas are almost non-existent,” the study said. Some 97% of its area of distribution was covered by roads, which led to several instances of roadkills, or deaths due to collisions with vehicles. The sloth bear is followed by the dhole or Asiatic Wild Dog, which is, in turn, followed by the tiger, Asiatic black bear, clouded leopard, sun bear and Sunda clouded leopard. The researchers said Asiatic predators, especially in south Asia, were more exposed to roads. Roads are especially harmful for apex predators because their home ranges are large and thei...

Pavagada solar park busts notions of renewable energy as inherently good: Karnataka Solar parks need 7,000–20,000 litres of water per megawatt (MW) per wash. A  study  titled Renewable Energy to Responsible Energy: A Call to Action, done by Forum for the Future with six other organisations, points to a large amount of water needed for periodic cleaning of solar panels. Many solar installations in India are located in arid and semi-arid areas bringing significant risk to the local ecosystem and communities. Disappearing pollinators like bees and butterflies during installation is a concern. Pavagada, which has a 13,000-acre solar park, has also lost its bird and large mammal population. There is concern around what happens when the park is decommissioned. A study says at the end-of-life stage, if not handled properly, toxic elements from disposed of PV panels can adversely affect ecological systems. The way forward will be in adopting more inclusive options ...

  Back to nature: Immense need for crop diversification and role of agroforestry   The traditional approach of low input-based extensive and diversified agricultural practices termed as ‘crop diversification’ could be an alternate approach that might be used to save farming as a counter-strategy for farming bio-socio-psychological anomalies. Crop diversification is a strategy applied to grow more diverse crops from shrinking land resources with an increase in productivity in the same arable land.   For more than five decades, Indian agriculture has been facing severe problems related to an increase in input cost to increase productivity. However, the productivity proportional to input maintains for a certain time before plateauing and then progressively declines in many cases. Farmers have been using the common government-promoted Green Revolution cropping pattern  —  rice-wheat-rice for a longer time to enhance productivity. Unilaterally, foll...

  Suresh was bitten by a cobra that he was trying to catch from the house of Niju, of Pattasseril, at Kurichy around 4.45pm. While attempting to force the reptile into a gunny bag, the snake bit him on the right thigh. Preliminary reports suggested that Suresh had fallen unconscious before reaching the hospital. Though the snake escaped after biting Suresh, he managed to catch it and handed it over to forest officials. BY  ENVIRONMENT INDIA 🌱🌏🌱