India in 2023: strides in climate action, criticism of conservation
- In 2023, India made significant strides in climate change mitigation, wildlife conservation and biodiversity laws.
- However, challenges and criticisms surfaced, particularly concerning the cheetah translocation project and changes in forest and biodiversity laws.
Climate Change Initiatives
- COP33 Proposal: India proposed hosting the UN climate conference in 2028 (COP33) and launched the 'Green Credit Initiative' focused on creating carbon sinks to address climate challenges.
- Dubai Climate Summit: Developing countries, including India, urged rich nations to achieve negative carbon emissions instead of just net zero by 2050.
- Per Capita Emissions: Despite a 5% increase in per capita CO2 emissions in 2022, India's levels remained less than half of the global average.
- National Communication: India submitted its third national communication to the UNFCCC, highlighting a 33% reduction in GDP emission intensity between 2005 and 2019.
Wildlife Conservation
- Tiger Population: Data revealed a 6% annual increase in the tiger population from 2,967 in 2018 to 3,682 in 2022.
- Cheetah Translocation Project
- The cheetah conservation project faced criticism over the deaths of six imported cheetahs.
- Challenges included unexpected development of winter coats and subsequent health issues.
- International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA)
- Launched in April, the IBCA aims to conserve the world's seven principal big cats.
- It includes the tiger, lion, snow leopard, leopard, jaguar, puma, and cheetah.
Changes in Forest and Biodiversity Laws
- Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act
- Amendments drew criticism for exempting certain categories of land, impacting the applicability of the Forest (Conservation) Act.
- The amended Act exempts
- Forest land up to 10 hectares for constructing security-related infrastructure
- Area falling within 100 km of international borders, Line of Control (LoC) and Line of Actual Control (LAC) for “strategic and security-related projects of national importance”.
- Concerns were raised about potential effects on tribal and traditional forest-dwelling communities.
- Biological Diversity Act
- Amendments aimed to promote growing medicinal plants, support traditional medicine, facilitate research, patents and foreign investments.
- However, concerns were raised about changes in benefit-sharing rules, with fines replacing jail terms for violations.
Prelims Takeaway
- Biological Diversity Act
- Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act
- International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA)
- Green Credit Program