Black carbon is a substance responsible for up to 40 per cent of the effects of global warming till date (Philadelphia Tribune, 2017), most of it made up of soot. Black carbon is a form of particulate matter that can be airborne and can be suspended in the atmosphere and travel thus.
When this particulate matter gets deposited on frozen surfaces such as in the Arctic or in Himalayan glaciers and snow, its high absorption of the Sun’s heat causes the frozen material to melt and liquefy. The US Environmental Protection Agency claims that carbon black has contributed to a rise in sea levels of between 6 to 8 inches since 1960.
Life-Cycle and Effects of Black Carbon
Black carbon is usually produced due to the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and vegetation. Black carbon comes under the category of particulate matter however, and cannot exactly be called a greenhouse gas, although it can stay airborne for up to a few days or weeks. Black carbon occurs ubiquitously on the Earth’s surface and occurs on soil, sediments, frozen surfaces and also the atmosphere. Its main heat absorbing constituents are the aerosols present in it consisting of fine solid or liquid particles.
Black carbon’s brief atmospheric lifespan means that its effects on the Earth’s climate are regional, such as due to the melting of ice in the Arctic and in Himalayan glaciers. However, Seiler and Crutzen’s (1980) study of black carbon formed in vegetation fires suggested that black carbon might act as a carbon sink due to this form of carbon not degrading over time and could in fact store carbon over long periods of geological time.
Black carbon can also represent a significant portion of the carbon pool of Earth’s oceans in the form of carbonaceous aerosol deposits. The extraordinary problems caused by black carbon therefore, is its presence on frozen surfaces on Earth, causing them to melt and contribute to sea level rise.
Black carbon’s slow atmospheric lifespan could mean that its effects would stop exacerbating if anthropogenic carbon emissions were reduced. This means that reducing anthropogenic carbon emissions would greatly help reduce the short-term effects of global warming, especially the effects of climate change on sea level rise due to the melting of frozen regions.
Although black carbon has immense effects on climate change, many people however, see black carbon as more of a health threat than a threat to the Earth’s climate. According to the Centre for Science & Environment (CSE), the form of black carbon that is detrimental to human health is particulate black carbon of the size PM 2.5. These fine particles can be airborne and affect the respiratory and cardiovascular systems in the human body. According to an estimate by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2009, about 3.1 million people worldwide, most of whom are from developing countries, suffer premature deaths due to inhalation of these PM 2.5 particles.
The effects of black carbon on the Earth’s climate, however, can go beyond merely melting frozen surfaces. Black carbon as a warming agent is different from organic carbon, which is a cooling agent. With significant effects on weather and climate, black carbon particles are able to influence cloud formation and their lifetimes, rainfall and other related weather patterns.
Black carbon particles can also influence temperature contrasts between regions, thereby influencing not just precipitation, but also wind patterns. The effects however, are accompanied with large deposits of black carbon and trace amounts although, are sufficient to melt frozen matter on the Earth’s surface.
Black Carbon and India
The largest amount of emissions of black carbon occur in the developing countries, especially from large emitters such as India and China which emit about 25 to 35 per cent of total global black carbon emissions (CSE, 2012). Due to the close proximity of the Himalayas to sources of black carbon emissions, high quantities of black carbon are said to be deposited in the Himalayas.
Black carbon had become a focal point in the Kyoto Protocol (2001), with the US citing its exclusion in the document as the reason for America’s withdrawal from the agreement. Although the US has expressed its readiness to include black carbon in international protocols, India has remained reluctant to enter into agreements that include black carbon.
Contrary to some studies that propose that global warming will not be reduced by black carbon mitigation measures, many entities believe that black carbon mitigation is a possible and doable solution to climate change.
The US formed a coalition including many Western countries and the UN in 2012 for short-term solutions for climate change involving carbon black mitigation. The focus is jointly on black carbon along with hydrofluorocarbons and methane, with black carbon and methane being significant sources of Arctic melting. The imperatives for their solutions are on national action plans and policy imperatives including capacitation in developing countries.
In India the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is carrying out research on the impacts of aerosols in the Indo-Gangetic Plains. The project is called the ISRO-Geosphere Biosphere Programme and is meant to measure black carbon.
A large amount of agricultural waste burning and firewood burning along with fossil fuel combustion takes place in the region. These effects are significantly intense during the winter months due to the stillness of air, low precipitation and the burning of agricultural waste.
Black Carbon in the Himalayas
In a study by R. Zhang et al. (2015) titled ‘Quantifying sources, transport, deposition, and radiative forcing of black carbon over the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau’ on the effects of black carbon in the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau, the transport, deposition and radiative forcing of black carbon was quantified for the region.
The first correlation transmitted by the study confirmed that airborne and deposited black carbon is affecting the melting of snow and glacier retreat. The study undertook to quantify the source-receptor relationships of black carbon due to the impacts of anthropogenic activity and black carbon emissions on the Himalayas and in the Tibetan Plateau.
Their analysis of the source-receptor relationships in black carbon dispersion reveals that the dispersal sourced from separate geographical areas is dependent on the season and the locational peculiarities of the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau.
The largest contribution annually, however, comes from biomass and biofuel emissions from South Asia, with the second-largest contribution coming from fossil fuel emissions from South Asia, followed in turn by fossil fuel emissions from East Asia. These contributions are constant for all seasons except for the summer season, when fossil fuel emissions from East Asia become a larger contributor.
The study found that the largest burden on black carbon dispersal in the Himalayas was placed upon by biomass, biofuel and fossil fuel emissions from South Asia. The effects of black carbon emissions on the Tibetan Plateau were more location-specific, with emissions from East Asia contributing to dispersal in the northeastern plateau while emissions from Central Asia and the Middle East having an effect on black carbon dispersal in the northwestern plateau.
This process was accentuated during the summer season, with higher dispersal especially from East Asia during the summer months. These dispersals effect both the melting of snow and glacier retreat in the Himalayas and in the Tibetan Plateau.
Black Carbon in the Arctic
In a study by C. Jiao and M.G. Flanner (2016) titled ‘Changing black carbon transport to the Arctic from present day to the end of 21st Century’, they report on how Arctic wind patterns have changed due to an alteration in the winter polar dome structure that is due to loss of sea ice and surface warming, particularly in the Chukchi Sea region.
The wind pattern that results from this change favours the transport of East Asian aerosol emissions and inhibits North American aerosol emissions from travelling polewards. Computer simulations based on present day emissions also point towards a reduction of the Arctic annual mean burden by between 13.6 per cent and 61 per cent due to black carbon by the end of the 21st Century.
In the Arctic, even organic carbon, which tends to scatter sunlight and thus is a cooling agent, combines with black carbon to form soot, which is a carbonaceous substance that exhibits high heat absorption. The black carbon emissions from the inhabited land hemispheres which are most likely to reach the Arctic region are most likely to come northwards from 40oN, with the maximum contributions expected to come from regions falling in these latitudes (K. Bice et al., 2009). The effects of black carbon and other aerosols cumulatively on the Arctic are believed to be disproportionate by the scientific community.
Conclusion
One of the greatest challenges to checking black carbon emissions is that a large and growing fraction of black carbon emissions come from developing countries that still have many inefficient methods of combusting material that could produce black carbon. On the other hand, most mitigation measures develop in the more developed nations, many of which are located close to the Arctic Circle while most developing countries are located closer to the equatorial regions.
The highest emissions have come from India, China and Southeast Asia. Here the constraints on reducing black carbon emissions based on finance and industrial framework and capacity are also the greatest. Mitigation here could include technology for and R&D on low emissions, a proper energy infrastructure based on proper regulations, and proper urban, industrial and rural administration. In what is largely a by-process of production processes, a best practices approach is a necessity.
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- Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition, a collective of the United States, United Kingdom and Norway governments, came up with a $1 billion fund.
- LEAF is supported by transnational corporations (TNCs) like Unilever plc, Amazon.com, Inc, Nestle, Airbnb, Inc as well as Emergent, a US-based non-profit.
- The world lost more than 10 million hectares of primary tropical forest cover last year, an area roughly the size of Switzerland.
- Ending tropical and subtropical forest loss by 2030 is a crucial part of meeting global climate, biodiversity and sustainable development goals. Protecting tropical forests offers one of the biggest opportunities for climate action in the coming decade.
- Tropical forests are massive carbon sinks and by investing in their protection, public and private players are likely to stock up on their carbon credits.
- The LEAF coalition initiative is a step towards concretising the aims and objectives of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) mechanism.
- REDD+ was created by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It monetised the value of carbon locked up in the tropical forests of most developing countries, thereby propelling these countries to help mitigate climate change.
- It is a unique initiative as it seeks to help developing countries in battling the double-edged sword of development versus ecological commitment.
- The initiative comes at a crucial time. The tropics have lost close to 12.2 million hectares (mha) of tree cover last year according to global estimates released by Global Forest Watch.
- Of this, a loss of 4.2 mha occurred within humid tropical primary forests alone. It should come as no surprise that most of these lost forests were located in the developing countries of Latin America, Africa and South Asia.
- Brazil has fared dismally on the parameter of ‘annual primary forest loss’ among all countries. It has lost 1.7 mha of primary forests that are rich storehouse of carbon. India’s estimated loss in 2020 stands at 20.8 kilo hectares.
- Between 2002-2020, Brazil’s total area of humid primary forest reduced by 7.7 per cent while India’s reduced by 3.4 per cent.
- Although the loss in India is not as drastic as in Brazil, its position is nevertheless precarious. For India, this loss is equivalent to 951 metric tonnes worth carbon dioxide emissions released in the atmosphere.
- It is important to draw comparisons between Brazil and India as both countries have adopted a rather lackadaisical attitude towards deforestation-induced climate change. The Brazilian government hardly did anything to control the massive fires that gutted the Amazon rainforest in 2019.
- It is mostly around May that forest fires peak in India. However, this year India, witnessed massive forest fires in early March in states like Odisha, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram among others.
- The European Union’s Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service claimed that 0.2 metric tonnes of carbon was emitted in the Uttarakhand forest fires.
- Implementation of the LEAF Coalition plan will help pump in fresh rigour among developing countries like India, that are reluctant to recognise the contributions of their forest dwelling populations in mitigating climate change.
- With the deadline for proposal submission fast approaching, India needs to act swiftly on a revised strategy.
- Although India has pledged to carry out its REDD+ commitments, it is impossible to do so without seeking knowledge from its forest dwelling population.
Context:-
At the recently concluded Leaders’ Summit on Climate in April 2021, Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition, a collective of the United States, United Kingdom and Norway governments, came up with a $1 billion fund plan that shall be offered to countries committed to arrest the decline of their tropical forests by 2030.
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]What is LEAF Coalition?
Why LEAF Coalition?
Brazil & India
According to the UN-REDD programme, after the energy sector, deforestation accounts for massive carbon emissions — close to 11 per cent — in the atmosphere. Rapid urbanisation and commercialisation of forest produce are the main causes behind rampant deforestation across tropical forests.
Tribes, Forests and Government
Disregarding climate change as a valid excuse for the fires, Indian government officials were quick to lay the blame for deforestation on activities of forest dwellers and even labelled them “mischievous elements” and “unwanted elements”.
Policy makers around the world have emphasised the role of indigenous tribes and local communities in checking deforestation. These communities depend on forests for their survival as well as livelihood. Hence, they understand the need to protect forests. However, by posing legitimate environmental concerns as obstacles to real development, governments of developing countries swiftly avoid protection of forests and rights of forest dwellers.
For instance, the Government of India has not been forthcoming in recognising the socio-economic, civil, political or even cultural rights of forest dwellers. According to data from the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs in December, 2020 over 55 per cent of this population has still not been granted either individual or community ownership of their lands.
To make matters worse, the government has undertaken systematic and sustained measures to render the landmark Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 ineffective in its implementation. The Act had sought to legitimise claims of forest dwellers on occupied forest land.
Various government decisions have seriously undermined the position of indigenous people within India. These include proposing amendments to the obsolete Indian Forest Act, 1927 that give forest officials the power to take away forest dwellers’ rights and to even use firearms with impunity.
There is also the Supreme Court’s order of February, 2019 directing state governments to evict illegal encroachers of forest land or millions of forest dwellers inhabiting forests since generations as a measure to conserve wildlife. Finally, there is the lack of data on novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) deaths among the forest dwelling population;
Tardy administration, insufficient supervision, apathetic attitude and a lack of political intent defeat the cause of forest dwelling populations in India, thereby directly affecting efforts at arresting deforestation.
Way Forward
Tuntiak Katan, a global indigenous leader from Ecuador and general coordinator of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, aptly indicated the next steps at the Climate Summit:
“The first step is recognition of land rights. The second step is the recognition of the contributions of local communities and indigenous communities, meaning the contributions of indigenous peoples.We also need recognition of traditional knowledge practices in order to fight climate change”
Perhaps India can begin by taking the first step.