Toxicity e-waste ejects could have long term effect on habitat and Homo sapiens. It accounts for approximately 40% of lead and 70% of heavy metals found in landfills. This leads to ground water contamination, air pollution and soil acidification.
India is the fifth biggest producer of e-waste in the world, discarding 1.7 million tonnes (Mt) of electronic and electrical equipment as per UN report. There is a complete ignorance in public about the repercussion of throwing electronic products and accessories unattended.
E-Waste is the sticky end of ever growing world of electronic gadgets. Last two decades and a half have witnessed a revolution in electronic products which has no doubt enormously enhanced our economy, created jobs and brought about a great transformation in our day-to-day life. In 90s electronic gadgets and computers were as expensive as being luxury items and were only within the reach of upper middle class and above.
Over the years, the technology has improved and electronic items have long been easily accessible to common men. Their prices keep on declining and electronic gadgets are becoming more and more affordable as well as useful even for all and sundry. As per various surveys, people prefer ever having a mobile in their possession to having a toilet in their dwelling houses, whether they are from urban or rural areas. With the economy ever growing, we find people universally taking pride in consumerism. Normally durability of these products is not more than four to five years. Due to advancement in technology, day by day consumers do opt for the latest energy- efficient products.
With each passing day new features are coming up leaving behind the previous day’s acquisition of a handset out of date. Our curious mind begins to feel unhappy if left behind in the era of gadget freak world and gets easily lured to purchase latest gadget even on loan which is readily available. It is ironical that there are fewer schemes to provide loan for toilet construction which is a basic necessity for health and hygiene of modern India than purchasing the electronic goods.
Every individual is generating e-waste and masses are ignorant about multiplying and hazardous effects of it. Majority of people are not aware that so much unaccounted magnitude of e-waste will have adverse and irreversible impact on the future generations. The equipments used in most of the industries which include the energy, and oil and natural gas sectors also, have lot of electronic items which also add to the quantum of e-waste. High and prolonged exposure to chemicals/pollutants emitted during unsafe e-waste recycling is also hazardous to health. Lethal contents include lead, cadmium, mercury, polyvinyl chloride, chlorofluorocarbons, arsenic, nickel and barium that are causes of many known and unknown diseases like cancer, asthma, bone diseases, brain diseases and others.
These harmful unbridled pollutants will gradually enter in our body through food chain by contaminating first the soil and later its produce for consumption.
Once an agrarian village Guiyu and its neighboring villages in Guangdong Province of China, have now been converted into graveyard of the world’s largest electronic waste dump sites, there by destroying inherent character and beauty of soil, river water and their flora and fauna.
Studies by the Shantou University Medical College revealed that very high levels of lead were found in young children of these villages that could adversely impact IQ and the development of the central nervous system.
Likewise the village of Sangrampur, a small hamlet located 30 miles south of Kolkata has also been identified as big waste centre though no specific studies have been conducted as yet to as certain its repercussion.
High and prolonged exposure to chemicals/pollutants emitted during unsafe e-waste recycling is also hazardous to health. Lethal contents include lead, cadmium, mercury, polyvinyl chloride, chlorofluoro carbons, arsenic, nickel and barium that are causes of many known and unknown deadly diseases.
A recent study by University of Michigan has found that illegal battery recycling business in Delhi has enhanced the airborne lead levels by two to eight times,well above the recommended health parameters.
The main concern regarding e-waste is that it might contribute only a few percent of total waste but the toxicity it ejects could have long term effect on habitat and Homo sapiens.
E-waste accounts for approximately 40% of lead and 70% of heavy metals found in landfills. This leads to ground water contamination, air pollution and soil acidification. A recent study by University of Michigan has found that illegal battery recycling business in Delhi has enhanced the airborne lead levels by two to eight times, well above the recommended health parameters. About 2 percent of India’s total electronic waste gets recycled due to absence of proper infrastructure, legislation, framework and concrete guidelines.
The country produces approximately 1.3 million metric tonnes of e-waste per annum.
Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) is likely to generate about 1,07,000 metric tonnes (MT) of e-waste per annum by 2017 from the current level of 68,000 metric tonnes per annum growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 25 per cent, as revealed by the latest study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
United States is ranked top(42%) acquiring the highest share of e-waste import in India followed by China(30%) and European Union(18%).It is far cheaper for these countries to ship these items than recycling them there.
Though import of e-waste for recycling is banned in India, as per Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT) and GTZ, the German Technical Collaboration Agency survey during 2007 has revealed that about 50,000 tonnes of electronic scrap is imported annually stealthily making India one of the biggest yards of e-waste.
There is need for strong enforcement of law to prevent the country from turning into a dump yard for global waste. Loopholes in law facilitate illegal import. Second-hand electronic equipments having residual life of five years are being imported.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has notified e-waste management rules, 2016 in which producers are for the first time held responsible for Extended Producers’ Responsibility (EPR). EPR has become common in Europe, but it is a huge success and buy in Japan.
The law places the burden and responsibility of recycling on everyone: consumers, retailers and manufacturers varying with the type of appliance and brand.
However, EPR implementation in Norway mandates the domestic producers and importers to finance the e-waste collection and treatment systems and the financing could happen individually or collectively.
Computer equipment accounts for almost 68 percent of e-waste followed by telecommunication equipment (12%), electrical equipment (8%) and medical equipment (7%). Other equipments, including household e-scrap, account for the remaining 5 percent.
The Three R principles: Reduce e-waste through smart procurement and good maintenance; Reuse electronic equipment by donating or selling; and recycle those products that cannot be repaired will delay the accelerated generation of e-waste. Proper recycling of electronic items will not adversely impact our environment and human healths rather increase the use of reusable and refurbished equipment and reduce energy use while conserving limited resources.
There could be one or more ‘Collection Centres’ in each town as per population variation for collecting the e-waste. The consumers will hand over their unused electronic items to either scrap dealer ‘Kabariwala’ at some cost or directly to the Collection Centre in the town. The scrap dealer in turn will hand over them to the Collection Centres that would send all e-waste to the ‘Disposal Centres’ which will be established near the bigger cities for the bulk collection and processing.
To get rid of unattended e-waste from each household and spread awareness among people, some days may be earmarked in a year or month through the involvement of youth and college students to collect e-waste at some landmark places as initiated in some cities. The scrap dealer or any other unauthorized person should not be permitted to either dismantle the e-waste products or process them to extract any useful item. Rather they would have to necessarily deposit the e-waste at the Collection Centres.
It will deter e-waste going directly into landfills or in the hands of informal sectors. The processing of e-waste should be done through public private partnership at the Disposal Centres. Engagement of various stakeholders and relevant scientific consultation within this chain of events will be a step forward to solve the e-waste problem. Effective implementation of e-waste management policies throughout the industry will streamline informal recyclers and safe disposal of e-waste.
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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.