PRECURE ENVIRONMENT (24th January 2020) - SleepyClasses

PRECURE
  ENVIRONMENT
   th
(24 January 2020)

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Table of Contents
1. Complete Phase Out of Hydrochloroflurocarbon (HCFC) -141B……………..……2
2. Irrawaddy Dolphins……………………………………………………………………….….2
3. Environmental Clearance ……….………………………………………………………..…3
4. Prehistoric Wallemi Pines …………………………………………………………………3
5. New Snake Eel Species ……………………………………………………………………..3
6. Duck – Billed Platypus ………………………………………………………………………4

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    India has successfully achieved the complete phase out of Hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC)-141 b, which is a
     chemical used by foam manufacturing enterprises and one of the most potent ozone depleting chemical after
     Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) .
    (HCFC)-141 b is used mainly as a blowing agent in the production of rigid polyurethane (PU) foams.
    India has consciously chosen a path for environment friendly and energy efficient technologies while phasing
     out Ozone Depleting Substances (ODSs).
    Importantly, India is one among the few countries globally and a pioneer in some cases in the use of
     technologies, which are non-Ozone Depleting and have a low Global Warming Potential (GWP).
    India had proactively and successfully taken the challenge of complete phase out of Hydrochlorofluorocarbon
     (HCFC)-141 b, which is a chemical used by foam manufacturing enterprises by 1.1.2020.
    The Ministry has adopted a structured approach to engage with foam manufacturing enterprises for providing
     technical and financial assistance in order to transition to non-ODS and low GWP technologies under the HCFC
     Phase-out Management Plan (HPMP).
    HCFC-141 b is not produced domestically and all requirements were met through imports.
    The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) notified that the issuance of import license
     for HCFC-141b is prohibited from 1st January 2020 under Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulation and Control)
     Amendment Rules, 2019.

    Odisha Forest Department officials, wildlife experts and researchers recently sighted 146 endangered
     Irrawaddy dolphins in Chilika Lake (India’s largest brackish water lake), which boasts of the highest single
     lagoon population of the aquatic mammal in the world.
    The Irrawaddy dolphin is a euryhaline species of oceanic dolphin found in discontinuous subpopulations near
     sea coasts and in estuaries and rivers in parts of the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia.
It is found in three rivers –
    Irrawaddy (Myanmar)
    Mahakam (Indonesian Borneo)
    Mekong (China)
The Irrawaddy Dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris) is the flagship species of Chilika lake. Chilika is home to the only known
population of Irrawaddy Dolphins in India.
One of only two lagoons in the world is home to this species -- Irrawaddy Dolphin

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 In 2004, CITES transferred the Irrawaddy dolphin from Appendix II to Appendix I, which forbids all commercial
  trade in species that are threatened with extinction.

 The Environment Ministry has exempted oil and gas firms, looking to conduct exploratory drilling, from seeking
  an environmental clearance.
 The clearance is for both on-shore and offshore drilling explorations and the process is an ecologically-intensive
  exercise that involves digging multiple wells and conducting seismic surveys offshore.
 The notification has demoted exploratory projects to the category of B2 in the process of Environment Impact
  Assessment (EIA).
 Category B projects are appraised at the state level and they are classified into two types. Category B1 projects
  - Mandatorily requires EIA
 Category B2 projects - Do not require EIA
 The development of an offshore or onshore drilling site as a hydrocarbon block will continue to be classified as
  a category A.
 The move is part of a larger process of ‘decentralisation’ by the Centre in that it seeks to farm more regulatory
  actions to State and local units.
 Environmentalists aver that this can mean lax oversight.

 A specialized team of Australian firefighters was bent on saving invaluable plant life, hidden groves of the
  Wollemi pine, a prehistoric tree species that has outlived the dinosaurs.
 Wollemia nobilis peaked in abundance 34 million to 65 million years ago, before a steady decline.
 Today, only 200 of the trees exist in their natural environment — all within the canyons of Wollemi National
  Park, just 100 miles west of Sydney.
 The trees are so rare that they were thought to be extinct until 1994.
 Wollemi Pine (Wollemia Nobilis) is listed as critically endangered in the IUCN Red List.
 Wollemi National Park is a part of the Greater Blue Mountains Area which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 A new snake eel species residing in the Bay of Bengal has been discovered and documented this month
  (January) by the Estuarine Biology Regional Centre (EBRC) of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) at Gopalpur-
  on-sea in Odisha.
 This new marine species has been named Ophichthus kailashchandrai to honour the vast contributions of Dr.
  Kailash Chandra, Director of ZSI, to Indian animal taxonomy.
 Ophichthus kailashchandrai is the eighth species of the Ophichthus genus found on the Indian coast.
 It is the fifth new species discovered by the Gopalpur ZSI in the last two years.
 The discovery of the new species suggests that the marine biodiversity of the long Indian coastline is
  considerably unexplored.

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 Australia’s devastating drought, and other effects of climate change are pushing the iconic duck-billed platypus,
  a globally unique mammal, towards extinction.
 Platypuses were once considered widespread across the eastern Australian mainland and Tasmania, although
  not a lot is known about their distribution or abundance because of the species’ secretive and nocturnal nature.
 Researchers, who for the first time examined the risks of extinction for this intriguing animal, call for action to
  minimise the risk of the platypus vanishing due to habitat destruction, dams and weirs.

 The platypus is the sole living representative of its family, and genus, though a number of related species
  appear in the fossil record.
 It is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live
  young.
 Documented declines and local extinctions of the platypus show a species facing considerable risks, while the
  International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recently downgraded the platypus’ conservation status
  to Near Threatened.

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