Centre’s panel says digging tunnel for mining under forest land ‘environment friendly activity’

Digging tunnels for mining is considered an “environmentally friendly activity” that causes no damage to trees and vegetation above it and requires no compensatory afforestation, according to the Centre’s Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) in a letter to a state government posted on the Parivesh website, as reported by Hindustan Times. The Union Environment Ministry’s FAC communicated this decision, paving the way for the construction of road and railway tunnels in forest areas to be treated on par with underground mining projects.

The letter sent to the state government states: “No compensatory afforestation is charged in respect of underground mining proposals, as these proposals involve no damage to the above-ground vegetation and wildlife. Therefore, in line with past clarifications issued by the Ministry and directions contained in the Honorable Supreme Court order, the Ministry may consider clarifying that the construction of road and railway tunnels in forest areas may be treated on par with underground mining projects for the purpose of applicability of compensatory afforestation.”

EU carbon tax on imports ‘stifling’ says India 

Financial Times reported that India has called the EU’s planned carbon tax on imports an arbitrary “trade barrier,” quoting Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who added that it will “hurt” the world’s fastest-growing large economy and other industrializing nations. According to the report, the minister stated that the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which will impose tariffs on imports starting in 2026, will impede developing countries’ transition away from fossil fuels by making the change harder to fund.

Speaking at the Financial Times Energy Transition Summit in New Delhi, she said: “They are unilateral and are not helpful. Absolutely, it is a trade barrier. You are being stifled by steps that are not going to facilitate the green transition,” the report noted.

Hydropower project in Kedarnath seeks fresh clearances after 2013 Uttarakhand flood damage

 
The 76 MW Phata Byung hydropower project on the Mandakini River, which was severely damaged during the 2013 Uttarakhand floods, is now up for fresh approvals, including forest and wildlife clearances. The project is located in a dense vegetation area, and the Ministry of Environment has stated that several studies are required. These include assessments of baseline species diversity, seismology, geology, disaster management, and sociocultural impacts, as revealed by a site visit conducted in June, according to a report by The Indian Express.

This is the first hydropower dam located downstream of Kedarnath and will draw water from the Mandakini River, a tributary of the Alaknanda, one of the headwaters of the Ganga. The project sustained extensive damage during the 2013 floods, which were triggered by a cloudburst and a subsequent glacial lake outburst. The dam structure was compromised, the reservoir area filled with debris, and machinery was washed away. A government panel found 24 glacial lakes near the dam site, making the project vulnerable to future glacial lake outburst floods.

India plans to construct a million rainwater harvesting structures before next monsoon

India plans to build one million rainwater harvesting structures, including check dams, percolation tanks, and recharge wells, to enhance groundwater replenishment across the country before the onset of next year’s monsoon, *Times of India* (TOI) reported.

The Jal Sanchay, Jan Bhagidari (JSJB) initiative extends the existing “Catch the Rain – Where it Falls, When it Falls” campaign, which was launched in 1,592 blocks across 256 water-stressed districts in the country in 2019, the report added. The decision was made following the initial success of the initiative in Gujarat, where JSJB was launched in Surat last month. Under the initiative, each district is tasked with building at least five recharge structures in every village to store rainwater, and every municipal corporation is requested to establish a minimum of 10,000 recharge structures within its jurisdiction.

Gujarat is expected to commit to constructing 80,000 rainwater harvesting structures before next year’s monsoon. Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar are also anticipated to announce similar commitments, the report said.

UN approves Mandatory safeguards to protect climate and rights from carbon credits 

The UN’s new carbon market will have a compulsory mechanism that aims to prevent developers of projects from breaching human rights or causing environmental damage with their activities. Projects under the UN’s new Article 6.4 carbon crediting system will be required to identify and address potential negative environmental and social impacts as part of a detailed risk assessment under new rules adopted by technical experts in Baku, Azerbaijan, Climate Home reported.

The outlet pointed out that the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) – the earlier UN carbon market set up to help richer countries meet their emissions-cutting pledges – was dogged by accusations of social and environmental abuses linked to its registered projects, including toxic pollution from a waste-to-energy facility in India, forced relocations due to infrastructure like a hydropower dam in Panama, and villagers in Uganda being denied access to land they used to grow food as a result of a tree-planting project.

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