Current Affairs

(Weekly)

Ravi Dutt Kaushik

 Question
Consider the following pairs:
Disease Caused by
1. Black Lung Disease Silica
2. Black Foot Disease Arsenic
3. Itai-itai disease Cadmium
4. Minamata disease Mercury
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
a) 1 and 2 only
b) b) 3 and 4 only
c) c) 1,3 and 4 only
d) d) 1,2,3 and 4
 Air Pollution

❖WHO: According to WHO, toxic air is now the biggest environmental risk
of early death, responsible for one in nine of all fatalities.
❖It kills 7 million people a year, far more than HIV, tuberculosis and
malaria combined,
❖An estimated 4.2 million premature deaths globally are linked to
ambient air pollution, mainly from heart disease, stroke, chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and acute respiratory
infections in children.
 ❖ Meteorological factor and dip in temperature: In Delhi,
the average wind speed in winter ranges between one and
three meters per second, which is nearly one-third of the
average speeds in the summer months and much lower
than the average wind speed in coastal areas like-Chennai.
❖ Geographical factor: During winter, western disturbances
carry dust storms from Gulf countries leading to
Why does air ❖
enhanced smog conditions.
Population Density: Delhi is among the most densely
pollution rise populated cities in the world with nearly 11000 people
living per square kilometer.
in October- ❖

❖
Vehicular emission
Poor Public transport
November in ❖ Unregulated polluting activities: Large-scale construction,
Industrial pollution and burning of an open garbage
North India? ❖
dump in Delhi-NCR cause pollution in the air.
Diwali factor: Despite a ban on firecrackers, people
celebrating Diwali with crackers and fireworks adds to
worsening pollution with many areas in Delhi recording
an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 999 (prescribed limit is 60),
beyond which reading is not possible, on Diwali night.
❖ Stubble burning
❖ WHO’s 4 Pillar Strategy:
❖ Expanding the knowledge base
❖ Monitoring and reporting
❖ Global leadership and coordination
❖ Institutional capacity strengthening
❖ Innovative Measure:
❖ Proactive Measure:
❖ Responsibility of Citizens
 National Clean Air Programme
❖ The National Green
Tribunal (NGT) has
directed
the Ministry of
Environment, Forest
and Climate Change
(MoEFCC) to
modify the National
Clean Air
Programme
(NCAP) which
proposes 20-30%
reduction of air
pollution by 2024.
National Clean Air Programme:
❖ It was launched by the MoEFCC in January 2019. The Right
❖ It is the first-ever effort in the country to frame a national to Clean
framework for air quality management with a time-bound Air stood
reduction target. recognized
❖ It seeks to cut the concentration of coarse (particulate as part of
matter of diameter 10 micrometer or less, or PM10) and fine Right to
particles (particulate matter of diameter 2.5 micrometer or Life and
less, or PM2.5) by at least 20% in the next five failure to
years, with 2017 as the base year for comparison. address air
❖ The plan includes 102 non-attainment cities, across 23 states pollution is
and Union territories, which were identified by the Central a denial of
Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on the basis of their Right to
ambient air quality data between 2011 and 2015. Life
❖ Non-attainment cities: These are those that have fallen under Arti
short of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards cle 21.
(NAAQS) for over five years.
International Convention for The Basel Convention on the Control of
the Prevention of Pollution Transboundary Movements of Hazardous
from Ships (MARPOL) Wastes and their Disposal
❖ Adopted in response to a ❖ To protect human health and the
spate of tanker accidents environment against the adverse effects
❖ Aims at preventing and of hazardous wastes
minimising pollution from Outcome
ships – both accidental ❖ Covers a wide range of wastes –
pollution and that from hazardous wastes, household waste and
routine operations incinerator ash
Outcome ❖ Promotion of environmentally sound
❖ Made it mandatory for oil management of hazardous wastes
tankers to have double ❖ A regulatory system applying to cases
hulls where transboundary movements are
❖ Provides strict controls on permissible
operational discharges
The Rotterdam Convention The Stockholm Convention on
❖ To promote shared Persistent Organic Pollutants
responsibility and cooperative ❖ To protect human health and the
efforts in the international trade environment from Persistent
of certain hazardous chemicals Organic Pollutant (POPs)
Outcome Outcome
❖ Creates legally binding ❖ Prohibit and/or eliminate the
obligations for the production and use, import and
implementation of the Prior export, of the intentionally
Informed Consent (PIC) produced POPs
procedure. ❖ Reduce or eliminate releases from
❖ Covers pesticides and industrial unintentionally produced POPs
chemicals that have been ❖ Promotes the use of best available
banned or severely restricted by techniques and best
Parties environmental practices for
❖ Facilitate information exchange preventing releases of POPs into
about the chemicals the environment
Vienna Convention
❖ The Vienna Convention serves as a framework for efforts to protect
the globe’s ozone layer
❖ It was adopted in 1985 and entered into force in 1988
❖ It is the first Convention of any kind to achieve universal
ratification
The Montreal Protocol
❖ It is the agreement to phase out the production of substances that
deplete the Ozone Layer
❖ It was agreed in 1987 and entered into force in 1989
❖ The latest amendment to the protocol is the Kigali Amendment,
2016
❖ Kigali Amendment, adds hydrofluorocarbons which causes global
warming, even though it is not ozone depleting, to the list
About HCFC
• HCFCs are compounds containing carbon, hydrogen, chlorine and
fluorine.
• They are less stable than CFCs because HCFC molecules contain
carbon-hydrogen bonds.
• They have shorter atmospheric lifetimes than CFCs and deliver less
reactive chlorine to the stratosphere.
• HCFCs are also part of a group of chemicals known as the volatile
organic compounds (VOCs).
• HCFCs are both ODS and powerful greenhouse gases: the most
commonly used HCFC is nearly 2,000 times more potent than carbon
dioxide in terms of its global warming potential (GWP).
 ❖ Ozone (chemically, a molecule of three oxygen
❖ A hole in the ozone was
atoms) is found mainly in the upper atmosphere,
discovered in the
an area called the stratosphere, between 10 and
Antarctic in 1985. It is
50 km from the earth’s surface.
not an actual hole as
❖ Though it is talked of as a layer, ozone is present
many people believe,
in the atmosphere in rather low concentrations.
but it refers to a loss of
Even at places where this layer is thickest, there
60% of the ozone that is
are not more than a few molecules of ozone for
usually present from
every million air molecules.
September to November
❖ The ‘ozone holes’ most commonly talked about
each year.
are the depletions over Antarctica, forming each
❖ The Montreal Protocol,
year in the months of September, October and
enacted in 1989, was put
November, due to a set of special meteorological
in place to try to protect
and chemical conditions that arise at the South
the ozone layer by
Pole, and can reach sizes of around 20 to 25
phasing out substances
million sq km.
that deplete the ozone
layer.
Southern Polar Vortex and Antarctic Ozone Hole:
❖ The persistent southern vortex has profound implications for polar ozone
loss.
❖ Polar stratospheric clouds: During winter, temperatures in the vortex
usually drop below 195 Kelvin, and polar stratospheric clouds form.
❖ Chemical reactions on the surfaces of these cloud particles releases chlorine,
originated from anthropogenically created Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs),
into forms that can rapidly destroy ozone.
❖ Whereas, air parcels inside the polar vortex have much lower values of
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) than those found outside the polar vortex.
❖ Reason: This is because the air inside the polar vortex has descended
from the upper stratosphere and mesosphere over the course of the
winter, and CFCs are destroyed in the upper stratosphere
❖ But, as the sun rises over Antarctica in August and September, visible
radiation provides the energy to drive chlorine and bromine catalytic
reactions that rapidly destroy ozone.
❖ This rapid ozone destruction produces the Antarctic ozone hole