Developing countries are fast becoming dumping grounds for hazardous waste generated in the developing world. As the environmental laws become more stringent in the developing world and as more and more hazardous waste is being generated, exporting this waste to poorer countries, even at a cost to the exporter is a financially attractive alternative. Much easier and cheaper than setting up environment friendly waste treatment and disposal facilities. And for the countries importing it, it is a hard to resist offer, given their high levels of poverty. Did you know that Guinea Bissau, one of the poorest 20 countries in the world was to be paid $600 million for storing and disposing of imported hazardous waste? At the time of the offer, the amount was twice the country’s foreign debt!! And about four times its Gross National Product. One can see why it is therefore easy to find disposal grounds and convert them into potential disease and death traps for the natives. The high level of corruption in these countries, and little awareness among the local population of environmental and health hazards resulting from improper industrial waste disposal, only serves to facilitate the trend. 

Olurominiyi Ibitayo in his article Transboundary dumping of hazardous waste, talks about this and other factors that promote easy disposal of hazardous waste in the sub-saharan African countries.

The only way out as I see it, is for local community groups to generate more awareness and pressure the authorities into creating and implementing stringent regulations regarding disposal of hazardous waste. And also effect ban on such imports. In 2003, environmental groups in India, along with Greenpeace had succeded in sending toxic waste back to the sender, in this case Unilever. Hindustan Lever had set up a factory in 1983 in India to import all its mercury waste from the US and export products from the plant back to the US. Greenpeace and the local community groups had exposed the dumping of hazardous mercury waste at a local scrapyard. They had then started a very successful campaign to put pressure to send back the toxic waste to its country of origin.

Such efforts can happen and be successful only if the local community is sensitised to the perils of improper toxic waste disposal. As I write this, tonnes of toxic waste material (read old computers, old mobiles and other electronic parts) shipped from the first world may be getting offloaded at some port in India. Several thousand of unsuspecting workers at the scrap-yards will then break open, sort and recycle this e-waste with their hands in an open uncontrolled environment. What can’t be recycled will be burnt in the open, releasing toxic fumes in the air. Or will be dumped in open grounds, quite possibly next to a residential area! India and China are the world’s dumping grounds for electronic waste. As long as there is a lack of political will in enforcing regulations, lack of awareness amongst the scrap-yard workers & the local population and as long as it is financially attractive to the traders, this deadly business will continue to thrive.

Tags: environment conservation, Save Earth, save nature

Scientists are planning to launch robotic fish off the port of Gijon (North Spain) to detect pollution levels in the sea. The fish are remarkably life-like and can remain underwater for several hours.

Each robotic fish measures about 1.5 m in length and has cost some Rs. 14.9 lakh to make.  These robotic fish will collect data and transmit it using Wi-Fi technology.  They are battery operated and are designed to get back to their charging stations every 8 hours or so to recharge their batteries…sounds straight out of a sci-fi movie!

Tags: environment conservation, Pollution, save nature, science & technology, underwater world, Water Conservation

That our tiger count is rapidly waning is no new news. We have lost more than 39 tigers in the last year out of which 17 have been in the last three months alone. And mind you these are official figures. I recently read an article by Jay Mazoomdaar where he elaborates on how the unprofessional management and lack of knowledge on the part of concerned officials is nulling any tiger conservation efforts.

Jay enumerates an incident where a tiger cub was mistakenly taken to be a man-eater and had it not been for the prudence of the authorities at Corbett in 2005, there would have been killings.  Interesting….

To quote Jay, “Conservation is not about raising a million tigers in ranches but about letting a few thousands to be in the wild, where at the top of the food chain, they protect the ecology of forests, which in turn, ensure our water security.”

Food for thought…?

Tags: environment conservation, Save Earth, save nature, save tiger, Sustainable Living

Reports say that the authorities have succeeded in killing the man eater near the Kaziranga National Park. Another man-eater tiger that had claimed four lives in UP had met the same fate in Bakchula Forest in February this year.

Yet another tiger that had turned a man-eater in UP was fortunately tranquilised and sent to the Kishanpur Wildlife Santuary. That makes 3 incidents in the last two months alone.

Why are tigers turning into man-eaters? It requires no rocket science to figure this out. As long as man will continue to gobble up greedily habitats and resources meant for other species, there will be a backlash. The planet belongs as much to the other species as it does to us. We need to realise that we need the other species for our own survival. Without these animals, insects and birds our ecosystem will fail. That is what we need to understand. Shooting man-eaters is not the solution. Attacking the reason they turn into man-eaters is the only viable solution.

Tags: environment conservation, Save Earth, save nature, save tiger

Poaching, poisoning and infighting are killing our tigers.  While the majority of incidents have been reported from the Kanha Tiger Reserve (MP) and Kaziranga National Park (Assam), two tigers were found dead in Corbett Tiger Reserve as well.

Last month, the Army officials seized several tiger body parts at the Myanmar border, which goes to prove that poaching is still very rampant. Despite the ban, tiger parts are actively being traded illegally. In a lot of cases, it has been found that poverty forced the locals to resort to tiger killings for paltry sums from the traders.

Poverty alleviation and sensitizing the locals as well as general popualtion to the importance of conserving wildlife are the only ways to tackle the menace. While NGOs are actively doing their bit, the state authorities perhaps would do well to train and recruit locals as forest guards. That would serve both purposes – give them employment and make them partners in environment conservation. If the locals and the forest officials are together involved in prerservation of the tigers, I doubt the masterminds behind the poaching activities will find any success in their designs!

By the way, there has been further addition to the count since I first saw the above numbers, though that has been on account of tigers turning into man-eaters. Definitely attributable to humans again.

Tags: environment conservation, Save Earth, save nature, save tiger, Sustainable Living

March 21 was World Forestry Day. Befittingly, the Ministry of Environment & Forests laid down certain concrete objectives for the year, its theme being “Sustainable Forest Management”. The ministry has resolved to:

• Bring 33% of the landmass under forest or tree cover
• Forests to be managed holistically for their ecological, economic and socio-cultural roles
• Forests to play a key role in climate change amelioration

Kudos to the ministry. Hope they have worked out the strategies to achieve these objectives and are also able to put it into action!

Tags: environment conservation, Save Earth, save nature, save tiger, Sustainable Living