Thread by @htTweets

#WorldEnvironmentDay 2021 is being observed at the most difficult of times with India battling on two fronts - 2nd wave of #COVID19 has caused devastation, and evidence shows that the country has not augured well on environmental norms.

A look at 10 major environmental concerns:

2020 was the 8th warmest year on record, and 2016 was the warmest ever, followed by 2009. 12 of the 15 warmest years were recorded during the past 15 years (2006-2020), and 2011-20 was the warmest decade on record.

This is a warning for India. Here's why hindustantimes.com/india-news/on-…

Environmental degradation is a cause of concern for agriculture, with rising use of insecticides, pesticides, which is contaminating soil, ground water.

GoI has launched a mission for organic farming but only 2% of India’s 140M hectares of farm land is used for organic farming.

#WorldEnvironmentDay | An alarming percentage of ground water is contaminated by various organic and inorganic sources in India, study shows.

Also, contrary to general belief, water quality of India’s 19 major rivers did not improve significantly during #COVID19 #lockdown.

#WorldEnvironmentDay | Just five states — Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Rajasthan — account for half of the deaths due to #airpollution in 2019.

The economic cost was equivalent to 1.36 per cent of India’s #GDP.

Read more here: hindustantimes.com/india-news/on-…

#WorldEnvironmentDay | With the rise in hazardous industries between 2017-18 and 2019-20, total waste generation has gone up by almost 7 %.

Almost 50% of the hazardous units are in five states and generate 65% of the total waste, says a CSE report.

Many Indian cities are environmentally unsustainable.

Only 28% of sewage generated in India is treated to remove environmentally hazardously effluents before being released to water bodies.

More here: hindustantimes.com/india-news/on-…

India is one of the world’s most bio-diverse countries, with 7% of the world’s animal and plant species and 21% of its geographic area under #forestcover.

To pursue higher economic growth and meet aspirations of people, India is sacrificing a part of its #biodiversity.

Warming of temperature and reduction in rainfall has also led to increase in forest fires in India.

As of May 1, the number of fire alerts recorded by the VIIRS was 433,581. This is quite a jump, even though the official forest fire season of the country is from Feb to June.

Of the world’s top 35 biodiversity hot spots, four are in India — Western Ghats, Himalayas, Sunderbans and Indo-Burma region.

Less than 10% of these hot spots are protected and the vegetation in these hot spots has fallen by up to 50% in the last four decades or so.

To save the environment, India has tried to move from fossil fuels to renewable energy and has met 55% of its ambitious target. With 1 year to go, it is unlikely to meet the target.

India is, however, lagging in meeting its solar (35% met) and wind energy (69% met) targets.