GIST OF DOWN TO EARTH-SEPTEMBER 2019

WHAT IT TAKES TO RECLAIM THE WORLD’S MOST POPULATED DESERT-THAR DESERT

Context Desertification is severe in hot and arid northwestern India which comprises the Thar Desert, It has hit nearly 70 per cent of the state. About Thar Desert

● It is a large arid region in the northwestern part of

the Indian subcontinent, also known as the Great Indian Desert, forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan.

● It is the world's 17th largest desert, and the world's 9th largest subtropical desert.

● It is located between the Aravalli mountain range in the east and the river Indus in the west.

● The seasonal and annual temperature range is high which may rise to 50°C in summers and dip to as low as -4°C in winters.

● Also, annual average rainfall here is very low, varying from 100 mm in the west to 500 mm in the east, though pan evaporation which is a measurement that integrates the effects of temperature, humidity, rainfall and wind, is high 1,800 mm.

● It forms approximately 5%(~4.56%) of the total geographic area of India.

● The subtropical desert climate here results from persistent high pressure and subsidence at that latitude.

About Desertification

● Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands involving loss of biological productivity caused by natural processes or induced by human activities.

● It is caused by a variety of factors, such as through climate change and through the overexploitation of soil through human activity.

Desertification in India

● According to Desertification and Land Degradation of Selected Districts of India, an atlas published by the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Space Application Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad in 2018, about 30 percent of the country’s total area, is undergoing degradation.

● Also, the extent of desertification and land degradation has increased by some 1.16 million ha and 1.87 million ha respectively in just eight years, between 2003-05 and 2011-13.

● As per the study from Down to Earth, states like Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Goa, Nagaland, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have 50 per cent of the area which is under desertification, due to a vicious cycle of land degradation, governance failure and absence of knowledge.

Extent of Desertification in Thar Desert

● Desertification has affected 70 per cent of Rajasthan. Wind erosion, which is the dominant process of desertification in the state, has affected 44.41 per cent area.

● About 0.15 million ha, or 72 percent of the area, is affected by wind erosion or deposition. How Central Arid Zone Research Institute has curbed the problem of desertification in state of Rajasthan

Wind erosion and deposition causing sand movement and dust storms which are the characteristic features of the Thar.Interestingly, the wind erosion affected areas decreased between 2003-05 and 2011-13.Central Arid Zone Research Institute, has taken several steps in this regard.

● Fencing of dune areas to protect against biotic interferences; ● Creating micro-wind breaks in parallel stripe or checkerboard patterns by planting locally

available brushwood and grass; ● Afforestation on dune slopes by directly sowing grass seeds and transplanting seeds of indigenous

and exotic species; ● Planting grass slips, seeds of grasses or leguminous creepers on the leeward side of the

micro-wind breaks; and ● Continuous management of dunes till the input cost is recovered.

HOW TO SINK CARBON Context The emissions of soil carbon into the atmosphere is contributing to global warming. Soil is one of the largest repositories of carbon to the fact that there is three times more carbon in the soil than in the atmosphere. As per the data, land degradation is responsible for annual global emissions of 3.6-4.4 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) or 10 to 12 percent of the total emissions. In India, CO2 emissions from land degradation is about 50 per cent higher than the total CO2 emissions. About Carbon Sink

● A carbon sink is a natural reservoir that stores carbon-containing chemical compounds accumulated over an indefinite period of time.

● The process by which carbon sinks remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere is known as carbon sequestration.

Concerns related to Carbon Sink

Over the years, climate change has speed up the process of land degradation, which is a significant contributor to the climate crisis. As per the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) special report, the target of 1.5°C can’t be met, without the large-scale “carbon removal” from the atmosphere. Therefore, to meet the target, rapid enhancement in the capacity of natural carbon sinks is to be made to remove atmospheric carbon. Initiatives taken to meet the target of 1.5°C REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation)

● It is a global endeavour to use carbon sequestration potential of the forests to manage climate change within accepted limits of tolerance.

● In simple terms, it means conservation of forest carbon stocks, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries.

India and REDD+

● India has prepared its National REDD+ Strategy, which builds upon existing national circumstances which have been updated in line with India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change, Green India Mission and India’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to UNFCCC.

India’s National Determined Contribution(NDC) under Paris Agreement

● To create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

Why REDD+ has failed to achieve the target?

● More than 300 redd+ initiatives have taken off across the world since 2007, but there is no convincing evidence to establish its contribution in reducing deforestation.

● Developed countries’ funding commitments for redd+ mechanism has been lower, despite the promises.

Need new global mechanism to enhance natural carbon sinks After REDD+, in order to curtail carbon sinks we need a global mechanism, with various lessons learnt from the REDD+ initiative.

● Firstly, any land and forest-related mechanism will work only if it is owned by communities.The Mechanism will work if millions of forest dwellers and farmers work to reverse land and forest degradation.

● Secondly, improved sustainable forest and farm management practices have to be the basis, which lead to social, economic and ecological benefits.

● Thirdly, land and forest-based mechanisms cannot be sustained on carbon credits, we need market mechanisms where funds are mobilised to build the capacity of communities and local governments and they can be rewarded for developing their own ‘sink’ and for achieving emissions reduction and carbon stock enhancement.

● Lastly, any global mechanism cannot depend solely on international funding. We can learn from REDD+ experience where once foreign funding ceases, projects become unsustainable.

Halting forest loss and reforesting them together could provide 150-200 billion tonnes of carbon mitigation between 2020 and 2050.Farmlands in dryland areas can sequester an additional 30-60 billion tonnes of carbon. Way Ahead After recognizing the importance of Carbon Sinks, many countries have enhanced their carbon sinks through their respective nationally determined contributions (NDC) under the Paris Agreement. More importantly, we need a collaborative effort from all countries to counter this climate crisis.

SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT KEY TO CONTROLLING DEGRADATION, ACHIEVING

NEUTRALITY Context

● Land degradation and desertification are some of the greatest environmental challenges for the world in light of climate change, rapidly growing population and increasing demand for food, fibre and biomass energy.

● The problem of land degradation and desertification is acute in Asia and Africa. ● By 2030, the world would not only depend upon the success of Africa and Asia to combat

challenges, but the overall success would be critically determined by the success in achieving them in the two continents.

How Land Degradation affects the soil?

● It takes 200 to 1,000 years to form 2.5 cm of topsoil under cropland conditions. ● Soil especially topsoil is an important natural resource base in the production of food, fibre and

biomass energy. ● Land degradation is causing loss of topsoil and the nutrients it contains, which, in turn, leads

to reduction in crop production. Land Degradation/Desertification in Africa

● As per the UNCCD, Africa is particularly

vulnerable to soil erosion and is the most severely affected continent, with two-thirds of productive land degraded.

● Desertification has affected 45 per cent of Africa’s land area, of which 55 per cent is at high or very high risk of further degradation.

● The socioeconomic consequences associated with it are food insecurity, poverty, social tension, reduced availability of clean water and increased vulnerability of affected areas.

● Nutrient depletion from 105 million ha of cereal crop-lands in 42 African countries is causing loss of 280

million tonnes of cereal crops a year, which is estimated to be US $127 billion per year Desertification in Asia

● As nearly, 70 per cent live in rural areas and depend directly on land and land-based ecosystem services, Asia is most severely affected by land degradation, desertification and drought in terms of the number of people.

● In Asia, due to topsoil loss-induced loss of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) drop in annual production is about 16.7 million tonnes of crops with a total value of $9.9 billion at the weighted average price of crops produced in the region

Sustainable Land Management

● The United Nations defines sustainable land management (SLM) as “the use of land resources, including soils, water, animals and plants, for the production of goods to meet changing human needs, while simultaneously ensuring the long-term productive potential of these resources and the maintenance of their environmental functions”.

● The productivity and sustainability of a land-use system is determined by the interaction between land resources, climate and human activities,

What if Land Degradation/Desertification is contained in Asia and Africa?

● As per a study by the Economics of Land Degradation (ELD), if all Asian countries invest and develop sustainable land management technologies on its 487 million ha of agricultural land in the next 13 years, would help countries reduce the poverty gap to zero, increase the total per capita domestic food crop production to 858 k and also it will enable to achieve SDG goals.

● Also, reducing topsoil induced soil NPK depletion would increase regional productivity from 5.07 tonnes per ha per year to 7.76 tonnes per ha per year.

● For both Africa and Asia to attract investment in sustainable land management practices, sustainable land management is the key to control land degradation and to achieve land degradation neutrality.

Burning -Amazon Fires Context: World’s largest rainforest-Amazon rainforest is under continuous fire, which is not dying down and the controversies are also surrounding the fires. Some facts regarding Amazon forest fires

● More than 200,000 incidents of fires have been observed across the Amazon forest since January 2019.

● The Amazon forest is spread in eight South American countries, but the blazes are intense along its southern part in Brazil.

● This region accounts for 60 percent of the Amazon Rainforest. ● Till September 7, over 102,786 fires across Brazil were recorded, which is the highest

since it began keeping records in 2013. Significance of the Amazon forest

● The Amazon forest is called the lungs of the planet.

● Spread over 5.5 million sq km, it is known for its biodiversity, as it is home to at least 40,000 plant species, 427 mammals, 1,300 birds, 378 reptiles, more than 400 amphibians, around 3,000 freshwater fishes and 100,000 invertebrate species.

● It holds over half of the terrestrial species of animals, plants and insects. ● It is home to some 420 indigenous communities which play a key role in conservation

of his biodiversity. ● Its vegetation is an important buffer against rising levels of CO2. ● It acts as a large carbon sink by absorbing a quarter of the carbon taken up by forests

worldwide every year. Causes of deforestation of Amazon forest

● Mining projects: Several large hydro-electric and mining projects are set up in the heart of the Amazon forest by clearing the forest. Also, the gold mining projects have contaminated the Amazon river with mercury.

● The agro-business and wood industries: They have caused large-scale deforestation in the region.

● Agriculture: In the dry season, people set the vegetation ablaze to for agricultural purposes, pastures and other developments. The brazil government also permits the slash-and-burn method for subsistence farming.

● Illegal encroachment: Ranchers, loggers and commercial farmers often use amazon forest illegally to encroach on forest areas.

● Defunding of institutions: The present government has also defunded many institutions, which is responsible for controlling fires.

● Restoration of economy: The present government is trying to keep up its promises of restoring the economy by opening up the natural resources of the Amazon forest for mining, logging and commercial agriculture.

● Reduced monitoring: The present government has radically reduced monitoring of the Amazon and even it is incentivising the environmental department to not fine illegal encroachment of the forest.

● Export of beef and soy: Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of beef and soy, which has a huge impact the rainforest, as cattle ranching accounts for 80 percent of Amazon deforestation in Brazil.

● BR-163 highway: The present government is paving the way for clearance of this highway, which is directly linked with the deforestation of the Amazon, through the construction of highway as well as the development and clearing of lands in the nearby areas.

Other similar ecosystems and their global climatic impacts

● The Arctic region: It is also burning at an unprecedented pace, where fire has destroyed about 2.4 million ha of Siberian forest. In Alaska, fires have consumed 1 million ha tundra and snow forests.

● Fires in major areas of rainforest in the Congo or Indonesia may also disrupt the global climate system.

Brazilian Government’s and Global efforts to prevents the fires

● The Brazilian government has deployed 44,000 troops and military aircrafts in its six affected states to control the fires.

● European leaders have called the fires a worldwide crisis, and also called for emergency talks on the subject at the annual G-7 summit.

● They also offered US $22 million to Brazil to help fight Amazon fires. ● The EU can banning the import of Brazilian beef and soy as a punitive measure. ● Norway and Germany stopped donations to the Brazilian government’s Amazon Fund,

which was established in 2008 under the mechanism for redd+. Impact of depleting Amazon forest Immediate impacts

● Threatening species: The fires are spreading to denser patches, hurting wildlife in their path and threatening some uncontacted indigenous tribes of the region.

● Pollution: Large amount of carbon would be released in the atmosphere due to fire and all the CO2 stored in Amazon forest over centuries would go up in smoke.

● Global warming: The loss of green cover will reduce the forest’s capacity to absorb CO2 and produce oxygen, which would exacerbate global warming.

● Health emergencies: A thick smoke mixed with soot and ash is choking the atmosphere and has triggered health emergency among communities.

● Natural ecosystem: Forest fire forces pollinators and seed dispersers to flee, which affects both natural ecosystems and food crops and it may also lead to extinction of local rare plants.

● Temperature: Deforestation increases daytime temperatures, which makes it difficult for plants to grow, and harder for local people to work and sustain themselves.

● Agriculture: Forests helps in evapotranspiration, and recycles water into the atmosphere, so that agricultural areas get more rainfall. So, deforestation in the Amazon could affect agriculture elsewhere in nearby areas.

Future impacts

● It is estimated that the Amazon could reach a tipping point if another 25 percent of the forest were lost, which could cause:

○ Changes in regional rainfall and temperature patterns. ○ Increase tree mortality and enhancing the risk of catastrophic fires. ○ The rainforest can turn into a shrubby and sparse vegetation.

Way forward

● Increase agricultural production without increasing the area of land, by- ○ Increasing efficiencies. ○ Improving practices such that existing agricultural land produces more cattle,

more soy.

○ Better management, to raise more cattle per hectare and deforest fewer hectares.

● Brazil has committed to achieve zero illegal deforestation in the Amazon by 2030 to meet its climate goals, which should be fulfilled sincerely.

How to Create Floods

Context: It is observed that most of the recent floods in the country in the past decade have occurred due to mismanagement of dams or sudden release of dam water, which is being called as ‘Flood of mismanagement’. Facts on recent man-made floods in India

● Karnataka ○ It received 128 percent more than normal rainfall during August 1 and 7 this year. ○ Belagavi, a semi-arid, dry district of Karnataka faced floods, as it received 652

percent above normal rainfall during the same period. ● Maharashtra

○ Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur districts witnessed 400 percent above normal rainfall between August 1 and 8 this year.

○ Three big dams-Koyana, Warna and Radhanagari, located in these districts had water exceeding the dams’ storage capacity, which caused flood in these districts.

Causes of man-made floods or floods of mismanagement ● Dam as a solution to floods: Dams are now considered as an outdated and

counter-productive way to manage floods, as they give us a false sense of security and cause destruction.

● Storage of water more than capacity: A dam becomes absolutely dry by the end of summer, and thus the officials start filling it up as soon as monsoon sets and focus on stocking water, fearing little rains, which many times results in water exceeding the dam’s storage capacity.

● Sudden release of water from Dams: When the water exceeds dam’s storage capacity, and as the rain intensifies, the officials suddenly release large quantities of water from reservoirs, which causes floods in the low-lying areas.

● Lack of coordination: There is no coordination between officials at the reservoir, those in the basin area and the IMD officials, which restrain their understanding of rainfall patterns and management of dams accordingly.

● The Rule curve: The Rule Curve is a dam operating schedule, which regulates the management of dams, and ensures that the dam is full to its capacity only towards the end of monsoon to curb the chances of floods. However, in India Dam operators almost never follow this, causing floods due to sudden release of dam water.

● Outdated rules: The Rule Curve was prepared in the 1950s based on the earlier rainfall pattern, but due to climate change, rainfall has become erratic, which leaves the dam operators in uncertain conditions.

● Treating rivers just as water carrier: Rivers are an ecosystem and need space, but the government treats a river is just a water carrier and constrains its channel, which increases the intensity of floods.

● Old and dilapidated dams: India has 5,745 dams, of which 293 are more than 100 years old, 25 percent of the dams are between 50 and 100 years of age, which will become weak with time.

Impacts of man-made floods ● Drowning: The sudden release of water along with excessive rainfall, drowns the

unprepared low-lying areas. ● Collapse of Infrastructure: Houses in the low-lying areas collapse and many villages

gets affected. Also, important roads get damaged due to floods and landslides. ● Evacuation: It becomes difficult to evacuate people from flood-affected areas, as

connectivity is affected. ● Economic loss: The states have to bear huge economic loss in terms of loss of crops,

infrastructure, rescue and rehabilitation, etc. Government efforts

● Improving forecast: IMD Pune has started issuing a forecast on the expected volume of water in 101 river basins for effective dam management.

● Canalisation: The Punjab government has announced to canalisation of all its rivers for a permanent solution to floods.

● Setting up a panel: The Maharashtra government has decided to form a panel of 10-members to recommend measures for better weather monitoring and an improved dam management mechanism.

● The Dam Safety Bill, 2019: Passed in the Lok Sabha, but could pending in the Rajya Sabha.

○ It provides for the surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of dams. ○ It will ensure accountability of official of reservoirs by penalising them if the dams

are poorly managed. ○ It provides for a National Committee on Dam Safety and National Dam Safety

Authority. ○ The bill will ensure that the Rule Curve is followed.

Way forward

● Better management: Better management of water release from dams in coordination with IMD officials and officials on the basin can avert the floods.

● Review of the rule curve: We need to review the rule, keeping climate change in mind, which must be made more dynamic and flexible.

● Resilient new project: While designing new dam projects, climate change should be taken into account, an assessment of possible inflow and outflow of water should be done, maximum rainfall must be estimated, and a thorough analysis of the genesis of the problem should be done.

● Operation manual: Each dam should have its own operation manual before it is constructed.

● The Dam Safety Bill: This should be passed in the parliament as soon as possible along with the provisions for dam management and flood control.

Chilly Twist to Ozone Wars Context: 16th September is celebrated as Ozone day. About Ozone layer

● It is a region of the upper atmosphere, between roughly 15 and 35 km above Earth’s surface, also called ozonosphere.

● It contains high concentrations of ozone molecules (O3). ● The ozone layer prevents most harmful solar radiation from reaching Earth’s surface,

including certain types of ultraviolet (UV) that could injure or kill most living things. Problems related to the ozone layer

● The ozone problem is due to the world’s growing obsession with cooling.

○ Ozone hole: The cooling industries such as refrigeration, air-conditioning and insulation created the hole in the ozone layer, as they released ozone-depleting substances. HFCs’ was being used as an alternative to ozone-depleting substances in cooling equipment.

○ Global warming: Now, the role of Hydrofluorocarbons in warming the atmosphere has become a greater concern. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and electricity used to run cooling devices and are now heating the planet, as they are major greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters.

Efforts taken to protect the ozone layer

● The Montreal Protocol: ○ It is a universally adopted treaty to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the

production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion. ○ It was focused only on the protection of the ozone layer.

● Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol:

○ It came into force in January 2019. ○ It will fight to protect the ozone layer as well as climate change. ○ It broadly caps and reduces the use of HFCs in a gradual process. ○ It recognises the linkages between the transition in refrigerants and energy

efficiency of air-conditioners (ACs). ○ It recognises the world’s need for more mechanical cooling as the climate gets

hotter and thus aims to improve energy efficiency. ○ 81 nations have ratified it till date, and India, China and the US are not on that

list. Challenges ahead

● Ozone and climate change: Protection of the ozone layer increases climate challenges and bridging this gap between ozone and climate challenges is a major concern.

● Complications: The Kigali Amendment is difficult to achieve due to disagreements from technical and political perspectives.

● Electricity generation: In future, the world will need more energy to keep the ACs running, which is a critical climatic concern. Thus, achieving energy efficiency is going to be a challenging task.

Efforts by India and China for improving energy efficiency

● Although India and China didn’t ratify the Kigali amendment, but they have initiated some policies in the spirit of the amendment.

India ● Cooling requirements: It is estimated India’s cooling demand will grow by eight times in

the next 20 years. ● Policy: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched the India

Cooling Action Plan (icap) in March 2019.

○ It is a 20-year-roadmap to address cooling requirements in building, cold chain, transport and refrigeration sectors.

○ It links national development goals with the ozone and climate agenda. ○ It aims to-

■ Reduce cooling demand by up to 25 percent by 2038. ■ Reduce refrigerant demand by 25-30 percent by 2038. ■ Reduce cooling energy requirements by up to 40 percent by 2038. ■ Improve access to cooling for the Indian population, majorly for vulnerable

section. China

● China is the biggest consumer of cooling energy and refrigerants in the world. ● It also manufactures more than 80 percent of the world's total room ACs. ● It adopted the “Green and High-Efficiency Cooling Action Plan” in June 2019. ● It aims to-

○ Improve the Minimum Energy Performance Standards (meps) of room ACs by 30 percent by 2022 and by a further 15 percent by 2030.

○ Increase the market share of high-efficiency cooling products by 20 percent by 2022 and 40 percent by 2030.

● Global implications: The Chinese policy advocates “green cooling for all” and encourages “bring in and export out” high-efficiency products.

Way forward India

● Specific targets: India is just reinforcing the targets already set by different sectors and ministries, but it should set clear targets as set by China.

● Technology adoption: Indian approach is based on available and affordable models, that depends on the industry’s inertia; instead India should push the industry towards rapid adoption of better technology.

China ● Enforcement of MEPS: China should enforce its domestic meps on all ACs

manufactured there, including those exported, so that the efficiency of most of the world's cooling equipment improves.

Full Measure - Groundwater

Context: Recently, the State-wise details of aquifer mapping work carried out by CGWB under the National Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme (NAQUIM) was released. Significance of groundwater for India

● Agriculture: Improvement in India’s agriculture production for attaining self-sufficiency is considerably linked to the groundwater resources of the country.

● Water needs: India is largely dependent on groundwater for its water needs. It consumes about a quarter of global groundwater.

● Water security: Groundwater remains the lifeline of water security in India, in spite of huge investments in surface water-based schemes for irrigation and drinking supply.

Problems related to groundwater in India

● Exploitation: Over exploitation of aquifers is leading India towards a water disaster. Out of the 6,881 blocks/talukas assessed in the country, 17 per cent are overexploited.

● Desaturation: A Central Ground Water Board (cgwb) assessment demonstrated rapid aquifer desaturation at many places.

● Invasion on all aquifer typologies: Overexploited areas have invaded all aquifer typologies such as-

○ Prolific soft rock aquifer system in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. ○ Complex heterogeneous aquifer systems in arid areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat. ○ Low-potential hard rock aquifers in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and

Maharashtra. Impact of groundwater exploitation in India

● Economic and social consequences: Overexploitation of groundwater has put economic burden on farmers in terms of construction of deeper new wells and Increased energy cost to lift water.

● Environmental consequences: Overexploitation has enhanced water salinity and spread of geogenic contaminants like arsenic, fluoride, etc. and mixing of seawater in freshwater aquifers in coastal areas.

● Health: Intake of arsenic and fluoride contaminated groundwater by human beings is leading to various health concerns.

● Other potential consequences: The other likely impacts are decreased flow of non-glacier fed rivers, drying up of wetlands, changes in hydraulic behaviour of aquifers.

Need for Groundwater resource mapping

● Holistic understanding: Groundwater resource mapping provides a comprehensive understanding of aquifers and ways of its sustainable use.

● Sustainable extraction: It will help in delineating the potential areas for groundwater exploitation and recommending maximum possible extraction.

● Policy framing: Policy framing for sustainable use of groundwater and its adaptation requires a wide understanding of aquifers including their geometry, hydraulic properties, resource availability, hydrochemical processes, contamination susceptibility, capability to artificial recharge, inter-aquifer behaviour in case of a multi-aquifer system, response to extraction and recharge, etc.

● Optimisation of outputs: As the groundwater is an important component in a number of programmes, aquifer data can help in optimising the benefits of such programmes.

Government efforts- The National Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme (NAQUIM)

● The National Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme (NAQUIM) was initiated in 2012.

● The aim is to delineate and characterize the aquifers to develop plans for ground water management.

● It is a part of the Ground Water Management and Regulation scheme of central ground Water Board (CGWB).

● It was initiated on the basis of the recommendations of the 12th Plan Working Group on Sustainable Groundwater Management of the erstwhile Planning Commission.

● Its executing body is CGWB. ● There are four stages of activities in naquim:

○ Collection, compilation and analysis of existing data, based on which data gaps are identified.

○ The desired data is then generated through scientific investigations. ○ The data is then integrated by developing lithologic models and configuration of

aquifers. ○ Based on the integrated data, various interventions are worked out and

recommended for sustainable use of groundwater. Limitations and Way forward

● Participatory groundwater management: It can be achieved by empowering communities with the flow of information and understanding of local aquifers.

● Information dissemination: An exhaustive, user-friendly and easily retrievable web-based system is required for information dissemination.

● Case studies: The CGWB can undertake case studies in different aquifer types to show the efficacy of the adopted measures and sharing it within communities.

● Scale of mapping: The present scale of mapping is 1:50,000, which should be fine-tuned to 1:25,000 scale in critical and contaminated areas.

● Popularisation of mobile apps: The existing mobile apps for information dissemination are rarely used, which need to be popularised.

● Progress of NAQUIM: There is a need to speed up the progress of naquim on a mission mode.

● Output based programmes: There is a need for a strong political and administrative will to converge the outputs with the programmes.

● Strengthening groundwater departments: The groundwater departments in most states are neglected, which should be strengthened with domain specialists to support naquim.

● Dynamicity: Naquim handles a dynamic groundwater system, and thus there is a need for regular updating of data.