The Civil Analyst

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has defined Acid Rain or Acid Deposition as a form of precipitation with acidic compounds such as  such as sulfuric or nitric acid that fall on the ground from the atmosphere in wet or dry forms. E.g. rain, snow, fog, hail or even dust that is acidic. Normal rain is slightly acidic with a pH of 5.6 whereas pH of acidic rain generally ranges between 4.2-4.4. The term acid rain was firstly coined by Scottish chemist  Robert Angus Smith in 1852, who is also known as the "father of acid rain ." Smith decided on the term while investigating rainwater chemistry near industrial cities in England and Scotland (Refer BaselConvention for transboundary movement of hazardous wastes). He described about this phenomenon in 1872 in the book " Air and Rain: The Beginnings of a Chemical Climatology . "  However, it was not given any attention until the late 1950s when scientists in the United States started studying the phenomenon, and in

Bonn Challenge is an international effort propelled by the Government of Germany and IUCN to restore 150 million hectares of world’s degraded and deforested land by the year 2020, and additional 200 million hectares by 2030. Later, it was endorsed and extended to 2030 by the New York Declaration on Forests of the 2014  UN Climate Summit. Currently, 56 governments, private associations and companies have pledged over 168 million hectares to the Challenge. The Bonn Challenge is not a new global commitment but rather a practical means of realizing many existing international commitments, including the CBD AichiTarget 15 , the UNFCCC REDD+ goal, and the Rio+20  land degradation neutrality goal. It is an implementation vehicle for national priorities such as water and food security and rural development while contributing to the achievement of international climate change, biodiversity and land degradation commitments. It is anticipated that restoration of 150 million hectares of

In the early 1980s, increasing environmental awareness in many developed countries led to the strict environmental regulations which accelerated the costs of disposing of hazardous wastes . This started an approach known as ‘ not in my backyard ’ or ‘NIMBY’ by which developed countries found it very easy and cheaper to dump such wastes in developing countries and Eastern European Nations where people are not as much aware as in the developed countries. In the later 1980s it became very evident that hazardous wastes of developed countries were being shipped to and buried in developing countries without proper caution. In order to regulate these wastes across international boundaries, the Basel Convention came into existence. T he Basel Convention on the Control of transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes was established on March 22, 1989 by the Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Basel, Switzerland, under the aegis of United Nations Environment Programme . It entered into force in

The global energy consumption in the recent years has been rapidly increased especially fossil fuels (non-renewable resource) whose depletion has led to the world energy crisis. Additionally, fossil fuels results in the emission of greenhouse gasses to the environment, leading to global warming and climate change. Thus, a sustainable society requires reduction in pollution and fossil fuel consumption. Hereafter, there is an urgent need for alternative energy resources, which should be clean, renewable and economical. Biofuels, which is considered as a renewable energy source, is a step taken to put less strain on the limited supply of fossil fuels. Biofuels are hydrocarbon fuels which are primarily derived from organic matter or biomass such as plants, animal waste or algae material. It can be in any form e.g. solid liquid or gaseous and can be used as an alternative or sometimes blende with petrol, diesel or any other fuels. Now a days, biofuels are one of the largest renewable en

Every year September 16 is observed as the World Ozone Day, marking the signing day of the Montreal Protocol.   In late 1970s, American chemists F. Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina proved that CFC (Chlorofluorocarbons) compounds used in refrigerators, aerosol cans and air conditioners combine with solar radiation and decompose in the stratospheric layer, freeing chlorine and chlorine monoxide atoms which have the potential to destroy large numbers of ozone molecules. Then, a huge hole in the ozone layer was observed over Antarctica in the year 1985, allowing dangerous level of UV radiation to reach the earth’s surface. In the same year Vienna Convention for the Protection of Ozone Layer was also signed under which UN members realized the fundamental significance of curbing damage to the ozone layer. The Vienna convention summarises states’ duties to shield human health and environment against adverse impacts of ozone depletion, established the framework under which the Montreal Proto