Urban News

The Hindu 27.08.2009

India, China to collaborate on environment

Ananth Krishnan

BEIJING: India and China have agreed to set up a joint expert working group on the environment, which will explore how the two countries can combat global warming through reforestation.

China adds an estimated four million hectares of forest cover every year, while India adds around one million hectares.

India will look to learn from China on how to accelerate reforestation as a way to mitigate the impact of climate change, Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said on Wednesday.

“We estimate that our forests capture 11 per cent [of carbon emissions], and in China it is around six per cent,” Mr. Ramesh said. “We will explore how we can work together in expanding the sink potential [or carbon capture] of forests and in afforestation management.”

He said India will seek Chinese help in using satellite technology to measure progress in afforestation projects.

Illegal animal trade

The joint working group, which will meet in the first week of November, will also explore the sensitive issue of how the two countries could better work together in clamping down on the illegal trade of animal parts.

Poaching

Much of the poaching of wild tigers in India is driven by Chinese demand, and Indian officials on Wednesday asked the Chinese to co-operate more in clamping down on the trade in tiger parts, which is routed to China through Nepal and Myanmar.

China, in turn, asked India to do more to clamp-down on the poaching of Tibetan antelopes. “Chinese officials said they felt the same way regarding Tibetan antelopes [as India does on tigers],” Mr. Ramesh said.

Tibetan antelopes are poached for their wool, which is used to make highly prized shatoosh shawls, and the illegal trade in shatoosh and tiger parts often takes place simultaneously.

“There is clear evidence that the trade on shatoosh and tiger parts is in the form of barter,” said Samir Sinha of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-India, who works on illegal traffic in animal parts.

“We don’t know if the Chinese only raised this issue as a counterpoint [to clamping down on tigers], but the bottom line is if the two countries can find a way to work together to stop trade, this is a positive step forward,” Mr. Sinha said.

The Dehradun-based Wadia Institute of Himalayan Glaciology and China’s Careeri centre were on Wednesday scheduled to sign a landmark agreement on sharing data on glacial research.

Mr. Ramesh, however, said the deal will be signed in the last week of October, as part of a larger framework agreement on environmental research between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Indian government’s Department of Science and Technology.

The agreement will for the first time give India access to research on Tibet’s glaciers. In recent years, concern has grown over the pace of melting of the glaciers, which are the source of many of the subcontinent’s rivers.

The Hindu 26.08.2009

Guidelines issued for ‘plastic roads’

S. Annamalai

MADURAI: The road has been cleared for productive use of waste plastic. The National Rural Roads Development Agency of the Ministry of Rural Development has come out with guidelines for laying rural roads using waste plastic. They are based on the recommendations of R. Vasudevan, Dean, Thiagarajar College of Engineering (TCE), Madurai, and Central Road Research Institute.

The TCE has patented a technology to coat aggregate with waste plastic while laying roads. Roads using waste plastic have been laid at several places in Tamil Nadu and other States, especially in Mumbai, since 2002 and the results have been positive. In Mumbai, the ‘plastic roads’ have weathered consecutive monsoons.

Studies satisfactory

The Ministry’s guidelines say that the performance studies carried out on the roads (using waste plastic) constructed in Tamil Nadu indicated “satisfactory performance with good skid resistance, good texture value, stronger and less amount of progressive unevenness over a period of time.” The experiments of the CRRI also indicated better stability value, indicating higher strength, less flow and more air voids.

The guidelines recommend the use of poly films with thickness up to 60 micron, hard and soft foams and laminated polymer with thickness of up to 60 micron. However, poly vinyl chloride sheets (flex sheets) should not be used. The process of coating aggregate with molten (waste) plastic does not require any machinery. No toxic gas evolves in the process. Dr. Vasudevan says that there is no need to go in search of waste plastic as it is abundantly available anywhere.

Cost factor

The Ministry has pointed out that though the cost goes up by Rs. 2,500 per tonne for modifying bitumen with shredded waste plastic, the increase in cost is compensated by lesser bitumen use, better performance and environmental conservation.

Almost five per cent of municipal solid waste consists of plastic in different forms. Plastic waste creates water stagnation and associated hygiene problems. In order to prevent the ill effects, the Ministry of Rural Development has recommended use of waste plastic in construction of rural roads. The specifications relate to types of plastic that can be used to lay roads and method of road laying.