What are the concerns about drilling in the North Sea? (GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Why in news?
- The U.K. Prime Minister recently backed plans for new fossil fuel drilling off Britain’s coast, worrying environment experts even as the world continues its stride towards irreversible climate change.
- The North Sea Transition Authority (NTSA), responsible for regulating oil, gas and carbon storage industries, expects the first of the new licences to be awarded in autumn, with the round expected to award over 100 licences in total.
What is the history of drilling there?
- Geographically, the North Sea lies between England and Scotland on its west, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France on its south, and Norway, Denmark, and Germany on its east.
- The 1958 Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf was the first international legislation to establish the rights of countries over the continental shelves adjacent to their coastlines and paved the way for exploration in the North Sea.
- The treaty came into force in 1964, shortly after the U.K. Parliament passed the Continental Shelf Act in April of the same year.
- The Act provides for exploration and exploitation of the continental shelf based on the 1958 convention. It delineated the jurisdiction the U.K. had over oil and gas resources under the seabed near its shores.
Timeline:
- The first licence for exploration in the U.K. North Sea was awarded to British Petroleum (BP) in September 1964. The following year, BP discovered natural gas in the North Sea, off the east Anglican coast.
- In 1970, BP made its first discovery of commercial oil in the large Forties Field east of Aberdeen, Scotland. In the next 15 years, BP started more than 15 fields in the U.K. North Sea (and four in the Norwegian North Sea).
- More British, European, and U.S. companies continued their exploration of the North Sea, and by the 1980s, there were over a hundred installations looking for oil and gas.
- The production from the North Sea peaked in 1999, but it declines by 2022.
Why is offshore drilling problematic?
- The offshore drilling puts “workers, waters, and wildlife” at risk. Drilling in seas and oceans for fossil fuels not only aggravates the threat of climate change but also warms oceans and raises sea levels.
- Offshore drilling is associated with a direct risk to marine biodiversity, as well as with indirect risks to coral reefs, shellfish and the marine ecosystem from acidic waters because of carbon pollution settling into oceans.
What about climate commitments?
- In its March 2023 Progress Report to the U.K. Parliament, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) which advises the U.K. and devolved governments on emissions targets, said that the U.K. has not adequately prepared for climate change under the second National Adaptation Programme.
- In the U.K., National Adaptation Programmes are statutory programmes that the government must follow to help prepare the country for climate change, as required under the Climate Change Act. The second National Adaptation Programme covered the period from 2018-2023.
- As per the CCC’s report, there is “very limited evidence” of the implementation of adaptation at the scale needed to fully prepare for climate risk. U.K.’s climate action is not consistent with the Paris Agreement.
- Although its overall rating is “almost sufficient”, U.K.’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and long-term targets do not represent a fair share of the global effort to address climate change. Licensing new oil and gas extraction plans is incompatible with the 1.5°C limit in the rise in temperature.
Extreme heat, What does it mean for the Mediterranean Sea?
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Context:
- Frequent heat waves cause huge damage to underwater ecosystems and researchers expect more of them in the future.
Details:
- Wildfires raged across at least nine countries in the region from Algeria to Greece. But the soaring temperatures are not only a danger for people and ecosystems on land, they’re also harming marine life.
- At the end of July, Mediterranean Sea surface temperatures hit a record 28.7 degrees Celsius (83.66 Fahrenheit), with some eastern parts of the waters reaching more than 300C. Those temperatures could rise further in August, which is usually hotter.
But why are high sea temperatures a problem?
- In a warming world, marine creatures are in danger of suffocating. Gases like oxygen and carbon dioxide dissolve better at colder temperatures, so that means the warmer the water, the less oxygen is available to breathe.
- Conversely, higher temperatures also cause an increase in metabolism, which in turn means animals have to breathe even more than usual. That combination also heightens the risk of death by starvation for marine life.
- Algal blooms are more common in hotter waters too. Such blooms can further deplete oxygen levels and produce toxins harmful for fish, marine mammals and birds, for instance.
What species and ecosystems are worst hit by marine heat waves?
- High water temperatures are most harmful for animals living at the bottom of oceans, lakes or rivers. These benthic species include corals, mussels, sponges, starfish and plants like sea grasses, and are often attached to rock or solid ground. They can’t migrate when it gets too hot.
- Scientists observed mass deaths of benthic species along thousands of kilometers of Mediterranean coastline between 2015 and 2019.
- Many benthic species are crucial to the marine ecosystem. They filter the water and keep seas, rivers and lakes clean by eating dead organisms.
- Some species are an important food source for other creatures or are harvested by humans. Benthics like soft corals, seaweed and seagrasses provide some of the main ocean habitats.
Neptune grass:
- Heat is particularly harmful for Posidonia oceanica or Neptune grass. And the large, slow-growing seagrass is found only in the Mediterranean.
- This species is of particular importance to humans as it serves as a major natural carbon sink and stores more carbon per square meter than forest ecosystems, making it one of the most effective ecosystems for long-term carbon storage.
Is heat good for any animals in the Mediterranean?
- Jellyfish are thriving because of higher temperatures, as well as nutrient run-off from farms and sewage. Overfishing and loss of fish habitat mean the jellyfish have few or no predators. When currents push the animals together, the Mediterranean turns into a crowded jellyfish hotspot.
- The sea also hosts around 1,000 invasive species, the highest number in the world. While this is not directly linked to climate change or rising temperatures “such conditions clearly favor species introduced from warmer seas”.
Alien species:
- Alien species can have a major impact on ecosystems.
- For instance, invasive Rabbitfish native to the Indo-Pacific and Rea Sea feed on seaweed and have reshaped the habitat of the eastern Mediterranean. Underwater deserts have replaced dense seaweed forests.
What does extreme heat in the Mediterranean mean for people?
- Warming seas are already affecting fishing activities in the area. Fishermen are catching fewer familiar species and instead are finding more invasive fish which they have difficulty selling.
- Rabbitfish and lionfish are edible, but other invasive fish aren’t. Some are even poisonous, like the puffer fish.
- Habitat loss could also lead to an overall decline in fish populations, while disappearing seagrass means coasts will be more exposed to future storms. This could also have a knock-on effect for tourism because divers will be less likely to visit an impoverished underwater landscape.
Can anything be done about rising temperatures in the Mediterranean?
- One thing all the researchers agree on is that to save the Mediterranean Sea habitat, humans must stop emitting greenhouse gases.
- One important step in doing so is combatting the growth of algal blooms which are worsened by run-off from agriculture, wastewater and industry.
- Scientists also hope that the UN goal of protecting 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030 will directly benefit the Mediterranean. So far, just 8% of the sea is protected.
New inhabitants:
- Some of the Mediterranean’s new inhabitants could also be a helpful addition as the planet heats up.
- Tropical seaweed Halophila stipulacea Ascherson, originally native to the Red Sea, copes well with rising temperatures and salinity levels compared to other seaweeds.
- It’s an invasive species that could potentially help “seagrass beds survive in a smaller part of the Mediterranean and continue to provide some of their essential ecosystem services.
- There may also be hope for the native Neptune grass. Studies show that the plants can deal with rising Mediterranean temperatures if they are intentionally exposed to heat as young seedlings.
Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region releases new Scheme
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Why in news?
North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS):
- Continuation of the North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS) with an approved outlay of Rs.8139.50 crore for the period from 2022-23 to 2025-26 was approved by the Cabinet, with two components viz. NESIDS-Road and NESIDS-Other Than Road Infrastructure (OTRI).
- The objective of the NESIDS is to support infrastructure development in identified sectors including connectivity in the North Eastern States.
Details:
- The scheme is a central sector scheme with 100% central funding.
- The decisions of the Government including merger of the erstwhile North East Road Sector Development Scheme (NERSDS) into NESIDS-Road component etc. necessitated formulation of fresh guidelines to administer and implement the restructured NESIDS during the balance period of the 15th Finance Commission.
- Accordingly, the newly-formulated separate Guidelines to administer and implement both the components of the NESIDS have now been issued after having extensive consultations with the stake holders and detailed discussions internally.
Schemes of NEC:
- The Union Cabinet had approved continuation of the ‘Schemes of NEC’ for the period from 2022-23 to 2025-26 with a total outlay of Rs.3202.7 crore.
- The objectives of the aforesaid schemes of the MDoNER are to supplement the efforts of the different Central Ministries & Departments on one hand and the felt needs of the NE States on the other, for uncovered development/welfare activities.
- The MDoNER Schemes help provide gap-filling support to the eight North Eastern States as per their felt needs, by taking up projects – e.g., for developing infrastructure to mitigate connectivity and social sector deficits and enhancing livelihood and employment opportunities in the region.
Way Forward:
- The newly issued detailed schemes’ guidelines combined with the concerted efforts of the Ministry and with the kind support of NE States will facilitate to achieve intended objectives in a transparent and accelerated manner.
