<ul><li>EV penetration is set to reach 6-8% by FY27 compared to a mere 1.3% in FY23 as per a CRISIL report.</li><li>The total cost of acquisition (<keyword id="21010615" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tca" source="keywords">TCA</keyword>) is lower for EVs but the total cost of ownership (<keyword id="19896738" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tco" source="keywords">TCO</keyword>) is higher as compared to other variants, says the report.</li><li>For e-cabs, the TCA is higher than that of TCO but charging infra and other factors play a crucial role in adoption.</li></ul> <keyword id="19895203" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="electric-vehicles" source="keywords">Electric Vehicles</keyword> (EVs) are here to take over the auto market. In the US, this growing trend is close to reaching double digits in terms of penetration among personal vehicles. Even in India, the penetration is growing as domestic manufacturers increasingly gravitate towards the EV segment. In addition to Tata Motors’ EV versions of Nexon, Tigor and <keyword id="20075324" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tiago-ev" source="keywords">Tiago EV</keyword> and MG’s ZS — many other automakers are entering the EV lane too. Foremost among them is <keyword id="19909974" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="maruti-suzuki" source="keywords">Maruti Suzuki</keyword>, which is planning to launch its first EV by 2025, and Renault’s electric Kwid, Zoe and KZE are also expected to come to India soon. MG Motor India already has a couple of fairly successful EV models and plans to introduce many more soon. For foreign brands like Tesla, policy roadblocks on imports, proved to be a limiting factor so far. However, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/new-ev-policy-elon-musks-tesla-may-soon-enter-india-as-import-taxes-slashed-for-electric-vehicles/articleshow/108527306.cms">recent changes in the Indian policy landscape</a> lower the import taxes if the companies commit to manufacturing in India in the subsequent years. Such policy incentives are likely to attract even more global EV brands to India. But what do these new models of new-age tech cars mean to car buyers sitting on the fence? As per a recent analysis by CRISIL, the total cost of ownership (TCO) or total cost of ownership of passenger vehicles could work in favour of EVs in the next three years for Indian buyers. So, how does the math work for prospective owners? TCA is lower but the TCO may remain higher TCO includes the purchase price of a particular asset, plus operating costs over the asset’s life span. As of FY22, the TCO of EVs was 20-30% higher than that of all three variants which is petrol, diesel and CNG. “In FY27, we expect the economics to again remain the same. However, despite not-so-favourable cost economics, higher adoption has been witnessed initially by environment-conscious buyers,” said CRISIL. The latest analysis agrees with the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0361198120947089">earlier research</a> from <keyword id="20691574" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="world-resources-institute-india" source="keywords">World Resources Institute India</keyword> (<keyword id="20336071" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="wri-india" source="keywords">WRI India</keyword>) on TCO in India. The study highlighted that the TCO for EVs for personal use remains higher and may require additional financial incentives to be economically viable. The total cost of acquisition (TCA) on the other hand is lower for EVs as compared to other variants. TCA of an EV is 24% lower than that of a diesel variant, and 4% lower for a petrol variant. The TCA for an EV and a CNG variant is the same. This is due to lower registration charges for EVs amid high loan-to-value (LTV) ratios. Overall, the report expects EV penetration in the passenger vehicle segment to reach 6-8% by FY27 from a mere 1.3% in FY23. Meter down: How do EVs fare as cabs? Unlike in the PV segment, the cost dynamics are reversed for cab aggregators who want to drive in the EV lane – where even though the TCA is higher, TCO remains lower. In FY22, the TCO of EVs for cab aggregators was lower than that of petrol and diesel vehicles by around 29% and around 19%, respectively. However, the TCO of EVs is still higher than that of a CNG variant by around 13% even for commercial use. This is due to the higher running of a commercial passenger vehicle and high fossil fuel prices. The FAME-II subsidy provided by the Government of India incentivises the adoption of EVs for commercial use, including 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers, and buses for public transport. However, the TCA of an EV for a cab aggregator is still around 17% higher than that of a diesel vehicle, 26% higher than a petrol vehicle, and around 16% higher than a CNG variant. “In FY27, we expect the TCA of EVs to be lower than that of diesel and petrol variants, but higher than that of a CNG variant,” says CRISIL. The report expects the cab aggregator segment to lead the drive towards EVs, resulting in a 4% EV penetration by FY26. The taxi segment accounts for 10-15% of sales within passenger cars. However, a few challenges continue to linger, limiting the wider adoption of e-cabs on the road. A limited number of charging stations range anxiety and lack of large original equipment manufacturer (OEM) presence are hindering EV adoption. EVs used for personal use, however, are mostly charged at home, and charging infrastructure does not play a very high role there. “The lower battery cost (due to expected localisation led by the phased manufacturing programme or PMP) is expected to offset the lack of FAME subsidy and will help maintain the competitiveness of EVs against diesel and CNG variants for cab aggregators in the long run,” says CRISIL.

Electrifying auto market: Planning to buy an EV, compare their price with petrol, diesel and CNG variants

Adani Transmission Ltd (<keyword id="447291" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="atl" source="Orion">ATL</keyword>), India's largest private power distribution company and the transmission arm of the diversified <keyword id="6367820" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="adani-group" source="Orion">Adani Group</keyword>, has submitted its Green House Gases (GHG) emission reduction plans, focussing on Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), an international drive for containing global warming. ATL has submitted its detailed plan and targets for GHG emission reduction to SBTi within one year towards its commitment to contribute to contain global warming. As a part of its continued focus on sustainable growth and its net zero journey, ATL committed for the SBTi in October 2021. ATL will act in alignment with the much-needed climate action and devise a strategy to restrict global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius. To meet these targets associated with the SBTi commitment, ATL has rolled out definite strategies. In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, ATL's subsidiary AEML (Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd) has introduced green tariffs, which enables AEML consumers to opt for green energy and receive a Green Power Certificate every month. This initiative is popular with consumers who wish to reduce their carbon footprint. "We take seriously all initiatives focused on contributing to India's climate commitment through resolute climate action," said <keyword id="175186" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="anil-sardana" source="Orion">Anil Sardana</keyword>, MD &amp; CEO, Adani Transmission Ltd. "Submitting targets for the SBTi reiterates our commitment to devising sustainable ways of doing business. It also reinforces India's efforts to reduce climate risk through individual and collective action. A culmination of several smaller actions such as energy efficiency initiatives at sub-stations, de-linking of substations from the grid for auxiliary power while connecting them with solar energy, and introduction of efficient transmission lines aimed at reducing losses, combined with wider actions such as introduction of green tariff at AEML, will significantly contribute towards achieving positive climate action." Signing up for the SBTi is an important step in the context of India's commitments to the Paris Climate Agreement. ATL became a signatory of UN Energy Compact at COP26 held in Glasgow in 2021. Through SBTi, companies are setting science-based emissions reduction targets - across their entire value chain - that are consistent with keeping global warming at 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels. SBTi committed companies get 24 months to submit their targets. ATL, after committing to SBTi in Oct 2021, is one of the few companies to submit the emission reduction targets within one year. SBTi is a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (<keyword id="1044129" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="wri" source="Orion">WRI</keyword>) and the <keyword id="62483" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="world-wide-fund-for-nature" source="Orion">World Wide Fund for Nature</keyword> (<keyword id="18630" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="wwf" source="Orion">WWF</keyword>). It defines and promotes best practices in science-based target setting and independently assesses companies' targets. SEE ALSO : <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/rec-gets-maharatna-company-status/articleshow/94368132.cms">REC gets 'Maharatna' company status</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/rupee-slumps-51-paise-to-all-time-low-of-80-47-against-us-dollar/articleshow/94367387.cms">Rupee slumps 51 paise to all-time low of 80.47 against US dollar</a>

Adani Transmission to become net-zero by 2050

Much before Diego Maradona's 'Hand of God' moment stirred the football passion in the region, it was the Brazilian maestro <keyword id="96776" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="pele" source="Orion">Pele</keyword> who began Bengal's tryst with the 'beautiful game'. Playing against <keyword id="6355782" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="mohun-bagan" source="Orion">Mohun Bagan</keyword> on a slushy and jam-packed Eden Gardens on September 24, 1977 in the twilight of his career, the three-time World Cup winner was overwhelmed by the depth of talent a "little known" Indian club possessed. Desperately seeking a revival after the dominance of arch-rivals East Bengal, the PK Banerjee-coached Mariners not only stopped the 'King of Football' from scoring a goal, but almost won 2-1 before a controversial penalty made it a 2-2 draw against the star-studded New York Cosmos. PK had given mid-fielder Gautam Sarkar the big task of man-marking Pele and playing in the dream match of his life, he had given it all, something that was later acknowledged by the legend himself. In the evening, Mohun Bagan had organised a felicitation ceremony for Pele where he was to be handed a diamond ring but the 'Black Pearl' was more interested in meeting the players first. Goalkeeper Shibaji Banerjee was the first one in the list. When the name of the sixth player was announced, Pele, surrounded by a galaxy of people, came out of the barricade and hugged the player. "Sporting a wry smile he told me, 'So, you are that number 14 who did not allow me to move...' I was left awe-struck," Sarkar remembered that evening vividly, even after 45 years. "Chunida (Chuni Goswami) was there standing beside me on the dias and heard all this. He soon told me: 'Gautam you now give up football -- what's there to achieve after hearing this compliment'. Indeed, this was the biggest achievement of my football career." "I don't want to boast about myself, but according to a newspaper report my photo is still hanging in the New York Cosmos club. He was so overwhelmed by our play that he wanted to meet the players first. Never thought a club team from a country like India would play like this." The exhibition match could see the light of the day because of the initiative of Dhiren Dey, a revered football administrator in Kolkata Maidan, then at the helm of Mohun Bagan as the general secretary. "It seemed unreal when Dhirenda told us that Pele would play against us. We all told him to 'stop lying, it's unbelievable'. But as days passed and we got to know about it, we all had sleepless nights," Sarkar told PTI. Preparation began three weeks in advance and Mohun Bagan had to prove a point. "The prospect of playing against Pele was one of the reasons why I moved from East Bengal to Mohun Bagan. As it happened, it all changed our club's fortune," <keyword id="786963" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="shyam-thapa" source="Orion">Shyam Thapa</keyword> who famously gave Mohun Bagan the lead said. Four days later, Mohun Bagan were to play against East Bengal in the coveted IFA Shield final and as it turned out, the Mariners won 1-0, ending their arch-rivals' title- winning streak. "It was a platform for us to revive our fortunes. The result gave us much-needed confidence to face East Bengal. We found our mojo back," well-known Mohun Bagan defender <keyword id="58350" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="subrata-bhattacharya" source="Orion">Subrata Bhattacharya</keyword> remembered. They continued their revival as they went on to win the Rovers Cup and Durand Cup. "We wanted to give everything in the field. The match helped us grow as a team," said then Mohun Bagan midfielder Prasun Banerjee, now a TMC member of Parliament. The best chance for Pele to score came off a free-kick from the top of the box. The ball rose and spun in towards the left upright before being saved by a diving Shibaji Banerjee. Pele revisited the city seven years back during the festive season of Durga Puja, this time with a walking stick but his aura had left everyone mesmerised, including the city's cricket icon Sourav Ganguly, a self-proclaimed Brazil fan. "I've played three World Cups. There's a big difference between being a winner and a runner-up. To hold that World Cup and a few Golden Boots must be phenomenal," Ganguly said in awe of the great man in the felicitation ceremony at the Netaji Indoor Stadium. Pele also reunited with the Mohun Bagan batch of 1977 including the legendary PK, <keyword id="536980" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="subhash-bhowmick" source="Orion">Subhash Bhowmick</keyword> and Shibaji Banerjee who are no more. "I accepted to come here in India because I love the people here," Pele said. The King of Football also had his sense of humour intact and gave a cheeky reply when someone in the dias asked him if there could be another Pele. "Listen, I'm sorry. My father and my mother closed the machine. There will be no other Pele." His last words before signing off were: "If I can help someway, I'll be here again."

When Pele was left mesmerised in 'football capital' of India

<ul><li>India only has around 25,000 operational buses, currently.</li><li>The study found out that Delhi with an average daily ridership of 4.3 million will require 14,300 buses, wherein the total bus fleet is 5,576.</li><li>For many Indians, buying a car isn’t the option, and there must be a ramping up of <keyword id="9414129" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="public-transportation-infrastructure">public transportation infrastructure</keyword>, said Khosla.</li></ul>India has 24 times fewer busses in its <keyword id="85028" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="public-transport">public transport</keyword> fleet than it needs for people to follow social distancing norms in the times of COVID, according to a study conducted by Climate Trends, a Delhi-based strategic communications body. The study conducted in line with Mumbai specific norms of only allowing only 30 passengers per <keyword id="552661" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Brihanmumbai-Electric-Supply-and-Transport">Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport</keyword> buses, found that the country would need close to 666,667 buses for 25 million commuters daily. However, it only has around 25,000 operational buses, currently. “The disparity in the existing bus fleet in India vs required is enormous. The bus system is the backbone of mass transit, especially now when we are also expected to follow the social distancing norm, there is an immediate need to amplify the numbers of buses,” said Aarti Khosla, director, Climate Trends. According to the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), around 20% of urban commuters are dependent on public transport in cities like Delhi and Mumbai. The study found out that Delhi with an average daily ridership of 4.3 million will require at least 14,300 buses, wherein the national capital’s total bus fleet is 5,576. <div type="image" title="bus 2" msid="76417163" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Thousands of people crowded at Majestic bus station in Bengaluru on Sunday, looking for buses that could take them to their hometowns. The state government has arranged KSRTC buses to carry people from Bengaluru to other districts in Karnataka as a one time relief for those willing to go back to their homes. Body temperature of all those who were boarding buses were checked using thermometers. The government has announced free transportation for labour class, after it drew flak for overcharging of bus fares.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> “COVID-19 provides Indian cities with an opportunity to transform their public transport services by improving user experience through technology, investing in public transport as a social good, reforming informal transit services, and promoting walking and cycling for shorter trips,” said Shreya Gadepalli, South Asia programme lead, ITDP. Social distancing is the backbone in the times of coronavirus. As the cities across India are gradually reopening post <keyword id="91743" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="lockdown">lockdown</keyword>, people’s transportation remains a pressing issue for the government. Due to space constraints and lack of an adequate number of buses plying on the road, maintaining <keyword id="8897901" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Social-distance">social distance</keyword> would be difficult, resulting in an increased risk of infection. “In cities such as Mumbai and Delhi where the local trains and metros carry 4 million and 3 million commuters daily respectively, it will be crucial to increase bus and <keyword id="9414127" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="metro-fleet">metro fleet</keyword>,” the study noted. Public commuters shifting to personal vehicles For many Indians, buying a car isn’t the option, and there must be a ramping up of public transportation infrastructure, said Khosla. As per the <keyword id="9414128" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="recent-consumer-survey">recent consumer survey</keyword> conducted by Capgemini <a href="https://www.capgemini.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/COVID-19-Automotive.pdf">highlighted that only 57% of Indian consumers in urban areas</a> plan to buy a vehicle in 2020 as health and safety concerns continue to shape consumer behaviour. “People who cannot afford personal mobility will use shared transport; therefore, we need to provide them with safe movement. On the other hand, if choice users and people with affordability shift to private transportation, our cities will come to a grinding halt. Therefore, we need to bring the focus back on shared mobility. One way to do it would be to initiate COVID19 safety labelling for transport services,” said Amit Bhatt, director, transport, WRI India. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/top-10-states-in-india-with-the-maximum-death-rate-due-covid-19/slidelist/76407206.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Top 10 states in India with the maximum death rate due to COVID-19</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/tata-motors-maruti-and-hyundai-offer-discounts-on-cars/articleshow/76324233.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">After Maruti and Hyundai, Tata Motors offers discounts as car makers get squeezed between slow sales and slower registrations</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/mumbai-local-trains-who-can-travel-timings-and-all-you-need-to-know/articleshow/76397615.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Mumbai local trains⁠— who can travel, timings, and all you need to know</a>

India needs over 600,000 buses for 25 million commuters daily to follow social distancing norms, according to a study

<ul><li>India has lost over 1.6 million hectares of forests in the last 17 years. </li><li>The total forest cover loss has caused nearly 172 metric tons of carbon emission in India. </li><li>The north-eastern states of India — Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur — account for over half of the total loss.</li></ul>India has reportedly lost over 1.6 million hectares of forests in the last 17 years — from 2001 to 2018 — causing nearly <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-s-forest-cover-loss-in-17-years-is-four-times-the-size-of-goa/story-IY2OpSPLA7kRutBy8CXhyN.html">172 metric tons of carbon emission</a>s in India in the given period. According to a recent study pushed out by a global research firm World Resource Institute (WRI) on Thursday, the total forest cover loss during this period is equivalent to four times the geographical size of an Indian state of Goa. According to the Indian government, the vegetation cover taller than five metres accounts for the forest cover. plantation cover can be considered as a forest, if there is a 10% density of tree cover per hectare, it added. Of the total tree cover loss, the north-eastern states of India — Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur — account for over half of the loss, highlighted the report. The forest cover was 12% of India’s geographical area, back in 2000, decreasing to 8.9% in 2010. One of the main reasons for the loss seen in north-eastern states is climate change, which directly affects the quality of forests, according to Ruchika Singh, director at WRI India. The states that have lost the maximum forest cover between 2015 and 2017 include Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana. This is also due to the public and private projects that have been going on in states, including the bullet train project. On the flipside, according to <a href="https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/india-is-losing-its-forests-in-the-name-of-development-no-political-party-is-talking-about-it-365706.html">‘State of the Forest Report,'</a> total <keyword id="2067911" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Forest-cover-in-India">forest cover in India</keyword> is nearly 22% of the country’s geographical area, and has been gradually increasing over these years (2001-2018). “In the last two years forest and tree cover has increased by 1% in India, said Saibal Dasgupta, former director general of FSI. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indias-plan-for-cleaner-air-ignores-an-important-source-of-pollution/articleshow/68668667.cms">India's plan for cleaner air ignores an important source of pollution</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/gurgaon-is-the-most-polluted-city-in-the-world/articleshow/68267574.cms">India accounts for 7 of the world’s 10 most polluted cities — with Gurugram ranked as the worst: Study</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/pollution-aside-stubble-burning-may-have-cost-india-a-loss-of-2-trillion-study/articleshow/68264811.cms">Pollution aside, stubble burning may have cost India a loss of ₹2 trillion: Study</a>

India lost more than a million hectares of forest cover in 17 years — that’s more than four times the size of Goa

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/39303239.cms" /> 
In a country of 1.2 billion, almost half of the population does not feel compelled to use the toilet to relieve self. Reason? There is simply NO toilet in place. India’s <keyword id="49770" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sanitation">sanitation</keyword> problem, where successive governments have failed to push the hygiene agenda into cities and villages since independence, has been growing despite best efforts. 

	India’s two biggest political parties – Congress, which ruled the country for the longest period of time, and now the biggest majority and the ruling party the BJP – are on the same page on this. Both want ‘<keyword id="68945" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Toilets">toilets</keyword>’ to become the primary necessity of people in rural areas, where toilets are virtually absent and people defecate in the fields and relieve themselves behind the bushes without a care for the world.<o:p></o:p>

	For those who would want to see wry humour, this could well be a way to fertilise soil. But what escapes the truth is that most people die of water borne diseases once the monsoon starts, thanks to faeces that flow with soil and enters the rivers, thus polluting water. Also, equal or more contributing factor is the drainage that flows into the river. Waste water treatment plants are unheard of, so long as rivers flow in every city – no matter how dirty they get with every passing day. <o:p></o:p>

	With a good 130 million households lacking toilets and 70% people finding a ‘bushy’ barricade behind which begins the journey to relieve self, India is in serious trouble as far as the health of its people is concerned.<o:p></o:p>

	This shall soon cause major health problems, especially among children, who assume <keyword id="6394194" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="open-defecation">open defecation</keyword> as an accepted form of relieving themselves.<o:p></o:p>

	In the recent times, another inhuman side to open defecation has been pressing governments to act sooner. Women turn into targets for sexual predators when they step out in the open to defecate. In Bihar alone, nearly 400 women were raped when they set out to answer nature’s call.<o:p></o:p>

	The recent rape and murder of two sisters in Uttar Pradesh shook the state. The girls were hanged from a tree after they were sexually assaulted when they had stepped out of their house to defecate in the open field. There are also cases of snake bites and innumerable attacks on women and children.<o:p></o:p>

	In a way, relieving self in the open seems to be a cultural issue as well. It is not about being able to afford. Although the government has pumped thousands of crores into sanitation campaigns, India has never been able to convey the message of hygienic toilets. <o:p></o:p>

	What has seen stupendous success even without an advertising campaign is the usage of mobile phones. Today, government offers huge subsidies to households in villages that come forward to build toilets. But mobile companies have achieved bigger feats with their technology and have turned into a greater necessity among people even without offering any perk!<o:p></o:p>

	Open defecation or urination is something that has been ingrained in people’s psyche as part of their culture. Else, rooting out an evil like this should not have taken more than two decades.<o:p></o:p>

	The collective belief that having toilets close to living spaces is detrimental to health and life has been strongly etched in people’s minds since ages. People believe building a toilet even some distance away from home is not only a waste of money, but also a breeding space for unhygienic practices. <o:p></o:p>

	Urban areas, though very cosmopolitan in their spirit, also don’t care much about how the lower class lives in its slums. Corporate social responsibility doesn’t extend to this space.<o:p></o:p>

	Pushing for toilets is a dirty job. But someone’s got to do it. 
	Image: Thinkstock<o:p></o:p>

‘Loo’ Could Well Be
India’s Biggest Waterloo

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/47372913.cms" /> 
Is India environmentally a developed nation? The first ever Environmental Democracy Index has the answer. 
 
As per a Press Trust of India (PTI) news report, India has ranked 24th out of 70 countries in the index to understand the state of environmental democracy for countries around the world. 
 Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, the US, South <keyword id="12925" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Africa">Africa</keyword>, the UK, Hungary, Bulgaria, Panama and <keyword id="15385" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Colombia">Colombia</keyword> are the top 10 nations in the list launched by Washington-based <keyword id="6356505" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="World-Resources-Institute">World Resources Institute</keyword> (WRI) and Access Initiative yesterday. 
 "With a number of critical moments in <keyword id="6356826" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="environment">environment</keyword> and sustainability in 2015, advancing good governance and environmental rights are essential. This index is a powerful lever that will help governments to become more transparent and ordinary citizens to advocate for more rights," <keyword id="130143" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mark-Robinson">Mark Robinson</keyword>, <keyword id="241804" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="global-director">global director</keyword>, Governance, WRI told the news agency. 
 
According to the report, 93 per cent of the assessed countries have established the right to environmental information. 
 
However, almost half of these countries (45 per cent) do not have strong protections to ensure that access to information is affordable and timely, it said. 
 
The PTI report further says, nearly half (46 per cent) of the countries assessed do not provide any ambient air quality data online for their capital cities. 
 
In 73 per cent of the countries, courts will hear environmental cases. But very few countries assessed have assistance for marginalized groups, the report said. 
 Only 14 per cent of the countries have legal mechanisms that help <keyword id="624" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Women">women</keyword> access courts to obtain redress when their environmental rights are violated, the PTI report added.

​Breathe free: India ranks 24th in Environment Democracy Index

Building on its deep-rooted ethos of sustainability, Godrej &amp; Boyce will be unveiling its pioneering initiative, the <a href="https://consciouscollective.in/index.html">'Conscious Collective'</a> platform soon. The platform is a transformative step towards integrating sustainability into design and lifestyle choices. <keyword id="19720945" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Conscious-Collective" source="Orion">Conscious Collective</keyword> strives to usher in an era underscored by design-led innovation – the foundation for which is built on the three pillars of sustainable materials, environment and built spaces. The forthcoming two-day launch event, scheduled for December 9-10, 2023, symbolises a tribute to pioneers and innovators dedicated to reshaping our world into a greener, healthier, and more sustainable habitat for future generations. Here’s what you can expect: <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Immersive installations" comment="subhead" text="Immersive installations">Immersive installations</cmsannotation> Embark on a visionary journey through innovative sustainability at its finest. Architect Krittika Agarwal redefines urban landscapes by intricately blending Assam's heritage with lightweight timber, bamboo, and lime plaster, counterbalancing the environmental toll of modern materials. Artist Sajid Wajid Shaikh's collaborative endeavour explores the subjective realm of hearing, celebrating the art of listening to foster empathetic communities. Architect Tejas Sidnal's interactive masterpiece invites active participation, igniting conversations about carbon capture technology through creative expression. Meanwhile, <keyword id="4450039" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="chhail-khalsa" source="Orion">Chhail Khalsa</keyword>'s immersive installation intricately weaves 'smart textiles' into an abstract urban forest, embedding sensors to emphasise the interplay between design, wellbeing, community, and the environment. Expect an experiential showcase transcending boundaries, highlighting purposeful sustainability and inviting active engagement in shaping a conscious future. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Conscious experiences" comment="subhead" text="Conscious experiences">Conscious experiences</cmsannotation> Anticipate an experiential escapade that aims to heighten awareness, and offer profound insights into preservation and holistic wellbeing. The transformative "Gong Bath," led by Sound &amp; Vibration Therapist Bambi Mathur and Sound Therapist Aparna Sundar, promises a rejuvenating journey for the mind, body, and soul. This fosters conscious living through immersive sound therapy. You can also enjoy lively musical performances by Dharavi Reloaded and Sushma Soma. While culinary geniuses Chef Avinash Martins &amp; Chef Harsh Kedia bring in masterclasses and experiential lunches catered to different taste buds and food lovers. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Engaging conversations" comment="subhead" text="Engaging conversations">Engaging conversations</cmsannotation> Embark on a journey to reimagine sustainability for a greener and healthier planet by participating in conversations by luminaries across design and architecture. Distinguished figures like architect and urbanist <keyword id="445801" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="rahul-mehrotra" source="Orion">Rahul Mehrotra</keyword>, internationally acclaimed innovator Anupama Kundoo, and influential environmentalist <keyword id="264402" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="bittu-sahgal" source="Orion">Bittu Sahgal</keyword>, spearhead enlightening panel discussions and deliver keynote speeches. Joining them are celebrated figures such as <keyword id="2368347" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="brinda-somaya" source="Orion">Brinda Somaya</keyword>, a passionate architect and conservationist, visionary Cristian Dobrick from West8, and urban planning expert <keyword id="656671" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="madhav-pai" source="Orion">Madhav Pai</keyword>, the executive director of WRI India Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. Expect insightful discussions centred on sustainable architecture, futuristic design, and the integration of sustainable materiality, promising an enlightening exchange of ideas and perspectives that inspire transformative action toward a more environmentally conscious and innovative future in the architectural landscape. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Interesting workshops" comment="subhead" text="Interesting workshops">Interesting workshops</cmsannotation> The workshops promise an enlightening educational journey with immersive workshops curated for innovation and sustainability. In the "Digital Fabrication" workshop led by the ingenious 3D Wizard, dive into the expansive possibilities of 3D printing, mastering techniques in modelling, scanning, and printing with materials like concrete and LF3D, tailored for diverse sectors. Meanwhile, explore the possibility of turning ordinary scrap materials into extraordinary works of art with a children's art workshop by the Museum of Goa. Moreover, <a href="https://in.bookmyshow.com/events/conscious-collective/ET00376616">entry</a> to the exhibitions and conversations is free, ensuring accessibility for all. Join the Conscious Collective platform in celebrating and advancing a sustainable and conscious future Disclaimer: This article is generated and published by the Insider Studios team. You can get in touch with them on insiderstudios@businessinsider.in

5 reasons you cannot miss Conscious Collective

New Delhi, Jan 31 (PTI) Ahead of the upcoming Union Budget, environmental experts on Monday called for budgetary allocation under "green expenditure" to show that India is serious about meeting the enhanced targets announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Conference of the Parties 26 in Glasgow. They also said that India's climate targets will require an investment of about USD 35 million in energy storage in this decade alone. The Budget for the fiscal year commencing April 1, 2022, will be presented on Tuesday by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. "The Union Budget can be the opportunity to bring focus and direction by announcing a green expenditure head in the Budget this time. "Public expenditure allocations can intersect with a range of programmes across sectors, some of which could be tagged as 'green' and it will signal that the Indian government is serious about upping its game to meet the enhanced commitment announcements made by the Prime Minister in Glasgow," said Dhruba Purkayastha, India director, Climate Policy Initiative. Talking about India's ambition to increase non-fossil electricity capacity to 500 giga watt in just nine years, another expert said that budget incentives are needed to fulfil the goals. "India's climate targets will require about USD 35 billion investment in energy storage in this decade alone. Budget incentives and risk guarantees to attract investment in battery storage will be key to ramp up non-fossil electricity generation. "India's climate targets aim to increase non-fossil electricity capacity from 158 GW to 500 GW in just nine years. Since land is precious, we need budget incentives to realise the full potential of rooftop solar photo voltaic (system)," said Ulka Kelkar, director, Climate program, World Resources Institute (WRI) India. Kelkar said that since critical mineral reserves are scarce, the budget can provide incentives for circular economy, urban mining and e-waste recycling. "It would be great to see the creation of a national transition fund for fossil fuel sector workers and MSMEs, which can also attract grants from international climate funds," she said. Another expert said that the government should focus on developing long-term climate resilience and adaptation pathways for which the Budget must set aside substantial funds. "Recent cyclones like Yass, Tauktae and the 2021 Chennai floods are reminders that the government should focus on developing a long-term climate resilience and adaptation pathway for India. "Budget 2022-23 must set aside substantial resources to support resilience activities at the local level, especially in augmenting nature-based solutions, building ground level capacities, and working through state and local governments," said A Nambi Appadurai, director, Climate Resilience Practice Program, WRI India. He added that such investments would have multiple and long-term benefits for India's climate commitments, the people, their livelihoods, and the country's GDP as well. Experts also called for budgetary allocation for 'green hydrogen' citing its importance in the industrial sector and in research and development to help indigenise green hydrogen production and use as an industrial fuel. "Green hydrogen has many industrial uses and can potentially decarbonise many hard-to-abate sectors, like the iron and steel industry. "An outlay of Rs 1,200 crore by 2024 in the upcoming Budget could trigger pilots in various end-use applications such as testing green hydrogen readiness of natural gas pipelines, underground hydrogen storage, and pilots for equipment such as furnaces, boilers, and process heaters," said Hemant Mallya, senior programme lead, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). Mallya also called for another Rs 165 crore to support research and development, especially on catalysts and electrolyser membranes, finding substitutes for critical minerals, setting up testing labs and enforcing safety standards. "These investments would help indigenise green hydrogen production and use it as an industrial fuel," he said. With maximum applied fertiliser leaking into the air and water, causing pollution, another expert urged the government to provide direct income support to farmers in the upcoming Budget instead of the fertiliser subsidy. "Our fiscal outlay on fertiliser subsidy is touching Rs 1,55,000 crore, with more than 78 per cent of the applied fertiliser leaking into our air and water, causing pollution. Instead, the government should consider providing direct income support to the farmers in a budget-neutral approach. "Rs 1,55,000 crore can provide income support of more than Rs 11,000 per hectare of net sown area in the country. Such support, structured equitably across different classes of farmers, would not only be administratively more efficient, but would encourage more judicious use of fertilisers, creating a win-win for the government and the farmers while saving the environment," said Abhishek Jain, fellow and director, Powering Livelihoods, CEEW. During the COP 26 summit last year, Modi had made five commitments from India to the world. These included a promise to get 50 per cent of the country's energy from renewable resources by 2030 and to reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes by the same year. PTI AG CJ CJ

Experts want Centre to set aside 'green expenditure' funds in Budget

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) The proposal to issue green bonds in the Union Budget 2022-23 announced on Tuesday to mobilise resources for green infrastructure and the stress on energy transition to combat climate change, have won the government praises from environmental experts who said the initiatives will help reduce the carbon footprint of India. Experts hailed the budget for its focus on sustainable urban planning and mass transport saying the high-level committee of urban planners, economists and setting up institutions for capacity building is a welcome step. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2022-23 on Tuesday while announcing several climate action initiatives like energy transition, issuing of green bonds, sustainable urban planning and others. Dr Anjal Prakash, Research Director and adjunct Associate Professor at the Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Indian School of Business, said that for climate action, "this budget fairs quite well." "The focus on sustainable urban planning and mass transport is a welcome step. It is estimated that half of Indians will be living in urban areas by 2050. The high-level committee of urban planners, economists and setting up institutions for capacity building is a welcome step. I hope that the planners will recommend urban infrastructure to be climate-resilient as many Indian cities are prone to climate-related risks and disasters," he said. Prakash, who is also the lead author of the chapter on cities, settlements, and critical infrastructure and a cross-chapter paper on mountains as part of IPCC's 6th Assessment cycle, also said that the green bonds will help reduce India's carbon intensity. "Announcing a climate action fund is a welcome step where the government's share is a maximum of 20 per cent and the rest is by the private parties. The Green Bonds for mobilising green infrastructure will be used for projects that will help reduce India's carbon intensity. The allocation for renewable energy and energy storage technologies such as solar modules are another area that needs applause," he said. Sharing a similar view, Chirag Gajjar, Head of Subnational Climate Action, Climate Program, World Resources Institute India (WRI India), said that access to green bonds will enable local governments to cost-effectively finance basic public infrastructure projects that will lead to climate co-benefits. Focus must be on building capacity of local governments to access such finance avenues, he said. Another expert said that India will now join a select group of countries, primarily European, which have issued Green Bonds. "The budget proposal to issue sovereign green bonds has several benefits, principal among which is signalling the country's seriousness in pursuing climate action. "India will now join a select group of countries, primarily European, which have issued such bonds. We can also expect this move to catalyse the development of the domestic corporate green bond market," said Gagan Sidhu, Director, Council on Energy, Environment and Water-Centre for Energy Finance (CEEW-CEF). In her budget speech, the finance minister announced that as a part of the government's overall market borrowings in 2022-23, sovereign Green Bonds will be issued for mobilizing resources for green infrastructure. "The proceeds will be deployed in public sector projects which help in reducing the carbon intensity of the economy," Sitharaman said. Lauding the move, Aarti Khosla, Director, Climate Trends, said that the mention of green bonds as part of overall market borrowings is a good step to raise funds for projects ear- marked as green infrastructure. Khosla also said that the budget strongly acknowledged climate change and clean energy transition, adding that it all needs to be placed properly in policy and regulation. "It was perhaps the first Union Budget to acknowledge climate action in it's opening statement. The budget seemed to acknowledge clean energy transition as a fundamental principle- there was mention of clean tech solutions, battery swapping policies, improving EV efficiency, finalising the Rs 19500 cr PLI scheme for solar as a way to move ahead on low carbon strategy," Khosla said. Ulka Kelkar, Director, Climate, World Resources Institute India (WRI India), said that by referring to climate action as a sunrise sector and employment generator, the Budget has sent an important signal to markets, financial institutions and the workforce. "Biomass pellets, energy efficient buildings, coal gasification and agroforestry are just the start of the transition to a carbon-neutral economy. The upcoming green hydrogen mission and circular economy action plans can initiate a deep shift towards industrial decarbonization," Kelkar said. S N Tripathi, Steering Committee Member, National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), said that by fundamentally focusing on clean and sustainable development, the budget has focused on three major sectors: transport, energy and agriculture with an aim to reduce both- carbon dioxide and air pollution emissions - which augur well for clean air programs in the short term and achieving carbon neutrality in the long term. However, Vibhuti Garg, Energy Economist, Lead India, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said the announcements seem to have fallen short of promoting clean energy in an accelerated manner. PTI AG RCJ RCJ

Budget: Env experts hail proposal to issue green bonds to mobilise resources for green infra

<keyword id="6358070" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mumbai" source="Orion">Mumbai</keyword> municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal has made a sinister prediction for the city, saying that by 2050, a major portion of <keyword id="6361338" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="south-mumbai" source="Orion">south Mumbai</keyword>, including the business district of <keyword id="6391251" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nariman-point" source="Orion">Nariman Point</keyword> and <keyword id="11967724" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="state-secretariat-mantralaya" source="Orion">state secretariat Mantralaya</keyword>, will go <keyword id="68531" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="under-water" source="Orion">under water</keyword> due to the rising sea level. Speaking at the launch of Mumbai Climate Action Plan and its website at the hands of Maharashtra Environment and Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray on Friday, Chahal said about 70 per cent of the city's A, B, C and D wards in south Mumbai will be under water due to <keyword id="6361617" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="climate-change" source="Orion">climate change</keyword>. He said that nature has been giving warnings, but if people do not "wake up" then the situation would turn "dangerous". "Eighty per cent of the areas like Cuffe Parade, Nariman Point and Mantralaya will be under water...Means going to disappear," he said. The civic chief also said that it is a matter of just 25-30 years as 2050 is not too far. "We are getting warnings from nature and if we do not wake up, it will be a dangerous situation for the next 25 years. And it will not only be the next generation but the current generation will also suffer," Chahal warned. He said that Mumbai is the first city in South Asia that is preparing its climate action plan and acting on it. "Earlier, we used to hear about climate change events like melting glaciers, but not directly affecting us. But now it has come to our doorstep," he added. Chahal said that last year for the first time in 129 years, a cyclone (Nisarga) hit Mumbai and thereafter in the last 15 months, there have been three cyclones. After that, on August 5, 2020, about 5 to 5.5 fewater was accumulated at Nariman point. "There was no cyclone warning that day, but considering the parameters, it was a cyclone," Chahal said. Highlighting that the city has witnessed some extreme weather condictions recently, he said that the city faced Tauktae cyclone in Mumbai and witnessed 214 mm rain on May 17, though monsoon arrives here on June 6 or 7. Before June 9, Mumbai recorded 84 per cent of the June rainfall and in July, 70 per cent of month's average rainfall was received in just four days - from July 17 to 20, he said. Under the Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP), the data assessment has identified areas and communities most vulnerable given increasing climate uncertainty, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said in a release. Data from across BMC's 37 automatic weather stations (AWS) over the past 10 years suggests that on an average, Mumbai has seen six heavy, five very heavy, and four extremely heavy rainfall days per year. And for all the rainfall that occurs during the monsoon season in Mumbai, each year, approximately 10 per cent falls under the heavy category, nine per cent very heavy, and six per cent extremely heavy. According to the India Meteorological Department's (IMD) classification, daily rainfall from 64.5 mm to 115.5 mm is considered 'heavy', 115.6 mm to 204.4mm 'very heavy' and more than 204.5mm is 'extreme'. "The four-year period between 2017 and 2020 has seen a steady increase in the extremely heavy rainfall events. This indicates that the frequency of such extreme weather events is increasing for the city of Mumbai especially over the past four years," said Lubaina Rangwala, Associate Director, WRI India Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/mukesh-ambanis-reliance-life-sciences-gets-approval-to-conduct-trials-for-its-covid-19-vaccine/articleshow/85677741.cms">Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Life Sciences' COVID-19 vaccine — here's all we know so far</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/tata-motors-is-the-casualty-of-jlr-struggling-due-to-the-global-chip-shortage-and-a-lacklustre-ev-vision/articleshow/85652897.cms">Tata Motors is paying the price because Jaguar Land Rover has been slow in the EV race</a>

Mumbai's Nariman point, Mantralaya areas will be submerged by 2050 if people don’t ‘wake up’, says city’s municipal chief

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d489b9e100a24663a256f12-2400/ap18176801398650.jpg" border="0" alt="Rio Grande drought" data-mce-source="Susan Montoya Bryan/Associated Press" data-mce-caption="Sandbars fill the Rio Grande north of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Weather forecasters said sparse rainfall in the US Southern Plains since autumn had caused drought conditions to worsen, especially in the Four Corners region of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico." data-link="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Southern-Plains-Drought/ad8a31bed4ff49389929a0aedd1be58a/10/0" /><a href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Southern-Plains-Drought/ad8a31bed4ff49389929a0aedd1be58a/10/0">Susan Montoya Bryan/Associated Press</a>Sandbars fill the Rio Grande north of Albuquerque, New Mexico on February 18, 2018. Weather forecasters said sparse rainfall caused drought conditions to worsen, especially in the Four Corners region of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/new-mexico">New Mexico</a> faces extreme water stress on par with the United Arab Emirates, the 10th most water-stressed country in the world.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/california">California</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/arizona">Arizona</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/colorado">Colorado</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/nebraska">Nebraska</a> also have high levels of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/americas-about-to-hit-a-water-crisis-2015-4">water stress</a>, meaning industries and municipalities withdraw a large portion of the states' available water each year.</li><li>Water stress can turn <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-town-sinking-drought-central-valley-2019-2">droughts</a> into disasters: Researchers expect climate change to bring more "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cape-town-day-zero-photos-inequality-2018-2">day zeros</a>," when municipal taps run dry.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>A global water crisis looms, and US states are not immune to it. New Mexico faces the same degree of water stress as the United Arab Emirates - the 10th most water-stressed country in the world - according to a new <a href="https://www.wri.org/publication/aqueduct-30">report</a> from the <a href="https://www.wri.org/">World Resources Institute</a>. That means that industries and municipalities in the state use about 95% of New Mexico's available annual water supply, leaving little in the reserves for droughts and dry spells.California, Arizona, Colorado, and Nebraska face similar challenges."Our populations and economies are growing and demanding more water, but our supply is threatened by climate change, by water waste, and by pollution," Betsy Otto, director of WRI's <a href="https://www.wri.org/our-work/topics/water">Global Water Program</a>, said in a call with reporters. "Water stress, which occurs when demands rival annual supply, is a manifestation of those issues."The researchers behind the report said they expect to see more "day zeros," the term for the moment when a city's taps run dry, as populations grow and continue to draw from dwindling water resources. In January 2018, Cape Town, South Africa got dangerously close to reality: The government announced the city was three months from day zero. Residents successfully limited their water use enough to make it to the next rainy season, however. New Mexico also faced severe drought last year (along with much of the Southwest). The threat led farmers <a href="https://www.apnews.com/bdeb4ddedd804997a4a4f6a5a78978d9">to plant</a> more drought-resistant crops like beans, or to <a href="https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/articles/2018/08/13/drought-forces-hard-choices-for-farmers-and-ranchers-in-the-southwest">abandon</a> their fields altogether. Some farms were allotted just 10 inches of water from the Rio Grande, compared to the normal 36. With no grass to feed their herds, ranchers <a href="https://www.abqjournal.com/1152182">sold cattle</a> to pay for hay. The USDA <a href="https://www.fsa.usda.gov/state-offices/New-Mexico/news-releases/2018/usda-designates-12-counties-in-new-mexico-as-primary-natural-disaster-areas-with-assistance-to-producers-in-surrounding-states">declared disaster areas</a> across the state, qualifying ranchers for federal loans to cover financial losses."Most of us have drinking water," Cassidy Johnston, a New Mexico rancher, <a href="https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/articles/2018/08/13/drought-forces-hard-choices-for-farmers-and-ranchers-in-the-southwest">told Water Deeply</a>. "But all the drinking water in the world doesn't change anything if your cattle don't have anything to eat. We count on rain. We count on rain for everything."The state's largest reservoir ran as low as <a href="https://waterdatafortexas.org/reservoirs/individual/elephant-butte-1year.csv">2.9%</a> capacity. After <a href="https://www.aspentimes.com/news/minnow-rescues-under-way-as-portions-of-rio-grande-river-dry-up/">rescuing 10,000 endangered silvery minnows</a> from drying up with the river, the federal government had to <a href="https://www.apnews.com/05d111d91fde40438bf097e0c070f320">lease</a> $2 million of groundwater from Albuquerque in order to keep the Rio Grande flowing."Drought makes the situation worse, but usually the underlying indicators have been flashing red for a while and we just haven't been paying attention," Otto said.<h2>'Water stress' is a comparison of supply and demand </h2>To measure water stress, WRI looked at the amount of water that gets withdrawn each year from the total supply of renewable, available water. (Withdrawal isn't the same as water consumption, since some withdrawn water is later returned to the source.)The group evaluated the water-stress levels of 189 countries and the regions within them, including US states.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d48a9df100a24053501afa6-650/usstatemapblog-01.png" border="0" alt="US states water stress" style="color: #000000;" data-mce-source="World Resources Institute" data-mce-caption="The WRI Aqueduct report found that New Mexico face extremely high water stress, while four other states have high water stress." />World Resources InstituteThe WRI report found that New Mexico faces extremely high water stress, while four other states have high water stress.</div></div></div>In regions that face "extremely high" water stress - like New Mexico - industry, agriculture, and municipalities are withdrawing at least 80% of available surface and groundwater each year. That puts them in a precarious position, with little leftover water to serve as a buffer in dry spells.In total, the WRI report identified 17 countries facing this level of extreme water stress: Qatar, Israel, Lebanon, Iran, Jordan, Libya, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, the United Arab Emirates, San Marino, Bahrain, India, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Oman, and Botswana. Those countries are home to a quarter of the world's population.New Mexico's risk is on par with that of the UAE, the report found. It also suggested that four US states - California, Arizona, Colorado, and Nebraska - face high water stress, which means they're withdrawing between 40% and 80% of available water annually.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d49cb3b100a244d120e60f9-2400/2016-03-31t120000z1783706554gf10000367625rtrmadp3california-drought.jpg" border="0" alt="2016 03 31T120000Z_1783706554_GF10000367625_RTRMADP_3_CALIFORNIA DROUGHT.JPG" data-mce-source="Mike Blake/Reuters" data-mce-caption="A dried riverbed near San Ysidro, California on March 31, 2016. The state's longest-ever drought began in December 2011 and ended in March 2019." data-link="https://www.reutersconnect.com/detail?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2016%3Anewsml_GF10000367625%3A1783706554" /><a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/detail?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2016%3Anewsml_GF10000367625%3A1783706554">Mike Blake/Reuters</a>A dried riverbed near San Ysidro, California on March 31, 2016. The state's longest-ever drought began in December 2011 and ended in March 2019.</div></div></div>With the exception of Nebraska, these states all draw water from the Colorado River, which for the last 19 years has experienced its worst drought in 100 years. In July, water levels in Lake Mead, the Colorado River reservoir that supplies water and energy to much of the Southwest, dropped to just 7 feet above the official shortage level. Below that mark, the federal government would significantly reduce each state's water <a href="https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/strategies/RecordofDecision.pdf">allocation</a>t.The Bureau of Reclamation <a href="https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/24mo/2018/AUG18.pdf">projects</a> that Lake Mead will hit that shortage level by 2020.In New Mexico, the drought let up this year, but ranchers in the southeast part of the state are still buying supplemental feed for herds given the lack of grass and selling cattle to cover the extra costs, the <a href="https://www.currentargus.com/story/news/local/2019/05/31/new-mexico-drought-conditions-southeast-region/1289844001/">Carlsbad Current-Argus</a> reported.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55c741c3371d2215008be31a-2400/ap484939383499.jpg" border="0" alt="colorado river" style="color: #000000;" data-mce-source="Julie Jacobson/AP" data-mce-caption="The Colorado River supplies water to more than 40 million people in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming." />Julie Jacobson/APThe Colorado River supplies water to more than 40 million people in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.</div></div></div><h2>In other countries, water stress is even more dire</h2>The world is on track to warm by <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2019/05/SR15_SPM_version_report_LR.pdf">1.5 degrees Celsius as early as 2030</a>. That would increase the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/chapter-3/">likelihood</a> of extreme drought in the Mediterranean, reduce rainfall across Southern Africa, and causing longer and more frequent heat waves in many parts of the globe.According to the WRI report, 27 countries face high water stress around the world: Chile, Cyprus, Yemen, Andorra, Morocco, Belgium, Mexico, Uzbekistan , Greece, Afghanistan, Spain, Algeria, Tunisia, Syria, Turkey, Albania, Armenia, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Namibia, Kyrgyzstan, Niger, Nepal, Portugal, Iraq, Egypt, and Italy.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d48a568100a2405bc45cf28-2400/2019-06-25t123820z1094593166rc184bf577e0rtrmadp3india-water-shortage.jpg" border="0" alt="chennai india water day zero" style="color: #000000;" data-mce-source="P. Ravikumar/Reuters" data-mce-caption="Residents gather to fill empty containers with water from a municipal tanker in Chennai, India, June 25, 2019." data-link="https://www.reutersconnect.com/detail?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2019%3Anewsml_RC184BF577E0%3A1094593166" /><a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/detail?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2019%3Anewsml_RC184BF577E0%3A1094593166">P. Ravikumar/Reuters</a>Residents gather to fill empty containers with water from a municipal tanker in Chennai, India, June 25, 2019.</div></div></div>Chennai, India's sixth largest city, reached "day zero" in late June. (Taps across the city ran dry, though officials have not formally declared day zero.) Last year, the city <a href="http://www.imdchennai.gov.in/NEM2018.pdf">saw less than half its normal rainfall</a>, and the summer brought temperatures up to 108 degrees Fahrenheit. Wells and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/20/world/chennai-satellite-images-reservoirs-water-crisis-trnd/index.html">reservoirs</a> dried up, and the city's population of over 8 million was left without water. Residents still rely on trucks to bring in water each day, the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/51007944-b456-11e9-bec9-fdcab53d6959">Financial Times</a> reported. Climate models <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/chapter-3/">indicate</a> that situations like this will become more common in the next 50 years, as rainfall continues to decrease, temperatures continue to rise, and world population grows. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/chapter-3/">projects</a> severe reductions in water resources for 8% of the global population from 2021 to 2040. By 2071, the problem will affect 14% of people around the world.Climate change impacts the demand side of the water equation, too."Crops will draw more water up during dry periods. People will use more electricity to run their air conditioners," Otto said. (Energy production accounts for 10% of water withdrawals worldwide, according to the <a href="https://www.iea.org/weo/water/">International Energy Agency</a>.)<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57a8e4dece38f2e3058b55fe-2400/rtx12cwl.jpg" border="0" alt="drought sunflowers heat wave germany" data-mce-source="Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters" />Heinz-Peter Bader/ReutersSunflowers wilt in a heat wave in Germany.</div></div></div>Distributing water also requires energy - globally, this process uses as much energy as the entire country of Australia. Creating that energy, of course, involves burning fossil fuels, which emits the heat-trapping greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. The IEA projects that the water sector's energy use will double by 2040, as more water sources run dry. Industries and municipalities will have to pump water from further away and deeper in the ground, or opt for extremely energy-intensive desalination. At least one water manager in New Mexico reportedly <a href="https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/articles/2018/09/25/as-new-mexico-reservoirs-hit-bottom-worries-grow-over-the-future">considered</a> diverting water from the Mississippi River after last year's drought.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d48a5a2100a24690502cd4b-2400/2019-07-11t161007z429315805rc1cf10aa690rtrmadp3india-water-chennai.jpg" border="0" alt="chennai india day zero water tanker" data-mce-source="P. Ravikumar/Reuters" data-mce-caption="A worker fills a tanker train with water, which will be transported and supplied to drought-hit city of Chennai, at Jolarpettai railway station in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, India, July 11, 2019." data-link="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2019%3Anewsml_RC1CF10AA690%3A429315805&amp;search=all%3Achennai%20water" /><a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2019%3Anewsml_RC1CF10AA690%3A429315805&amp;search=all%3Achennai%20water">P. Ravikumar/Reuters</a>A worker fills a tanker train with water, which will be transported to the city of Chennai, India, at Jolarpettai railway station in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, July 11, 2019.</div></div></div><h2>Preventing 'day zeros'</h2>Otto said better planning and water-management practices can help mitigate water crises - she suggested more water-efficient irrigation systems, better recycling of wastewater to water crops or use in industrial processes, and more simple infrastructure maintenance like fixing leaks.Seven states that pull from the Colorado River are trying to implement such practices, including New Mexico. In March, they signed onto a management plan that asks each state to cut their water use and plan ahead to prevent reservoir depletion, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/19/climate/colorado-river-water.html">The New York Times</a> reported."The picture is alarming in many places around the globe, but it's very important to note that water stress is not destiny," Otto said. "All of those approaches can help us change the trajectory that we're on. What we can't afford to do any longer is pretend that the situation will just resolve itself, or throw up our hands and say that there's nothing we can do." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/robotic-farm-uses-90-less-water-than-traditional-farming-2018-10">This robotic farm uses 90% less water than traditional farming</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/FgrxR161-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

New Mexico faces extreme water scarcity on par with the United Arab Emirates. Experts warn more 'day zeros' are looming.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d600b85ad2b47604d34fbe8-2400/2015-10-07t120000z956918781gf10000234621rtrmadp3brazil-energy.jpg" border="0" alt="amazon rainforest fishing" data-mce-source="Bruno Kelly/Reuters" data-mce-caption="Francisco da Silva Vale (L), 61, and his son Hercules navigate during a fishing session at Vila Nova do Amana community in the Sustainable Development Reserve, in Amazonas state, Brazil, September 23, 2015." data-link="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2015%3Anewsml_GF10000234621&amp;share=true" /><a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2015%3Anewsml_GF10000234621&amp;share=true">Bruno Kelly/Reuters</a>Francisco da Silva Vale and his son Hercules navigate during a fishing session at Vila Nova do Amana in the Sustainable Development Reserve, Amazonas state, Brazil, September 23, 2015.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-rainforest-experiencing-record-breaking-deforestation-2019-7">Record-breaking fires</a> have hit the Amazon rainforest this year, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fires-in-the-amazon-rainforest-were-started-by-humans-2019-8">most of which were lit by people clearing land for farming</a>.</li><li>If too much of the Amazon disappears, that could put the rainforest on an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-losing-3-football-fields-worth-of-rainforest-per-minute-2019-8">irreversible path</a> towards <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-fires-may-help-dieback-emit-carbon-hurry-climate-change-2019-8">becoming a savannah</a>.</li><li>If we lose the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/amazon-rainforest">Amazon</a>, we lose a crucial part of the world's life support system: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-help-amazon-rainforest-what-charities-to-donate-to-2019">The Amazon</a> produces up to 20% of the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere, cycles water that regulates our weather, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-forest-is-disappearing-2015-11">hosts a wealth of undiscovered species</a> with potential for new medicines. </li><li>It's also one of our best tools for keeping heat-trapping carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>The Amazon rainforest is burning: Brazil has seen more than 74,000 fires this year ⁠- nearly double 2018's total of about 40,000 fires. About 10,000 new fires <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-rainforest-experiencing-record-number-of-wildfires-this-year-2019-8">started in the last week alone</a>, mostly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fires-in-the-amazon-rainforest-were-started-by-humans-2019-8">lit by people clearing land</a> for crops and grazing.David Sirota, a political commentator who writes speeches for Bernie Sanders, put the problem like this in a <a href="https://twitter.com/davidsirota/status/1164278087564980224?s=20">tweet</a>: "We're all on a spaceship hurtling through a vacuum. The Amazon rainforest is our spaceship's life support system. Our spaceship's life support system is on fire." It's a fitting analogy, since the Amazon plays a major role in many of the processes that make our planet habitable: water cycles, weather patterns, and the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. The rainforest is also home to more than 30 million <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/drone-footage-reveals-tribe-amazon-no-contact-outside-world-2018-8">people</a> and over 10% of the world's biodiversity. Scientists see potential for new medicines in unstudied Amazon plants. The more than 2.5 million square miles of Amazon rainforest are also one of our greatest buffers against the climate crisis, since the trees absorb carbon dioxide, thereby keeping it out of the atmosphere. But deforestation threatens all of that. Humans have cut down nearly 20% of the Amazon in the last 50 years, according to the <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/where_we_work/amazon/about_the_amazon/">World Wildlife Fund</a> (WWF). If <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/35041539">another 20%</a> of the Amazon disappears, that could trigger <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-fires-may-help-dieback-emit-carbon-hurry-climate-change-2019-8">a "dieback" scenario</a> in which the forest would dry out and become a savannah. That process would release billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and raise global temperatures. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d5ff19800ef2b5d4702a623-2400/2019-08-20t235444z903776222rc1af7c54aa0rtrmadp3brazil-environment-wildfires.jpg" border="0" alt="amazon rainforest fires farmer" data-mce-source="Bruno Kelly/Reuters" data-mce-caption="A man works in a burning tract of Amazon jungle as it is being cleared by loggers and farmers in Iranduba, Amazonas state, Brazil August 20, 2019." data-link="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2019%3Anewsml_RC1AF7C54AA0&amp;share=true" /><a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2019%3Anewsml_RC1AF7C54AA0&amp;share=true">Bruno Kelly/Reuters</a>A man works in a burning tract of Amazon jungle as it is being cleared by loggers and farmers in Iranduba, Amazonas state, Brazil August 20, 2019.</div></div></div>Here is what's at risk if we lose the Amazon.<h2>The 'lungs of the planet'</h2>The Amazon helps keep the atmosphere's carbon-dioxide levels in check.Plants and trees take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen back into the air through the process of photosynthesis. This is why the Amazon is often referred to as the "lungs of the planet": It's estimated to produce between 6% and 20% of the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d6005f523f19c60b003879b-2400/rtr4la9k.jpg" border="0" alt="amazon forest stretches for miles" data-mce-source="Reuters" />ReutersThe Amazon produces up to 20% of the world's oxygen, as plants absorb carbon dioxide and emit oxygen via photosynthesis.</div></div></div>Researchers <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2373903/">have calculated</a> that the Amazon holds up to 140 billion tons of carbon dioxide - the equivalent of 14 decades' worth of human emissions."The Amazon is a major bank of carbon," Ruth DeFries, an ecology professor at Columbia University, <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wjw5bb/the-amazon-wildfires-arent-natural-blame-humans">told Vice.</a> "When trees gets burned and carbon is released into the atmosphere, that exacerbates our global warming."Fires aside, deforestation in the Amazon already releases half a billion tons of carbon dioxide each year, according to <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/where_we_work/amazon/about_the_amazon/">WWF</a>.Last month, the Amazon saw record-breaking rates of deforestation, primarily due to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bolsonaro-plan-to-develop-amazon-rainforest-2019-1">infrastructure projects</a>, logging, mining, and farming - much of which is not legal. Data from Brazilian satellites have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-losing-3-football-fields-worth-of-rainforest-per-minute-2019-8">indicated</a> that about three football fields' worth of Amazonian trees are falling every minute.<h2>An anchor for weather patterns</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d600a95cd978472f921d534-2400/2015-10-07t120000z262789437gf10000234640rtrmadp3brazil-energy.jpg" border="0" alt="amazon water swimming brazil" style="color: #000000;" data-mce-source="Bruno Kelly/Reuters" data-mce-caption="A man swims with his kid on the waters of the Parana do Amana river at Vila Nova do Amana community in the Sustainable Development Reserve, in Amazonas state, Brazil, September 22, 2015." data-link="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2015%3Anewsml_GF10000234640&amp;share=true" /><a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2015%3Anewsml_GF10000234640&amp;share=true">Bruno Kelly/Reuters</a>A man swims with his kid on the waters of the Parana do Amana river at Vila Nova do Amana community in the Sustainable Development Reserve, in Amazonas state, Brazil, September 22, 2015.</div></div></div>A <a href="https://www.wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/ending-tropical-deforestation-tropical-forests-climate-change.pdf">2018 report</a> from the World Resources Institute (WRI) found that tropical deforestation disrupts the water cycle so much that it can threaten agriculture halfway around the globe."Tropical forest loss is having a larger impact on the climate than has been commonly understood," the report authors wrote.The Amazon plays a large role in rain patterns because the moisture that its vegetation traps and releases travels as clouds for thousands of miles.<a href="https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/full/10.1175/JHM406.1">Climate models</a> show that the Amazon's moisture affects rainfall as far away as the US. If the Amazon were completely deforested, that would cut Texas rainfall by 25%, <a href="https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00775.1">cut the Sierra Nevada snowpack in half</a>, and reduce precipitation by up to 20% in the US coastal northwest.For that reason, large-scale deforestation in the Amazon can "pose a substantial risk to agriculture in key breadbaskets halfway around the world in parts of the US, India, and China," according to the WRI report.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d603964adbcf869ca2ea087-2400/rtx16grq.jpg" border="0" alt="arapaima pirarucu amazon solimoes river" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Bruno Kelly" data-mce-caption="Villagers from the Rumao Island community paddle their canoes loaded with arapaima or pirarucu, the largest freshwater fish species in South America and one of the largest in the world, while fishing in a branch of the Solimoes river, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon, in the Mamiraua nature reserve near Fonte Boa about 600 km (373 miles) west of Manaus, November 24, 2013." />REUTERS/Bruno KellyVillagers from the Rumao Island community paddle their canoes loaded with arapaima or pirarucu, the largest freshwater fish species in South America, while fishing in the Solimoes river, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon, in the Mamiraua nature reserve, November 24, 2013.</div></div></div>The Amazon may also play a role in ocean currents, since the Amazon River accounts for over 15% of all fresh water that enters the oceans. Changes in the ocean's balance of fresh water and salt water <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/will_climate_change_jam_the_global_ocean_conveyor_belt">can slow down or speed up ocean currents</a>, which regulate weather across the globe.But scientists aren't yet sure how changes in the Amazon River would affect this complicated meteorological system.Degradation of the rainforest could also affect the biology of the Atlantic Ocean in unknown ways, since the Amazon River <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/7021/amazon-river-in-the-atlantic-ocean">dumps debris from the forest into the Atlantic</a>, and those nutrients feed phytoplankton that form the base of the ocean's food chain.<h2>Biodiversity that 'brims with promise' for new medicines</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d600b2f46552c69b63a17e4-2400/2009-11-17t120000z932563113gm1e5bh0zoa01rtrmadp3amazon-medicine.jpg" border="0" alt="amazon rainforest medicine plants cancer" data-mce-source="Sergio Moraes/Reuters" data-mce-caption="Brazilian researchers inspect plants to study in the search for new cancer drugs in Sao Sebastiao de Cuieiras near the Cuieiras river in the Brazil's Amazon rain forest October 30, 2009." data-link="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2009%3Anewsml_GM1E5BH0ZOA01&amp;share=true" /><a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2009%3Anewsml_GM1E5BH0ZOA01&amp;share=true">Sergio Moraes/Reuters</a>Brazilian researchers inspect plants in the search for new cancer drugs in Sao Sebastiao de Cuieiras in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, October 30, 2009.</div></div></div>The Amazon is home to at least 10% of the world's known <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK_vRtHJZu4">biodiversity</a> - and that's just the life that we know about. A new species is discovered in the Amazon every <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/08/amazon-brazil-new-species-discovered-spd/">two</a> or <a href="https://www.wwf.org.uk/where-we-work/places/amazon">three</a> days. "Every species in this incredibly biodiverse system represents solutions to a set of biological challenges - any one of which has transformative potential and could generate global human benefits," ecologist Thomas Lovejoy told <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2019/05/22/why-the-amazons-biodiversity-is-critical-for-the-globe">the World Bank</a>. "This rich wealth of species brims with promise, awaiting discovery."People have used Amazonian plants to produce <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/rainforests-are-fast-becoming-a-laboratory-for-cancer-drugs">anti-cancer drugs</a> and the first anti-malarial drug, quinine. Yet scientists estimate that they have only studied 0.5% of the world's flowering plants for their <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-medicine/in-amazon-a-frustrated-search-for-cancer-cures-idUSTRE5AG00V20091117">medicinal potential</a>. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d6005a023f19c60ae5b3fa7-2311/amazon forest aerial rainbow brazil.jpg" border="0" alt="Amazon forest aerial rainbow Brazil" data-mce-source="Nacho Doce/Reuters" data-mce-caption="A rainbow is seen over a tract of Amazon rainforest which has been cleared by loggers and farmers for agriculture, near the city of Uruara, Brazil on April 22, 2013." />Nacho Doce/ReutersA rainbow is seen over a tract of Amazon rainforest which has been cleared by loggers and farmers for agriculture, near Uruara, Brazil on April 22, 2013.</div></div></div>The rich array of species in the Amazon are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/people-killed-half-of-forest-animals-on-earth-since-1970-2019-8">crucial to the rainforest's other functions</a>, too.The South American trees that absorb the most carbon dioxide rely on large birds and primates to eat their fruits and spread the large seeds inside, according to a recent WWF <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/publications/below-the-canopy">report</a>. Thick vines also hold up the structures of the trees whose leaves send water vapor into the atmosphere. And a variety of animals pollinate forest plants, disperse seeds, and nourish the soil with their waste. "Amazon biodiversity also plays a critical role as part of global systems, influencing the global carbon cycle and thus climate change," Lovejoy said. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-rainforest-mysterious-geoglyphs-2017-2">These designs in the Amazon rainforest were created 2,000 years ago - and archaeologists are still baffled by them</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/t8Nu1Upt-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

Earth is a spaceship, and the Amazon is a crucial part of our life-support system. Here's why we need the world's largest rainforest.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54319fa5ecad048e36a032a1-1179-884/hp-dion-weisler.jpg" border="0" alt="HP Dion Weisler"><a href="http://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-information/executive-team/team.html#dion-weisler">HP</a>Leader of HPs PC/Printer business Dion Weisler</img></div></div></div>By this time next year, the company called "HP" will be a completely different beast, divided in half. The PC/Printer division, called "HP Inc." will be headed by Australian-born Dion Weisler.
It's been a meteoric ride for Weisler, 47, who joined HP only three years ago (January 2012) to run HP Asia Pacific &amp; Japan Printing &amp; Personal Systems (PPS).
A year and a half later, he was promoted to take over the whole $57 billion PPS division, replacing Todd Bradley, (after a quarter when <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hp-talks-up-chromebook-android-devices-2013-5">PC revenues nosedived 20%</a>).
Whitman was still relatively new to the helm of HP. We understand her management style is to give executives the resources they say they need and if they don't deliver, they're gone. Sources point to the exit of Bradley and promotion of Weisler as an example.
Weisler hasn't exactly been avoiding the media since he was named CEO of the soon-to-be HP Inc. He talked to <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/102134240">Mad Money's Jim Cramer in late October, for instance,</a> But he hasn't been making himself exceptionally available for interviews either.
Bloomberg <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-24/hp-s-weisler-to-navigate-pc-business-as-slowdown-looms.html">just posted a profile on him in which it noted</a> that HP "declined to make Weisler available for an interview." He also wasn't directly quoted in a profile <a href="http://fortune.com/2014/10/21/hp-dion-weisler/">Fortune ran of him last month.</a> And he's not scheduled to be part of HP's conference call with Wall Street analysts on Tuesday, the first earnings release since HP <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-hp-looks-like-without-its-pc-unit-2014-10">announced its split-up plans last month.</a> (Although maybe he'll surprise everyone and show up since there will likely be lots of questions about his area of the company)
Still, curiosity about him has ramped up since after HP announced that he would be the CEO of one of the two new businesses. Almost hand-in-hand, Weisler revealed his plans to turn HP Inc. into a successful, growing business again. Last month, he revealed <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blended-reality-is-the-next-big-thing-2014-10">includes releasing the special keyboard-less/mouse-less "blended reality" computer "Sprout"</a> (on sale now in time for the holidays) and previewed its potentially <a href="http://recode.net/2014/10/31/hewlett-packards-3-d-printer-is-essentially-a-replicator/">game-changing 3D printer</a> due out next year.
Here's what we know about him:
He cut his teeth in the PC business at Acer, spending 11 years there before leaving to work a few jobs in his home country of Australia. He soon left again, for Singapore and China, rejoining the PC business again for Lenovo.
At Lenovo, he mastered the supply chain skills it takes to profitably build PCs with their razor thin margins. He worked with Rory Read while there, who became CEO of AMD, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-24/hp-s-weisler-to-navigate-pc-business-as-slowdown-looms.html">reports Bloomberg.</a> He came to HP from Lenovo.
He had a break-out moment almost immediately when he won a contract to supply 1.5 million PCs to a buyer in India that HP wasn't originally even going to bid on. The previous HP execs thought they'd lose money on the deal. Weisler went through every part - the screws, the plastic, the metal, and so on - and reduced the cost by $67.40 per PC, and won the contract, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-24/hp-s-weisler-to-navigate-pc-business-as-slowdown-looms.html">reports Bloomberg.</a>
He likewise boosted HP's profits in the low-end PC business, including Chromebooks. Shortly after Weisler took over (PPS), HP's business started growing again, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hp-pc-business-growth-2014-2">earning him public praise from Whitman.</a> 
Weisler has a wry sense of humor, according to former HP executive Charles House, co-author of "The HP Phenomenon: Innovation and Business Transformation." House, who is executive director at InnovaScapes Institute, met Weisler earlier this year at a gathering of HP executives at a Stanford Graduate Business School workshop, <a href="http://fortune.com/2014/10/21/hp-dion-weisler/">reports Fortune's Katherine Noyes.</a> That's where Weisler told a story about himself about how he learned how to make it in Asia, a huge growth area of the world where many U.S. companies struggle.
The story goes: Weisler was about to sign a huge deal with a Japanese company. The night before the deal was to be signed, Weisler dined in celebration with the company's president. Drinks were flowing and after a while, Weisler stopped imbibing. The next day, the customer cancelled the order. Weisler called the customer daily. After three months of calls, the man finally talked to him, explaining he cancelled the order because he "couldn't trust" a supplier that wouldn't drink with him, House recounted on his blog,<a href="http://hpphenom.blogspot.com/2014/10/who-is-dion-weisler.html"> HP Phenomenon.</a>
Today, Weisler is obsessed with finding new ways that HP's PCs and printers can prosper again, when both of those businesses are in decline. He thinks about innovation in three ways, he told Cramer, 1) improving existing products, 2) building new products for "the way things are changing" and 3) "category creation."
He's very hands-on in trying to create new categories of devices. He personally oversaw the development the keyboard-less/mouse-less Sprout PC, which lets you scan physical objects and work with them via touchscreen. He took the prototype home for several months, playing with it and contacting engineers on evenings and weekends with tweaks and feedback, reports Bloomberg.
Here's a peek at the results, the Sprout:
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5452d39469bedde45e52a03b/hp-sprout-block.gif" border="0" alt="HP Sprout block"><a href="http://bcove.me/gqbyor0d">HP</a>HP's Sprout PC</img></div></div></div>
But the real game-changer could be HP's 3D printer, he says. It promises to be faster, handle more types of materials and be more accurate, all while being affordable.
Weisler told Cramer this printer "could quite possibly be the trigger for the next industrial revolution."
If that's true, then HP Inc. and Weisler both have bright futures.
Here's his most recent public media interview with Mad Money's Jim Cramer:
<iframe width="530" height="298" src="http://player.theplatform.com/p/gZWlPC/vcps_inline?byGuid=3000325599&amp;size=530_298"></iframe>

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