17/03/09

Mining – India 1
1. Mining lease list placed before court 1
2. JSW bullish on rural steel demand 2
3. NMDC sees drop in iron ore production 3
4. NMDC to buy Aussie coal mine 3
5. Vedanta: Golden steps in mining & metals industry 4
Mining – International 7
6. Horizon coal mine gets warned of safety violations 7
7. China to drive mining demand: Rio Tinto 8
8. Local coal mine to close 9
9. Mining regulator targets 15 mining operations 9
10. Uranium mining expansion facing delay, warns analyst 10
Other News – India 11
11. Hand over forest management to communities, parties told 11
12. The impact of climate change on the world's poor 12
13. India can generate 2500 MW power from waste 13
14. ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Women Farmers Ready to Beat Climate Change 15

Mining – India

Mining lease list placed before court
Staff Reporter
BANGALORE: The State Government on Monday placed before the Karnataka High Court a list containing the names of 31 enterprises to whom it had given mining leases in Karnataka.
The State submitted the list after the Karnataka High Court directed it to place before it the names of companies and individual to whom it had issued mining leases.
The State list contains the names it has recommended to the Centre for grant of mining lease during the Kumaraswamy regime and Governor’s Rule.
Recommendation
The Additional Solicitor-General and Government advocate said the State could only recommend the names of companies for lease to the Centre and that the Centre would take a final decision.
The court was also told that mining companies would have to obtain permission or no-objection certificate from the Forest Department only if the mines came within the forests.
The Bench adjourned several cases relating to mining.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/03/17/stories/2009031754640500.htm


JSW bullish on rural steel demand
Special Correspondent
________________________________________
Families in Jharia should be rehabilitated
Recession is good time for investment
________________________________________
HYDERABAD: Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of JSW Steels Sajjan Jindal is bullish on domestic steel market and is planning to ramp up retail outlets from 60 to 600 through franchisee model across the country in a couple of years.
Talking to reporters at a seminar organised by NMDC here on Monday, Mr. Jindal said that the total exports of the company accounted for 40 per cent of its production. Recession was good time for investments and expansion as the vendors of machinery would offer the equipment at lower costs and offer several incentives.
He said that the company’s sales would double this month at six lakh tonnes as opposed to the corresponding period last year.
Strong order book
The company’s steel mills would run to their fullest capacity until June, as orders for production were already booked. Steel at $450 had a good marketability, for there was great demand from rural India, which witnessed a steady growth of 3-4 per cent in agriculture sector, especially in the housing sector.
The company expanded its annual production capacity to 6.8 million tonnes from 3.8 million tonnes and targeted 10 million tonnes by 2010.
He said that the long-term annual coking coal prices might drop to less than $100 million a tonne from April.
He said that the company secured all the approvals with regard to aluminium plant in Andhra Pradesh and was waiting to sign an agreement with the Government for bauxite mining.
P.K. Rastogi, Secretary of Steel, said that India would be able to achieve increase in production to 115-120 million tonnes from the present 60 million tonnes by 2011-12. The per capita consumption in India was 50-60 kg which should go up to 150-160 kg (the world average).
Mr. Jindal said that the Government and the industry should together rehabilitate the one lakh families at Jharia to exploit the coking coal so that its import could be avoided.
The industry could bring in Rs. 50,000 crore for this.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/03/17/stories/2009031760641700.htm

NMDC sees drop in iron ore production
Special Correspondent
HYDERABAD: The production and sales of iron ore of NMDC is likely to decline by five per cent in the current financial year, according to its Chairman and Managing Director Rana Som.
Taking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar here on Monday, Mr. Som said production was expected to be 28.5 million tonnes, down from the 30 million tonnes last year. Steel mills in Japan and South Korea, which purchased 10 per cent or 3.4 million tonnes of the output of NMDC, might take only two-thirds of their total order.
With the rise in long-term prices, NMDC was hoping a 40 per cent increase in its gross profit by the end of the current fiscal, which would offset the loss due to decline in production and sales.
The CMD said that the company was proposing to acquire a coal mine in Queensland in Australia for $15 million in about two moths to provide linkage for its steel plant at Nagarnar in Chhattisgarh.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/03/17/stories/2009031760701700.htm


NMDC to buy Aussie coal mine
K V Ramana
Tuesday, March 17, 2009 3:07 IST

Hyderabad: Iron ore and steel makers are queuing up to scout for coal mines, which are apparently going at a discounted price owing to the global slowdown.

While NMDC, the largest iron ore supplier in the country, is set to close a deal for a coking coal mine in Australia, JSW Steel is evaluating mines there. The steel ministry has also readied a special purpose vehicle -- International Coal Ventures Ltd -- to locate and acquire coal assets abroad.

"We are in talks to acquire a mine in Australia. This coking coal mine is expected to cost us about $15-20 million," NMDC's chairman and managing director Rana Som said. The public sector major is also evaluating some assets in South Africa and Sierra Leone.

Coking coal is an important input for steel producers.

NMDC is setting up a 5-million tonne steel plant at Jagdalpur and it is nearing financial closure. The coal mines acquired are meant to supply coking coal to the new plant.

International Coal Ventures, a special purpose vehicle set up by SAIL, Coal India, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, NMDC and NTPC, is looking for mines in various countries including Mozambique and Australia.

"We are looking at mines in about five countries. The SPV has about Rs 3,500 crore and it would raise another Rs 10,000 crore to further its plans," steel secretary P K Rastogi said.

Meanwhile, the coking coal mine in Jharia (Jharkhand) is still not functional owing to a fire that is live underground for nearly a century.

Rastogi said plans are being worked out to relocate the one lakh families living in Jharia to revive the mine. "There are coking coal reserves of over one billion tonnes in Jharia. It is real gold for the steel industry. But, we have to fight the fire first and then work on a plan to relocate the residents to revive the mine," he explained.

However, Sajjan Jindal of JSW Steel said there is a need for political will to use the resource. "We are willing to contribute to its (Jharia mine) revival. But, we need a political will. If the government wants, the steel industry, iron ore exporters and all other stake holders will contribute to the revival of mine," he said.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1239714


Vedanta: Golden steps in mining & metals industry
2009-03-16 19:10:00

MUMBAI: India’s Vedanta group is scripting a success story in mining sector with its brave decisions to acquire new companies even though the global meltdown has wreaked havoc in metal sector.

The credit for this innovative moves goes to Vedanta group chairman Anil Agarwal, who never shied away from taking the company to new heights with his brave decisions.

In a move which had all the risks involved, in 2007 the company acquired a controlling stake in Sesa Goa, a private-sector producer of iron ore, from Japan’s Mitsui. Now, this was seen as a declaration of the group’s intention to occupy space in the steel sector at the appropriate time.

However, the decision will lift the company to new heights in the coming years as Vedanta group knows the demand for the metals will go up in the next wave. By then, the company will be ready with enough production capacity to meet the demand. In fact, everything turned gold when Vedanta group touched it. That is called Midas touch.

After Vedanta acquired the majority stake in aluminium maker Balco in December 2001, the indifferently performing Balco’s capacity rose by 250,000 tonnes to 350,000 tonnes.

Who could have foreseen that after Sterlite, a Vedanta group company, took control of a non-performing Hindustan Zinc in April 2002, the entity would come to own a zinc-lead capacity of 1 million tonnes by 2010.

Vedanta group is now well on course to achieve the minimum declared capacity of 1 million tonnes for every non-ferrous metal in its portfolio.

Again Vedanta will set up aluminium manufacturing capacities in Burdwan district of West Bengal at an investment of Rs 20,000 crore. A Memorandum of Development in this regard was signed between the Vedanta Group and the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation Ltd.

As part of its roadmap in this regard, the Vedanta Group has acquired, and will revive, the now-defunct West Bengal Aluminium Corporation that was set up in 1952 with an installed capacity of 30,000 tonnes per annum (tpa).

Along with this, Vedanta will also set up new capacities with a view to taking the total smelter capacity to 6.5 lakh tpa. Additionally, a power plant of 3000 MW capacity would be set up in two phases of 1,500 MW each. The twin projects will require 1,000 acres of land and are scheduled for completion within the next two years.

It also has grand plans for Sesa Goa which owns iron ore reserves of 180 million tonnes.

The experience of steel makers here, not to speak of mining groups in acquiring assets overcoming the maze of regulatory hurdles, is not at all encouraging. However, no one doubts Vedanta’s capacity to pull off a huge success in adverse conditions. This is specially so after Sterlite sewing up the $1.1-billion Asarco deal.

Tata Steel must now be regretting that it acquired Corus in April 2007 by paying the full price in a booming market. Same is the case with Hindalco, which acquired the world’s largest aluminium rolling company Novelis.

In this regard too, luck has been on the side of Vedanta. Initially, Vedanta made an offer of $2.6 billion for Asarco. But that was a year ago, when copper was commanding over double today’s price. See how much cheaper Asarco assets has now become for Vedanta.

But why should Vedanta be going ahead with all its expansion programmes here and abroad when leading metal groups, including ArcelorMittal, Rio Tinto Alcan and Chinalco, doing some serious production cuts and shelving expansion programmes till economic activity gains pace.

According to one school of thinking, if funds are available, a difficult proposition when banks are being bailed out by governments, then a group like Vedanta should not wait for the next spurt in demand to create new capacity. Vedanta officials claim that the group, which is having Rs 30,000 crore in cash, remains committed to investing as much as Rs 60,000 crore in new projects.

In Vedanta’s capacity creation package, alumina and aluminium take the cake. At this point, India’s total aluminium capacity is 1.3 million tonnes in which the share of Vedanta is 385,000 tonnes. But here account has not been taken of Vedanta’s 500,000-tonne smelter in Orissa’s Jharsuguda, which is now getting commissioned.

In a move to make best use of Orissa’s bauxite and coal deposits, Vedanta has decided to finally create 1.6 million tonnes of smelting capacity at Jharsuguda to be backed by a 5 million tonne alumina refinery at Lanjigarh and a power complex of 3,750 MW. At the same time, Balco’s aluminium capacity will be raised to 1 million tonnes.

If Vedanta has its way then all this capacity will be on ground by 2013. But it was time consuming for Vedanta to start mining operation at Lanjigarh where it owns bauxite deposit of 75 million tonnes but also has the government promise of an equally large deposit nearby.

But all this is to support its 1 million tonne refinery, which sadly now has to be fed with costly bauxite from third party mines. This will be the case till such time Vedanta has got the final set of environmental clearances post Supreme Court assent to start mining.

Building a 5-million-tonne refinery at Lanjigarh will be justified provided linkages to bauxite deposits lasting about 50 years could be acquired. Orissa, where most of Vedanta’s aluminium action is to unfold, has as much as 1.7 billion tonnes of the country’s total 3.3 billion tonnes of bauxite reserves. Even after allotment/earmarking of deposits for different groups, Orissa is left with free bauxite reserves of 640 million tonnes.

Vedanta says it has strong claims to free deposits because of the world’s single largest smelter it is committed to build at Jharsuguda. But whether Vedanta will get all the bauxite it needs will be a toss of dice.

http://www.commodityonline.com/news/Vedanta-Golden-steps-in-mining--metals-industry-16020-3-1.html

Mining – International

Horizon coal mine gets warned of safety violations
Mining » MSHA cites a pattern of "serious and substantial" offenses.

Updated: 03/16/2009 10:54:32 PM MDT
A Carbon County coal mine is one of 15 mines nationally that received warnings last week from federal regulators that they have a potential pattern of "significant and substantial" safety violations.
The notice was issued Thursday to Horizon mine, 11 miles west of Helper, which is operated by Hidden Splendor Resources Inc., a fully owned subsidiary of America West Resources Inc. The operator has up to 90 days to take corrective actions or to show the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) that its notice was in error.
But if America West does not resolve the problem to MSHA's satisfaction, the agency will issue a pattern of violation notice. The next "serious and substantial" citation after that, MSHA will order miners withdrawn from the affected area of the mine until the cited condition is corrected. Serious and substantial violations are those "that could reasonably be expected to lead to a serious injury or illness, said Michael Davis, MSHA's deputy assistant secretary of operations.
America West was reviewing the notice Monday and preparing a response, a spokesman said.
At the end of 2008, the mine had 99 employees, 82 working underground. It produced 229,000 tons of coal last year.
Horizon and the 14 other mines -- 12 Appalachian coal mines, a metal/non-metal mine in California and the Newmont USA Ltd. gold mine in Leeville, Nev. -- represent the fourth group of mines given potential pattern of violation warnings by MSHA.
The agency previously issued notices to 44 mine operators in three different groups, starting June 14, 2007. None were in Utah. Among the first 28 mines cited for a possible pattern of violation, 27 instituted corrective actions that reduced their serious and substantial violation rates by more than half.
"Hopefully, these [latest] operators will use this opportunity to incorporate needed improvements into their safety and health programs," Davis said.
MSHA District Manager Allyn Davis informed Horizon in writing Thursday that the number of serious and substantial citations it had received in 2007 and 2008 was 216 percent of the national average for underground coal mines.
Davis's letter told Horizon General Manager Joe Fielder that the mine can avoid being issued a pattern of violations notice if it reduces its serious and substantial frequency rate from 14.6 per 100 inspection hours to 10.19, a 30 percent reduction. The national average is 6.75 violations per 100 inspection hours.
http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_11927110


China to drive mining demand: Rio Tinto
4 hours ago
MELBOURNE (AFP) — China's long-term growth will remain a major driver of demand for commodities despite the dramatic global economic downturn, mining giant Rio Tinto said Tuesday.
Economic growth in China is expected to slow further in 2009 before investment starts to gain strength in the second half of the year, the Anglo-Australian company said in its annual report.
"We have recently seen an unprecedented rate of decline in our markets, but our strong long term outlook for commodity markets has not fundamentally changed," chairman Paul Skinner said.
"Although the current slowdown has been much more dramatic than anticipated, we expect China's long term growth to continue as a major driver of commodities demand."
When global economic activity recovered, demand for metals and minerals could pick up rapidly, driven by the requirement to rebuild stocks and China could surprise the market, he said.
"We believe the fundamentals of the Chinese market, and other fast growing markets like India, remain intact and the industry's long term prospects remain positive."
However, Rio Tinto warned that the slump in demand for its products caused by the global economic downturn would continue to hurt the company's bottom line.
"The recent significant reduction in commodity prices and global demand for the group's products has had, and is expected to continue to have, a material adverse impact on the group's business, financial condition and results of operations," Rio said.
The miner also cautioned that if it failed to complete a 19.5 billion US dollar deal with China's Chicalco and cannot sell assets or raise funds from other sources, it may be forced to renegotiate its 40 billion US dollars of debt on tougher terms.
Australia's government on Monday delayed a decision on whether to approve the investment by the state-owned aluminium firm amid growing concern over foreign ownership in the key sector.
A review of the proposed investment by Chicalco, which would mark China's largest-ever foreign investment, was extended by 90 days to allow further scrutiny of the deal, the Treasury said.
- Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this report -
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jDTLablsiKpVzlVU1aayX5hHR0tg

Local coal mine to close
By The Associated Press
Posted: 3/16/09 Section: News

RIDGE FARM-Pebody Energy says it is closing an eastern Illinois coal mine because geological conditions prevent its expansion.

Peabody says the roughly 160 employees of the Vermilion Grove mine near Ridge Farm will be offered transfers to the company's 13 other mines across the Midwest.

Employees were told Thursday.

Company spokeswoman Megan Gallagher says the coal that can be safely reached in the mine is gone. She says further expansion isn't practical or safe because of local geology. The mine opened in 2002.

St. Louis-based Peabody Energy plans for workers to spend the next two months shutting the mine down.

Ridge Farm is about 45 miles southeast of Champaign near the Indiana, Ill., border.

http://media.www.dailyillini.com/media/storage/paper736/news/2009/03/16/News/Local.Coal.Mine.To.Close-3672987.shtml

Mining regulator targets 15 mining operations
By TIM HUBER , 03.16.09, 02:28 PM EDT
The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has warned 15 mining operations in six states to clean up their health and safety practices or face stricter enforcement.
The agency says the 13 coal mines, a dirt processing plant and a gold mine have been cited repeatedly for so-called "significant and substantial" violations that could have caused serious injuries or illnesses.
The mining operations are supposed to craft plans for reducing violations and will be monitored closely for 90 days. If they improve, MSHA says they won't be listed as having a pattern of violations, which leads to tougher disciplinary action.
MSHA says the problem mines are in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, Utah, California and Nevada.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/03/16/ap6172738.html

Uranium mining expansion facing delay, warns analyst
By Nick Harmsen
Posted 10 hours 28 minutes ago
Updated 10 hours 27 minutes ago

Olympic Dam expansion could be delayed, says analyst (ABC News)
A resource analyst is warning the global financial crisis could force BHP Billiton to delay a planned expansion of the Olympic Dam mine in outback South Australia by at least two years.
He has told a conference in Adelaide that the uranium industry is enduring a major shake-out thanks to the downturn, but will survive.
Among an array of resources, Olympic Dam near Roxby Downs has the world's largest known uranium deposit.
The SA Government has long heralded a massive expansion of the mine, saying it will underpin an economic boom.
But the financial crisis has already claimed 85 jobs at Olympic Dam and an expansion date of 2013 is not set in stone.
Resource analyst Warwick Grigor forecasts a delay.
"Olympic Dam is probably going to slip by at least two years in its timetable, if not longer," he said.
EIS due soon
The SA Government insists the project will go ahead and is negotiating a new indenture agreement with BHP Billiton, ahead of the release of an environmental impact statement (EIS) in May.
Paul Heithersay, of Primary Industries and Resources SA, thinks the mine has a future despite the current downturn.
"Clearly nothing is going to touch Olympic Dam in terms of contained uranium and therefore exploring for more of the same seems a pretty good bet to me," he said.
But a tough credit market and a 68 per cent plunge in ore prices is making life much tougher for the once red-hot uranium exploration industry.
Greg Hall, of Toro Energy, says there are still opportunities.
"While we've probably reduced the amount of exploration, we are still undertaking some very targeted exploration on significant potential projects," he said.
Michael Angwin, of the Australian Uranium Association, thinks the industry will ride out the tough time.
"The increase in demand for nuclear power over the next 20 years or so will be between 50 and 100 per cent and Australia, with 40 per cent of the world's low-cost uranium resources, is well-placed to meet that demand," he said.
He says demand will be fuelled by a move towards low-carbon energy.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/03/17/2517939.htm

Other News – India

Hand over forest management to communities, parties told
Express News Service
First Published : 16 Mar 2009 04:00:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 16 Mar 2009 03:06:32 PM IST
BHUBANESWAR: Environment as an issue has never been on the agenda of the political parties fighting bitterly against each other over development, corruption and law and order. Expecting them to wake up to the subject could be asking for too much.
Waging a lone battle they may be but forest activists have not lost hope as yet. With elections, they are back again. This time around, community forest management (CFM) is the weapon.
For the record, Orissa has long given legal sanctity to Joint Forest Management (JFM) but CFM continues to fight for its deserved status. This is what the activists say must be addressed this time.
Independent statistics say 12,000 villages practise CFM in the State. There is a problem though. Without recognition of the State, they either are on a confrontation path with the administration or stand to lose their efforts to JFM in the future.
On the other hand, the success of JFM is stated to be on the wane despite a robust growth it had shown in the last one decade. The same cannot be said of CFM where the self-initiated conservation measures are always on a losing ground because the forests they protect are reserved ones.
“:CFM deserves legal sanctity and so does the forest-dependent population’s rights to non-timber forest produce (NTFP). The political parties which will give this issue a place in their manifesto would get the support of the villages where forests are protected by the local communities,” Orissa Jungle Manch, an umbrella organisation of CFMs said here Sunday.
The body claims that 60 lakh voters, directly or indirectly dependent and involved with forest management, will be affected by the steps taken by the Government.
The activists say legalising of CFM and handing over the forest management to communities will have a direct bearing on poverty alleviation in Orissa because of improved livelihood resources. “If political parties are so keen on alleviation of poverty, they must ensure that CFM finds a place in their poll manifestos. It will send the right signal,” one of them added.
The Orissa Jungle Manch which is coordinating with other like-minded fora has decided to rally for the issue in the days to come. They will also launch a "Aamari Katha Rakhiba Jie, Aamari Vote Paiba Sie” (Give word to us, Get our vote) campaign in the State.
A memorandum would be submitted to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, while candidates would be asked to come clear on their commitment to the issue.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Hand+over+forest+management+to+communities,+parties+told&artid=0zFkGO25NSM=&SectionID=mvKkT3vj5ZA=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=nUFeEOBkuKw=&SEO=


The impact of climate change on the world's poor
Broadcast: Midday, 03/16/2009, 12:00 p.m.
Copy and paste the HTML below to embed this audio onto your web page.


Villagers in Zimbabwe head home after receiving food rations from the non-governmental organization Oxfam. (DESMOND KWANDE/AFP/Getty Images)

Jim Lyons, of Oxfam America, discusses how climate change could affect the world's most vulnerable populations.
During the Clinton administration, he served as under secretary for Natural Resources and Environment in the Department of Agriculture. He currently teaches at Yale's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
Oxfam America is a leading international relief and development organization that fights poverty and hunger throughout the world.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/03/16/midday2/


India can generate 2500 MW power from waste
2009-03-17 11:50:00








Recycling of urban, municipal and industrial waste in large cities,metros,can lead to generation of 2500 MW of power in the country.

In next 2 years, with efficient recycling technologies, thousands of units of power can be generated through municipal and solid waste provided India enters into agreement for transfer of latest technologies from countries like Japan, China, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, points out Ernst and Young (E&Y) and Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM )joint Paper on `Mitigating Climate Change : The Indian Perspective’.

This recyclying and generation of power is essential to arrest increasing power shortages of future especially when inputs for fossil fuel are depleting and exploration of alternate energy sources for power generation through traditional sources are taking time, E&Y and ASSOCHAM stressing the need for urgent generation of power from waste pointed out.

Releasing its findings, the ASSOCHAM Secretary General, D S Rawat indicated that about 40,000 million tonnes of solid wastes and 5000 million cubic metre of liquid waste is generated every year in the urban areas of the country which can be suitably recycled for power generation.

According to estimates made in the Study, about 1500 megawatt of power could be generated from urban and municipal wastes by setting up waste energy projects and additional 1000 megawatt of industrial wastes in the country by 2012.
The cost factor involved in this exercise could be within the range of less than Rs.300 crore, resources for which could be generated through municipalities and local governments in metros and large townships with subsidy element coming towards such projects from state governments concern.

India’s energy policy also included nuclear energy as one of the promising areas to increase the power generation capacity to 20,000 MW (e) by the year 2020, based on the nuclear projects under construction and upgradation work.

Further elaborating on it, Mr. Rawat said that India has potential to reduce its projected emissions over next 30 years by nearly one-quarter for less than $25 per ton of carbon equivalent, with a substantial portion available at a very low cost.

Some of the sustainable development strategies that could help India in reducing its GHG emissions and mitigating climate change impacts, are: Use of cost-effective energy-efficient technologies in power sector (generation, transmission and distribution.

Several research studies on Indian Power sector reveal the potential for saving of around 20,000 MW through various energy efficiency and demand side management measures, these include renovation & modernization of old power plants, adoption of cleaner coal technologies, HVDC transmission and distribution with HVDS, energy efficient distribution transformers, installation of capacitor banks etc.

In addition, installation of super critical boilers also gaining momentum in the recent days. All the energy efficiency and demand side measures in the power sector could qualify to gain the carbon credits through CDM cycle. Initiatives by several generating and transmission companies recently towards claiming carbon credits are a positive sign for the sector”

The Study has also sought “Shift fossil fuels (such as coal, diesel, and petroleum) to natural gas and renewables: With the abundant available of renewable sources like biomass across the country, India has vast potential to replace the current usage of fossil fuels in various industrial/commercial applications. This would reduce the dependence of fossil fuels in the industrial systems but also reduces the GHG emissions. This is also expected to increase the economic value of the biomass fuels which in turn likely to improve the social and economic conditions of the rural areas.

With the continuous exploration of gas reserves across all the potential locations in the country, India is poised to grow in this field and develop more gas based power plants and find its usage more in various industrial applications. Government of India’s steps towards encouragement of private participation in this sector and growing potential for gas based power plants in India would definitely play a key role in future to reduce the GHG emissions in power and industrial sector”.

The Study says that it is also essential for world leaders from both developed and developing countries realize the importance of climate change and act as catalyst in promoting the policies that target at reduction of GHG emissions. India, though with less per capital GHG emissions compared to the developed world should play an active role in formulating the long term policies to mitigate affects of climate change without hampering the economic growth in the region. It is also equally important to formulate policies that promote usage of cleaner energy technologies and other options to mitigate the climate change effects.

http://www.commodityonline.com/news/India-can-generate-2500-MW-power-from-waste-16053-3-1.html


ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Women Farmers Ready to Beat Climate Change

By Keya Acharya

Dalit women in Zaheerabad intersperse crops and use farmyard manure with good results.

Credit:Keya Acharya/IPS


ZAHEERABAD, Andhra Pradesh, Mar 17 (IPS) - A collective of 5,000 women spread across 75 villages in this arid, interior part of southern India is now offering a chemical-free, non-irrigated, organic agriculture as one method of combating global warming.

Agriculture accounts for 28 percent of Indian greenhouse gas emissions, mainly methane emission from paddy fields and cattle and nitrous oxides from fertilisers. The 2007 report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says India’s rainfall pattern will be changing disproportionately, with intense rain occurring over fewer days, leading directly to confusion in the agricultural scenario.

Decreased rain in December, January and February implies lesser storage and greater water stress, says the report, while more frequent and prolonged droughts are predicted.

The report cites, as example of impacts, that a 0.5 degrees Celsius rise in temperature will reduce wheat production in India by 0.45 tonnes per hectare.

Research at the School of Environmental Sciences in New Delhi projects crop losses of 10-40 percent by 2100 despite the beneficial effects of higher carbon dioxide on growth, with the dynamics of pests and diseases significantly altered.

Adaptation is both necessary and unavoidable, says the IPCC.

In Zaheerabad, dalit (broken) women forming the lowest rung of India’s stratified society, now demonstrate adaptatation to climate change by following a system of interspersing crops that do not need extra water, chemical inputs or pesticides for production.

The women grow as many as 19 types of indigenous crops to an acre, on arid, degraded lands that they have been regenerated with help from an organisation called the Deccan Development Society (DDS).

DDS, working in this area of India for the last 25 years, has helped these women acquire land through government schemes for ‘dalits’, and form ‘sanghas’ or local self-help groups that convene regularly and decide their own courses.

The women plant mostly in October-November, calling up the family’s help for 7 days for weeding and 15-20 days for harvesting. Farmyard manure is applied once in two or three years depending on soil conditions.

In Bidakanne village, 50 year-old Samamma, standing in her field, points out the various crops, all without water and chemical inputs, growing in between the rows of sunflowers: linseed, green pea, chick pea, various types of millets, wheat, safflower and legumes.

The sunflower leaves attract pests and its soil depletion is compensated by the legumes which are nitrogen-fixing.

"In my type of cropping, one absorbs and one gives to the soil, while I get all my food requirements of oils, cereals and vegetable greens,’’ says Samamma.

Samamma’s under-one-acre plot produces, amongst other crops, 150 kg of red ‘horsegram’, 200 kg of millets and 50 kilos of linseed. She keeps 50 kg of grains and 30 kg of gram and sells the rest in the open market.

The 5,000 women in 75 villages are now in various stages of adopting this method of agriculture.

"In the climate change framework, this system of dryland agriculture has the resilience to withstand all the fallouts of elevated temperatures", says P.V. Satheesh, the director of DDS.

Multiple stresses from global warming in India and the Asian continent are foreseen in water scarcity, groundwater salinity, food insecurity and hunger, loss of livelihoods and problems in downstream agriculture that depend on glacial melts.

The women now run a uniquely evolved system of ‘crop financing’ and food-distribution that they have mapped out themselves.

Subscription to the Sangha is by a fistful of grain. Those borrowing grains from this community grain bank then pay back five times the borrowed amount in grain.

The collected grains are then sifted for good seed and the rest is either sold in the open market, sold to members in crisis at low rates, or distributed to poor families in the village.

"I check the earheads of grain for good seed", says 55 year old Akkama, seed bank manager in Hulugera village. "It’s a system handed down to me from my ancestors." The women have stored over 50 different varieties of seeds from local cereals such as millets, wheat, red gram, linseed and sorghum.

The money collected from open market sales every year is deposited in regular banks and the interest earned from them is used to finance loans for members who again complete the cycle by paying back their loan in grain over five years.

DDS has now involved the women in a monitored system of organic produce that is certified by the global Participatory Guarantee Scheme (PGS)’s Organic India Council.

The method is a system of third party certification by organic growers themselves, initiated in India in 2006 by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Indian ministry of agriculture in consultation with farmers and NGOs.

PGS groups are a worldwide phenomenon, operating in countries like the United States, New Zealand, Brazil and France. New initiatives are coming up in Vietnam and South and East Africa.

In Zaheerabad, the organically certified staples and grains are packed and labeled with the PGS certification, taken by a mobile van to be sold in retail to consumers in Hyderabad city 150 kms. Satheesh says the women are swamped with orders.

And yet, these women have come from the poorest rungs of society. Narsamma, 55, says she worked as a labourer 25 years ago, earning a pittance.

She heard about DDS’s self-help group in a neighbouring village and approached the organisation for help.

She has now provided education for five children, two of whom work in NGOs, built a new house and bought cattle and land with DDS and government-support.

" Now, when landlords come to me for borrowing seed, now I can laugh,’’ says the feisty woman who has traveled to London, Peru, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, talking to local farmers about the ecologically sound agriculture practiced by the women of Zaheerabad.

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