India exceeds target for terrestrial protected areas
India has already exceeded the target set in conserving terrestrial protected areas under the 2020 Aichi Biodiversity Targets at CoP-10 two years ago. Under the Aichi Targets, it was agreed that at least 17 per cent of the world’s terrestrial areas and 10 per cent of marine areas would be equitably managed and conserved.
National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) Chairman P. Balakrishna said that the country was currently conserving 20 per cent of the terrestrial protected areas as against the target of at least 17 per cent. He was talking to reporters on Thursday after the release of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report, which tracked the progress of internationally-agreed targets on the world’s protected areas.
The ‘Protected Planet Report 2012’ said half of the world’s richest biodiversity zones remain entirely unprotected in spite of a 60 per cent increase in protected areas since 1990.Despite the growing number of nature reserves, national parks and protected areas around the globe, the current investment in protected areas was only around half of what was needed to support endangered species, protect threatened habitats and deliver full benefits that they could deliver.
The report stated that poor management, under-funding and a lack of critical data on protected areas meant that the world was making insufficient progress towards the 2020 goals.
According to recent figures, just 12 per cent of the world’s terrestrial areas were thought to be protected. To meet the CBD target of 17 per cent, an additional six million square kms of land and inland waters have to be recognised as protected by world governments. Overall, protection was higher in developing regions (13 per cent of total area) than in developed regions (11.6 per cent). Around 1.6 per cent of the global ocean area was protected and to meet the target of 10 per cent, an additional eight million square km of marine and coastal areas would need to be recognised as protected areas, an area just over the size of Australia.
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Article No.2
Indian cities rank low on ‘most prosperous’ list: U.N. report
New Delhi and Mumbai figure low on the list of prosperous cities across the globe, but have the potential to make it to the top rung, says a United Nation’s report.
Released in the city on Wednesday, the State of the World’s Cities report by the U.N. Habitat ranks New Delhi at 58 and while Mumbai has been placed at 52 among 95 cities. The reasons for Indian cities being ranked low is the poor status of development indicators like infrastructure, environmental conditions and avenues for employment.
Commenting on India’s ranking in the global list, Eduardo Lopez Moreno, chief author of the report, said New Delhi and Mumbai can be described as cities with “medium” performance. He blamed low productivity, and incapability of the cities to generate jobs and encourage trade and investment for their poor performance.
These cities are halfway to prosperity, but both have been penalised for poor environmental conditions, pollution etc. They still need to improve in all dimensions such as productivity, quality of life, adequate infrastructure, equity and environmental sustainability,” Mr. Moreno said.
The report classifies cities into groups, based on their performance, while India is in Group IV, countries in Europe and North America are in Group I, which has countries demonstrating better integrity of all dimensions (productivity, quality of life, adequate infrastructure, equity and environmental sustainability) and high volume of good services and economic fundamentals, Mr. Moreno pointed out.
Though the report focused primarily on New Delhi and Mumbai, it does mention the achievements in the IT sector in cities such as Bangalore, and Hyderabad’s position as the pharmaceutical capital of India.
On information and communications technology in Asian cities, the report says Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai feature mobile telephone connection rates of 138, 112, 102 and 143 per cent respectively.
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