09 August 2024

MAINS DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS

Q1. The mishandling of plastic garbage due to increasing urbanisation, population growth, altered consumption patterns, and changing lifestyles has resulted in serious marine contamination and an increasing amount of marine debris. Analyse.

GS II – Environmental Conservation

Introduction:

• The largest bodies of water on Earth are the oceans. The abundance of human activity in the last few decades has had a detrimental effect on marine life in the oceans. The dispersal of hazardous materials into the ocean, including oil, plastic, chemical particles, and trash from industry and agriculture, is referred to as marine pollution or ocean pollution. Given that a vast array of marine animals and plants call the seas home, it is everyone’s duty to contribute to keeping these waters clean so that marine life can flourish for a very long time.
• According to a recent study, the annual amount of plastic waste that enters the ocean from land exceeds 4.8 million tonnes (Mt) and may reach 12.7 Mt. The amount of plastic waste that enters the ocean is increasing quickly, and by 2025, there could be a cumulative input of up to 250 Mt of plastic waste into the ocean.

Maritime areas’ plastic pollution:

• The primary land-based sources of marine plastic are storm and urban runoff, sewage overflows, beachgoers, improper waste disposal and management practices, industrial operations, building, and illicit dumping.
• Plastic found in the ocean is mostly produced by the fishing, boating, and aquaculture industries.
• Plastic breaks down into tiny particles known as microplastics (particles smaller than 5 mm) or nanoplastics (particles smaller than 100 nm) when exposed to solar UV radiation, wind, currents, and other environmental variables.
• Furthermore, little fragments of synthetic polyethylene plastic known as microbeads are used as exfoliants into toothpastes and other personal hygiene products. These little particles find their way into lakes and the ocean through water filtration systems with ease.
• Up to 35% of the major plastic pollution in our oceans comes from plastic particles that wash off of things like synthetic clothing.

Effects of plastic pollution in marine environments:

• Whales, seals, and turtles become entangled in ghostnets, a term for purposefully discarded or inadvertently lost netting that drifts through the ocean.
• An estimated 100,000 marine animals are strangled, suffocated, or injured by plastics every year.
• direct injury to a species
• Of the 1.5 million Laysan albatrosses that inhabit Midway, nearly all are likely to have plastic in their digestive system.
• Approximately one-third of their chicks die, and many of those deaths are due to being fed plastic by their parents.
• Fish and whales may also mistake the plastic as a food source.

Invasive species spreading:

• Marine plastics also facilitate the spread of invasive species that attach to floating plastic in one region and drift long distances to colonize other ecosystems.
• At least 267 species are impacted globally by this plastic marine trash, according to research.

• Because the garbage blocks sunlight, algae is not growing as it should. With less algae, the entire food chain is experiencing a negative disruption.
• In addition, the plastics floating in the ocean are leeching harmful chemicals into the water, which are likely entering the food chain.

• Besides the particles danger to wildlife, on the microscopic level the floating debris can absorb organic pollutants from seawater, including PCBs, DDT, and PAHs.
• These toxin-containing plastic pieces are also eaten by jellyfish, which are then eaten by fish.
• Many of these fish are then consumed by humans, resulting in their ingestion of toxic chemicals

• Toxic contaminants accumulate on the surface of plastic materials as a result of prolonged exposure to seawater. When marine organisms ingest plastic debris, these contaminants enter their digestive systems, and overtime accumulate in the food web.
• The transfer of contaminants between marine species and humans through consumption of seafoodhas been identified as a health hazard, but has not yet been adequately researched.

• Plastic, which is a petroleum product, also contributes toglobal warming.
• If plastic waste is incinerated, it releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, thereby increasing carbon emissions.

• Plastic waste damages the aesthetic value of tourist destinations, leading to decreased tourism-related incomes and major economic costsrelated to the cleaning and maintenance of the sites.

Measures needed:

• Existing international instruments should be further explored to address plastic pollution. The most important are:
• The 1972 Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping Wastes and Other Matter (or the London Convention).
• The 1996 Protocol to the London Convention (the London Protocol).
• The 1978 Protocol to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL).
• Recycling and reuse of plastic materials are the most effective actions available to reduce the environmental impacts of open landfills and open-air burning that are often practiced to manage domestic waste.
• Governments, research institutions and industries also need to work collaboratively redesigning products, and rethink their usage and disposal, in order to reduce microplastics waste from pellets, synthetic textiles and tyres.
• Implement renewable energy sources,such as wind or solar power, to limit off-shore drilling.
• Limit agricultural pesticides and encourage organic farming& eco-friendly pesticide use.
• Proper sewage treatmentand exploration of eco-friendly wastewater treatment options.
• Cut down on the industry and manufacturing waste and contain it into landfillsto avoid spillage.
• Use of Biotechnology:Bioremediation (use of specific microorganisms to metabolize and remove harmful substances) to treat oil spills.
• At individual level reduce carbon footprint by adopting a “green” lifestyle.
• Have a global treatyon banning single-use plastics and collaborated effort to clean up the ocean.
• Identify chemical pollutants hotspots, control the use and release of chemicals in mining, promote recycling of used oil in urban areas.
• Increase funding for marine pollution prevention and control by introducing market-based incentives, applying the “polluter pays” principle.
• Public-private partnerships should also be established to provide financing, improve public awareness and develop innovative approaches to reduce marine pollution.

Measures to tackle marine plastic pollution:

• Local actions are required for mitigating plastic pollution, using mechanisms such as bans on plastic bags, maximum daily limits for emissions into watersheds, and incentives for fishing gear retrieval.
• Countries should come together to establish measurable reduction targets for plastic waste. A meaningful international agreement—one with clearly defined waste reduction targets is the need of the hour.
• Effective policies must take into account all stages of the lifecycle of plastic—connecting producers to users and ultimately to waste managers.
• Nonprofits like 5 Gyres are now pushing an agenda toward public awareness, corporate responsibility and the idea of a circular economy — an economy that focuses on keeping waste to a minimum while maximizing materials’ use.
• Fossil fuel subsidies incentivise the plastic market. Hence, Countries should end fossil fuel subsidies. Annually, 4–8% of oil is used to produce raw plastic.
• India has a major problem dealing with plastics, particularly single-use shopping bags that reach dumping sites, rivers and wetlands along with other waste.
• The most efficient way to deal with the pollution is to control the production and distribution of plastics.
• Banning single-use bags and making consumers pay a significant amount for the more durable ones is a feasible solution.
• Enforcing segregation of waste will retrieve materials and greatly reduce the burden on the environment.
• Waste separation can be achieved in partnership with the community, and presents a major employment opportunity.
• Eco-friendly substitutes (cloth/paper/jute bags, leaves/areca leaf plates, paper straws) should be developed. For this, scientific and financial support (soft loans and subsidies) is required.

Conclusion:

• Marine plastic pollution is a “planetary crisis,” and we should hope for a “Paris-style” global treaty aimed at tackling it. Over three billion people depend on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihoods. In this context, ocean health must be treated as a global issue and all nations should act in concert to implement Sustainable Development Goal 14 i.e. to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. We cannot transform our world into a ‘plastic planet’. What is needed is collective public effort to stop plastic pollution and safeguard our ecosystem/biodiversity.

Q2. Emotional intelligence amidst a crisis situation helps decision makers to maximize the pertinent of emotional intelligent skills to improve decision making. Elucidate.

GS IV – Ethics related issues

Introduction:

• Emotional intelligence or EI is the ability to understand and manage your own emotions, and those of the people around you. Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth.

• According to Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist who helped to popularize emotional intelligence, there are four key elements to it viz. Self-awareness, self-management, social awareness & relationship management.

Significance of Emotional intelligence:

• Using emotions for reason based decisions and policy making.
• Identifying emotions in faces, voices, postures, and other content during public management activities.

• To stay focused, stress should be managed and it involves own reactions to stress or the reactions of others to the stress.

• Independent people evaluate the alternatives and initiate the work by taking appropriate action by executing the right options. People who manage their impulses avoid being distracted and losing control of the situation.

• Whether you’re dealing with a trading partner, competitor, customer or colleague, being able to empathize and be creative in finding win-win solutions will consistently pay off.

• Good networking skills are a staple of job effectiveness for the average worker. Networking has too often been associated with “using” other people, but a heightened EQ ensures a mutually beneficial approach to others.

• When a leader cares about others, he is not a centre of attention and keeps everyone in the loop by making their intentions known.

• Optimistic people have a target that they’re aiming toward. These people are confident in their ability to carry out the required actions and meet the target by looking for successful solutions to problems.

Ways to develop emotional intelligence in civil servants:

• Assessing personal strengths and limitations
• Providing feedback with care
• Maximizing learner choice
• Encouraging participation
• Linking learning goals to personal values
• Adjusting expectations
• Gauging readiness
• Fostering a positive relationship between the trainer and the learner
• Maximizing self-directed change
• Setting clear goal
• Maximizing opportunities to practice emotional intelligence
• Providing frequent feedback on that practice
• Enhancing insight into emotions and thought patterns

• The Center for Creative Leadership even draws on research to suggest that 75% of careers are negatively impacted by emotional competency-related themes. These include the inability to respond adaptively to change, nurture trust, lead teams during tough times, and deal effectively with interpersonal problems. So developing your EI skills will help civils servants perform better in the workplace.