Deploy new technology to monitor green impact

Two related developments recently have underlined the importance of using technology for sustainability. 

At his Independence Day address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Himalayan areas of Ladakh, Leh and Kargil will be developed as carbon-neutral regions. For each tonne of CO2 produced, a tonne will be removed. 

This sets an important benchmark for other states to follow. However, there are parallel concerns about the rules for environment impact assessment (EIA). The draft rules for EIA are worrying, since there seems to be a dilution of scrutiny in favour of speeding up green approvals. 

However, in this debate about the best approach for sustainable development, the role of tech does not seem to have received due attention. While renewable energy and electric vehicles have been discussed, there are several other ways in which technology can aide and accelerate impact assessment. 

Early in 2020, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) launched a web-based platform for environment assessment. Developed in partnership with Abu Dhabi Global Environment Data Initiative, the platform is called Indicator Reporting Information System-3 (IRIS-3). 

UNEP says, “IRIS will use indicators to automatically convert data collected from an organisation’s routine environmental monitoring programmes into a standardised report.” And in the process save thousands of man hours of work on reporting environmental conditions around a project. 

IRIS-3 is a web platform, available as a remotely hosted or intranet app, that makes the assessment and reporting of environmental information at local, national, regional and global scales easier, faster and more unified, says UNEP.

For project owners, delays in approvals is a nagging problem. Using tech to accelerate the assessment will benefit everyone. 

There is also a rapidly enlarging ecosystem of green tech companies and start-ups. With the right direction and guidance, many new solutions can be created to support the use of tech in EIA. 

Take, for instance, assessment of biodiversity in natural water bodies. Monitoring the condition of aquatic ecosystems can be laborious and time-consuming. Many industrial projects depend on water for some critical functions. As a result, monitoring an aquatic ecosystem becomes important for project clearance. Scientists and innovators have come up with bio-monitoring tools where the conditions of species in a water body can be examined just by checking the DNA in a few litres of water. 

Environment regulatory bodies in India are notoriously under-resourced and are unable to police projects. Using tech for pre-project assessment and continuing impact can help them get over the problem of resources. Using space-tech and image mapping of areas is another way to monitor projects. 

“Improved sensors/visuals combined with drones and data analytics can assist with mapping of ecosystems that may be affected by a project and monitoring impacts when a project is implemented. Moreover, advances in ICT improve the ecological/predictive models used for dispersion of pollutants and possible impacts. And, most importantly, emergence of cleantech opens opportunities to include these as alternatives in the actual project (e.g. factory, railroad, etc) that is to be constructed and thereby reduce the environmental impacts of the project,” says Dr René Van Berkel, UNIDO Representative in India.

Companies can be encouraged to use Internet of Things (IoT)-based monitoring to assess the impact on the surrounding ecology. Such IoT sensors are already popular among many manufacturing units, and can be extended to monitor the local environment and the results shared directly with the relevant authorities. 

The ministry of environment, forest and climate change must emphasise the use of emerging technologies to create a progressive EIA framework without diluting its provisions. New ideas and models can result in improved EIA with minimum delays for businesses.