Addressing the Climate Crisis: The Urgent Need for Sustainable Resource Management
Authors:   Deputy Head and Associate Professor,  Symbiosis Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability (S.C.C.C.S.),  Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune-412115 (India), Prakash Om 
Published: January 2025

Excess release of carbon in the form of greenhouse gases is a major cause of global warming and climate change. Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) are considered prominent greenhouse gases that trigger the problem of global warming. The global warming potential of methane and nitrous oxide is several-fold higher than CO2, but generally, when we discuss global warming and climate change, we only think about carbon emission in the form of CO2 and neglect the contribution of CH4 and N2O. According to the recent data of the Keeling Curve, which continuously measures the concentration of atmospheric CO2, it gradually increases with time, exceeding >425 ppm, which is severely higher than the preindustrial era. The impact of climate change is visible in different forms, including polar ice melting, rising sea levels, and excess precipitation and flood in some areas, while shorter winters, longer summers and droughts in other areas. Changes in the life cycle of plants and migratory behaviour of birds, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, and disturbed biogeochemical cycling of materials are some other visible impacts of climate change. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has decided to check the average global temperature increase up to 1.5°C from the preindustrial era by the end of this century to reduce the deleterious effects of climate change, but it is believed that if all the signatory states follow the strict norms it unavoidable and we have to develop right mitigation, adaptation and resilience strategy to cope with climate change issues. The Government of India launched its National Action Plan on Climate Change (N.A.P.C.C.), including 8-different missions, on 30 June 2008. Under the National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change (NMSKCC), India updated its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in August 2022 and committed to achieve the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2070 in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting (COP-27) in November 2022. The aim of The National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change (NMSKCC), implemented by DST, is to promote research, knowledge generation, and capacity building related to climate science

Understanding the cause-effect relationship is a prerequisite to eradicate or mitigate the problems. In this case, understanding the source and sink relationship of the emitted carbon footprint is essential. The burning of fossil fuels for industrial transport and electricity generation is one of the biggest sources of environmental carbon. In addition to CO2, methane is another potent greenhouse gas with 28 times more greenhouse potential on a 100-year scale. Anaerobic degradation of waste at open garbage dumping sites (Landfills) by methanogenic archaea and biomethanation activity in waterlogged rice paddies and wetlands is a prominent source of environmental methane and contributes substantially to the problem of climate change. In addition to methane and carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, a by-product of denitrification pathway, is another biggest contributor to global warming. Soil fertilization induces release of nitrous oxide in the environment. Similarly, wetlands and wastewater treatment plants also contribute substantial amount of nitrous oxide release into the environment. According to a recent estimate, wastewater treatment plants release an aviation industry-equivalent amount of carbon into the environment in the form of CO2, CH4 and N2O. In addition, Cement and Steel industries emit substantial amounts of carbon in the form of CO2.These are some prominent sources of environmental carbon footprintsthat are responsible for greenhouse effects, global warming, and related climate change. In contrast to different carbon sources of the environment, soil, wetlands, oceans, and forests serve as major natural sinks (ecological footprint) for carbon and play important roles in carbon sequestration. Furthermore, the majority of the population thinks that burning fossil fuels and vehicular carbon emission is the only source of environmental carbon, neglecting other potent sources of methane and nitrous oxide. Emissions from livestock, agricultural practices, wastewater treatment plants, open waste degradation at garbage dumping sites, wetlands, rice paddies, and ruminants are also substantially contributing to the problem of warming and climate change, which needs due attention. On most of the platforms, we mainly discussed about capture and release of carbon in the form of CO2 and neglect other potent source of grren house gases like CH4 and N2O, which constitute a substantial portion of the environmental carbon footprint. We have to think about it and start developing a mitigation model and capture strategies for them.

India is an agricultural-rich nation, and agricultural practices release substantial carbon into the environment and produce biomass in surplus amount. Minimal attention has been paid on soil conservation, mitigation of excess fertilization, methane mitigation from rice paddies, and burning and degradation of agrobiomass in the open, either in the field or at garbage dumping sites. Implementation of sustainable agriculture practices at the community level and promotion of the development of biomass-based fuels like bioethanol and biogas definitely contribute to carbon mitigation practices of the nation.

Despite being one of the main sources of global carbon emission and a cheap way of municipal solid waste management, limited attention has been given to landfills and their impact on urban warming, climate change, and their relation to public health. The practices of degradation of waste at open garbage dumping sites should be restricted and sanitary landfills with leachate and gas collection systems should br developed. Collected methane can be upgraded and used as high-quality biofuel. The development of sanitary landfills with methane and leachate collection systems is a current need in India. It prevents the spread of infection in the nearby communities as well as captured biogas can be upgraded into bio-CNG using the potential of hydrogenotrophic methanogens, which is another prominent area of energy research for India because, along with carbon capture and mitigation, it will provide high-quality biogas for fuel purposes. Thus, it is clear that non-judicious or non-sustainable practices of agriculture, garbage management, urbanisation, and wastewater treatment are responsible for emerging climate risks and we have to expand and preserve the ecological footprint for better carbon sequestration and climate risk mitigation. Sustainable CO2 capture technology should be developed to mitigate released carbon and convert it into another valuable resource like biogas or methanol. In addition, thinking about clean energy, solar panel wind and carbon capture from the cement and steel industry, funding agencies should also divert their attention on various ways to mitigate or use methane and nitrous oxide release from wastewater treatment plants, ruminants, agriculture practices and other sources. Experts should develop efficient mitigation and capture models for better results. In addition, soil preservation, wetlands maintenance and conservation, and conservation of grasslands and forests should be promoted to increase the natural carbon sink or ecological footprint of nature. The promotion of methanogenesis and methanotrophy-related research can play a crucial role in the development of carbon capture and climate risk mitigation strategies in future.