February 2026
In short: India's wildlife, climate and conservation news this month — distilled for SI/Constable Prelims.
Current Affairs — India › Environment · 15 min read · Free to read · English & Telugu
Bilingual study notes for the Andhra Pradesh Police SI & Constable exams (SLPRB AP) by AP Police Hub, a product of Anvil Academy.
February 2026's environment round-up beyond the Science digest — the Budget's ₹20,000-crore Carbon Capture push, the Supreme Court handing river-pollution monitoring to the NGT, the Great Nicobar project's environmental-clearance controversy, illegal rat-hole mining deaths in Meghalaya, and the Fishing Cat's first stronghold assessment at Kaziranga.
February 2026 — At a Glance
Beyond the Thwaites Glacier and forest-fire stories already covered in this month's Science digest, February 2026 carried a genuinely separate stream of environment news. The Union Budget 2026-27 committed ₹20,000 crore over five years to Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS); the Supreme Court closed its 2021 suo motu river-pollution proceedings and handed primary monitoring to the National Green Tribunal, against a backdrop of 43% of monitored river stretches found polluted. The NGT separately upheld the environmental clearance for the controversial Great Nicobar mega-infrastructure project despite serious ecological and tribal-rights concerns, while illegal rat-hole mining claimed more than 20 lives in Meghalaya. On a lighter note, the first scientific assessment of the Fishing Cat established Kaziranga as a stronghold of the species, and the UN approved its first carbon credits under the Paris Agreement's Article 6.4 mechanism.
1. Climate & Carbon Technologies
Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS)
- The news — Union Budget 2026-27 allocated ₹20,000 crore over five years to support the development and deployment of CCUS technologies — a decisive step toward India's 'Net Zero 2070' goal.
- The three-stage process — Capture — CO₂ separated from power plants/factories or directly from the air (Direct Air Capture); Utilisation — converted into Green Urea, methanol, building materials or used for Enhanced Oil Recovery; Storage — unused CO₂ injected into deep geological formations (saline aquifers, depleted oil/gas fields).
- Why it matters for India — The only known technology for decarbonising hard-to-electrify, CO₂-intensive sectors like steel, cement, oil & gas; India is the world's 3rd-largest CO₂ emitter after China and the US, and NITI Aayog targets 750 mtpa of capture/utilisation/storage.
- Challenges — High costs (US$ 100-150 billion upfront for 750 mtpa capacity); underdeveloped CO₂-utilisation technologies; geological storage risks (forceful injection can induce micro-seismicity); no clear legal/regulatory framework for storage-site liability.
Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (Article 6.4)
- The news — The United Nations approved the first carbon credits under this global market mechanism, involving a project in Myanmar coordinated with the Republic of Korea.
- About Article 6 — Article 6.4 is a carbon-crediting mechanism under the Paris Agreement — a country that reduces emissions can have those reductions credited to sell to a company/country elsewhere, encouraging verifiable cuts and attracting climate finance. Article 6.2 provides accounting/reporting guidance; Article 6.8 covers non-market-based cooperation.
Peatlands — the Congo Basin's Locked-Away Carbon
- The news — Lake Mai Ndombe and Tumba, Democratic Republic of Congo, are releasing carbon locked away in surrounding peatlands for thousands of years.
- About peatlands — A peatland is waterlogged land with layers of accumulated, decaying organic surface material (peat). The Congo Basin's swamps and peatlands cover just 0.3% of Earth's land surface yet hold one-third of the carbon stored in the world's tropical peatlands; peatland drainage and fires are estimated to contribute at least 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) — Ocean Carbon Report
- What — UNESCO's IOC (152 members, including India; secretariat in Paris) released its Integrated Ocean Carbon Research (IOC-R) 2026 report — highlighting oceans as a major carbon sink: cold ocean waters dissolve and transport CO₂ to deep layers for long-term storage (the 'solubility pump'), and oceans exchange carbon with rivers and melting ice.
2. Ecosystems Under Pressure
Great Nicobar Mega-Infrastructure Project — Clearance Upheld Amid Controversy
- The news — The NGT, while noting the 'strategic importance of the project', upheld its environmental clearance and compliance with ICRZ (Island Coastal Regulation Zone) and CRZ norms.
- About the project — Located on Great Nicobar Island (southernmost island of Andaman & Nicobar), covering parts of Galathea Bay, Campbell Bay and the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve; envisions transforming the remote outpost into a major transshipment and defence hub, with an integrated township, a 450 MVA gas-and-solar power plant, and a dual-use civil-military airport. Implemented by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDCO) with NITI Aayog.
- Regulatory & ecological concerns — The Environmental Impact Assessment relied on single-season data instead of a comprehensive multi-season study; proposed compensatory afforestation in Haryana is considered inadequate to offset the loss of a tropical rainforest ecosystem; the project proceeded even after the tribal council withdrew its consent under the Forest Rights Act (FRA).
- Threat to biodiversity & tribal population — The project diverts approximately 130 sq. km of tropical rainforest (felling one million trees), home to the Nicobar megapode, Nicobar tree shrew, giant leatherback turtles and corals; may negatively impact the tribal population, including the Shompen (a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group) and the Nicobarese. The island falls in the highest seismic-risk zone (Zone VI).
- Strategic significance for India — The island overlooks the Strait of Malacca, through which 40% of world trade and most of China's energy imports pass; currently 75% of India's transshipment cargo is handled at foreign ports, raising logistics costs — a factor the NGT weighed against the ecological concerns.
River Pollution in India — Supreme Court Hands Monitoring to the NGT
- The news — The Supreme Court closed its 2021 suo motu proceedings on polluted rivers and transferred primary monitoring responsibility to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), reasoning that specialised tribunals are better equipped to monitor these situations continuously.
- Legal reaffirmation — The Court reaffirmed that the right to live in a pollution-free, hygienic environment with human dignity is part of Article 21 — building on the landmark M.C. Mehta vs. Union of India (1987) precedent, which restrained industries from releasing polluting effluents into the Ganga.
- Status of river pollution — CPCB's 'Polluted River Stretches for Restoration of Water Quality – 2025' found 43% of rivers polluted — 296 polluted stretches identified across 271 rivers, based on data from 623 rivers; only 62% of monitored locations complied with BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) criteria for outdoor bathing. Separately, at 112 of 434 stations studied, at least one trace/toxic metal was found beyond the safe limit.
- Why enforcement fails — Fragmented governance across multiple agencies (e.g., leather tanneries in Kanpur persistently discharge toxic chemicals into the Ganga despite numerous SC directives); underperformance of schemes — only 69% of Namami Gange funds were utilised up to 2024-25; more than 60% of India's sewage flows into rivers untreated.
Rat-Hole Mining — Illegal Coal Mining Claims Lives in Meghalaya
- The news — Illegal rat-hole mining has claimed more than 20 lives in Meghalaya during this reporting period.
- What it is — A primitive, unscientific coal-mining method — vegetation is cleared, narrow pits dug into hill slopes to reach coal seams, and workers enter horizontal tunnels to extract coal by hand (side-cutting/box-cutting); prone to collapse due to a lack of engineered roofs and side-wall protection.
- Why it continues — Meghalaya's coal seams are unusually thin, making rat-hole mining more economically viable than opencast mining; lack of alternative livelihoods and fragmented, small/community-owned landholdings make regulation difficult.
- Regulatory status — The NGT banned rat-hole mining in Meghalaya in 2014, calling it unscientific and unsafe for workers — a ban the Supreme Court upheld; Meghalaya also has a framework under the Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act, 1957 to prevent illegal mining, transport and storage.
3. Species & Wildlife in the News
Fishing Cat — First Stronghold Assessment at Kaziranga
- The news — The first scientific assessment has established Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve as a stronghold of the Fishing Cat (*Prionailurus viverrinus*).
- About the species — A powerful feline, about twice the size of a house cat; inhabits wetlands and mangroves in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Gulf of Thailand — in India, found mainly in the Sundarbans, Himalayan foothills along the Ganga & Brahmaputra valleys, and the Western Ghats. A nocturnal hunter that preys on fish, frogs, crustaceans, snakes and birds.
- Conservation status — IUCN Red List: Vulnerable; Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I; CITES: Appendix II; the state animal of West Bengal.
Other wildlife & species developments — quick facts| Place / Species | Why in the news |
|---|
| Kuno National Park, MP | Three cubs born to a South African cheetah, under India's cheetah-reintroduction programme |
| Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve, Chhattisgarh | Chhattisgarh Forest Department establishes 'hornbill restaurants' in Gariaband district to protect the rare Malabar Pied Hornbill |
| Kaziranga NP, Assam | Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP) study examines reasons for decline and present confinement of megaherbivores, especially the Indian one-horned rhinoceros |
| West Bengal coast | Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) uncovers two remarkable 'bio-warrior' marine worm (polychaete) species |