Echoes of nature: Frontline’s top 12 environment stories of 2024
6 days, 4 hours ago

Echoes of nature: Frontline’s top 12 environment stories of 2024

The Hindu  

Published : Dec 17, 2024 18:01 IST - 1 MIN READ Arguably one of the most disturbing headlines from the world of environment came when we rang in the New Year. In January 2024, from a pristine little island in the Indian Ocean, the Great Nicobar Island, author Pankaj Sekhsaria reported on the unimaginable havoc a proposed Rs.72,000 crore infrastructure project would wreak on the fragile ecosystem, on endangered wildlife, and on tribal communities. Through 2024, Frontline has explored vividly—through videos, podcasts and print—humanity’s fatally flawed decisions, which have made India’s environment acutely vulnerable, not just from development projects, but also from the demonic dance of climate change: the landslides in Kerala in the South, and the searing heatwave in the North, combined, left hundreds dead. Read on to understand the complex factors affecting India’s ecological landscape and the urgent need for sustainable solutions.

India  island  wildlife  indias  vulnerable  wreak  nature  frontlines  videos  environment  echoes  2024  world  vividlythrough  12

History of this topic

Frontline Wrapped: Top Ten Defining Economics Narratives of 2024
1 week, 4 days ago

Frontline Wrapped: Top Ten Defining Economics Narratives of 2024

The Hindu  

Published : Dec 12, 2024 20:11 IST - 1 MIN READ India saw a flurry of economic activity in 2024, with major events unfolding throughout the year. From the Election Commission of India’s publication of electoral bonds just weeks before the 2024 Lok Sabha election, to Hindenburg’s allegations against SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, and Gautam Adani’s indictment by the …

A legacy of balance
1 month, 2 weeks ago

A legacy of balance

New Indian Express  

CHENNAI: In his latest book, Speaking with Nature: The Origins of Indian Environmentalism, historian Ramachandra Guha takes readers on a journey through India’s environmental past — a legacy that few are familiar with. “In the environmental movement, both in India and abroad, there’s a trend where people focus only on beautiful landscapes or endangered species that need to be protected, …

A legacy of balance
1 month, 2 weeks ago

A legacy of balance

New Indian Express  

BENGALURU: In his latest book, Speaking with Nature: The Origins of Indian Environmentalism, historian Ramachandra Guha takes readers on a journey through India’s environmental past – a legacy that few are familiar with. Through their lives and writings, these figures – ranging from the poet Rabindranath Tagore to the economist J C Kumarappa – anticipated the environmental challenges we face …

The Enduring Legacy of Gandhi's Environmental Philosophy: A Journey Through India's Enduring Environmentalism
Trending News
1 month, 2 weeks ago

The Enduring Legacy of Gandhi's Environmental Philosophy: A Journey Through India's Enduring Environmentalism

ABP News  

Ramachandra Guha's 'Speaking with Nature: The Origins of Indian Environmentalism' is a nuanced exploration of India's environmental consciousness and its evolution. Guha examines 10 influential thinkers who predated global environmental movements and argues that India's environmentalism has developed its own trajectory shaped by sublime ecological, social, and cultural contexts. The book highlights the importance of livelihood environmentalism, a matter of …

Embracing Nature's Positivity: A Call to Action for a Sustainable Future
2 months ago

Embracing Nature's Positivity: A Call to Action for a Sustainable Future

Times of India  

The article emphasizes the urgency of embracing nature positivity alongside net-zero goals. It highlights the interconnectedness of biodiversity and climate action, emphasizing the need to address both issues together. The article outlines the outcomes of the COP15 summit, including the 23 targets for biodiversity conservation by 2030, which are a vision for a world where nature and humanity coexist harmoniously. …

Climate debate: Criticism of the Economic Survey misses the forest for the trees
4 months, 1 week ago

Climate debate: Criticism of the Economic Survey misses the forest for the trees

Live Mint  

Edward Said recounted how, when he critiqued Western scholars for biased depictions of the East, a prominent scholar dismissed his arguments by attacking his credibility rather than engaging with their substance. On 6 August, an oped in Mint argued that India’s Economic Survey “has wide gaps and odd arguments" on climate change. First, the charge that the survey adopts a …

Earth Overshoot Day to focus on sustainable life
4 months, 3 weeks ago

Earth Overshoot Day to focus on sustainable life

Deccan Chronicle  

India, with over 1.4 billion people, faces significant challenges due to population growth and increased consumption. The Global Footprint Network reports that India’s ecological footprint has grown exponentially. “Currently, India needs 2.6 times its resources to sustain its population, leading to depleted forests, reduced biodiversity, and climate change. A NITI Aayog report warns that by 2030, India’s water demand could …

Improving the language of biodiversity conservation
6 months, 2 weeks ago

Improving the language of biodiversity conservation

The Hindu  

In the midst of a climate emergency, we mark another World Environment Day on Wednesday. Climate links have bolstered biodiversity’s societal values, since the Millennium Ecosystem Assessments that emphasised ecosystem services including carbon sequestration. They wrote that conservation will “remain elusive until there is a clear demonstration of the relevance of biodiversity to people’s well-being.“ Further, “the link between biodiversity …

Climate change impacts millions in India. But as the country votes, some politicians skirt the issue
7 months ago

Climate change impacts millions in India. But as the country votes, some politicians skirt the issue

Associated Press  

BEED, India — Almost 970 million Indians are voting in general elections amid sweltering heat and unpredictable weather extremes exacerbated by human-caused climate change, leading to loss of livelihood, forced migration and increasingly difficult living conditions for millions across the country. Issues related to religion, caste and employment still determine most Indians’ political preferences, but Koll said that at local …

Climate litigation gets shot in the arm, climate justice is not far behind in India
8 months, 1 week ago

Climate litigation gets shot in the arm, climate justice is not far behind in India

Hindustan Times  

The seeds of climate justice that were sown a few years ago in several milestone judgments by the apex court, have now perhaps given rise to its first significant shoot in the form of the judgment delivered earlier this week in the now famous Great Indian Bustard case. While the apex court has to be lauded for fortifying and expanding …

Water resource inadequacy is a challenge India must take head on
11 months ago

Water resource inadequacy is a challenge India must take head on

Live Mint  

The notion of a ‘triple planetary’ crisis encompassing climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss has become outdated in the face of complexities captured by the relatively new term ‘polycrisis.’ This modern challenge involves the intertwining of climate change, environmental disruptions, widening social inequalities, pandemic effects and geopolitical polarization. India can tap the climate-development nexus by conserving and using its water …

‘You cannot prepare for the future without having a sense of the past’
11 months, 1 week ago

‘You cannot prepare for the future without having a sense of the past’

The Hindu  

The recently concluded Vijay Thiruvady Memorial Lecture, saw Mahesh Rangarajan elucidate on how the 20th century shaped India’s present and continues to impact its future. Titled, ‘India Ekologika: Revisiting India’s 20th-Century Environmental History’, his talk highlighted how decisions made at crucial junctures of history had a profound impact on politics, economy, culture and society. BIC was honoring the memory of …

Review of Johannes Urpelainen’s Energy and Environment in India: Fossil-free future
1 year ago

Review of Johannes Urpelainen’s Energy and Environment in India: Fossil-free future

The Hindu  

India’s environmental crisis remains unaddressed partly because the expanding middle class settles for private solutions that come at a cost to the environment, and the poor, argues Johaness Urpelainen in his new book, Energy and Environment in India. For a majority of consumers, diesel generators provide reliable source of energy; groundwater pumps ensure water supply; air purifiers counter air pollution, …

View From India | Facing climate risks
1 year ago

View From India | Facing climate risks

The Hindu  

As the ongoing UN COP-28 climate summit comes to a close in Dubai on December 12, 2023, a draft of the Global Goal on Adaptation said all countries must have in place a detailed plan by 2025, to adapt to the current and future impacts of climate change in their countries, and must demonstrate progress in implementing such a plan …

World not on track to achieve most SDGs by 2030
1 year, 2 months ago

World not on track to achieve most SDGs by 2030

The Hindu  

Lamenting the lack of progress on various Sustainable Development Goals, including biodiversity protection and greenhouse gas emissions, world leaders at the SDG Summit in New York on September 18 and 19, 2023, once again reaffirmed their shared commitment to eradicate poverty and end hunger. They also recognised that the world was on track to meet only 15% of its 169 …

India’s climate crisis susceptibility and the way forward
1 year, 6 months ago

India’s climate crisis susceptibility and the way forward

Hindustan Times  

The climate crisis poses an increasingly complex challenge worldwide, with profound implications for ecosystems, economies, and societies. India's vulnerability to climate crisis necessitates a long-term approach to build resilience and adapt to the changing climate. By adopting measures that enhance resilience in sectors such as agriculture, water management, and infrastructure, India can mitigate the adverse impacts of the climate crisis …

World Environment Day: Arati Kumar-Rao wants you to listen to the land
1 year, 6 months ago

World Environment Day: Arati Kumar-Rao wants you to listen to the land

Live Mint  

There is an interesting anecdote from Arati Kumar-Rao’s new book, Marginlands: Indian Landscapes On The Brink, which best describes the beauty of India’s vast natural landscapes and the urgency to rescue them from the precipice of destruction. The people of the Thar get only forty cloudy days in a year, and yet they have as many names for clouds.” Many …

World Earth Month 2023: Indian Individuals Who Are Trying To Make The World A Better Place Through Their Sustainable Beliefs And Work
1 year, 8 months ago

World Earth Month 2023: Indian Individuals Who Are Trying To Make The World A Better Place Through Their Sustainable Beliefs And Work

News 18  

It is an absolute no-brainer that all of us will soon be facing the brunt of the damages that we have caused in the form of global warming. Samriddh Burman View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Burlap People As a young tennis player playing in the junior circuit, Samriddh had the opportunity to travel far and …

World Earth Day: Climate change has significant implications for health, food security, and livelihoods in India
1 year, 8 months ago

World Earth Day: Climate change has significant implications for health, food security, and livelihoods in India

Firstpost  

Multidimensional nature of the relationship between climate change and associated reverberations makes it very difficult for India to address it, especially in the context of its socio-economically vulnerable population The Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emphasised that the global surface temperature will exceed the targets of 1.5 C and 2 C above pre-industrial levels set …

Book Review | Bouquet of surprises bound to change your outlook on conservation
1 year, 9 months ago

Book Review | Bouquet of surprises bound to change your outlook on conservation

Deccan Chronicle  

How well named is this book? The first essay itself takes you to the core of the problem: how wildlife research cannot be independent of conservation and how conservation cannot be limited to one species. Although the story of the hungry hordes of green sea turtles chomping destructively through the seagrass meadows of five atolls in the Indian Ocean brings …

The age of ‘climate fiction’: how Indian novels and cinema have spotlighted stark realities with more nuance than the West
1 year, 9 months ago

The age of ‘climate fiction’: how Indian novels and cinema have spotlighted stark realities with more nuance than the West

The Hindu  

In Janice Pariat’s latest novel, Shai’s story begins with a declaration — “to go back to where I came from — the wettest place on Earth”. No genre switch, this Works like Pariat’s, Amitav Ghosh’s The Living Mountain, and Kartiki Gonsalves’s film The Elephant Whisperers are constructing climate realities where the environment exists as a backdrop, a protagonist, but also …

India's Tribal Land: Can Both Development & Conservation Be Andaman's Priority?
1 year, 10 months ago

India's Tribal Land: Can Both Development & Conservation Be Andaman's Priority?

The Quint  

Andaman & Nicobar has certain peculiarities eg, six indigenous tribes and native only to these distant Islands, a reserved/protected forest cover of 94%, abundance of flora and fauna, unmodernised economy with tourism and fishing as mainstay and in desperate need for additional investments for socio-economic uplift. How do you leverage its unmatched geographical and strategic potential hosting the only ‘Chinese …

Climate-proofing India’s socio-economic trajectory
1 year, 10 months ago

Climate-proofing India’s socio-economic trajectory

Live Mint  

With existing socio-economic challenges, India needs a people-first development paradigm to move towards a climate-secure future, and become a leading voice on climate action for the Global South. With programmes around green fuel, climate-friendly farming, green buildings, low-carbon mobility, and policies for efficient energy use across various economic sectors, the 2023-24 Budget lays a strong foundation for green growth – …

Study looks into status of tribal communities at an all-India level and in central India
2 years ago

Study looks into status of tribal communities at an all-India level and in central India

The Hindu  

The Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation, an independent society set up under the Ministry of Rural Development, on Monday released a first-of-its-kind Tribal Development Report-2022, which, over two volumes, looks at the status of tribal communities at an all-India level and in central India with respect to livelihoods, agriculture, natural resources, economy, migration, governance, human development, gender, health, education, art, and …

5 questions over India's emission plan at COP27
2 years, 1 month ago

5 questions over India's emission plan at COP27

Live Mint  

The strategy focuses on low-carbon electricity and transport systems, low-emission industrial systems, carbon mitigation technologies, energy-efficient urban infrastructure, enhanced forest cover, and the economic and financial aspects of low-carbon development. India is a signatory to the Paris Agreement, under which countries must formulate and communicate long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies, taking into account their common but differentiated responsibilities …

A documentary series of 16 stories of resilience shot in five of India’s most climate-vulnerable states
2 years, 1 month ago

A documentary series of 16 stories of resilience shot in five of India’s most climate-vulnerable states

The Hindu  

Women from 10 self-help groups from Tandahara village in Odisha’s Puri district have been nurturing a forest, which will provide a measure of protection from the water, especially seawater intrusion, that destroys their fields. Elsewhere, at Kalu village in Rajasthan’s Bikaner district, a ‘community facility centre’ helps pastoralists build climate resilience by storing water for cattle in the drought-hit region …

India at 75 | Stepping back from an ecological abyss
2 years, 4 months ago

India at 75 | Stepping back from an ecological abyss

The Hindu  

Growing up in the 1970s and the early 1980s, many of us who were passionate about environmental issues were inspired by these and other movements. Ironically, a component of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat is new coal mining in central India, displacing already self-reliant Adivasi communities and rendering them dependent on government and corporations. Indeed, India’s crafts …

India’s climate imperative
2 years, 5 months ago

India’s climate imperative

The Hindu  

In the absence of COVID-19, climate change-induced disasters would have been India’s biggest red alert in recent years. The heatwave that scorched Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and New Delhi this year; torrential downpours in south India in 2021; and the super cyclone Amphan that battered West Bengal and Odisha in 2020 are symbols of man-made climate change. Labour losses from …

Book Review | The mountain lives to tell us what we know and no more
2 years, 5 months ago

Book Review | The mountain lives to tell us what we know and no more

Deccan Chronicle  

In our geography textbook of Grade VI or VII, there was a mention of the harsh summer months people of Rajasthan living around the desert belt have to endure. Such, too, is the impact of Amitav Ghosh’s recently released book The Living Mountain. However, spanning just 37 pages, The Living Mountain belies the expectations with which one goes to Ghosh …

Coastal Erosion, Toxic Rivers, Rising Water Spread: Report on India’s Environment Paints Grim Picture
2 years, 6 months ago

Coastal Erosion, Toxic Rivers, Rising Water Spread: Report on India’s Environment Paints Grim Picture

News 18  

On World Environment Day, a new report has revealed alarming facts about where India stands amid the rising global threat of climate change. Data published in the report ‘State of India’s environment 2022: In figures’ by Centre for Science and Environment states that 25 glacial lakes and water bodies in India, China and Nepal have recorded over 40 per cent …

Heatwaves linked to man-made climate change: TNQ-Janelia webinar
2 years, 7 months ago

Heatwaves linked to man-made climate change: TNQ-Janelia webinar

The Hindu  

India is gripped in the throes of a long spell of heatwaves and there is compelling evidence that a significant portion of it is due to human-induced climate change, said scientists who were part of an online webinar on climate change organised as part of the TNQ-Janelia Climate Change Summit on Friday. Societal transformation, mitigating carbon dioxide emissions and adaption …

Earth Day: India Finds Itself in Catch-22 Situation, Ecosystem-based Adaptation a Ray of Hope
2 years, 8 months ago

Earth Day: India Finds Itself in Catch-22 Situation, Ecosystem-based Adaptation a Ray of Hope

News 18  

Since the 20th century, India has witnessed continuing change in weather conditions and consequent impact on human and economic capital. Ecosystem-based Adaptation is a promising approach that strives to regain this balance by restoring the natural resources and also building adaptive capacities of people to combat the adverse impacts of climate change. EbA Contributions to Climate Change Goals The global …

Rich countries can’t wash their hands off with net-zero targets
2 years, 9 months ago

Rich countries can’t wash their hands off with net-zero targets

Live Mint  

The sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change comes in four parts, three of them by three different working groups, while the fourth integrates the findings of the three working group reports into a synthesis. If the developed countries carry out the expenditure on sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere the expensive way and on carrying …

JLF2022: Climate Change, Energy Conservation And Clean Energy To Be Major Topics Of Discussion
2 years, 9 months ago

JLF2022: Climate Change, Energy Conservation And Clean Energy To Be Major Topics Of Discussion

News 18  

Scheduled from 5th-14th March 2022, the Jaipur Literature Festival will bring a brilliant line-up of sessions on climate change and environment. In conversation with former diplomat and author Navtej Sarna, Maçães will discuss book Geopolitics for the End Time: From the Pandemic to the Climate Crisis. https://www.instagram.com/p/CaopdRfBpKj/ Urgency of Borrowed Time will also bring Lakshmi Puri, former Assistant Secretary-General of …

The climate crisis worsens
2 years, 9 months ago

The climate crisis worsens

Hindustan Times  

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ’s report, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, released on Monday, is an unvarnished account of the expanding footprint of the climate crisis on the world. Mass mortality events on land and ocean; first climate-driven extinctions; loss of hundreds of local species; death and disease due to extreme heat are some of the …

RGNUL: International Interdisciplinary Conference On "Literature, Environment And Climate Change" [7-8 April 2022]
2 years, 11 months ago

RGNUL: International Interdisciplinary Conference On "Literature, Environment And Climate Change" [7-8 April 2022]

Live Law  

The Department of English and Public Relations, Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab is organising an international interdisciplinary conference in collaboration with Punjab Pollution Control Board, Patiala; Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, New Delhi and Assam Don Bosco University on "Literature, Environment and Climate Change".The conference will be held on hybrid mode. Research Papers from Academicians, Professionals and Research Scholars across …

In her new book Watershed, climate expert Mridula Ramesh stresses on urgent need of water management in India
2 years, 11 months ago

In her new book Watershed, climate expert Mridula Ramesh stresses on urgent need of water management in India

Firstpost  

“While conscience is good for spurring a change, it is less effective in sustaining a change. and Founder of the Sundaram Climate Institute, is out with a new book titled Watershed: How We Destroyed India’s Water and How We Can Save It. As water becomes more precious going forward, water management births new sectors – sewage treatment, waste water markets, …

The climate crisis is about the Global South’s present
3 years, 1 month ago

The climate crisis is about the Global South’s present

Al Jazeera  

COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, was an event where less than 0.0004 percent of the population met to negotiate our lives. This exclusion becomes a refusal to acknowledge the proximity of the climate crisis and casts it as a problem of the future when millions are dying today. Our campaigns and conversations focused on the future, and they did not measure …

One or two disasters won't wake up India: Amitav Ghosh on climate crisis
3 years, 1 month ago

One or two disasters won't wake up India: Amitav Ghosh on climate crisis

India Today  

As COP26, or this year’s United Nations climate summit, began in Scotland’s Glasgow, India Today TV Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai spoke to author Amitav Ghosh, who has worked extensively on environmental issues, on the Indian situation. I wish I could say that one or two disasters would wake the country up but it’s clear that it’s not going to happen. …

Climate crisis: Why India must focus on adaptation
3 years, 2 months ago

Climate crisis: Why India must focus on adaptation

Hindustan Times  

Two recent publications point out pathways for India to meet the challenges posed by the climate crisis. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ’s Sixth Assessment Report, released in August, acknowledged India’s efforts towards pledges on emission, but advocated a net-zero deadline. The message for India, therefore, is not so much mitigation, but to go for a quicker, broader, and …

IPCC Climate Change Report: What Should Be India's Immediate Plan Of Action?
3 years, 4 months ago

IPCC Climate Change Report: What Should Be India's Immediate Plan Of Action?

The Quint  

"For example, we saw how cities like Mumbai and Kolkata were flooded just a few days back. The immediate step for something like this would be to re-design our drainage systems to adapt to climate change projections. An important policy aspect for India to look at is also how it extends "climate services" to those most vulnerable to the impact …

IPCC Climate Change Report: What Should Be India's Immediate Plan Of Action?
3 years, 4 months ago

IPCC Climate Change Report: What Should Be India's Immediate Plan Of Action?

The Quint  

"For example, we saw how cities like Mumbai and Kolkata were flooded just a few days back. The immediate step for something like this would be to re-design our drainage systems to adapt to climate change projections. An important policy aspect for India to look at is also how it extends "climate services" to those most vulnerable to the impact …

UN's New Climate Change Report: Why It's Important & What It Means for India
3 years, 4 months ago

UN's New Climate Change Report: Why It's Important & What It Means for India

The Quint  

"For India, the predictions in this report mean people labouring in longer and more frequent heat waves, warmer nights for our winter crops, erratic monsoon rains for our summer crops, destructive floods and storms that disrupt power supply for drinking water or medical oxygen production," said Ulka Kelkar, director, climate program, World Resources Institute India. Other climate experts spoke about …

An underrated ecological crisis
3 years, 6 months ago

An underrated ecological crisis

Hindustan Times  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday, reiterated that the world needs to come together to combat land degradation as a “collective responsibility” as it threatens the foundation of societies, economies, food security, health, safety, and quality of life. More than 3.2 billion people worldwide are at risk from the effects of land degradation, many of whom live in the world’s …

Regulation redux: The Hindu Editorial on the Supreme Court query on an environment watchdog
3 years, 9 months ago

Regulation redux: The Hindu Editorial on the Supreme Court query on an environment watchdog

The Hindu  

The Supreme Court’s notice to the Centre on a public interest plea to set up a national environmental regulator under the Environment Act, 1986 revives an issue that successive governments have preferred to ignore, in spite of specific orders passed by the same court more than nine years ago. The draft Environmental Impact Assessment Notification 2020, which seeks to advance …

Aligning growth, politics and climate
3 years, 10 months ago

Aligning growth, politics and climate

Hindustan Times  

As Covid-19 vaccines roll out, the focus has shifted to economic recovery. From United States President Joe Biden’s climate leaders summit, the G-7 in the United Kingdom to the United Nations’ High-Level Dialogue on Energy, G-20 meetings, and Conference of the Parties-26 climate negotiations, India will face pressure this year to announce a target year for net-zero emissions. State-run distribution …

Ignoring the environment is bad economics
3 years, 11 months ago

Ignoring the environment is bad economics

Live Mint  

In hindsight, India’s tryst with liberalization came only a few years after a pivotal but increasingly forgotten moment in the world’s environmental history, the Bhopal Gas Tragedy of 1984. It developed a feeble framework to protect ecology and people; environment remained a mutable variable of India’s economic policy, appended to its corporate growth. Our deteriorating environment—abysmal air quality, toxin-laden water, …

Book review: Urgent need for conservation action to save India’s habitats
3 years, 11 months ago

Book review: Urgent need for conservation action to save India’s habitats

The Hindu  

T HE very first photograph in the book has you hooked. The caption lends further weight to the visual: “Occupying just 2.4% of the earth’s total land area and harbouring 7% of the world’s flora and 6.5% of the world’s fauna, India ranks among the world’s 17 most mega-diverse countries and has ecosystems representing practically every biome of the world.” …

Pay heed to the voice of David Attenborough, writes Mark Tully
4 years, 3 months ago

Pay heed to the voice of David Attenborough, writes Mark Tully

Hindustan Times  

Last week, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called the renowned naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough “the voice of nature” while presenting him the Indira Gandhi Award for Peace, Disarmament and Development. Attenborough said it was up to us, the voters, to make it clear that we want politicians to act to avoid the major crisis he fears we are …

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