Page - 22 - in options, Volume summer 2019

A 2011 national census found that approximately 5% of India’s elderly population suffered from a disability. A recent study however shows that this percentage is much higher – high enough in fact, to warrant immediate action. The results show that 17.91% of males and 26.21% of females aged 60 and older experience disability. This equates to a population of roughly 9 million elderly men and 14 million elderly women. The prevalence of disability is also much higher among widowed women, the poor, and illiterate persons. In addition, researchers studied three health conditions – diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease – and found a significant connection between these and disability. Unlike previous surveys, this study focused on the entire country, for the first time enabling a broad picture of the nation’s elderly. The researchers hope that this more complete picture will urge policymakers to promote healthy lifestyles, offer assistance to families with elderly members, and provide sufficient transportation and infrastructure needs for the elderly. "It is evident from our study that disability in old age is a major public health concern in India,” explains Nandita Saikia, an IIASA researcher and an author of the study. “We must promote healthy aging to postpone the onset of disability and increase quality of life for people with disabilities.” In recent years, Vietnam has turned away from cleaner energy sources in favor of coal, which, while being cheaper to produce, is far more harmful to the environment. In fact, the nation’s government just approved a slew of new coal power plant projects, which are expected to quadruple the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. To combat these increased emissions, scientists are looking to biomass co-firing, which is a mature technology in Vietnam and involves adding clean- burning biomass as a fuel source to the coal-burning process. The cost of doing so is low with minimal infrastructure investment, and it could significantly reduce carbon emissions. Researchers assessed the costs and potential impact of using domestic rice as biomass. They found that a carbon tax of US$30 per ton of carbon dioxide would help achieve a 5% emission reduction by 2030, while biomass co-firing will contribute to an 8% reduction with an abatement cost of $137 million. "Achieving the national emission targets will require a portfolio of low-carbon technologies,” explains Piera Patrizio, a researcher in the IIASA Ecosystem Services and Management Program. “The deployment of co-firing might represent the first steps in this direction and pave the way for deeper carbon mitigation options, like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage.” Combating increased disability among India’s elderly population Further info: Parmar MC & Saikia N (2018). Chronic Morbidity and Reported Disability among Older Persons from the India Human Development Survey. BMC Geriatrics 18 (299). [pure.iiasa.ac.at/15605] Nandita Saikia: saikia@iiasa.ac.at Further info: Truong AH, Patrizio P, Leduc S, Kraxner F, & Ha-Duong M (2019). Reducing emissions of the fast growing Vietnamese coal sector: the chances offered by biomass co-firing. Journal of Cleaner Production 215: 1301-1311. [pure.iiasa.ac.at/15672] Piera Patrizio: patrizip@iiasa.ac.at Offsetting increased coal production in Vietnam ASIA / Regional impacts www.iiasa.ac.at22 Options Summer 2019