IAS Prelims Current Affairs 

Environment

 

 Index

1.AIR QUALITY INDEX

2.Kashmir stag/ Hangul /Cervus hanglu

3.App to track your carbon footprint to be launched

4.Dam Safety Bill 2019

5.Restoration of forests Global warming

6.Sarcoptic Mange

7.‘Jal Shakti’ ministry

8.PASHMINA GOAT

9.LOCUSTS

10.GANGETIC DOLPHINS

11.CROCODILE SPECIES IN INDIA

12.NATIONAL TIGER CONSERVATION AUTHORITY

13.PROJECT ELEPHANT

14.TIGER CENSUS

15.MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS EVALUATION (MEE)

16.WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

17.GOLDEN LANGUR

18.FRUIT BATS

19.UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION (UNCCD)

20.FOREST LANDSCAPE RESTORATION AND BONN CHALLENGE

21.HTBT COTTON

22.PEOPLE FOR ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS (PETA)

23.GREAT INDIAN BUSTARD

24.GREEN RATING FOR INTEGRATED HABITAT ASSESSMENT (GRIHA)

25.PURPLE FROG

26.CONVENTION ON MIGRATORY SPECIES (CMS)/BONN CONVENTION

27.BASEL CONVENTION

28.COASTAL REGULATION ZONE

29.GREAT INDIAN HORNBILL

30.WILDLIFE CRIME CONTROL BUREAU (WCCB)

31.MONTREAL PROTOCOL

32.SUMATRAN RHINO

33.BURN-OUT AND INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF DISEASES (ICD-11)

34.DUGONG

35.GLOBAL COALITION TO PROTECT POLLINATORS

36.ZERO TILLAGE TECHNOLOGY

37.CUSTOM HIRING CENTRES:

38.GLOBAL ASSESSMENT OF FOREST BIODIVERSITY BY WORLD WIDE FUND FOR NATURE (WWF)

39.WORLD WIDE FUND FOR NATURE (WWF)

40.NEMATODES

41.SO2 EMISSIONS

42.CORAL REEFS

43.METHYL MERCURY

44.WILDLIFE TRADE MONITORING NETWORK (TRAFFIC)

45.CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF WILD FAUNA AND FLORA (CITES)

46.CHILIKA AND ANSUPA LAKE

47.INTERNATIONAL COALITION FOR DISASTER RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE

48.CAMPA

49.PERMAFROST

50.AQUACULTURE

54.WILDLIFE INSTITUTE OF INDIA (WII)

55.EQUATOR PRIZE

57.Indian Gaur/ Indian bison / Bos gaurus

58.Oil spillage

59.Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme

60.Red-eared turtles

61.Pangolins

62.Nilgiri tahr

63.Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme (ITHPC)

64.Land Degradation Neutrality

65.Soil erosion

66.Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report

67.Vulture

68.Single-use plastic

69.Ozone Layer

68.Invasive species may soon wipe out Shola vegetation from Nilgiris

69.Renewable Energy

70.Global Tiger Forum (GTF)

71.Bharat-22 ETF

72.National Disaster Response Force (NDRF)

73.Indian forest act 1927

74.Green crackers

75.C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group

76.Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA)

77.Different organic farming methods

78.Natueco culture

79.Ganges River dolphin

80.Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

81.Stubble Burning

82.mHariyali app

83.Foreign’ plastic invades Great Nicobar Island

84.Tiger reserves

85.India, Nepal, Bhutan Trans-Border Conservation Area

86.Fly ash

87.Amazon’s Rainforest Fire

88.Anshupa Lake

89.Canine Distemper Virus (CDV)

90.Koundinya Forests

91.Heracles Inexpectatus

92.Global Climate Strikes

93.Gharial

94.No more waste mounds on Siachen Glacier

95.Pyrolysis (NGT tells CPCB to regulate import of waste tyres)

96.UN Convention to Combat Desertification

97.Odonates

98.Colombo Declaration on Sustainable Nitrogen Management

99.Global Snow Leopard & Ecosystem Protection Program

100.Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP)

101.Odisha Integrated Irrigation Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture

102.Environmental flows (E-Flow)

103.National Monsoon Mission initiative

104.SATAT initiative

105.Bar-headed goose

106.India State of Forest Report 2019

107.Danakil Depression

108.Paris Agreement

109.Reverse Osmosis (RO)

110.Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)

111.Eco-Sensitive Zones

112.Green Climate Fund (GCF)

113.Wasteland Atlas 2019

114.Winter-grade diesel

115.Germany’s Climate Protection Act

116.Sumatran Rhino

117.Coalbed Methane (CBM)

118.United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Emissions Gap Report

119.SATAT initiative

120.Operation ‘Clean Art’

121.Hornbill Festival (Festival of Festivals)

122.Blue Flag Certification

123.PVTGs

124.Tiger corridor

125.Global Carbon Project (GCP)

126.Global Climate Risk Index 2020

127.Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI)

128.IREDA and Green Window

129.Houbara bustards

130.Carbon dots

131.Flamingo Festival

132.Smog towers

133.Asiatic Lion

134.Tiger deaths

135.Coral Reefs

136.Chilika Lake

137.Miyawaki forests

138.Asia Pacific Drosophila Research Conference (APDRC5)

139.Saltwater crocodiles

140.Agreement on Bru-Reang refugee crisis

141.Australian Bushfires

142.Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis)

143.Irrawaddy Dolphins

144.White Rhino

145.CDP India Annual Report 2019

146.Wollemi Pines

147.Ramsar Convention

148.Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

149.African cheetahs

150.Future of Earth, 2020 Report

151.Toxic Air: The Price of Fossil Fuels- Report by Greenpeace

152.World Air Quality Report 2019

153.Biofuel from Cyanobacteria

154.Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

155.International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL)

156.Leopards

157.Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR)

158.Bio-Medical Waste

159.Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals

160.Greater One-horned rhino (Indian rhino)

161.Marine Turtle Policy

162.Link between pollution, height and well-being

163.Thai Mangur fish

164.National Biodiversity Authority (NBA)

165.Red Pandas

166.List of migratory species

167.Eurasian Otter

168.Sukhna Lake

169.Black carbon

170.Red-crowned roofed turtle

171.United for Biodiversity’ Coalition

172.Global Animal Protection Index 2020

173.National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG)

174.National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)

175.Sundarbans National Park

176.Himalayan Ibex

177.Earth Hour 2020

178.Legacy Waste

179.arissa carandas (the Great Hedge of India)

180.GreenCo Rating System

181.Petersberg Climate Dialogue

182.Devanahalli Pomelo Trees

184.NBWL Nod for Coal Mining in Assam Elephant Reserve

185.Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary

186.World Earth Day

187.Anthurium

188.Greenland and Antarctica is Melting Faster

189.First-ever Heatwave in Antarctica

190.Red Snow or Watermelon Snow

191.Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2006

192.Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary

193.Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary

194.Starving Herons

195.Agasthyavanam Biological Park

196.Goldman Environmental Prize

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.AIR QUALITY INDEX

Why in news?

• Delhi ozone level went beyond limit for 95 days in last 3 years according to the Air Quality Index of the Central Pollution Control Board.

 What is AQI?

• Air Quality Index is a tool for effective communication of air quality status to people in terms, which are easy to understand.
• It transforms complex air quality data of various pollutants into a single number (index value), nomenclature and colour.
• ‘One Number- One Colour-One Description’ for the common man to judge the air quality within his vicinity.
• It was launched by Ministry of Environment and Forests in 2014.
• The index was prepared by an expert group set up by MoEFCC that included prominent medical doctors from leading hospitals, research bodies including IIT Kanpur, and CSE.

About the measurement

• Each of these categories is decided based on ambient concentration values of air pollutants and their likely health impacts (known as health breakpoints).
• AQ sub-index and health breakpoints are evolved for eight pollutants
• PM10 (particulate matter 10 micrometers or less in diameter)
• PM 2.5 (particulate matter 2.5)
• NO2 (Nitrogen dioxide)
• SO2 (Sulfur dioxide)
• CO (Carbon Monoxide)
• O3 (Ozone)
• NH3 (Ammonia)
• Pb (Lead)
• For all these short-term (up to 24-hours) National Ambient Air Quality Standards are prescribed.
• The primary pollutant in most of the Indian cities is PM 2.5, or particles that are smaller than 2.5 microns and linked to respiratory illnesses.

 Side Angle

SAFAR

About SAFAR

• SAFAR is a research-based initiative of integrating Air Quality with Health Advisories and Food Security.
• SAFAR stands for System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting (SAFAR).
• It is under Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• It provides frontier research based scientific accredited robust Air Quality Forecasting system for Indian Metropolitan Cites

More about SAFAR

• The colour LED display gives out real-time air quality index on 24×7 basis with colour coding along with 72-hour advance forecast.
• It was developed indigenously by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune and operationalized by India Meteorological Department (IMD).
• It will provide measurement of online automatic ultrafine particles PM1 and Mercury, both of which have direct relevance to human health.
• Project SAFAR is implemented in four cities of India which includes Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and Ahmedabad as an operational service.
• In addition to regular air quality parameters like PM 2.5, PM10, Sulfur Dioxide, Ozone, Nitrogen Oxides, Carbon Monoxide, the system will also monitor the existence

2.Kashmir stag/ Hangul /Cervus hanglu

Why in News? 

• A massive decline in the population of Kashmir’s iconic wildlife species, the Hangul continues to be a big concern as conservation efforts for the deer, going on for years, have not yielded any significant results so far.

Details

• Hangul, the state animal of Jammu & Kashmir, is restricted to the Dachigam National Park some 15 km north-west of Jammu & Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar.
• IUCN: Critically Endangered
• From a population of 5,000 in the early 1900s, the Hangul’s numbers have constantly declined over the decades, making it largely confined to the 141 square kilometres of Dachigam National Park, although some studies suggest that small isolated Hangul herds of five to ten have been reported from adjoining areas of Dachigam which include Shikargah-Tral and the Overa-Aru Wildlife Sanctuary in south Kashmir.

What is hurting the Hangul?

• The biggest challenges which have been identified by experts in the way of conservation and population growth of Hangul are habitat fragmentation, predation and very low fawn-female ratio.
• Another challenge is the male-female and fawn-adult disparity in the Hangul population
  • There is a female-biased ratio of 23 males to every 100 females. The female-biased ratio and the fawn to female ratio of 30:100 are the two main reasons for the declining numbers of Kashmir’s Hangul

3.App to track your carbon footprint to be launched

Why in News?

• Chief Minister of Maharashtra has announced that the State government would now track citizens’ carbon footprint through an app.

What is carbon footprint?

• Carbon footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result of the activities of a particular individual, organization, or community. Carbon footprint of a person is the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by his/her personal activities.

Background:

• The idea of the app was initiated after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised international organisations to bring India’s pollution levels to 2005 levels by 2030.
• The PM had also announced India’s aim to generate 175 GW (gigawatt) of renewable energy by 2022, of which 100 GW is to be solar.
• India has, as part of the Paris Summit, promised to reduce greenhouse gas emission by 20% to 25%.

 Details:

• The carbon footprints of the citizens will be tracked and those who achieve an emission neutral status will be rewarded with a certificate and tax rebate.
• The footprints of an individual, as per the app, will include his use of electricity, air conditioning, kitchen activities among others.
• The aim is to reduce pollution and carbon emission in the state.
• The State Forest Department is developing the app.
• The app will be able to count the everyday carbon emission of citizens and suggest measures to reduce it depending on the count.
• The app could be used as a tool to create awareness on climate change.

4.Dam Safety Bill 2019

Background

• As per the latest official data, the country has 5,264 large dams in the country while 437 dams are under construction. In addition to these dams, there are thousands of other small and medium dams in the country. Of the total large dams, 293 dams are more than 100 years old and 1,041 dams are more than 50 years old.
• In the absence of a proper legal framework, safety and maintenance of these large numbers of dams are a cause of concern.
• The dam safety bill, 2019 provides for proper monitoring inspection, operation and maintenance of all specified dams in the country.
• The Centre says it was empowered to enact a law on the subject, especially as 92% of the dams involved two or more States, and Article 246 and 56 empowered the Centre to intervene.

Features of the Bill

• It is applicable to all dams across the country which is over 10 meters in height, subject to specific design and structural conditions.
• The Bill enables the setting up of a National Committee on Dam Safety (NCDS) to formulate policies and regulations regarding dam safety standards and to analyze causes of major dam failures to suggest changes in safety practices.
• To implement these policies, a National Dam Safety Authority will be set up.
• At the State level, the Bill provides for the constitution of a State Dam Safety Organisation to take care of its dams, and a State Committee on Dam Safety to review its work, among other things.
• The bill was too focused on structural safety and not on operational safety.

Why are the States against it?

• The Bill previously failed to be passed in Lok Sabha due to opposition from numerous States.
• The states in India say ‘water’ comes under the State list, it is an unconstitutional move aimed at taking control of their dams.
• Many States, including Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Odisha, have opposed the Bill because they say it encroaches upon the sovereignty of States to manage their dams, and violates the principles of federalism enshrined in the Constitution.
• Tamil Nadu’s main concern stems from Section 23(1) of the Bill, according to which if the dams of one State fall under the territories of another, then the National Dam Safety Authority will perform the role of State Dam Safety Organisation, thus eliminating potential causes for inter-State conflicts.
• This clause is particularly worrisome for the State which has fours dams — the Mullaperiyar, Parambikulam, Thunakkadavu and Peruvaripallam — that are owned by it, but are situated in neighbouring Kerala.
• Currently, the rights on these dams are governed by pre-existing long-term agreements among the States.
• The provisions in the Bill imply that the damowning State would not have rights over the safety and maintenance of the dam located in another State.

5.Restoration of forests Global warming

• It is largely caused by industrial development and consumer demands, has been causing havoc across the world.
• Temperatures are shooting up, floods have been ravaging South China and Northeast India, unseasonal rains and, ironically, delayed and poor monsoon rains are experienced. Deforestation across the world
• The total surface area of our Earth is 52 billion hectares (Ha), and 31% of this has been forest cover.
• But the huge Amazon forests of South America are being chopped off for commercial reasons. Peru and Bolivia in the western Amazon region are the worst affected by such deforestation; so are Mexico and its neighbours in Mesoamerica.
• Russia, with forests occupying 45% of its land area, is chopping off trees. Large scale deforestation this kind has contributed to global warming over the years.

What is a forest?

• The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines a “forest” as a land area of at least 0.5 hectares, covered by at least 10% tree cover, without any agricultural activity or human settlement.

India Forest Cover

• In India with its 7,08,273 sq km land area, 21.54% has tree cover. And between 2015 and 2018, we have added 6,778 sq km.
• Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover, followed by Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Arunachal Pradesh while Punjab, Haryana, UP and Rajasthan have the least.
• Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Odisha have improved their forest canopy somewhat (<10%).

6.Sarcoptic Mange

Why in News?

• New research from the University of Tasmania is offering hope that the deadly mange disease affecting Tasmanian wombats could eventually be brought under control for wild individuals and populations.

Details

• It is a skin infection in mammals that is caused by a burrowing parasitic mite, Sarcoptes scabiei
• It affects more than 100 mammalian species worldwide, including humans and dogs.
• The disease is referred to as scabies in humans and mange in other species.
• Australian native mammals that are known to be affected by mange include ringtail possums, brown bandicoots koalas and common wombats.
• Mange infection in an animal can result in aggressive scratching, hair loss, skin thickening and crusting, skin discoloration, open wounds (from scratching), weight loss, and in severe cases, death (as a result of secondary infection and suppressed immune system).

Wombats

• Squat and furry, wombats are small burrow-dwelling marsupials.
• They are native to Australia.
• The bare-nosed wombat is listed as Least Concern under the IUCN.
• Bare-nosed wombats are herbivorous and mainly feed on native grasses, tussocks and sedges. Occasionally they will also eat bark, herbs and moss.
• They are largely nocturnal and walk on all four limbs.
• They are not a threatened species.
• The greatest threat to the species is sarcoptic mange, which occurs throughout their entire range

7.‘Jal Shakti’ ministry

Why in News?

• The government has launched a new unified ‘Jal Shakti’ ministry that is aimed at providing clean drinking water as well as fight India’s water woes.

Details

• The new ministry has been formed by merging the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation
• It will encompass issues ranging from providing clean drinking water, international and inter-states water disputes, to the Namami Gange project aimed at cleaning Gang and its tributaries, and sub tributaries.
• The ministry will roll out government’s ambitious plans to provide piped water connections to every household in India by 2024.

8.PASHMINA GOAT

Why in news?

• Kharnak nomads are one of the four major Changpa tribes that collectively produce over 80% of India’s pashmina wool.

 About the goat

• The Pashmina goat is a breed of goat inhabiting the plateaus in Tibet, Nepal, parts of Burma and neighbouring areas of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, India.
• It is also known as ‘Changthangi’, ‘Changra”.
• They are raised for ultra-fine cashmere wool, also known as pashmina once woven.
• These goats are generally domesticated and are reared by nomadic communities called the Changpa in the Changthang region of Greater Ladakh.

Chiru Goat

• Chiru goat also known as the Tibetan antelope is a ‘near threatened’ species whose under fur isused for making the famous Shahtoosh shawls.
• It is a migratory species of the cold desert, moving seasonally between lower and higher altitudes, and can be found between 3,700m and 5,500m.
• Chiru is a protected species in India, China and Nepal.
• Its geographical range extends from Ladakh in the west to Ngoring Hu (China) in the east.
• In India, the species were recorded at two places, DaulatBeg Oldie (DBO) in the Karakoram Range and the Chang Chenmo Valley in Ladakh.

Shahtoosh Shawls

• Shahtoosh shawls are prepared from the fur in the undercoat of Chiru goats.
• 3-5 chiru goats are to be killed to collect the fur for a single shawl as the wool cannot be sheared or combed from the goat.
• Shahtoosh shawls are a status symbol in India and Pakistan and one of the most valuable dowry gifts a person can give.

 Protection

• The selling or owning of shahtoosh was made illegal in all countries that signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) on March 3, 1975.
• India endorsed the ban in1976 and it was extended to Jammu and Kashmir in 2002.

9.LOCUSTS

Why in news?

• There has been an incursion of desert locusts in Rajasthan and Gujarat from areas bordering Pakistan.

 About Locusts

• Locusts are the short-horned grasshoppers with highly migratory habit, marked polymorphism and voracious feeding behavior.
• They are capable of forming swarms (adult’s congregation) and hopper bands (nymphal congregation).
• They cause great devastation to natural and cultivated vegetation.
• They are indeed the sleeping giants that can flare up any time to inflict heavy damage to the crops leading to national emergency of food and fodder.
• Only four out of ten locust species are found in India.
  • Desert locust (Schistocercagregaria)
  • Migratory locust (Locustamigratoria)
  • Bombay Locust ( Nomadacrissuccincta)
  • Tree locust (Anacridium sp.)

 Locust Warning Organisation (LWO)

• India has a Locust Control and Research scheme implemented through the Locust Warning Organisation (LWO).
• LWO was established in 1939 and amalgamated in 1946 with the Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine and Storage (PPQS) of the Ministry of Agriculture.
• The LWO’s responsibility is monitoring and control of the locust situation in Scheduled Desert Areas mainly in Rajasthan and Gujarat, and partly in Punjab and Haryana.
• Locust Warning Organisation is aimed to detect the local breeding in Scheduled Desert Areas and incursion of exotic locust swarms into India.

10.GANGETIC DOLPHINS

Why in news?

• Speed restrictions and sound alerts mooted for protection of Ganges River Dolphin, in the country’s one dolphin reserve through which National Waterway-1 connecting Haldia to Varanasi passes.

 About Gangetic Dolphin

• Gangetic river dolphin (scientific name: Platanista gangetica) is one of the four freshwater dolphin species in the world (Baiji – extinct from the Yangtze River in China, the bhulan of the Indus in Pakistan and the boto of the Amazon River.)
• Gangetic river dolphin is India’s national aquatic animal.
• It inhabits the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Nepal, India, and Bangladesh.
• Indus Dolphin is a subspecies and found in Indus River.
• Being a mammal, the Ganges River dolphin cannot breathe in the water and must surface every 30120 seconds. Because of the sound it produces when breathing, the animal is popularly referred to as the ‘Susu’.

 Habitat

• Ganges River Dolphins prefer deep waters, in and around the confluence of two or more rivers.
• It is found in Ganga, Brahmaputra and its tributaries.

 Threats

• Lives in one of the world’s most densely populated areas, Threatened by removal of river water and siltation arising from deforestation, Pollution, Entanglement in fisheries nets, Habitat fragmentation by dams and barrages and Indiscriminate fishing.

 Conservation status

• IUCN Red List – Endangered
• Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.

11.CROCODILE SPECIES IN INDIA

Why in news?

• Odisha has renewed its effort to revive the population of gharials.

 About the news

• Odisha is the only State in India having all three species of gharial, mugger and saltwater crocodile.
• The State forest department began conservation of these crocodile species in 1975 by establishing three rearing centres
  • Tikarpada for gharials in Angul district
  • Ramatirtha for muggers in Mayurbhanj
  • Bhitarkanika for saltwater crocodiles in Kendrapara district

Crocodile species found in India

 Saltwater crocodile

• Found in coastal areas of Odisha, WB and TN.
• They are apex predators.
• Least Concern in IUCN Red List.

Mugger Crocodile

• Mostly inhabits freshwater lakes, ponds, sluggish rivers, swamps and marshes.
• Found throughout the Indian subcontinent.
• Vulnerable in IUCN Red list.

Gharials

• It is the longest and rarest Crocodile.
• Major population remains in three tributaries of the Ganges River, the Chambal and the Girwa Rivers in India, and the Rapti-Naryani River in Nepal.
• The gharial reserves of India are located in – Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
• National Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary is in Chambal.
• Critically endangered in IUCN Red List.

12.NATIONAL TIGER CONSERVATION AUTHORITY

Why in news?

• The authorities of the Namdapha Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh have discontinued the services of 53 frontline staff.

 About NTCA

• The National Tiger Conservation Authority (established in 2005) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change
• It was provided statutory status by the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2006 which had amended Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.

 Member

• Environment Minister is the Chairman of the NTCA.
• Below chairman eight experts or professionals having qualifications and experience in wildlife conservation and welfare of people including tribals, apart from three Members of Parliament (1 Rajya Sabha, 2 Lok Sabha).

 The functions of NTCA are as follows:

• Ensuring normative standards in tiger reserve management
• Preparation of reserve specific tiger conservation plan
• Laying down annual/ audit report before Parliament
• Instituting State level Steering Committees under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister and establishment of Tiger Conservation Foundation.
• According approval for declaring new Tiger Reserves

About Namdapha

• Namdapha National Park – Arunachal Pradesh.
• Wildlife sanctuary in 1972 and India’s 15th Tiger Reserve in 1983 wildlife sanctuary in 1972.

13.PROJECT ELEPHANT

Why in news?

• Kerala may have undercounted almost 2,700 elephants in the latest elephant census, conducted once in 5 years under the aegis of Project Elephant.

 About Project Elephant

• Project Elephant (PE) is a centrally sponsored scheme, launched in 1992 by Ministry of Environment and Forests.
• It provides financial and technical support to major elephant bearing states in the country for protection of elephants, their habitats and corridors.
• It also seeks to address the issues of human-elephant conflict and welfare of domesticated elephants.

 Objectives

• To protect elephants, their habitat & corridors
• To address issues of man-animal conflict
• Supporting research of the ecology and management of elephants
• Creating awareness of conservation among local people
• Welfare of captive elephants

14.TIGER CENSUS

Why in news?

• India has 2,967 tigers, a third more than in 2014, according to results of the tiger census.

 About the news

• Madhya Pradesh saw the highest number of tigers at 526, closely followed by Karnataka (524) and Uttarakhand (442).
• Chhattisgarh and Mizoram saw a decline in tiger population and all other States saw a “positive” increase.
• Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest number of tigers, Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu registered the “maximum improvement” since 2014.

 About Tiger Census

• The survey is carried out once in every four years.
• The census does not include cubs and only adult tigers are counted.
• Wildlife Institute of India, an Environment Ministry-funded body carries out the survey under the guidance of National Tiger Conservation Authority.
• 2018 survey will be the fourth All India tiger estimation since 2006.
• The Global Tiger Forum, an international collaboration of tiger-bearing countries, has set a goal of doubling the count of wild tigers by 2022.
• More than 80% of the world’s wild tigers are in India.

 More about tiger counting

• A mobile application M-STrIPES (Monitoring System for Tigers-Intensive Protection and Ecological Status) developed by the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun was used to estimate the population.
• The other software used for tiger estimation was Spatially Explicit Capture Recapture (SECR) and Extract Compare, which helps differentiate between the stripes of tigers as each has a different pattern.

 India’s five tiger landscapes

• Shivalik Hills and Gangetic Plains
• Central Indian Landscape and Eastern Ghats
• Western Ghats
• North-East Hills and Brahmaputra Plains
• The Sundarbans.

15.MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS EVALUATION (MEE)

Why in news?

• The tiger population is growing in Kerala with 190 big cats roaming its forests and the State scoring maximum points in mean Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE), according to the Status of Tigers in India-2018 report. About the news
• Kerala scored the highest mean MEE score of 90.23 among the 18 tiger States of the country.

 About MEE

• The Management Effectives Evaluation (MEE) process is a global framework to evaluate the performance of protected areas.
• India is among the select countries in the world that has institutionalized the MEE process for its network of protected areas.
• It is the assessment how well protected areas such as national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, conservation reserves, community reserves and tiger reserves are being managed and their effectiveness in conserving target flora and fauna.
• The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in partnership with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) under took an independent Management Effectiveness Evaluation of 43 tiger reserves in the country in 2014.
• The Framework consists of six elements viz. :Context, Planning, Inputs, Process, Output, Outcome
• This Framework assesses the importance of each tiger reserve for conservation in the face of current threats to the species.

 Salient Features

• Evaluation was done by adapting a globally used framework that is used in over 140 countries in the world.
• Five independent teams conducted the evaluation.
• 31 headline indicators, developed especially for the Indian situation.

16.WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

Why in news?

• World Environment Day (WED) was observed globally on 5th June for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment.

 About the day

• World Environment Day (WED) is observed annually on 5th June.
• WED serves as a flagship campaign for raising awareness on emerging environmental issues from marine pollution, human overpopulation, and global warming, to sustainable consumption and wildlife crime.
• World Environment Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 on the first day of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm Conference).
• It is run by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
• The first World Environment Day was observed in 1974 and since then it is being held every year with different themes.

 About WED 2019

• Theme for the World Environment Day 2019 was ‘Beat Air Pollution’.
• It has been chosen by this year’s host, China.

17.GOLDEN LANGUR

Why in news?

• Golden langur to get fruits of MGNREGA.

 About the news

• For the first time since, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005 will have non-human beneficiaries, the rare golden langur (Trachypithecus geei) in a reserve forest in western Assam’s Bongaigaon district.
• ₹27.24 lakh project to plant trees in Assam’s Kakoijana forest to sustain colonies of the endangered primate.

 About Golden Langur

• Golden Langur is an Old World monkey found in small region of Western Assam in India and in the neighbouring foothills of the Black Mountains of Bhutan.
• It is also called as ‘Gee’s Golden Langur’ and ‘Golden Leaf Monkey’.
• Of the known 15 species of primates from India, 9 species are found in the state of Assam and the Golden Langur is one of them.
• The scientific name of Golden Langur is Trachypithecus geei which belongs to Cercopithecidae family of primates.

 Distribution Range

• It is found only in North-eastern India and Bhutan.
• This primate species is confined to a forest belt in western Assam between the Manas River in east, Sankosh in the west and Brahmaputra in the south along the Indo-Bhutan border.
• The distribution of Golden Langur in Bhutan is limited to the foothills of the Black mountains.

 Threats

• Habitat loss due to deforestation, Electrocution from power lines, Hunting by dogs, High juvenile mortality, inbreeding and local trade in live animals.

 Status

• Golden Langur is listed as ‘Endangered’ in the IUCN Red List
• Schedule I species in the Indian Wildlife Protection Act (1972)
• Appendix I in Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)

The Chakrashila Wildlife Sanctuary and Manas Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam are the two protected habitats for this species in India. 

18.FRUIT BATS

Why in news?

• Suspected source of Nipah in Kerala is the fruit bat.

 About the news

• The Nipah virus is zoonotic, it spreads primarily between animals and humans.

 How it is different from other bats?

• Fruit bats, as opposed to insectivorous bats, survive largely on a diet of fruit, which they locate with their sense of smell.
• Insectivorous bats locate their prey through echolocation, or by locating the source of the echoes of their own sound.
• Fruit bats belong to the Pteropodidae family, those in the Pteropus genus within this family are natural hosts for the Nipah virus.
• These bats are widely found in South and South East Asia.
• They are also known as flying foxes.

19.UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION (UNCCD)

Why in news?

• India for the first time will host the 14th session of the Conference of Parties (COP-14) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in September.

 

 About the news

• At the previous edition of the COP, India had committed to restore 13 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by the year 2020, and an additional 8 million hectares by 2030.
• India will take over the COP presidency from China for two years until the next COP in 2021.
• In 1994, the United Nations General Assembly declared 17th June the “World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought” to promote public awareness and the implementation of the UNCCD in the desertification affected countries.
• Theme for year 2019 is ‘Let’s Grow the Future Together’.
• The Union Minister launched a flagship project on enhancing capacity on forest landscape restoration (FLR) and Bonn Challenge in India.

 About UNCCD

• The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management.
• The Convention, the only convention stemming from a direct recommendation of the Rio Conference’s Agenda 21.
• It was adopted in Paris, France on 17 June 1994 and entered into force in December 1996.
• The Convention is based on the principles of participation, partnership and decentralization, the backbone of Good Governance and Sustainable Development.
• It has 197 parties, making it near universal in reach.
• To help publicise the Convention, 2006 was declared “International Year of Deserts and Desertification”.

More about the convention

• The Convention addresses specifically the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the drylands, where some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and peoples can be found.
• UNCCD is particularly committed to a bottom-up approach, encouraging the participation of local people in combating desertification and land degradation.
• The UNCCD secretariat facilitates cooperation between developed and developing countries, particularly around knowledge and technology transfer for sustainable land management.
• The new UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework is the most comprehensive global commitment to
  • achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) consistent with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in order to restore the productivity of vast expanses of degraded land
  • improve the livelihoods of more than 1.3 billion people
  • reduce the impacts of drought on vulnerable populations to build a future that avoids, minimizes, and reverses desertification/land degradation and mitigates the effects of drought in affected areas at all levels.
  • The UNCCD collaborates closely with the other two Rio Conventions; the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to meet these complex challenges with an integrated approach and the best possible use of natural resources.

 About Conference of the Parties

• The Conference of the Parties (COP) oversees the implementation of the Convention.
• It is established by the Convention as the supreme decision-making body, and it comprises all ratifying governments.

20.FOREST LANDSCAPE RESTORATION AND BONN CHALLENGE

Why in news?

• The Union Minister launched a flagship project on enhancing capacity on forest landscape restoration (FLR) and Bonn Challenge in India

 About FLR

• Forest landscape restoration (FLR) is the ongoing process of regaining ecological functionality and enhancing human well-being across deforested or degraded forest landscapes.
• More than just planting trees FLR is restoring a whole landscape to meet present and future needs and to offer multiple benefits and land uses over time.
• It is long-term because it requires a multi-year vision of the ecological functions and benefits to human well-being that restoration will produce.
• The restoration must complement and not displace existing land uses.
• FLR manifests through different processes such as: new tree plantings, managed natural regeneration, agroforestry, or improved land management to accommodate a mosaic of land uses, including agriculture, protected wildlife reserves, managed plantations, riverside plantings and more.

 The Bonn Challenge

• The Bonn Challenge is a global effort to bring 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested land into restoration by 2020 and 350 million by 2030.
• The Bonn Challenge is an implementation vehicle for national priorities such as water and food security and rural development while simultaneously helping countries contribute to the achievement of international climate change, biodiversity and land degradation commitments.
• The 2020 target was launched at a high level event in Bonn in 2011 organised by the Government of Germany and IUCN.
• It was later endorsed and extended to 2030 by the New York Declaration on Forests of the 2014 UN Climate Summit.
• At the UNFCC Conference of the Parties (COP) 2015 in Paris, India joined the voluntary Bonn Challenge pledge to bring into restoration 13 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by the year 2020, and additional 8 million hectares by 2030.
• To date, 56 governments, private associations and companies have pledged over 168 million hectares to the Challenge.

21.HTBT COTTON

Why in news?

• Farmers held in Maharashtra for sale of HtBt cotton seeds.

 What is allowed?

• Bt cotton remains the only GM crop allowed to be cultivated in the country.
• It was developed by US giant Bayer-Monsanto.
• It involves insertion of two genes viz ‘Cry1Ab’ and ‘Cry2Bc’ from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis into cotton seeds.
• This modification codes the plant to produce protein toxic to Heliothis bollworm (pink bollworm) thus making it resistant to their attack.
• The commercial release of this hybrid was sanctioned by the government in 2002.

 What is the variety now sown?

• The farmers planted an herbicide-tolerant variety of Bt cotton.
• This variety (HtBt) involves the addition of another gene, ‘Cp4-Epsps’ from another soil bacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens.
• It is not cleared by GEAC.
• The farmers claim that the HtBt variety can withstand the spray of glyphosate, an herbicide that is used to remove weeds, and thus it substantially saves them de-weeding costs.

 What is the procedure involved? 

• In India, it is the responsibility of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) under the Environment Ministry to assess the safety of a genetically modified plant, and decide whether it is fit for cultivation.
• The GEAC comprises experts and government representatives, and a decision it takes has to be approved by the Environment Minister before any crop is allowed for cultivation.
• Besides Bt cotton, the GEAC has cleared two other genetically modified crops, brinjal and mustard. But these have not received the consent of the Environment Minister.
• Legally, sale, storage, transportation and usage of unapproved GM seeds is a punishable offence under the Rules of Environmental Protection Act 1986.
• Also, sale of unapproved seeds can attract action under the Seed Act of 1966 and the Cotton Act of 1957.
• The Environmental Protection Act provides for a jail term of five years and a fine of Rs 1 lakh for violation of its provisions, and cases can be filed under the other two Acts.
• The culprit can also be charged under various sections of the Essential Commodities Act and the Indian Penal Code.

About Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC)

• GEAC is India’s apex regulator for genetically modified seeds.
• It is responsible for appraisal of proposals relating to release of genetically engineered (GE) organisms and products into the environment.
• It is responsible for appraisal of activities involving large scale use of hazardous microorganisms and recombinants in research and industrial production from the environmental angle.
• It functions in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).
• GEAC is chaired by the Special Secretary/Additional Secretary of MoEF&CC and co-chaired by are presentative from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).

22.PEOPLE FOR ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS (PETA)

Why in news?

• People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have panned the imminent journey of the elephants in railway wagons from being taken for religious event.

 Why it is controversial?

• Elephant is a Schedule 1 protected animal and as per the Environment and Forest Ministry.
• No elephant can be made to walk for more than 3 hours or 30 km at a stretch.
• Elephants are also not allowed to be transported for 6 hours at a stretch as per guidelines.
• While it is common for elephants to be transported by train, those transporting them have to follow the rulebook, which is provide a veterinarian on board, among others.

 About PETA

• People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is the largest animal rights organization in the world.
• PETA was founded in 1980 and is based in US.
• Its slogan is “Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way.”
• It focuses on four core issues
• Opposition to factory farming
• Fur farming
• Animal testing
• Use of animals in entertainment

23.GREAT INDIAN BUSTARD

Why in news?

• Along with all other measures to revive Great Indian Bustard numbers, the aspect of regulating noise pollution levels also needs to be incorporated.

 How does noise affect the GIB?

• During the mating and courtship practices of the GIB, the male GIB inflates his ‘gular’ pouch (near the neck) which almost touches the ground, in order to produce a large booming sound which reverberates across the grassland.
• The male GIB does this to attract GIB females and to inform them of his exact location in the vast expanse of the grassland.
• The noise generated by human activities, whether be it by vehicles, tractors, music during processions, firecrackers, may interfere with the GIB’s mating call and drown it out.

 About Great Indian Bustard

• The Great Indian bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) or Indian bustard is a bustard found on the Indian subcontinent.
• It is a large bird with a horizontal body and long bare legs, giving it an ostrich like appearance.
• It is one among the heaviest of the flying birds.
• The great Indian bustard can easily be distinguished by its black crown on the forehead contrasting with the pale neck and head.
• The body is brownish and the wings are marked with black, brown and grey.

Historical Habitats

• Punjab, Haryana, UP, MP, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

 Currently restricted to

• Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, MP and Rajasthan.
• It is locally known as Godavan in Rajasthan.

 Threats

• The biggest threat to this species is hunting.
• Occasional poaching outside Protected Areas.
• Collisions with high tension electric wires, fast moving vehicles and free-ranging dogs in villages.
• Habitat loss and alteration as a result of widespread agricultural expansion and mechanized farming and infrastructural development.

 Conservation Status

• Listed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
• Listed in the CMS Convention
• Listed in Appendix I of CITES
• Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and the National Wildlife Action Plan (2002-2016).
• It has also been identified as one of the species for the recovery programme under the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.

24.GREEN RATING FOR INTEGRATED HABITAT ASSESSMENT (GRIHA)

Why in news?

• GRIHA Council launches rating system to evaluate environmental performance of schools.

 About Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) rating

• GRIHA is India’s own green building rating system.
• It is part of mitigation strategy for combating climate change as highlighted in India’s INDCs.
• This rating tool helps people assesses the performance of their building against certain nationally acceptable benchmarks.
• It evaluates the environmental performance of a building holistically over its entire life cycle, thereby providing a definitive standard for what constitutes a ‘green building’.
• The rating system, based on accepted energy and environmental principles, will seek to strike a balance between the established practices and emerging concepts, both national and international.
• It was founded by TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi) with support from MNRE.

 GRIHA for Existing Buildings

 Eligibility

• All buildings, which are in the design stage and have built up area more than 2,500 m2, are eligible for certification under GRIHA.
• GRIHA-EB are given for those existing buildings which are having a built-up area greater than 2,500 sq. m.
• Mainly a building is assessed based on its predicted performance over its entire life cycle, inception through operation.

 Different Stages for Evaluation

• Pre-construction stage
• Building planning and construction stages
• Building operation and maintenance stage

 Criteria and their weightage

• It is a performance-oriented system where points are earned for meeting the design and performance intent of the criteria.
• Each criterion has certain points assigned to it.
• It means that a project demonstrating compliance with a criterion would achieve the associated points.
• The point would be given out of total of 100.
• Different levels of certification (one star to five stars) are awarded based on the number of points earned.
• Different Rating criteria are used for large buildings, existing buildings and so on.

25.PURPLE FROG

Why in news?

• Purple frog, believed to have co-existed with dinosaurs, set to be crowned Kerala’s state amphibian.

 

 About Purple Frog

•  The purple frog, also known as pignose frog, was first discovered in 2003 in the Idukki district of Kerala.
•  It is endemic to the Western Ghats in India.
• This species has been acknowledged as one of the rarest kinds and a ‘once in a century find’.
• Once it lays its eggs, the bloated frogs characterised by a protruding snout and powerful hind legs return to the earth’s deepest layers.
• The purple frog has a bloated body with short stout limbs and is dark purple to greyish in colour.
• Unlike other frogs, it has very short hind legs, which does not allow it to leap from one spot to another.
• This burrow-dwelling frog prefers loose, damp and well-aerated soil close to ponds and ditches or streams.

 Conservation Status

• Endangered under IUCN Red list.

26.CONVENTION ON MIGRATORY SPECIES (CMS)/BONN CONVENTION

Why in news?

• The World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) was organized on 11th May by the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) together with Environment for the Americas (EFTA).

 About the news

• It helps to raise global awareness about threats faced by migratory birds, their ecological importance, and need for international cooperation to conserve them.
• Theme for the day was ‘Protect Birds: Be the Solution to Plastic Pollution!’  Starting from 2018, the WMBD is celebrated twice a year.
• The first WMBD was celebrated in 2006.
• The CMS and AEWA are two International Wildlife Treaties which are administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

 About Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species

• The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals is an international convention which aims to conserve terrestrial, marine and avian migratory species throughout their range.
• It is an international treaty concluded under the aegis of the United Nations Environment Programme.
• It is also known as the Bonn Convention after the German city in which it was signed.
• The 13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on the conservation of migratory species of wild animals (CMS) is going to be hosted by India during 15th to 22nd February, 2020 at Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

 Objectives

• It brings together the States through which migratory animals pass, the Range States, and lays the legal foundation for internationally coordinated conservation measures throughout a migratory range.
• The CMS is the only global and UN-based intergovernmental organization established exclusively for the conservation and management of terrestrial, aquatic and avian migratory species throughout their range.

 Uniqueness

• It is the only global convention specializing in the conservation of migratory species, their habitats and migration routes.
• Migratory species threatened with extinction are listed on Appendix I of the Convention.
• Migratory species that need or would significantly benefit from international co-operation are listed in Appendix II of the Convention.
• CMS acts as a framework Convention as it encourages the Range States to conclude global or regional agreements.
• The agreements may range from legally binding treaties (called Agreements) to less formal instruments, such as Memoranda of Understanding, and can be adapted to the requirements of particular regions

27.BASEL CONVENTION

Why in news?

• The Geneva meeting amended the 1989 Basel Convention on the control of hazardous wastes to include plastic waste in a legally-binding framework.

 About the news

• Parties to the Basel Convention have reached agreement on a legally-binding, globally-reaching mechanism for managing plastic waste.
• Even though the U.S. and a few others have not signed the accord, they cannot ship plastic waste to countries that are on board with the deal.
• The meeting also undertook to eliminate two toxic chemical groups, Dicofol and Perfluorooctanoic Acid.

About Basel Convention

• The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries (LDCs).
• The Convention was opened for signature on 22 March 1989, and entered into force on 5 May 1992.
• As of October 2018, 186 states and the European Union are parties to the Convention.
• Haiti and the United States have signed the Convention but not ratified it.

Objectives 

• Intend to minimize the amount and toxicity of wastes generated
• Ensure their environmentally sound management as closely as possible to the source of generation
• Assist LDCs in environmentally sound management of the hazardous and other wastes they generate
• It does not address the movement of radioactive waste

Conference of the Parties (COP)

• The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the governing body of the Basel Convention.
• It is composed of governments of countries that have accepted, ratified or acceded to it.
• The implementation of the Convention is advanced through the decisions it takes at its meetings.

28.COASTAL REGULATION ZONE

Why in news?

• The Supreme Court ordered the demolition of five apartment complexes in Kerala, for violating Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms.

 About Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Rules

• CRZ Rules govern human and industrial activity close to the coastline, in order to protect the fragile ecosystems near the sea.
• The Rules, mandated under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, were first framed in 1991.
• They sought to restrict certain kinds of activities, like large constructions, setting up of new industries, storage or disposal of hazardous material, mining, or reclamation and bunding, within a certain distance from the coastline.
• In all CRZ Rules, the regulation zone has been defined as the area up to 500 m from the high-tide line.
• The basic idea is that areas immediately next to the sea are extremely delicate, home to many marine and aquatic life forms, and are also threatened by climate change, they need to be protected against unregulated development.
• Several kinds of restrictions apply, depending on criteria such as the population of the area, the ecological sensitivity, the distance from the shore, and whether the area had been designated as a natural park or wildlife zone.
• Despite several amendments, states found the 1991 Rules to be extremely restrictive.

 The new CRZ Rules

• The government notified new CRZ Rules with the stated objectives of promoting sustainable development and conserving coastal environments in January 2019.
• Only such projects/activities, which are located in the CRZ-I and CRZ IV shall be dealt with for CRZ clearance by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
• CRZ-I is the Ecologically Sensitive Areas and CRZ IV is the area covered between Low Tide Line and 12 Nautical Miles seaward.
• The powers for clearances with respect to CRZ-II and III have been delegated at the State level with necessary guidance.
• For the CRZ-III (Rural) areas, two separate categories have been stipulated.

1. In the densely populated rural areas (CRZ-IIIA) with a population density of 2,161 per sq km as per the 2011 Census, the no-development zone is now 50 m from the high-tide level, as against the 200 m stipulated earlier.
2. In the CRZ-IIIB category (rural areas with population density below 2,161 per sq km) continue to have a no-development zone extending up to 200 m from the high-tide line.

• The new Rules have a no-development zone of 20 m for all islands close to the mainland coast, and for all backwater islands in the mainland.

 Implementation

• While the CRZ Rules are made by the Union Environment Ministry, implementation is supposed to be done by state governments through their Coastal Zone Management Authorities.
• The states are also supposed to frame their own coastal zone management plans in accordance with the central Rules.

29.GREAT INDIAN HORNBILL

Why in news?

• A study carried out in Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh noted that hornbills, one among the large-sized frugivores, are the top seed dispersers.

 About Great Indian Hornbill

• It is one of the larger members of the hornbill family, distributed along Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia.
• It is an important bird in many tribal cultures and rituals owing to its size and unique colour.
• The great hornbill is long-lived, living for nearly 50 years in captivity.
• Though predominantly frugivorous, it also preys on mammals, reptiles and birds.

Threats

• Habitat loss and hunting are major threats.
• Tribal people hunt them for their parts for rituals and making headgears and other decorations and even as delicacy.

 Conservation Status

• It is evaluated as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
• It is listed in Appendix I of CITES.

30.WILDLIFE CRIME CONTROL BUREAU (WCCB)

Why in news?

• UN Environment India and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau launched campaign to check wildlife smuggling through airports.

 About the news

• The campaign “Not all animals migrate by choice”, which primarily focuses on tiger, pangolin, star tortoise and Tokay gecko.

 About Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB)

• Wildlife Crime Control Bureau is a statutory multi-disciplinary body established by the Government of India under the Ministry of Environment and Forests to combat organized wildlife crime in the country.
• It is constituted in 2007, by the 2006 amendment of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
• It is headquartered in New Delhi.
• It has regional offices at Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Jabalpur.
• WCCB won the prestigious 2010 Clark R. Bavin Wildlife Law Enforcement Awards.

31.MONTREAL PROTOCOL

Why in news?

• China continues to use ozone depleting CFC-11 in violation of Montreal Protocol.

 About the news

• CFC-11 is one of a class of compounds called chlorofluorocarbons that destroy atmospheric ozone.
• They are also potent greenhouse gases that contribute to atmospheric warming.
• Chlorofluorocarbons were outlawed for almost all uses by the Montreal Protocol.

About Montreal Protocol

• The Montreal Protocol is an international environmental agreement with universal ratification to protect the earth’s ozone layer by eliminating use of ozone depleting substances(ODS).
• It was designed to reduce the production and consumption of ozone depleting substances in order to reduce their abundance in the atmosphere, and thereby protect the earth’s fragile ozone Layer.
• It entered into force on 1 January 1989.
• It legally enforces the phase-out of the production and use of ozone depleting substances, chemicals often used in refrigeration, air-conditioning, foam manufacturing, aerosol production, and fire extinguishing.
• Protocol stipulates that the production and consumption of compounds that deplete ozone in the stratosphere, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), halons, carbon tetrachloride, and methyl chloroform are to be phased out by 2000 (2005 for methyl chloroform).

What are Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)?

• Hydrofluorocarbons are organic compounds containing hydrogen, Carbon, and fluorine.
• They are commonly used as substitutes for Ozone depleting substances like Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and are used in refrigerators and air-conditioners.
• Though HFCs are not as harmful as CFCs for ozone layer depletion, they have a thousand times more potential to cause global warming effect than commonly known greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane etc.

 About Ozone layer

• The Ozone layer absorbs about 98% of the Ultraviolet radiations and maintain the ozone-oxygen cycle.
• It is mainly found in the lower portion of the stratosphere, from approximately 20 to 30 kilometers above Earth.
• The thickness of the ozone layer varies worldwide and is generally thinner near the equator and thicker near the poles.
• The majority of ozone is produced over the tropics and is transported towards the poles by stratospheric wind patterns, known as the Brewer-Dobson circulation.

 Ozone- Trivia

• The UV radiations are responsible for the production of ozone in the ozone layer and maintaining the ozone – oxygen cycle.
• Dobson unit is a unit which is used to measure the ozone in the atmosphere at a standard temperature and pressure.
• Venus also has a thin ozone layer at an altitude of 100 kilometers from the planet’s surface.

32.SUMATRAN RHINO

Why in news?

• Malaysia’s last male Sumatran rhino dies.

 About the news

• Only one female of the critically endangered species remains in the country.

 About Sumatran Rhino

• Sumatran rhinos are the smallest of the living rhinoceroses.
• It is also known as hairy rhinoceros.

 Features

• They are the only Asian rhino with two horns.
• These are the hairiest species of rhino.
• Aside from their small size and hairy bodies that distinguish the Sumatran rhinos from other rhino species, they also have unique skin folds.
• Sumatran rhinos have a reddish-brown skin.

Threats

• Climate shift
• Habitat loss
• Fragmentation
• Poaching

 Conservation Status

• Critically endangered under IUCN Red List

Location

• Once found across parts of Southeast Asia, including the foothills of Bhutan and northeast India, southern China, Cambodia and Thailand.
• They are now restricted to just a few sites in Sumatra and Borneo, in Indonesia

Habitat

• The Sumatran rhino lives in dense tropical forest, in both the lowlands and highlands.
• They are primarily attracted to areas with plentiful food resources, such as shrubs, fruits, shoots, leaves and roots.

 Javan Rhino

• The Javan Rhino is the rarest of the rhino species with 63-67 animals surviving only in Indonesia.
• Javan rhinos are now found only in Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park.
• The population appears to have stabilized because they are guarded by Rhino Protection Units.

 Features

• This species is a dusky grey color and has a single horn of up to about 10 inches.
• Its skin has a number of loose folds, giving the appearance of armor plating.
• The Javan rhino is very similar in appearance to the closely-related greater one-horned rhinoceros, but has a much smaller head and less apparent skin folds.
• Javan rhinos are solitary in nature and are rarely seen.  Females do not appear to have prominent horns.

 Threats

• Reduced genetic diversity
• Natural disasters
• Arenga palm
• Disease
• Habitat degradation

Important

• Both African species and the Sumatran rhinoceros have two horns, while the Indian and Javan rhinoceros have a single horn.

33.BURN-OUT AND INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF DISEASES (ICD-11)

Why in news?

• The World Health Organization mistakenly recognised “burn-out” in its International Classification of Diseases (ICD). It clarified that “burnout” remains an “occupational phenomenon” that could lead someone to seek care but it is not considered a medical condition.

 About Burn-out

• WHO defined burn-out as “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”.
• The syndrome was characterised by three dimensions

1. Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
2. Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job
3. Reduced professional efficacy

• Burn-out refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life.

 About International Classification of Diseases (ICD)

• International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is a classification system by WHO that is used to classify and monitor causes of injury and death and maintains information for health analyses, such as the study of mortality (death) and morbidity (illness) trends.
• The ICD is designed to promote international compatibility in health data collecting and reporting.
• It is right now the foundation for the identification of health trends and statistics globally, contains around 55,000 unique codes for injuries, diseases and causes of death.
• It is the international standard for reporting diseases and health conditions.
• The ICD contains a description of all known diseases and injuries.
• Each disease is detailed with diagnostic characteristics and given a unique identifier that is used to code mortality data on death certificates and morbidity data from patient and clinical records.

 More about ICD-11

• ICD-11 is the 11th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD).
• ICD-11 will be presented at the World Health Assembly in 2019 for adoption by Member States.
• It will come into effect on 1 January 2022.
• For the first time, it is completely electronic and has a much more user-friendly format.
• This release is an advance preview that will allow countries to plan how to use the new version, prepare translations, and train health professionals all over the country.
• The new ICD-11 also reflects progress in medicine and advances in scientific understanding.
• For example, the codes relating to antimicrobial resistance are more closely in line with the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (GLASS).
• ICD-11 is also able to better capture data regarding safety in health care, which means that unnecessary events that may harm health such as unsafe workflows in hospitals can be identified and reduced.

 New chapters

• The new ICD includes new chapters, one on traditional medicine.
• Another new chapter on sexual health brings together conditions that were previously categorized in other ways (for instance gender incongruence was listed under mental health conditions) or described differently.
• Gaming disorder has been added to the section on addictive disorders, listing it alongside gambling and drugs like cocaine.
• The updated list removes transgenderism from its list of mental disorders meanwhile, listing it instead under the chapter on “conditions related to sexual health”.

34.DUGONG

Why in news?

• A ‘vulnerable’ dugong, found stranded on Thai beach has been named by the Thailand’s princesses.

 About Dugong

• The dugong is a medium-sized marine mammal.
• It is a species of sea cow found throughout the warm latitudes of the Indian and western Pacific Oceans.
• It is the only member of the Dugongidae family, and its closest living relatives are the manatees.
• The dugong is the only strictly herbivorous marine mammal.

 Habitat

• The dugong is largely dependent on seagrass communities for subsistence and is thus restricted to the coastal habitats which support seagrass meadows.
• These enormous vegetarians can be found in warm coastal waters from East Africa to Australia, including the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and Pacific.

Threat

• These languid animals make an easy target for coastal hunters.
• They were long sought for their meat, oil, skin, bones, and teeth.

 Conservation status

• The IUCN lists the dugong as a species ‘vulnerable’ to extinction.
• The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) limits or bans the trade of derived products.

 

35.GLOBAL COALITION TO PROTECT POLLINATORS

Why in news?

• Nigeria becomes fourth African nation to join global coalition to protect pollinators.

 About the news:

• Nigeria became the fourth African country to join the Global Coalition of the willing on Pollinators on July 2019.
• Ethiopia was the first African nation to be part of this global coalition in 2017, followed by Burundi. Morocco became a member in May 2019.
• Other non-African nations such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Dominican Republic, Ireland and Mexico had joined the global group last year.

 Global Coalition of the Willing on Pollinators:

• The organisation was formed in 2016, to follow up on the findings of IPBES Assessment on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production, which found that many of the world’s pollinator species are on the decline.
• The coalition now has 28 signatories including 17 European countries, five from Latin America and the Caribbean and four from Africa.
• The agreement is a stepping stone to protect pollinators since 16.5 per cent of vertebrate pollinators are threatened with global extinction, say the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assessments.
• The assessment highlights that 75 per cent of food crops in the world and nearly 90 per cent of wild flowering plants depend, at least to some extent, on animal pollination.

 Joining the coalition means adopting the following measures:

• Taking action to protect pollinators and their habitats by developing and implementing national pollinator strategies
• Sharing experience and lessons learnt in developing and implementing national pollinator strategies, especially knowledge on new approaches, innovations and best practices
• Reaching out to seek collaboration with a broad spectrum of stakeholders—countries as well as businesses, NGOs, farmers and local communities
• Developing research on pollinator conservation
• Supporting and collaborating with each other—and those parties that are willing to join the coalition

36.ZERO TILLAGE TECHNOLOGY

• Tillage is an agriculture land preparation through mechanical agitation which includes digging, stirring and overturning.
• Zero tillage is the process where the crop seed will be sown through drillers without prior land preparation and disturbing the soil where previous crop stubbles are present.
• Zero tillage not only reduce the cost of cultivation it also reduces the soil erosion, crop duration and irrigation requirement and weed effect which is better than tillage.
• Zero Tillage (ZT) also called No Tillage or Nil Tillage.

 Advantages of Zero Tillage:

• Reduction in the crop duration and thereby early cropping can be obtained to get higher yields.
• Reduction in the cost of inputs for land preparation and therefore a saving of around 80%.
• Residual moisture can be effectively utilized and number of irrigations can be reduced.
• Dry matter and organic matter get added to the soil.
• Environmentally safe – Greenhouse effect will get reduced due to carbon sequestration.
• No tillage reduces the compaction of the soil and reduces the water loss by runoff and prevent soil erosion.
• As the soil is intact and no disturbance is done, No Till lands have more useful flora and fauna.

37.CUSTOM HIRING CENTRES:

• Custom hiring centres (CHCs) for farm implements were established to empower farmers to tide over the shortage of labour and improve efficiency of agricultural operations.
• A committee of farmers’ nominated by the gram sabha manages the custom hiring centre.
• The rates for hiring the machines/ implements are decided by the Village Climate Risk Management Committee (VCRMC).

 Advantages of CHCs:

• Provides access to small and marginal farmers to costly farm machinery
• Facilitates timeliness in farm operations and efficient use of inputs
• Promotes adoption of climate resilient practices and technologies by farmers because of availability of appropriate machines at reasonable hiring charges
• Promotes increase in cropping intensity wherever feasible
• Facilitates crop residue recycling and prevents burning of residues

38.GLOBAL ASSESSMENT OF FOREST BIODIVERSITY BY WORLD WIDE FUND FOR NATURE (WWF)

Why in news?

• More than half of forest wildlife declined since 1970 according to the first-ever global assessment of forest biodiversity by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

 About the news:

• The new findings were based on the Forest Specialist Index, developed following the Living Planet Index methodology — an index that tracks wildlife that lives only in forests.
• There has been a 53 per cent decline in the number of forest wildlife populations since 1970.
• Of the 455 monitored populations of forest specialists, more than half declined at an annual rate of 1.7 per cent, on average between 1970 and 2014.
• While the decline was consistent in these years among mammals, reptiles and amphibians (particularly from the tropical forests), it was less among birds (especially from temperate forests), showed the report.
• Major threats responsible for the decline in wildlife populations:
• Habitat loss and habitat degradation/change
• Exploitation
• Climate change
• Loss of habitat due to logging, agricultural expansion, mining, hunting, conflicts and spread of diseases accounted for almost 60 per cent of threats.
• Nearly 20 per cent of threats were due to overexploitation. Of the 112 forest-dwelling primate populations, 40 were threatened by overexploitation (hunting).
• Climate change, on the other hand, threatened to 43 per cent of amphibian populations, 37 per cent of reptile populations, 21 per cent of bird populations but only 3 per cent of mammal populations.
• More than 60 per cent of threatened forest specialist populations faced more than one threat.

39.WORLD WIDE FUND FOR NATURE (WWF)

Why in news?

• More than half of forest wildlife declined since 1970 according to the first-ever global assessment of forest biodiversity by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
• It is international non-governmental organization working in the field of the wilderness preservation and reduction of human impact on the environment.
• It founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Gland, Switzerland.
• WWF aims to stop degradation of planet’s natural environment and build future in which humans live in harmony with nature.
• Currently, its work is organized around these six areas: food, climate, freshwater, wildlife, forests, and oceans.
• It publishes Living Planet Report every two years since 1998

40.NEMATODES

Why in news?

• Global analysis on nematodes conducted by a team of researchers.

 More about news:

• Nematodes are roundworms and their size can vary from a tiny 0.2 millimetre to a few metres.
• A team of over 50 researchers collected over 6,500 soil samples from all seven continents of the world and found that there are about 57 billion nematodes for every human being on Earth.
• The study was done only on the top 15 cm of soil. Their total biomass comes to around 300 million tonnes which is about 80% of the combined weight of Earth’s humans.

 Findings:

• Nematodes are responsible for around 2.2% of the total carbon emission from soil.
• At 38% of the total, sub-Arctic regions have the highest abundance of nematodes.
• Soil organic matter content was the key driver for nematode abundance.
• The low temperature and high moisture in the sub-Arctic regions reduce the decomposition rate of organic matter.
• This leads to accumulation of organic matter and the nematodes happily thrive on them.
• These nematodes play a crucial role in the environment as they are responsible for production of about 19% of ammonia of the soil.
• They are also important bio indicators of soil ecosystem health.

41.SO2 EMISSIONS

Why in news?

• India is the largest emitter of sulphur dioxide (SO2) in the world, according to a new report by Greenpeace released on August 19, 2019.

 About the findings and Report:

• India is the largest emitter of sulphur dioxide (SO2) in the world, contributing more than 15 per cent of global anthropogenic emissions.
• The primary reason for India’s high emission output is the expansion of coal-based electricity generation over the past decade.
• Five of the top 10 SO2 emission hotspots from coal/power generation industry across the world are in India.
• The Norilsk smelter site in Russia continues to be the largest anthropogenic SO2 emission hotspot in the world, followed by the Kriel area in Mpumalanga province of South Africa, Zagroz in Iran, and Rabigh in Saudi Arabia.
• Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh is at number five.
• Rising emissions have made India overtake China whose success in reducing emissions has also made Russia the number two emitter.
• China reduced their SO2 emissions through stringent emission norms and implementation of technologies like flue-gas desulfurisation (FGD).

SO2 emissions, contribution and other sources:

• SO2 emissions are a significant contributor to air pollution.
• Its direct exposure and exposure to particulate matter PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) produced when SO2 reacts with other air pollutants to form sulphate particles both affect human health.
• The greatest source of SO2 in the atmosphere is the burning of fossil fuels in power plants and other industrial facilities.
• Other sources include industrial processes such as extracting metal from ore, natural sources such as volcanoes, and locomotives, ships and other vehicles and heavy equipment that burn fuel with high sulphur content.

Major hotspots in India:

• The thermal power plants or clusters at Singrauli, Neyveli, Talcher, Jharsuguda, Korba, Kutch, Chennai, Ramagundam, Chandrapur, and Koradi to be the major emission hotspots in the country.
• The vast majority of plants in India lack flue-gas desulfurisation (FGD) technology to reduce air pollution.

Efforts by India:

• The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had, for the first time, introduced SO2 emission limits for coal-fired power plants in December 2015.
• Supreme Court order changed the deadline for installation of FGD technology in power plants from 2017 to December 2019 in Delhi-NCR and till 2022 for other parts of the country.

42.CORAL REEFS

Why in news?

• Gulf of Mannar (GoM) witnessed massive bleaching between 2005 and 2010 and 2016 due to high temperature and other factors.

 Coral Reefs:

• Coral reefs are important hotspots of biodiversity in the ocean.
• Corals are animals in the same class (Cnidaria) as jellyfish and anemones.
• They consist of individual polyps that get together and build reefs.
• Coral reefs support a wide range of species and maintain the quality of the coastal biosphere.
• Corals control the level of carbon dioxide in the water by converting it into a limestone shell.
• If this process does not take place, the amount of carbon dioxide in the ocean water would increase significantly and affect ecological niche

Major Reef formations in India:

• The Gulf of Mannar
• Gulf of Kutch
• Andaman and Nicobar
• Lakshadweep Islands.

 Coral Bleaching:

• Coral reefs are threatened by climate change.
• When the sea surface temperature increases beyond a tolerable limit, they undergo a process of bleaching.
• Bleaching is when the corals expel a certain algae known as zooxanthellae, which lives in the tissues of the coral in a symbiotic relationship.
• About 90% of the energy of the coral is provided by the zooxanthellae which are endowed with chlorophyll and other pigments.
• They are responsible for the yellow or reddish brown colours of the host coral. The zooxanthellae can live as endosymbionts with jellyfish also.
• When a coral bleaches, it does not die but comes pretty close to it. Some of the corals may survive the experience and recover once the sea surface temperature returns to normal levels.

 Great Barrier Reef:

• The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands.
• The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
• The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world’s biggest single structure made by living organisms.
• It supports a wide diversity of life and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981.

INTERNATIONAL CORAL REEF INITIATIVE (ICRI):

• The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) is an informal partnership between Nations and organizations which strives to preserve coral reefs and related ecosystems around the world.
• The Initiative was founded in 1994 by eight governments: Australia, France, Japan, Jamaica, the Philippines, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
• ICRI now counts more than 60 members.
• India is a member.

INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE REEF (IYOR):

• International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) has declared year 2018 as the 3rdInternational Year of the Reef (IYOR 2018).
• IYOR 2018 theme – ‘identify and implement effective management strategies for conservation, increased resiliency and sustainable use of coral reefs’.
• The first IYOR was designated in 1997 in response to the increasing threats on coral reefs and associated ecosystems.
• The year 2007 was designated as the second IYOR

43.METHYL MERCURY

Why in news?

• Ocean warming, overfishing increase methyl mercury toxin in fish, reveals a recent research.

 About the News:

• Despite a decrease in seawater concentration of methyl mercury since the late 1990s, the amount of toxin that gets accumulated in certain fish which are higher in the food chain have been found to increase.
• The amount of methyl mercury in fish higher in the food chain can change due to two reasons — ocean warming and dietary shifts due to overfishing by humans.
• Based on 30 years (1970s and 2000s) of data and ecosystem modelling, researchers have found that there has been up to 23% increase in methylmercury concentration in Atlantic cod fish in the Gulf of Maine in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.

 Methylmercury:

• Methylmercury (sometimes methyl mercury) is an organometallic cation with the formula [CH3Hg]+.
• It is the major source of organic mercury for all humans.
• It is a bioaccumulative environmental toxicant.

 Effects:

• Methyl mercury poisons the heart and blood vessel system, the reproductive system, and the immune system.
• Methyl mercury is highly poisonous and the toxicity varies according to its form, inflow path, exposure amount, and individual susceptibility.
• When a pregnant woman is exposed to methyl mercury, it may increase the risk of silent birth and the birth of babies with deformities or severe nervous system diseases, even when the mother does not show any symptoms of poisoning.

44.WILDLIFE TRADE MONITORING NETWORK (TRAFFIC)

Why in news?

• India, with the world’s largest wild tiger population, topped in the trafficking of tigers and tiger body parts over 19 years since 2000, a new TRAFFIC analysis.

 Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network (TRAFFIC):

• TRAFFIC is a leading non-governmental organisation working globally on trade in wild animals and plants in the context of both biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
• TRAFFIC was established in 1976 with headquarters at Cambridge, United Kingdom.
• It is a strategic alliance of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and IUCN.
• Its mission is to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature.
• It is complimentary to Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
• TRAFFIC came to India in 1991, operating as a division of WWF-India.

45.CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF WILD FAUNA AND FLORA (CITES)

Why in news?

• The 18th Conference of the Parties (CoP18) of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was recently concluded in Geneva, Switzerland.

Highlights of COP18 CITES:

• Star tortoises (Geochelone elegans), the smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) and small-clawed otters (Anoyx cinereus) have been listed under Appendix I of CITES and will now enjoy the highest degree of protection as there will be a complete international ban enforced on their trade.
• Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko) included in Appendix II of CITES.

Indian star tortoise:

• The Indian star tortoise is a threatened species of tortoise which found in dry areas and scrub forest of India and Sri Lanka and also in Pakistan.
• The species has been placed under Schedule IV of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.
• IUCN status: Vulnerable
• CITES: Appendix I

Smooth-coated otter (Lutra perspicillata):

• Listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List
• CITES: Appendix I
• The species has been placed under Schedule II of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.
• Smooth-coated otter is distributed throughout India from the Himalayas and to the south in India. It is sympatric with other otter species in the Western Ghats and the northeast India.

CITES:

• It is an international agreement between governments also known as Washington Convention.
• Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.
• CITES was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of IUCN
• CITES entered in force on 1July 1975.
• CITES is legally binding on the Parties but it does not take the place of national laws.
• It provides a framework to be respected by each Party, which has to adopt its own domestic legislation to ensure that CITES is implemented at the national level.
• It has 183 parties.
• The species covered by CITES are listed in three Appendices, according to the degree of protection they need.
• Appendix I include species threatened with extinction. Trade in specimens of these species is permitted only in exceptional circumstances.
• Appendix II includes species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but in which trade must be controlled in order to avoid utilization incompatible with their survival.
• Appendix III contains species that are protected in at least one country, which has asked other CITES Parties for assistance in controlling the trade.

46.CHILIKA AND ANSUPA LAKE

Why in news?

• The Odisha Wetland Authority has approved implementation of an integrated management plan for Chilika and Ansupa Lake.

 About the news:

• The five-year management of lakes is intended at strengthening livelihood of thousands of fishermen relying on the two water-bodies.
• Besides, tourism promotion and conservation of ecology will be taken up.

 Ansupa Lake:

• Ansupa Odisha’s largest freshwater lake.
• Ansupa is famous for its sweet water fish, especially labeo bata locally known as pohala.
• Ansupa spread over almost 2 sq km is also the wintering ground for 32 species of migratory birds.

 Ansupa current situation according to the Chilika Development Authority (CDA):

• The lake was sustaining from the freshwater supply during the rainy season from the Mahanadi River.
• With reduced inflow over the years, the lake’s hydrology has undergone serious and visible changes.
• The water spread area has reduced and fishery resource is almost non-existent.

 Chilika Lake:

• Chilika Lake is the largest brackish water lake in Asia.
• It is the second largest coastal lagoon in the world.
• Spread across three districts of Odisha state, it is located at the mouth of Daya River.
• Nalabana Bird Sanctuary is located in the lake.
• The Irrawaddy dolphin (IUCN Red List – Endangered) is the flagship species of Chilika Lake.
• It was designated the first ‘Ramsar site’ (1981) of India owing to its rich biodiversity and ecological significance.

47.INTERNATIONAL COALITION FOR DISASTER RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE

Why in news?

• The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister has given ex-post facto approval for the Establishment of an International Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) along with its supporting Secretariat Office in New Delhi.

 International Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI):

• The CDRI is proposed to be launched at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York, USA on 23rd September 2019.
• The CDRI will serve as a platform where knowledge is generated and exchanged on different aspects of disaster and climate resilience of infrastructure.
• It will create a mechanism to assist countries to upgrade their capacities and practices, with regard to infrastructure development in accordance with their risk context and economic needs.

 Background:

• A global coalition for disaster resilient infrastructure would address concerns that are common to developing and developed countries, small and large economies, countries at early and advanced stages of infrastructure development, and countries that have moderate or high disaster risk.

 Sendai Framework:

• It was adopted at the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, held in the year 2015 in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
• The Sendai Framework is a 15- year, voluntary, non-binding agreement which recognizes that the State has the primary role to reduce disaster risk.
• The present Framework applies to the risk of small-scale and large-scale, frequent and infrequent, sudden and slow-onset disasters caused by natural or man-made hazards, as well as related environmental, technological and biological hazards and risks.
• SFDRR aims at achieving a substantial reduction of disaster risk and disaster losses in lives, livelihoods, health etc.

48.CAMPA

Why in news?

• In a major boost towards promoting afforestation and achieving green objectives of the country, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, handed over Rs.47,436 crores of CAMPA funds to various states.

 Compensatory afforestation:

• Compensatory afforestation means afforestation done as a replacement for the diversion of forest land for non-forest use in some other area.

 CAMPA Act 2016:

• For the effective management of compensatory afforestation activities, the parliament enacted the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016.
• It provides for the establishment of Compensatory Afforestation funds under National and state level.
• Major part of the these funds shall be used to restock and improve quality of degraded forests, which constitutes more than 40 % of the total forest cover of the country

CAMPA funds are used for:

• Artificial regeneration (plantations) & Natural regeneration
• Catchment Area Treatment
• Soil and Moisture Conservation Works
• Protection of forests
• Forest related infrastructure development
• Wildlife protection
• It also provided for a constitution of an authority at national level and at each of the State level (state CAMPAs) for administration of the funds.

49.PERMAFROST

Why in news?

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special “report on oceans and Earth’s frozen zones” says rising global ocean waterline could displace 250 million people by year 2100.

 Key findings:

• Without deep cuts to manmade emissions, at least 30% of the northern hemisphere’s surface permafrost could melt by century’s end, unleashing billions of tons of carbon, and accelerating global warming even more.
• By 2050, many low lying megacities and small island nations will experience “extreme sea level events” every year, the report concludes  Even if the world manages to cap global warming at two degrees Celsius, the global ocean waterline will rise enough to displace more 250 million people.

Permafrost:

• Permafrost is defined as ground that remains at or below 0°C for at least two consecutive years.
• It consists of soil, gravel, and sand, usually bound together by ice.
• Lowland permafrost regions are traditionally divided into several zones based on estimated geographic continuity in the landscape.
• Continuous permafrost (underlying 90-100% of the landscape)
• Discontinuous permafrost (50-90%)
• Sporadic permafrost (0-50%).
• In the Northern Hemisphere, regions in which permafrost occurs occupy approximately 25% of the land area.
• Most of the permafrost existing today formed during cold glacial periods, and has persisted through warmer inter glacial periods, including the Holocene.
• Permafrost can be used as a paleo thermometer—fluctuations of air temperature from the late 19th and 20th centuries can be obtained by measuring temperature in deep permafrost.

50.AQUACULTURE

Why in news?

• Vice President inaugurated the 5th AQUA AQUARIA INDIA 2019, India’s International Aqua culture Show, organized by the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), in Hyderabad.

 Aquaculture:

• Aquaculture is the cultivation of aquatic organisms – fish, shellfish and aquatic plants.
• This includes both marine water and freshwater species and can be land based or open ocean production.
• Different kinds of aqua farming are the production of kelp, seaweed, and other algae, fish farming, and shrimp farming, shellfish farming, growing of cultured pearls etc.

 Some Facts on Aquaculture:

• India is the second largest fish producer in the world with a production of 13.70 Million Metric Tons of fish during 2018-19.
• Fish constituted about 10 % of total exports from India and almost 20% of agriculture exports in 201718.
• With export earnings of US $ 7 Billion, India is the 4th largest exporter of fish in the world.
• The sector provides employment opportunities to more than 14.5 million people, residing in remote villages of the Indian coast.
• Contribution of fisheries to the GDP is about 1% and about 5.37 % to the Agricultural GDP.
• The Global Per Capita Food Fish consumption is estimated at 20.7 kg/per annum.
• Out of this 11.4 Kg (55%) is contributed by Aquaculture and rest by capture fishery.

Background: 

• Our country harbors about 2,200 species of fish, which accounts for about 11% of all the fish species reported globally.
• With a long coastline of over 8000 Kms, India’s vast and diverse aquatic resources offer excellent opportunity for expansion of aquaculture food fish production.

54.WILDLIFE INSTITUTE OF INDIA (WII)

Why in news?

• University of Delhi and Wildlife Institute of India, in collaboration with researchers from Indonesia and USA, have discovered a new frog belonging to the microhylid genus Micryletta from the Northeast of India.

 About the news

• The frog is commonly known as paddy frog.
• The first known species of this genus was originally described from the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.
• Currently, there are only four recognized species in this group.
• The new species is named aishani.

 About Wildlife Institute of India

• Wildlife Institute of India (WII) is an internationally acclaimed Institution, which offers training program, academic courses and advisory in wildlife research and management.
• It was established in 1982.
• It is an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate change, Government of India.
• The institute is based in Dehradun.

55.EQUATOR PRIZE

• The Equator Prize is awarded biennially to recognize community efforts to reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and is organized by the Equator Initiative within the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
• UNDP announces six women from Deccan Development Society (DDS) groups as winner of ‘Equator Prize’.

57.Indian Gaur/ Indian bison / Bos gaurus

• It is native to South and Southeast Asia.
• IUCN: Vulnerable
• It is the largest extant bovine
• The gaur is the tallest of wild cattle species
• The domesticated form of the gaur is called gayal (Bos frontalis) or mithun

58.Oil spillage

Why in news?

• Oil spillage fears in the ecologically sensitive Chilika lake appears to have diminished with the pumping out of oil from the Malaysian tug, which ran aground in the vicinity of the country’s largest brackish water lagoon progressing well.

Marine pollution:

• It is the spreading of harmful substances such as oil, plastic, industrial and agricultural waste, chemical particles etc into the ocean.

Oil spillage:

• Oil tanker spills compound the danger to the marine food chain by crude released into the sea in normal operations and seepage from the earth.
• With huge tankers knifing their way through the high seas and offshore oil drilling intensifying, oil pollution is an ever-present threat.
• Up to two-thirds of an oil-spill can evaporate in the first few days.
• But before these toxic compounds evaporate, they kill fish and animal life and pose harm to future generations.
• The thick oil also washes ashore creating reservoirs on the beaches of toxic chemicals that can have a lasting effect on the environment. 

What happens to marine life?

• The immediate impact of an oil slick is the mass death of fish and turtles and of birds because they cannot fly with wings coated by heavy oil.
• Because the oil forms a film on the surface, it reduces the amount of light and oxygen passing into the water.
• This suffocates marine life or causes it to go into a state of “heat coma”. 
• Toxic chemicals leached from the oil and some of the oil itself sink to the seabed, damaging coral reefs also.
• In 1973, the IMO adopted the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL).

International Maritime Organization:

• It is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating shipping, established in the year
• It is headquartered in London.
• Indiawas one of the earliest members of the IMO and had joined it as a member-state in 1959.
• The IMO’s primary purpose is to develop and maintain a comprehensive regulatory framework for shipping.           

 

59.Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme

Why in news?

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for thefollowing, including fixing higher ethanol price derived from different raw materials under the EBP Programme for the forthcoming sugar season 2019-20 during ethanol supply year from 1st December 2019 to 30th November 2020:

Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme:

• It was launched in the year 2003
• Government has been implementing Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme wherein OMCs sell petrol blended with ethanol up to 10%.
• This programme has been extended to whole of India except Union Territories of Andaman Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands with effect from 01st April, 2019.

Benefits:

• To promote the use of alternative and environment friendly fuels.
• To reduce import dependence for energy requirements
• To give boost to agriculture sector.
• Less Pollution

Ethanol:

• Ethanol, an anhydrous ethyl alcohol having chemical formula of C₂H₅OH, can be produced from sugarcane, maize, wheat, etc which are having high starch content.
• In India, ethanol is mainly produced from sugarcane molasses by fermentation process.
• Ethanol can be mixed with gasoline to form different blends.

 

60.Red-eared turtles

• News – 2,000 red-eared turtles seized at Tiruchi airport.

Red-eared turtle (Trachemys scripta elegans):

• It is a semiaquatic turtle belonging to the family Emydidae.
• The Red-eared Slider is a freshwater terrapin that is native to the Mississippi River Basin of North America.
• It is a subspecies of the pond slider.
• The Red-eared Slider is considered one of the world’s top 100 worst invasive species. 
• IUCN – Least Concern.

 

61.Pangolins

Why in news?

• Six persons, including a woman, were arrested for allegedly smuggling pangolins in Kolkata.

What are Pangolins?

• Pangolins are actually mammals.
• They are the only mammals wholly-covered in scales and they use those scales to protect themselves from predators in the wild.

• If under threat, a pangolin will immediately curl into a tight ball and will use their sharp-scaled tails to defend themselves.
• Of the eight species of pangolin worldwide, two are found in India. They are Chinese pangolin (manis pentadactyla), mostly found in northeast India and Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata).

What do pangolins eat?

• Pangolins eat ants, termites and larvae and are often known as “the scaly anteater.”
• Because they have no teeth, pangolins pick up food with their sticky tongues, which can sometimes reach lengths greater than the animal’s body.

The most trafficked mammal in the world?

• They certainly are one of the most trafficked mammals in Asia and, increasingly, Africa. Pangolins are in high demand in countries like China and Vietnam.
• Pangolins is smuggled for its scales as it believed that they possess magic or charms and have medicinal properties.
• All eight pangolin species are protected under national and international laws. But there is still growing international illegal trade in pangolins.

Protection Status: 

• Chinese pangolin has been listed as “critically endangered” by UN affiliated International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List.
• Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) has been listed as “endangered” in IUCN Red List.
• It is also a Schedule I category protected animal, under the Wildlife Protection Act (1972).

 

62.Nilgiri tahr

Why in news?

• In more good news for the State animal, the Nilgiri tahr, its sightings in the Mukurthi National Park have risen from 568 in 2018 to 612 this year.

More Facts

• This was the second consecutive year that an increase in the population of the animal had been recorded in the park, meaning the population of the Nilgiri tahr, also known as the Nilgiri ibex, has risen by 132 since 2016.
• Almost 8% increase in the population of the iconic animal in 2019 follows a similarly significant increase in its population in 2018.
• There was a decrease in tahr numbers in 2017, when a population of only 438 was recorded, down from 480 in 2016.

Nilgiri tahr

• It is state animal of Tamil Nadu.
• It is endemic to Western Ghats from the Nilgiris to Kanyakumari.
• Listed in Schedule I of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and as Endangered on IUCN Red List.
• The Nilgiri tahr inhabits the open montane grassland habitats at elevations from 1200 to 2600 m (generally above 2000 m) of the south western ghats.
• An estimated 700-800 Nilgiri Tahr inhabit Eravikulam National Park (Kerala), making it the largest wild population in the world. 

 

63.Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme (ITHPC)

Why in news?

• Union Environment Minister released a report on Status of Tiger Habitats in high altitude ecosystems today in New Delhi.

Significance of the study:

• This study, led by the GTF, with range country governments of Bhutan, India and Nepal, along with conservation partners (WWF and country specific collaborators), has been supported by the Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme (ITHPC) of the IUCN.
• Yet most of the high-altitude habitats, within the range have not been surveyed for an appraisal of tiger presence, prey and habitat status.
• Tiger habitats in high altitude require protection through sustainable land use, as they are a high value ecosystem.

Global Tiger Forum (GTF):

• The Global Tiger Forum (GTF) is the only inter- governmental international body established with members from willing countries to embark on a global campaign to protect the Tiger.
• Utilizing co-operative policies, common approaches, technical expertise, scientific modules and other appropriate programmes and controls the GTF is focused on saving the remaining 5 sub-species of Tigers distributed over 13 Tiger Range countries of the world.
• The GTF was formed in 1993 on recommendations from an international symposium on Tiger Conservation at New Delhi, India.
• The GTF has a General Assembly meeting every 3 years and Standing committee meetings at least once a year.
• A Chairperson, usually a Minister from one of the Tiger Range countries heads GTF for a fixed tenure of 3 Years.
• The Secretariat of GTF is headed by a Secretary General and is located in New Delhi, India.

Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme (ITHPC):

• The Programme was launched by IUCN

• Tiger populations have plummeted from around 100,000 individuals in 1910 to 3,200 individuals in 2010, occupying 7% of their original range.
• Poaching, habitat destruction and human-wildlife conflict are to blame. Effective policy and conservation programmes are imperative for tiger survival. 
• Initiated in 2014, the Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme (ITHCP) or ‘Tiger Programme‘ is a grant-making initiative which contributes to the Global Tiger Recovery Programme (GTRP), a global effort to double tiger numbers in the wild by 2022.
• The programme consists of a portfolio of 12 large-scale projects in key Tiger Conservation Landscapes across Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Nepal and Myanmar. 
• The Tiger Programme is based on three pillars: 
• Protecting tiger species and their prey from the threat of poaching.
• Preserving tiger habitats, including core habitats, buffer zones and corridors.
• Supporting human populations living in tiger landscapes.
• Around 50,000 community members living in park buffer zones or corridor areas benefit from the Tiger Programme, through reduced human-animal conflict and more sustainable income sources.
• In Nepal, there has been a decrease of over 70% in human-tiger conflict incidents and a 50% decline in livestock deaths.
• The initiative is funded by The German Cooperation via KfW Development Bank, over two phases. The first phase is being implemented from 2014 to 2020 and the second one from 2019 to 2023

 

64.Land Degradation Neutrality

Why in news?

• Prime Minister, ShriNarendraModi addressed the High Level Segment of the 14^thConference of Parties (COP14) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) at Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh and told about LDN (Land Degradation Neutrality) Strategies that have succeeded in India.
• During his address, the Prime Minister announced “India would raise its ambition of the total area that would be restored from its land degradation status, from twenty-one million hectares to twenty-six million hectares between now and 2030”. 

 Land Degradation Neutrality:

• Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) has been defined by the Parties to the Convention as:

• A state whereby the amount and quality of land resources, necessary to support ecosystem functions and services and enhance food security, remains stable or increases within specified temporal and spatial scales and ecosystems.

• To date, over 120 countries have engaged with the LDN Target Setting Programme and considerable progress has been made since the 2030 Agenda was adopted in 2015.
• LDN represents a paradigm shift in land management policies and practices.
• It is a unique approach that counterbalances the expected loss of productive land with the recovery of degraded areas.
• It strategically places the measures to conserve, sustainably manage and restore land in the context of land use planning.
• UNCCD and the UN Environment Programme (UN Environment) came together to mark the United Nations General Assembly adoption of the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD):

• It was established in 1994, the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management.
• The Convention addresses specifically the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the drylands, where some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and peoples can be found.

• India ratified the UNCCD Convention on 17th December 1996.

COP 14:

• India being the global host for COP 14 will take over the COP Presidency from China for the next two years till 2021.
• India is privileged to be among the select few countries to have hosted the COP of all three Rio conventions on climate change, biodiversity and land.

UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework:

• It is the most comprehensive global commitment to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN):
• In order to restore the productivity of vast expanses of degraded land
• Improve the livelihoods of more than 1.3 billion people and
• To reduce the impacts of drought on vulnerable populations to build.

UNCCD Estimate of Desertification:

• By 2025, 1.8 billion people will experience absolute water scarcity, and 2/3 of the world will be living under water-stressed conditions.
• By 2045 some 135 million people may be displaced as a result of desertification.

 

65.Soil erosion 

Why in news?

• Odisha villagers’ bid to save their homes from soil erosion.

Soil erosion:

• Soil erosion is the displacement of the upper layer of soil, it is one form of soil degradation.
• This natural process is caused by the dynamic activity of erosive agents, that is, water, ice (glaciers), snow, air (wind), plants, animals, and humans.
• In accordance with these agents, erosion is sometimes divided into water erosion, glacial erosion, snow erosion, wind (aeolean) erosion, zoogenic erosion and anthropogenic erosion.

Types:

Water erosion:

• Water erosion causes two sets of problems:
• an on-site loss of agricultural potential
• an off-site effect of downstream movement of sediment, causing flooding and the silting up of reservoirs.

Wind erosion:

• Wind erosion occurs when the land surface is left bare in regions that are arid enough, as a result of low rainfall, to allow the soil to dry out, and flat enough to allow the wind to carry the soil away over several consecutive days.
• Land may become susceptible to wind erosion through grazing animals, which remove the protective plant cover, and whose hooves break up the soil, especially round watering points.
• Arable land that has been left bare is also a major problem.

Sheet erosion:

• Soil erosion is characterised by the downslope removal of soil particles within a thin sheet of water.
• Sheet erosion occurs when the entire surface of a field is gradually eroded in a more or less uniform way.
• It is a gradual process and it is not immediately obvious that soil is being lost.

Causes of soil erosion:

• Erosion occurs when farming practices are not compatible with the fact that soil can be washed away or blown away.

These practices are:

• Overstocking and overgrazing
• Inappropriate farming techniques such as deep ploughing land 2 or 3 times a year to produce annual crops
• Lack of crop rotation
• Planting crops down the contour instead of along it.

Factors determining soil erosion:

• Slope:The length of the slope is very important, because the greater the size of the sloping area, the greater the concentration of the flooding water.
• Soil structure:The term soil structure means the grouping or arrangement of soil particles. Overcultivation and compaction cause the soil to lose its structure and cohesion (ability to stick together) and it erodes more easily.
• Organic material:Organic material is the “glue” that binds the soil particles together and plays an important part in preventing soil erosion. Organic matter is the main source of energy for soil organisms, both plant and animal. It also influences the infiltration capacity of the soil, therefore reducing runoff.
• Land use:Grass is the best natural soil protector against soil erosion because of its relatively dense cover. 

Preventing soil erosion:

Some of the following measures can be implemented to prevent soil erosion:

• The use of contour ploughing and windbreaks
• Leave unploughed grass strips between ploughed lands (strip cropping)
• Make sure that there are always plants growing on the soil, and that the soil is rich in humus
• Avoid overgrazing
• Allow indigenous plants to grow along riverbanks
• Conserve wetlands
• Cultivate land, using a crop rotation system
• Minimum or no tillage
• Encourage water infiltration and reduce water runoff.

 

66.Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report

Why in news?

• All nations must climb down the emissions ladder without giving up on their standard of living.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report:

Concerns:

• The IPCC says total global emissions will need to fall by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.
• If these targets are not met, tropical regions of the world, which are densely populated and happen to be mainly concentrated in the global South, are likely to be most negatively affected because of their low altitudes and pre-existing high temperatures.

Current Issue:

• The global South, has contributed less to the problem and even at present its per capita carbon emissions are much smaller in comparison to the countries in the global North.

 

67.Vulture

Why in news?

• The number declined from 40 million in the 80s to a few thousand by 2009.

About the news:

• The major reason behind the vulture population getting nearly wiped out was the drug Diclofenac, found in the carcass of cattle the vultures fed on.

• The drug, whose veterinary use was banned in 2008, was commonly administered to cattle to treat inflammation.

Vulture Care Centre (VCC):

• To study the cause of deaths of vultures, a Vulture Care Centre (VCC) was set up at Pinjore, Haryana. 
• At present there are nine Vulture Conservation and Breeding Centres (VCBC) in India, of which three are directly administered by Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).
• The objective of the VCBCs was not only to look after the vultures and breed them in captivity, but also to release them into the wild.
• The first objective of the VCBC was to produce a few hundred pairs of each of the three species of the endangered vultures.

Diclofenac:

• Diclofenac is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID).
• This medicine works by reducing substances in the body that cause pain and inflammation.
• Diclofenac is used to treat mild to moderate pain, or signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis.
• Diclofenac is not approved for use by anyone younger than 18 years old.

 

68.Single-use plastic

Why in news?

• India’s policy on single-use plastic has been much in the news, with reports that a ban is in the offing. 

Single-use plastics: 

• Single-use plastics often also referred to as disposable plastics, are commonly used for packaging and include items intended to be used only once before they are thrown away or recycled.
• These include, among other items, grocery bags, food packaging, bottles, straws, containers, cups and cutlery. 
• Such plastics are problematic because they are not biodegradable.

Main Polymers used for producing single-use plastics:

• HDPE, LDPE, PET, PP, PS, and EPS.

Which industries use single-use plastic?

• FMCG companies; air conditioner, fridge and other consumer appliance manufacturers; e-commerce; hospitality; and restaurants.
• Also, small retail shop owners and grocery stores use single-use plastic for product delivery.

 

69.Ozone Layer

Why in news?

• The International Day for Preservation of Ozone Layer is observed on September 16.

Ozone Layer:

• The ozone layer, a fragile shield of gas, protects the Earth from the harmful portion of the rays of the sun, thus helping preserve life on the planet.
• It contains high concentrations of ozone (O3) in relation to other parts of the atmosphere.

• Stratospheric Ozone is not harmful, but its presence on land it is harmful.
• Substances like Chlorofluorocarbons, halons, Carbontetrachloride are responsible for ozone layer depletion.
• The Ozone layer absorbs most of the ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth from the sun. Ozone Layer in the atmosphere is thicker over the poles than over the equator.

How is Ozone created?

• When the sun’s rays split oxygen molecules into single atoms, Ozone is created in the atmosphere. These single atoms combine with nearby oxygen to form a three-oxygen molecule — Ozone.

 Why is Ozone Layer important?

• Ozone protects the Earth from harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays from the Sun.
• Plants cannot live and grow in heavy ultraviolet radiation, nor can the planktons that serve as food for most of the ocean life.
• With a weakening of the Ozone Layer shield, humans would be more susceptible to skin cancer, cataracts and impaired immune systems.

What is ‘Ozone Layer depletion’?

• Chemicals containing chlorine and bromine atoms are released in the atmosphere through human activities.
• These chemicals combine with certain weather conditions to cause reactions in the Ozone Layer, leading to ozone molecules getting destroyed.
• Depletion of the Ozone Layer occurs globally, but the severe depletion of the Ozone Layer over the Antarctic is often referred to as the ‘Ozone Hole’.
• Increased depletion has recently started occurring over the Arctic as well.

Montreal Protocol:

• It is an international treaty designed to protect ozone layer by phasing out production of numerous Ozone Depleting Substances (ODSs) that are responsible for ozone depletion.
• It was agreed on 26 August 1987 in Montreal, Canada and entered into force on 26 August 1989.
• It was followed by a first meeting in Helsinki, May 1989.
• Under it production and consumption of key ODSs like chlorofluorocarbon (CFCs), Methyl Chloroform, CTC halons and Methyl Bromide have been phased-out globally.
• It is legally binding on member countries and has been ratified by 197 parties making it universally ratified protocol in UN history.

 

68.Invasive species may soon wipe out Shola vegetation from Nilgiris

Why in news?

• According to a report filed by an expert committee formed by the Madras High Court, the Shola vegetation has become relict in Ooty Nilgiris and may vanish soon as a result of exotics and tea plantations.

Findings by the committee:

• Expanding plantains like tea and eucalyptus along with exotic and invasive species in the Nilgiris can wipe out Shola vegetation.
• The change in vegetation will result in loss of water sources and is already leading to massive landslides.
• The committee recognises the deleterious impact of invasive species like eucalyptus, tea plantations and wattle and naturalised alien species like Lantana camara, Opuntia stricta, Chromolaena odorata, Parthenium hysterophorusand Senna spectabilis on the Shola forest and grasslands.
• The domination of invasive species in the Western Ghats was between 65 and 75 per cent.

Shola Grassland:

• The Shola vegetation are tropical montane forests found in the Western Ghats separated by rolling grasslands in high altitudes (the states Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu). 
• They consist of dwarf trees growing 25-30 feet – vegetation is double layered storey with closed canopy which hardly permits a single ray of sunlight to penetrate in the natural vegetation. 
• Nilgiris upper region is classified as southern grassland mountain grassland.
• Mountain vegetation consists of patches of stunted evergreen forest.

Recommendations by the Committee:

• Removal of exotics and invasive alien species and subsequent ecological restoration of weed-free landscapes requires well-knitted management structure and resources.
• The committee recommended that there is an urgent need to map the extent of exotic plantations, spread of invasive alien species and loss of grasslands in each forest division of the Nilgiris.

 

69.Renewable Energy

Why in news?

• India’s renewable energy target will be increased to 450 GW, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the United Nations Climate Action Summit.

Renewable Energy:

• Renewable energy is energy from sources that are naturally replenishing but flow-limited; renewable resources are virtually inexhaustible in duration but limited in the amount of energy that is available per unit of time.
• Renewable energy accounts for 13.5% of the world’s total energy supply, and 22% of the world’s electricity.   
• Renewable energy systems are better for the environment and produce less emission than conventional energy sources.

Why is it important?

1. Renewable energy systems provide energy from sources that will never deplete.
2. Renewable energy systems produce less greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuel energy systems.

Types of renewable energy sources:

1. Biomass—renewable energy from plants and animals

• Biomass is organic material that comes from plants and animals, and it is a renewable source of energy.

1. Hydropower

• This form uses the gravitational potential of elevated water that was lifted from the oceans by sunlight.

1. Geothermal 

• Geothermal energy – heat is continuously produced inside the earth. 

• The slow decay of radioactive particles in the earth’s core produces geothermal energy.

1. Wind Energy

• Wind energy (or wind power) describes the process by which wind is used to generate electricity. Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical power. A generator can convert mechanical power into electricity.

1. Solar Energy

• It refers to capturing the energy from the Sun and subsequently converting it into electricity.

Solar energy benefits:

• Solar energy systems do not produce air pollutants or carbon dioxide.
• Solar energy systems on buildings have minimal effects on the environment.

Solar energy limitations:

• The amount of sunlight that arrives at the earth’s surface is not constant. The amount of sunlight varies depending on location, time of day, season of the year, and weather conditions.
• The amount of sunlight reaching a square foot of the earth’s surface is relatively small, so a large surface area is necessary to absorb or collect a useful amount of energy.

India and Renewable energy Sector:

Government initiatives:

Some initiatives by the Government of India to boost the Indian renewable energy sector are as follows:

• A new Hydropower policy for 2018-28 has been drafted for the growth of hydro projects in the country.
• The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has decided to provide custom and excise duty benefits to the solar rooftop sector, which in turn will lower the cost of setting up as well as generate power, thus boosting growth.
• The Indian Railways is taking increased efforts through sustained energy efficient measures and maximum use of clean fuel to cut down emission level by 33 per cent by 2030.

FDI Policy:

• FDI up to 100% is permitted in the renewable energy sector under the Automatic route and no prior Government approval is required.

Key Achievements:

• More than 100 bn kWH of power was generated in the Country during 2017-18 from all renewable energy sources.
• The cumulative installed capacity of renewable energy has increased from 35.5 GW in March 2014 to 73.4 GW in October 2018.
• 40 solar parks of aggregate capacity of 21,144 MW sanctioned in 21 states.
• Wind Atlas 2015, a Geographic Information System (GIS) was launched.
• Renewable energy sector re-classified as ‘white category’ sector under pollution laws.
• Globally, India ranks 4^thin installed wind power capacity and 5th in installed solar power capacity as well as in overall installed renewable energy capacity.

 

70.Global Tiger Forum (GTF)

Why in news?

• A study jointly conducted by three countries had established that there were 52,671 sq.km. of tiger habitat in high altitudes or Himalayan habitats of India, Nepal and Bhutan.

From the news:

• India is home to the most number of tigers in the world, most of them are focussed in Central India and the Western Ghats.
• Potential high altitude tiger landscapes include the Valmiki-Chitwan-Annapurna (India-Nepal), Manas-Royal Manas-Jigme Dorji (India-Bhutan); Neora Valley-Torsa-Buxa-Phibsu (India-Bhutan); Askot-Pithoragarh-Nandhaur-Suklaphanta (India-Nepal); and Arunachal-Sikkim-bordering Bhutan (India-Bhutan).

Global Tiger Forum (GTF):

• The Global Tiger Forum (GTF) is the only inter- governmental international body established with members from willing countries to embark on a global campaign to protect the Tiger.
• The GTF is focused on saving the remaining 5 sub-species of Tigers distributed over 13 Tiger Range countries of the world.

History:

• The GTF was formed in 1993 on recommendations from an international symposium on Tiger Conservation at New Delhi, India.
• The first meeting of the Tiger Range countries to setup the forum was held in 1994, in which India was elected to the Chair and was asked to form an interim secretariat.
• In 1997, the GTF became an independent organization. Bangladesh was Chair twice followed by Nepal. India was elected as Chair in March 2011, replaced by Bhutan in 2014.

Functioning:

• The GTF has a General Assembly meeting every 3 years and Standing committee meetings at least once a year.
• The Secretariat of GTF is headed by a Secretary General and is located in New Delhi, India.

Conversation Assured | Tiger Standards (CA|TS):

• The Conversation Assured Tiger Standards (CA|TS) is an accreditation scheme that encourages tiger conservation areas to meet a set of standards and criteria, created by an international group of experts and protected area managers that assures effective and long term tiger conservation.
• CA|TS is a partnership between governments, NGOs and tiger conservation areas.
• It was developed in response to the need for stringent conservation procedures that is essential to delivering on the goal of doubling the number of wild tigers by 2022 agreed to in declaration adopted at the St Petersburg Tiger Summit in 2010.
• CA|TS provides an opportunity for individual tiger conservation areas or networks of areas to demonstrate their commitment to, and success in, protecting tigers.
• CA|TS mission is to secure safe havens for wild tigers.
• Only three sites — Lansdowne Forest Division in Uttarakhand, India, Chitwan National Park in Nepal and Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve in Russia — have been awarded CA|TS Approved status.
• CA|TS is based on a set of seven pillars with 17 minimum standards and associated criteria for effective management.

71.Bharat-22 ETF

Why in news?

• Bharat-22 ETF fourth tranche on October 3.

Bharat-22 ETF:

• Bharat 22 is an Exchange-traded fund (ETF) that will track the performance of 22 stocks the government plans to pare its stake in.
• The Bharat 22 ETF was initially launched by the Government in financial year 2017-18. 
• The Bharat-22 ETF will span six sectors:
• Basic materials,
• Energy,
• Finance,
• FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods),
• Industrials and
• Utilities

Exchange Traded Fund (ETF):

• ETF is index funds that offer the security of a fund and liquidity of stock listed and traded on exchanges.
• They are basically basket of stocks with assigned weights that reflects the composition of an index.

• They are similar to mutual funds in a certain manner but are more liquid as they can be sold quickly on stock exchanges like shares.
• The ETFs trading value is based on the net asset value of the underlying stocks that it represents. Their trading value is based on net asset value of the underlying stocks that it represents.
• Their price changes daily as they are traded throughout day.

Why was Bharat 22 ETF launched?

• It was incepted as a vehicle to divest government’s stake in these 22 companies.
• Bharat 22 is the second ETF launched by the Government.
• The first ETF launched was CPSE ETF in May 2014.

Why is it important?

• The ETF mechanism has proven to be a smart, effective way for the government to help meet its disinvestment targets, a key factor to keep fiscal deficit under control.
• The ETF route provides a neat workaround by letting the government pare small stakes (2-3 per cent) in a big basket. 
• The Bharat 22 ETF has more than double the 10 stocks in the CPSE ETF and much wider sector coverage. 

72.National Disaster Response Force (NDRF)

Why in news?

• Relief takes place on war-footing in rain-battered Bihar

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF):

• It is a specialised force constituted for the purpose of specialist response to a threatening disaster situation or disaster under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
• It functions under Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
• It works under National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) which lays down policies, plans and guidelines for disaster management.
• Headquarters – New Delhi.
• It is mandated to undertake special disaster response, relief, rescue operations and combat roles independently in the case of an event of any disaster (natural or man-made), accident or emergency
• It also assists local authorities in launching a quick rescue and response operation to save life and property

Composition:

• At present, National Disaster Response Force consists of 12 battalions, three each from the BSF and CRPF and two each from CISF, ITBP and SSB.
• All the 12 battalions have been equipped and trained to respond natural as well as man-made disasters.
• Battalions are also trained and equipped for response during chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) emergencies.

 

73.Indian forest act 1927

Why in news

• Mizoram rejects proposed Forest Act amendment.

Indian forest act 1927

• It was largely based on previous Indian Forest Acts implemented under the British. (Indian Forest Act of 1878).
• Both acts sought to consolidate and reserve the areas having forest cover, or significant wildlife, to regulate movement and transit of forest produce, and duty leviable on timber and other forest produce.
• It also defines the procedure to be followed for declaring an area to be a Reserved Forest, a Protected Forest or a Village Forest.
• It defines:

• what is a forest offence,
• what are the acts prohibited inside a Reserved Forest
• Penalties leviable on violation of the provisions of the Act.

Proposed IFA amendments

• Significant powers to India’s forest officers-
• Power to issue search warrants, enter and investigate lands within their jurisdictions, and to provide indemnity to forest officers using arms to prevent forest-related offences.
• Forest-officer not below the rank of a Ranger shall have power to hold an inquiry into forest offences and shall have the powers to search or issue a search warrant under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
• Definitions according to the new draft:
  • Community : a “group of persons specified on the basis of government records living in a specific locality and in joint possession and enjoyment of common property resources, without regard to race, religion, caste, language and culture”.
  • Forest – any government or private or institutional land recorded or notified as forest land in any government record and the lands managed by government/community as forest and mangroves, and also any land which the central or state government may by notification declare to be forest for the purpose of this Act.
• Provision for village forests – joint management by government and community.
• Forest development cess of 10%of assessed value of mining products took from forests, and water used for irrigation or in industries.
  • A fund is created to deposit this levies
  • will be used for reforestation, forest protection, tree planting, forest development and conservation.
• Introduction of’ production forests’:
  • for production of timber, pulp, pulpwood, firewood, non-timber forest produce, medicinal plants or any forest species to increase commercial use in the country.
• Increased roles for states:
  • state government, after consultation with the central government, feels that the rights under FRA (Forest Rights Act) will hamper conservation efforts, then the state may commute such rights by paying such persons a sum of money in lieu thereof, or grant of land to maintain the social organisation of the forest dwelling communities or alternatively set out some other forest tract of sufficient extent, and in a locality reasonably convenient, for the purpose of such forest dwellers.

 

74.Green crackers

Why in news

• Green crackers set to reduce pollution, says Harsh Vardan.

Green crackers

• Green crackers are those crackers which do not contain harmful chemicals that would cause air pollution.
• They are environmentally friendly and less harmful as compared to conventional firecrackers and less pollution emission will result in reduced air pollution.
• In it commonly used polluting chemicals like aluminium, barium, potassium nitrate and carbon have either been removed or sharply reduced to slow down the emissions by 15 to 30%.
• CSIR have developed Less Polluting Firecrackers which are not only environment friendly but 15-20 % cheaper than the conventional ones.

Safe water releaser (SWAS)

• It eliminates usage of (KNO3) Potassium nitrate and Sulphurwith consequent reduction in particulate matter (30-35%) SO2 and NOx.

Safe minimal aluminium (SAFAL)

• It eliminates usage of KNO3 and S with consequent reduction in particulate matter (35-40%).

Safe thermite cracker (STAR)

• It has minimal usage of aluminium (only in flash powder for initiation) with consequent significant reduction in particulate matter (35-40 %).
• CSIR has developed reduced emission crackers through the replacement of commonly used Aluminium with Magnesium and Magnesium based compounds in flash powder.
• Green logo and Quick Response (QR) coding system has been developed for differentiation of green crackers from conventional crackers.
• This will also help the consumers to track the cracker using smart phones and other devices.
• CSIR-CEERI (central Electronics Engineering Research Institute) has developed safe and pollution free technology of electronic crackers (E-crackers).

Fireworks chemistry is based on theory of combustion –it includes 6

• Fuel: Charcoal or black powder is the most common fuel used in fireworks. Therefore, all fuels will contain an organic element like charcoal or thermite
• Oxidising Agents-produces the oxygen needed for the mixture inside the firework to burn. Examples: nitrates, chlorates or perchlorates.
• Reducing Agents-burn the oxygen provided by the oxidising agents to produce hot gases. Examples: Sulphur and Charcoal.
• Regulators-to regulate the speed of the reaction. Example: metals.
• Colouring Agents-For producing different colours various chemicals are used like strontium produces red colour, Copper-blue, Barium-green, Sodium-yellow or orange, Calcium- Orange, Gold-iron, Strontium and Copper are mixed together to give purple colour.
• Binders-used to hold the mixture of the firework in the form of a paste like mixture. Example: dextrin

 

75.C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group

Why in news

Delhi CM yet to get clearance from MEA to travel abroad for C40 summit

C40

• C40 is a network of the world’s megacities committed to addressing climate change.
• It was started in 2005 as C20, and gradually its members increased to 90+.
• It supports cities to collaborate effectively, share knowledge and drive meaningful, measurable and sustainable action on climate change.
• It connects 94 of the world’s greatest cities to take bold climate action.
• It represents 700+ million citizens and one quarter of the global economy.
• Mayors of the C40 cities are committed to delivering on the most ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement at the local level.
• From India  4 cities represent the list:
  • Bengaluru
  • Chennai
  • Kolkata
  • NCT Delhi
• Earlier Jaipur was there in the list, but now it is temporarily inactive in the list.

 

76.Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA)

Why in news?

• Immediate action plans needed for city’s 13 pollution hotspots says EPCA.

Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA):

• EPCA was constituted with the objective of ‘protecting and improving’ the quality of the environment and ‘controlling environmental pollution’ in the National Capital Region.

• The EPCA also assists the apex court in various environment-related matters in the region.
• EPCA is Supreme Court mandated body tasked with taking various measures to tackle air pollution in the National Capital Region.
• It was notified in 1998 by Environment Ministry under Environment Protection Act, 1986.

Functions:

• To protect and improve quality of environment and prevent and control environmental pollution in National Capital Region.
• To enforce Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in NCR as per the pollution levels.

Members:

• EPCA has 15 members, including chairman.
• It includes environment secretary of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT), chairperson of the New Delhi Municipal Council, transport commissioner of the NCT, the commissioners of various municipal corporations of Delhi and professors at IIT Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University.

 

77.Different organic farming methods

Why in news?

• These methods of farming were in news in relation with the discussion of Zero budget Natural farming and other organic means of agriculture.

Biodynamic agriculture

• Bio-dynamic agriculture is a form of alternative agriculture similar to organic farming, but it includes various esoteric concepts drawn from the ideas of Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher.
• It was one of the first organic agriculture movements in Europe.
• It treats soil fertility, plant growth, and livestock care as ecologically inter related tasks, and emphasizing spiritual and mystical perspectives.
• It also promotes the use of traditional as well as new breed varieties.

Homoeo farming

• Homoeo products helps in triggering the inherent self-defense mechanism of the plant in developing pest-resistance.
• Once the pests do not find a congenial atmosphere, the pest can no longer be there and withers away for want of food.
• It is a total and complete organic farming method, produces healthy soils, healthy plant life and healthy yields.

Advantages:

• Restores natural taste, color and flavor of the yields.
• No chance of developing immunity to pesticides by the pests
• No possibilities of developing new pests, as the pests are not killed.
• These are cost-effective (200-300% less than chemicals.)

 

78.Natueco culture

Dabholkar (2001) coined the word Natu eco that combines two words together, Natural and ecological.

• Natueco has been conceived of as a holistic way to meet our farming and food requirements.
• It addresses serious issues of a farm, like staying in synergy with Nature, reducing dependency on external inputs to a farm etc.
• It aims to gain high benefits without harming ecology.
• The key features of this Natueco farming technology of growing crops are:
• plants are grown on small heaps of Amrut Mitti (nectary soil), the Natueco process of building fertile soil covered with mulch, hence no ploughing, Amrut Mitti is the key ingredient – a compost – in the form of heaps that are always kept moist,
• need based sowing and harvesting of crops
• Does not need any external input in terms of the agro-chemicals.
• High diversity on a small piece of land – over 125 crop species with a mix of annuals and perennials.

Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture

• Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture is natural agriculture free from all poisonous fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.
• The goal of Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture is to re-enliven Natural Law in agriculture, bringing the farmer, the process of farming and the environment in complete harmony with each other.

 Agnihotra

• Agnihotra is a healing fire from the ancient science of ayurveda.
• Agnihotra utilizes the combined effect of various factors involved in its science viz., burning of specific organic substances like cow’s ghee, rice grains, twigs of plants like vata, audumbar, palaash, peempal and bael etc and thereby injecting the atmosphere with nutrients.
• Agnihotra also nourishes plant life and neutralizes harmful radiation and it harmonizes the functioning of Prana (life energy) and can be used to purify water.

 Amrutpani

• Amrut is the heavenly drink, which refreshes the gods and has the power to resurrect the dead.
• In the same manner, Amrutpani invigorates the living soil and converts a dead soil into a living one.
• Amrutpani is liquid manure prepared by Honey, Cow ghee, Cow dung and water.
• Like Panchagavya, Amrutpani is also used to improve the soil fertility.

 

79.Ganges River dolphin

Why in news?

• Annual Ganges river dolphin census begins.

Ganges River dolphin:

• The Ganges River dolphin or Susu lives in one of the most densely populated regions of the world.
• The Ganges River dolphin inhabits the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Nepal, India, and Bangladesh. 
• Geographic place: Ganga and Brahmaputra river system
• Being a mammal, the Ganges River dolphin cannot breathe in the water and must surface every 30-120 seconds.
• The Ganges river dolphin can only live in freshwater and is essentially blind. 
• The Ganges river dolphin has been recognized by the government of India as its National Aquatic Animal (2009).
• One of the main threats to the species is loss of habitat due in large part to the creation of dams and irrigation projects.

Freshwater river dolphins:

• Ganges River dolphin is among the four “obligate” freshwater dolphins – the other three are:
• the baiji now likely extinct from the Yangtze river in China,
• the bhulan of the Indus in Pakistan and
• the boto of the Amazon River in Latin America.

Conservation status:

• IUCN: Endangered
• Schedule-1 of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.

 

80.Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

Why in news?

• Invasive weeds threatening tiger habitats in Adilabad.

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD):

• It is an international agreement adopted at the Earth Summit, in Rio de Janeiro, in 1992 and entered into force in December 1993.

• It is a legally binding treaty.
• Signatories: 168
• Parties: 196
• India is a party to convention.
• The Convention on Biological Diversity covers biodiversity at all levels: ecosystems, species and genetic resources.
• It also covers biotechnology, including through the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.
• The CBD’s governing body is the Conference of the Parties (COP). 

Objectives:

• It has three main objectives:
• to conserve biological diversity
• to use its components in a sustainable way
• to share fairly and equitably the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.

India’s Biodiversity Act:

• India enacted Biological Diversity Act in 2002 for giving effect to the provisions of the CBD.

Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety:

• It is an international treaty governing the movements of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology from one country to another.
• It was adopted on 29 January 2000 as a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity and entered into force on 11 September 2003.
• Thetwo major components of Cartagena Protocol:
• Advanced Informed Agreement (AIA) Procedure and Biosafety Clearing House.

Nagoya Protocol:

• It is an international agreement which aims at sharing the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way.
• The protocol was adopted on 29 October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan.
• It entered into force on 12 October 2014.

Why is the Nagoya Protocol important?

• The Nagoya Protocol will create greater legal certainty and transparency for both providers and users of genetic resources by:
• Establishing more predictable conditions for access to genetic resources.
• Helping to ensure benefit-sharing when genetic resources leave the country providing the genetic resources.
• The Nagoya Protocol creates incentives to conserve and sustainably use genetic resources, and therefore enhances the contribution of biodiversity to development and human well-being.

81.Stubble Burning

Why in news?

• Punjab, Haryana claim farm fires not affecting Delhi’s air.

About stubble burning:

• Stubble burning is the deliberate setting fire of the straw stubblethat remains after the crops have been harvested.

Advantages of stubble burning:

• It is a cheap method for quickly clearing the field.
• It kills off weeds in the field, otherwise resistant to the herbicides.
• It also kills slugs and other pests harmful to the crop.
• It can reduce nitrogen deficiency in the soil.

Disadvantages of stubble burning:

• Stubble burning is a major reason of air pollution contributing to about 20% of the particulate matter emission during winter.
• It results in loss of nutrients from the soil increasing fertilizer requirement.
• It causes damage to electrical and electronic equipment from floating threads of conducting waste.
• There is a risk of fires spreading out of control.

 

82.mHariyali app

• The app is aimed to encourage Public engagement in planting trees and other such Green drives.
• People can now upload information/photos of any plantation done by them, which is linked to app and will be displayed on the website epgc.gov.in. 

 

83.Foreign’ plastic invades Great Nicobar Island

Why in news?

• A survey of five beaches in the islands recorded the presence of plastic bottles.

About the news:

• The pristine beaches of the Great Nicobar Island, India’s southernmost territory are under threat from plastic.
• “Major portion of the litter (40.5%) was of Malaysian origin.
• It was followed by Indonesia (23.9%) and Thailand (16.3%).
• The litter of Indian origin only amounted to 2.2%.

Biggest threat:

• Plastic pollution has emerged as one of the severest threats to ocean ecosystems and its concentration has reached 5, 80, 000 pieces per square kilometre.
• Plastic represents 83% of the marine litter found.
• The remaining 17% is mainly textiles, paper, metal and wood.

Note: The Great Nicobar island is home to one of the most primitive tribes of India — the Shompens.

 

84.Tiger reserves

Why in news?

• The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has red-flagged the Madhya Pradesh government’s move to increase tourism activities inside the State’s tiger reserves.

Tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh

• According to a latest report by the Environment Ministry, India has 2,967 tigers, with 526 of them in Madhya Pradesh alone — the highest in the country.
• There are six tiger reserves in the state:
• Kanha Tiger
• Pench
• Bandhavgarh
• Panna
• Satpura  
• Sanjay-Dubri

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)

• It is constituted under the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 for escalating tiger conservation.
• It is a statutory body working under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
• The Authority has been satisfying its mandate within the sphere of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 for strengthening tiger conservation in the country.

 

85.India, Nepal, Bhutan Trans-Border Conservation Area

Why in news?

• India, Nepal and Bhutan have drafted a memorandum of understanding to create a trans-boundary wildlife conservation peace park.

More about the park

• The proposed Park will include biodiversity-rich landscapes in adjoining areas of the three countries.
• Unlike other parks that are species oriented, this peace park will be landscape oriented.
• In the new peace park, the entire park will have its conservation protocols completely based on landscape.

• The initiative was started by India keeping in view the migratory wildlife species in the region, especially elephants.
• The park will be an extension of the Manas Park, Assam(Trans Boundary Protected Area In India And Bhutan, which is landscape oriented)

Manas National Park

• Manas National Park is a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site, Project tiger reserve and a biosphere reserve.
• The park is contiguous with the Royal Manas National Park of Bhutan.
• It is home to many endangered species like Assam roofed turtle, golden Langur, hispid hare, pygmy hog.
• The park is famous for its wild water buffaloes
• It is located on the Manas River, a major tributary of Brahmaputra.

Side Angle

Keoladeo National Park

• The Keoladeo National Park lies between two of India’s most historic cities, Agra and Jaipur.
• This north Indian park is situated in the country’s northwestern part of Rajasthan.
• It was declared a national park in 1982 and then later tagged as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985.
• Even before it was declared a World Heritage Site, it is already a protected sanctuary since 1971.
• The park is home to over 370 species of birds and animals such as the basking python, painted storks, deer, nilgai and more.
• It is mainly known for migrated Siberian cranes.

 

86.Fly ash

Why in news

• SC notice to Centre, others on plea for ban on dumping of fly ash in water bodies of MP’s Singrauli.

Fly Ash:

• Fly ash is end product of combustion during process of power generation in the coal based thermal power plants. 
• It is a fine, glass powder by-product recovered from gases of burning coal in thermal power plants during production of electricity. 
• They are micron sized earth elements primarily consisting silica, aluminium and iron.

More Information & Composition:

• In modern coal-fired power plants, fly ash is generally captured by electrostatic precipitators or other particle filtration equipment before the flue gases reach the chimneys.
• Depending upon the source and composition of the coal being burned, the components of fly ash vary considerably.
• All fly ash includes substantial amounts of silicon dioxide (SiO₂), aluminium oxide (Al₂O₃) and calcium oxide (CaO), the main mineral compounds in coal-bearing rock strata.

What are environmental concerns?

• The Fly ash causes air pollution.
• It can also contaminate water and soil systems.
• The wet disposal of Fly ash results in leaching of toxic heavy metals in ground water system.

Recyclable Uses:

• Fly ash can be used as a replacement for some of the Portland cement contents of concrete.
• It can be used in the production of bricks for building construction.
• Central Government has made it mandatory for use of fly ash bricks in construction activities happening 500km around thermal power plants.

Note – Maharashtra became the first state in the country to adopt the Fly Ash Utilization Policy.

 

87.Amazon’s Rainforest Fire

Why in News?

• The largest tropical rainforest in the world, Amazon Which produces approximately 20 per cent of the oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere and is called the “lungs of the planet” saw environmental catastrophe with its forest’s burning.
• The repeated forest fires have been spotted even by satellites in space, and have led to worries over a significant rise in greenhouse gas emissions, because of the reduced absorption of carbon dioxide.

Amazon’s spread

• The Amazon basin, spanning 7.4 million square kilometers, covers nearly 40 percent of Latin America and is spread across nine countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. About 60 percent of it is in Brazil.
• The Amazon forest, of which 2.1 million sq km are protected zones, is home to a biodiversity sanctuary that is unique in the world.
• A quarter of the Earth’s species are found there, namely 30,000 types of plants, 2,500 fish, 1,500 birds, 500 mammals, 550 reptiles and 2.5 million insects, according to the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO).

Importance of Amazon forest to the world

• A National Geographic report said the Amazon rainforest influences the water cycle not only on a regional scale, but also on a global scale.
• The rain produced by the Amazon travels through the region and even reaches the Andes mountain range. Moisture from the Atlantic falls on the rainforest, and eventually evaporates back into the atmosphere.
• The report said the Amazon rainforest has the ability to produce at least half of the rain it receives. This cycle is a delicate balance.
• The Amazon basin, spread across millions of hectares in multiple countries, hosts massive sinks of sequestered carbon, and the forests are a key factor in regulating monsoon systems.
• The rainforests harbour rich biodiversity and about 400 known indigenous groups whose presence has prevented commercial interests from overrunning the lands.

‘Legal Amazon’

• It is the legal denomination that includes some areas of Brazil that don’t have the Amazon biome, but are very close the Amazon.
• ‘Legal Amazon’ was created in the 1950s for tax breaks.
• Many of the fires (being reported) are on land that has already been deforested for many years and is traditionally burnt every year.
• It is something similar to the agricultural burning

 

88.Anshupa Lake

Why in News?

• The Odisha Wetland Authority has approved implementation of an integrated management plan for Chilika, country’s largest brackish water lagoon, and Ansupa, State’s largest freshwater lake
• It is a fresh water lake on the left bank of the Mahanadi River
• Ansupa is spread over almost 2 sq km. It is also the wintering ground for 32 species of migratory birds
• Ansupa is famous for its sweet water fish, especially labeo bata locally known as pohala.

Chilika Lake

• Chilika Lake is India’s largest brakish water lagoon.
• In 1981, Chilika became the first Ramsar site in India.
• It is the largest wintering ground for migratory waterfowls on the Indian subcontinent.
• Lakhs of tourists visit the lake to watch endangered Irrawaddy dolphins and migratory birds during winter.

 

89.Canine Distemper Virus (CDV)

Why in News?

• Last year, over 20 lions from the Gir forest succumbed to the viral infection and now a guideline has been prepared by the National Tiger Conservation Authority to prevent the spillover of the disease to wild animals.

Background

• The Prime Minister’s announcement that tiger numbers have increased in the country may be good news.
• But the loss of habitat, a decline of prey and poaching continues to be a threat to tigers’ survival.
• Along with these, a potential virus — Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) — that can be transmitted from CDV-infected dogs living in and around wildlife sanctuaries has started to raise concern among wildlife biologists.

Canine Distemper Virus (CDV)/ Hardpad Disease

• Canine distemper is a contagious and serious disease caused by a virus that attacks the respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous systems of puppies and dogs.
• It is caused by a single-stranded RNA virus of the family Paramyxoviridae (the same family of the viruses that causes measles, mumps, and bronchiolitis in humans).

How is canine distemper spread?

• Puppies and dogs most often become infected through airborne exposure (through sneezing or coughing) to the virus from an infected dog or wild animal.
• The virus can also be transmitted by shared food and water bowls and equipment.
• Mother dogs can pass the virus through the placenta to their puppies.
• Because canine distemper also impacts wildlife populations, contact between wild animals and domestic dogs can facilitate the spread of the virus.

What are the symptoms of canine distemper?

• Initially, infected dogs will develop watery to pus-like discharge from their eyes.
• They then develop fever, nasal discharge, coughing, lethargy, reduced appetite, and vomiting.
• As the virus attacks the nervous system, infected dogs develop circling behavior, head tilt, muscle twitches, convulsions with jaw chewing movements and salivation (“chewing gum fits”), seizures, and partial or complete paralysis.

How is canine distemper prevented?

• Vaccination is crucial in preventing canine distemper.
• A series of vaccinations is administered to puppies to increase the likelihood of building immunity

 

90.Koundinya Forests

• Kaundinya Wildlife Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary and an elephant reserve situated in Andhra Pradesh
• The sanctuary has dry deciduous forests with thorny scrubs interspersed with trees.
• These forests have small ponds, tanks and the Kaindinya and Kaigal tributaries of Palar River.
  • Palar rises in the Nandi Hills in Chikkaballapura district of Karnataka
  • It flows through states of Karnataka, Andhra and Tamilnadu
• The sanctuary is situated in region where the Kolar Plateau ends and slopes down into the plains of Tamil Nadu

 

91.Heracles Inexpectatus

Why in News?

• The remains of a super-sized parrot that stood more than half the height of an average human and roamed the earth 19 million years ago have been discovered in New Zealand.
• Evidence of the parrot was unearthed in fossils near St Bathans in southern New Zealand, an area that has proved a rich source of fossils from the Miocene period

Information

• It is a giant fossil parrot species from New Zealand
  • The bird would have stood about one metre (39 inches) tall and weighed up to seven kilograms (15.5 pounds)
  • The parrot has been named Heracles inexpectatus to reflect its Herculean size and strength — and the unexpected nature of the discovery.
• Heracles likely lived in subtropical forests which were rich in laurels, palms and podocarp trees.
• Heracles belongs to a group of ancient parrots native to New Zealand, which includes the kakapo, a critically endangered flightless bird which still exists in the country.
• The kakapo is the heaviest parrot alive today although it is about half the weight of Heracles.

 

92.Global Climate Strikes

Greta Thunberg

• She is a 16-year-old climate activist. She is one of the world’s youngest climate change crusaders
• She has delivered speeches at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the EU Parliament, COP24, and to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

 FridaysForFuture movement

• FridaysForFuture is a movement that began in August 2018, when Greta Thunberg sat in front of the Swedish parliament every school day for three weeks, to protest against the lack of action on the climate crisis.
  • Greta decided to continue striking every Friday until the Swedish policies provided a safe pathway well under 2-degree C, i.e. in line with the Paris agreement.
  • It is a campaign, which has seen students walk out of their schools on Fridays to demand their political leaders take urgent action to address climate change.
• In a parallel movement, millions of adults will be joining them in the Global #ClimateStrike.

Why are students protesting this time? 

• Even though climate change affects everyone, the present generation of youngsters are the ones who are going to be bearing the brunt of it in the coming decades.
• The sentiments behind these school student movements are the “broken promises” of older generations, members of which continue to extract and use fossil fuels, leading to increased CO2 emissions and subsequently, increasing average global temperatures.
• Distrust of political leaders among the younger generation is also a reason why they feel the need to take things into their own hands. “

93.Gharial

• The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is also known as the gavial, and fish-eating crocodile is a crocodilian in the family Gavialidae.
• It is native to sandy freshwater river banks in the plains of the northern part of the Indian subcontinent.
• The male gharial has a distinctive boss at the end of the snout, which resembles an earthenware pot known in Hindias.
• Gharials once inhabited all the major river systems of the Indian Subcontinent, from the Irrawaddy River in the east to the Indus River in the west. Their distribution is now limited to only 2% of their former range.
• In India, Gharials can be found in Girwa River, Chambal River, Ken River, Son River, Mahanadi River, Ramganga River.
• ICUN Red list classifies it as Critically Endangered.

 

94.No more waste mounds on Siachen Glacier

Why in News?

• Since January 2018, nearly 130 tonnes of waste has been brought downfrom the Siachen Glacier and disposed of.

Information

• The Army has made bringing down waste a part of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for troops under the concept of waste management because in the high altitude areas of 18,000 to 21,000 feet nothing degrades at sub-zero temperatures.
• The entire Siachen Glacier, with all major passes, is currently under the administration of India since 1984 (Operation Meghdoot).
• The Siachen Glacier is located in the Eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas, just northeast of Point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends.
• It is the Second-Longest glacier in the World’s Non-Polar areas.
• The Siachen Glacier lies immediately south of the great drainage divide that separates the Eurasian Plate from the Indian subcontinent in the extensively glaciated portion of the Karakoram sometimes called the “Third Pole”.
• The Siachen Glacier is part of Ladakh which has now been converted into a Union Territory.
• The Siachen Glacier is the world’s highest battlefield.

Operation Meghdoot

• It was launched on 13 April 1984, this military operation was the first assault launched in the highest battlefield in the world.
• The military action resulted in Indian troops gaining control of the entire Siachen Glacier.

 

95.Pyrolysis (NGT tells CPCB to regulate import of waste tyres)

Why in News?

• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to regulate import of waste tyres for use in pyrolysis industry so that India does not become a dump yard for highly polluting hazardous waste material from other countries.

Information

• Pyrolysis is the thermal decomposition of tyres in the absence of oxygen. It is a process where the material is put through a thermochemical treatment under high temperature to produce industrial oil and other matters.

Health Impact

• In 2014, the National Green Tribunal banned the burning of used tyres in the open or using them as fuel in brick kilns, because they produce toxic smoke known to be hazardous to health.
• The toxic pollutants emitted affect public health adversely.
• The workers employed in such unscientific practices suffer from neurological disorders, skin diseases, cancer etc.
• The activity emits highly carcinogenic/cancer-causing pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), dioxin, furans and oxides of nitrogen which are extremely harmful to the respiratory system.

96.UN Convention to Combat Desertification

Why in News?

• India hosted the UN Convention to Combat Desertification
• The UNCCD meeting takes place every two years and the ongoing one in Greater Noida is the 14th such meeting.

What is it?

• It is a major global agreement on issues related to land, the convention (UNCCD) seeks to address the phenomenon of desertification, the process through which fertile and productive land become degraded and unfit for useful activities like agriculture

What is the Convention to Combat Desertification?

• The UNCCD is one of three Conventions that have come out of the historic 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. It is, however, possibly the least known of the three.
• The Rio summit gave rise to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) under which countries have agreed to restrict the emissions of greenhouse gases, first through the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 and now through the Paris Agreement that was finalised in 2015 and becomes operational in 2020.
• It also gave rise to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which too has delivered an international arrangement to protect and use biodiversity.
• The UNCCD has not yet resulted in any international treaty or protocol to fight desertification.
• The UNFCCC holds its general meetings every year, while CBD and CCD meet every two years.

Bamboonomics at COP 14 UNCCD

Why in News?

• Union Minister for Tribal Affairs launched Bamboonomics at the COP 14 of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

Information

• Bamboonomics is a movement to combat desertification and climate change which will involve the tribal community of India since they have the expertise in this field.
• They have lived for generations without disturbing the natural harmony of a place, and without degrading the environment.
• The movement will also not compromise the income of the poor in these regions.
• The movement will ensure that tribals can earn a livelihood without causing environmental harm.

 

97.Odonates

Why in News?

• A survey of dragonflies and damselflies population in Kerala has raised concerns over the ecological impact of the successive floods in the State.

Information

• Odonata is an order of carnivorous insects encompassing the dragonflies and the damselflies.
• Odonates are amphibiotic (having aquatic larval form and terrestrial adult form) insects.
• Dragonflies are generally larger, and perch with their wings held out to the sides.
• Damselflies have slender bodies, and hold their wings over the body at rest.
• Odonates are great biological indicators and studies on them would provide crucial information on the health of aquatic habitats and variations occurring in the climate.
• Regular monitoring of odonates over a long period will help assess the changes in the natural landscape.
• Odonates are good pest controllers, too.
• Among the 488 species of odonates found in India, the Western Ghats is home to 193.

Concerns:

• A survey of dragonflies and damselflies held in the Silent Valley National Park (SVNP) has reported an alarming decrease in the odonate population.
• The abnormal rain pattern and the successive floods in the State could have decimated the population of dragonflies and damselflies in the SVNP.
• Odonates spend much of their lifetime as eggs and larvae underwater. There are concerns that the floods could have washed them off.
• Many Indian odonates are endemic and most of them are restricted to the riverine ecosystem.
• Large scale habitat alterations such as damming, channel diversion, sand mining and pollution is seriously threatening the habitat of survival of these species.

 

98.Colombo Declaration on Sustainable Nitrogen Management

Why in news?

• The member states of United Nations endorsed a proposed road map for action on nitrogen challenges called Colombo Declaration on Sustainable Nitrogen Management.

More about the news

• A two-day event was conducted to frame the declaration.
• The event was spearheaded by Sri Lanka with the support of UN and its member nations.
• As part of the Declaration, environment ministers and officials representing the governments of more than 30 countries endorsed United Nations plans for a campaign on sustainable nitrogen management called “Nitrogen for Life”.

Colombo Declaration on Sustainable Nitrogen Management

• The aim of the Declaration is to halve nitrogen waste by 2030.
• It calls upon UN agencies, other international organizations, development partners, philanthropic agencies, academic and civil society organizations to support its implementation.
• It urges countries to conduct a comprehensive assessment on nitrogen cycling covering policy, implementation, regulation, and scientific aspects at a national level plus sensitize the citizens to understand the natural nitrogen cycle and how human impacts alter its balance.
• The Declaration was developed with technical support from International Nitrogen Management System (INMS).

International Nitrogen Management System (INMS)

• INMS is a joint activity of UNEP and Internationals Nitrogen Initiative.
• It brings together the science community, the private sector and civil society to gather and synthesize evidence that can support international policy development to improve global nitrogen management.

The International Nitrogen Initiative

• The International Nitrogen Initiative (INI) is an international program, set up in 2003 under sponsorship of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) and from the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP).

The key aims of the INI are to:

• Optimize nitrogen’s beneficial role in sustainable food production.
• Minimize nitrogen’s negative effects on human health and the environment resulting from food and energy production.

 

99.Global Snow Leopard & Ecosystem Protection Program

Why in news?

• In a major boost towards protecting and conserving Snow Leopards, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) launched the First National Protocol on Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India, on the occasion of International Snow Leopard Day.
• 4th steering committee meeting of the Global Snow Leopard & Ecosystem Protection (GSLEP) Program was held at New Delhi.

More about

• In India, snow leopards are found in the Himalayan and trans-Himalayan landscape at an elevation between 3,000 meters and 5,400 m, spanning over 100,000 square km across Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
• Snow Leopard enumeration of the Nation, which is the first of its kind, has been developed by scientific experts in association with the Snow Leopard States/UTs.
• Snow Leopard is mainly found in 12 countries. They are India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Mongolia, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Global Snow Leopard & Ecosystem Protection Program

• Snow leopard is a good indicator species as it quickly reacts to habitat disturbance and its successful conservation requires sustainable long term systemic solutions to the threats impacting the quality of habitats.
• The GSLEP is a range-wide effort that unites range country governments, nongovernmental and inter-governmental organizations, local communities, and the private sector to conserve snow leopards and their valuable high-mountain ecosystems.

The Bishkek Declaration on the Conservation of the Snow Leopard

• Declaration by Snow leopard range countries Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan,  in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic with the shared goal of conserving snow leopards and their fragile habitats.

 

100.Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP)

Why in news?

• Construction activities banned from Oct. 26-30 in Delhi-NCR

Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP)

• It is an emergency plan prepared by the union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEFCC) to contain worsening air quality of Delhi-NCR.
• It was prepared after the order of Supreme Court of December 2016.
• It includes the measures to prevent worsening of Air Quality of Delhi-NCR (National Capital Region) and prevent PM10 and PM2.5 levels to go beyond ‘moderate’ national Air Quality Index (AQI) category.
• EPCA is mandated to enforce the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in the city as per the pollution levels.

• Measures to be taken are divided into different categories based on the Pollution level:

Category	Particulate Matter (PM) Concentration	Measures
Moderate to Poor	PM 2.5 between 61-120 µg/m3  PM10 between 101-350 µg/m3	·         Enforce pollution control in thermal power plants ·         Mechanized sweeping on roads ·         Ban on firecrackers ·         Stop garbage burning
Very Poor	PM2.5 between 121-250µg/m3  PM10 between 351-430 µg/m3	·         Stop use of diesel generator sets ·         Increase bus and metro services and increasing frequency of metro service ·         Stop use of coal/firewood in hotels and open eateries
Severe	PM2.5 more than 250µg/m3  PM10 more than 430µg/m3	·         Increase frequency of mechanized sweeping of road and sprinkling of water on roads ·         Close brick kilns, Hot Mix plants, Stone Crushers ·         Shut down Badarpur power plant ·         Introduce concessional rates to encourage off-peak travel in public transport.
Severe+ or Emergency	PM2.5 of or more than 300µg/m3 PM10 of or 500µg/m3 (persist for 48 hours or more)	·         Stop entry of diesel trucks into Delhi (except essential commodities) ·         Stop construction activities ·         Introduce odd and even scheme ·         Shutting of schools

Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA):

• EPCA is Supreme Court mandated body tasked with taking various measures to tackle air pollution in the National Capital Region.
• It was notified in 1998 by Environment Ministry under Environment Protection Act, 1986.

 

101.Odisha Integrated Irrigation Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture 

• The Odisha Integrated Irrigation Project for Climate Resilient Agriculturewill be implemented in rural areas vulnerable to droughts and largely dependent on rain fed agriculture.
• The Government Of India Is Implementing Several Missions Under The National Action Plan On Climate Change, Which Also Extensively Leverages Adaptation Of Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices And Technologies.
• The Project In Odisha Is Among Several Such Initiatives Supported By The Government In Our Commitment To Achieve The Sustainable Agriculture-Related Targets Of The Sdgs By 2030.

Objectives:

• The project will strengthen the resilience of smallholder farmers against adverse climate by improving access to resilient seed varieties and production technologies.
• It will improve access to better water management and irrigation services.

National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) 

• The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC)was launched in 2008 by the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change.
• It aims at creating awareness among the representatives of the public, different agencies of the government, scientists, industry and the communities on the threat posed by climate change.

There are 8 national missions forming the core of the NAPCC for achieving key goals in climate change. These are-

• National Solar Mission
• National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency
• National Mission on Sustainable Habitat
• National Water Mission
• National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem
• National Mission for A Green India
• National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture
• National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change

 

102.Environmental flows (E-Flow):

• Environmental flows are the acceptable flow regimes that are required to maintain a river in the desired environmental state or predetermined state.
• It will ensure that the river has at least the minimum required environmental flow of water even after the river flow gets diverted by projects and structures.
• The river flow would be diverted for purposes like irrigation, hydropower, domestic and industrial use etc.
• It is an important step taken towards maintaining the uninterrupted or Aviral flow of the river.
• The compliance of minimum environmental flow is applicable to all existing, under-construction and future projects. 
• The mini and micro projects which do not alter the flow characteristics of the river or stream significantly are exempted from these environmental flows.

Notified:

• The Central Government on October 2018 notified the minimum environmental flows for River Ganga that has to be maintained at various locations on the river.

The e-flow notified by the Government is as follows:

 Upper Ganga River Basin Stretch starting from originating glaciers and through respective confluences finally meeting at Devaprayag up to Haridwar.

• The e-flow notification specifies that the upper stretches of the Ganga from its origins in the glaciers and until Haridwar would have to maintain:
• 20% of the monthly average flow of the preceding 10¬days between November and March, which is the dry season.
• 25% of the average during the ‘lean season’ of October, April and May.
• 30% of monthly average during the monsoon months of June-September.
• Stretch of main stem of River Ganga from Haridwar, Uttarakhand to Unnao, Uttar Pradesh.

Authority Responsible:

• The Central Water Commission will be the designated authority and the custodian of the data, and will be responsible for supervision, monitoring, regulation of flows.

More Information

About Natural Flow Regime:

• The Natural Flow Regime is the characteristic pattern of a river’s flow quantity, timing, and variability.
• River flow regimes show regional patterns that are determined largely by river size and by geographic variation in climate, geology, topography, and vegetative cover.

Five critical components of the flow regime regulate ecological processes in river ecosystems:

• The magnitude of discharge; at any given time interval is simply the amount of water moving past a fixed location per unit time.
• The frequency of occurrence; refers to how often a flow above a given magnitude recurs over some specified time interval.
• The duration; is the period of time associated with a specific flow condition.
• The timing; or predictability, of flows of defined magnitude refers to the regularity with which they occur
• The rate of change of hydrologic conditions; or flashiness, refers to how quickly flow changes from on

 

103.National Monsoon Mission initiative

Why in news?

• New dynamical model failed to forecast August-September deluge.

National Monsoon Mission initiative:

• It was launched by of Ministry of Earth Sciences
• Mission aims to build a state-of-the-art coupled ocean atmospheric model for:

• improved prediction of monsoon rainfall on extended range to seasonal time scale (16 days to one season)
• improved prediction of temperature, rainfall and extreme weather events on short to medium range time scale (up to 15 days)      

Centres involved in this mission are:

• Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune-it will work on improving long-range and seasonal scale forecasts.
• National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), NOIDA- will spearhead efforts to improve medium-range scale (up to 15 days) forecast of rainfall.
• Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad
• For the first time, India Meteorological Department used the Monsoon Mission dynamical model to prepare operational seasonal forecast of 2017 monsoon rainfall over India.

Coupled forecast system (CFS) or Climate Forecast System:

• Climate Forecast System version is a state-of-the-art coupled climate model developed by the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), USA.
• It has been implemented to the Prithvi High Performance Computer (HPC) at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune with support from the Monsoon Mission Project of Ministry of Earth Science.
• It is a fully coupled ocean- atmosphere-land model with advanced physics, increased resolution and refined initialization as compared to earlier version.

 

104.SATAT initiative 

Why in news?

SATAT initiative has the potential of addressing environmental problems arising from stubble burning. 

Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) initiative:

• SATAT initiative to promote Compressed Bio-Gas as an alternative, green transport fuel.
• It is aimed at providing a Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) as a developmental effort that would benefit both vehicle-users as well as farmers and entrepreneurs.

• Compressed Bio-Gas plants are proposed to be set up mainly through independent entrepreneurs.

Working:

• CBG produced at these plants will be transported through cascades of cylinders to the fuel station networks of OMCs for marketing as a green transport fuel alternative.
• The entrepreneurs would be able to separately market the other by-products from these plants, including bio-manure, carbon-dioxide, etc., to enhance returns on investment.

Benefits:

There are multiple benefits from converting agricultural residue, cattle dung and municipal solid waste into CBG on a commercial scale:

• Responsible waste management, reduction in carbon emissions and pollution 
• Additional revenue source for farmers
• Boost to entrepreneurship, rural economy and employment
• Support to national commitments in achieving climate change goals
• Reduction in import of natural gas and crude oil
• Buffer against crude oil/gas price fluctuations

Basics on bio-gas:

• Bio-gas is produced naturally through a process of anaerobic decomposition from waste / bio-mass sources.
• These include agriculture residue, cattle dung, sugarcane press mud, municipal solid waste, sewage treatment plant waste, etc.
• After purification, it is compressed and called CBG, which has pure methane content of over 95%.
• Compressed Bio-Gas is exactly similar to the commercially available natural gas in its composition and energy potential.
• CBG can be used as alternative, renewable automotive fuel. 

Way forward:

• Compressed Bio-Gas networks can be integrated with city gas distribution (CGD) networks to boost supplies to domestic and retail users in existing and upcoming markets.
• Besides retailing from OMC fuel stations, Compressed Bio-Gas can at a later date be injected into CGD pipelines too for efficient distribution and optimised access of a cleaner and more affordable fuel.

 

105.Bar-headed goose

Why in news?

• Bar-headed goose spotted near Pandalam-kerala

More about the news

• Pathanamthitta Birders has spotted the Bar-headed goose (Anser Indicus) in the wetlands of Karingali Puncha, near Pandalam, Kerala.
• The Puncha is a major birding spot in the district which reported the highest bird count in the Asian Waterfowl Census of 2015.

Bar-headed goose

• Bar-headed geese are found in central China and Mangolia and they breed there.
• They start migration to the Indian sub-continent during the winter and stay here till the end of the season.
• They are one of the birds which can fly even at very high altitude.
• They come to India and return to their homes by crossing the Himalayan ranges.
• Their ability to sustain the high oxygen demands of flight in air that is exceedingly oxygen-thin is exceptional.
• The capacity of bar-headed geese to transport and consume oxygen at high rates in hypoxia distinguishes this species from similar lowland waterfowl.

Note: Hypoxia is a condition in which the body or a region of the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply at the tissue level.

 

106.India State of Forest Report 2019

Why in news?

• India’s forest cover goes up by nearly 3% this decade; but all is not well.

About the report:

• The total tree and forest cover in the country increased by 5,188 square kilometer in the last two years
• There is an increase of 6 million tonnes in the carbon stock of the country as compared to the last assessment of 2017.
• India has set a target of bringing 33 per cent of its geographical area under forest cover.
• The TFC (total forest cover) of India in 2019 is 21.67 per cent of the total geographical area (TGA) of the country as against 21.54 per cent (of TGA) in 2017.
• Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Chattisgarh are the states having largest forest cover in the country (Area wise).
• The mangrove cover in the country has increased by 54 sq km (1.10 per cent).
• Karnataka(1,025 sq km)tops the country in growing the maximum amount of forest and is followed by Andhra Pradesh (990 sq km) and Kerala (823 sq km).
• Total bamboo bearing area of the country is estimated as 1,60,037 sq km. There is an increase of 3,229 sq km in bamboo bearing area as compared to the previous estimate.

The Northeast:

• The forest cover of six states, excluding Assam, has decreased by nearly 18 per cent between 2011 and 2019.
• The loss of forests was one of the causes behind rainfall deficit in the North East this monsoon.

Note – India State of Forest Report is released every two years.

 

107.Danakil Depression

Why in news

• A recent study stated that an active and naturally occurring life cannot be sustained at Danakil, Ethiopia.

More about the news

• A study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution says that active and naturally occurring life cannot be sustained at Danakil.
• It identifies two barriers:
• Magnesium-dominated brines that cause cells to break down.
• An Environment having simultaneously very low pH and high salt, a combination that makes adaptation highly difficult.

Danakil Depression

• Danakil Depression is located in north eastern Ethiopia.
• It is one of the world’s hottest places, as well as one of its lowest, at 100 metres below sea level.
• It was formed by the evaporation of an inland water body.
• All the water entering Danakil evaporates, and no streams flow out from its extreme environment.
• It is covered with more than 10 lakh tonnes of salt.

108.Paris Agreement

Why in news

• US has begun the process of exiting the Paris Agreement.

More about the news

• United States initiated the process of leaving the Paris Agreement, notifying the United Nations of its withdrawal from the landmark climate deal.
• According to a US State Department press release, the withdrawal will take effect one year from delivery of the notification.
• After it leaves, the US will be the only country left out of the global protocol.
• The United States is the world’s second largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

Paris Agreement of 2016

• It is a historic international accord that brings almost 200 countries together in setting a common target to reduce global greenhouse emissions in an effort to fight climate change.
• The deal is considered by many as the most significant international measure to address climate change.
• The Paris Agreement is an instrument of the United Nations Framework Convention Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• The pact seeks to keep global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels, and to try and limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
• To this end, each country has pledged to implement targeted action plans that will limit their greenhouse gas emissions.
• The Agreement asks rich and developed countries to provide financial and technological support to the developing world in its quest to fight and adapt to climate change.
• Developed countries are under obligation to mobilize at least $100 billion every year from the year 2020 in climate finance meant for the developing world.

How does a country leave the Agreement?

• Article 28 of the Paris Agreement allows countries to leave the Paris Agreement and lays down the process for leaving.
• A country can only give a notice for leaving at least three years after the Paris Agreement came into force.
• This happened on November 4, 2016. Therefore, the US was eligible to move a notice for leaving on November 4 this year.

Why US decided to move out of the agreement?

• The United States plays a pre-eminent role in mobilizing financial resources globally for the agreement, hence citing this as a reason for America’s drain of money they opted to move out of the agreement.
• Under the Agreement, developed countries are under obligation to mobilize at least $100 billion every year from the year 2020 in climate finance meant for the developing world.
• This amount has to be revised upwards after five years. The US was opposed to this move.

109.Reverse Osmosis (RO)

Why in news

• NGT issues ultimatum to ban certain RO systems

More about the news

• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has given a last opportunity to the Union Environment Ministry to issue notifications pertaining to prohibition on the use of RO (reverse osmosis) systems, which result in wastage of almost 80% of water.
• NGT directed that wherever RO is to be permitted, condition of recovery of water to the extent of more than 60% is required.

Reverse Osmosis (RO)

• It is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane to remove ions, unwanted molecules and larger particles from drinking water.
• In the normal osmosis process, the solvent naturally moves from an area of low solute concentration (high water potential), through a membrane, to an area of high solute concentration (low water potential).
• In reverse osmosis, an external pressure is applied to reverse the natural flow of solvent (which is from an area of low solute concentration to an area of high solute concentration).
• The result is that the solute is retained on the pressurized side of the membrane and the pure solvent is allowed to pass to the other side.
• Reverse osmosis can remove many types of dissolved and suspended chemical species as well as biological ones (principally bacteria) from water, and is used in both industrial processes and the production of potable water.
• To be selective, this membrane should not allow large molecules or ions through the pores (holes), but should allow smaller components of the solution (such as solvent molecules, i.e., water, H2O) to pass freely.
• Reverse osmosis differs from filtration in that the mechanism of fluid flow is by osmosis across a membrane.

Applications

• Desalination of brackish water
• Desalination of seawater
• Production of ultrapure water
• Wastewater treatment

110.Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) 

Why in news

• It is possible to convert stubble into CNG, says Kejriwal.

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG):

• CNG is a fossil fuel substitute for other auto fuels such as petrol, diesel, Auto LPG etc.
• CNG is made by compressing natural gas, (which is mainly composed of methane, CH₄).
• CNG is quite economical and eco-friendly than the conventional liquid auto fuels.

How does CNG works?

• When CNG reaches the combustion chamber, it mixes with air, is ignited by a spark and the energy from the explosion moves the vehicle.

Note – Although vehicles can use natural gas as either as liquid or a gas, most vehicles use the gaseous form compressed to 3,000 psi.

CNG Facts:

Economical:

• CNG delivers high performance at low cost, as it gives your vehicle a better mileage.
• CNG does not contaminate or dilute crankcase oil, giving the engine an extended life.

Eco Friendly:

• The use of CNG significantly reduces harmful vehicular exhaust gas emissions like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and other suspended particles.
• It protects the environment by reducing the effects of global warming.
• Non-toxic, non-corrosive, non-carcinogenic and hence improve public health.

Safety:

• CNG is lighter than air and hence disperses quickly without any dangerous accumulation.
• CNG has a narrow flammability range making it much safer than other fuels.
• CNG has a higher ignition temperature than other fuels, reducing chances of accidental and spontaneous.

Drawbacks of CNG:

• Compressed natural gas vehicles require a greater amount of space for fuel storage than conventional gasoline-powered vehicles.
• Since it is a compressed gas, rather than a liquid like gasoline, CNG takes up more space for each GGE (gasoline gallon equivalent).
• Limited availability of CNG Filling stations. 

Note – Compressed natural gas is sometimes mixed with hydrogen (HCNG), which increases the H/C ratio (hydrogen/carbon ratio) of the fuel and gives it a flame speed up to eight times higher than CNG.

 

111.Eco-Sensitive Zones

Why in news

• Jammu and Kashmir government sets up panel to declare Dal Lake as eco-sensitive zone.

Eco-Sensitive Zones or Ecologically Fragile Areas (EFAs):

• Eco-Sensitive Zones are defined as those areas ‘that are ecologically and economically important, but vulnerable even to mild disturbances, and hence demand careful management’.
• They are areas notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
• They are normally areas around Protected Areas, National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries to create some kind of “shock absorbers” to the protected areas.
• These areas are biologically and ecologically ‘rich’, ‘valuable’ and or ‘unique’, and are largely irreplaceable if destroyed.
• They also act as a transition zone from areas of high protection to areas involving lesser protection.
• The basic aim is to regulate certain activities around National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries so as to minimise the negative impacts of such activities on the fragile ecosystem encompassing the protected areas.
• The concept of Eco Sensitive Zones emanates from Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 (EPA) which gives power to the Central Government to restrict areas of development to protect
• According to the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, the government can prohibit industrial operations such as mining, sand quarrying and building thermal power plants in sensitive areas.

112.Green Climate Fund (GCF)

Why in news

• India gets USD 43 million from Green Climate Fund to boost climate resilience in 3 coastal states.

About the project:

• The project is funded by the Green Climate Fund.
• The six-year project will build climate-resilient livelihoods for 1.7 million people in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha.
• Offset 3.5 million tonnes of carbon, protect vulnerable ecosystems, and benefit another 10 million people with improved shoreline protection.
• The project will work with communities in restoring ecosystems and promoting climate-resilient livelihood options, such as the sustainable farming of mud crabs.

Green Climate Fund:

• The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is a global fund created to support the efforts of developing countries to respond to the challenge of climate change.
• GCF helps developing countries limit or reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adapt to climate change.
• It seeks to promote a paradigm shift to low-emission and climate-resilient development, taking into accounts the needs of nations that are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts.
• It is the only stand-alone multilateral financing entity whose sole mandate is to serve the Convention and that aims to deliver equal amounts of funding to mitigation and adaptation. 
• It was set up by the 194 countries who are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2010 (COP 16 at Cancun in Mexico), as part of the Convention’s financial mechanism.
• It aims to deliver equal amounts of funding to mitigation and adaptation, while being guided by the Convention’s principles and provisions.
• The aim of all GCF activities is to support developing countries limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change impacts.
• GCF is accountable to the United Nations and it is guided by the principles and provisions of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• The Fund is headquartered in Songdo, in the Republic of Korea.
• GCF is governed by a 24-member Board, comprised equally of developed and developing countries, representing the United Nations Regional Groups.

113.Wasteland Atlas 2019

Why in news

• Wasteland conversion threatens livelihoods, ecological balance.

Wastelands

• Wastelands are a barren and uncultivated land lying unproductive or which is not being utilized to its potential.
• It includes degraded forests, overgrazed pastures, drought-struck pas­tures, eroded valleys, hilly slopes, waterlogged marshy lands, barren land, etc.
• These commons also act as a buffer against floods, droughts and pollution for a wider population.

Wasteland Atlas 2019

• It has been prepared by the Department of Land Resources (Ministry of Rural Development) in collaboration with the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Department of Space.
• It is the fifth edition of the atlas(2000, 2005, 2010 & 2011)
• This edition is significant as it takes into account 08 MHa of unmapped area of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) for the first time.
• The new wastelands mapping exercise was carried out by NRSC using the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite data.

Key findings

• A reduction in the wasteland area was observed in the categories of land with dense scrub, marshy land, sandy areas, and degraded pastures.
• The wastelands have undergone a positive change in the states of Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and West Bengal.
• The majority of wastelands have been changed into categories of croplands, plantation and industrial areas.
• Spatial extent of wastelands in India is 55.76 Mha (16.96 per cent of geographical area of the country i.e. 328.72 Mha) for the year 2015-16 as compared to 56.60 Mha (17.21 per cent) in the year 2008-09.
• As per the Atlas, during this period 1.45 Mha of wastelands are converted into non-wastelands categories.
• The per capita availability of agriculture land in India is 0.12 ha whereas world per capita agriculture land is 0.29 ha.
• India with 4 per cent of total land area of the world is supporting 18 per cent of the world’s population.

114.Winter-grade diesel

Why in news?

• Home Minister launches winter-grade diesel suitable for extreme winters of up to -30^OCelcius for Ladakh Region.

More About

• Motorists in high-altitude sectors like Ladakh, Kargil, Kaza and Keylong face the problem of freezing of diesel in their vehicles when winter temperatures drop to as low as -30^oCelsius.

• Indian Oil has come up with an innovative solution to this problem by introducing a special winter-grade diesel with a low pour-point of -33^oCelsius, which does not lose its fluidity function even in extreme winter conditions.
• Availability of winter-grade diesel will promote tourism and smooth transportation in Ladakh Region during extreme winters — A big step towards promoting ease of living.

Freezing of diesel?

• Diesel fuel is prone to waxingor gelling in cold weather below cloud point; waxing or gelling is the solidification of diesel oil into a partially crystalline state.
• Cloud Point refers to the temperature below which the fuel particles begin to cloud together and form solidified waxes.
• The presence of solidified waxes thickens the oil and clogs fuel filters and injectors in engines. The crystals build up in the fuel line until the engine is starved of fuel, causing it to stop running.
• Fluidity can be restored by treatment with additives that change the low temperature characteristics of the fuel.

115.Germany’s Climate Protection Act

Why in news

• The German parliament has passed the Climate Protection Act in an attempt to reach its climate target by 2030.

More about The act

• This will be Germany’s first climate action law.
• With this act, a price on carbon emissions in the transport and heating sectors will be imposed along with some other measures to combat climate change.
• The bill consists of emissions targets for different sectors of the economy such as transport, energy and housing.
• This is because apart from trying to reach its climate targets by 2030, Germany also wants to save over 55 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990.
• From 2021, companies that market diesel and petrol, heating oil and natural gas in the country will need to obtain pollution rights for the amount of greenhouse gases they emit.
• This will be regulated through a national Emissions Trading Mechanism.
• The cost of these emissions will drive up the cost of using fossil fuels, making the usage of such fuels more expensive for the citizens and hence, discouraging their use and paving the way for climate-friendly technologies.
• The aviation tax will be increased.

116.Sumatran Rhino

Why in news

• Sumatran rhino is now extinct in Malaysia.

Sumatran Rhino:

• The Sumatran rhino is the smallest of the five extant rhino species in the world.
• The other species include the White Rhino, the Black Rhino, the Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros and the Javan Rhino.

Location and Habitat:

• Location:once found across parts of Southeast Asia, including the foothills of Bhutan and northeast India, southern China, Cambodia and Thailand, they are now restricted to just a few sites in Sumatra and Borneo, in Indonesia.
• Habitat:the Sumatran rhino lives in dense tropical forest, in both the lowlands and highlands. Sumatran rhinos are well adapted to life in very dense tropical forests.
• They are primarily attracted to areas with plentiful food resources, such as shrubs, fruits, shoots, leaves and roots.

Sumatran Rhinos in India:

• In India the Sumatran Rhinos occurred in parts of Nagaland, Assam, Manipur, Tripura and Chittagong hills in the 19th century.
• The species is now extinct in India.

IUCN Status:

• Critically Endangered

117.Coalbed Methane (CBM)

Why in news

• The country’s coal and CBM reserves are found in 12 states of India, with the Gondwana sediments of eastern India holding the bulk.

From the news:

• India has the fifth-largest coal reserves in the world, and CBM has been looked at as a clean alternative fuel with significant prospects.
• The vast majority of the best prospective areas for CBM development are in eastern India, situated in Damodar Koel valley and Son valley. 
• Son valley includes the Sonhat North and Sohagpur East and West blocks.

What is coalbed methane?

• CBM is extracted from unconventional gas reservoirs — where gas is extracted directly from the rock that is the source of the gas.

The Formation:

• CMB is formed during the process of coalification, the transformation of plant material into coal.
• The methane is held underground within the coal and is extracted by drilling into the coal seam and removing the groundwater.
• The resulting drop in pressure causes the methane to be released from the coal.

What are the uses of CBM?

CBM can be used for:

• Power generation,
• As compressed natural gas (CNG) auto fuel,
• As feedstock for fertilisers,
• Industrial uses such as in cement production,
• Rolling mills,
• Steel plants, and
• For methanol production.

The environmental impacts of CBM:

• Methane is a greenhouse gas emitted through CBM extraction.
• Global methane emissions from coal mines are projected to account for approximately 8 percent of total global methane emissions.
• Disturbance of lands drilled and its effect on wildlife habitats results in ecosystem damage.

118.United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Emissions Gap Report

Why in news

• UNEP’s annual Emissions Gap Report – says that unless global greenhouse emissions fall by 7.6 per cent annually between 2020 and 2030.

From the Report:

• UNEP’s annual Emissions Gap Report –Cut global emissions by 6 percent every year for next decade to meet 1.5°C Paris target.
• The report finds that greenhouse gas emissions have risen 1.5 per cent per year over the last decade Emissions in 2018.
• Including from land-use changes such deforestation, hit a new high of 55.3 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent.
• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that going beyond 1.5°C will increase the frequency and intensity of climate impacts.

What does the Emissions Gap Report measure?

The Emissions Gap Report measures and projects three key trendlines: 

1. The amount of greenhouse gas emissions every year up to 2030
2. The commitments countries are making to reduce their emissions and the impact these commitments are likely to have on overall emission reduction
3. The paceat which emissions must be reduced to reach an emission low that would limit temperature increase to 5^oC, affordably

The emissions come from:

• G20 nations collectively account for 78 per cent of all emissions, but only five G20 members have committed to a long-term zero-semission target. 
• The top four emitters (China, USA, EU28 and India) contribute to over 55 per cent of the total emissions, excluding emissions from land-use change such as deforestation. 
• The largest shares of emissions come from the energy sector and its fossil fuel emissions. 

More on report:

• To limit temperatures, annual emissions in 2030 need to be 1 gigatonne of CO2 equivalent lower than current unconditional NDC imply for the 2°C goal; they need to be 32 gigatonnes lower for the 1.5°C goal.
• On an annual basis, this means cuts in emissions of 7. per cent per year from 2020 to 2030 to meet the 1.5°C goal and 2.7 per cent per year for the 2°C goal.

119.SATAT initiative 

Why in news?

• SATAT initiative has the potential of addressing environmental problems arising from stubble burning. 

Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) initiative:

• SATAT initiative to promote Compressed Bio-Gas as an alternative, green transport fuel.
• It is aimed at providing a Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) as a developmental effort that would benefit both vehicle-users as well as farmers and entrepreneurs.
• Compressed Bio-Gas plants are proposed to be set up mainly through independent entrepreneurs.

Working:

• CBG produced at these plants will be transported through cascades of cylinders to the fuel station networks of OMCs for marketing as a green transport fuel alternative.
• The entrepreneurs would be able to separately market the other by-products from these plants, including bio-manure, carbon-dioxide, etc., to enhance returns on investment.

Benefits:

There are multiple benefits from converting agricultural residue, cattle dung and municipal solid waste into CBG on a commercial scale:

• Responsible waste management, reduction in carbon emissions and pollution 
• Additional revenue source for farmers
• Boost to entrepreneurship, rural economy and employment
• Support to national commitments in achieving climate change goals
• Reduction in import of natural gas and crude oil
• Buffer against crude oil/gas price fluctuations

Basics on bio-gas:

• Bio-gas is produced naturally through a process of anaerobic decomposition from waste / bio-mass sources.
• These include agriculture residue, cattle dung, sugarcane press mud, municipal solid waste, sewage treatment plant waste, etc.
• After purification, it is compressed and called CBG, which has pure methane content of over 95%.
• Compressed Bio-Gas is exactly similar to the commercially available natural gas in its composition and energy potential.
• CBG can be used as alternative, renewable automotive fuel. 

120.Operation ‘Clean Art’

Why in news?

• Mongoose hair used for brushes: Smugglers, makers under radar.

Operation ‘Clean Art’:

• “Operation Clean Art was the first pan India operation to crack down on the smug­gling of mongoose hair in the country.
• Operation Clean Art was conceived by Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB).
• The mongoose is listed in Schedule II Part 2 of the Wil­dlife Protection Act, 1972.
• “Mongoose hair is in high demand among artists worldwide because of the quality of brushes they help create, which define lines clearly and hold paint properly.

There are six species of mongoose found in India:

• Indian Grey Mongoose
• Ruddy Mongoose
• Small Indian Mongoose
• Crab-eating Mongoose
• Stripe-Necked Mongoose
• Brown Mongoose

Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972	The Indian Grey Mongoose is listed in Schedule II while all the other five species are listed in Schedule IV
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)	Appendix III for all six species, with a zero quota for commercial trade

 

Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB):

• Wildlife Crime Control Bureau is a statutory multi-disciplinary body established by the Government of India under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, to combat organized wildlife crime in the country.
• The Bureau has it’s headquarter in New Delhi.
• It assists and advises the Customs authorities in inspection of the consignments of flora & fauna as per the provisions of Wild Life Protection Act, CITES and EXIM Policy governing such an item.

121.Hornbill Festival (Festival of Festivals)

Why in news?

• 20th Edition of Hornbill Festival begins in Nagaland.

Hornbill Festival:

• Hornbill Festival was established on 1st December 1963, but the first festival was held in 2000.
• Hornbill Festival is celebrated in Nagaland.
• Duration: It is annually held from 1 – 10 December.
• Organized by the State Tourism and Art & Culture Departments of the Government of Nagaland.
• The aim of the festival is to revive and protect the rich culture of Nagaland and display its extravaganza and traditions.
• The festival pays tribute to Hornbill, the most admired and revered bird for the Nagas for its qualities of alertness and grandeur.
• The Hornbill Festival provides a colorful mixture of dances, performances, crafts, parades, games, sports, food fairs and religious ceremonies.

About Great Indian Hornbill:

 It is one of the larger members of the hornbill family, distributed along Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia.

• It is the state bird of Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh.

Conservation Status and Threats:

• It is evaluated as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
• It is listed in Appendix I of CITES.
• Habitat loss and hunting are major threats.

122.Blue Flag Certification

Why in news?

• Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has embarked upon a programme for ‘Blue Flag’ Certification for select beaches in the country.  

Blue Flag Certification:

• Blue Flag is an international award presented to well manage beaches with excellent water quality and environmental education programmes.
• The certification is issued by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE).
• Blue Flag criteria include standards for water quality, safety, environmental education and information, the provision of services and general environmental management criteria.
• The Award is given to beaches, marinas and sustainable boating tourism operators as an indication of their high environmental and quality standards.
• Awards are issued on an annual basis to FEE member countries.

Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE):

• The Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation promoting sustainable development through environmental education.
• FEE conducts mainly five programmes such as

• Blue Flag,
• Eco-Schools,
• Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE)
• Learning about Forests (LEAF) and
• Green Key

• FEE has member organisations in 77 countries worldwide.
• It was established in 1981.
• It’s headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Note – 13 pilot beaches have been identified for the certification from India.

 

123.PVTGs

Why in news?

• There are certain tribal communities who have declining or stagnant population, low level of literacy, pre-agricultural level of technology and are economically backward.

Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs):

• These groups are among the most vulnerable section of our society as they are few in numbers, have not attained any significant level of social and economic development.
• 75 groups have been identified and categorized as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).
• In 1973, the Dhebar Commission created Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs) as a separate category, who are less developed among the tribal groups.
• In 2006, the Government of India renamed the PTGs as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).
• PVTGs have some basic characteristics -they are mostly homogenous, with a small population, relatively physically isolated, social institutes cast in a simple mould, absence of written language, relatively simple technology and a slower rate of change etc

Development of PVTGs:

• Ministry of Tribal Affairs is implementing the scheme of “Development of PVTGs” which covers these 75 PVTGs for the activities like education, housing, land distribution, agricultural development and construction of link roads, social security or any other innovative activity meant for the comprehensive socio-economic development of PVTGs.
• Under the scheme, State Governments submits Conservation-cum-Development (CCD) Plans on the basis of their requirement.
• 100% grants-in-aid are made available to States as per the provisions of the scheme.

124.Tiger corridor

Why in news?

• The Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change provided the details of tiger corridor mapping in RajyaSabha.

Tiger corridor:

• A tiger corridor is a stretch of land linking tiger habitats, allowing movement of tigers, prey and other wildlife.
• Without corridors tiger habitat can become fragmented and tiger populations isolated leaving the tigers vulnerable to localised extinction.
• The corridors are operated under Tiger Conservation Plan.
• The plan is protected and implemented under section 38V of the Wildlife(Protection) act, 1972.

The list of important tiger corridors in India:

Sl. No.	Landscape	Corridor	States/ Country
1.	Shivalik Hills &Gangetic Plains	Rajaji-Corbett	Uttarakhand
		Corbett-Dudhwa	Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Nepal
2.	Central India & Eastern Ghats	Ranthambhore-Kuno-Madhav	Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan
		Bandhavgarh-Achanakmar	Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh
		Kanha-NavegaonNagzira-Tadoba-Indravati	Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh
		Nagarjunasagar-Sri Venkateshwara National Park	Andhra Pradesh
3.	Western Ghats	Sahyadri-Radhanagari-Goa	Maharashtra, Goa
		DandeliAnshi-Shravathi Valley	Karnataka
		Nagarahole-Bandipur-Mudumalai-Wayanad	Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu
		KalakadMundanthurai-Periyar	Kerala, Tamil Nadu
4.	North East	Kaziranga-Itanagar WLS	Assam, Arunachal Pradesh
		Manas-Buxa	Assam, West Bengal, Bhutan

 

125.Global Carbon Project (GCP)

Why in news?

• India’s carbon dioxide emissions this year was likely to be considerably lower than in the last few years.

From the news:

• India’s emissions in 2019 (2.6 billion tonnes or gigatonnes) was likely to be only 8 per cent higher than in 2018.
• It is significantly lower than the 8% growth that India showed last year and the more-than-5% average growth over the last ten years.

What arrested the growth?

• Weak economic growth in India has led to slower growth in oil and natural gas use.
• With a weakening economy, growth in India’s generation of electricity has slowed from 6 per cent per year to under 1 per cent in 2019, despite electrification of villages adding to potential demand.
• Moreover, the addition of a very wet monsoon led to very high hydropower generation and a decline in generation from coal.
•  Note – The Global Carbon Project estimates the carbon dioxide emissions in 2019 alone to be about 2.6 billion tonnes.
• They do not give the estimates of emissions of other greenhouse gases.

Global Carbon Project (GCP):

• The GCP is a Global Research Project of Future Earth and a research partner of the World Climate Research Programme. 
• Formed in 2001, towork with the international science community.
• to establish a common and mutually agreed knowledge base
• to support policy debate and action,
• to slow down and ultimately stop the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
• Its projects include global budgets for three dominant greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide — and complementary efforts in urban, regional, cumulative, and negative emissions.

126.Global Climate Risk Index 2020

Why in news?

• India ranks 5th in Global Climate Risk Index.

Global Climate Risk Index:

• Annually published by environmental think tank Germanwatch.
• Germanwatch, based in Bonn and Berlin (Germany), is an independent development and environmental organisation which works for sustainable global development.
• The 2020 index assessed 181 countries and quantified impacts of climate change through economic losses, losses to GDP (Gross domestic product) and fatalities to arrive at a ranking.
• It highlights existing vulnerabilities that may increase as extreme events and become more frequent/ severe due to climate change.

About India:

• India is the fifth most vulnerable country to climate change.
• India’s rank has worsened from the 14th spot in 2017 to 5th in 2018 in the global vulnerability ladder.
• India has also recorded the highest number of fatalities due to climate change and the second highest monetary losses from its impact in 2018.
• India’s high rank is due to severe rainfalls, followed by heavy flooding and landslide.

Global scenario:

• Japan is the worst-hit country in 2018 while Germany and Canada were both also in the ‘bottom 10’, that is, the most affected.

127.Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI)

Why in news?

• India among top 10 countries with higher climate performance as per the recently released Climate Change Performance Index.

Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI):

• The CCPI is an independent monitoring tool of countries climate protection performance.
• It aims to enhance transparency in international climate politics and enables the comparability of climate protection efforts and progress made by individual countries.
• The index is published by Germanwatch, the New Climate Institute and the Climate Action Network.
• The ranking results are defined by a country’s aggregated performance in 14 indicators within the four categories:

• GHG Emissions,
• Renewable Energy,
• Energy Use,
• Climate Policy, in a globally unique policy section of the index.

About India:

• India for the first time ranks among the top 10 ranked 9^th as per the index.
• The ranking was to the “high category”, where the countries have ambitious 2030 targets.
• The report noted that India received medium rating in the renewable energy category.
• Also, the 2030 target set by India was rated high for its well-below 2-degree Celsius compatibility.

Note – The report also says that India is yet to develop a road map to phase-out fossil fuel subsidies in order to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels.

Global Scenario:

• The first three places of the ranking remain unoccupied as none of the countries assessed is already on a path compatible with the Paris climate targets, Sweden ranked 4th.
• China, the largest global emitter slightly improves its ranking in the index to 30th place (“medium”).
• US and Saudi Arabia were the major polluters. 
• Only two G20 countries, the UK (7th) and India (9th), are ranked in the “high” category.
• As per the report out of 31 of the 57 high emitting countries assessed, collectively responsible for 90 per cent of emissions.

128.IREDA and Green Window

Why in news?

• Shri Anand Kumar, Secretary for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) stated that the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) is planning to set up a dedicated “Green Window to serve the unserved segments of renewable energy.”

More about

• India is one of the top three nations leading global renewable energy growth.
• As of October 2019, India’s installed renewable capacity has already met about half of its 2022 target of 175 GW.
• Prime Minister has announced India’s commitment to go much beyond the 2022 goal and install 450 GW of renewables- more than five times the current installed renewables capacity.
• Given the existing high exposure to conventional power, there is limited debt capacity in the financial system to fund the amount of new generation needed to meet renewables targets.

What is a green window?

• A green window would lower the risk for traditional banks to finance green energy and tap into international capital to help India power its cities and rural communities.
• Green windows, like green banks, are public entities created to work with the private sector to increase investment in green energy and bring clean energy financing into the mainstream.
• They are innovative and new tools that have been successful in the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Malaysia and the United States.

Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA)

• IREDA is India’s leading financial institution dedicated to clean energy expansion.
• Since its founding under MNRE in 1987, IREDA has financed the largest share of renewable energy projects in India.

129.Houbara bustards

why in news?

• Pakistan has issued special permits to emir of qatar and nine other members of the royal family to hunt endangered bird species houbara bustard.

more about the news

• The allotted hunting areas are spread over sindh, baluchistan and punjab provinces.
• The hunters can hunt 100 houbara bustards in a 10-day safari during the three-month hunting season.
• The permit is person-specific. Pakistanis are not allowed to hunt this bird.
• Hunting of houbara bustard is used as a foreign policy tool by the Pakistan government, which allows influential nationals of the Arabian gulf nations to hunt the bird for a price tag of $100,000.

houbara bustards

• bustards are large, terrestrial birds that belong to several species, including some of the largest flying birds.
• the houbara bustard, which lives in arid climates, comes in two distinct species as recognized by the international union for conservation of nature,residing in:

• north africa(chlamydotis undulate)
• asia (chlamydotis macqueenii).

• The population of the asian houbara bustards extends from northeast asia, across central asia, the middle east, and the arabian peninsula to reach the sinai desert.
• After breeding in the spring, the Asian bustards migrate south to spend the winter in Pakistan, the Arabian Peninsula and nearby southwest Asia.
• Some Asian houbara bustards live and breed in the southern part of their ranges including parts of iran, pakistan and turkmenistan.
• The main reasons for the houbara’s decline are poaching, unregulated hunting, along with degradation of its natural habitat.
• iucn status: critically endangered

130.Carbon dots

Why in news?

• Researchers from Assam have used the commonly found invasive plant water hyacinth to produce carbon nanoparticles.

More about

• These extremely tiny (less than 10 nanometre) particles can be used for detecting a commonly used herbicide — pretilachlor.
• The nanoparticles were found to be selective and sensitive for the detection of the herbicide.
• Water hyacinth leaves after removing chlorophyll, dried and powdered.then it converts to carbon dots
• When a nanoparticle is less than 10 nanometre we call it a dot or nanodot.
• Carbon dots were able to give a green fluorescence under UV light.
• The extremely small oxygen functional groups on the surface of the dot are responsible for the fluorescence.
• Electron transfer happens between the dot and the herbicide which enables the fluorescence enhancement.
• This will be a commercially viable option when compared with the sensors currently available in the market, as the raw material for the construction of the sensor — the water hyacinth — is readily available and is practically a waste material.

131.Flamingo Festival

Why in news?

• Winged visitors flock to Pulicat, with birdwatchers in tow

Flamingo Festival:

• It is held every year to promote tourism in Pulicat and Nellapattu.
• Flamingo Festival is being organized for the past 12 years.
• Migratory birds from Siberia have been visiting this place for breeding and the colourful birds are a treat to the eye of bird watchers.
• Usually around 80 different avian species migrate to Pulicat for breeding.
• They hunt in shallow waters of the lake and breed in Pulicat. Once the breeding season concludes, they fly away to their native land with their offspring in tow.
• The conducive atmosphere for these seasonal avian guests is being conserved at Nellapattu bird sanctuary.

Pulicat Lake:

• Pulicat Lake is the second largest brackish water lagoon in India.
• The lake encompasses the Pulicat Lake Bird Sanctuary.
• The barrier island of Sriharikota separates the lake from the Bay of Bengal.
• The Satish Dhawan Space Centre is situated on this island.
• Major part of the lake comes under Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh.
• Climate of the lagoon coast line is dominated by Tropical monsoons.
• Two rivers which feed the lagoon are the Arani River at the southern tip and the Kalangi River from the northwest, in addition to some smaller streams.
• The migratory bird species of the lake include greater   flamingos, pelicans, kingfishers,  herons, painted storks, spoonbills and

Nellapattu Bird Sanctuary:

• Nellapattu Bird Sanctuary is one of the biggest habitats for some hundreds of pelicans and other birds.
• It is located about 20 km north of the Pulicat Lake, Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh.
• This sanctuary spread in an area about 459 hectares and plays important role in nesting of various birds especially migratory birds.
• Every year during winter season from October to March, different species of migratory birds, roosting migrants and some rare and endangered species from various parts of the world visit the habitat.

 

132.Smog towers

Why in news?

Delhi gets its first smog tower.

• Smog towers are structures designed to work as large-scale air purifiers.
• They are usually fitted with multiple layers of air filters, which clean the air of pollutants as it passes through them.
• The purifier’s exhaust fans are expected to remove up to 80 per cent of the PM 2.5 and PM10 pollutants in the air in the vicinity. 
• The filters installed in the tower will use carbon nano fibres as a major component and will be fitted along its peripheries.
• The tower will focus on reducing particulate matter load.
• The project is collaboration between the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, IIT-Delhi and the University of Minnesota.
• The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) will also be involved with the project.

Note – In China, a similar smog tower has been able to compress the carbon waste generated to produce gemstones.

 

133.Asiatic Lion

Why in news?

• 10,000 cameras to be used for 2020 lion census.

Asiatic Lion:

• Asiatic lions belong to the category of Pantherine cats.

Pantherine Cats:

• The lion is one among the 5 Pantherine Cats inhabiting in India.
• The other 4 pantherine cats in India are Bengal Tiger, Snow Leopard,Indian Leopard and Clouded Leopard.

Habitat and Distribution:

• Asiatic lions were once distributed upto the state of West Bengal in east and Rewa in Madhya Pradesh, in central India.
• At present Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary is the only abode of the Asiatic lion.
• The last surviving population of the Asiatic lions is a compact tract of dry deciduous forest and open grassy scrublands in south-western part of Saurashtra region of Gujarat.

 Status:

• Listed in Schedule I of Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, in Appendix I of CITES and as Endangered on IUCN Red

134.Tiger deaths

Why in news?

• For the first time in the past three years, the number of tiger deaths in a year in the country has been less than 100.

More about

• According to data from the Ministry of Forest Environment and Climate Change (MoEFCC), there were 84 cases of tiger deaths in the country and 11 cases of seizures (in which a tiger is presumed dead on the basis of body parts seized by authorities).

• Both put together, the number of tiger deaths in 2019 was 95.
• In 2018, the number of tiger deaths recorded was 100 (93 mortalities and seven seizures).
• The number was 115 in 201, and 122 in 2016.
• The data for 2019 on tiger mortality also confirmed 22 cases of poaching and one case of tiger poisoning across the country.
• An analysis showed that 16 out of the 22 poaching incidents were reported outside tiger reserves.
• Madhya Pradesh, which has the highest number of tigers in the country (526, as per the last census), recorded the most number of cases (31) of tiger deaths.
• This was followed by Maharashtra, which reported 18 deaths.
• Karnataka, another State with high tiger population, recorded 12 deaths, and Uttarakhand recorded ten deaths.
• Deaths were also recorded from non tiger bearing States like Gujarat, where a tiger had strayed into the State and died.
• The last tiger census report, released in July 2019, had placed the number of tigers in India at 2,967, up by a third when compared with the numbers reported in 2014.

135.Coral Reefs

Why in news?

• Palau is first country to ban ‘reef toxic’ sun cream.

From the news:

• Palau has banned common ingredients used in cosmetics including oxybenzone.
• The Rock Islands in the Palau is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

How are sun creams harmful to corals?

• The sun creams absorb UV radiations and make corals susceptible to bleaching.

Palau:

• Palau is an island country in the western Pacific Ocean.
• Palau lies in the southwest corner of Micronesia, with New Guinea to the south, and the Philippines to the west.
• Its major islands are Babelthuap (Babeldaob), Koror, Malakal, Arakabesan, and Peleliu.

Coral Reefs:

• Coral reefs are important hotspots of biodiversity in the ocean.
• Corals are animals in the same class (Cnidaria) as jellyfish and anemones.
• They consist of individual polyps that get together and build reefs.
• Coral reefs support a wide range of species and maintain the quality of the coastal biosphere.
• Corals control the level of carbon dioxide in the water by converting it into a limestone shell.
• If this process does not take place, the amount of carbon dioxide in the ocean water would increase significantly and affect ecological niches.

Major Reef formations in India:

• The Gulf of Mannar
• Gulf of Kachchh
• Andaman and Nicobar
• Lakshadweep Islands

136.Chilika Lake

Why in news?

The Chilika Development Authority (CDA) expects Over 1 million migratory birds to flock to Chilika in 2020.

• Chilika Lake is the largest brackish water lake in Asia.

• It is the second largest coastal lagoon in the world.
• Spread across three districts of Odisha state, it is located at the mouth of Daya River.
• Nalabana Bird Sanctuary is located in the lake.
• The Irrawaddy dolphin (IUCN Red List –Endangered) is the flagship species of Chilika Lake.
• It was designated the first ‘Ramsar site’ (1981)of India owing to its rich biodiversity and ecological significance.

Chilika Development Authority (CDA):

• Chilika Development  Authority(a Government  of  Odisha  Agency)  has  been 

created  under  Forest  & Environment Department of Government of Odisha in the year 1991.

• It was formed with an objective for conservation of ecology of Chilika lagoon and to bring an all-round development in and around the lagoon which calls for multi-dimensional and multi-disciplinary development activities.

137.Miyawaki forests

Why in news?

• Kerala to take more cover under Miyawaki forests. Concept helps to increase green cover in urban areas.

More about

• The Miyawaki method of afforestation revolutionized the concept of urban afforestation by turning backyards into mini forests.

• Kerala is to take this method of afforestation to add green cover on government office premises, residential complexes, school premises etc in Kerala.
• By promoting natural vegetation on land destroyed by natural calamities and due to human activity along the Japanese coastline, Miyawaki managed to raise miniforests.
• The replication of the model across Kerala, which has suffered floods, landslips and soil erosion, assumes significance given the Rebuild Kerala initiative.

Miyawaki method of afforestation

• Miyawaki is a technique pioneered by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, that helps build dense, native forests.

• The approach is supposed to ensure that plant growth is 10 times faster and the resulting plantation is 30 times denser than usual.
• It involves planting dozens of native species in the same area, and becomes maintenance-free after the first three years.
• Developing each cent under the Miyawaki method is estimated to cost around 1 lakh.

138.Asia Pacific Drosophila Research Conference (APDRC5)

Why in news?

• Pune to host fifth edition of global Drosophila conference

About the conference:

• The conference is held twice a year.
• This is the first time India to host the conference and was organized by the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research.
• It aims to promote the interaction of Drosophila researchers in the Asia-Pacific region with their peers in the rest of the world.
• The conference acts as a common platform to link the Asia-Pacific researchers with other parts of the world.

Note – The last four editions of this conference took place in Taipei, Seoul, Beijing and Osaka.

Drosophila:

• Drosophila is the small fruit fly.

• Scientists and Researchers for the past 100 years have been using the fly as a model organism in researches.
• This is the relationship between fruit fly and humans are undeniably similar.
• The density of genes per chromosomes is higher in Drosophila than that of humans.

 

139.Saltwater crocodiles

Why in news?

• Bhitarkanika census finds an increase of 15 saltwater crocodiles from last year.

More about

• According to annual reptiles census 2020, the population of the saltwater or estuarine crocodile(Crocodylus porosus) has increased in the water bodies of Odisha’s Bhitarkanika National Park and its nearby areas in Kendrapara district, with forest officials counting 1,757 individuals.

  Crocodile Species Found In India

• There are three speciesof crocodilians
• Saltwater crocodile
• Mugger Crocodile
• Gharials

   Salt water crocodiles

• Found in coastal areas of Odisha, WB and TN.
• They have the broadest distribution of any modern crocodile, ranging from the eastern coast of India, throughout most of Southeast Asia, and northern Australia.
• They are apex predators.
• Least Concernin IUCN Red List.

  Mugger Crocodile

• Medium-sized crocodile that mostly inhabits freshwater lakes, ponds, sluggish rivers, swamps and marshes.
• Found throughout the Indian subcontinent.
• Vulnerablein IUCN Red list.

  Gharials

• It is the longest and rarest Crocodile.
• Their major population remains in three tributaries of the Ganges River, the Chambal and the Girwa Riversin India, and the Rapti-Naryani River in Nepal.
• The Gharials reserves of India are located in three States of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
• National Gharials Wildlife Sanctuary is in Chambal.
• Critically endangeredin IUCN Red List.

140.Agreement on Bru-Reang refugee crisis

Why in news?

• Union Minister for Home Affairs presided over the signing of an agreement between Government of India, Governments of Tripura and Mizoram and Bru-Reang representatives in New Delhi to end the 23-year old Bru-Reang refugee crisis.

More about

• A permanent solution has been arrived to this long standing issue of rehabilitating thousands of Bru-Reang people in Tripura and they can now look towards a bright future.
• Under the new agreement, around 34,000 Bru refugees will be settled in Tripura and would be given aid from the Centre to help with their rehabilitation and all round development, through a package of around Rs 600 crores.
• These people would get all the rights that normal residents of the Statesget and they would now be able to enjoy the benefits of social welfare schemes of Centre and State governments.

• Under the new arrangement, each of the displaced families would be given 40x30 sq.ft. residential plots, in addition to the aid under earlier agreement of a fixed deposit of Rs. 4 lakhs, 5,000 cash aid per month for 2 years, free ration for 2 years and Rs. 1.5 lakhs aid to build their house.
• The government of Tripura would provide the land under this agreement.

Background

• In 1997, following ethnic tension, around 5,000 families comprising around 30,000 Bru-Reang tribals were forced to flee Mizoram and seek shelter in Tripura.

• These people were housed in temporary camps at Kanchanpur, in North Tripura.
• Since 2010, Government of India has been making sustained efforts to permanently rehabilitate these refugees.
• The Union government has been assisting the two State governments for taking the care of the refugees.
• On 3^rdJuly, 2018, an agreement was signed between the Union government, the two State governments and representatives of Bru-Reang refugees, as a result of which the aid given to these families was increased substantially.
• There had been a sustained demand of most Bru-Reang families that they may be allowed to settle down in Tripura, considering their apprehensions about their security.

141.Australian Bushfires

Why in news?

• Explained: Reading Australia fire signals

What causes forest fires?

• Forest fires, or wild fires, routinely occur across the world in hot and dry seasons.
• Dry leaves, grass, shrubs, deadwood etc are easily combustible.
• Ignition happens naturally, from lightning strikes for example, or accidentally, from sources such as cigarette stubs.
• Suitable speed and direction of wind helps spread a forest fire faster.
• It usually comes to an end due to rain or because there is no further contiguous vegetation to spread to.
• Sometimes, fires are ignited on purpose, either to clear the land, or even to control an incoming forest fire by removing vegetation that would have aided the incoming fire’s further spread.

Note: During the summer months, fires are common in the forests of India as well, though their scale and impact are much smaller.

 

In the case of Australia

• Australia, where the summer starts around October,is known to be the most fire-prone of all continents.
• This is mainly because Australia is also the driest inhabited continent.
• Almost 70 per cent of its area comprises arid or semi-arid land, with average annual rainfall less than 350 mm.
• Australia has about 134 million hectares of forest land, most of it in the north and east.
• Bushfires are pretty common every year in summer.

So, how are the ongoing fires different?

• This Australian summer, the spread and intensity of forest fires are something never seen before.

• The fire has impacted more than 10.3 million hectares of forest land so far, an area the size of South Korea. People and millions of wild animals have died.

Reasons

• Several record-breaking weather conditions are believed to have contributed to this unprecedented wave of forest fires.

• 2019 happened to be the warmest and driest year for the country since 1900.
• Daytime temperatures were, on an average, 2°C higher than normal, while average rainfall for the country was 40% below normal.
• Heat and dryness are the key preconditions for the ignition and spread of forest fires.
• Positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD)
• In 2019, the problem has been compounded by the presence of one of the strongest-ever positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) events.
• Positive IOD events are often associated with a more severe fire season for South-east Australia.
• Another indicator of the extent of dryness this year is the condition of soil moisture which is at historic lows in the areas most affected by the fires.

• Scientists also point to a rare stratospheric warming over Antarctica, temperatures were 30°C to 40°C higher than normal in the region 10 to 50 km from Earth’s surface as yet another extraordinary weather event that could have contributed to the unusual heat and dryness in Australia.

Note: Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) -Sustained changes in the difference between sea surface temperatures of the tropical western and eastern Indian Ocean are known as the Indian Ocean Dipole or IOD.

 

142.Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis)

Why in news?

• A rare migratory eagle sighted near Vijayawada.

Steppe Eagle:

• It belongs to the family
• IUCN status: Endangered
• It is the second-largest migratory eagle species to India.
• Cultural significance: The Steppe Eagle appears on the flag of Kazakhstan, it is also the National bird (animal) of Egypt.
• Habitat and ecology: It inhabits areas of steppe and semi-desert, and is recorded breeding up to 2,300 m in mountainous region.
• In winter, steppe eagle breeds in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia. 

143.Irrawaddy Dolphins

Why in news?

• Dolphin census: 146 Irrawaddy dolphins sighted in Odisha’s Chilika.

More about the News

• The dolphin census was simultaneously taken up in Chilika and off Odisha coast.
• The Chilika Development Authority (CDA) is elated that the direct sighting of 146 dolphins meant that its population in the lake would stabilise well above 150.
• The Census was carried out using Hydrophone monitoring technique.
• A hydrophone is a microphone designed to be used underwater for recording or listening to underwater sound.

Irrawaddy Dolphins

• Irrawaddy dolphins are found in coastal areas in South and Southeast Asia, and in three rivers: the Irrawaddy (Myanmar),the Mahakam (Indonesian Borneo) and the

• The total population of these aquatic mammals in the world is estimated to be less than 7,500.
• Of these, more than 6,000 Irrawaddy dolphins have been reported from Bangladesh
• Dolphin distribution in Chilika is considered to be the highest single lagoon population.
• IUCN status: Endangered

144.White Rhino

Why in news?

• Explained: How IVF is reversing an imminent extinction of White Rhino.

More about the news

• Researchers had created another embryo the third of the nearly extinct northern white rhino using In-Vitro fertilization.
• Presently, there are only two northern white rhinos in the world.

White Rhino

• The white rhinoceros or square-lipped rhinoceros is the largest extant species of rhinoceros and second largest land mammal.

• It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species.
• The white rhinoceros consists of two subspecies: the southern white rhinoceros and the much rarer northern white rhinoceros.
• They are found in two different regions in
• White Rhinoceros are classified as Near Threatened in IUCN redlist.
• Northern White Rhino as Critically Endangered
• Southern White Rhino as Near Threatened
• There is also the black rhinoceros in Africa, which too, is fighting for survival, and at least three of whose subspecies are already extinct.
• The Indian rhinoceros is different from its African cousins, most prominently in that it has only one horn.
• There is also a Javan rhino, which too, has one horn, and a Sumatran rhino which, like the African rhinos, has two horns.

In vitro Fertilization (IVF)

• It’s one of the more widely known types of Assisted Reproductive Technology(ART).

• IVF works by using a combination of medicines and surgical procedures to help sperm fertilize an egg, and help the fertilized egg implant in uterus.
• IVF is the process of fertilization by extracting eggs, retrieving a sperm sample and then manually combining an egg and sperm in a laboratory dish.
• In vitro means outside the body.

 

145.CDP India Annual Report 2019

Why in news?

• India 5th among countries with corporate commitments to science-based targets: Report
  CDP India Annual Report 2019:

• Released by CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project).

About CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project):

• CDP is a not-for-profit charity that runs the global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts.

• It collects and collates self-reported environmental data in the world.

From the Report:

• The report examines carbon reduction activities of companies.

• United States of America secured the top spot followed by Japan, United Kingdom and France.
• India has ranked 5th among the countries surveyed for corporate commitments to science-based targets (SBT).
• As per the report, 58 Indian companies shared details about the environment-related activities undertaken by them in 2019.
• More than 98 % of leading Indian companies have formed some committee / group within its organization to meet & address climate-related issues.

146.Wollemi Pines

Why in news?

• Australia firefighters save world’s only rare dinosaur trees.

More about the news

• Specialist firefighters have saved the world’s last remaining wild stand of a prehistoric tree from wildfires that razed forests west of Sydney.

• The Wollemi’s survival is one of the few positive stories to emerge from the unprecedented wildlife crisis in southeast Australia.

Wollemi Pines

• The Wollemi Pines are thought to have existed even during the Jurassic period.

• The Wollemi Pine had only been seen in its fossilized form and was thought long extinct before the stand was found in 1994 and their location was kept secret to prevent contamination.
• It is classified as critically endangered (CR) on the IUCN’s Red List, and is legally protected in Australia.
• Wollemi National Park is the only place in the world where these trees are found in the wild. Approximately, less than 200 trees are left.

147.Ramsar Convention

Why in news?

• Ramsar Convention has declared 10 more wetlands from India as sites of “international importance”,taking the total number of Ramsar sites in India to 37.

• With the addition of the 10 sites, the total protected wetland area in the country covers a surface area of 1,067,939 hectares.

The new sites added are:

• Nandur Madhameshwar (Maharashtra)
• Keshopur-Miani(Punjab)
• Beas Conservation Reserve(Punjab)
• Nangal in (Punjab)
• Nawabganj(Uttar Pradesh)
• Parvati Agra(Uttar Pradesh)
• Saman(Uttar Pradesh)
• Samaspur(Uttar Pradesh)
• Sandi (Uttar Pradesh)
• SarsaiNawar in (Uttar Pradesh)

The Convention on Wetlands or Ramsar convention

• The Convention on Wetlands is the intergovernmental treatythat provides the framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.

• The Convention was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in 1975.
• Since then, almost 90% of UN member states, from all the world’s geographic regions, have acceded to become Contracting Parties.
• The Convention uses a broad definition of wetlands.
• It includes all lakes and rivers, underground aquifers, swamps and marshes, wet grasslands, peat lands, oases, estuaries, deltas and tidal flats, mangroves and other coastal areas, coral reefs, and all human-made sites such as fish ponds, rice paddies, reservoirs and salt pans.
• Under the three pillars of the Convention, the Contracting Parties commit to:
• Work towards the wise use of all their wetlands;
• Designate suitable wetlands for the list of wetlands of international importance (the “ramsar list”) and ensure their effective management;
• Cooperate internationally on Tran’s boundary wetlands, shared wetland systems and shared species.
• There are currently over 2,300 Ramsar Sites around the world.

148.Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

Why in news?

• E-commerce giants need to set up system for collecting plastic waste: CPCB to NGT

More about the news

• E-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart need to fulfil their Extended Producer Responsibility under the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 and need to establish a system for collecting back the plastic waste generated due to the packaging of their products, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) told the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a policy approach under which producers are given a significant responsibility – financial and/or physical – for the treatment or disposal of post-consumer products.

• Assigning such responsibility could in principle provide incentives to prevent wastes at the source, promote product design for the environment and support the achievement of public recycling and materials management goals.

Plastic Waste Management Rules

• The Government had notified the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, in suppression of the earlier Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011.

• It expanded its jurisdiction of applicability from the municipal area to rural areas.

• Earlier, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) was left to the discretion of the local bodies.
• First time, under the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, producers and brand owners have been made responsible for collecting waste generated from their products.
• They have to approach local bodies for formulation of plan/system for the plastic waste management within the prescribed timeframe.
• First time, responsibility of waste generators was introduced under the rules.
• Individual and bulk generators like offices, commercial establishments, industries are to segregate the plastic waste at source, handover segregated waste, pay user fee as per bye-laws of the local bodies.
• Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has been mandated to formulate the guidelines for thermoset plastic (plastic difficult to recycle). In the earlier Rules, there was no specific provision for such type of plastic.

Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules 2018

• The amended Rules lay down that the phasing out of Multilayered Plastic (MLP)which are non-recyclable, or non-energy recoverable, or with no alternate use.

• The amended Rules also prescribed a Central Registration System for the registration of the producer/importer/brand owner.
• The Rules also lay down that any mechanism for the registration should be automated and should take into account ease of doing business for producers, recyclers and manufacturers.
• A national registry has been prescribed for producers with a presence in more than two states; a state-level registration has been prescribed for smaller producers/brand owners operating within one or two states.

149.African cheetahs

Why in news?

• The Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted its seven-year stay on a proposal to introduce African cheetahs from Namibia into the Indian habitat on an experimental basis.

More about the news

• The Supreme Court allowed the Centre to introduce the African cheetah to a suitable habitat in India.

• Court has now allowed initiating the re-introduction of foreign Cheetahs into the Palpur Kuno sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh on an experimental basis.
• With India’s own cheetahs vanishing, a plea for this had been filed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), seeking permission to introduce the African cheetah from Namibia.
• In 1952, the cheetah was officially declared extinct from India.
• Reintroduction of a species means releasing it in an area where it is capable of surviving.
• Before Namibia, India had approached Iran for Asiatic cheetahs, but had been refused.
• The Asiatic cheetah is classified as a “critically endangered” species by the IUCN Red List, and is believed to survive only in Iran.
• Physically, there are barely any differences between the Asiatic and African sub-species of cheetahs.
• The reintroductions of large carnivores have increasingly been recognized as a strategy to conserve threatened species and restore ecosystem functions.
• Both African and Asiatic cheetahs are included in Appendix I of CITES.

 

150.Future of Earth, 2020 Report

Why in news?

• The ‘Future of Earth, 2020’ report enlists five key global risks.

More about the report:

• The report was released by the South Asia Future Earth Regional Office, Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science (IISc).
• The report was prepared with the aim of reducing carbon footprint and halting global warming below 2 degree Celsius by 2050.
• Report lists failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation; extreme weather events; major biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse; food crises; and water crises, as the five global risks.

Interrelation of risk factors:

• Extreme heat waves can accelerate global warming by releasing large amounts of stored carbon from affected ecosystems, and at the same time intensify water crises and/ or food scarcity.
• The loss of biodiversity also weakens the capacity of natural and agricultural systems to cope with climate extremes, increasing our vulnerability to food crises.
• Despite declarations of a climate crisis or climate emergency by the leaders of more than 700 cities, states and governments, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during 2019 reached more than 415 parts per million (ppm).

• The five years from 2014 to 2018 were the warmest recorded over land and ocean since 1880.

 

151.Toxic Air: The Price of Fossil Fuels- Report by Greenpeace

Why in news?

• A new Greenpeace reporthas estimated the global cost of air pollution from fossil fuels at around $2.9 trillion per year, or $8 billion per day — 3.3% of the world’s GDP.

More about the report

• The report was produced by non-government organizations (NGOs) the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and Greenpeace Southeast Asia.
• Under the report,they have quantified the global cost of air pollution from fossil fuels.
• It has estimated at US$8 billion per day, or 3% of the world’s GDP.
• The research used published global datasets on the surface level concentrations of PM 2.5, ozone and NO2 to perform a health impact assessment and subsequent cost calculation for the year 2018.
• India is estimated to bear a cost of $150 billion, or 5.4% of the country’s GDP, which is the third-highest absolute cost from fossil fuel air pollution worldwide.
• Globally, air pollution is estimated to cause 5 million premature deaths each year.
• This includes 3 million deaths attributable globally to 5, which is one of the principal pollutants in northern Indian cities including Delhi.
• The 2 million preterm births include 981,000 in India and over 350,000 in China.
• Additionally, the report links approximately 350,000 new cases of child asthma in India to nitrogen dioxide, which is a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion.

• In India, exposure to fossil fuels also leads to a loss of around 490 million workdays.

Note:Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over 55 countries and an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

 

152.World Air Quality Report 2019

Why in news?

• Two-thirds of most polluted cities are in India: global report.

About the report:

• Released by the pollution tracker IQ Air and Greenpeace.
• The ranking is based on a comparison of 5 levels.

India and the report:

• India was the fifth most polluted country in 2019.
• Ghaziabad in the National Capital Region ranked as the most polluted city in the world, according to a global compilation of PM2.5 partic­ulate pollution data.
• Indian cities, on average, exceed the WHO target for annual PM2.5 exposure by 500%.
• Air pollu­tion in India decreased in 2019 from 2018 though about half of the 50 most polluted cities were in India,the report by IQ Air noted.

Steps taken:

• India launched a ‘Nation­al Clean Air Programme’(NCAP) in 2019 that com­mits to reduce air pollution in 102 most polluted cities by a maximum of 30% by2024.

Note:

• Among countries, when population is taken into account, average PM2.5 pollution is highest in Bangladesh.

PM 2.5:

• It is an atmospheric particulate matter of diameter of fewer than 2.5 micrometres.
• It causes respiratory problems and also reduces visibility.
• It is an endocrine disruptor that can affect insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity, thus contributing to diabetes.
• It is very small and can only be detected with the help of an electron microscope.

 

 

153.Biofuel from Cyanobacteria

Why in news?

• The biofuel sector could get a boost, with researchers at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) developing a method to improve the growth rate and sugar content of a marine microorganism called Synechococcus PCC 7002. 

What is the significance of the study?

• Most biotechnological processes, including biofuel production, are dependent on the availability of low-cost and sustainable supply of sugars and a nitrogen source.
• The sugars typically come from plants. Plants utilize light energy through the process of photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into biological components such as sugars, proteins and lipids.
• However, some bacteria, such as the cyanobacteria (also known as blue-green algae), too can perform photosynthesis and produce sugar by fixing the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
• The yield of sugars from cyanobacteria could potentially be much higher than that of land-based crops.
• Further, unlike plant-based sugars, cyanobacterial biomass provides a nitrogen source in the form of proteins.
• Cyanobacteria are found in both fresh and marine waters.
• However, there is a need to significantly improve their growth rates and sugar content in order to improve the economic feasibility of marine cyanobacteria-based sugar production.

What is the result?

• A team from International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnologyhas achieved this. They have successfully engineered a marine cyanobacterium called Synechococcus PCC 7002 which showed a higher growth rate and sugar (glycogen) content.
• When grown on air, the growth was doubled and the glycogen content of the cells increased by about 50%.
• Department of Biotechnology sponsored the research. The scientists have published a report on their work in journal `Biotechnology for Biofuels’. (Vigyan Samachar)

 

154.Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

Why in news?

• India and Norway welcomed the cooperation on the implementation of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and on the minimisation of discharge of marine litter.

Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

• It’s a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods ie Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP).
• It is widely distributed and accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and wildlife, and have harmful impacts on human health and the environment.
• It calls for international action on three categories of POPs:

• Pesticides,
• Industrial chemicals, and
• Unintentionally produced POPs.

• It requires parties to prevent the development of new POPs and promote best available techniques and best environmental practices for replacing existing POPs.
• In 2001, it originally covered the 12 POPs of greatest concern,called the “dirty dozen:”aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, dioxins, endrin, furans, heptachlor, hexa chloro benzene, mirex, PCBs, and toxaphene.
• Another 16 additional chemicals were added to the treaty in 2017.

Where are Persistent Organic Pollutants found?

• POPs are found everywhere in the world in measurable amounts.
• Food– fish, shellfish, or wild foods in which POPs have bio-accumulated
• Air– indoors and outdoors, cigarette and second hand smoke, and vehicle exhaust
• Consumer products– pesticides, insecticides, cigarettes, and some paints

 

 

155.International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL)

Why in news?

• The International Maritime Organization (IMO), the shipping agency of the United Nations, has banned ships from using fuels with sulphur content above 0.5 per cent, compared with 3.5 per cent

• The IMO has banned ships from using fuels with sulphur content above 5 per cent, compared with 3.5 per cent previously.
• Sulphur oxides (SOx), which are formed after combustion in engines, are known to cause respiratory symptoms and lung disease, while also leading to acid rain.
• The new limits are monitored and enforced by national authorities of countries that are members of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) Annex VI.
• Under the new policy, only ships fitted with sulphur-cleaning devices, known as scrubbers, are allowed to continue burning high-sulphur fuel.

The Cleaner Fuel Options

• There are two types of cleaner alternative fuels ,which are:

• Marine gasoil (MGO)
• Very Low-Sulphur Fuel Oil (VLSFO)

• Of these two cleaner fuels, ship-owners were expected to opt for Marine gasoil (MGO) which is made exclusively from distillates, and has low sulphur content.
• Many are reportedly choosing Very Low-Sulphur Fuel Oil (VLSFO) which has better calorific properties and other technical advantages.
• There are complaints against VLSFO as well, as testing companies have claimed that high sediment formation due to the fuel’s use could damage vessel engines.
• A paper finds that VLSFO, with 0.5 per cent sulphur content, can contain a large percentage of aromatic compounds, thus having a direct impact on black carbon
• Black carbon, which is produced due to the incomplete combustion of carbon-based fuels, contributes to climate change.
• An increase in black carbon emissions would accelerate the melting of Arctic sea ice and impact the earth’s climate. It has called for a shift to distillate fuels, like MGO.

The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL)

• It is the main international convention covering prevention of pollution of the marine environment by ships from operational or accidental causes.
• It is also called as MARPOL 73/78; MARPOL is short for maritime pollution and 73/78 short for the years 1973 and 1978.
• The original MARPOL was signed on 17 February 1973, but did not come into force at the signing date.
• The current convention is a combination of 1973 Convention and the 1978 Protocol, which entered into force on 2 October 1983.
• The Convention includes regulations aimed at preventing and minimizing pollution from ships – both accidental pollution and that from routine operations – and currently includes six technical Annexes.
• Special Areas with strict controls on operational discharges are included in most Annexes.

 

 

156.Leopards

Why in news?

• Leopard population may have declined by 75-90%: Study

About the news- Leopard population in India:

• Leopard population has declined 75-90 per cent in India as per the study conducted by Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS India) and the Wildlife Institute of India.
• The findings are significant because leopards are otherwise among the most adaptable carnivores, and are known to exist very close to human habitations.

Note – Coalescent simulations with micro-satellite loci revealed human-induced 75–90% decline in leopard population between the last 120- 200 years across India.

Leopard:

• It is a nocturnal animal.
• Nine subspecies of the leopard have been recognized, and they are distributed across Africa and Asia. 
• The leopard is the smallest of the big cats, and known for its ability to adapt in a variety of habitats.

Melanism:

• Melanism is a common occurrence in leopards, wherein the entire skin of the animal is black in colour, including its spots.
• A melanistic leopard is often called black panther or jaguar

Conservation Status:

• Listed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and included in Appendix I of CITES.
• The species status is now listed under vulnerable category from near-threatened by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Habitat and Distribution:

• In India, the leopard is found in all forest types, from tropical rainforests to temperate deciduous and alpine coniferous forests.
• It is also found in dry scrubs and grasslands, the only exception being desert and the mangroves of Sundarbans.
• Its range stretches from the Indus River in the west, the Himalayas in the north, and all the way to the lower course of the Brahmaputra in the east.
• It shares its territory with the tiger in 17 states.

Conservation Issues:

• The biggest threats facing the common leopard in India are increasing conflict with humans, poaching for illegal trade in body parts and loss of habitat.

 

 

157.Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR)

Why in news?

• The 48-day rejuvenation camp for captive elephants was inaugurated at the Theppakadu elephant camp in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR).

More about Mudumalai Tiger Reserve

• The Mudumalai National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary also a declared tiger reserve, lies on the northwestern side of the Nilgiri Hills in Nilgiri District, in Tamil Nadu, India.
• It shares its boundaries with the states of Karnataka and Kerala.
• It is a part of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve along with Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (Kerala) in the West, Bandipur National Park (Karnataka) in the North, Mukurthi National Park and Silent Valley in the South.
• The sanctuary is divided into five ranges – Masinagudi, Thepakadu, Mudumalai, Kargudi and Nellakota.
• The protected area is home to several endangered and vulnerable species including Indian elephant, Bengal tiger, Malabar Giant Squirrel, gaur and Indian leopard.
• There are at least 266 species of birds in the sanctuary, including critically endangered Indian white-rumped vulture and long-billed vulture.
• Other Tiger Reserves in Tamil Nadu
• Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR)
• Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR)
• Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR)

 

 

158.Bio-Medical Waste

Why in news?

• As informed by Central Pollution Control Board and as per Bio-medical Waste Management Rules, 2016, Bio-medical waste is required to be segregated in 4 color coded waste categories, and the same is treated and disposed as per the specified methods of disposal prescribed under Schedule I of the Rules.

• Bio-medical waste generated from the hospitals shall be treated and disposed by Common Bio-medical Waste Treatment and Disposal Facility.
• In case there is no common facility in the reach of a healthcare facility, then such healthcare facility should install captive treatment and disposal facility.
• There are 200 authorized Common Bio-medical Waste Treatment and Disposal Facilities (CBWTFs) in 28 States for environmentally safe disposal of biomedical waste.
• Remaining 7 States namely Goa, Andaman Nicobar, Arunachal Pradesh, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim do not have CBWTFs.
• Every healthcare facility, both bedded and non-bedded is required to take authorization from concerned State Pollution Control Board for management of Biomedical waste.
• As per annual report for the year 2018, there are 2,60,889 number of healthcare facilities generating about 608 MT per day of Bio-medical Waste, out of which 528 MT of Bio-medical Waste is treated and disposed through either CBWTF or Captive disposal facility.

Different category of bio-medical waste

Category	Type of waste	Method of disposal
Yellow	Human tissues, organs, body parts and fetus below the viability period (as per the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971, amended from time to time), Discarded medicines, Animal anatomical wastes also included	Incineration or Plasma Pyrolysis or deep burial.
Red	Contaminated Waste Wastes generated from disposable items such as tubing, bottles urine bags, syringes (without needles and fixed needle syringes ), gloves etc	Autoclaving or micro – waving/ hydroclaving followed by shredding.
White	Waste sharps including Metals: Needles, syringes with fixed needles, needles from needle tip cutter or burner, scalpels, blades etc.	Autoclaving or Dry Heat Sterilization followed by shredding or mutilation or encapsulation in metal container or cement concrete
Blue	Glassware: Broken or discarded and contaminated glass including medicine vials and ampoules, Metallic body implants	Disinfection (by soaking the washed glass waste after cleaning with detergent and Sodium Hypochlorite treatment).

 

159.Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals

Why in news?

• The Thirteenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP13) will be held in 

From the news:

• CMS COP13 will be held in
• The Conference is to be hosted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on behalf of India.
• Theme: Migratory species Connect the Planet and we welcome them

Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) / Bonn Convention:

• It is an environmental treaty under the aegis of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
• CMS (also referred to as the Bonn Convention) provides a global platform for the conservation and sustainable use of migratory animals and their habitats.
• CMS brings together the States through which migratory animals pass, the Range States, and lays the legal foundation for internationally coordinated conservation measures throughout a migratory range.
• It is the only global convention specializing in the conservation of migratory species, their habitats and migration routes.
• CMS acts as a framework Convention as it encourages the Range States to conclude global or regional agreements.

Appendixes:

• Appendix I – Migratory species threatened with extinction.
• Appendix II – Migratory speciesthat need or would significantly benefit from international co-operation.

Organisational structure of the convention:

• The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the decision-making body of the Convention.
• It meets at three-yearly intervals.
• The Secretariat is provided by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and is based in Bonn, Germany.

Note -India has been a Party to the CMS since 1983.

• India is home to several migratory species. It includes amur falcons, snow leopard, black necked cranes,dugongs, marine turtles, humpbacked whales.

 

160.Greater One-horned rhino (Indian rhino)

Why in news?

• One-horned rhino wanders out of Kaziranga National Park, creates panic.

One-horned rhino:

• One-horned rhinoceros is the largest of the Asian Rhinos.
• Assam is home to the largest population of one-horned rhinos.

Conservation status:

• IUCN status: Vulnerable
• It is included in the Schedule – Iof Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Habitat and Distribution:

• The preferred habitat of an Indian rhinoceros is alluvial flood plains and areas containing tall grasslands along the foothills of the Himalayas.
• Formerly, extensively distributed in the Gangetic plains, today the species is restricted to small habitats in Indo-Nepal terai and northern West Bengal and Assam. 

Note – In India, rhinos are mainly found in Kaziranga NP, Pobitara WLS, Orang NP, Manas NP in Assam, Jaldapara NP and Garumara NP in West Bengal and Dudhwa TR in Uttar Pradesh.

Indian Rhino Vision 2020:

• Launched in 2005, Indian Rhino Vision 2020 is an ambitious effort to attain a wild population of at least 3,000 greater one-horned rhinos spreadover seven protected areas in the Indian state of Assam by the year 2020.
• Seven protected areas are Kaziranga, Pobitora, Orang National Park, Manas National Park, Laokhowa wildlife sanctuary, Burachapori wildlife sanctuary and Dibru Saikhowa wildlife sanctuary.
• IRF has partnered with the Assam Forest Department in partnership with WWF-India, the International Rhino Foundation and US Fish & Wildlife Service.

 

161.Marine Turtle Policy

Why in news?

• Government to launch Marine Turtle Policy and Marine Standing Policy to address pollution caused by micro-plastics in the marine ecosystem.

Turtles in India

• There are five species of sea turtles in Indian waters:
• Leatherback turtles
• Loggerhead turtles
• Hawksbill turtles
• Green turtles
• Olive Ridley turtles

What is the significance?

• Sea turtles, especially the leatherback, keep jellyfishunder control; this in turn helps maintain healthy fish stocks in the oceans.
• The Green turtle feeds on sea grass beds; improve seagrass ecosystemhealth by removing seagrass biomass and preventing sediment formation.
• By cropping the grass, they provide a nursery for numerous species of fish, shellfish and crustaceans.
• The Hawksbill feeds on sponges in the coral reef ecosystem and opens up crevices for other marine life to live in.
• Turtles are also transporters of nutrientsand energy to coastal areas.

Why Marine Turtle Policy?

• In India, sea turtles are protected under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, under the Schedule I Part II. Despite this legal protection they face grave threats.
• Thousands of sea turtles are accidentally captured, injured or killed.
• The mechanised boats, trawl nets and gill nets operated and used by commercial fishermen are the major causes.

 

162.Link between pollution, height and well-being

Why in news?

• Exposure to polluted water during childhood significantly damages health and economic well being, according to a World Bank study on the effects of childhood exposure to nitrogen- polluted water in India, Vietnam and African nations.

More about

• The use of nitrogen-based fertilizers in agriculture and rapid urbanization has meant that the state of ground and surface water has significantly deteriorated.
• For India, the researchers combine district-level data from the National Family Health Survey (2015-16) with water quality data from monitoring stations across 375 rivers in India (between 1963-2017).

What are the findings?

• They find that women exposed to nitrate pollution exceeding safe limits (10mg/l) during their early childhood were shorter (by 2.2 cm) than women not exposed to it.

• For the more polluted downstream districts, the height difference increasing upto 3 cm.
• This stunted development can have economic costs. Using World Bank assumptions on the economic returns of height, the study estimates a 1.7% loss in earning potential for shorter people because of pollution exposure.
• The link between pollution, height and well-being is also found to hold true for Vietnam and Africa, where stunting in infant years is a direct outcome of exposure to pollution.
• In India, the study finds the damaging health effects persist even when pollution levels are below the government’s prescribed safety limits for Indian rivers.
• Consequently, the authors urge policymakers to rethink the safety standards of drinking water in India.

More Information( Side Angle)

Blue baby syndrome

• The most common cause of blue baby syndrome is water contaminated with nitrates.
• If a baby drinks nitrate-rich water, the body converts the nitrates into nitrites.
• These nitrites bind to the hemoglobin in the body, forming methemoglobin, which is unable to carry oxygen.
• Infants younger than 3 months are at highest risk for blue baby syndrome, but it can also occur in other populations.
• The most common symptom of blue baby syndrome is a blue discoloration of the skin around the mouth, hands, and feet.
• This is also known as cyanosis and is a sign that the child or person is not getting enough oxygen.

 

163.Thai Mangur fish

Why in news?

• Maharashtra Government ordered to destroy the Thai Mangur fish breeding centres.

About Thai Mangur

• The fish whose breeding is to be stopped in Maharashtra is commonly called Thai Mangur or foreign Mangur or African Mangur.
• As they are being cultivated in unhygienic conditions and has enough potential to make people sick.
• The Mangur Fish was banned in India as the fish poses threats to other fishes in an ecosystem.
• The National Green Tribunal in 2000 banned the cultivation of the Thai Mangur, because it preys on indigenous varieties of fish and is said to be carcinogenic.
• A study in Mumbai says that the Mangur fish is responsible for 70% decline in native fish species of the country.
• In spite of several drawbacks, cultivation of Mangur and their sales is popular for its surviving capabilities:
• The fish grows 3 feet to 5 feet
• They can survive even in mud waters between rains.
• Other factors such as omnivorous diet, burrowing capabilities, ability to survive on land
• Ability to hide in vegetation makes the species easy and economical for farming.

 

164.National Biodiversity Authority (NBA)

Why in news?

• The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) is set to tell the National Green Tribunal that it created 243,499 biodiversity management committees (BMC) and 95,525 people’s biodiversity registers (PBR).

National Biodiversity Authority (NBA):

• The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) was established in 2003 by the Central Government to implement India’s Biological Diversity Act (2002).
• The NBA is a statutory body and that performs facilitative, regulatory and advisory function for Government of India on issue of Conservation, sustainable use of biological resource and fair equitable sharing of benefits of use.
• The Biological diversity Act (2002) mandates implementation of the provisions of the Act through decentralized system with the NBA focusing on advice the Central Government on matters relating to:
• the conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of its components and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of biological resources and
• advice the State Government in the selection of areas of biodiversity importance to be notified as heritage sites and measures for the management of such heritage sites.

• The NBA headquarters – Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Biological Diversity Act:

• It is an act passed by the Parliament to regulate access to biological resources of the country equitable share in benefits arising out of the use of biological resources.
• It aims at to respect and protect knowledge of local communities traditional knowledge related to biodiversity.
• It is in line with India’s international commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity (Nagoya protocol).
• It set up National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), State Biodiversity Board (SBB) and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC’s) to conserve and sustainable use of biological diversity.

 

 

165.Red Pandas

Why in news?

• Genetic study reveals the endangered red panda is actually two separate species.

Red pandas:

• The red panda is a small arboreal mammal found in the forests of India, Nepal, Bhutan and the northern mountains of Myanmar and southern China.
• The Red Pandas are called “Living Fossils” as they are the only living member of the Ailuridae mammalian family.
• In India, it is found in Sikkim, western Arunachal Pradesh, Darjeeling district of West Bengal and parts of Meghalaya.
• It is also the state animal of Sikkim. 

Conservation status:

• IUCN- Endangered
• Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972

Himalayan red panda and Chinese red panda:

• Chinese red pandas are found in northern Myanmar as well as south-eastern Tibet, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in China.
• Himalayan red pandas are native to Nepal, India, Bhutan and southern Tibet in China.
• The Himalayan red panda has more white on the face, while the face coat colour of the Chinese red panda is redder with less white on it.

Note-The Yalu Zangbu River most likely marks the geographical boundary separating the two species.

Threats:

• Habitat fragmentation and degradation.
• Predation by feral dogs.
• Occasional hunting and poaching.

Note– Giant pandas are one of the world’s eight bear species.

• Status IUCN- Vulnerable

166.List of migratory species

Why in news?

• India is host to 457 migratory fauna, shows latest CMS list.

More about

• The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) had for the first time compiled the list of migratory species of India under the CMS before the Conference of Parties (COP 13) held in Gujarat recently.
• It had put the number at 451. Six species were added later the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species.
• They are the Asian elephant, great Indian bustard, Bengal florican, oceanic whitetip shark, urial and smooth hammerhead shark.
• Birds comprise 83% (380 species) of this 457 species.
• There are 24 species of migratory fish in India.
• It consists of 46 migratory mammal species in India.
• The largest group of mammals is definitely bats belonging to the family Vespertilionidae.
• Dolphins are the second highest group of mammals with nine migratory species of dolphins listed.
• Seven reptiles, which include five species of turtles and the Indian gharial and salt water crocodile, are among the CMS species found in India.

India’s role

• Globally, more than 650 species are listed under the CMS appendices and India, with over 450 species, plays a very important role in their conservation.

167.Eurasian Otter

Why in news?

• Eurasian otter found in Chilika Lake.

Eurasian Otter:

• It is a semiaquatic mammal native to Eurasia.
• Three species of otters are reported in India; Common Otter, Smooth Coated Otter and Clawless Otter.

Conservation status:

• IUCN –Near Threatened
• Eurasian Otter (Common Otter): CITES Appendix I; Wildlife Protection Act 1972 –Schedule II

Other otter’s status:

• Smooth Coated Otter: CITES Appendix II;  Wildlife Protection Act, 1972- Schedule II
• IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
• Clawless Otter: CITES Appendix II;  Wildlife Protection Act, 1972-Schedule I

Habitat:

• The Smooth-coated Otter is distributed throughout the country from the Himalayas southward.
• But the Common Otter and the Small-clawed Otter are restricted to the Himalayas, to the north of the Ganges and to southern India.
• The occurrence of all three species has been reported from northeast India and the Western Ghats. 

168.Sukhna Lake

Why in news?

• Punjab CM promises to protect Sukhna Lake.

Sukhna Lake:

• Location – Chandigarh
• It is a reservoir at the foothills (Shivalik hills) of the Himalayas.
• The lake is home to several species of migratory birds like the Siberian duck, storks and cranes.
• Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary is situated in the North-East of Sukhna Lake.
• Sukhna Lake was constructed in 1958.
• The lake has been declared as a protected national wetland by the Government of India.
• A major threat to Sukhna is the discharge of pollutants from neighbouring areas.

169.Black carbon

Why in news?

• Black carbon levels spike at Himalayan glaciers.

More about the news

• Black carbon concentrations near the Gangotri glacier rose 400 times in summer due to forest fires and stubble burning from agricultural waste, and triggered glacial melt, says a study.

Black carbon

• Black carbon results from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass.
• The fine particles absorb light and about a million times more energy than carbon dioxide.
• It is said to be the second largest contributor to climate change after CO2.
• But unlike CO2, which can stay in the atmosphere for years together, black carbon is short-lived and remains in the atmosphere only for days to weeks before it descends as rain or snow.
• The concentration varied from a minimum of 01μg/cubic metre in winter to 4.62μg/cubic metre during summer.
• India is the second largest emitter of black carbon in the world, with emissions expected to increase dramatically in the coming decades, with the Indo Gangetic plains said to be the largest contributor.
• Black carbon absorbs solar energy and warms the atmosphere.
• When it falls to earth with precipitation, it darkens the surface of snow and ice, reducing their albedo (the reflecting power of a surface), warming the snow, and hastening melting.

 

170.Red-crowned roofed turtle

Why in news?

• Family adopted a turtle in another continent.

Red-crowned roofed turtle:

• It is a freshwater turtle species, and found in deep flowing rivers with terrestrial nesting sites.
• The Red-crowned roofed turtle is native to India, Bangladesh and Nepal.
• Historically, the species was widespread in the Ganga River, both in India and Bangladesh.
• It also occurs in the Brahmaputra basin.
• Currently in India, the National Chambal River Gharial Sanctuary is the only area with substantial population of the species.

Conservation Status:

• IUCN: Critically Endangered
• Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I
• CITES: Appendix II

Major Threats:

• Loss or degradation of habitat due to pollution and large scale development activities.
• Sand mining and growing of seasonal crops.
• Drowning by illegal fishing nets.
• Poaching and illegal trade.

 

171.United for Biodiversity’ Coalition

Why in news?

• The European Commission (EC) launched the ‘United for Biodiversity’ coalition on World Wildlife Day.

More about

• It was launched by European commission on World Wildlife Day (3 March).
• The coalition includes zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, national parks, and natural history and science museums from around the world.
• The coalition urged for all institutions to join and boost public awareness about the nature crisis, ahead of the crucial COP-15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming, China in October 2020.
• The coalition adopted a common pledge, citing the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Global Assessment finding that one million species were already at risk of extinction, and appeals to visitors to each of their institutions to raise their voice for nature.

Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

• It is an independent intergovernmental body established by States to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services.
• It was established in Panama City in 2012 by 94 Governments.
• All States Members of the United Nations are eligible for IPBES membership.
• It is not a United Nations body.
• But the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) provides secretariat services to IPBES.
• IPBES focuses on assessments, building capacity and knowledge, policy support on Biodiversity.

172.Global Animal Protection Index 2020

Why in news?

• India ranks better in Animal Protection Index 2020, but still needs improvements.

About the Index 2020:

• Released by World Animal Protection, an international animal welfare charity.
• India was ranked second in the index.
• The Animal Protection Index (API) aims to showcase where countries are doing well, and where they fall short on animal welfare policy and legislation.
• The Animal Protection Index ranks countries from A to G.
• India has attained a C ranking in the index. 
• India was ranked along with Spain, Mexico, France and New Zealand. 

Note– Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Austria are rated with the highest scores.

 

173.National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG)

Why in news?

• The National Mission for Clean Ganga organized “Ganga Amantran Abhiyan” (GAA).

National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG):

• NMCG is the implementation wing of National Council for Rejuvenation, Protection and Management of River Ganga (referred as National Ganga Council).
• It was established in the year 2011 as a registered society under Societies Registration Act, 1860.
• It has a two tier management structure and comprises of Governing Council and Executive Committee.
• Both of the tiers are headed by the Director General (DG), NMCG.

The aims and objectives of NMCG:

• To ensure effective abatement of pollution and rejuvenation of the river Ganga by adopting a river basin approach to promote inter-sectoral co-ordination for comprehensive planning and management.
• To maintain minimum ecological flows in the river Ganga with the aim of ensuring water quality and environmentally sustainable development.

 Note:

• In 2016, National Ganga Council has replaced National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) which was constituted under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act (EPA),
• The Act envisages five tier structure at national, state and district level to take measures for prevention, control and abatement of environmental pollution in river Ganga and to ensure continuous adequate flow of water so as to rejuvenate the river Ganga:
• National Ganga Council under chairmanship of Prime Minister of India

• Empowered Task Force(ETF) on river Ganga under chairmanship of  Union Minister of Jal Shakti
• National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG)
• State Ganga Committees
• District Ganga Committees

 

174.National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)

Why in news?

• Union Environment Ministry has asked for city-level plans for the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) as these problems need to be dealt with at the local level.

National Clean Air Programme (NCAP):

• The National Clean Air Programme is a pollution control initiative launched by the union Ministry of Environment Forest And Climate Change (MoEF&CC).
• The overall objective of the programme includes comprehensive mitigation actions for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution.
• It also augments theair quality monitoring network across the country and strengthening the awareness and capacity building activities.

Target:

• The main aim of the programme would be 20-30% reduction of PM2.5 and PM10 concentration by 2024.
• The programme would take 2017 as the base year for the comparison of concentration.
• The NCAP will be a mid-term, five-year action plan with 2019 as the first year.
• City specific action plans are being formulated for 102 non-attainment cities identified for implementing mitigation actions under NCAP. 

 

175.Sundarbans National Park

Why in news?

• Tiger kills crab-catcher in Bengal’s Sundarbans National Park.

Sundarbans National Park:

• It is a tiger and biosphere reserve located in the Sunderbans delta in the state of West Bengal (India). 
• The park was established as a national park in 1984.
• It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
• The Sunderban Wetland was listed as the 27th Ramsar site in India since 2019.
• It stretches from River Hooghly in West Bengal, India, all the way to River Baleswar in Bangladesh.

Ramsar Convention:

• Ramsar Convention, is an international agreement promoting the conservation and wise use of wetlands.
• It is the only global treaty to focus on a single ecosystem.
• The convention was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in

176.Himalayan Ibex

Why in News?

• A recent study by scientists of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has proved that Himalayan Ibex is a distinct species from the Siberian Ibex.

About Himalayan IBEX:

• Himalayan Ibex is distributed in the trans-Himalayan ranges of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh up to the river Sutlej. Siberian Ibexdistribution extends towards Altai, Hangai, Gobi-Altai, the Hurukh mountain ranges as well as Sayan Mountains near Russia and scattered populations in the small mountains of Trans-Altai Gobi.
• Himalayan Ibex are adapted to rocky terrain and open alpine meadows and crags, seeking out lower elevations during the winter.
• Their diet consists of alpine grasses and herbs, and it feeds in early morning and evenings.
• In India, they are found in Jammu and Kashmir – Kishtwar and Hemis National Parks.
• IUCN has designated it as the Least Concernin its Red list.
• Threats: Poaching also occurs in some areas by military personnel, road maintenance workers, and others, especially in areas accessible by vehicle.

 

177.Earth Hour 2020

Why in News?

• Recently, Earth Hour 2020 was held on March 28, from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm.

About Earth Hour:

• It is a global grassroots movement uniting people to take action on environmental issues and protect the planet.
• It is organized by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
• It was started as a lights out event in Sydney, Australia in 2007.
• It is an annual light out event is held worldwide toward the end of March to encourage individuals, households, communities and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights for one hour as a symbol for their commitment to the planet.
• During the second-to-last and last weekend of March is around the time of the Spring and Autumn equinoxes in the northern and southern hemispheres occurs, which allows for near coincidental sunset times in both hemispheres, thereby ensuring the greatest visual impact for a global ‘lights out’ event.
• Its logo was 60 (60 symbolizes 60 minutes) earlier. But since 2011 it is 60+. Here + represents the commitment to go beyond the earth hour (i.e. switching off non – essential lights in day to day life).

About World Wildlife Fund:

• It is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961, working in the field of wilderness preservation, and the reduction of humanity’s footprint on the environment.
• It was formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States.
• Its Headquarter is located at in Gland, Switzerland.
• Its  mission is “to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature”.

 

178.Legacy Waste

Context:

• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has recently directed a committee to assess the amount of damage caused to the environment due to the dump sites (legacy waste) in Delhi.
• The committee consist of members from the Central Pollution Control Board, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and IIT Delhi.

About Legacy Wastes:

• These are the wastes that have been collected and kept for years at some barren land or a place dedicated for Landfill (an area to dump solid waste).
• This waste can be roughly grouped into Four Categories that is Contained and/or stored waste (contained or stored waste are wastes in tanks, canisters, and stainless steel bins), Buried waste, Contaminated soil and groundwater and Contaminated building materials and structures.

About Environmental Impact of Legacy Waste:

• These wastes not only occupy large space, but also become a breeding ground for pathogens, flies, malodours and generation of leachate, which may lead to water contamination.
• They also contribute to generation of greenhouse gases and pose risk of uncontrollable fire.

About Biomining:

• This method has been proposed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for the effective disposal of legacy wastes
• It is the process of using microorganisms (microbes) to extract metals of economic interest from rock ores or mine waste.
• Its techniques may also be used to clean up sites that have been polluted with metals.
• It is usually used for old dumped waste that remains in a partly or fully decomposed state with no segregation in existence between wet and dry waste.
• In the cost effective method of Biomining, treatment is done by dividing the garbage heap at the site into suitable blocks to let the air percolate in the heap.
• As a result, the leachate which is the water in the heap with suspended solid particles is drained off and microbes are sprayed in the heap to initiate biological decompositions.
• The waste is turned over several times in order to devoid the waste to leachate as much as possible.This biological decomposition of the waste decreases the volume of the waste by 40%.

 

179.arissa carandas (the Great Hedge of India)

Why in News?

• Carissa carandas, a multi-utility wild berry, whose thorny plant the British had used to build a barrier through India in the 1870s, has a hitherto unknown wilder cousin in Assam, a new study has revealed.

 Carissa Carandas:

• The Carissa carandas was also among several thorny plants the British had grown 140 years ago for a 1,100-mile barrier apparently to enforce taxes and stop the smuggling of salt.
• It has been used as a traditional herbal medicine for a number of ailments such as diarrhoea, anaemia, constipation, indigestion, skin infections and urinary disorders.
• The leaves have been used as fodder for silkworms while a paste of its pounded roots serves as a fly repellent.
• It is better known as karonda in Hindi, kalakkai in Tamil, koromcha in Bengali and karja tenga in Assamese, the Carissa kopilii is threatened by the very river it is named after — Kopili in central Assam.
• The “sun-loving” plant was distributed sparsely, rooted in rocky crevices along the Kopili riverbed at altitudes ranging from 85-600 metres above sea level.

 

180.GreenCo Rating System

Why in News?

• The Union Ministry of Railways has informed about the applications of Greenco Ratings on Workshops and Production Units of Indian Railways.

GreenCo Ratings:

• GreenCo Rating is the “first of its kind in the World” holistic framework that evaluates companies on the environmental friendliness of their activities using life cycle approach.
• Implementation of GreenCo rating provides leadership and guidance to companies on how to make products, services and operations greener.
• It is developed by Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre.
• It has been acknowledged in India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) document, submitted to UNFCCC in 2015.
• GreenCo rating is applicable to both manufacturing facilities and service sector units.
• The rating is implemented at unit or facility level. The unit or facility has to be in operation for a minimum period of 3 years. In case of new plants/ facilities minimum 2 years operation is required.

Significance:

• It helps the industrial units in identifying and implementing various possible measures in terms of energy conservation, material conservation, recycling, utilization of renewable energy, GHG reduction, water conservation, solid and liquid waste management, green cover etc.

181.Petersberg Climate Dialogue

Why in News?

• India, along with 30 countries, deliberates on issues of Climate Change in the first ever virtual Petersberg Climate Dialogue.

Petersberg Climate Dialogue:

• The first virtual Climate Dialogue, was the eleventh session of the Petersberg Climate Dialogue.
• This has been hosted by Germany since 2010 to provide a forum for informal high-level political discussions, focusing both on international climate negotiations and the advancement of climate action.
• The virtual XI Petersberg Climate Dialogue was co-chaired by Germany and the United Kingdom, the incoming Presidency of the 26th Conference of Parties (COP 26) to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• The dialogue saw participation from ministers and representatives of about 30 countries.
• The Climate Dialogue was originally an initiative of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
• It is hosted by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety.

182.Devanahalli Pomelo Trees

Context

• Recently, The Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) will plant 500 Devanahalli Pomelo trees as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The plantation drive is also part of the 50^thanniversary of World Earth Day.

About Devanahalli Pomelo Trees:

• It is a citrus variety, is almost on the brink of extinction.
• It has a unique, Sweet Taste, unlike other local varieties which have a bitter taste.
• It is a parent of the grapefruit and is also known by its scientific name Citrus Maxima. The fruit is rich in Vitamin C.
• It has a Geographical Indication (GI) tag. It is grown in Devanahalli taluk, Banglore (Karnataka) and is popularly known as chakota.
• It grows 24 inches per season, it can live from 50-150 years and reach a height of 25 feet.
• It annually yields an average of 300 to 400 fruit. Each fruit, typically, weighs 2 to 2.5 kg and is identified by distinctive pink or red juicy carpels.

 

184.NBWL Nod for Coal Mining in Assam Elephant Reserve

Why in News?

• Amid the countrywide lockdown, the National Board for Wild Life (NBWL) has recommended coal mining in a part of an elephant reserve in Assam.

Highlights:

• The NBWL’s Standing Committee discussed a proposal for use of land from the Saleki proposed reserve forest land for a coal mining project by North-Easter Coal Field (NECF), a unit of Coal India Limited.
• Saleki is a part of the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve.

185.Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary

• It is located in the Dibrugarh and Tinsukia Districts of Assam.
• It belongs to Assam’s wet tropical evergreen forest category.
• It includes the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary (declared in 2004) and several reserve forests in Sivasagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts
• It has Three Parts: Dirok Rainforest, Upper Dihing River, and Jeypore.
• It is a Deciduous Rainforest Interspersed with Semi-evergreen and lush green flora, the only patch of virgin rainforest in Assam.
• Part of Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary falls under another elephant reserve named

Dibru-Deomali.

• Some of the mammals found here are pig-tailed macaque, hoolock gibbon, capped langur, Asiatic elephant, black panther, tiger, black bear, leopard, clouded leopard, squirrel, and gaur to name only a few.

 

186.World Earth Day

Why in News:

• Recently, the Earth Day is celebrated on 22^ndApril to raise Public Awareness about the Environment and Inspire people to save and Protect it.

About:

• This year 2020 marks 50 years since the start of this modern environmental movement in 1970.
• The Theme of Earth Day 2020 is “Climate Action”.
• It was first celebrated in 1970, and is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network and celebrated in more than 193 countries each year.
• It also recognizes a collective responsibility, as called for in the 1992 Rio Declaration (Earth Summit), to promote harmony with nature and the Earth to achieve a just balance among the economic, social and environmental needs of present and future generations of humanity.
• The Paris Agreement was also opened for signature on 22 April 2016 – Earth Day – at UN Headquarters in New York.
• It encourages people to take more steps for the protection of nature and to thank mother earth for the rich environment.
• This year it is celebrated Digitally. As people have to stay inside their homes amid Covid-19 lockdown, World Earth Day 2020 is all set to be celebrated digitally. People who plan on participating can join ’24 hours of action’.
• One can also take 22 challenges that include measuring your carbon footprint, doing a plastic audit, skype a scientist, work for the earth, zero waste for one day and consume 1 meal per day this week on a plant-based diet.
• Earth Day Network is a non-profit organization whose mission is to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide. Its head office is located in Washington DC, USA.

 

187.Anthurium

Why in News?

• A women innovator from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, has developed ten varieties of Anthurium, a flower with high market value, by cross-pollination.

Anthurium:

• An anthurium is a vast group of beautiful blooming plants available in a wide range of colours.
• Anthurium is one of the best domestic flowering plants in the world.
• They are decorative as well as purify the surrounding air and remove harmful airborne chemicals like formaldehyde, ammonia, toluene, xylene, and allergens.
• Its importance of removing toxic substances from the air, NASA has placed it in the list of air purifier plants.
• Anthurium has larger economic importance because of its eye-catching and beautiful inflorescence and fetches a good market price.

Salient features of the Anthurium varieties are

• Large Beautiful Flowers
• Different Colours of Spathe and Spadix
• Long Stalks
• Better Shelf Life
• Good Market Value

 

188.Greenland and Antarctica is Melting Faster

Why in News?

• Recently, the climate change in Greenland and Antarctica to melt 6 times faster than in 1990s.

Key Points:

• The comprehensive data obtained from 11 satellite missions monitoring the regions suggest that if the current melting trends continues, it will result in the raining of sea level by 6.7 inches by 2100.
• The ocean water is responsible for the majority of Antarctic ice loss and half of Greenland’s Ice Loss.
• The rest of the melting is caused by rising Air Temperature.
• To calculate changes in the mass of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets between 1992 and 2018, the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter comparison Exercise team combined 26 surveys, which used measurements from satellites including NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite and the joint NASA-German Aerospace Center Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment.
• It is calculated that Greenland and Antarctica lost 81 billion tons per year in the 1990s, compared with 475 billion tons of ice per year in the 2010s – a six fold increase.
• Together, the melting polar ice sheets are responsible for a third of all sea-level rise. Of this total sea-level rise, 60 per cent resulted from Greenland’s ice loss and 40 per cent resulted from Antarctica’s,
• Every centimetre of sea-level rise leads to coastal flooding and coastal erosion, disrupting people’s lives around the planet.

189.First-ever Heatwave in Antarctica

Why in News?

• Researchers from the Australian Antarctic Program revealed that they had recorded temperatures as high as 9.2 degrees Celsius at Casey station in the continent east earlier this year, indicating a heatwave event.

More Information

• Heat waves are classified as three consecutive days with both extreme maximum and minimum temperatures. Between January 23 and 26, the station recorded minimum temperatures above zero degrees Celsius and a maximum temperature of 9.2 degrees Celsius.
• Scientists are concerned about the effect that the heat wave could have on Antarctica’s ecology, both positive and negative. Most life exists in small ice-free oases in Antarctica, and largely depends on melting snow and ice for their water supply.
• Melted ice flooding can provide additional water to these desert ecosystems, leading to increased growth and reproduction of mosses, lichens, microbes and invertebrates.
• However excessive flooding can dislodge plants and alter the composition of communities of invertebrates and microbial mats.
• It is believed that the unusual temperatures were linked to meteorological patterns which occurred in the Southern Hemisphere during the spring and summer of 2019
• These patterns were influenced in part by the early break-up of the ozone hole in late 2019, due to rapid warming in the stratosphere.
• Global cooperative efforts being undertaken to repair and eventually close the hole in the ozone layer would help reduce regional shifts in the climate system.

 

190.Red Snow or Watermelon Snow

Why in news?

• Over the past few weeks, snow around Ukraine’s Vernadsky Research Base, located off the coast of Antarctica’s northernmost peninsula, has started to take on a red color.

More about the news

• The phenomenon is due to the courtesy of algae called Chlamydomonas nivalis that thrives in freezing weather.
• This red-pigmented algae has the potential to jumpstart a feedback loop of warming and melting,
• Chlamydomonas nivalis is the most common type of snow algae found in snowfields and mountains across the world.
• The Greek philosopher Aristotle is believed to be one of the first to give a written account of watermelon snow over 2,000 years ago.

Why is the snow turning red?

• This type of algae is actually a member of the green algae family. It won’t turn red until the weather warms up, the cell’s carotenoids—the same pigment that gives pumpkins and carrots their orange hue—absorb heat and protect the algae from ultraviolet light, almost like sunscreen. In the winter months, they lie dormant.
• The more sunlight the algae receive, the more it produces the “watermelon red” pigment, which causes the snow to melt faster.
• The algae produce this tinted sunscreen to keep themselves warm. The report mentions that because the snow becomes darker from the tinge, it absorbs more heat, as a result of which it melts faster.
• Further, these algae change the snow’s albedo, which refers to the amount of light or radiation the snow surface is able to reflect back.

 

 

191.Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2006

Why in News?

• To address the unprecedented situation arising from the global outbreak of COVID-19, and to ramp up availability or production of various drugs, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has made an amendment to EIA Notification 2006.

Changes made in the EIA Notification,2006:

• All projects or activities in respect of bulk drugs and intermediates, manufactured for addressing various ailments, have been re-categorized from the existing Category ‘A’ to ‘B2’ category.
• Projects falling under Category B2 are exempted from requirement of collection of Baseline data, EIA Studies and public consultation.
• Within a period of about two weeks, more than 100 proposals have been received under this category, which are at different levels of decision making by the concerned regulatory authorities in the states.

Impacts:

• The re-categorization of such proposals has been done to Facilitate:
  • Decentralization of appraisal to State Level so as to fast track the process.
  • This step of the Government is with a view to help in increasing the availability of the important medicines/drugs in the country within a short span of time.
  • To ensure expeditious disposal of the proposals within a given time-line, the Ministry has also advised states to use information technology e.g. video conference, considering the fact that in view of the prevailing situation on ground, appraisal of proposals may not be possible through physical meetings.
• This amendment is applicable to all proposals received and the states have also been issued advisories to expeditiously process such proposals.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in India:

• EIA is a management tool to minimize adverse impacts of developmental projects on the environment and to achieve sustainable development through timely, adequate, corrective and protective mitigation measures.
• The MoEFCC uses EIA Notification 2006 as a major tool for minimizing the adverse impact of rapid industrialization on the environment and for reversing those trends which may lead to climate change in the long run.
• EIA has now been made mandatory under the Environmental (Protection Act, 1986 for 29 categories of developmental activities involving investments of Rs. 50 crores and above.

 

192.Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary

Context:

• Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary is recently seen in news.

About Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary:

• It is Located in Kerala, which is an integral part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. It was established in 1973.
• The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve was the first from India to be included in the UNESCO designated World Network of Biosphere Reserves (designated in 2012).
• Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Bandipur National Park, Nagerhole National Park, Mukurthi National Park and Silent Valley are the other wildlife parks within the Reserve.
• It spread over 344.44 sq, which is contiguous to the tiger reserves of Nagerhole and Bandipur of Karnataka and Mudumalai of Tamil Nadu. The Kabini river (a tributary of Cauvery river) flows through the sanctuary.
• It includes forest types such as South Indian Moist Deciduous forests, West coast semi-evergreen forests and plantations of teak, eucalyptus and Grewelia.
• The major mammals are Elephant, Gaur, Tiger, Panther, Sambar, Spotted deer, Barking deer, Wild boar, Sloth bear, Nilgiri langur, Bonnet macaque, Common langur, Wild dog, common otter, Malabar giant squirrel etc.

 

193.Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary

Context:

• Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary is recently seen in News.

About Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary:

• It is the only sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh with a population of Asian elephants.
• It is covered by southern tropical dry deciduous and thorn forests.
• It consists of some of the important flora such as Albizia amara, Acacia, Lagerstroemia, Ficus, bamboo, and a species which is a regeneration of Santalum album.
• sloth bear, panther, cheetal, chowsingha, sambar, porcupine, wild boar, jungle cat, jackal, jungle fowl, starred tortoise and slender loris are the other animals found here

About Asian Elephant:

• The three subspecies of Asian elephant are found in  the Indian, Sumatran and Sri Lankan.
• The African elephants are listed as “vulnerable” and Asian elephants as “endangered” in IUCN Red List of threatened species.
• They have been accorded the highest possible protection under the Indian wildlife law through its listing under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) status- Appendix I, which lists the species that are the most endangered among CITES-listed Animals and plants.

Government Initiatives:

• The Project Elephantlaunched by the Government of India in the year 1992 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
• The “World Elephant Day” (August 12) to help conserve and protect elephants in India and improve their welfare. Elephant census is conducted once in 5 years under the aegis of Project elephant.
• The ‘Gaj Yatra’a nationwide awareness campaign to celebrate elephants and highlight the necessity of securing elephant corridors.
• The Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), had come out with a publication on the right of passage in 101 elephant corridors of the country in 2017.
• The Monitoring the Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programme launched in 2003 is an international collaboration that tracks trends in information related to the illegal killing of elephants from across Africa and Asia, to monitor effectiveness of field conservation efforts.

 

194.Starving Herons

Why in News?

• Several blue herons were spotted dead by the personnel of Neendakara Coastal police station, Kerala. The autopsy has revealed the cause of death as starvation.

Herons:

• The herons are long-legged freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 64 globally recognised species.
• The herons are medium- to large-sized birds with long legs and necks.
• They exhibit very little Sexual Dimorphism in size.

Indian Pond Heron:

• The Indian Pond Heron or Paddybird is a small heron.
• It is of Old-World origins, breeding in southern Iran and east to the Indian subcontinent, Burma, and Sri Lanka.
• Pond Heron is the most common species of Heron found in India.
• They have adapted themselves well to live alongside humans and can be seen both in the wilderness and in ponds/ lakes within urban areas.
• IUCN Status: Least Concern.

 

 

195.Agasthyavanam Biological Park

Why in News?

• The Forest Department is procuring forest produce collected by the tribes people of the Agasthyavanam Biological Park (ABP) and surrounding forest ranges to be sold to commercial establishments and various collectives to deal with the lockdown necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

About Agasthyavanam Biological Park:

• Agasthyavanam Biological Park is a wildlife sanctuary in Kerala which has been established in the year 1997.
• It is contiguous to Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary and Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary.
• The park has been named after the Agasthyamalai Agasthyakoodam Peak, which is very closer to the park.
• The Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve is located in the southernmost end of the Western Ghats.

 

196.Goldman Environmental Prize

• The Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize awarded annually to grassroots environmental activists, one from each of the world’s six geographic regions
• Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America
• The award is given by the Goldman Environmental Foundation headquartered in San Francisco, California
• It is also called the Green Nobel

Its motto:

• The Prize recognizes individuals for sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk.
• The Goldman Prize views “grassroots” leaders as those involved in local efforts, where positive change is created through community or citizen participation in the issues that affect them.
• Through recognizing these individual leaders, the Prize seeks to inspire other ordinary people to take extraordinary actions to protect the natural world.

What the Goldman Prize Provides?

The Goldman Prize amplifies the voices of these grassroots leaders and provides them with:

• International recognition that enhances their credibility
• Worldwide visibility for the issues they champion
• Financial support to pursue their vision of a renewed and protected environment.