PIB Notes
ECOLOGY & ENVIRONMENT :
'Swachchh Samundra NW-2019
- It was an exercise conducted at sea off Vadinar in Gulf of Kutch by the Indian Coast Guard to reinforce the response mechanism for oil spill/pollution incidents and to fine-tune the actions required in such eventualities.
- The Gulf of Kutch (GoK) region handles 70 per cent of the oil imported by India and 11 Single point Moorings (SPMs) out of total 27 SPMs i.e. 42 per cent in the country are located in this area.
IUCN Adds 1840 New Species To Red List
- The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) added 1,840 new species to its catalogue of plants and animals that risk extinction. The list now contains more than 30,000 species under threat of disappearing. The IUCN mentioned it was increasingly clear that climate change on its own was a growing threat.
- The latest update was released at COP25 climate talks in Madrid.
Rhinos To Be Re-introduced In Uttarakhand
- The Uttarakhand State Wildlife Board has cleared a proposal by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) to introduce rhinoceroses in the Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) to boost tourism and revive the habits of species that survive on low-height grass. Rhinos were once found in the Terai grassland in the state and adjoining areas but were wiped out by poaching.
- The geographical terrain and environmental conditions in CTR are suitable for rhinos. The ideal sites chosen in Corbett are valley habitats bounded on either side by the lower Himalayas (north), Shivalik Hills (south) and the Ramganga Reservoir (east), which would also act as natural barriers to rhino movement outside these area, there by minimising conflict with people.
European Green Deal
- The European Commission (an executive branch of the EU) has launched an ambitious roadmap termed the Green Deal at the CoP25, Madrid event that aims to make Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050 by addressing environmental challenges while, at the same time, promoting an efficient use of resources.
South China Salamander: World’s Biggest Amphibian
- Using DNA from museum specimens, researchers have found that South China Salamander (Andrias sligoi) is the largest amphibian.
- Chinese giant salamanders, which are critically endangered and can grow to nearly 2m long, were previously thought to be of a single species until new research revealed not one, but three different genetic lineages. Only two of them have been analysed by the researchers.
MOSAiC Expedition
- The MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) project will take a modern research icebreaker laden with scientific instruments close to the North Pole in winter.
- It will be the first year-round expedition into the central Arctic exploring the Arctic climate system.
- It will contribute to a quantum leap in our understanding of the coupled Arctic climate system and its representation in global climate models.
- The focus of MOSAiC lies on direct in-situ observations of the climate processes that couple the atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem.
- Vishnu Nandan, a remote sensing scientist from Kerala will be the only Indian among 300 scientists all over the world aboard the multidisciplinary drifting observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition.
29th BASIC Ministerial Meet On Climate Change
- The 29th ministerial meeting of the BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) countries on Climate Change was held at Beijing, China.
- BASIC countries have urged developed nations to adhere to the commitment made under the Paris Agreement and provide finance and technology to the developing world.
A Green Wall To Prevent Desertification
- It is a 1,400km-long and 5km-wide green corridor all the way from Panipat in Haryana to Porbandar in Gujarat, at its conception stage.
- The corridor will act as a barrier against the heat and dust that blows in from the west.
- The Aravalli range, which separates western India’s Thar Desert from the relatively green plains to its east, has lost so much green cover that it is losing its ability to act as a natural barrier.
- It would be modelled on the so-called Great Green Wall of Africa that was envisioned to run from Djibouti in the continent’s east to Senegal in its west.
NGT & RO Purifiers Issue
- The National Green Tribunal has rapped the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for the delay in issuing a notification to ban RO purifiers where total dissolved solids (TDS) in water are below 500 milligrams per litre and sensitise public about the ill-effects of demineralised water.
Rohit4Rhinos
- It was a campaign launched on World Rhino Day on September 22 by WWF India and Animal Planet with Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma as the face of the programme to help build awareness for the need to conserve the Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros or the Indian Rhino.
- It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
- It is the state animal of Assam.
- There are an estimated 3,500 Indian rhinos left in the world, out of which 82 per cent are found in India.
- Once found abundantly across the Indus, Ganges and the Brahmaputra river basins, the animal is now found only in select pockets in Assam, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
