MOST IMPORTANT NEWS ARTICLES TODAY... DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS 27TH AUGUST 2019 BY SUMIT

August 27, 2019 Unlabelled


IMPORTANT TOPICS FOR TODAY 
http://dailycurrentaffairs-sumit.blogspot.com
BY SUMIT BHARDWAJ 
27thAugust 2019
 
1.PM rejects scope for third party mediation in Kashmir
(GS-2)





  • Trump: Discussed issue with Modi — India, Pakistan can resolve it on their own
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday categorically rejected any scope for third party mediation between India and Pakistan on Kashmir, saying the two countries can discuss and resolve all issues bilaterally and “we don’t want to trouble any third country.”
  • Mr. Modi made these remarks while interacting with the media alongside U.S. President Donald Trump, who ahead of his meeting with the Prime Minister had said that he will discuss the Kashmir issue with him on the sidelines of the G7 summit in the French town of Biarritz.
  • All the issues between India and Pakistan are bilateral in nature, and we don’t want to trouble any third country. We can discuss and resolve these issues bilaterally,” Mr. Modi said.
  • He said India and Pakistan were together before 1947 and he was confident that the two neighbours can discuss their problems and solve them.
  • G7 summit:
  • G7 is a collective of seven of the world's most industrialized and developed economies. Their political leaders come together annually to discuss important global economic, political, social and security issues.
  • 45th G7 summit: Aim
  • This year, the 45th G7 summit will be held on August 24-26, 2019, in Biarritz, France
  • . It will focus on fighting income and gender inequality and protecting biodiversity.
  • In March 2014, the G7 declared that a meaningful discussion was currently not possible with Russia in the context of the G8. Since then, meetings have continued within the G7 process.
  • Seven members of G7
  • The seven members of the group are the following:
  • France
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Germany
  • Canada
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
  • The European Union is also represented at the G7 summit.
  • G7 Summit: First summit
  • Its first summit was held at Rambouillet, France, in 1975.
  • What does the G7 do?
  • The G7 was formed initially to discuss economic and political concerns prompted by the 1973 oil crisis - when members of OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Export Countries, increased the price of oil and cut global supplies to countries seen as having backed Israel in the Yom Kippur War.
  • Since then, the group has expanded its brief to cover a large number of international issues, including energy security, trade, climate change, global health issues, gender equality, poverty - and any other topic the country holding the G7 presidency chooses to put on the agenda.
  • Today, the G7 are reckoned as the seven wealthiest and most advanced nations in the world because China, which holds the second largest net worth in the world, nonetheless has a low net worth per individual and an economy that has not yet fully modernized.
  • The G7 fill out numerous global top lists:
  • Leading export countries
  • Largest gold reserves
  • Largest nuclear energy producers
  • Top contributors to the UN budget
  • Other international organisations invited by G7 group
  • The group of seven i.e. G7 started a tradition of inviting other international organizations to the summits in the late 1990s, a list that has included:
  • International Monetary Fund
  • World Bank
  • United Nations
  • World Trade Organization
  • African Union
  • International Energy Agency
  • Other nations have also been invited to participate from time to time, such as the G20 and the G8+5, each of which are simply different groups of nations with growing economic interests.

  • 2.The
    • world’s richest countries(G-7) came up with just $22 million to fight the Amazon fires(GS-3)
  • CONTEXT:
  • Less than 24 hours after Paris’s Notre-Dame caught fire in April, €850 million ($945 million) had already been pledged for the cathedral’s restoration.
  • Yet after weeks that have seen tens of thousands of fires—most of them likely man-made—ravaging the
  • Amazon rainforest at a rate higher than ever recorded before, the world’s seven largest advanced economies managed to come up with just €20 million ($22 million) to help save it through reforestation.
  • That is, one or two million for each percentage point of the planet’s oxygen produced by the “lungs of the Earth,” depending on what statistics one looks at. The Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world, and to add to the damage, fires are usually used to make space for cattle ranching—one of the leading agricultural sources of methane emissions.
  • The agreement was reached today by representatives of the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US, who have been enjoying the pleasant breeze in Biarritz, on the Basque coast of France, during the G7 summit. The host, French president Emmanuel Macron, announced the decision to fund an emergency donation to fight the fires in the Amazon, noting also the importance of reforestation. Donald Trump did not attend the climate meeting at the summit, though the US will contribute to the fund.
  • Amazon rainforest :
  • The Amazon rainforest,[a] also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses 7,000,000 km2 (2,700,000 sq mi), of which 5,500,000 km2 (2,100,000 sq mi) are covered by the rainforest. This region includes territory belonging to nine nations.
  • The majority of the forest is contained within Brazil, with 60% of the rainforest, followed by Peru with 13%, Colombia with 10%, and with minor amounts in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. Four nations have "Amazonas" as the name of one of their first-level administrative regions and France uses the name "Guiana Amazonian Park" for its rainforest protected area. The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, and comprises the largest and most biodiverse tract of tropical rainforest in the world, with an estimated 390 billion individual trees divided into 16,000 species.
  • Context of Amazon Fires:
  • Over the last several days, the Amazon rainforest has been burning at a rate that has alarmed environmentalists and governments worldwide.
  • Mostly caused by farmers clearing land, the fires have thrown the spotlight on Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro’s policies and anti-environment stance.
  • Thousands of fires are ravaging the Amazon rainforest in Brazil – the most intense blazes for almost a decade.
  • Brazil declared a state of emergency over the rising number of fires in the region. So far this year, almost 73,000 fires have been detected by Brazil’s space research center.
  • About Amazon Rainforest:
  • The Amazon rainforest stretches across 5.5 million square kilometers, an area far larger than the EU.
  • The Amazon rainforest home to one in 10 species on Earth is on fire. As of last week, 9,000 wildfires were raging simultaneously across the vast rainforest of Brazil and spreading into Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru.
  • The Amazon rainforest is a moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America.
  • The majority of the forest is contained within Brazil, with 60% of the rainforest, followed by Peru with 13%, Colombia with 10%, and with minor amounts in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and France (French Guiana).
  • The blazes, largely set intentionally to clear land for cattle ranching, farming, and logging, have been exacerbated by the dry season.
  • They’re now burning in massive numbers, an 80 percent increase over this time last year, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The fires can even be seen from space.
  • How did the Amazon fires start?
  • According to Brazil’s space research center (INPE), the country has seen an 80% increase in fires this year, compared with the same period last year.
  • According to INPE, more than half were in the Amazon region, spelling disaster for the local environment and ecology and 99% percent of the fires result from human actions “either on purpose or by accident”.
  • The weekly Brasil de fato reported that Bolsonaro’s anti-environment rhetoric has emboldened farmers, who organised a “fire day” along BR-163, a highway that runs through the heart of the rainforest.
  • The weekly quoted a report by local newspaper, that local farmers had set fire to sections of the rainforest a few days ago to get the government’s attention.
  • While the Amazon rainforest is typically wet and humid, July and August are the onset of the dry season (the region’s driest months).
  • Fire is often used to clear out the land for farming or ranching. For that reason, a vast majority of the fires can be attributed to humans.
  • Why are the Amazon fires a cause for concern?
  • It is also home to indigenous communities whose lives and homelands are under threat due to encroachment by the Brazil government, foreign corporations and governments with economic interests in the resource-rich region, and local farmers.
  • Research by scientists Carlos Nobre and Thomas E Lovejoy suggests that further deforestation could lead to the Amazon’s transformation from the world’s largest rainforest to a savanna, which would reverse the region’s ecology.
  • 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.
  • Consequences of present situation:
  • Fires are set deliberately and spread easily in the dry season. The desire for new land for cattle farming has been the main driver of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon since the 1970s.
  • The devastating loss of biodiversity does not just affect Brazil.
  • The loss of Amazonian vegetation directly reduces rain across South America and other regions of the world.
  • The planet is losing an important carbon sink, and the fires are directly injecting carbon into the atmosphere.
  • If we can’t stop deforestation in the Amazon, and the associated fires, it raises real questions about our ability to reach the Paris Agreement to slow climate change.
  • The growing numbers of fires are the result of illegal forest clearing to create land for farming.
  • Conclusion:
  • Germany and Norway have suspended funding for programmes that aim to stop deforestation in the Amazon and have accused Brazil of doing little to protect the forests.
  • Indigenous groups and environment activists have led protests and criticised Bolsonaro for his comments and policies.
  • Neighbouring Bolivia and Paraguay have also struggled to contain fires that swept through woods and fields and, in many cases, got out of control in high winds after being set by residents clearing land for farming. About 7,500 square kilometres of land has been affected in Bolivia.
  • The Brazilian government has set an ambitious target to stop illegal deforestation and restore 4.8 million hectares of degraded Amazonian land by 2030.
  • If these goals are not carefully addressed now, it may not be possible to meaningfully mitigate climate change.
  • The untold number of species of every kind of living thing, many thousands of which have never been described by scientists are suffering. We all need to come together to protect it.

  • 3.RBI showers RS. 1.76 lakh crore bonanza on government
  • (GS-3)
  • CONTEXT:
  • his follows the RBI board accepting the recommendation of a high-level panel headed by its former Governor Bimal Jalan.
  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at its board meeting on Monday decided to transfer a whopping RS1.76 lakh crore to the Centre — including interim dividend of RS28,000 crore paid in February — which is likely to address the precarious fiscal situation of the government to a great extent.
  • The RS1.76 lakh crore includes the central bank’s 2018-19 surplus of RS1.23 lakh crore and RS52,637 crore of excess provisions identified as per the revised Economic Capital Framework (ECF) adopted at the Board meeting.
  • The RBI said as financial resilience was within the desired range, the entire 2018-19 net income of RS1.23 lakh crore has been transferred.
  • Jalan panel
  • The RBI had formed a committee chaired by former Governor Bimal Jalan to review its economic capital framework and suggest the quantum of excess provision to be transferred to the government
  • .
  • RBI showers RS1.76 lakh crore bonanza on government
  • The committee was formed after a demand from the government for more money. The RBI Board has accepted all the recommendations of the Jalan committee.
  • “The committee’s recommendations were guided by the fact that the RBI forms the primary bulwark for monetary, financial and external stability,” the central bank said in a statement.
  • Two components
  • The panel recommended a clear distinction between the two components of economic capital - realized equity and revaluation balances
  • . It was recommended that realized equity could be used for meeting all risks/ losses as they were primarily built up from retained earnings, while revaluation balances could be reckoned only as risk buffers against market risks as they represented unrealized valuation gains and hence were not distributable.
  • The committee also recognised that RBI’s provisioning for monetary, financial and external stability risks is the country’s savings for a ‘rainy day’, (a monetary or financial stability crisis), which has been consciously maintained with the RBI in view of its role as the Monetary Authority and the Lender of Last Resort.
  • “This risk provisioning made primarily from retained earnings is cumulatively referred to as the Contingent Risk Buffer (CRB) and has been recommended to be maintained within a range of 6.5% to 5.5% of the RBI’s balance sheet,” the RBI statement said.
  • “This CRB comprising 5.5 to 4.5% for monetary and financial stability risks and 1.0% for credit and operational risks,” the RBI added.
  • The ‘Surplus Distribution Policy’, as recommended by the committee, says only if realized equity is above its requirement, the entire net income will be transferable to the Government.
  • The RBI said the available realised equity stood at 6.8% of balance sheet, and there was excess of risk provisioning of RS11,608 crore at the upper bound of CRB and RS52,637 crore at the lower bound of CRB.
  • “The Central Board decided to maintain the realized equity level at 5.5% of balance sheet and the resultant excess risk provisions of RS2,637 crore were written back,” RBI said.
  • “Clearly the amount is higher than expected and with additional ECF transfer, the ammunition from tax shortfall could be partly met, thus alleviating some of the fiscal fragilities,” said Madhavi Arora, Economist with Edelweiss Securities.
  • WHAT IS ECONOMIC CAPITAL FRAMEWORK?
  • RBI has constituted a panel on economic capital framework. It will be headed by Ex-RBI governor Bimal Jalan.
  • The expert panel on RBI’s economic capital framework has been formed to address the issue of RBI reserves—one of the sticking points between the central bank and the government.
  • What’s the isssue?
  • The government has been insisting that the central bank hand over its surplus reserves amid a shortfall in revenue collections. Access to the funds will allow the government to meet deficit targets, infuse capital into weak banks to boost lending and fund welfare programmes.
  • Terms of reference:
  • The panel will decide whether RBI is holding provisions, reserves and buffers in surplus of the required levels.
  • It would propose a suitable profits distribution policy taking into account all the likely situations of the RBI, including the situations of holding more provisions than required and the RBI holding less provisions than required.
  • The ECF committee will also suggest an adequate level of risk provisioning that the RBI needs to maintain. That apart, any other related matter, including treatment of surplus reserves created out of realized gains, will also come within the ambit of this committee.
  • What is economic capital framework?
  • Economic capital framework refers to the risk capital required by the central bank while taking into account different risks. The economic capital framework reflects the capital that an institution requires or needs to hold as a counter against unforeseen risks or events or losses in the future.
  • Why it needs a fix?
  • Existing economic capital framework which governs the RBI’s capital requirements and terms for the transfer of its surplus to the government is based on a conservative assessment of risk by the central bank and that a review of the framework would result in excess capital being freed, which the RBI can then share with the government.
  • The government believes that RBI is sitting on much higher reserves than it actually needs to tide over financial emergencies that India may face. Some central banks around the world (like US and UK) keep 13% to 14% of their assets as a reserve compared to RBI’s 27% and some (like Russia) more than that.
  • Economists in the past have argued for RBI releasing ‘extra’ capital that can be put to productive use by the government. The Malegam Committee estimated the excess (in 2013) at Rs 1.49 lakh crore.
  • What is the nature of the arrangement between the government and RBI on the transfer of surplus or profits?
  • Although RBI was promoted as a private shareholders’ bank in 1935 with a paid up capital of Rs 5 crore, the government nationalised it in January 1949, making the sovereign its “owner”. What the central bank does, therefore, is transfer the “surplus” — that is, the excess of income over expenditure — to the government, in accordance with Section 47 (Allocation of Surplus Profits) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
  • Does the RBI pay tax on these earnings or profits?
  • No. Its statute provides exemption from paying income-tax or any other tax, including wealth tax.

  • 4.Vector-borne diseases on the rise in DELHI
  • (GS-2,3)
  • CONTEXT:
  • The number of vector borne diseases in the Capital shot up with 20 cases of malaria and 18 cases of dengue reported last week, according to the latest report from the municipal corporations released on Monday
  • vector borne diseases :
  • Vector-borne disease
  • Key facts
  • Vector-borne diseases account for more than 17% of all infectious diseases, causing more than 700 000 deaths annually.
  • More than 3.9 billion people in over 128 countries are at risk of contracting dengue, with 96 million cases estimated per year.
  • Malaria causes more than 400 000 deaths every year globally, most of them children under 5 years of age.
  • Other diseases such as Chagas disease, leishmaniasis and schistosomiasis affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
  • Many of these diseases are preventable through informed protective measures.
  • Main vectors and diseases they transmit
  • Vectors are living organisms that can transmit infectious diseases between humans or from animals to humans. Many of these vectors are bloodsucking insects, which ingest disease-producing microorganisms during a blood meal from an infected host (human or animal) and later inject it into a new host during their subsequent blood meal.
  • Mosquitoes are the best known disease vector. Others include ticks, flies, sandflies, fleas, triatomine bugs and some freshwater aquatic snails.
  • Mosquitoes
  • Aedes
  • Chikungunya
  • Dengue fever
  • Lymphatic filariasis
  • Rift Valley fever
  • Yellow fever
  • Zika
  • Anopheles
  • Malaria
  • Lymphatic filariasis
  • Culex
  • Japanese encephalitis
  • Lymphatic filariasis
  • West Nile fever
  • Sandflies
  • Leishmaniasis
  • Sandfly fever (phelebotomus fever)
  • Ticks
  • Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever
  • Lyme disease
  • Relapsing fever (borreliosis)
  • Rickettsial diseases (spotted fever and Q fever)
  • Tick-borne encephalitis
  • Tularaemia
  • Triatomine bugs
  • Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis)
  • Tsetse flies
  • Sleeping sickness (African trypanosomiasis)
  • Fleas
  • Plague (transmitted by fleas from rats to humans)
  • Rickettsiosis
  • Black flies
  • Onchocerciasis (river blindness)
  • Aquatic snails
  • Schistosomiasis (bilharziasis)
  • Lice
  • Typhus and louse-borne relapsing fever
  • Vector-borne diseases
  • Vctor-borne diseases are human illnesses caused by parasites, viruses and bacteria that are transmitted by mosquitoes, sandflies, triatomine bugs, blackflies, ticks, tsetse flies, mites, snails and lice. Every year there are more than 700 000 deaths from diseases such as malaria, dengue, schistosomiasis, human African trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis and onchocerciasis, globally.
  • The major vector-borne diseases, together, account for aeround 17% of all infectious diseases. The burden of these diseases is highest in tropical and subtropical areas and they disproportionately affect the poorest populations. Since 2014, major outbreaks of dengue, malaria, chikungunya yellow fever and Zika have afflicted populations, claimed lives and overwhelmed health systems in many countries.
  • Distribution of vector-borne diseases is determined by complex demographic, environmental and social factors. Global travel and trade, unplanned urbanization and environmental challenges such as climate change can impact on pathogen transmission, making transmission season longer or more intense or causing diseases to emerge in countries where they were previously unknown.
  • Changes in agricultural practices due to variation in temperature and rainfall can affect the transmission of vector-borne diseases. The growth of urban slums, lacking reliable piped water or adequate solid waste management, can render large populations in towns and cities at risk of viral diseases spread by mosquitoes. Together, such factors influence the reach of vector populations and the transmission patterns of disease-causing pathogens.
  • WHO response
  • The Global vector control response (GVCR) 2017–2030 approved by the World Health Assembly (2017) provides strategic guidance to countries and development partners for urgent strengthening of vector control as a fundamental approach to preventing disease and responding to outbreaks. To achieve this a re-alignment of vector control programmes is required, supported by increased technical capacity, improved infrastructure, strengthened monitoring and surveillance systems, and greater community mobilization. Ultimately, this will support implementation of a comprehensive approach to vector control that will enable the achievement of disease-specific national and global goals and contribute to achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and Universal Health Coverage.
  • WHO Secretariat provides strategic, normative and technical guidance to countries and development partners for strengthening vector control as a fundamental approach based on GVCR to preventing disease and responding to outbreaks. Specifically WHO responds to vector-borne diseases by:
  • providing evidence-based guidance for controlling vectors and protecting people against infection;
  • providing technical support to countries so that they can effectively manage cases and outbreaks;
  • supporting countries to improve their reporting systems and capture the true burden of the disease;
  • providing training (capacity building) on clinical management, diagnosis and vector control with some of its collaborating centres throughout the world; and
  • supporting the development and evaluation of new tools, technologies and approaches for vector borne diseases, include vector control and disease management technologies.
  • A crucial element in vector-borne diseases is behavioural change. WHO works with partners to provide education and improve awareness so that people know how to protect themselves and their communities from mosquitoes, ticks, bugs, flies and other vectors.
  • For many diseases such as Chagas disease, malaria, schistosomiasis and leishmaniasis, WHO has initiated control programmes using donated or subsidized medicines.
  • Access to water and sanitation is a very important factor in disease control and elimination. WHO works together with many different government sectors to control these diseases.
5.Chandrayaan-2 scans Mitra crater

(GS-3)
  • CONTEXT:
  • Orbiter sends second set of pictures of craters in the northern polar region
  • Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter or mother spacecraft has zeroed in on a crater on the moon named after 20th century’s acclaimed radio physicist Sisir Kumar Mitra.
  • Images of the crater are among the second set of pictures of the northern craters sent by the orbiter.
  • The Mitra crater is on the edge of another crater. The pictures were taken by the Terrain Mapping Camera-2 around 2. 15 p.m. on August 23. The orbiter was then around 4,300 km from the moon, the Indian Space Research Organisation said in its update on Monday.
  • At 25 degrees Kelvin (minus 248 degrees Celsius), the northern polar region is believed to be one of the coldest spots in the solar system.
  • The first set of pictures of August 21 came from the camera on the lander which is riding atop the orbiter. The lander is set to separate from the orbiter on September 2 in preparation for its landing on the moon on September 7.
  • Prof. Mitra (1890-1963) also lends his name to the S. K. Mitra Centre for Research in Space Environment of the University of Calcutta.
  • The chandrayaan-2 is now revolving round the earth with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 169.7 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 45,475 km.
  • Chandrayaan-2
  • is India's second mission (after Chandrayaan-1) to the moon and comprises a fully indigenous Orbiter, Lander (Vikram) and Rover (Pragyan).
  • The Rover Pragyan is housed inside Vikram lander.
  • The mission aims to expand our knowledge and understanding of the origin and evolution of the Moon through a detailed study of its topography, mineralogy, surface chemical composition, thermo-physical characteristics and atmosphere.
  • After Chandrayaan-2, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has planned the launch of its solar mission, Aditya-L1, in the first half of 2020 to study the Sun’s corona.
  • Aditya-L1
  • The satellite will be launched during 2019 – 2020 timeframe by PSLV-XL from Sriharikota.
  • Aditya L-1 is a follow on mission to Aditya 1 (that was meant to observe only the solar corona). It will provide observations of the sun's photosphere (soft and hard X-ray), chromosphere (Ultra Violet ) and corona (Visible and Near infrared rays).






6.G7 Summit: PM Modi highlights India’s efforts towards eliminating single use plastic

(GS-2,3)
CONTEXT:
  • Mr. Modi last week said India will achieve most of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) climate change goals set for 2030 in the next one and a half year
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 26 highlighted India’s large scale efforts towards eliminating single use plastic, conserving water, harnessing solar energy and protecting flora and fauna for a sustainable future in his address to a G7 session on environment here.
  • Mr. Modi is attending the G7 Summit in the French town of Biarritz on special invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron

  • Conference of the Parties
  • What is the COP?
  • The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the Convention. All States that are Parties to the Convention are represented at the COP, at which they review the implementation of the Convention and any other legal instruments that the COP adopts and take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the Convention, including institutional and administrative arrangements.
  • More Background on the COP
  • A key task for the COP is to review the national communications and emission inventories submitted by Parties. Based on this information, the COP assesses the effects of the measures taken by Parties and the progress made in achieving the ultimate objective of the Convention.
  • The COP meets every year, unless the Parties decide otherwise. The first COP meeting was held in Berlin, Germany in March, 1995. The COP meets in Bonn, the seat of the secretariat, unless a Party offers to host the session. Just as the COP Presidency rotates among the five recognized UN regions - that is, Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe and Western Europe and Others – there is a tendency for the venue of the COP to also shift among these groups.
  • Paris Climate Summit COP 21 - A Review
  • The manmade factors influencing both incoming and outgoing energy are having far-reaching environmental, social, and economic consequences. Researchers have found that the uncontrolled human activities are the biggest cause of shift in weather conditions leading to changes in temperature, precipitation, winds, and other indicators. All these are causing Climate Change.
  • It has been found that if such activities continues unabated at the present rate, then earth will be no longer will be a place to live by 2100.
  • As such the issues related to climate change have become a huge global concern. There is a race to scale up efforts to tackle this upcoming global catastrophe.
  • It is in this context, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is spearheading the campaign on climate change. It has roped in all the UN member countries to collectively tackle the issue of climate change.
  • The UNFCCC has so far sponsored 21 ‘Organisation of Conference of Parties’ (COP) meetings to negotiate an agreement on Climate change. The 21st such meeting was held at Paris from 30 November to 12 December 2015.
  • ere a global agreement on the reduction of greenhouse emission was negotiated and it has been agreed upon to limit average global warming to 2 degrees Celsius or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial temperatures.
  • It was also agreed that the conference of parties will strive to further limit the same to 1.5 degrees Celsius or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • It is understood that these agreements will facilitate enforcement of global green house emission reduction measures in the post-2020 (post Kyoto Protocol) scenario.
  • The broad consensus that has emerged at the COP 21 agreement is that each country will submit their plans of reducing the green house emissions in every five years.
  • The reporting and monitoring of such action plan will be transparent and comprehensive and it is hoped that no country may default on such matters of global concern. It is to this effect, the conference of parties will sign the agreement in New York between 22 April 2016 and 21 April 2017. They are also required to adopt the same agreement within their own legal systems.
  • Such agreement will become legally binding only if joined by at least 55 countries. In such case, it would be the coming together of the representatives of at least 55 percent of global greenhouse emissions.
  • Another noticeable feature of the COP 21 agreement is the call for developed countries to raise at least 100 billion dollars annually to assist developing countries t tackle their greenhouse emission.
  • Some call, COP 21 Paris Conference a victory because emerging and developing countries like China that now dominate emissions has agreed to be a part of this system. However, others are sceptical and are not fully satisfied with the COP 21 draft.
  • They say there are many sticking points that remain unanswered. The first being COP21 does not mandate how much exactly each country must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
7.Google brings Nest Hub to India
(GS-3)
CONTEXT:





































About Sumit

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.” ― Gary Snyder

“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.” ― Gary Snyder
SAVE NATURE SAVE EARTH
SUMIT BHARDWAJ with by Way2themes | Distributed by Blogspot Themes