Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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India must limit global warming increase to 1.5 degrees

News

• Even with an increase of little over one degree Celsius in global warming, India is being battered by the worst climate extremes.

Beyond News

• It is clear that the situation is going to worsen with an 1.5 degrees increase, and hence India must quickly get its act together now, environmentalists cautioned .
• The response of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) Director General came on the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report in Incheon in South Korea.
• The IPCC, the biggest UN scientific body feeding climate science to policy-makers, released its special report on the impacts of global warming increase of 1.5 degrees.
• It documents glaring evidence of the devastating impact of climate change on the poor and developing countries.
• While a 1.5 degrees rise in global temperature will be precarious, a two degree rise would be catastrophic.

Australia’s other threatened coral reefs

News

• The United Nations issued a dire alert, warning that many of the world’s coral reefs could die as soon as 2040 as a result of climate change.

Findings

• Already, warming waters have bleached more than two-thirds of the coral in the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem, which covers more than 1,30,000 sq miles and is visible from space.
• But the Great Barrier Reef, despite its status, is not the only unique or threatened marine ecosystem in Australia.
• Stretching 27,000 square miles along Australia’s southern coast, this life-sustaining seaweed forest could be decimated by the end of the century, according to a recent study.
• Shark Bay, on Australia’s west coast, is the largest and most diverse sea grass ecosystem in the world. These sea grassesprovide habitat for fish, endangered green turtles and dugongs , the only vegetarian marine mammal, which rely on the sea grass for food. Shark Bay is also one of only two places in the world with living ancient deposits of algae, called 
• But in the summer of 2011, a huge ocean heat wave killed off roughly a quarter of Shark Bay’s sea grasses. Aside from the loss of a valuable ocean habitat, this die-off also meant the release of up to 9 million tons of carbon dioxide, according to a paper published earlier this year.
• So far, Ningaloo has escaped the kinds of bleaching events that have devastated the Great Barrier Reef and left the coral there weak and susceptible to attack by crown-of-thorns starfish. But global warming puts Ningaloo at risk of a die-off, according to the U.N. report, and rising sea levels may also reduce the reef’s capacity to protect coastal communities from waves and erosion.
• The Gulf of Carpentaria, in Australia’s Far North, is a remote and sensitive ecosystem of mangroves, coral, sea grass beds, mud crabs, fish and shrimp. The mangrove trees  which grow in salty water provide a nursery habitat for fish and wildlife and help prevent shoreline erosion.
• But in 2016 when the Great Barrier Reef experienced one of the worst bleaching events in history  extreme heat, drought and low sea levels led to an unprecedented die-off of mangroves in the Gulf of Carpentaria, in which about 6 percent of the forest was lost.
• Like sea grasses, mangroves also sequester carbon, and during the die-off, millions of tons of carbon were released into the atmosphere.

Global sea level may rise 50 feet by 2300: Study

News

• Owing to continuous emissions of greenhouse gases, increased global average sea-level is likely to rise by nearly 8 feet by the year 2100 and 50 feet by 2300, as per a new study.

Findings

• According to the researchers, under moderate emissions, central estimates of global average sea-level range from 1.4 to 2.8 feet by 2100, another 2.8 to 5.4 feet by 2150 and 6 to 14 feet more by 2300.
• In addition, with 11 per cent of the world’s population living in areas less than 33 feet above sea level, rising seas pose a major risk to coastal populations, economies, infrastructure and ecosystems around the world, the study found.
• Importantly, sea-level rise varies over location and time, and scientists have developed a range of methods to reconstruct past changes and project future ones.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Centre backs Arunachal’s Naga tribe names for ST list

News

• The Centre has given its nod to a proposal to replace the generic term “any Naga tribes” with the specific names of the Naga tribes that would qualify for recognition as Scheduled Tribes (STs) in Arunachal Pradesh.

Beyond News

• The NSCN-IM and other Naga groups have been campaigning for a “Greater Nagalim” or a contiguous land for the Nagas spanning across the States of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Myanmar.
• Arunachal Pradesh’s proposal had earlier been examined and recommended by the Tribal Affairs Ministry and the Registrar General of India (RGI).
• Ahead of next year’s general elections, the Centre is expected to move a Bill to amend the Constitution to include at least 10 communities in the central list of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and STs.
• The inclusion of new communities will have an impact on the overall percentage of the STs and SCs and would also reflect in changes in reservations for jobs and education.
• As per norms, the inclusion and exclusion of STs and SCs are done based on recommendations by the State government with the concurrence of the RGI and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST).
• Centre okays replacing generic term of ‘any naga tribes’ with specific tribe names in Arunachal, could impact Naga peace deal.

Cooperate to fight trade protectionism, says China

News

• China has asked India to counter jointly the growing threat of trade protectionism championed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Beyond News

• A statement issued by the Embassy of China in India said that attempts were being made to sow discord between China and India and they should not fall for such traps.
• Under the current circumstances, China and India need to deepen their cooperation to fight trade protectionism. As the two largest developing countries and major emerging markets, China and India are both in the vital stage of deepening reform and developing economy, and both need stable external environment.
• The Chinese response comes in the wake of the escalating U.S.-China trade warfare that has soured ties between the two countries.
• The Embassy said the U.S. has provoked trade disputes, and asked it to introspect about “interfering” in the internal affairs of China and India in the guise of religious freedom and human rights.
• The spokesperson said the U.S. was promoting protectionism while trying to keep India away from China by planting ideas that China’s financial support for developing countries would lead to a “debt trap”.
• China wants to build on development partnerships with other countries in the region, the statement emphasised.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Cyclone Titli intensifies into severe storm; around 3 lakh people evacuated in Odisha

News

• Cyclone Titli has become a severe storm and is now centred about 320 km southeast of Gopalpur (Odisha) and 270 km southeast of Kalingapatnam (Andhra Pradesh).

Beyond News

• Thereafter, the cyclone is likely to re-curve in the northeast directionand might move towards Gangetic West Bengal across Odisha and weaken gradually.
• The National Disaster Management Authority, quoting a bulletin of the India Meteorological Department, said there may be damage in the districts of Andhra Pradesh and districts of Odisha.
• Around 3 lakh people have been evacuated to safer places in Odisha ahead ahead of landfall.
• The Centre has rushed nearly 1,000 NDRF personnel to Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. Directions have been issued for storage of food, fuel and maintaining power supply and telecommunication lines.
• The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed 14 teams in Orissa and four teams in Andhra Pradesh along with necessary rescue equipments, an official statement said. A team of NDRF comprises around 45 personnel.
• The Army, the Navy and the Coastguard have also been put on standby so that they can be deployed at short notice as per requirement.
• The Regional Meteorological Department in Kolkata has warned of intense spells of thundershower accompanied by gusty winds in six southern districts of West Bengal for the next four days, triggered by Titli even as brief rain played spoilsport amid heightened Durga puja preparations across the State.

Tiny device helps nerve growth

News

• Scientists have developed the first bioelectronic medicine an implantable, biodegradable wireless device that speeds nerve regeneration and improves the healing of a damaged nerve.

Beyond News

• Researchers developed a device that delivers regular pulses of electricity to damaged peripheral nerves in rats after a surgical repair process, accelerating the regrowth of nerves in their legs.
• About the size of a small coin, the wireless device operates for two weeks before getting absorbing into the body, according to the study.

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