Subject: Environment Context: The major cause of worst locust attack after gap of 26 years is extreme weather events linked to climate change. Concept: Extreme weather events include unexpected, unusual, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution, the range that has been seen in the past. As the world has warmed, that warming […]
Subject: Environment Context: “Money Laundering and the Illegal Wildlife Trade” report was released by FATF. Concept: Findings: The illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a major transnational organisedcrime that fuels corruption, threats biodiversity, and can have significant public health impacts. In particular, the spread in recent years of zoonotic diseases underlines the importance of ensuring that […]
Subject: Geography/Environment Context: By studying microscopic zooplankton called foraminifera, researches had published a paper which first found evidence from the past of an Indian Ocean El Nino Concept: Findings: The report speaks about Last Glacial Maximum which existed about 19,000-21,000 years ago, in which ice-sheets covered North America and Eurasia, and sea-levels were much lower, […]
Subject: Environment Context: The Odisha forest department has started a two-year conservation project for fishing cats in Bhitarkanika National Park Concept: The fishing cat is nocturnal and apart from fish also preys on frogs, crustaceans, snakes, birds, and scavenges on carcasses of larger animals. In India, fishing cats are mainly found in the mangrove forests […]
Subject: Environment Context: National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) has conducted research on Coccolithophores and has found that there is a decrease in the concentration of oceanic calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in the southern Indian ocean. Concept: Coccolithophores (ancient marine algae) have been playing a key role in marine ecosystems and the global carbon […]
Subject: Environment Context: Several students unions in the country wrote letter to government to hold draft EIA notification 2020. Concept: Environment Impact Assessment or EIA can be defined as the study to predict the effect of a proposed activity/project on the environment. A decision making tool, EIA compares various alternatives for a project and seeks […]
Subject: Environment Context: The Arctic Circle has recorded likely all-time high temperatures reaching over 38 degrees Celsius in the Siberian town of Verkhoyansk which seem to have been 18 degree Celsius higher than normal in June. Concept: The Arctic’s extreme warming, known as Arctic amplification or polar amplification, may be due to three factors. One, […]
Subject: Environment Context: Maharashtra state forest department declared 29.53 sqkm area of Dodamarg forest range, which is wildlife corridor in Sindhudurg district as ‘Tillari Conservation Reserve’. Concept: The 38-km-long Dodamarg wildlife corridor that connects Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra to Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka frequently witnesses elephant and tiger movement. Wildlife corridors A wildlife corridor is […]