Where is COP venue Sharm el-Sheikh, and how are climate conference hosts decided

• Sharm el-Sheikh, often called just Sharm, is a resort town in Egypt, situated at the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula where the Gulf of Aqaba joins the Red Sea.
• It is a major tourist centre in Egypt, and also, like Cancun in Mexico, a preferred venue for international conferences.
• The venue for the COP meeting rotates among the five UN-identified regions:
  • Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Caribbean, and Western Europe and Others.
• The countries in the region propose a candidate, and a host is usually decided at least two years in advance.
• If no country agrees to be the host, Bonn, where the UNFCCC secretariat is headquartered, steps in as host.
• The rotation cycle has not been followed very strictly.
• The first and second COPs were held in western Europe (Berlin and Geneva), and so were the fifth and sixth (Bonn and the Hague).
• After the 2012 COP in Doha, the event has not yet returned to Asia.
• Countries are sometimes not enthusiastic to host the event. This is mainly due to two reasons.
  • One, the host city incurs huge expenditure on the event, not all of which is reimbursed.
  • There are many thousands of participants, a large number of high-profile visits by international dignitaries, and frequent disruptions by protesters who come from all over the world — all of which stretch the city’s resources and are sometimes more trouble than they are worth.
  • Two, the host country, which presides over the conference, is expected to demonstrate leadership in taking steps to combat climate change.
  • This is the reason why countries like the US, China, or Russia, or even Japan, Australia, or Canada, are not keen to host COP.
  • Japan hosted the 1997 event that produced the Kyoto Protocol, but it was also the first country to walk out of it in 2011.
  • Australia, which too withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol, has never hosted the conference.
• India, the third largest emitter, hosted the 2002 COP in New Delhi, much before climate change became a big thing.

A few billionaires have carbon footprint the size of France

• This report is based on the fact that every human on Earth has a carbon footprint, which can be divided into “personal consumption emissions, emissions through government spending and emissions linked to investments”.
• An analysis of the investments of 125 of the world’s richest billionaires was conducted by Oxfam International, and the report was published in November, 2022.
• It demonstrated that on average, billionaires are responsible for emitting “3 million tonnes” of carbon a year, which is, “more than a million times the average for someone in the bottom 90% of humanity”.
• It further found out that the 125 billionaires taken as a sample fund about 393 million tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) per year.
• This is equivalent to the “annual carbon emissions of France,” which is a nation of 67 million people.
• In comparison, it said, “it would take 1.8 million cows to emit the same levels of CO2e as each of the 125 billionaires,” and “almost four million people would have to go vegan to offset the emissions of each of the billionaires”.
• The report comes at a time when discussions to meet the globally agreed target of limiting the world’s temperature to below 1.5℃ is underway at COP 27 in Egypt and has significant implications for climate policymaking.
• It takes a critical look at the relationship between economic inequality and climate crisis.
• The idea is that since billionaires hold significant wealth and stakes in globally recognised corporations, they hold the power to influence the ways in which those corporations behave.
• As people from low and middle-income backgrounds do not exercise much control over their energy choices, the report says it is imperative for world leaders to ensure that “those who emit the most carbon also do the most to reduce those emissions”.
• The report suggests that a wealth tax on the richest could aid the urgent climate finance needs of developing countries and “raise hundreds of billions of dollars to help and protect those already suffering the impacts of catastrophic climate change”.

MHA completes mother tongue survey project across India with field videography of 576 mother tongues

• According to the report, the Mother Tongue Survey of India is a project that “surveys the mother tongues, which are returned consistently across two and more Census decades”.
• It also documents the linguistic features of the selected languages.
• The report states that the NIC and the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) will be documenting and preserving the linguistic data of the surveyed mother tongues in audio-video files.
• Video-graphed speech data of Mother Tongues will also be uploaded on the NIC survey for archiving purposes.
• Linguistic Survey of India (LSI) is a regular research activity in the country since the 6th Five Year Plan.
• As per an analysis of 2011 linguistic census data in 2018, more than 19,500 languages or dialects are spoken in India as mother tongues.
• The category “mother tongue” is a designation provided by the respondent, but it need not be identical with the actual linguistic medium.
• After subjecting the 19,569 returns to linguistic scrutiny, edit and rationalisation, they were grouped into 121 mother tongues.
• According to the 2011 linguistic census, Hindi is the most widely spoken mother tongue, with 52.8 crore people or 43.6 per cent of the population declaring it as the mother tongue.
• The next highest is Bengali, mother tongue for 9.7 crore individuals, and accounting for 8 per cent of the population.

Education of children:

• The new National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for the foundational stages of education, has recommended that mother tongue should be the primary medium of instruction in schools for children up to eight years of age.
• The focus on mother tongue as the medium of instruction, especially for primary schooling, has been a feature of education policies for years.
• The new NCF, which deals with pre-school and classes I-II, emphasises the virtues of the mother tongue as the primary medium of instruction, saying that by the time children join pre-school, they acquire significant competence in the “home language”.
• According to the NCF, evidence from research confirms the importance of teaching children in their mother tongue during the foundational years and beyond.
• NCF also states that since children learn concepts most rapidly and deeply in their home language, the primary medium of instruction would optimally be the child’s home language/ mother tongue/ familiar language in the Foundational Stage.

Need to update NPR again to incorporate changes due to birth, death and migration: MHA annual report

• The National Population Register (NPR) is a register of usual residents of the country.
• It includes both Indian citizens as well as a foreign citizen.
• According to the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, a usual resident is a person who has resided in a local area for the past 6 months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next 6 months or more.
• It is being prepared at the local (Village/sub-Town), sub-District, District, State and National level under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
• The first National Population Register was prepared in 2010 and updation of this data was done during 2015 by conducting door to door survey.
• The next update of the NPR will take place next year from April to September 2020 in all the States/UTs except Assam along with the Houselisting phase of the Census 2021.
• The demographic details of every individual are required on 21 points which includes ''date and place of birth of parents'', last place of residence, Permanent Account Number (PAN), Aadhar (on a voluntary basis), Voter ID card number, Driving License Number and Mobile Number.
• In the last NPR done in 2010, the data was collected on the 15 points and it did not include ''date and place of birth of parents'' and last place of residence.

Neelakurinji flowers wither away, tourists inflow continues

• Scientific Name:Strobilanthes kunthianus.
• Common Names:Neelakurinji; Kurinji.
• Distribution:
  • It is a shrub prominently found in the shola forests of the Western Ghats.
  • Besides it is also seen in the Shevroys in the Eastern Ghats.
• Blooming period:The blue flowers of Neelakurinji blossoms only once in 12 years.
• Conservation:Core area of Kurinjimala Sanctuary, in Idukki district of Kerala, protects the kurinji.
• Cultural significance:
  • Nilgiri Hills (Literally meaning the blue mountains), got their name from the blue flowers of Neelakurinji.
  • The Paliyan tribes (in Tamil Nadu) use it as a reference to calculate their age.

CSIR-NGRI working on early warning systems in Himalayan States

• The scientists in the institute have identified a few locations in the higher reaches of Uttarakhand for “densification” of seismometers and river gauges to take the total number to 100 from 60.
• The objective is to closely monitor the river flows in specific areas along the catchment to detect any sudden rise in water levels or flooding threshold that can lead to a hazard.
• Scientists have decided to take cognisance of the vibrations or “noise” recorded by the seismometers, which need not be due to earthquakes but can also be because of vehicular traffic, animal movement, rain, river flows and so on.
• These instruments are crucial for the safety of large infrastructure projects and hydroelectric power plants in this region.
• Currently, scientists are able to detect and assess a sudden flow 30-40 km away since the seismic wave is faster than the flow, and hence, the advance warning comes at least half an hour before.
• The NGRI has started utilising Machine Learning to detect these observations faster than the normal approach.
• Scientists at the Geological Survey of India (GSI), a scientific agency established under the Ministry of Mines to conduct geological surveys and studies of India, in collaboration with the British Geological Survey, have been evaluating a prototype to predict landslides in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal and the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu.
• If the model proves successful, it is likely to be deployed in some parts of India as early as 2025.

Early warning systems:

• Early warning systems have been recognized as an effective tool to reduce vulnerabilities and improve preparedness and response to hazards, according to the United Nations Development Programme.
• The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030), an international document adopted by United Nations (UN) member states in 2015, requires countries to set out an early warning system with a multi-hazard approach by 2030.

Chiefs of Indian, French Air Forces join ongoing Garuda-VII air exercise

• It is a bilateral exercise between Indian Air Force (IAF) and French Air and Space Force (FASF).
• It provides a unique opportunity for both Air Forces to learn and imbibe each other’s best practices during operations while also highlighted the growing interoperability between the two Air Forces.
• Ex Garuda-VII is also the first occasion for the light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas and the light combat helicopter (LCH) Prachand to participate in any international exercise.
• It includes four Rafale fighters and one A-330 multi-role tanker transport aircraft from the French side.
• Apart from the LCA and LCH, the IAF contingent consists of Su-30 MK-I, Rafale and Jaguar fighter aircraft, as well as Mi-17 helicopters.
• This is the seventh edition of the bilateral exercise.
• The first, third and fifth editions were conducted in India in 2003, 2006 and 2014 at Air Force Stations Gwalior, Kalaikunda and Jodhpur, respectively.
• The second, fourth and sixth editions were conducted in France in 2005, 2010 and 2019.

Skyroot''s first rocket set for launch from Sriharikota

• India’s first privately developed rocket, Vikram-S, is poised to create history as it undergoes final preparations at the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) launchpad in Sriharikota for launch between November 12 and 16.
• It was developed by the Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace.
• The mission named ‘Prarambh’ (the beginning), since it is the first mission for Skyroot.
• With this maiden mission, Skyroot is set to become the first private space company in India to launch a rocket into space.
• The launch mission will be a suborbital spaceflight, and will carry three customer payloads to the intended orbit.
• Suborbital spaceflight:
  • A suborbital spaceflight refers to a height of around 100km from the Earth''s surface, and is done at a lower altitude than an orbital flight, which reaches at least a low-Earth orbit — between around 200km to 2,000km from Earth.
  • Suborbital flights are known to be important for conducting tests of space missions, before final commercial missions take place.
• Among the three payloads is a 2.5kg satellite of another space startup, Space Kidz India, which has been built by students from India, the US and Indonesia.
• Skyroot, a two-time national award winner, is the first start-up to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ISRO in this regard.
• The Vikram series, named after the founder of India’s space programme Dr Vikram Sarabhai, are all-carbon-fibre structures that can launch up to 800 kg of payloads to the Low Earth Orbit.
• Skyroot has designed the series for the small satellite market at low costs and with capabilities for multi-orbit insertion.

Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe):

• The establishment of IN-SPACe was announced in June 2020.
• It is an autonomous and single window nodal agency in the Department of Space for the promotion, encouragement and regulation of space activities of both government and private entities.
• It also facilitates the usage of ISRO facilities by private entities.
• The programme also witnessed the exchange of MoUs between IN-SPACe and private sector companies working in the field of space-based applications and services.

Kolkata has revealed that aerosol pollution in West Bengal is anticipated to rise by 8% and continue to remain in the “highly vulnerable” red zone in 2023.

• Aerosols are fine particulates that float in the atmosphere.
• Aerosol pollution refers to particles in the air emitted by vehicles and factories that burn fossil fuels.
• High aerosol amounts include particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) among other pollutants as well as sea salt, dust, black and organic carbon.
• Primary aerosols like dust, soot, or sea salt, come directly from the planet’s surface. They get lifted into the atmosphere by gusty winds, shot high into the air by exploding volcanoes, or they waft away from smokestacks or flames.
• Secondary aerosols form when different things floating in the atmosphere—like organic compounds released by plants, liquid acid droplets, or other materials—crash together, culminating in a chemical or physical reaction.
• If inhaled they can be harmful.
• This pollution contributes to asthma, bronchitis, and long-term irritation of the respiratory tract, which can lead to cancer.
• Aerosols influence climate in two primary ways:
  • by changing the amount of heat that gets in or out of the atmosphere, or
  • by affecting the way clouds form.

Aerosol optical depth (AOD):

• Aerosol optical depth (AOD) is the quantitative estimate of the aerosol present in the atmosphere and can be used as a proxy measurement of PM2.5.
• AOD is measured on the basis of how much light is getting attenuated due to the presence of particulate matter.
• More particulates present means more light will be absorbed and hence more will be the AOD. It is measured with the help of remote sensing using satellites.
• The values of AOD range from 0 to 1.0.
• While 0 indicates a crystal-clear sky with maximum visibility, a value of 1 indicates very hazy conditions.
  • AOD values less than 0.3 fall under the green zone (safe),
  • 3-0.4 is blue zone (less vulnerable),
  • 4-0.5 is orange (vulnerable), and
  • Over 0.5 is the red zone (highly vulnerable).

Ranthambore festival to be held only after considering impact on wildlife: NGT

• Ranthambore National Park is located in Rajasthan.
• It is located at the junction of the Aravali and Vindhya hill ranges.
• It is the natural habitat to the significant number of Royal Bengal tigers.
• Apart from tigers, the major wild animals include Leopard, Nilgai, Wild boar, Sambar, Hyena, Sloth bear and Chital.
• The number of tigers and their cubs in the adjoining areas of Ranthambore has gone up from 66 in 2019 to 81 in 2021.
• Ranthambore National Park was established initially as Sawai Madhopur Game Sanctuary in 1955 by the Government of India.
• In 1973, it was declared as one of the Project Tiger reserves in India.
• It was on 1st November, 1980 that Ranthambore was declared a national park, while the forests located beside it were named Sawai Man Singh Sanctuary & Keladevi Sanctuary.