General Awareness

ENVIRONMENT - March 2017

Mar 2017

Jan 14, 2020

Govt Identifies 16 Islands In Andamans, 10 In Lakshadweep For Development

The Centre has identified 16 islands in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and 10 in Lakshadweep for holistic development by promoting tourism and offering facilities for export of seafood and coconut-based products.
This was disclosed at the sixth meeting of the Island Development Agency (IDA), chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The Island Development Agency reviewed the progress made towards the programme holistic development of islands and for the first time in the country, under the guidance of IDA, an initiative of sustainable development in the identified Islands within scientifically-assessed carrying capacity has been taken-up.

Jan 13, 2020

Australia May List Koalas As 'Endangered' Species

The Australian government said it could declare koalas as an "endangered" species after their population suffered "extraordinary hit" in the bushfire crisis, which destroyed 30 per cent of their habitat across the country.
Since September 2019, the raging Australian bushfires, one of the worst in its history, has killed at least 26 people, burned over 10 million hectares of land, destroyed over 2,000 homes and pushed many species towards extinction.
Over 1.25 billion animals are believed to be dead in the wake of bushfires and experts believe that hundreds of billions of insects may have been wiped out.
The government has established a 50-million Australian dollar emergency fund to address the devastating loss of wildlife.

Kaziranga Records 96 Species Of Wetland Birds

Kaziranga, home of the world's most one-horned rhinos, has 96 species of wetland birds — one of the highest for wildlife preserves in India.
Officials of the Kaziranga National Park and avian specialists conducted the second wetland bird count on January 9-10, 2020. The teams counted a total of 19,225 birds belonging to 96 species under 80 families.

Taal Volcano: Lava Spews As 'Hazardous Eruption' Feared

A weak flow of lava began seeping out of Taal volcano - located some 70km (45 miles) south of the capital Manila.
A volcano in the Philippines has begun spewing lava, as authorities warn that a "hazardous eruption" is possible "within hours or days".
Taal had earlier emitted a huge plume of ash, triggering the mass evacuation of 8,000 people from the area.
Taal is the Philippines' second most active volcano.
Situated on an island in the middle of a lake, it is one of the world's smallest volcanoes and has recorded at least 34 eruptions in the past 450 years.

Jan 11, 2020

Environment Ministry Notifies New Wetland Rules

In a major decision, the union environment ministry notified the new Wetland (Conservation and Management) Rules 2017 which prohibit a range of activities in wetlands like setting up and expansion of industries, waste dumping and discharge of effluents.
Environmental experts, however, are unhappy as they felt the new wetland rules seriously weakens the existing regulations.
The new rules will replace the 2010 version of the rules. The draft of the Wetland Rules was first presented by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in April 2016. But they were severely criticized by conservationists who had alleged that the draft rules don't mention anything about a national regulator and don't list specific activities prohibited in these ecologically sensitive areas.

IEA Launches First In-Depth Review Of India's Energy Policies

In partnership with NITI Aayog, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released the first in-depth review of India's energy policies.
The report highlights the achievements of India's energy policies and provides recommendations to support the government's goals of promoting well-functioning energy markets and boosting deployment of renewables.
Dr Fatih Birol (Executive Director of the IEA) presented the key findings of the IEA in-depth review of India's energy policies in New Delhi in the presence of Shri Pralhad Joshi (Minister of Coal), Shri Dharmendra Pradhan (Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Steel), Shri R K Singh (Minister for Power and Renewable Energy), Dr Rajiv Kumar (Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog), Shri Amitabh Kant (CEO of NITI Aayog), key energy secretaries, ambassadors, think tanks and the media.

10 New Bird Taxa Discovered In Islands Of Wallacea

Birds are the best known class of animals, and since 1999, only five or six new species have been described each year on average. Recently, a joint research team from NUS and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) made a quantum leap in the discovery of cryptic avian diversity by uncovering five bird species and five subspecies new to science.
The team, led by Associate Professor Frank Rheindt from NUS Biological Sciences, found the birds in three small island groups off Sulawesi, Indonesia. The islands are situated in Indonesia's Wallacea region, an archipelago at the interface between the Oriental and Australian biogeographical realms, named after Sir Alfred Wallace, who was the most famous historical collector exploring the area.

Jan 10, 2020

Australia Bushfire Crisis: 24 Killed, Over 6 Mn Hectares Of Land Burned

Australia's raging bushfire crisis, one of the worst in its history, has killed 24 people, burned over six million hectares of land, reduced to ashes hundreds of homes and pushed many species towards extinction. Authorities on March issued fresh warnings and evacuation orders in the country's southeast as hot and windy conditions threatened to regenerate huge bushfires.
Around 23 fires were still burning in Victoria, according the state's emergency management commissioner Andrew Crisp.

Chinese PADDLEFISH is Extinct

According to the country's fisheries experts native to China's Yangtze River, the Chinese paddlefish, one of the largest freshwater fish species which had survived for millions of years, has been declared extinct, but haven't been spotted since 2003.
The fish could grow up to 7 metres in length and weigh as much as 450 kg and is known for its silver-coloured body and long snout.

Jan 09, 2020

2019 7th warmest year recorded in country since 1901: IMD

2019 was recorded as the seventh warmest year since 1901, but the heating was substantially lower than the highest warming observed in 2016.
In its report for 2019, the IMD said 1,562 people died due to extreme weather events -avalanches floods, heat wave and thunderstorms. The figure is based on media reports and government agencies.
Bihar was the most adversely affected state during the year, which reported about 650 lives due to heavy rain and floods, heat wave, lightning, thunderstorm and hailstorm.

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