General Awareness

ENVIRONMENT - December 2018

Dec 2018

Dec 16, 2021

Uttarakhand's Askot Wildlife Sanctuary Declared Eco-Sensitive Zone

The gazette notification declaring Askot Wildlife Sanctuary in the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand as an eco-sensitive zone was issued by the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment reducing its area by 146 square kilometres, a stretch along which over 111 villages are located.
After the new notification, Askot Wildlife Sanctuary has become the first sanctuary in the state without any villages inside it.
The Askot Wildlife Sanctuary was established to protect the endangered flagship species Musk Deer and its habitat. The Askot Wildlife Sanctuary is also known as Musk Deer Park.

Dec 15, 2021

Haiderpur Wetland in Uttar Pradesh Recognised as Ramsar Site

The Haiderpur Wetland abutting the Madhya Ganga barrage, about 10 km from Bijnor in western Uttar Pradesh, was recognised under the 1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Uttar Pradesh is now home to 9 Ramsar wetlands. The wetland has also been identified under Namami Gange, a central flagship, as a model wetland along the Ganga. With this, there are now a total of 47 such designated areas in the country.
The site supports more than 25,000 water birds, serves as a breeding site for the near-threatened Indian grassbird and provides refuge to the northern subspecies population of the vulnerable swamp deer during its seasonal flood-driven migration. The site also regularly supports more than 1% of the population of greylag goose and bar-headed goose.

Climate Crisis: UN Recognizes New Arctic Temperature Record of 38 Degrees

The UN officially recognized the 38 degrees Celsius measured in Siberia in 2020 as a new record high for the Arctic, sounding alarm bells over climate change.
The sweltering heat, equivalent to 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, was seen in June 2020, in the Russian town of Verkhoyansk, marking the highest temperature ever recorded above the Arctic Circle.
This is the first time the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has added record heat in the Arctic to its archive of extreme weather reports, and it comes amid an unprecedented wave of record temperature spikes globally.
Verkhoyansk lies about 115 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle and temperatures have been measured there since 1885.

Dec 14, 2021

Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier Ice Shelf could Collapse within Five Years

As per reports, the demise of a West Antarctic glacier poses the world's biggest threat to raise sea levels before 2100 — and an ice shelf that's holding it back from the sea could collapse within three to five years.
Thwaites Glacier is one of the largest, highest glaciers in Antarctica. Spanning 120 kilometers across, the glacier is roughly the size of Florida, and were the whole thing to fall into the ocean, it would raise sea levels by 65 centimeters, or more than two feet. Right now, its melting is responsible for about 4 percent of global sea level rise.
But a large portion of the glacier is about to lose its tenuous grip on the seafloor, and that will dramatically speed up its seaward slide.

Dec 09, 2021

Kazhuveli Wetland is 16th Bird Sanctuary of Tamil Nadu

The Kazhuveli wetland situated in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu was declared as the 16th Bird Sanctuary by Surpiya Sahu, Environment and Forest Secretary, at the Minister of Environment Forest and Climate Change. The declaration was made under subsection (1) of section 18 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The Kazhuveli wetland is referred to as the 2nd largest Brackish Water Lake in South India, only after Pulicat Lake.
Kazhuveli Bird Sanctuary covers 5,151.60 hectares of land in Vanur taluk and 3,027.25 hectares in Marakkanam taluks.
The sanctuary lies adjacent to the Bay of Bengal along the East coast of Tamil Nadu.
Kazhuveli is a wetland of international importance that is spread over 670 square km in the east coast of Tamil Nadu.
Note- Southern part of the wetland was declared reserved land in the year 2001.
The Sanctuary covers 13 villages in the Villupuram district.
The place is home to a diverse species of flora and fauna, giving accommodation to long-distance migrant birds from Central Asia and Siberia.

Dec 01, 2021

Researchers Discover New Marine Reptile

Kyhytysuka sachicarum is a new marine reptile species discovered by an international team of researchers. It is an extinct species. It was discovered from fossils found in central Columbia. Earlier scientists believed that it belonged to Platypterygius genus. Recently, it was discovered that it is a different species. And thus it is now named as Kyhytysuka sachicarum.
Kyhytysuka means "the one that cuts with something sharp". The word belongs to the indigenous language of central Columbia.
The new species has been named Kyhytysuka sachicarum to honour the Muisca culture of central Columbia. The Muisca are also called Chibcha. They were conquered by the Spanish in 1537. They were mainly agrarians. They also extracted salt from the sea.

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