General Awareness

ENVIRONMENT - December 2018

Dec 2018

Feb 06, 2019

Ganga Flow May Rise Then Fall Abruptly

Climate change will begin altering water levels in the Ganga and the Brahmaputra in the next three decades, and after 2050, the Rivers could record an abrupt decrease in flow, according to a study on the Hindu Kush and Himalayan (HKH) region that predicts disruptions which could jeopardise agriculture and access to drinking water.
The findings are part of the report from Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), which includes 210 authors who studied the ecology of the Hindu Kush and Himalayan region.
The report released predicts that a third of glaciers in the HKH region will thaw if average global temperatures rise by 1.5°C.
For the Ganga, Brahmaputra and Indus, the report adds that water flow will gradually rise till 2050 before they start to plummet.
This, the assessment adds, will consequently diminish the water available for drinking, irrigating farms, and producing electricity for roughly 250 million people living downstream.

Dinosaur Found in Patagonia

A herbivorous dinosaur that fended off predators with a row of spines running along its back and lived 140 million years ago has been found in Argentine Patagonia.
The discovery of the new species of dicraeosauridae, christened Bajadasaurus pronuspinax, was revealed in Scientific Reports.
A reproduction of its spiny neck was exhibited in the Cultural Science Center in Buenos Aires.
Bajadasaurus was a quadruped and part of the wider Sauropod family that lived from the late Triassic period (around 230 million years ago) until the end of the late Cretaceous (70 million years ago).

Feb 05, 2019

Two-thirds of Himalayan Ice Cap May Melt

According to a major new study, scientists have warned that two-thirds of Himalayan glaciers, the world's "Third Pole", could melt by 2100 if global emissions are not reduced.
According to the Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment, even if the most ambitious Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5° C is achieved, one-third of the glaciers would go.
The glaciers feed 10 of the world's most important river systems, including the Ganges, Indus, Yellow, Mekong and Irrawaddy, and directly or indirectly supply billions of people with food, energy, clean air and income.

Feb 02, 2019

Brace for Impact

According to a NASA study, warming of the tropical oceans due to climate change may lead to a substantial increase in the frequency of extreme rain storms by the end of the century.
The study led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the U.S. combed through 15 years of data acquired by the space agency's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument over the tropical oceans to determine the relationship between the average sea surface temperature and the onset of severe storms.
The researchers found that extreme storms - those producing at least three millimetres of rain per hour over a 25-kilometre area - formed when the sea surface temperature was higher than about 28 degrees Celsius.
The study also found that, based on the data, 21 per cent more storms form for every one degree Celsius that ocean surface temperatures rise.

Jan 29, 2019

India's Tiger Action Plan 2012-2018

Protecting tiger habitat and tiger corridors is a priority for the country, according to India's tiger action plan (2012 to 2018).
The latter is especially important because, while the country has seen an increase in total tiger population with numbers going up from 1,411 in 2006 to 1,706 in 2010 and 2,226 in 2014, it recorded a 12.6% decline in tiger occupancy in connecting tiger habitats outside tiger reserves between 2006 and 2010, the latest period for which this data is available.

Jan 24, 2019

Losses Caused to India Doubled in a Decade

Losses caused to India by extreme weather events more than doubled in the 10 years to 2017 from the previous decade (1998-2007), with the farm sector bearing the brunt, according to a new report published by Action on Climate Today (ACT), a UK-based initiative that works with South Asian governments to build resilience against climate change.
The report, titled 'Assessing India's Mounting Climate Losses to Financial Institutions',published on January 18, warned that the count of extreme weather events has been continuously increasing in India.
ACT used data from Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) which records natural disasters on a continuous basis, to suggest that economic losses to India from extreme weather events climbed to $45 billion in 2008-2017 from $20 billion between 1998 and 2007.
The decadal data shows that about 16 extreme climate events took place on average every year between 1998 and 2017 compared to 10 events annually between 1978 and 1997.
Among the 328 events listed in the EM-DAT database between 1998 and 2017, almost half were floods, which were responsible for the highest economic losses ($45.7 billion), more than losses resulting from storms, landslides, drought and natural disasters.
The agriculture sector bore a major share of the economic losses, according to the report, which said that despite the existence of crop insurance schemes, banks absorbed the brunt of the losses.

Share on

TCY Analytics (View Subscription Plans)

Subscribe to GK Updates

I want to receive

GK Tags

August GK, July GK, June GK, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, ENVIRONMENT, BUSINESS AND ECONOMY, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, SPORTS, NATIONAL AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, PERSONS IN NEWS, DAYS AND EVENTS, AWARDS AND HONOURS, GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND SCHEMES, GENDER/ HEALTH/ EDUCATION, ART AND CULTURE, BOOKS AND AUTHORS, TOURISM AND HOTEL INDUSTRY AWARENESS, ART AND CULTURE, LAW AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Start Discussion

On any topic

Take Tests

Compiled from GK updates

Login

Sign Up

Forgot Password

Download TCY App

Unlock All Services And Enjoy The Premium Benefits

US$ 10

US$ 13

US$ 15

US$ 17

US$ 19

US$ 20

US$ 21

US$ 22

US$ 23

US$ 24

US$ 25

US$ 26