General Awareness

ENVIRONMENT - August 2019

Aug 2019

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.

Nov 24, 2021

Israel, Jordan, UAE Agree on Regional Cooperation to Tackle Climate Crisis

Israel, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have signed a 'historic' agreement for regional cooperation in the fight against the climate crisis.
The agreement was signed in Dubai, the UAE, by the Israeli Minister of Energy Karin Elharrar, the UAE's Minister of Food and Water Security Mariam Almheiri, and Jordan's Water Minister Mohammad Najjar, with the presence of the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry.
As part of the agreement, Jordan will export 600 megawatts of green electricity to Israel, from new storage facilities that will be built under the agreement.
In exchange, Israel will examine the export of up to 200 million cubic meters of desalinated water to Jordan, from a new desalination facility to be built in Israel.

Nov 17, 2021

Fossils of Cretaceous-Period Coelacanth Discovered in Texas

Fossils of Cretaceous-period coelacanth were discovered in Texas. The fossils are estimated to be around 96 million years old and belong to the first Cretaceous Mawsoniid coelacanth from North America.
Coelacanths are a group of large lobe-finned fish (sarcopterygians) closely related to tetrapods.
They were thought to have been extinct for 66 million years, until a first living specimen was caught fortuitously in South Africa in 1938.
Coelacanths first appeared in the Early Devonian epoch, diversified a little in the Devonian and Carboniferous period, and attained a maximum of diversity in the Early Triassic.
During the Cretaceous, they are known by two families only, the Latimeriidae, which survived to the present with the genus Latimeria, and the Mawsoniidae, which went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous.

Nov 16, 2021

Maharashtra Signs MoU to Boost Adoption of Electric Vehicles

The Maharashtra government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian arm of the USA-based Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) to support adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in Maharashtra.
RMI India, which is an independent non-profit working on clean energy transitions in the country, is expected to provide technical support for implementation of the state's newly launched EV Policy. The MoU was signed in Glasgow amid the ongoing COP26 summit.
It may be noted that Maharashtra's new draft Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy 2021 aims to bring at least 146,000 new battery-operated electric vehicles (BEVs) on state roads by 2025.

Syria Reservoir Dries up for First Time

A key reservoir in north-western Syria is almost completely dry for the first time in its 27-year history. The emptying of the reservoir is attributed to low rainfall, structural damage and extraction by struggling farmers.
In 2021, Syria has been experiencing one of its driest and hottest years on record. This has caused drought and a series of wildfires.
Along with climate change, the region receiving historically low rainfall last winter has led to the reservoir drying out.
The reservoir formed by Al-Duwaysat Dam in Idlib province is a key irrigation source for thousands of farmers.

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