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Tag Wise Current Affairs
Tag: Climate Change
Two-thirds of Hindu Kush Himalayan glaciers will melt by 2100: Study
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 05 February 2019
Climate change may make species infertile: Study
Tags: Biodiversity, Climate Change
Published on: 05 February 2019
Publication depicting steps taken by India to combat climate change released
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 13 February 2019
Crop residue burning is major contributor to air pollution in Delhi: Study
Tags: Biodiversity, Climate Change
Published on: 02 March 2019
World losing fish to eat due to ocean warming: Study
Tags: Biodiversity, Climate Change
Published on: 02 March 2019
NDMA conducts national workshop on heat wave risk reduction
Tags: Climate Change, Disaster & Disaster Management
Published on: 27 February 2019
Environment damage behind premature deaths, diseases: UN report
Tags: Biodiversity, Climate Change
Published on: 14 March 2019
Climate vulnerability assessment extended to all states
Tags: Biodiversity, Climate Change
Published on: 16 March 2019
India’s carbon dioxide emissions up by 4.8%: IEA report
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 27 March 2019
Earth Hour 2019 observed across the world
Tags: Climate Change, Conventions
Published on: 01 April 2019
London becomes first city to implement 24×7 pollution charge zone
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 10 April 2019
India’s first foreign interactive bird park launched in Mumbai
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 16 April 2019
Melting Arctic permafrost will accelerate global warming
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 29 April 2019
UK Parliament first to pass Environment and Climate Emergency
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 03 May 2019
Northeast India experiencing decline in Monsoon rainfall: Study
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 06 May 2019
Bengal Tiger may not survive climate change: UN Report
Tags: Biodiversity, Climate Change
Published on: 10 May 2019
Ireland becomes 2nd country to declare Climate Emergency
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 13 May 2019
UNEP-FI releases report on risk to companies from climate change
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 20 May 2019
China still using banned ozone depleting CFC-11
Tags: Climate Change, Conventions
Published on: 24 May 2019
Climate change affecting global food production: Study
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 04 June 2019
Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone to be largest in history
Tags: Biodiversity, Climate Change
Published on: 18 June 2019
Himalayan glaciers are melting twice as fast since 2000: study
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 21 June 2019
Declining biodiversity threatens food supply: UN FAO Report
Tags: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Organizations
Published on: 23 February 2019
4th UN Environment Assembly held in Nairobi, Kenya
Tags: Climate Change, Organizations
Published on: 18 March 2019
Russian lands of permafrost and mammoths is now thawing
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 08 August 2019
UNIDO and National Institute of Solar Energy to partner for skill development program
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 08 August 2019
Iceland Commemorates 1st glacier lost to climate change
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 19 August 2019
Union Home Minister Takes Part in Concluding Ceremony of ‘Mission Million Trees’ Campaign
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 30 August 2019
Greta Thunberg and United Nations youth Climate Action Summit
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 24 September 2019
India to work with China and Pakistan to study climate change
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 09 October 2019
Economic slowdown can reduce India’s carbon burden
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 06 November 2019
India’s efforts towards mitigating climate change
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 10 November 2019
Rise in sea Levels near Indian coast in last 50 years
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 20 November 2019
Reports indicate losing battle against climate change
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 28 November 2019
India has highest number of deaths caused by pollution
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 20 December 2019
New way to extract and store CO2 from vehicle exhaust
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 28 December 2019
New method to estimate melting of debris covered Himalayan glaciers
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 12 January 2020
Climate change leads to more violence on women and girls
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 05 March 2020
Earth’s atmosphere more dustier than previous estimation
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 20 April 2020
World losing 9% of its insect population every decade
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 25 April 2020
Scientists discover way to make corals heat resistant
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 15 May 2020
Antarctic ice sheets melting faster than previous estimates
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 31 May 2020
Climate change making marine species migrate towards poles
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 03 June 2020
COVID-19 lessons on fighting global heating and extinction
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 04 July 2020
Dry tropical forests at more risk than wet rainforests
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 05 July 2020
Antarctica’s melting sea ice having positive effect on Penguins
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 28 June 2020
Thawing of Arctic permafrost may release ancient diseases
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 07 July 2020
Artificial salt marshes can help fight against rising seas
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 11 September 2020
Climate change responsible for record sea temperature levels
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 06 October 2020
Melting Antarctic snow reveals remains of ancient penguins
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 06 October 2020
Dust responsible for snowmelt in Western Himalayas
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 07 October 2020
Volcanic ash may have a larger influence on planet’s climate
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 13 September 2020
Tree planting can increase carbon sequestration
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 23 September 2020
Climate change led to doubling of natural disaster
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 15 October 2020
Amazon rainforest regions more resistant to climate change
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 23 November 2020
2020 one of the three hottest years ever recorded
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 04 December 2020
Predicting vulnerability to rain or tide-based flooding
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 04 January 2021
14th century drought may provide insight into climate change
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 10 January 2021
Rice attributes that improve nitrogen use efficiency
Tags: Climate Change
Published on: 21 January 2021
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'title' => 'Two-thirds of Hindu Kush Himalayan glaciers will melt by 2100: Study',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0cm; margin-right:0cm; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Scientists in new study titled <strong>Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment</strong> have warned that two-thirds of Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) glaciers could melt by 2100 if global emissions are not reduced. It was released by Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0cm; margin-right:0cm; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><strong>HKH Assessment</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">It provides insights into changes affecting one of greatest mountain systems in the world.</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">It calls for greater recognition of protection mountain areas and HKH region in global efforts to fight climate change.</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">It has been styled after Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports and over 350 researchers, practitioners, experts, and policy-makers were involved in drafting it.</span></span></li>
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<p style="margin-left:0cm; margin-right:0cm; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><strong>Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) range </strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">HKH covers 3500 kms across eight countries – <em>Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan</em>.</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">It is referred to as planet’s “third pole” as it harbours more ice than anywhere outside Arctic and Antarctica.</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">It is source of ten major river basins including Ganga, Brahmaputra and Indus in India that flow to India, Pakistan, China, Nepal and others, and thus of critical importance. </span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">These glaciers are critical water source for some 250 million people in mountains as well as to 1.65 billion others in the river valleys below across Asia.</span></span></li>
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<p style="margin-left:0cm; margin-right:0cm; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><strong>Key Findings of HKH Assessment</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Even if efforts are made to limit global warming to 1.5 degree C by end of 2100 (ambitious goal set by the Paris Agreement to limit global warming), HKH will warm by around 1.8 degree C.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">HKH will warm more than global mean and more rapidly at higher elevations. The warming will at least be 0.7 degree C higher in northwest Himalaya and Karakoram region</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">It will lead to melting of one-third of region’s glaciers, potentially “destabilizing” Asia’s rivers. Tibetan Plateau, Central Himalayan Range and Karakoram will warm more than HKH average.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Global warming will also transform frigid, glacier-covered mountain peaks of HKH cutting across eight countries to bare rocks in a little less than a century.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The warming rate in HKH over last 50 years has been 0.2 degree C per decade. Extreme indices in region have also changed over this period: occurrences of extreme cold days and nights have declined.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Occurrences of extreme warm days and nights have also increased. Warm nights have increased throughout region, and extreme absolute temperature indices have changed significantly.</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Extremes in precipitation are increasing in HKH region and number of intense precipitation days and intensity of extreme precipitation have increased overall in the last five decades. </span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">If these trends persist frequency and magnitude of water-induced hazards in region will increase in t future. </span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Pre-monsoon flows are expected to decline, with implications for irrigation, ecosystem services and hydropower.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">HKH is also sensitive to air pollutants originating within and near it as they will amplify effects of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and accelerate melting of cryosphere through deposition of black carbon and dust, and changing monsoon circulation and rainfall distribution over Asia. </span></span></p>
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<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This study was carried out in collaboration with scientists from University of Leeds (UK), University of Melbourne (Australia) and Stockholm University and was funded by UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Key Findings of Study</strong></span></span></p>
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<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Organisms will lose fertility at lower temperatures than their <em>critical thermal limit (CTL)</em>, temperature at which they collapse, stop moving or die. This may make these species succumb to effects of climate change earlier than thought.</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It also proposes another measure of how organisms function at extreme temperatures that focuses on fertility and has termed it <em>thermal fertility limit or 'TFL'</em>.</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It calls for correlated study of TFLs as well as CTLs to identify <em>effects of fertility losses due to climate change</em>, <em>which organisms are particularly vulnerable to these thermal fertility losses</em> and <em>design conservation programmers that for these species to survive in changing climate</em>.</span></span></li>
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'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">UN agency World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has officially announced that 2018 was the fourth warmest year on record. In fact, 2015, 2016 and 2017 already have been confirmed as warmest years on record since global temperature records began. It concludes that it is clear sign of continuing long-term climate change associated with record atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases and stresses for urgent need for action to rein in runaway global warming</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>WMO Findings</strong></span></span></p>
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<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The degree of warming during past four years has been exceptional, both on land and in the ocean.</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Global average surface temperature in 2018 was approximately 1°C above pre-industrial baseline (1850-1900).</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The year 2016, which was influenced by strong El Nino, remains warmest year on record with 1.2°C above pre-industrial baseline.</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">20-warmest years in history all occurred within last 22 years. In coming years, temperatures are likely to approach levels that that most governments view as dangerous for the Earth.</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Heightened temperatures in recent years have contributed to number of extreme weather events such as heatwaves, powerful storms, droughts, mudslides, extinctions and rising sea levels.</span></span></li>
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<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>World Meteorological Organization (WMO) </strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is intergovernmental organization whose mandate covers weather, climate and water resources. Its supreme body is World Meteorological Congress.</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Established in 1950 by ratification of WMO Convention. It originated from International Meteorological Organization (IMO), the roots of which were planted at1873 Vienna International Meteorological Congress.</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and is headed by the Secretary-General. It has185 Member States and 6 Member Territories.</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is specialized agency of United Nations (UN) for meteorology, operational hydrology and related geophysical science,</span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is dedicated to international cooperation and coordination on state and behavior of Earth’s atmosphere, its interaction with land and oceans, weather and climate and distribution of water resources.</span></span></li>
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'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change released publication on climate actions in India titled “India – Spearheading Climate Solutions”. It mentions key actions taken by India under various sectors towards combating and adapting to climate change. It also highlights India’s achievements towards climate action and also its preparedness for future.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Some of major initiatives in publication are</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC):</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif"> It covers eight major missions on Sustainable Habitat, Water, Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem, Solar, Enhanced Energy Efficiency, Green India, Sustainable Agriculture and Strategic Knowledge on Climate Change</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">International Solar Alliances (ISA): </span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is alliance of more than 121 countries initiated by India, most of them being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. Now it has been extended to all UN member countries.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC): </span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It has been prepared by every state to create coherent national framework for combating and adapting to climate change. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is line with national climate policy NAPCC and obliges states to incorporate climate change concerns in the decision-making process. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">States have primarily responsibility to address climate change due to India’s federal structure. Their climate strategies are aligned with eight National Missions under the NAPCC. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">FAME Scheme:</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif"> It aims to boost e-mobility. It stands for faster Adoption and Manufacture of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Atal Mission for Rejuvenation & Urban Transformation (AMRUT):</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif"> It is for Smart Cities.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana:</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif"> It was launched to provide access to clean cooking fuel and empower women. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">UJALA scheme:</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif"> It is for embracing energy efficient LED bulbs. UJALA stands for stands for Unnat Jeevan by Affordable LEDs and Appliances for All. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Swachh Bharat Mission:</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif"> It was launched in October 2014 to achieve universal sanitation coverage and to put focus on sanitation. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It aims to achieve Swachh Bharat or make India clean by 2019, as a fitting tribute to 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It world’s largest sanitation program aimed at bringing behavioural change of people with respect to toilet access and usage. </span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Other Government Initiatives </span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">In the recent past, Central Government of India has taken number of initiatives to combat the challenge of climate change. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Some of key initiatives of Union Government include National Adaptation Fund on Climate Change (NAFCC), Climate Change Action Programme (CCAP) etc.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Government also has set ambitious goal of generating 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022. Now this, capacity stands at more than 74 GW of which about 25 GW is from solar. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Government also has launched smart cities, energy efficiency initiatives, electric vehicles leapfrogged from Bharat Stage -IV to Bharat Stage-VI emission norms by April 2020 etc. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">India’s forest and tree cover has increased by 1 percent as compared to assessment of 2015. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">India recently submitted its Second Biennial Update Report (BUR) to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2018 as per reporting obligations under convention. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">The report mentions that emission intensity of India’s GDP came down by 21% between 2005 and 2014 and India’s achievement of climate goal for pre-2020 period is on track.</span></span></span></li>
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<ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 311,
'title' => 'Crop residue burning is major contributor to air pollution in Delhi: Study',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">According to recent study, biomass burning is major source of air pollution in national capital Delhi especially in winters as it results in emission of larger concentration of black carbon (BC) aerosols due to incomplete combustion. The study was conducted by scientists at Stockholm University, Sweden and Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (regional centre, New Delhi).</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Key Findings of Study</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Sources of the high biomass emissions were regional rather than local and urban. BC entering Delhi from neighbouring states is around 42% in winter and 36% in autumn. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Burning of crop residue or wood and vehicular emissions, both contribute around 40% each to pollution in Delhi.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">There is seasonal trend of variation of organic carbon and BC in particulate matter. It suggests that to efficiently combat severe air pollution, it is necessary to not only mitigate urban emissions, but also regional-scale biomass emissions, including agricultural crop residue burning.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Responsible neighboring states:</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif"> Phenomenon of crop residue burning in Delhi’s neighboring states such as Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh contributes to national capital’s winter pollution.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">In these crop residue burning occurs after harvest which typically occurs in October/November for wheat and in April/May for rice.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Summer months in Delhi see pollution majorly owing to local sources, winter and autumn particulate matter (PM) has large footprint of biomass burning.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Weather conditions:</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif"> Wind direction in winter (northwesterly), as opposed to southwesterly in summer and monsoon, brings biomass burning load to Delhi during winder. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Besides, weather conditions ensure that atmospheric boundary layer height in winters is lower, which means that atmospheric transport occurs closer to the surface in winter and autumn.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Impact: </span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Atmospheric pollution due black carbon is pronounced problem not only in Delhi but in other cities that fall in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). It not only affects health adversely but also contributes significantly to global warming.</span></span></span></li>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 314,
'title' => 'World losing fish to eat due to ocean warming: Study',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">According to recent study, fish populations are declining as oceans warm, putting key source of food and income at risk for millions of people around the world. It has found that amount of seafood that humans could sustainably harvest from wide range of species shrank by 4.1% from 1930 to 2010 mainly due to human-caused (induced) climate change.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Key Findings of Study</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">The 4% decline in range of fish species equals to 1.4 million metric tons of fish from 1930 to 2010. Global warming will put pressure on world’s food supplies in coming decades. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It separate effects of ocean warming due to climate change from other factors, like overfishing. It suggests that climate change is already having a serious impact on seafood.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Marine life has been subjected to some of most drastic effects of climate change. The oceans have absorbed 93% of heat that is trapped by greenhouse gases (GHGs) that humans pump into the atmosphere.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Protecting fish form overfishing and improving overall management of fisheries can help in short term. But ultimate solution lies in slowing or halting climate change.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Background</span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Fish make up 17% of global population’s intake of animal protein, and as much as 70% for people living in some coastal and island countries. Fish provide vital source of protein for over half of global population, and some 56 million people worldwide are supported in some way by marine fisheries</span></span></span></p>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
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'title' => 'NDMA conducts national workshop on heat wave risk reduction ',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) conducted two-day national workshop on heat wave risk reduction in Nagpur, Maharashtra. This workshop was aimed at sensitising states about need of preparing and implementing specific Heat Action Plans. It was organised in collaboration with Maharashtra Government.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">National workshop on heat wave</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It provided opportunity for community capacity building and awareness generation among vulnerable populations. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It also discussed integration of long-term heat risk reduction measures into developmental plans as well as Climate Change Adaptation.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It was attended by experts on heat wave as well as other stakeholders such as early warning and forecasting agencies, State governments and research institutions etc.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Background</span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Heat wave has emerged as one of major severe weather events around globe in recent years. Climate change is driving temperatures higher as well as increasing the frequency and severity of heat waves. India too is experiencing increased instances of heat waves every year. NDMA has been closely working with vulnerable States to reduce adverse impacts of heat wave. Sustained efforts - timely release and effective implementation of national Guidelines on heat wave, preparation of Heat Action Plans by 13 vulnerable States, etc. have significantly brought down number of heat-related deaths in the past few years. </span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is apex statutory body mandated to lay down policies, plans and guidelines for Disaster Management to ensure timely and effective response to disasters.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It was established in 2009 through Disaster Management Act, 2005. It functions under aegis of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). It is headquartered in New Delhi.<strong> </strong></span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is governed by nine-member board chaired by Prime Minister of India (who is ex-officio chairperson).</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Functions:</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif"> (i) It co-ordinates response to natural or man-made disasters and capacity-building in case of disaster resiliency and crisis response.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">(ii) It frame policies, lay down guidelines and best-practices and coordinating with State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) to ensure holistic and distributed approach to disaster management.</span></span></li>
</ul>
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(int) 7 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 463,
'title' => 'Environment damage behind premature deaths, diseases: UN report',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">According to recently released UN Environment’s Global Environment Outlook (GEO) 2019, quarter of all premature deaths and diseases worldwide are due to manmade pollution and environmental damage. It calls for immediate changes in the way the world eats, generates energy and handles its waste. It is overall sixth GEO in the series.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Findings of report</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Deadly emissions, chemicals polluting drinking water and accelerating destruction of ecosystems crucial to livelihoods of billions of people are driving worldwide epidemics and diseases that hampers the global economy.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">There is growing chasm between rich and poor countries as rampant overconsumption, pollution and food waste in developed world leads to hunger, poverty and disease elsewhere.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) continue to rise amid preponderance of droughts, floods and superstorms made worse by climbing sea levels. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">There is growing political consensus that climate change poses future risk to billions. But there is no consensus on meeting set targets of 2015 Paris accord.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Health impacts of pollution, deforestation and mechanised food-chain are less well understood.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Poor environmental conditions cause around 25% of global disease and mortality (around 9 million deaths in 2015 alone).</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Due to lack of access to clean drinking supplies, 1.4 million people die each year from preventable diseases such as diarrhoea and parasites linked to pathogen-contaminated water and poor sanitation.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Chemicals pumped into seas are potentially causing multi-generational adverse health effects.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Land degradation through deforestation and mega-farming occurs in areas of earth home to 3.2 billion people.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Air pollution causes 6 to 7 million early deaths annually. There is rapid drawdown in GHGs and pesticide use to improve air and water quality.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It calls root-and-branch detoxification of human behaviour while insisting that the situation is not unassailable.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><strong><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Global Environment Outlook (GEO)</span></span></span></strong></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is series of reports on environment periodically published by UN Environmental Programme (UNEP).</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is also referred to as UN Environment’s flagship environmental assessment. It was released for first time in 1997. It is prepared by consultative and participatory process.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is independent assessment of state of environment, effectiveness of policy response to tackle environmental challenges and possible pathways to achieve various internationally agreed environmental goals. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">So far, five GEO reports have been published to date UNEP vz. GEO-1 (1997), GEO-2000 (1999), GEO-3 (2002), GEO-4 (2007), GEO-5 (2012) and GEO-6 (2019).</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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(int) 8 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 472,
'title' => 'Climate vulnerability assessment extended to all states',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Department of Science and Technology (DST) has decided to carry out climate vulnerability assessment of all states and union territories (UTs) to assess the climate risks faced by States in India. It comes after first-ever successful vulnerability assessment undertaken by DST of 12 Himalayan states to climate risks.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Need for assessment</span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">India is among most vulnerable to climate change. Such assessment will help government to assess which states or districts need more resource allocation for adaptation and mitigation of climate change, depending on how vulnerable they are,</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Pan India Climate vulnerability assessment</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It will be based on global methodological framework of 2014 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It defines vulnerability by how ‘sensitive’ a specific eco-system is to climate change risks and what is the current adaptive capacity to mitigate the risks.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It will be first-such climate vulnerability index for all states, as there is no such national rating at present to determine which states are more vulnerable to climate risks. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It will be based on common set of indicators — socio-economic, demographic, health, sensitivity of agricultural production, forest-dependent livelihood and access to information.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">12 Himalayan States Climate vulnerability assessment</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It was conducted in 2018 by Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) at Mandi and Guwahati, and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It covered 12 Himalayan states viz. Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, hill districts of West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Its aim was to evolve common methodology, and determine how districts there are equipped to deal with the vagaries of climate change.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Based on climate vulnerability index of each of these States was prepared based on district-level data. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">The index was measure of inherent risks district faces, primarily by virtue of its geography and socio-economic situation. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It ranked states on scale of 0 (least vulnerable) to 1 (most vulnerable). It was measused based on eight key parameters.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">These 8 parameters included (i) percentage of area in districts under forests, (ii) population density, (iii) yield variability of food grain, (iv) infant mortality rate, (v) percentage of population below poverty line (BPL), (vi) female literacy rate, (vii) average man-days under MGNREGA and (viii) area under slope > 30%.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Top venerable states were Assam (index score of 0.72), Mizoram (0.71). Sikkim, was relatively less vulnerable with an index score of 0.42. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Scores of other states: J&K (0.62), Manipur (0.59), Meghalaya (0.58), West Bengal (0.58), Nagaland (0.57), Himachal Pradesh (0.51), Tripura (0.51 both), Arunachal Pradesh (0.47) and Uttarakhand (0.45).</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
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'title' => 'Special Stamp Cover on Ice Stupas released',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Department of Post (DoP) under Ministry of Communication & Technology has released Special Stamp on Ice Stupa (Artificial Glacier) in Leh, Jammu and Kashmir. This special stamp is aimed at creating awareness about depleting glaciers and its effect on the ecology around the Himalayas.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Ice Stupa</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It concenpt has been conceptualized Ramon Magsaysay winner Sonam Wangchuk in Ladakh. It is form of glacier grafting technique that creates artificial glaciers.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is used for storing winter water which otherwise would go unused in the form of conical shaped ice heaps or stupa which is not melted easily.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">In summer, this stupa melts slowly and provide water drinking and irrigation. In each ice stupa atleast 30-50 lakh ltrs of water is saved.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It will help to reduce impact of climate change on Leh and Ladakh regions which are facing water shortage problem due to shrinking glaciers.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 559,
'title' => 'India’s carbon dioxide emissions up by 4.8%: IEA report',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">According to recent report published by the International Energy Agency (IEA), India emitted 2,299 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) in 2018, a 4.8% rise from the previous year. This was primarily due to a rise in coal consumption. </span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Highlights of report</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">India related Facts: </span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">India’s CO2 emissions growth was higher than that of United States (US) and China, the two biggest emitters in the world. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">India’s per capita emissions were about 40% of global average and contributed 7% to global carbon dioxide burden in 2018. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">India’s energy intensity improvement declined 3% from 2017 levels, even as its renewable energy installations increased 10.6%.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Global energy Scenario:</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif"> The energy consumption in 2018 increased at nearly twice average rate of growth since 2010. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It was driven by robust global economy and higher heating and cooling needs in some parts of the world. Energy efficiency also saw lacklustre improvement in 2018. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Higher electricity demand is responsible for over half of growth in energy needs. Demand for all fuels also has increased and is led by natural gas. Even solar and wind posted double digit growth. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">China, US and India together accounted for nearly 70% of the rise in energy demand.US had largest increase in oil and gas demand worldwide. Gas consumption in 2018 jumped by 10% from 2017, making it fastest increase since the beginning of IEA records in 1971.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Global CO2 emissions:</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif"> As a result of higher energy consumption, CO2 emissions rose 1.7% in 2018 and hit new record. Global energy-related CO2 emissions totaled 33.1 billion tons in 2018.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">US is largest emitter, was responsible for 14%, followed by China. China, India and US accounted for 85</span>%<span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif"> of the net increase in emissions.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">CO2 emissions declined in countries such as Germany, Japan and France. There is expanding use of solar, wind and other renewable energy sources.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">India’s commitments to Paris Agreement</span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">As per its commitments to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), India has promised to reduce temissions intensity of its economy by 2030, compared to the 2005 levels. It has also committed to having 40% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. As part of this, install 100 GW of solar power by 2022. For India to implement its climate pledge it will cost at least $2.5trillion</span><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">, around 71% of combined required spending for all developing country pledges.</span></span></span></p>
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(int) 11 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 569,
'title' => 'EU Parliament approves ban on single-use plastics',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">European parliament has voted to ban single-use plastic products such as cutlery, cotton buds, straws and stirrers to counter plastic pollution. This proposal already has been approved by EU member states and EU officials. It will now be made into law and the ban on single-use plastics will come into force by 2021 in all EU member states.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Key facts</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">This ban targets top 10 disposable plastic products including plates, balloon sticks, food and beverage containers made of expanded polystyrene and all products made of oxo-degradable plastic.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">This law allows member EU countries to choose their own methods of reducing use of other single-use plastics such as takeout containers and cups for beverages. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">However, it will be mandatory on them to collect and recycle at least 90% of beverage bottles by 2029.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It also mandates tobacco companies to cover costs for public collection of cigarette stubs, which are the second most littered single-use plastic item.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Single use Plastics</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">They are disposable plastics are used only once and then thrown in the trash. These items mainly include plastic bags, straws, coffee stirrers, soda and water bottles and most food packaging.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">These products especially petroleum based are difficult to recycle as they are not biodegradable and usually dumped into landfill where it is buried or it gets into water and finds its way into ocean.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">These plastic products do not biodegrade i.e. decompose into natural substance like organic waste and degrades break downs into tiny particles after many years.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">In the process of breaking down, they release toxic chemicals which harms environment by pollution it and make their way into food and water supply.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">These toxic chemicals can cause cancer, infertility, birth defects, impaired immunity and many other ailments in humans.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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(int) 12 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 577,
'title' => 'Ocean heat hit record high in 2018: WMO Report',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in its latest State of the Climate overview has noted that ocean heat has hit record high in 2018. This raises urgent new concerns about threat global warming is posing to marine life.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">WMO’s State of the Climate overview</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It has reaffirmed that last four years had been hottest on record. They year 2018 saw new records for ocean heat content in upper 700 metres.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">About 93% of excess heat, trapped around Earth by greenhouse gases that come from burning of fossil fuels, accumulates in world’s oceans. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Oceans are also not warming evenly across the planet. The highest rates of ocean warming are occurring in southern ocean, where warming has also reached the deepest layers. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">This could result in sea levels being substantially different in different places. Thermal expansion-water swelling as it warms- is expected to raise sea levels 12 inches (30 centimetres), above any sea level rise from melting glaciers and ice sheets.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Temperature of top 2,000 metres of world’s oceans will rise nearly 0.8 degrees Celsius by the end of the century if nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">World Meteorological Organization (WMO)</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is intergovernmental organization whose mandate covers weather, climate and water resources. Its supreme body is World Meteorological Congress.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It was established in 1950 by ratification of WMO Convention. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is specialized agency of United Nations (UN) for meteorology, operational hydrology and related geophysical science,</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is dedicated to international cooperation and coordination on state and behavior of Earth’s atmosphere, its interaction with land and oceans, weather and climate and distribution of water resources.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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(int) 13 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 649,
'title' => 'Earth Hour 2019 observed across the world',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">The Earth Hour 2019 was observed on March 30, 2019 (Saturday) at 8:30 pm local time to take a global call on climate change. It was thirteenth edition of Earth Hour and to mark this day, cities worldwide turned their lights off for one hour from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm local time. The campaign of Earth Hour 2019 was ‘#Connect2Earth’. It was aimed at building mass awareness on importance of nature and create unstoppable movement for nature similar to when the world came together to tackle climate change.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Earth Hour</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is global environmental event started in Sydney Australia by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in 2007 and went global with time.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It aims at encouraging people, government offices, workplaces, and other urban centres to turn off their non-essential light and equipments to save energy in a symbolic call for environmental protection sustainable energy. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Its goal is to raise awareness for sustainable energy use and create more environmentally sustainable lifestyle. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is organized every year in the month of March which is time of the autumn and spring equinoxes in both the hemispheres. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is because the sunset time in Northern and Southern Hemisphere coincides ensuring greatest visual impact for this global light out event.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Since its launch in 2007, it has grown into popular annual event with citizens of 187 countries across the globe observing hour of refraining from use of non-essential lighting.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Its organisers claims that it is world’s largest grassroots movement for climate change and only event of the year when maximum number of people around the world participate in single movement to turn off non-essential lights for an hour</span></span></li>
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'metatitle' => 'Earth Hour 2019 observed across the world | Current affairs',
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'title' => 'London becomes first city to implement 24×7 pollution charge zone',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">London became first city in the world to implement pollution charge zone called Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) for 24×7 hours a week. Inside this zone, vehicles will have to meet tough emissions standards. </span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ)</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It aims to reduce toxic air pollution and protect public health, Motorists driving into this zone in vehicle not meet having new emission standard, then they will have to pay a daily charge.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Under new rules, polluting vehicles will be discouraged from entering the ULEZ. They will have to daily charge of £12.50 for some cars, vans and motorbikes and £100 for trucks, buses and coaches. </span></span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">This zone will cover same area as existing Congestion Charge which is collected from drivers in the city center until 2021.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It will be expanded to cover the area between the major orbital roads of London known as the North and South Circular.</span></span></span></span></li>
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'title' => 'India’s first foreign interactive bird park launched in Mumbai',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">India’s first rain forest-themed foreign interactive bird park was launched in Gorai, Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is home to over 500 exotic birds from more than 60 species. It was launched by EsselWorld Leisure Pvt. Ltd, the entertainment arm of $6-billion Essel Group.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Bird park</span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is rain forest-themed park spread across 1.4 acres is home to over 500 exotic birds. It is meant for entertainment and also to spread awareness of different types of birds. </span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It shelters terrestrial, free-flying and aquatic birds. These birds have been brought from different corners of the world. </span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is carefully designed to ensure appropriate living conditions for the birds. It is equipped with small ponds for aquatic birds, dense cover of trees for birds to incubate their eggs and water stream that offers drinking water to birds. </span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Some of key attractions of this park are</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Flying birds:</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif"> Blue Gold Macaw, African Grey Parrot, Cockatiel, Toucan, Rainbow Lorikeet. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Terrestrial birds</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">: California Quail, Golden Pheasant and Ostrich. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Aquatic birds</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">: Black Swan, American Wood Duck, and Mandarin Duck.</span></span></span></li>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
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'title' => 'Extinction Rebellion (XR) Climate Movement',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Nearly 300 people were arrested in London during ongoing climate change protests organised by campaign group Extinction Rebellion that brought parts of the British capital to a standstill.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Extinction Rebellion (XR)</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is a civil society campaign group claims to be socio-political-conservation-environmental movement which intends to rally support worldwide around common sense of urgency to tackle climate breakdown.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Its aims to use non-violent civil disobedience to achieve radical change in order to minimise the risk of human extinction and ecological collapse by averting climate breakdown and halt biodiversity loss<strong>.</strong></span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It was established in 2018 in United Kingdom by academics. Since then it has become one of world's fastest-growing environmental movements. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It cities its inspiration from grassroots movements such as Occupy Wall street, Mahatma Gandhi's independence movement, suffragette and Martin Luther King and others in civil rights movement.</span></span></span></li>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 939,
'title' => 'Melting Arctic permafrost will accelerate global warming',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">According to new study, Arctic’s thawing permafrost will release methane and carbon dioxide and hugely accelerate global warming. The economic consequences of melting Arctic will add up to $70 trillion to the worlds climate bill</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Study Findings</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">This study is first to calculate economic impact of permafrost melt and reduced albedo (a measure of how much light that hits surface is reflected without being absorbed).</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Its results were based on the most advanced computer models predicting most likely scenario to happen in the Arctic as temperatures rise.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">According to it, if countries fail to improve on their commitments to 2018 Paris agreement, this feedback mechanism, combined with loss of heat-deflecting white ice, will cause near 5</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">% </span><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">amplification of global warming and its associated costs,</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It will destabilise natural systems and further worsen problem caused by man-made emissions, making it more difficult and expensive to solve.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">3 Celsius of warming by end of the century and resulting melting of permafrost will discharge up to 280 gigatonnes of CO2 and 3 gigatonnes of methane. This will increase global climate-driven impacts by $70 trillion by 2300 from now.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Permafrost </span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It is any ground that remains completely frozen—32°F (0°C) or colder—for at least two years straight. It is made of combination of soil, rocks and sand that are held together by ice. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">The soil and ice in permafrost stay frozen all year long. The surface of permafrost soils also contain large quantities of leftover organic carbon—a material leftover from dead plants that couldn’t decompose due to the cold. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Lower permafrost layers contain soils made mostly of minerals. Whereas, top layer soil of permafrost does not stay frozen all year. It is active layer which thaws during warm summer months and freezes again in winter. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">These permanently frozen grounds i.e. permafrost are most common in regions with high mountains and Earth’s higher latitudes—near North and South Poles. They cover large regions of Earth i.e. almost quarter of land area in Northern Hemisphere is underneath permafrost.</span></span></span></li>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
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'title' => 'UK Parliament first to pass Environment and Climate Emergency',
'description' => '<h2 style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">United Kingdom Parliament becomes the first national legislative body in the world to pass national declaration (or motion) of an Environment and Climate Emergency. In this regard, Member of Parliaments have adopted motion moved by opposition Labour Party for this environmental emergency. This move marks serious emergency in dealing with climate change. However, this motion was approved without vote and registers views of House of Commons without compelling government to act on any particular policy proposal,</span></span></span></span></h2>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Motion on Environment and Climate emergency</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It calls on government to adopt net zero emission target for before 2050, introduce new short term targets for clean tech deployment and come forward with new plan within six months to deliver circular and zero waste economy. It caters to national reductions and investment in reduction of carbon emissions and saving the planet. It also calls on Government to come forward with new policies to close current emissions gap for UK's medium term carbon budgets, accelerate country's rate of decarbonisation, and step up investment in negative emissions technologies.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Background</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">The adoption of this motion was preceded by visit by teenage environment activist Greta Thunberg (to UK Parliament), featuring of David Attenborough’s documentary movie titled ‘Climate Change: The Facts’ in Parliament and 11-days of constant protest by environmental group ‘Extinction Rebellion‘in the capital city London</span></span></p>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
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'id' => (int) 1025,
'title' => 'Northeast India experiencing decline in Monsoon rainfall: Study',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">A recent study has found that Northeast India, one of the wettest places on the Earth has been experiencing rapid drying, especially in the last 30 years. The decreasing monsoon rainfall in Northeast India is associated with natural changes in the subtropical Pacific Ocean.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">About Study</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">The study was conducted by researchers from Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, and Assam University. It was published in JGR-Atmospheres. Researchers observed rainfall and sea surface temperature data for period 1901-2014. </span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Key Findings of Study</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Northeast India has been experiencing rapid drying, especially in the last 30 years. Some places in this region which used to get as high as 3,000 mm of rain during monsoon season are now seeing drop of about 25-30</span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">%</span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> in monsoon rainfall.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Reasons for decline in rainfall:</span></span></strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> The reduction in rainfall during major part of last 114 years may be associated with global man-made factors. </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">The decline in trend during the last 36 years is associated with natural phenomena or natural changes in Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO). </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Its impact on the sea surface temperatures and its interaction with the atmosphere affects the northeast Indian summer monsoon.</span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO)</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It is spatial avaerage of monthly global sea surface temperature (SST) anamoly of Pacific Ocean north of 20 degrees. It is long-lived El Niño-like pattern of Pacific climate variability. </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It is highly correlated with temperature in California current, thus affecting coastal sea and continental surface air temperatures from Alaska to California coast.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">During warmor positive PDO phase, west Pacific becomes cooler and part of eastern ocean warms. During "cool" or "negative" phase, opposite pattern occurs.</span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""><img alt="" src="https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/8282/5mjap5zvw9ssfsu6g.jpg" /></span></span></span></span></p>
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'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">According to recent United Nations (UN) report, Climate change and rising sea levels eventually may wipe out Sundarbans, one of world’s last and largest habitat of Bengal tiger. Bengal tigers are among 500,000 land species whose survival is in question because of threats to their natural habitats. The report was based on climate scenarios developed by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for its simulation models and adds to existing studies that offered similarly grim predictions for wildlife in the Sundarbans.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Key findings of UN report</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Sunderbans, 10,000 square kilometres of marshy land in India and Bangladesh, hosts the world’s largest mangrove forest and rich ecosystem.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It supports several hundred animal species, including Bengal tiger. But 70</span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">%</span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> of Sunderbans is just few feet above sea level, and faces threat of grave climate changes.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Changes brought by global warming will decimate the few hundred or so Bengal tigers remaining there. By 2070, there will be no suitable tiger habitats remaining in Bangladesh Sundarbans. </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">In 2010, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) had projected that sea level rise of 11 inches will reduce number of tigers in Sundarbans by 96%within a few decades.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Since early 1900s, hunting, habitat loss and illegal trade of tiger parts have decimated its global population from around 100,000 to fewer than 4,000.</span></span></span></span></li>
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'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Ireland has become the second country in the world after Britain to declare climate and biodiversity emergency. The climate emergency declaration in this regard was passed in Ireland’s Parliament (Oireachtas) with unanimous support of both ruling and opposition parties. It was passed when both the government and opposition parties agreed to amendment to a climate action report- The Oireachtas Climate Action report (Parliamentary report on climate action).</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Key Facts </span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">The amendment to parliamentary report declares climate emergency and calls on parliament to examine how Irish government can improve its response was accepted without a vote. Under this emergency, non binding measures will be undertaken by Government to make Ireland carbon-neutral by 2030, introduce electric car hubs or build sustainable homes to achieve that goal.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">UK’s emergency</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">United Kingdom's parliament was first in the world to declare a climate emergency. It had passed symbolic motion in this regard on May 1, 2019. Under it, British government has set 2050 target date to reach net zero emissions, which will be achieved without causing substantial economic damage and at a relatively low cost. The emergency motion was passed after 11 days of street protests in London by Extinction Rebellion environmental campaign group. The activists hope to reduce global greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions to zero by 2025 and end biodiversity loss.</span></span></span></span></p>
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'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Recently, institutional investors from 11 countries convened by United Nations Environment Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI) released report (or investor guide) that helps investors understand how to calculate the risk companies face from climate change.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Background</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Climate change is already impacting economies around the world and it is continuing. Several reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned about various risks to economies. However so far there was no specific assessment of how companies can account for such risks. In this background, this investor guide was made in line with recommendations by Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), a 32-member board formed as a result of agreement at a G20 summit in London, 2009. This board consisted of representatives from large banks, asset managers, insurance companies, pension funds, large non-financial companies and credit rating agencies. </span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Key findings of report</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">In the scenario of increase in 1.5°C global temperature, companies are exposed to significant level of transition risk, affecting as much as 13.16</span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">%</span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> of overall portfolio value. It represents value loss of $10.7 trillion.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Agriculture, utilities, transportation as well as mining and petroleum refining sectors are at high levels of policy risk. On bright side, $2.1 trillion potential green profits can be made. However, green revenues generated from sale of low carbon technologies, which support transition. </span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Green profits will help companies to offset costs from complying with greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction policies. If governments delay action to enact climate policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), then 30,000 companies across the globe will face further cost of $1.2 trillion. </span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">United Nations Environment Programme – Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI)</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It is partnership between UN Environment and global financial sector. It was established in wake of the 1992 Earth Summit with mission to promote sustainable finance. More than 240 financial institutions including banks, insurers and investors work with UN Environment under it. It hosts its Global Roundtable every other year since 1994. In 2017, UNEP FI had established regional roundtables to celebrate its 25th Anniversary.</span></span></span></span></p>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
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'title' => 'China still using banned ozone depleting CFC-11',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">According to a recent research conducted by international team of researchers has found that China continues to use banned ozone depleting CFC-11 in violation of Montreal Protocol.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Key Findings </span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">The rogue emissions of CFC-11 (accounting for 40 and 60</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">%</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> of total global emissions) are coming from eastern China, primarily from two heavily industrialised provinces viz. Shandong and Hebei. </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">This ban gas is still used widely in these industrial areas in China to manufacture foam insulation.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Between 2014 and 2017, these provinces in eastern China emitted an average of about 13,400 metric tonnes of CFC-11 per year.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Reason:</span></span></strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> China has world’s largest polyurethane foam market, accounting for about 40</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">%</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> of the world’s consumption. Chinese foam manufacturers have been illegally using CFC-11 to save on higher cost of alternatives.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Impact:</span></span></strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> These findings will add to international pressure on Chinese government to curtail the illegal use of CFC-11 and follow its commitments under Montreal Protocol.</span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">About CFC-11 </span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Its name is Trichlorofluoromethane. It is also called freon-11, CFC-11, or R-11. Ot is a colourless, faint ethereal, and sweetish-smelling liquid that boils around room temperature. It belongs to class of compounds called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that destroy atmospheric ozone. CFCs are also potent greenhouse gases (GHGs) that contribute to atmospheric warming. These CFCs had caused hole in atmospheric ozone layer.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Ban:</span></span></strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> CFCs along with CFC-11 were outlawed for almost all uses by legally binding 1987 Montreal Protocol, an international pact aimed at preserving protective ozone layer that blocks ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun. Excessive amounts of some types of UV radiation can cause skin cancer and eye damage in people and are harmful to crops and other vegetation.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Impact of Ban:</span></span></strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> Since the enforcement of Montreal Protocol, ozone hole is on the path to recovery. Besides, ban in CFC-11 has reduced its atmospheric concentration and made second-largest contribution to the decline in ozone hole since the 1990s.</span></span></span></span></li>
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'title' => 'Climate change affecting global food production: Study',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">According to recently released research in ournal PLOS ONE, climate change is adversely affecting the production of key crops such as wheat and rice. The research was based on study conducted by scientists from University of Oxford in UK and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. They had used weather and reported crop data to evaluate the potential impact of observed climate change.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Key Findings of the study</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">The world's top 10 crops - barley, maize, cassava, oil palm, rice, sorghum, rapeseed, soybean, sugarcane and wheat -supply a combined 83</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">%</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">% of all calories produced on cropland. </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Climate change has caused significant yield variation in world's top 10 crops, ranging from a decrease of 13.4</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">%</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">% for oil palm to increase of 3.5</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">% </span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> for soybean, and resulting in an average reduction of about 1 of consumable food calories from these top 10 crops. </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">The impacts of climate change on global food production are mostly negative in Europe, Southern Africa, and Australia, positive in Latin America, and mixed in Asia and Northern and Central America. </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">About half of all food-insecure countries are experiencing decreases in crop production and also some affluent industrialised countries in Western Europe. </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">In contrast, recent climate change has increased the yields of certain crops in some areas of the upper Midwest United States.</span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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'metatitle' => 'Climate change affecting global food production: Study',
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(int) 25 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
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'id' => (int) 1473,
'title' => 'Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone to be largest in history',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Scientists have claimed that this year’s oceanic ‘dead zone’ in the Gulf of Mexico will be one of the largest ever to be recorded in history. This oxygen-starved and virtually lifeless zone is expected to grow to over 8,000 sq. miles. Scientists predict it will severely harm to marine habitat, impacting fish harvests.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">About Dead zone</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It is also called as Hypoxic zones. It is basically area in the ocean having low oxygen concentration, resulting in suffocation and death of marine animal life.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">In this area, oxygen concentration usually falls to such low levels that most marine life cannot survive. Hypoxic zone is reversible i.e. it can be eliminated if their causes are reduced or stopped.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Occurrence:</span></span></strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> It can occur naturally. However, manmade activities causing nutrient pollution from sources such as agriculture and sewage also can lead to creation of dead zone.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Rising sea temperatures</span></span></strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">: It also exacerbates regional oxygen depletion (as for each degree of ocean warming, oxygen concentration goes down by 2</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">%)</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">. It causes layers of ocean water to stratify so more oxygen-rich surface waters are less able to mix with oxygen-poor waters from the deeper ocean.</span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Gulf of Mexico dead Zone</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It is the world's second largest dead zone (world's largest dead zone is in the Baltic Sea.).. It forms in the Gulf of Mexico every spring. </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Reasons:</span></span></strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> Each spring as farmers fertilize their lands preparing for crop season, rain washes fertilizer off land and into streams and rivers. </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">The mighty Mississippi River which drains into Gulf of Mexico is responsible for collecting and depositing tons of nutrients from agricultural and urban runoff from cities through its course in Gulf of Mexico.</span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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(int) 26 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
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'title' => 'Himalayan glaciers are melting twice as fast since 2000: study',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Scientists have found that Himalayan glaciers are melting occurring twice as fast since 2000 as average temperatures rose. It was based study ice loss in 650 glaciers based on data obtained by comparing Cold War-era spy satellites with images from modern stereo satellites. It was found that these glaciers have lost more than quarter of their ice mass since 1975.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Background</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">In the 1970s, at the height of Cold War, US had deployed spy satellites that orbited globe and took thousands of photographs, using telescopic camera system for reconnaissance purposes. Scientists now are using those same images to show devastating impact of global warming on Himalayan glaciers. The overlapping images, each covering 30,000 square kilometres with ground resolution of six to nine metres, have been pieced together to form digital elevation models of Himalayas of that era. Using these images, scientists have analysed four decades of ice loss for 650 of largest glaciers across a 2,000 km transect across the Himalayas.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Key Findings</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">The annual mass losses of these glaciers suggest that of total ice mass present in 1975, about 87</span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">% </span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">remained in 2000 and 72</span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">% </span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">remained in 2016.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Similar mass loss rates across subregions and doubling of the average rate of loss during 2000–2016 relative to 1975–2000 intervals.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It asserts that rising temperatures are responsible for accelerating loss and is consistent with available multidecade weather station records scattered throughout HMA [High Mountain Asia, which includes all mountain ranges surrounding Tibetan Plateau].</span></span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">However, this rules out other causes for glacier changes, such as the deposition of soot on snow and ice and changing precipitation patterns.</span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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(int) 27 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 239,
'title' => 'Declining biodiversity threatens food supply: UN FAO Report',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in its first-of-its-kind report has warned that declining biodiversity may threaten future of the world’s food production and food supply. It has analysed data from 91 countries and found that loss of biodiversity for food and agriculture is seriously undermining ability to feed and nourish an ever-growing global population.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Highlights of report</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">World's biodiversity is under severe threat due to pollution, badly managed land and water use, poor policies, over-harvesting and climate change.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Future of food supplies is under severe threat because of number of animal and plant species fast disappearing.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">People are depending on fewer species for food, leaving production systems susceptible to shocks such as pests or disease, droughts and other extreme weather events due to climate change.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Although about 6,000 plant species can be used for food, less than 200 varieties are widely eaten, and only 9 make up most of the world's total crop production.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Nearly 4,000 wild food species including insects, seagrass, crustaceans and fungi are in decline, with hardest hit regions being Asia, Africa and Latin America.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Climate change will become steadily bigger threat to biodiversity by 2050, adding to damage from pollution and forest clearance to make way for crops.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Global food production must become more diverse and include species that are not widely eaten but could be better equipped to withstand hostile climates and disease.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Diversification can help fight malnutrition globally by bringing little-known but highly nutritious foods into mainstream (like fonio, a small grain that is well-suited to hot climates with unpredictable weather patterns).</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Countries must double farm productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers by 2030 to eliminate hunger and ensure all people have access to food.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) </span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is specialised agency of United Nations (UN) that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It was established in October 1945. It is headquartered in Rome, Italy. Its motto is “Let there be bread”.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">UN Economic and Social Council (UNESC) is its parent organisation. It has 197 member states, including European Union (member organization).</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It serves both developed and developing countries, thus, acts as neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate arguments and debate policy. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It helps developing countries in transition modernize and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices, ensuring good nutrition and food security for all.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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(int) 28 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 501,
'title' => '4th UN Environment Assembly held in Nairobi, Kenya',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">The fourth session of United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-4) was recently in Nairobi, Kenya. The theme of UNEA-4 was “Innovative Solutions for Environmental Challenges and Sustainable Consumption and Production’. President of UNEA-4 was Estonia.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">UNEA-4 aimed at addressing</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Environmental challenges related to poverty and natural resources management, including food security, sustainable food systems and halting biodiversity loss.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Life-cycle approaches to energy, resource efficiency, chemicals and waste management.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Innovative sustainable business development at time of rapid technological change.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">In this assembly India had piloted two resolutions (i) Significantly reduce single-use plastic products by 2030 and (ii) Sustainable Nitrogen Management.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">UN Environment Assembly</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is the world’s highest-level decision-making body on environment. It addresses critical environmental challenges facing the world today.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is governing body of the UN Environment Programme (UN Environment) and successor of its Governing Council, which was composed of 58 member States. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It was established in June 2012, when world leaders called for strengthen and upgrade UNEP during UN Conference on Sustainable Development (RIO+20).</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It has universal membership with 193 member states. It meets biennially to set priorities for global environmental policies and develop international environmental law.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
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'id' => (int) 1851,
'title' => 'Russian lands of permafrost and mammoths is now thawing',
'description' => '<p><strong><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Context</span></span></strong><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">: As the Arctic, including much of Siberia, <strong>warms at least twice as fast as rest of the world, the permafrost (permanently frozen ground) is thawing.</strong></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Highlights:</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Oddities like the wolf’s head have been more frequently</strong> in al <strong>land already known for spitting out frozen woolly mammoths whole.</strong></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The thawing <strong>of the permafrost is reshaping this incredibly remote region</strong> sometimes called as the <strong>“Kingdom of Winter.”</strong></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is one <strong>of the coldest inhabited places on earth.</strong></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Impact:</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The loss of permafrost <strong>deforms the landscape itself, knocking down houses and barns.</strong></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>The migration pattern of the animals,</strong> hunted for centuries, <strong>are shifting, and severe floods wreak havoc almost every spring.</strong></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Indigenous people are more threatened than ever</strong>; residents joust constantly with nature in unpredictable way, leaving them feeling baffled, unsettled, helpless, depressed and irritated.</span></span></li>
</ul>
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'id' => (int) 1853,
'title' => 'UNIDO and National Institute of Solar Energy to partner for skill development program',
'description' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Context: </strong>An agreement was signed on 7/08/2019 between the <strong>National Institute of Solar Energy </strong>(NISE) and the <strong>United Nations Industrial Development Organization </strong>(UNIDO) to <strong>initiate a skill development programme </strong>for different levels of beneficiaries <strong>in the solar thermal energy sector.</strong></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Highlights:</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">NISE and UNIDO will <strong>engage national and international experts </strong>to bring the best practices by developing specialized training material.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>The agreement is part of the ongoing MNRE-GEF-UNIDO project </strong>implemented jointly by UNIDO and <strong>to support capacity building and skill development of technical manpower </strong>in the <strong>Concentrated Solar Thermal Energy Technologies (CST) </strong>which are being used to replace conventional fossil fuels e.g. coal, diesel, furnace oil etc. and <strong>save costs and emissions in the industrial process heat applications.</strong></span></span></li>
</ul>
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(int) 31 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 1856,
'title' => 'Climate change threat to food supply, says UN',
'description' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Context: </strong>World’s <strong>land and water resources are being exploited at “unprecedented rates, </strong>which <strong>combined with climate change is putting dire pressure on the ability of humanity to feed it” </strong>warns the new IPCC report.</span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>About the report: </strong>The report <strong>prepared by more than 100 experts from 52 </strong>countries and released in summary form in Geneva on Thursday (8/09/2019).</span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Findings: </strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A <strong>half-billion people already live in places turning into desert</strong>, <strong>and soil is being lost between 10 and 100 times faster than it is forming.</strong></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Climate change will make those threats even worse</strong>, as floods, drought, storms and other types of <strong>extreme weather threaten to disrupt, and over time shrink, the global food supply. </strong></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Already, more than 10% of the world’s population remains undernourished</strong>, and some authors of the report warned in interviews that <strong>food shortages could lead to an increase in cross-border migration as food shortage would affect the poorer regions more.</strong></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>About the IPCC: </strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) <strong>is an intergovernmental body that was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological of the United Nations.</strong></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is dedicated to providing the world with an <strong>objective, scientific view of climate change, its natural, political and economic impacts and risks, and possible response options.</strong></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The IPCC is <strong>writing a series of climate reports</strong>, including <strong>one last year on the disastrous consequences if the planet’s temperature rises just 1.5 degrees Celsius above its pre-industrial levels, </strong>as well as an upcoming report on the state of the world’s oceans.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
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(int) 32 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 1937,
'title' => 'Iceland Commemorates 1st glacier lost to climate change',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Issue</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Iceland has erected a bronze plate to officially mark the death of glacier <strong><em>Okjokull</em></strong>, the 1<sup>st</sup> glacier lost to climate change.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Background</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="background-color:white"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="color:#404040">The glacier located in Iceland was officially declared dead in 2014 when it was no longer thick enough to move. What once was glacier has been reduced to a small patch of ice atop a volcano.</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="background-color:white"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="color:#404040">This has been gaining major attention due to current phenomenon of global warming. It is assumed that many more glaciers are on the way to extinction if drastic steps are not taken.</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><strong><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><span style="color:#404040">Glaciers and climate change</span></span></span></strong></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="background-color:white"><span style="color:#444444">Glaciers</span></span></strong> <span style="background-color:white"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="color:#444444">around the world can range from ice that is several hundred to several thousand years old and provide a scientific record of how climate has changed over time. Studying them we gain valuable information about the extent to which the planet is rapidly warming. They provide scientists a record of how climate has changed over time.</span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:white"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="color:#444444">Rapid <strong>glacial</strong> melt in Antarctica and Greenland also influences ocean currents, as massive amounts of very cold glacial-melt water entering warmer ocean waters is slowing ocean currents. And as ice on land melts, sea levels will continue to rise.</span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:white"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="color:#444444">Many glaciers around the world have been rapidly melting. Human activities are at the root of this phenomenon. Since the industrial revolution, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions have raised temperatures, even higher in the poles, and as a result, glaciers are rapidly melting, and retreating on land.</span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:white"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="color:#444444">If emissions continue to rise, the current rate of melting on the Greenland ice sheet is expected to double by the end of the century. If all the ice on Greenland melted, it would raise global sea levels by 20 feet.</span></span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Iceland</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:white"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Iceland</span></span> <span style="background-color:white"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">is a Nordic</span></span> <span style="background-color:white"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">island country</span></span> <span style="background-color:white"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">in the North Atlantic, with a population of 360,390 and an area of 103,000 km<sup>2</sup>, making it the most sparsely populated country</span></span> <span style="background-color:white"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">in Europe</span></span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:white"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream</span></span> <span style="background-color:white"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">and has a temperate climate, despite locating entirely outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence keep summers chilly.</span></span> </span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Capital: Reykjavik</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Currency: Icelandic Krona</span></span></span></p>
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(int) 33 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
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'id' => (int) 2044,
'title' => 'Union Home Minister Takes Part in Concluding Ceremony of ‘Mission Million Trees’ Campaign',
'description' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Context:</strong> U<span style="background-color:white"><span style="color:#333333">nion Home Minister on 29/08/2019 participated in the concluding ceremony of “Mission Million trees” programme. </span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>About the mission:</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="list-style-type:none"> </li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:#333333">The Mission <strong>started on world environment day i.e. 5</strong></span><strong><sup><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="color:#333333">th</span></span></sup><span style="color:#333333"> June, 2019.</span></strong></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:#333333">The mission was <span style="background-color:white">organized <strong>by Ahmadabad Municipal Corporation.</strong></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:white"><span style="color:#333333">Home Minister also <strong>flagged off 8 AC electric buses </strong>in the city and <strong>also inaugurated a battery charging station.</strong> </span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Highlights of the address of the minister:</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="list-style-type:none"> </li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:#333333">Speaking on the occasion the Union Home Minister <strong>gave a clarion call to the women to keep away from using plastics bags</strong> while purchasing groceries and vegetables. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:#333333">Reminding the citizens of <strong>Paris climate</strong> <strong>accord </strong>the minister outlined the <strong>danger of ozone layer depletion because of CO</strong></span><strong><sub><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="color:#333333">2</span></span></sub><span style="color:#333333"> and CO emission world over.</span></strong></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:white"><span style="color:#333333">Lauding the efforts of Ahmadabad Municipal Corporation the minister <strong>appreciated that Ahmadabad has taken a lead on electric Mobility with country made buses.</strong> </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:white"><span style="color:#333333">He also appealed to the civic authorities <strong>to keep prepared for technological needs such as establishment of efficient battery exchanging stations</strong> which should be time saving and energy efficient.</span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2110,
'title' => 'Air pollution and heart risk',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Issue</span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Household air pollution has emerged as one of the key causes of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), and 12% of all CVDs in low-income countries are attributable to it, a new report in The Lancet has said.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Background</span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The combined effects of ambient (outdoor) and household air pollution cause about 7 million premature deaths every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Details</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">At least 65% of homes in India use biomass fuel for cooking and heating. In urban areas, the use of mosquito coils, dhoop sticks and agarbattis contribute to high household air pollution.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Household air pollution is a greater risk factor for CVD in India than diabetes, tobacco use, low physical activity and poor diet.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">An earlier report from a PURE study (Lancet Respiratory Medicine 2014) showed that Indians had the lowest lung function among the 21 countries studied.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The major focus has been ambient air pollution that is pollution rising from motor vehicles and industries.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Conclusion</span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is now time to wake up and realise that the pollution we generate in our house is also responsible for significant adverse effects.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">If the household air pollution can be controlled, we can see significant decrease in mortality including due to cardiovascular disease in India.</span></span></p>
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(int) 35 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2155,
'title' => 'Reverse desertification',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">PM Modi has announced that India would raise its ambitious goal of the total area that would be restored from its land degradation status, from 21 million hectares to 26 million hectares between now and 2030.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">At the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP) 2015 in Paris, India had joined the voluntary Bonn Challenge and pledged to bring into restoration 13 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by 2020, and an additional 8 million hectares by 2030. India’s pledge was one of the largest in Asia.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India faces a severe problem of land degradation, or soil becoming unfit for cultivation. About 29% or about 96.4 million hectares are considered degraded.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The decline in productive capacity of land is due to climatic factors and human intervention.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The intended target would be achieved with an emphasis on degraded agricultural, forest and other wastelands by adopting a landscape restoration approach.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This would also address water scarcity, enhance water recharge in forests, slow down water run-off and retain soil moisture.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Land Degradation</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Land degradation is a process in which the value of the biophysical environment is affected by a combination of human-induced processes acting upon the land.</span></span></p>
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(int) 36 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2177,
'title' => 'Differential global carbon tax',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Owing to high emisions by northern countries,a just approach would be global sharing of the responsibility among countries according to their respective shares in global emissions.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Climate change is a global problem, and a global problem needs a global solution. The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report suggests that humankind might have just over a decade left to limit global warming.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change says total global emissions will need to fall by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> If these targets are not met, densely populated tropical regions of the world mainly concentrated in the global South, are likely to be most negatively affected because of their low altitudes and pre-existing high temperatures.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The global South, which has historically contributed less to the problem happens to be at the receiving end of the lifestyle choices made by the global North.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The burden of adjustment cannot be equal when the underlyin relationship between the two worlds has been historically unequal.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The most accepted model of mitigating strategy has been the carbon trading process. However, it has its own limitations.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:12.0pt">How to reduce global emissions?</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Changing the energy infrastructure, which requires massive investments for the green energy programme across the world. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The countries on the top of the emission charts, apart from funding their own energy transition, should partially support the transition for the countries at the bottom by sharing of the burden of development.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">For successful energy transition to greener renewable sources, countries have to spend around 1.5% of their GDP.The global energy transition should be financed through a system of the global carbon tax.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Differential Tax system</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is a method of taxation where there is increase the tax burden for countries with high emissions while providing tax benefits for those with low emissions<span style="font-size:10.5pt"><span style="background-color:white"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="color:#545454">. </span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2217,
'title' => 'Climate change and effects on Banana yield',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Due to continued global warming, the banana yield gains could slow down or even reverse in some countries leading to a drop in yield significantly by 2050.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Global warming in the last 60 years had helped increase banana yield at annual rate of 0.024 tonnes per hectare translating to an average increase of 1.37 tonnes per hectare in 27 countries since the 1960s.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">But changing climatic conditions can have adversely impacted the growth of banana yield and reducing profits of countries such as India.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India, which is the world’s largest producer and consumer of banana, along with nine other countries such as Brazil will see a reduction in the yield.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">At the same time, certain other countries like Ecuador and Honduras, and many in Africa, will witness an overall increase in crop yield.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Decline in production due to climate change in the case of India can be mitigated by strong, technology-driven measures to increase the yield.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Study fails to consider agro-economic considerations such as cultivation infrastructure, access to market etc. Similarly, the extent of irrigation in use has not been accounted for in the analysis.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>India and Banana Production</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India is the world’s number one producer of banana. Over 29% of the world’s banana production is in India. The average yield of banana in India is around 60 tonnes per hectare.</span></span></p>
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(int) 38 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2274,
'title' => 'Amazon company to be carbon neutral by 2040',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Amazon.com Inc Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos committed the company to being carbon neutral by 2040 and said that part of the pledge is an order for 1,00,000 electric delivery vans.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Cutting emissions is a challenging goal for Amazon, which delivers 10 billion items a year and has a massive transportation footprint. Amazon plans to meet the goals of the Paris climate accord 10 years ahead of schedule.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Amazon will invest $100 million to restore forests and wetlands and said that company will take a “careful look” at political campaign contributions it makes that could be going to politicians that deny climate science.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Amazon also announced a new program called Shipment Zero, with a plan to make 50% of all Amazon shipments net zero carbon by 2030.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Carbon Neutral</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Carbon neutrality, or having a net zero carbon footprint, refers to achieving net zero carbon dioxide emissions by balancing carbon emissions with carbon removal or simply eliminating carbon emissions altogether.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Paris Climate Accord</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Paris Agreement is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, dealing with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance, signed in 2016.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As of March 2019, 195 UNFCCC members have signed the agreement, and 186 have become party to it.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Paris Agreement's long-term goal is to keep the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels; and to limit the increase to 1.5 °C.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 39 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2316,
'title' => 'Greta Thunberg and United Nations youth Climate Action Summit',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Climate change activist Greta Thunberg innaugrated the United Nations Climate Action Summit in the United Nations (UN) headquarter on September 23, 2019.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> Millions of young people around the world had taken to the streets to demand emergency action on climate change in what could possibly be the largest climate protest in history, the Global Climate Strike.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Greta Thunberg is a Swedish environmental activist focused on the risks posed by climate change.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">when she was 15, Thunberg took time off school to demonstrate outside the Swedish parliament, holding up a sign calling for stronger climate action.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>United Nations Youth Climate Action Summit</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The UN Youth Climate Summit is a platform for young leaders who are driving climate action to showcase their solutions at the United Nations, and to meaningfully engage with decision-makers on the defining issue of our time.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Youth Climate Summit will feature programms that brings together young activists, innovators, entrepreneurs, and change-makers who are committed to combating climate change at the pace and scale needed to meet the challenge.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Current status</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The climate impacts such as extreme weather, thawing permafrost and sea-level rise are unfolding much faster than expected.Scientists say the urgency of the crisis has intensified since the Paris accord was agreed.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The agreement will enter a crucial implementation phase next year after another round of negotiations in Chile in December.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Pledges made so far under the agreement are nowhere near enough to avert catastrophic warming, after last year’s carbon emissions hit a record high.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2318,
'title' => 'PM Modi at UN General assembly meet',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">PM Modi is in New York to participate in the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly where he has addressed the assembly.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The 74th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 74) will open on 17 September 2019. Many world leaders including PM Modi are expected to address the assembly and highlight their plans for tackling climate change.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Highlights of speech</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the world was not doing enough to tackle the climate crisis, calling for "global behavioural<span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">”</span> change.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The PM also said that India is launching a coalition for disaster resilient infrastructure and all world leaders are invited for this coalition.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He spoke about the importance of using renewable sources of energy instead of non-renewable resources.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">PM Modi highhlighted Indian government’s agenda of clean energy cooking fuel for all and also piped drinking water for all under <span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">‘</span>Jal Jeevan Mission<span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">’</span>.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Mr. Modi also said India plans to increase the proportion of the biofuel blend in petrol and diesel.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He also said India had plans to make the transport sector green through the use of electrical vehicles.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The PM also mentioned about his plans of banning single use plastic completely in the future.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He stressed the need for comprehensive approach which covers everything from education to values, and from lifestyle to developmental philosophy.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>UNGA</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The United Nations General Assembly is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, the only one in which all member nations have equal representation, and the main deliberative, policy-making, and representative organ of the UN.</span></span></p>
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(int) 41 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2327,
'title' => 'Russia joins Paris climate agreement',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Russia has said it would implement the 2015 Paris Agreement to fight climate change after Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev approved a government resolution that signifies Moscow’s final acceptance of the deal.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Russia is the world’s fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases and the biggest emitter not to have ratified the landmark global climate deal. Russia said it did not need to ratify the agreement because it had already undertaken to honour its commitments when it signed the deal in April 2016.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The resolution said that Russia would not technically ratify the accord due to a legal nuance and said Moscow would adapt the accord to existing legal norms and it was unclear if there were any legal implications of failing to technically ratify the pact.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Russian government is currently reviewing a law to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, along with two national plans for low-carbon development and adaptation.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The country’s announcement means that there are now eleven countries yet to formally ratify the Agreement. These are Angola, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, South Sudan, Suriname, and Yemen.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Paris Agreement</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Paris Agreement is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, dealing with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance, signed in 2016.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Highlights</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The agreement requires all countries to submit updated plans that would increase the stringency of regulating emissions by 2020.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The deal requires countries to monitor, verify and report their greenhouse gas emissions using the same global system.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Calls on nations to establish a new collective quantified goal of at least $100 billion a year in climate-related financing by 2020<span style="font-size:13.5pt"><span style="background-color:white"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif""><span style="color:#333333">.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 42 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2339,
'title' => 'IPCC report',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The<strong> Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change </strong>(IPCC) , the apex referee for scientific evidence on the impact of global warming made public a special report that underlined the dire changes taking place in oceans, glaciers and ice-deposits on land and sea.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details of report</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Over the 21st century, the ocean is projected to transition to unprecedented conditions with increased temperatures, further ocean acidification, marine heatwaves and more frequent extreme El Niño and La Niña events.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The report updates scientific literature available since 2015, when the IPCC released its comprehensive 5th Assessment Report which summarises the disastrous impacts of warming based on current projections of global greenhouse gas emissions.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The global ocean has warmed unabated since 1970 and has taken up more than 90% of the excess heat in the climate system (high confidence). Since 1993, the rate of ocean warming has more than doubled. Marine heatwaves have very likely doubled in frequency since 1982 and are increasing in intensity.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Southern Ocean accounted for 35%–43% of the total heat gain in the upper 2,000 m global ocean between 1970 and 2017, and its share increased to 45%–62% between 2005 and 2011.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The 1.5°C report was a key input used in negotiations at Katowice, Poland last year for countries to commit themselves to capping global temperature rise to 1.5°C by the end of the century.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A major impact is on the Hindu Kush Himalayan Regions, where floods will become more frequent and severe in the mountainous and downstream areas of the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra river basins, because of an increase in extreme precipitation events.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The severity of flood events is expected to more than double towards the end of the century and create destruction.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>IPCC</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations, dedicated to providing the world with an objective, scientific view of climate change, its natural, political and economic impacts and risks, and possible response options.</span></span></p>
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(int) 43 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2412,
'title' => 'Humans pollute more than volcanoes',
'description' => '<p><strong>Issue</strong></p>
<p>Human activity gives out up to 100 times more planet-warming carbon each year as all the volcanoes on Earth, a study has found out.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Background</strong></p>
<p>The Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO), an international team of scientists, released a series of papers outlining how carbon is stored, emitted and reabsorbed by natural and manmade processes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Details</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>It was found that manmade carbon dioxide emissions exceed the contribution of volcanoes, which gives out gas and are often considered as a major climate change contributor to current warming rates.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It was also observed that modern manmade emissions were the “same magnitude” as past carbon shocks that precipitated mass extinction.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Manmade emissions in 2018 alone topped 37 gigatonnes, whereas the CO2 released annually by volcanoes hovers around 0.3 and 0.4 gigatonnes which his roughly 100 times less than manmade emissions.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Sources of greenhouse gases</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><strong>Transportation</strong>: The transportation sector generates the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Electricity production</strong> : Electricity production generates the second largest share of greenhouse gas emissions.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Industry</strong> : Greenhouse gas emissions from industry primarily come from burning fossil fuels for energy, as well as greenhouse gas emissions from certain chemical reactions.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Agriculture</strong>: Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture come from livestock such as cows, agricultural soils, and rice production.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Commercial and Residential</strong>: Greenhouse gas emissions from businesses and homes arise primarily from fossil fuels.</p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 44 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2414,
'title' => 'Ice berg breaks off near Antarctica',
'description' => '<p><strong>Issue</strong></p>
<p>The iceberg, named D28, broke away from the Amery ice shelf, according to observations from European and American satellites.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Background</strong></p>
<p>Iceberg production and destruction is part of the cycle of ice shelves, which are an extension of the ice cap. Scientists have said that the event is part of a normal cycle and is not related to climate change.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Details</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Antarctica is the world’s fifth largest continent, and it is, on average, the highest and coldest continent.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Iceberg production in Antarctica is part of the normal cycle of ice shelves, which are an extension of the ice cap.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Importance of ice shelves</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Glaciers store about 69 percent of the world's fresh water.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Glaciers are important indicators of global warming and climate change.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>They keep the temperature of the earth under control through cooling action.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Implications of ice melting</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>If all land ice melted, sea level would rise approximately 70 meters (230 feet) worldwide.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The glaciers are great reflector of solar radiation. They ensure that most of the sun rays are reflected back. Their reduction will result in more solar radiation and subsequent warming.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The polar ice contain large amount of carbon trapped underneath them. Their melting will emit the carbon back to the atmosphere.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The ancient polar ice has trapped some of the ancient microbes which are different from current pathogens. Their melting will release these pathogens back into the atmosphere and it can result in epidemics.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 45 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2473,
'title' => 'India to work with China and Pakistan to study climate change',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To gauge the impact of climate change<strong> </strong>on the Hindu Kush mountains and spruce up data-gathering, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) will collaborate with meteorological agencies in China and Pakistan, to provide climate forecast services to countries in the region.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last month highlighted the threat to the HKH region from global warming.<strong> </strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Floods would become more frequent and severe in the mountainous and downstream areas of the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra river basins, because of an increase in extreme precipitation events.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Hindu-Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region is considered the Third Pole and has significant implications for climate. However, data-gathering here is sparse.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Alongside forecasting weather over long periods, the regional centres would provide data services, training and capacity-building, research and development.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The HKH region spans Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. It traverses about 5 million square kilometres and hosts a large and culturally diverse population.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Third pole</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The region that encompasses the Himalaya-Hindu Kush mountain range and the Tibetan Plateau is widely known as the Third Pole because its ice fields contain the largest reserve of fresh water outside the Polar Regions.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> This region is the source of the 10 major river systems that provide irrigation, power and drinking water for over 1.3 billion people in Asia – nearly 20% of the world’s population.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Third Pole contains vast cryospheric zones, is also the world’s largest store of snow and ice outside the polar region.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Hindu Kush Mountains</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Hindu Kush is an 800-kilometre-long mountain range that stretches through Afghanistan, from its centre to northern Pakistan and into Tajikistan and China.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Hindu Kush range has also been the passageway during the invasions of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_subcontinent" title="Indian subcontinent">Indian subcontinent</a> and continues to be important during modern-era warfare in Afghanistan.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 46 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2604,
'title' => 'Bio bricks',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers from Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, and KIIT School of Architecture, Bhubaneswar (Odisha), have developed bio-bricks from agricultural waste.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">About 22% of India’s total annual CO<sub>2</sub> emissions is by the construction sector. Clay bricks, not only use up fertile top soil, but their manufacturing process also emits significant amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The process of making bio-bricks starts with careful selection of the dry agro-waste like paddy straws, wheat straws, sugarcane bagasse and cotton plant. It ends with a compressed end product that is hard enough to be used as a construction material.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Bio-bricks are not only sustainable when compared to clay bricks, but are carbon sinks as they fix more carbon dioxide than they produce during their life cycle.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Significance</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Re-purposing of agricultural waste is particularly important in India. More than 500 million tonnes of agricultural waste is produced in the country every year, which is not utilized appropriately.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">While some of this is reused as fodder,most are burnt, which results in severe air pollution.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The bricks provide good insulation to heat and sound and help in maintaining humidity of the buildings, making these houses suitable for hot-humid climate like India.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Drawbacks</strong></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">These bio-bricks are not as strong as burnt clay bricks and cannot be used directly to build load-bearing structures.</span></span></p>
',
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(int) 47 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2607,
'title' => 'Green crackers',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">With less than a week left for Diwali, there is no clarity on the types of firecrackers that individuals and families conscious of reducing their pollution footprint should buy.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In October 2018, the Supreme Court had ruled that only “green firecrackers” having low emission and permissible sound limits were to be sold and used.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> It had also fixed a timeslot for fireworks, between 8 pm and 10 pm on Diwali, and between 11.45 pm and 12.30 am on Christmas Eve and New Year.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Union Ministry of Science and Technology had launched environment-friendly firecrackers developed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) laboratories.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">CSIR-NEERI developed new formulations for reduced emission light and sound emitting crackers (SWAS, SAFAL, STAR) with 30% reduction in particulate matter using Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) as oxidant.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The green firecrackers are supposed to have a changed composition of chemicals, and emit 30% less particulate matter when burned as compared to traditional firecrackers.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Particulate matter</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Particulate matter is a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets suspended in the air.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> These include PM10, which are particles with a diameter equal to or less than 10 micrometres, and PM2.5 that are of diameter equal to or less than 2.5 micrometres.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Numerous studies have linked particulate pollution exposure to many health problems, including premature death in people with heart or lung diseases.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">They can also settle on ground or water and, depending upon their chemical composition, may have an adverse impact on them.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Green crackers</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">These crackers have been named as safe water releaser (SWAS), safe minimal aluminium (SAFAL) and safe thermite cracker (STAR).</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It has unique property of releasing water vapour and /or air as dust suppressant and diluent for gaseous emissions and matching performance in sound with conventional crackers.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>SWAS</strong> crackers eliminates usage of (KNO3) Potassium nitrate and Sulphurwith consequent reduction in particulate matter (30-35%) SO2 and Nox.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>STAR</strong> eliminates usage of KNO3 and S with consequent reduction in particulate matter (35-40%), SO2 and NOx.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>SAFAL</strong> has minimal usage of aluminium (only in flash powder for initiation)with consequent significant reduction in particulate matter(35-40 %) compared to commercial crackers.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 48 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2633,
'title' => 'El Niño',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In a new study, researchers have found that because of climate change, extreme El Niño events are likely to become more frequent.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The El Niño is a widely discussed phenomenon, particularly in India where it can impact the southwest monsoon. In fact, El Niño events cause serious shifts in weather patterns across the globe.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>El Niño</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The term El Niño refers to the large-scale ocean-atmosphere climate interaction linked to a periodic warming in sea surface temperatures across the central and east-central Equatorial Pacific.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">El Niño is a climate phenomenon that takes place over the equatorial Pacific. It is one phase of an alternating cycle known as El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">When there is a warming of the sea surface temperature in the eastern and central equatorial Pacific Ocean, it is known as El Niño. When the opposite cooling phase takes place, it is known as La Niña.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">ENSO can cause extreme weather events in many regions of the world, and therefore has very important implications for seasonal climate predictions, including the monsoon in India. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">While El Niño causes warmer temperatures over the equatorial Pacific, these are known to <strong>suppress monsoon rainfall.</strong></span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>La Niña</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">La Niña episodes represent periods of below-average sea surface temperatures across the east-central Equatorial Pacific. Global climate La Niña impacts tend to be opposite those of El Niño impacts. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In the tropics, ocean temperature variations in La Niña also tend to be opposite those of El Niño.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During a La Niña year, winter temperatures are warmer than normal in the Southeast and cooler than normal in the Northwest.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><strong>Diagram</strong><br />
<span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><img alt="el nino.jpg" 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style="float:left; height:264px; width:593px" /></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
',
'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
'posturl' => 'el-nino',
'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/ca63/1621ik48nwc2nyq6g.jpg',
'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/ca63/1621ik48nwc2nyq6g.jpg',
'metatitle' => 'El Niño | southwest monsoon | El Niño Southern Oscillation',
'metakeyword' => 'El Niño, southwest monsoon, El Niño Southern Oscillation',
'metadescription' => 'In a new study, researchers have found that because of climate change, extreme El Niño events are likely to become more frequent.',
'author' => null,
'downlaodpdf' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/file/iaj92kdkxio2fed/El_Ni_o.pdf/file',
'[new]' => false,
'[accessible]' => [
[maximum depth reached]
],
'[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[repository]' => 'currentaffairs'
},
(int) 49 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2698,
'title' => 'Economic slowdown can reduce India’s carbon burden',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A study has found out that Carbon dioxide emissions are poised to grow at their slowest since 2001 due to a slower growth in coal-based power generation.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, and the emissions of other GHGs, are often associated with the burning of fossil fuels, like natural gas, crude oil and coal.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A report by the International Energy Emissions Agency had said that India’s per capita emissions were about 40% of the global average and contributed 7% to the global carbon dioxide burden.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India has promised to reduce the emission intensity of its economy by 2030, compared to 2005 levels under UNFC climate change agreement.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It has also committed to having 40% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The rise in C0<sub>2</sub> emissions from India sees wild swings from 7.7% in 2014 to 3.5% the next year and then back to 7.8% in 2018.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This is the first time that emissions are expected to grow below 3% from the previous year.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The analysis was restricted to August but the remaining months were unlikely to change the year’s trend as coal generation trends are unlikely to change given the lack of demand and the contribution of renewables.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The combined total of coal sales from state-owned mines to consumers outside the power sector and imports of coking coal and coke fell 14% in 2017 and rose 15% in 2018. But it increased by just 3% in the first eight months of 2019.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Wind generation rose by 17% in the first six months of 2019 compared to the same period a year earlier, with solar up 30% and hydro increasing by 22%.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Carbon footprint</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A carbon footprint is historically defined as the total emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent.</span></span></p>
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(int) 50 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2734,
'title' => 'India’s efforts towards mitigating climate change',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In 2015 several nations across the globe met in Paris, and 197 signatory countries have promised to own up and to limit the increase to no more than 1.5 degrees over the pre- industrial levels by 2030. India is one of them.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Globe has warmed by about 2 degrees because of the carbon-rich fossil fuel-burning which started during the Industrial Revolution of the 1750s till today.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Challenges faced by India</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India has promised to cut its emission intensity by 33-35% by the year 2030, as compared to 2015 levels.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">First challenge: Most of India's emissions come from energy (largely coal-based) production (68%), industry (20%), agriculture, food and land use (10%).</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It becomes vital that we use other means of energy, produced by, for instance, hydroelectric power, windmills, solar power, nuclear power and others. India hopes to produce 40% of its energy from such non-coal sources.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Secondly, agriculture, land use and water resources, these too contribute to climate change through minimum support price, subsidies, free 24-hour electric power supply, and water-intensive crops.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">We need to restrict these and take to proven methods, and work on innovative ones. Some of these are drip irrigation (as Israel has done), aerobic cultivation (developing plant varieties whose roots penetrate deep into the soil), better and more nutritious grains.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The practice of Stubble burning must stop. Measures needs to be taken to find alternate methods to replace stubble burning.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The third is to bring down atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> levels through natural means. Forestation and planting of local varieties of trees must increase.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Local trees absorb water and send it down to earth. India has plans to create additional ‘carbon sinks’ through forestation and tree plantation, so as to bring down 2.5-3 billion tonnes of CO<sub>2</sub>.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Effects of climate change</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Warmer climate, caused due to global warming can give rise to water-borne diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, as well as malaria, dengue and chikungunya in geographical spread across hilly, cold as well as warm deserts and sea coasts.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Rising sea surface temperatures increase tropical cyclones and storm surges, leading to polluted water, insanitary conditions, population displacement, toxic exposures, hunger and malnutrition across the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea coast.</span></span></p>
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(int) 51 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2778,
'title' => 'Climate change damaging health of children',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to a report in <em>Lancet</em>, climate change is already damaging the health of the world’s children and is set to shape the well-being of an entire generation, unless the world meets the target to limit warming to well below 2?C.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Lancet Countdown on Health<strong> </strong>and Climate Change’ is a comprehensive yearly analysis tracking progress across 41 key indicators, demonstrating what action to meet Paris Agreement targets means for human health.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The report notes that as temperatures rise, infants will bear the greatest burden of malnutrition and rising food prices.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Average yield potential of maize and rice has declined almost 2% in India since the 1960s, with malnutrition already responsible for two-thirds of under-5 deaths.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">children will suffer most from the rise in infectious diseases , with climatic suitability for the Vibrio bacteria that cause cholera rising 3% a year in India since the early 1980s.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Government of India has launched many initiatives and programmes to address a variety of diseases and risk factors. But this report shows that the public health gains achieved over the past 50 years could soon be reversed by the changing climate.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">For the world to meet its UN climate goals and protect the health of the next generation, the energy landscape will have to change drastically, says the study.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The report says that if the world follows the current trend, with high carbon emissions and <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/tag/994-993/climate-change/?utm=bodytag" target="_blank">climate change<strong> </strong></a>continuing at the current rate, a child born today will face a world on average over 4?C warmer by their 71st birthday, threatening their health at every stage of their lives.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Children are particularly vulnerable to the health risks of a changing climate. Their bodies and immune systems are still developing, leaving them more susceptible to disease and environmental pollutants.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The damage done in early childhood is persistent and pervasive, with health consequences lasting for a lifetime.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India is joining the global shift towards renewable energy, but it still overwhelmingly relies on coal for electricity, with an 11% increase in its energy from burning coal in 2016-2018, compared to less than a 1.5% rise in China.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To dramatically reduce emissions by 2050, and to meet multiple Sustainable Development Goals, India must transition away from coal and towards renewable energy. It will also need to enhance public transport, increase use of cleaner fuels.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 52 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2789,
'title' => 'EU bank to stop funding fossil fuel projects',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The European Union's investment arm, EIB has said it will stop funding fossil fuel projects from 2022 as part of a new strategy aimed at fighting climate change.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The <strong>European Investment Bank</strong>, the world's largest multilateral lender, had been criticised by climate groups for funding gas projects that potentially threatened the EU's commitment to the Paris climate goals.</span></span><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The ban on funding comes into effect a year later than originally proposed after lobbying by European Union member states.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The EIB's decision was expected, coming after EU finance ministers last week unanimously backed the phasing out of funding of gas, oil and coal projects to help combat climate change.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The EIB said the new energy plan would also "unlock" one trillion Euros (USD 1.1 trillion) of climate action and environmentally sustainable investment over the next decade.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">But three countries, Poland, Romania and Hungary voted against, wanting more flexibility for gas funding, as did Estonia, Lithuania, Cyprus and Malta, which abstained.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Austria and Luxembourg also abstained, objecting to nuclear power being eligible for funding under the new policy.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>European Investment Bank</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The European Investment Bank is the European Union's non-profit long-term lending institution established in <strong>1958</strong> under the <strong>Treaty of Rome</strong>.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The EIB is a publicly owned international financial institution and its shareholders are the EU member states. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The member states set the bank's broad policy goals and oversee the two independent decision-making bodies, the board of governors and the board of directors. It is the world's largest international public lending institution.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 53 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2831,
'title' => 'Arctic ocean will be partly ice free by 2044',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Human-caused climate change will be making the Arctic Ocean functionally ice-free for part of each year starting sometime between 2044 and 2067, according to a study.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers had noted that as long as humans have been on Earth, the planet has had a large cap of sea ice at the Arctic Circle that expands each winter and contracts each summer. They assume this will be changing soon.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Satellite observations show that since 1979, the amount of sea ice in the Arctic in September, the month when there is the least sea ice, before water starts freezing again has declined by 13% per decade.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Scientists have been attempting to predict the future of Arctic sea ice for several decades, relying on an array of global climate models that simulate how the climate system will react to all of the carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">But the prediction models have failed to create a global consensus on the onset of sea ice melting.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Among the current generation of models, some show ice-free Septembers as early as 2026, while others suggest the phenomenon will begin as late as 2132.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">One reason predictions about sea ice loss diverge so much is that they differ in how they consider a process called sea ice albedo feedback.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The process occurs when a patch of sea ice completely melts, uncovering a seawater surface that is darker and absorbs more sunlight than ice would have.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">That change in the surface’s reflectivity of sunlight, or albedo, causes greater local warming, which in turn leads to further ice melt, the researchers said.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The cycle increases the rate of warming , one of the reason the Arctic is heating up twice as fast as the rest of the globe.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As the Arctic ice is lost, more waters are used for commercial shipping and oil and gas exploration, which presents economic opportunity for some nations.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Benefits of sea ice</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Arctic sea ice is a key component of the earth system because of its highly reflective nature, which keeps the global climate relatively cool.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Sea ice is critical to the Arctic ecosystem, and to the fishing industry and indigenous peoples who depend on that ecosystem.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><img alt="Arctic ocean will be partly ice free by 2044 19 Nov Daily Current affairs" src="https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/b310/ipjfq2pra9lrzj76g.jpg" style="height:235px; width:325px" /></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
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'title' => 'Rise in sea Levels near Indian coast in last 50 years',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Sea level along the Indian coast has risen by 8.5 cm in the last five decades, Union Minister Babul Supriyo said in the Rajya Sabha.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Recently, a report of the UN’s Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had warned that global sea levels are set to rise by at least 1m by 2100 if carbon emissions go unchecked, submerging hundreds of cities, including Mumbai and Kolkata, and in some cases entire countries.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Satellite altimetry and model simulations showed that the North Indian Ocean (NIO) also exhibits decadal variability in terms of sea level rise.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the last decade (2003-2013) it experienced sea level rise at a rate of 6.1 mm/year.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Rising sea levels can enhance the coastal inundation along the low lying areas during extreme events such as tsunami, storm surge, coastal flooding and coastal erosion.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The coastal areas that might get inundated due to the rising sea level have to be evaluated based on their elevation above mean sea level.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Since no long term data on land subsidence or emergence are available for these locations, the rate of increase of sea level due to climate change cannot be attributed with certainty.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Reasons for sea level rising</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The two major causes of global sea level rise are thermal expansion caused by warming of the ocean (since water expands as it warms) and increased melting of land-based ice, such as glaciers and ice sheets.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Sea level rise at specific locations may be more or less than the global average due to local factors such as land subsidence from natural processes and withdrawal of groundwater and fossil fuels, changes in regional ocean currents, and whether the land is still rebounding from the compressive weight of Ice Age glaciers.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Effects of Sea level rise</strong></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Rising seas threaten infrastructure necessary for local jobs and regional industries. Roads, bridges, subways, water supplies, oil and gas wells, power plants, sewage treatment plants, landfills are at risk from sea level rise.</span></span></p>
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(int) 55 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2919,
'title' => 'Reports indicate losing battle against climate change',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Recent news on the global fight against climate change has been consistently disappointing, as the leaders of the world’s nations assemble in Madrid for the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25).</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The last few reports had suggested that world climate is not improving soon which may lead to problems sooner than expected. The details of various reports give idea about the extent of damage.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>The Emmissions Gap Report</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) flagship Emissions Gap Report, said in its executive summary that the summary findings are bleak. Countries collectively failed to stop the growth in global GHG emissions, meaning that deeper and faster cuts are now required.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Highlights</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Despite scientific warnings and political commitments, GHG emissions continue to rise, including by China and the United States. GHG emissions have risen at a rate of 1.5 per cent per year in the last decade, stabilizing only briefly between 2014 and 2016.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Although the number of countries announcing net zero GHG emission targets for 2050 is increasing, only a few countries have so far formally submitted long-term strategies to the UNFCCC.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dramatic strengthening of the NDCs is needed in 2020. Countries must increase their NDC ambitions threefold to achieve the well below 2°C goal and more than fivefold to achieve the 1.5°C goal.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>The World Meteorological Organisation Report</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The WMO, a specialized agency of the United Nations mandated to cover weather, climate, and water resources, reported that the emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, all major greenhouse gases have increased in the atmosphere since the middle of the 18th century.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>The Production Gap Report</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Production Gap said that governments are planning to produce about 50% more fossil fuels by 2030 than would be consistent with limiting warming to 2°C and 120% more than would be consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The production gap is the largest for coal, and by 2030, countries plan to produce 150% (5.2 billion tonnes) more coal than would be consistent with a 2°C pathway, and 280% (6.4 billion tonnes) more than would be consistent with a 1.5°C pathway.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Oil and gas are also on track to exceed carbon budgets as countries continue to invest in fossil fuel infrastructure that “locks in” oil and gas use.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 56 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 2976,
'title' => 'Hottest decade in history',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The past decade is almost certain to be the hottest on record, weather experts warned, based on a report launched at climate summit in Spain.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">An annual assessment of the Earth’s climate by the Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization (WMO) underscored the stakes at the talks aimed at fulfilling the 2015 Paris Agreement to avert catastrophic global warming.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Heatwaves and floods which used to be ‘once-in-a-century’ events are becoming more regular occurrences.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Countries ranging from the Bahamas to Japan to Mozambique suffered the effect of devastating tropical cyclones. Wildfires swept through the Arctic and Australia.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Highlights</strong></span></span></p>
<ul style="margin-left:40px">
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Average temperatures for the five-year (2015-2019) and 10-year (2010-2019) periods are almost certain to be the highest on record.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">2019 is on course to be the second or third-warmest year on record.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Sea water is 26% more acidic than at the start of the industrial era, degrading marine ecosystems.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Arctic sea-ice neared record lows in September and October, and Antarctica also saw record low ice several times this year.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Climate change<strong> </strong>is a key driver of a recent rise in global hunger after a decade of steady declines, with more than 820 million people suffering from hunger in 2018.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Weather disasters displaced millions of people this year and affected rainfall patterns from India to northern Russia and the central United States, and many other regions.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The report also noted that surges in sea temperatures known as “marine heatwaves” which devastate underwater life had become more common.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The report said the concentration of CO<sub>2</sub> in the atmosphere hit a record level of 407.8 parts per million in 2018 and continued to rise in 2019.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Reports from climate science in the past year has fuelled environmental activism, prompted some companies to commit to slashing emissions and raised concerns among investors about the stability of asset prices.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 57 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3007,
'title' => 'Carbon market',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Disagreements over setting up a new carbon market has been observed during Climate Conference that is being held in Madrid.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Carbon markets, which allow for buying and selling of carbon emissions with the objective of reducing global emissions, is an unfinished agenda from last year’s meeting in Katowice, Poland.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Under the Paris Agreement, every country has to take action to fight climate change. These actions need not necessarily be in the form of reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, which can constrain economic growth.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India has said it would reduce its emissions per unit of GDP. Only the developed countries have included absolute emission cuts in their action plans.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Since India does not need to make absolute reductions, there is no incentive to make upgradation in technology that can reduce carbon emission.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is to deal with situations like these that the carbon market mechanism is conceived. Markets can potentially deliver emissions reductions over and above what countries are doing on their own.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">For Example, if a developed country is unable to meet its reduction target, it can provide money or technology to a brick kiln in India, and then claim the reduction of emission as its own. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Alternatively, the kiln can make the investment, and then offer on sale the emission reduction, called <strong>carbon credits</strong>. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Another party, struggling to meet its own targets, can buy these credits and show these as their own.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Carbon markets also existed under the Kyoto Protocol, which is being replaced by the Paris Agreement next year. The market mechanisms being proposed under the Paris Agreement are conceptually not very different, but are supposed to have more effective checks and balances, and monitoring and verification processes.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The main tussle is over two or three broad issues, what happens to carbon credits earned in the Kyoto regime but not yet sold, what constitutes double-counting, and transparency mechanisms to be put in place.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Developing countries have several million unsold CERs (certified emission reductions), each referring to one tonne of carbon dioxide-equivalent emission reduced, from the Kyoto regime. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Under the Kyoto Protocol, only developed countries had the obligation to reduce emissions. In the initial phase, some of these were interested in buying CERs from projects in India or China, which were not obliged to make reductions.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As the demand for CERs crashed, countries like India were left with projects generating CERs with no one to buy them.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The second issue is that of double counting, or corresponding adjustment. It is important to ensure that in this process, credits are not counted at more than one place; whoever sells carbon credits should not simultaneously count these as emissions it has reduced.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The developing countries argue that the country that reduced emissions should be able to show it even after selling the credits, and that adjustments should be made only for subsequent transfers, if any.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Significance of carbon markets</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Carbon markets are not essential to the implementation of Paris Agreement. But with the world doing far less than what is required to prevent catastrophic impacts of climate change, the markets can be an important tool to close the action gap.</span></span></p>
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(int) 58 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3044,
'title' => 'Rising sea levels threatening Mumbai',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> The journal Nature had published an important paper identifying the dangers climate change poses specifically to Mumbai and other coastal cities.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The research indicates that anthropogenic climate change will inundate significant sections of Mumbai by 2050. Unless the city takes significant action in the next three decades, the sea will reclaim much of the landfill that the city has been built on.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Together with Guangzhou, Jakarta, Miami, and Manila, Mumbai now regularly appears on a list of cities endangered by climate change. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As the cyclones battering coastlines near Mumbai and unseasonal, heavy rains indicate, climate change is not some event in the distant future.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Recent studies, published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicate that its effects are more intensive than earlier models predicted.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Sea levels are rising significantly faster than were previously estimated. The Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate indicates that sea levels are significantly higher than were originally anticipated, and as such will have significant impacts on cities like Mumbai.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The IPCC report warns Mumbai’s planners and administrators and states that in the absence of adaptation, more intense and frequent extreme sea level events, together with trends in coastal development will increase expected annual flood damages.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The rate of sea level rise has more than doubled in India in just over a decade in line with global rates. Research has shown that sea level rise has increased to 3.2 mm/year in the period 1993-2012.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Way ahead</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Mumbai is in the midst of a climate emergency. This emergency requires city administrators to rethink how Mumbai may be remade in and with rising waters.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">These unprecedented times demand new imaginaries, designs, plans, and infrastructures and not old techniques which have failed big time.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 59 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3136,
'title' => 'India has highest number of deaths caused by pollution',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In 2017, pollution was responsible for 15% of all deaths globally, and 275 million Disability-Adjusted Life Years. India saw the most pollution deaths of about 2.3 million, a new report has found.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The report is provided by Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP). The report uses the most recent Global Burden of Disease data from the Institute of Health Metrics Evaluation.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The top 10 countries with the most pollution deaths include both the world’s largest and wealthiest nations, and some of its poorer ones. India is followed by China in the number of pollution deaths, with about 1.8 million.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In the list of top 10 countries with the most pollution-related deaths in proportion to their population, there are many smaller countries where the impact of pollution in relation population size is more intense. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Chad tops this list with 287 deaths for every 1,00,000 people, whereas India is at number 10 with 174 deaths for every 1,00,000 people.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The list of top 10 countries with the most deaths related to air pollution corresponds closely to the list of top 10 countries with the most pollution-related deaths.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Air pollution, both ambient and indoor is one of the largest and most obvious types of pollution affecting global health.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Other effects of Air pollution</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Economic impact</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It can bring down productivity and prove expensive by increasing health costs, apart from reducing crop yields and impacting biodiversity and ecosystems.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Impact on weather</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">From rainfall patterns to monsoon intensities, air pollution can significantly affect the water cycle. Particulate matter can reduce the amount of solar radiation that reaches the earth's surface, affecting the rate at which water evaporates and moves into the atmosphere. They also affect clouds' formation and water-carrying capacity.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Impact on renewable energy</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Solar energy yields also drop in areas with significant particulate matter pollution. Wiping away dust on solar panels can solve part of the problem, but the rest is more complicated: Sunlight cannot fully penetrate through smog, reducing solar panels' energy output.</span></span></p>
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(int) 60 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3143,
'title' => 'EU green deal',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:#3e3e3e">The annual climate talks ended in Madrid last week with a disappointing outcome. The talks were unable to define the rules of a new carbon market to be set up under the Paris Agreement.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:#3e3e3e">The European Union, whose 28 member countries are together the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world after China and the United States, came up with an announcement on additional measures it would on climate change.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:#3e3e3e">The EU announcement, called European Green Deal,is hailed as a major step forward, even though it needs complementary efforts from other countries to make a significant impact.</span></span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:#3e3e3e">Two major decisions are at the heart of the European Green Deal. One is about achieving “climate neutrality”. The EU has promised to bring a law, binding on all member countries, to ensure it becomes “climate neutral” by 2050.</span></span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:#3e3e3e">Over the last few months, there had been a growing demand for countries to commit to net-zero emissions by 2050. The UN Secretary-General had convened a special meeting on the sidelines of the General Assembly session in September to persuade countries to commit to this target.</span></span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:#3e3e3e">The EU is now the first major emitter to agree to the 2050 climate neutrality target. It has said it would bring a proposal by March next year on a European law to enshrine this target.</span></span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:#3e3e3e">In its climate action plan declared under the Paris Agreement, the EU was committed to making a 40 per cent reduction in its emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. It is now promising to increase this reduction to at least 50 per cent and work towards 55 per cent.</span></span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:#3e3e3e">The EU also happens to be only one among major emitters to retain the 1990 baseline for emission cuts, originally mandated under the Kyoto Protocol for all developed countries. Most other countries have shifted their baselines to 2005 or even later under the 2015 Paris Agreement.</span></span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:#3e3e3e">The EU has proposals for making the steel industry carbon-free by 2030, new strategies for transport and energy sectors, a revision of managements of railway and shipping to make them more efficient, and more stringent air pollution emission standards for vehicles.</span></span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:#3e3e3e">As long as many international partners do not share the same ambition as the EU, there is a risk of carbon leakage, either because production is transferred from the EU to other countries with lower ambition for emission reduction, or because EU products are replaced by more carbon-intensive imports.</span></span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="color:#3e3e3e">Climate Neutrality</span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:#3e3e3e"> Climate neutrality, sometimes also expressed as a state of net-zero emissions, is achieved when a country’s emissions are balanced by absorptions and removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. </span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:#3e3e3e">Absorption can be increased by creating more carbon sinks like forests, while removal involves technologies like carbon capture and storage.</span></span></span></p>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3209,
'title' => 'New way to extract and store CO2 from vehicle exhaust',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Scientists in Switzerland have come up with a new technology where the carbon dioxide from vehicle exhaust is collected and stored in liquified form on vehicle roofs and later converted back to conventional fuel using renewable energy.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Transportation is responsible for about 30 per cent of the total CO<sub>2</sub> emissions in Europe, out of which 70 per cent originates from road-going vehicles.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Scientists have combined several technologies to capture CO<sub>2</sub> and convert it from a gas to a liquid in a process that recovers most of the energy available onboard, such as heat from the engine.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Mechanism</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">First, the vehicle's flue gases in the exhaust pipe are cooled down and the water is separated from the gases. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">CO<sub>2</sub> is isolated from the other gases (nitrogen and oxygen) with a temperature swing adsorption system, using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) adsorbent, which is specially designed to absorb CO<sub>2</sub>.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Once the material is saturated with CO<sub>2</sub>, it is heated so that pure CO<sub>2</sub> can be extracted from it. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">High-speed turbocompressors then use heat from the vehicle's engine to compress the extracted CO<sub>2</sub> and turn it into a liquid. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">That liquid is stored in a tank and can then be converted back into conventional fuel at the service stations using renewable electricity.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Advantages</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The system could theoretically work with all trucks, buses and even boats, and with any type of fuel. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The other advantage of this system is that, unlike electric or hydrogen-based ones, it can be retrofitted to existing vehicles in order to neutralize their impact in terms of carbon emissions.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The weight of the capsule and the tank is only 7 percent of the vehicle's payload, which does not impact its load carrying capacity.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3288,
'title' => 'Carbon numbers and climate target',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The State of Forest Report (SFR) 2019 has shown an increase in the carbon stock trapped in Indian forests in the last two years. It also indicates why it is going to be an uphill task for India in meeting one of its international obligations on climate change.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India, as part of its contribution to the global fight against climate change, has committed itself to creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This is one of the three targets India has set for itself in its climate action plan, called Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs, that every country has to submit under the 2015 Paris Agreement. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The other two relate to an improvement in emissions intensity, and an increase in renewable energy deployment. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India has said it would reduce its emissions intensity (emissions per unit of GDP) by 33% to 35% by 2030 compared to 2005. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It has also promised to ensure that at least 40% of its cumulative electricity generation in 2030 would be done through renewable energy.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Role of forests in reducing carbon</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Forests, by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for the process of photosynthesis, act as a natural sink of carbon. Together with oceans, forests absorb nearly half of global annual carbon dioxide emissions. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The carbon currently stored in the forests exceeds all the carbon emitted in the atmosphere since the start of the industrial age.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> An increase in the forest area is one of the most effective ways of reducing the emissions that accumulate in the atmosphere every year.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>The current challenges</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">An assessment by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) last year had projected that, by 2030, the carbon stock in forests as well as tree cover was likely to reach 31.87 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in the business as usual scenario.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In the last two years, the carbon sink has grown by just about 0.6%%. Even compared to 2005, the size of carbon sink has increased by barely 7.5%. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To meet its NDC target, even with most optimistic estimates of carbon stock trapped in trees outside of forest areas, the sink has to grow by at least 15% to 20% over the next ten-year period.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Way forward</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The baseline year can impact the business-as-usual projections for 2030. So a 2015 baseline would lead to a higher BAU estimate for 2030 compared to a 2005 baseline when less efforts were being made to add or regenerate forests. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The FSI projections made last year used a 2015 baseline. If 2005 baseline is used, India’s targets can be achieved relatively easily.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India would also have to specify whether it wants to count the carbon sink in the agriculture sector in its target. The NDC specifically mentions that and additional 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon sink would be created through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Carbon sinks</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A carbon sink is a natural reservoir that stores carbon-containing chemical compounds accumulated over an indefinite period of time.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Carbon sinks are very important for our environment because they act like sponges to soak up the carbon compounds that are playing such an enormous role in degradation of environment.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'title' => '2019 was 7th Warmest since 1901',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The year 2019 that went by was the 7th warmest since record-keeping commenced in 1901. However, the rise in average temperatures over India in 2019 was the lowest since 2016.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the year, the annual mean surface air temperature, averaged over the country, was +0.36°C above average. The average is defined as the mean temperature from 1980-2010.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The highest warming observed over India was during 2016 or 0.71°C above the mean. 2018, which was the 6th warmest in India, was 0.41°C, and 2017 was 0.55°C warmer, than the average.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the World Meteorological Organisation, the rise in global mean surface temperature during 2019 (January to October) was +1.10°C.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The main contributors to the warming this year were temperatures in the pre-monsoon (March-May) and monsoon seasons (June-September).</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">2019 was also characterised by unusually high rainfall, which was 9% over what is normal for a year which was due to monsoon rains (June-September) being 10% over its normal, and the northeast monsoon rains being 9% over its normal.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During 2019, eight cyclonic storms formed over the Indian seas, with the Arabian Sea contributing five out of these eight cyclones against the normal of one per year. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This was a phenomenon not seen in India since 1902. This was, meteorologists said, due to a strong Indian Ocean Dipole, or an IOD, which cyclically heats the West Indian Ocean that stimulated cyclone formation over the Arabian Sea.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3351,
'title' => 'New method to estimate melting of debris covered Himalayan glaciers',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A study of the Satopanth glacier in order to model the melting of debris-covered glaciers has been carried out by a group of Indian researchers. Their new method gives a better estimate of the glacier’s melting than existing ones.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Studying debris-laden Himalayan glaciers is important from the point of view of how climate change affects them. About 20% of Himalayan glaciers are debris-laden, and their dynamics are very different from the ones without debris cover.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In glaciers without a debris cover, the rate of melting increases as the elevation decreases. However, in glaciers covered with debris, the thick cover partially insulates the glacier from the warm exterior and thereby slows down the melting. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The thickness of the debris cover, by and large, increases as the glacier flows down. This works against the general trend that the lower the elevation, the higher the rate of melting.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">They computed the sub-debris melting of the glacier by interpolating the collected data as a function of thickness of the debris and averaging over debris thickness distribution over different parts of the glacier. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The new method introduced by the group worked better at estimating the dynamics of the glacier than the conventional method.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Satopanth glacier</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Satopanth glacier is located in Garhwal in Central Himalaya, in Uttarakhand. It is the origin of the river Alaknanda, one of the two main tributaries of the Ganga. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The other tributary is Bhagirathi, which originates from the Gangotri glacier. These two rivers join at Devprayag, around 70 km upstream of Rishikesh. Downstream of Devprayag, the river is called Ganga.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3455,
'title' => 'India phases out ozone depleting HCFC-141b',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India has successfully completed the phasing out of Hydro chloro fluoro carbon (HCFC)-141b, used by foam manufacturing companies and one of the most potent ozone-depleting chemicals.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Ozone occurs naturally in small amounts in the upper atmosphere of the earth. It protects life on earth from the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation. But its presence on ground creates many health problems.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">HCFC-141b is not produced in India and all the domestic requirements are met through imports. With the notification prohibiting the import of HCFC-141b, India has completely phased out the important ozone depleting chemical.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Simultaneously, the use of HCFC-141b by foam manufacturing industry has also been closed as on January 1 under the Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulation and Control) Amendment Rules, 2014.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The phase out of HCFC-141b from the country has twin environmental benefits, one is assisting the healing of the stratospheric ozone layer and the second is climate change mitigation due to transition of foam manufacturing enterprises at large scale to low global warming potential alternative technologies.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Most of the companies that are manufacturing foam in India are micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and belong to informal sector.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>HCFC-141b</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Hydrochlorofluorocarbon-141b, or 1,1-dichloro-1-fluoroethane (HCFC141b), has been developed as a replacement for fully halogenated chlorofluorocarbons because its residence time in the atmosphere is shorter, and its ozone depleting potential is lower than that of presently used chlorofluorocarbons. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">HCFC-141b is used in the production of rigid polyurethane and polyisocyanurate or phenolic insulation foams for residential and commercial buildings. It may also be used as a solvent in electronic and other precision cleaning applications.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">HCFCs are ozone-depleting substances and are to be phased out under the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/montreal-protocol" title="Learn more about Montreal Protocol from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages"><strong>Montreal</strong> <strong>Protocol</strong></a> by 2020 in the developed world and 2040 elsewhere.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 66 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3456,
'title' => 'Tibetan glaciers reveal ancient virus',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A glacier on the north western Tibetan Plateau of China has hosted an ensemble of frozen viruses, many of them unknown to modern science. Scientists excavated the site, revealing the existence of 28 never-before-seen virus groups. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Investigating these mysterious viruses could help scientists in understanding which viruses thrived in different climates and environments over time.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Studying ancient glacial microbes can be challenging. That's because it's extremely easy to contaminate ice core samples with modern-day bacteria.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The team drilled 50 meters (164 feet) down into the glacier to obtain two ice cores, which then underwent a three-step decontamination protocol.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">After that, the researchers used microbiology techniques to identify microbes in the samples.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The microbes differed significantly across the two ice cores, presumably representing the very different climate conditions at the time of deposition.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Climate change now threatens both our ability to exhaustively catalogue those tiny lifeforms as well as our ability to stay safe from dangerous ones.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In a worst-case scenario, this ice melt [from climate change] could release pathogens into the environment. If this happens, it's best to know as much about these viruses as possible.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Research into ancient viruses provides a first window into viral genomes and their ecology from glacier ice.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 67 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3572,
'title' => 'Locust emergency',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the past few weeks, major locust attacks have been observed in several countries in western and southern Asia and in eastern Africa. Pakistan and Somalia have declared locust emergencies.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Locusts are a group of short-horned grasshoppers that multiply in numbers as they migrate long distances in destructive swarms.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations has currently identified three hotspots of threatening locust activity - the Horn of Africa, the Red Sea area, and southwest Asia.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In India, locusts attacks originating from the desert area in Pakistan have struck parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat, causing heavy damage to standing crop.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Locust swarms from Ethiopia and Somalia have travelled south to Kenya and 14 other countries in the continent. Ethiopia’s Rift Valley has also been hit by the pest.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The outbreak is the worst to strike Ethiopia and Somalia in 25 years, and the worst infestation in Kenya in the past 70 years.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In the Red Sea area, locusts have struck in Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Yemen. The swarms are believed to have arrived here from the Indo-Pakistan border area.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Four species of locusts are found in India: Desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria), Migratory locust (Locusta migratoria), Bombay Locust (Nomadacris succincta) and Tree locust (Anacridium sp.).</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Relevance of locust attacks</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The swarms devour leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, bark and growing points, and also destroy plants by their sheer weight as they descend on them in massive numbers.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The desert locust is regarded as the most destructive pest in India as well as internationally, with a small swarm covering one square kilometre being able to consume the same amount of food in one day as 35,000 people.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Reason for increasing locust attacks</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Change in cyclonic patterns over the Arabian Sea is behind the locust invasions in east Africa, west and south Asia.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The current attack of locust swarms is connected with the rise in frequency of cyclones in the otherwise-placid Arabian Sea.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Persistent cyclones in Arabian sea allowed rainwater to fall and gather in different parts of Rub' al-Khali desert, which created more favourable conditions for locusts to breed.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 68 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3686,
'title' => 'Urban Heat Islands in India',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A recent study from IIT Kharagpur called “<strong>Anthropogenic forcing exacerbating the urban heat islands in India</strong>” noted that the relatively warmer temperature in urban areas, compared to suburbs, may contain potential health hazards due to heat waves apart from pollution.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> An Urban Heat Island (abbreviated as UHI) is where the temperature in a densely populated city is as much as 2 degrees higher than suburban or rural areas.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The researchers focused on studying the difference between urban and surrounding rural land surface temperatures, across all seasons in 44 major cities from 2001 to 2017.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">They found evidence of mean daytime temperature of surface urban heat island (UHI Intensity) going up to 2 degrees C for most cities, as analysed from satellite temperature measurements in monsoon and post monsoon periods.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong> Reasons for heat islands</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The materials used for pavements, roads and roofs, such as concrete, asphalt (tar) and bricks, which are opaque, do not transmit light, but have higher heat capacity and thermal conductivity.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Trees and plants are characterised by their ‘<strong>evapotranspiration’</strong>, where there is a continuous water circulation cycle between environment and the plants, leading to moisture movement and heat reduction.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The lack of such evapotranspiration in the city leads to the city experiencing higher temperature than its surroundings.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Impact of Urban Heat Islands (UHI)</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">UHI s also decrease air quality in the cities, thanks to pollution generated by industrial and automobile exhaust, higher extent of particulate matter and greater amounts of dust than in rural areas.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Cities tend to experience heat waves which affect human and animal health, leading to heat cramps, sleep deprivation and increased mortality rates.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">UHIs also impact nearby water bodies, as warmer water (thanks to the pavements, rooftops and so on) is transferred from the city to drains in sewers, and released into nearby lakes and creeks, thus impairing their water quality.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Tackling UHI</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Use greener rooftops, using light-coloured concrete (using limestone aggregates along with asphalt (or tar) making the road surface greyish or even pinkish. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">These are 50% better than black, since they absorb less heat and reflect more sunlight. Likewise, we should paint rooftops green, and install solar panels there amidst a green background.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The other is to plant as many trees and plants as possible. They can absorb excessive heat, retain water moisture and reduce temperature of an area significantly.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 69 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3709,
'title' => 'Dams to control rising sea levels',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A research paper has proposed an extraordinary measure to protect 25 million people and important economic regions of 15 Northern European countries from rising seas as a result of climate change: a mammoth Northern European Enclosure Dam (NEED) enclosing all of the North Sea.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The concept of constructing NEED showcases the extent of protection efforts that are required if mitigation efforts fail to limit sea level rise.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The scientists have proposed the construction of two dams of a combined length of 637 km, the first between northern Scotland and western Norway, measuring 476 km and with an average depth of 121 m and maximum depth of 321 m.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The second between France and southwestern England, of length 161 km, and average depth of 85 m and maximum depth of 102 m.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It has also identified other regions in the world where such mega-enclosures could potentially be considered, including the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Irish Sea, and the Red Sea.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Cost implications</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The researchers have estimated the total costs associated with NEED at between €250 billion and €550 billion. If construction is spread over a 20-year period, this will work out to an annual expense of around 0.07%-0.16% of the GDP of the 15 Northern European countries that will be involved. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Construction costs would be higher for the UK, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium, amounting to roughly 0.15%-0.32% of their GDP annually for 20 years because of their vulnerability, awareness of SLR, or both.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Implications of dam</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The construction will heavily impact marine and terrestrial ecosystems inside and outside the enclosure, will have social and cultural implications, and affect tourism and fisheries.</span></span></p>
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(int) 70 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3753,
'title' => 'Urbanisation and Climate change',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue </strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Existing urbanisation models are not suitable at Indian scale due to its unprecedented population growth and there are no alternative methods to protect from climate change.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Global warming and climate change have become existential problems for humanity today. We are already experiencing their irreversible effects. More dangerous, catastrophic climate impacts are inevitable if we keep going without any restraints.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Unrestricted Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, in the next 3 to 5 decades, shall raise the average earth temperature, melt the ice caps, cause forest fires, endanger land and aquatic species and raise sea levels, submerging several coastal cities.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Climate change and global warming are interconnected. Assessing GHG emission will help developing mitigation strategies for global warming and optimisation of natural resources. This in turn compliments evolving a sustainable infrastructure.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The construction industry consumes enormous amounts of energy. The operative phase of a building’s life span is very large and consumes high energy but is distributed over a design period of about 60 years.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Energy consumption during this phase is more or less streamlined due to advanced technologies, efficient gadgets and building automation systems. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">GHG emissions are observed to be very high during the actual construction, resulting in what is called Carbon Spike Phenomena (CSP).</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Out of the total GHG emission, 8 to 10% is by cement manufacturing industries. This is mainly due to heating of kiln furnaces up to 1500 deg. C using enormous amount of fossil fuel.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> About 70% of Indian population still lives in rural areas and looking forward to migrate to nearby cities. This migration puts enormous pressure on limited land mass and available infrastructure in cities.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Rural migration occurs for two important reasons. Firstly, due to climate-induced impacts including floods, droughts, storms etc., and migrants are termed as environmental refugees. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This group will face a different set of problems in the urban scenario in terms of housing and other facilities. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Secondly, migration in search of better lifestyle, education, comfort and safe living. This group will contribute to greenhouse gas emission, adding to global warming.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The need of the hour is to become sensitive to the impacts of climate change and global warming, to evolve a road map of achieving sustainable growth and to develop right mitigation strategies to decarbonise.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 71 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3759,
'title' => 'Monsoon in Sunderbans to get longer',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The monsoon in Sunderbans is likely to last longer and get more intense, according to a fact sheet titled <em>The Sunderbans and Climate Change</em>, which was made public during the ongoing Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">While the fact sheet puts the rise in the sea level at 3.2 mm per year currently, it states that an estimated rise of 28 cm above the sea levels registered in the year 2000 would result in a 96 % decline of the habitat of the Bengal tiger in Bangladesh.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Climate specialists have predicted that as climate change progresses, monsoon seasons in the Sundarbans will become longer and more intense. Conversely, drought conditions will also become more pronounced, presenting further challenges for agricultural producers in particular and ecosystems in general.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The document highlights the need for "long term coastal planning to ensure that these critically important intertidal habitats with their unique flora and fauna and local inhabitants have a space to retreat inland. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The paper also points out that the habitat of the Bengal tiger <em>(Panthera tigris tigris)</em> in the Sunderbans is also affected by the storm due to a decline in the availability of prey.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The fact sheet points out that the Sunderbans is also highly susceptible to flooding.Due to this, any swelling of ocean water is going to dramatically affect the area.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Apart from the frequent storms and the rise of sea level, another concern is the rise of salinity both in water and soil.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Excess levels of soil salinity can be incredibly damaging to ecosystems as salts can accumulate in the soil and hinder plant growth. It also threatens the health of freshwater aquatic life such as fish and giant prawns.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Sundarbans</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Sundarbans is a mangrove area in the delta formed by the confluence of Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers in the Bay of Bengal. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It spans from the Hooghly River in India's state of West Bengal to the Baleswar River in Bangladesh. Four protected areas in the Sundarbans are enlisted as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, viz Sundarbans National Park, Sundarbans West, Sundarbans South and Sundarbans East Wildlife Sanctuaries.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The forests, together with the Sundarbans mangroves, are important habitats for the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris). The forest also provides habitat for small wild cats such as the jungle cat (Felis chaus), fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus), and leopard cat (P. bengalensis).</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Bangladeshi portion of Sundarbans was designated a Ramsar site on 21 May 1992, and the Indian portion on 30 January 2019.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 72 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3796,
'title' => 'Duck solution to locust problem',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">China is planning to dispatch over 1,00,000 ducks to help Pakistan deal with a massive infestation by locusts, a crop-eating grasshopper that entered the country in June last year.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Earlier in February, Pakistan declared the infestation a national emergency. Even so, it is not the only country with a locust infestation problem, as per the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, the situation is alarming in the Horn of Africa, where widespread breeding is in progress.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">China will send the legion of lotus-eating waterfowl from the eastern province of Zhejiang, following an earlier visit to Pakistan by a team of Chinese experts to assess the situation. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">China deployed ducks, whose diet consists of insects to deal with a locust infestation over two decades ago in Xinjiang. Further, when considering the alternative of spraying pesticides, ducks are considered to be more economical and environmentally friendly.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A study mentions that the ideal time for releasing ducks was about 20 days before the locusts developed, considering that once they do, they would probably land on stalks and ducks cannot climb, making it difficult for them to reach the locusts. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Therefore, it is not clear how effective the ducks being dispatched to Pakistan will be in dealing with locust swarms, considering they would have already developed wings.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It also says that one duck is equivalent to one person and could eliminate up to 40,000 locusts, also reducing the amount of fodder required for the ducks.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 73 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
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'title' => 'Blood red snow in Antarctica',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Over the past few weeks, snow around Ukraine’s <strong>Vernadsky Research Base</strong>, located off the coast of Antarctica’s northernmost peninsula, has started to take on a red tinge.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The red snow raises concerns about the rate at which the glaciers will melt away and eventually affect sea-level rise.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The phenomenon is because of an algae that thrives in freezing weather. Because of the red tinge, the snow is often dubbed “watermelon snow”.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Research says that such algae as found around the Ukrainian research base grow well in freezing temperatures and liquid water.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the summer, when these typically green algae get a lot of sun, they start producing a natural sunscreen that paints the snow in shades of pink and red. In the winter months, they lie dormant.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The algae produce the tinted sunscreen to keep themselves warm. The research also mentions that because the snow becomes darker from the tinge, it absorbs more heat, as a result of which it melts faster.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">These algae, that are not uncommon in other polar settings around the world, change the snow’s albedo, which refers to the amount of light or radiation the snow surface is able to reflect back. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The melting snow is good for the algae who thrive on it, but bad for the glaciers that are already melting.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'metatitle' => 'Blood red snow in Antarctica',
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'metadescription' => 'Over the past few weeks, snow around Ukraine’s Vernadsky Research Base, located off the coast of Antarctica’s northernmost peninsula, has started to take on a red tinge.',
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(int) 74 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3825,
'title' => 'Water crisis in Himalayan region',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Eight towns in the Himalayan region of Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Pakistan were nearly 20%-70% deficient in their water supply, according to a survey that appears in the latest edition of the journal <em>Water Policy</em>.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The researchers surveyed 13 towns across these countries to understand the challenges of the urban denizens of these regions. Unplanned urbanisation and climate change are the key factors responsible for the state of affairs, the study says.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Most of the community’s water sources are from springs and the springs are on the decline because of the complex combination of climatic and non-climatic factors.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Ten of Asia’s largest rivers originate in the Hindu Kush Himalaya stretch of mountain ranges running from Afghanistan in the west to China in the east. Yet, the gap between demand and supply of water here may double by 2050.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The places surveyed are extremely dependent on springs (ranging between 50% and 100%) for their water, and three-fourths were in urban areas. Under current trends, the demand-supply gap may double by 2050.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Communities were coping through short-term strategies such as groundwater extraction, which is proving to be unsustainable. A holistic water management approach that includes springshed management and planned adaptation is therefore paramount.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Across the region, the encroachment and degradation of natural water bodies (springs, ponds, lakes, canals, and rivers) and the growing disappearance of traditional water systems (stone spouts, wells, and local water tanks) are visible.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">One of the studies that makes the same point about rapid urbanisation, blames poor water governance, lack of planning, poor tourism management during peak season as well as climate breakdown for the water stress.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Of India’s 12 Himalayan states, Assam, Mizoram and the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are the most vulnerable to climate change.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 75 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3835,
'title' => 'Black carbon levels increase at Himalayan glaciers',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Black carbon concentrations near the Gangotri glacier rose 400 times in summer due to forest fires and stubble burning from agricultural waste, and triggered glacial melt, according to a study.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Being a pristine zone far from sources of pollution, the measurements are critical to establishing a baseline for pollution loads and estimating the contribution of various sources to pollution.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The team of scientists measured variations of black carbon concentration at Chirbasa, near the Gangotri glacier in the Indian Himalaya, and located at an altitude of 3,600 metres, during the year 2016. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The monthly mean concentration of EBC (equivalent black carbon) was found to be minimum in August and maximum in the month of May. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The observed seasonal mean concentrations of EBC indicated a pristine glacial source and an absence of EBC sources in the locality.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Black carbon</strong> results from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass. The fine particles absorb light and about a million times more energy than carbon dioxide. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is said to be the second largest contributor to climate change after CO2. But unlike CO2, which can stay in the atmosphere for years together, black carbon is short-lived and remains in the atmosphere only for days to weeks before it descends as rain or snow.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Black carbon absorbs solar energy and warms the atmosphere. When it falls to earth with precipitation, it darkens the surface of snow and ice, reducing their <strong>albedo</strong> (the reflecting power of a surface), warming the snow, and hastening melting.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India is the second largest emitter of black carbon in the world, with emissions expected to increase dramatically in the coming decades, with the Indo Gangetic plains said to be the largest contributor.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Brown carbon</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Black carbon is primarily released by high-temperature combustion and brown carbon is emitted mainly by biomass combustion.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Blue carbon</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Blue carbon is the term for carbon captured by the world's ocean and coastal ecosystems. Sea grasses, mangroves, and salt marshes along our coast "capture and hold" carbon, acting as something called a carbon sink.</span></span></p>
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(int) 76 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3849,
'title' => 'Climate change leads to more violence on women and girls',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">IUCN has undertaken the largest and most comprehensive study to date on the effects of climate change and environmental degradation on gender-based violence.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This study shows us that the damage humanity is inflicting on nature can also fuel violence against women around the world, a link that has so far been largely overlooked.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The study adds to the urgency of halting environmental degradation alongside action to stop gender-based violence in all its forms, and demonstrates that the two issues often need to be addressed together.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the study, girls in countries like Ethiopia and South Sudan are being sold off in marriage during extreme droughts, in exchange for cattle.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is simply a survival strategy, to get rid of a daughter to relieve the pressure on the family, or it’s the only way to generate income.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Growing resource scarcity also increases the risk that women and girls will be victims of violence. With increasing drought and desertification in the global south, more and more water sources and wells are drying up.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Fetching water is often a woman’s job, and if they’re forced to walk farther for that water the risk of sexual assault also increases, especially in regions characterized by armed gangs.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Women living on many of Africa’s coasts and lakes have also suffered as fish have become scarcer. Fishermen peddling their wares are now not only expecting money as payment, they’re also demanding sexual favours. According to the IUCN study, this practice is now so common in western Kenya that it has a name: the Jaboya system.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">World Vision has tried to counteract this form of sexual exploitation, in particular in the eastern African region around Lake Victoria, where women have been given the opportunity to breed fish in ponds.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In places where women are responsible for agriculture, a sudden natural disaster or extreme weather event can have a dramatic effect on their social and family standing. If harvests are threatened or wiped out altogether, this can lead to violence, often from within their own families.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Women and girls can suffer terribly in extreme weather situations and during natural disasters, when societies dictate certain behaviors and prohibit others, such as being out in public alone.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the IUCN study, threats and sexual violence such as rape are often used to target environmental activists to undermine their status within the community, and to prevent other women from working to preserve the environment from the construction of a new mine or dam.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 77 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3867,
'title' => 'Rainforests losing ability to absorb carbon',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The amount of planet-warming carbon dioxide that can be sucked up from the atmosphere and stored by tropical forests is falling as the global climate heats up.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The tropics lost 12 million hectares of tree cover in 2018, including 3.6 million hectares of old-growth rainforest, an area the size of Belgium, much due to fires, land-clearing for farms and mining, according to monitoring service Global Forest Watch.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Rainforests could tip from absorbing carbon to becoming a source of emissions faster than scientists had previously expected - a switch that could happen in the Amazon as early as the mid-2030s.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The cause of this is climate change impacts - in terms of heat stress and droughts - on these remaining intact forests.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Large swathes of rainforest, including those in Indonesia, Brazil and Democratic Republic of Congo, help regulate rainfall, prevent flooding, protect biodiversity and limit climate change.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">But the 30-year study showed that the intake of carbon by “intact tropical forests” peaked in the 1990s and had dropped by a third by the 2010s.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Intact forests are large areas of continuous forest with no signs of intensive human activity like agriculture or logging. They form part of the world’s roughly 5.5 billion hectares of forest.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Trees suck carbon dioxide from the air, the main greenhouse gas heating up the Earth’s climate, and store carbon, which they release when they are cut down and are burned, or rot.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Tropical forests are huge reservoirs of carbon, storing 250 billion tonnes in their trees alone - an amount equivalent to 90 years of global fossil-fuel emissions at current levels.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Extra carbon dioxide boosts tree growth, but every year this effect is being increasingly countered by the negative impacts of higher temperatures and droughts which slow growth and can kill trees.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Carbon sinks</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A carbon sink is any natural reservoir that absorbs more carbon than it releases, and thereby lowers the concentration of CO2 from the atmosphere. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Globally, the two most important carbon sinks are vegetation and the ocean.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The natural sinks are:</span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Soil is the Earth's greatest carbon store and active carbon sink.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Photosynthesis by terrestrial plants with grass and trees serving as carbon sinks during growing seasons.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Absorption of carbon dioxide by the oceans via physicochemical and minor biological processes.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
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'title' => 'Coral bleaching at Great Barrier Reef',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Scientists have warned that the Great Barrier Reef will face a critical period of heat stress over the coming weeks, following the most widespread coral bleaching the natural world has ever endured.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which spreads across a length of over 2,300 km and is roughly the size of Italy, is home to about 3,000 coral reefs, 600 continental islands, 1,625 type of fish, 133 varieties of shark and rays and 600 types of soft and hard corals.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">When corals are stressed by changes in conditions such as temperature, light or nutrients, they expel the algae living in their tissue, causing them to turn white, hence bleached.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Coral bleaching does not mean the corals are dead, but make them vulnerable, hence increasing their mortality. Warm ocean temperatures are one condition that could lead to coral bleaching.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">But not all bleaching events are due to warmer temperatures. In January 2010, cold water temperatures in the Florida Keys caused a coral bleaching event that resulted in some coral deaths.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Great Barrier Reef makes up roughly 10 per cent of the world’s coral reef ecosystems. Today, the reef is a Marine Park and World Heritage Area and supports a range of activities and contributes over AUD $5.6 billion each year to the Australian economy and is also responsible for creating over 70,000 jobs.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In the 2019 Outlook Report prepared by the Australian government, it said that climate change was the greatest threat to the Reef. Other threats included coastal development, land-based run-off and direct human use, such as activities like illegal fishing.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As per the latest Reef health update, while sea surface temperatures have remained relatively stable this week, the temperature is still above normal for this time of the year. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As of now, most of the marine park varies between 0.5 degree-1.5 degree Celsius above normal. In some inshore areas, the temperature is 2.5-3 degrees Celsius warmer<span style="color:#3e3e3e">.</span></span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 79 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3971,
'title' => 'Effect of COVID-19 on global air pollution',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers have discovered that spread of the new coronavirus has been decreasing air pollution, and possibly even saving lives in the process.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The COVID-19 pandemic is getting more overwhelming by the day, with increasing lockdowns, a death toll of more than 7,000 people across the world, and a direct hit to the global economy.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Stanford University environmental resource economists did some back-of-the-envelope calculations about the recent air pollution drop over parts of China and potential lives saved.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the researchers, it's very likely that the lives saved locally from the reduction in pollution exceed COVID-19 deaths in China.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The two months of pollution reduction has probably saved the lives of 4,000 children under 5 and 73,000 adults over 70 in China. That's significantly more than the current global death toll from the virus itself.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is remarkable that both the number of deaths and the loss in life expectancy from air pollution rival the effect of tobacco smoking and are much higher than other causes of death.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">With the second largest number of cases occurring in Italy, and the country putting in place strict quarantine measures, satellite data over northern Italy have now shown a large drop in air pollution, specifically nitrogen dioxide, a gas mainly emitted by cars, trucks, power plants and some industrial plants.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">For now there is no peer-reviewed studies measuring the true health impact reduced emissions will bring, but given what is known about the dangers of widespread air pollution, it's likely that there will be a direct benefit in the shape of fewer pollution-related deaths.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">These preliminary numbers demonstrate that this global health disaster is an opportunity to assess what positive changes might be possible if we change our habits on a global scale. </span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 80 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 3998,
'title' => 'Moving sea ice could spread pollution',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The movement of sea ice between Arctic countries could raise the risk of pollutants, like microplastics and oil, spreading between neighboring coastal states, researchers say.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The authors examined the movement of Arctic sea ice from the instrumental surface temperature record starting in 1979, when the first continuous satellite observations began.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The study predicts that by mid-century, the average time it takes for sea ice to travel from one region to another will decrease by more than half, and the amount of sea ice exchanged between Arctic countries such as Russia, Norway, Canada, and the United States will more than triple.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Increased interest in off-shore Arctic development, as well as <a href="https://www.futurity.org/whales-ships-fight-space-noisy-bering-sea/">shipping</a> through the Central Arctic Ocean, may increase the amount of pollutants present in Arctic waters. And contaminants in ice travels much faster than those in open water that ocean currents move.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Historically, floating masses of Arctic sea ice could survive for up to 10 years: building up layers, lasting through each summer, and mostly melting locally with a small fraction transported to other regions. As the climate warms, however, that pattern has changed.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This thinner ice can move faster in the increasingly open waters of the Arctic, delivering the particles and pollutants it carries to waters of neighboring states.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The researchers used a global climate model, together with the Sea Ice Tracking Utility (SITU), track sea ice from where it forms to where it ultimately melts during the 21st century.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Russia’s exclusive economic zone and the Central Arctic Ocean are two places the researchers expect more ice to form, becoming major “exporters” of ice to other regions in the Arctic.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The implications of this study are clear. Faster moving sea ice brings countries closer together, and local coastal pollution or pollution transported by rivers from far inland locations can have an impact on the coastal environment of even distant countries.</span></span></p>
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(int) 81 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4057,
'title' => 'Ozone layer healing',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The ozone layer above Antarctica has recovered so much, it's actually stopped many worrying changes in the Southern Hemisphere's atmosphere, according to a new study.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A new study suggests the Montreal Protocol, the 1987 agreement to stop producing ozone depleting substances (ODSs), could be responsible for pausing, or even reversing, some troubling changes in air currents around the Southern Hemisphere.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Before the turn of the century, ozone depletion had been driving the southern jet stream further south than usual. This ended up changing rainfall patterns, and potentially ocean currents as well.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Using a range of models and computer simulations, researchers have now shown this pause in movement was not driven by natural shifts in winds alone.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In Australia, for instance, changes to the jet stream have increased the risk of drought by pushing rain away from coastal areas. If the trend does reverse, those rains might return.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">While improvements in cutting back our reliance on ODSs have certainly allowed the ozone to recover somewhat, carbon dioxide levels continue to creep upwards and place all that progress at risk.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Last year, the Antarctic ozone hole hit its smallest annual peak on record since 1982, but the problem isn't solved, and this record may have something to do with unusually mild temperatures in that layer of the atmosphere.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The Montreal Protocol is proof that if we take global and immediate action we can help pause or even reverse some of the damage we've started. Yet even now, the steady rise in greenhouse gas emissions is a reminder that one such action is simply not enough.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
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'id' => (int) 4068,
'title' => 'Heat wave causes damage to Great Barrier reef',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Record-breaking warm waters have bleached large parts of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef this year, the latest sign that global warming threatens the health of one of the world’s most important marine ecosystems.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Reefs around the world have been dying at an alarming rate for several years because of global warming. Reef corals grow very slowly, and while most of them can only live in warm water, they are highly sensitive to above-normal temperatures.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Water that is warmer than normal stresses the corals that create a reef, causing them to lose color and even become white. Corals that experience minor or moderate bleaching usually recover, but those that are severely bleached often die.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Great Barrier Reef is estimated to support thousands of marine species, and it is essential to the lives of some aboriginal groups and the natives of the Torres Strait Islands, between the Australian mainland and New Guinea. It also drives significant economic activities like tourism and fishing.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The data is not surprising. The same weather patterns that generated record-breaking heat and catastrophic fires in Australia during the Southern Hemisphere’s spring and summer have also heated the oceans.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In terms of water temperatures around the reef, February was the warmest month on record, with readings in some places more than 5 degrees Fahrenheit above average for the time of year.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The reef is the world’s largest, running for more than 1,100 miles in the Pacific Ocean, off Australia’s tropical northeastern coast. It consists primarily of the bleached remains of countless past generations of corals and mollusks, with living corals and other invertebrates clinging to its surface.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The government’s Reef 2050 plan aims to reduce the water pollution that also threatens corals, regulating factors like agricultural runoff, dredging and port development. There are also programs in place to control sudden spikes in the population of crown-of-thorns seastars, which feed on coral.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">But those measures cannot make up for the damage done by global warming. Climate change remains the single greatest challenge to the reef.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4112,
'title' => 'India switches to BS VI norms',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Despite the lockdown, India officially moved to a regime of tighter emission norms for motorised two- and four-wheelers.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In 2016, the government had said India would directly progress from BS-IV norms to BS-VI, skipping the intermediary stage. Nearly ?60,000 crore was spent on the switch-over to BS-VI fuels.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">At fuel stations, only the low-sulphur fuel that complies with Bharat Stage-VI emission norms will be sold and so will cars at stores, whose engines meet the stricter norms.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As per BS-VI emission norms, petrol vehicles will have to effect a 25% reduction in their NOx, or nitrogen oxide emissions. Diesel engines will have to reduce their HC+NOx (hydro carbon + nitrogen oxides) by 43%, their NOx levels by 68% and particulate matter levels by 82%.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">BS-VI petrol and diesel, which have sulphur content of just 10 parts per million, were set to be costlier by Rs 1/litre each, but state-run oil firms decided to maintain the current prices by adjusting the levy against cheaper crude.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The emission norms of all models of two-wheelers in India are ahead of Europe (2021) and Japan (2022), and India is the first country to adopt this level of emission norms. </span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Bharat Stage Emission norms</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Bharat stage (BS) emission standards are laid down by the government to regulate the output of air pollutants from internal combustion engine and spark-ignition engine equipment, including motor vehicles.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The first emission norms were introduced in India in 1991 for petrol and in 1992 for diesel vehicles. Followed these, the catalytic converter became mandatory for petrol vehicles and unleaded petrol was introduced in the market.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The standards and the timeline for implementation are set by the <strong>Central Pollution Control Board</strong> under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Compared to the BS4, BS6 emission standards are stricter. Whereas makers use this variation to update their vehicles with new options and safety standards, the biggest modification comes in the permissible emission norms.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'title' => 'First-ever heatwave in Antarctica',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers from the Australian Antarctic Program revealed that they had recorded temperatures as high as 9.2 degrees Celsius at Casey station in the continent east earlier this year, indicating a heatwave event.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Heat waves are classified as three consecutive days with both extreme maximum and minimum temperatures. Between January 23 and 26, the station recorded minimum temperatures above zero degrees Celsius and a maximum temperature of 9.2 degrees Celsius.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Scientists are concerned about the effect that the heat wave could have on Antarctica’s ecology, both positive and negative.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Most life exists in small ice-free oases in Antarctica, and largely depends on melting snow and ice for their water supply.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Melted ice flooding can provide additional water to these desert ecosystems, leading to increased growth and reproduction of mosses, lichens, microbes and invertebrates. However excessive flooding can dislodge plants and alter the composition of communities of invertebrates and microbial mats.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is believed that the unusual temperatures were linked to meteorological patterns which occurred in the Southern Hemisphere during the spring and summer of 2019.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">These patterns were influenced in part by the early break-up of the ozone hole in late 2019, due to rapid warming in the stratosphere.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Global cooperative efforts being undertaken to repair and eventually close the hole in the ozone layer would help reduce regional shifts in the climate system.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
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'id' => (int) 4123,
'title' => 'Antarctica was home to rainforests',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers have unearthed evidence of rainforests near the South Pole 90 million years ago, a finding which suggests that the climate at this time was exceptionally warm with a higher level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than previously thought.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The scientists discovered forest soil pertaining to a time between 145 and 66 million years ago within 900 kilometres of the South Pole.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In the study, they analysed preserved roots, pollen, and spores from this soil, and showed that the world at that time, the Cretaceous period, was a lot warmer than previously thought.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Even during months of darkness, swampy temperate rainforests were able to grow close to the South Pole, revealing an even warmer climate than expected.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the study, the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were higher than expected during the mid-Cretaceous period, 115-80 million years ago, challenging current climate models of the period.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The mid-Cretaceous was the heyday of the dinosaurs but was also the warmest period in the past 140 million years, with temperatures in the tropics as high as 35 degrees Celsius, and sea level 170 metres higher than today.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the researchers, the presence of the forest suggests average temperatures in this region were around 12 degrees Celsius, with little likelihood for the presence of an ice cap at the South Pole at the time.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The study noted that the evidence for the Antarctic forest is based on a core of sediment drilled into the seabed near the Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers in West Antarctica.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">On scanning this section with an X-ray CT scan, the scientists discovered a dense network of fossil roots, which was so well preserved that they could make out individual cell structures.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To reconstruct this ecology, the team assessed the climatic conditions under which the plants’ modern descendants live, as well as analysing temperature and rainfall indicators within the sample.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">They believe the average summer temperatures may have been around 19 degrees Celsius and water temperatures in the rivers and swamps to be 20 degrees.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">According to the study, the amount and intensity of rainfall in West Antarctica at this time may have been similar to those in today’s Wales.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4187,
'title' => 'Unchecked global warming can collapse ecosystem',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Global warming is about to destroy Earth’s delicate web of life. As some key species go extinct, entire ecosystems like coral reefs and forests will crumble, and some will collapse abruptly, starting as soon as this decade, a new study.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Global warming occurs when carbon dioxide (CO2) and other air pollutants and greenhouse gases collect in the atmosphere and absorb sunlight and solar radiation that have bounced off the earth’s surface.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Many scientists see recent climate-related mass die-offs, including the coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef and widespread seabird and marine mammal mortality in the Northeastern Pacific linked to a marine heat wave, as warning signs of impending biodiversity collapse.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Many species live in small geographic areas under a narrow range of climatic conditions. As global warming heats their habitat to the point that it is intolerable, many species have no place to go. Some will go extinct, with a domino effect that affects scores of other species.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">At the current rate of warming, abrupt exposure events in tropical oceans will begin before 2030 and spread to tropical forests and higher latitudes by 2050. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The risks decrease and arrive more slowly if global warming is capped at less than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, as per the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Even an immediate curb on greenhouse gas emissions doesn't preclude warming of up to 7 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century because the current amount of warming could be magnified by big increases of heat-trapping methane in the Arctic or by changes to cloud processes.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In the study, the team assessed temperatures ranges for more than 30,000 land and sea species, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish and other marine animals and plants, to estimate when they will start experiencing unprecedented temperature conditions.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Results show very clearly that it is not too late to act to delay the risk or even avert it entirely for many thousands of species. By holding warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), we can effectively flatten the curve of how climate risks to biodiversity accumulate over time.</span></span></p>
</li>
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(int) 87 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4246,
'title' => 'Mass extinction in oceans',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Stanford researchers have found strong evidence to support the theory that a devastating extinction event was caused by a lack of oxygen in Earth’s oceans approximately 444 million years ago. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Today, human-caused global warming is the primary cause of marine oxygen loss, and a variety of species are at risk. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The investigation was focused on the Late <strong>Ordovician</strong> Mass Extinction, which is one of the “Big Five” mass extinction events in Earth’s history. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The most famous of the great die-offs is the Cretaceous-Paleogene event that wiped out three-quarters of all plant and animal species, including the dinosaurs, about 65 million years ago.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the Late Ordovician event nearly 450 million years ago, most life was confined to the oceans and only a few plants had moved onto land. The continents were still mostly connected as a single giant landmass called Gondwana.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The initial wave of extinction was triggered by a global cooling that impacted much of Gondwana. Approximately 444 million years ago, a second wave of extinction set in that is theoretically tied to ocean anoxia. By the end of the Late Ordovician event, around 85 percent of marine species vanished from the fossil record.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Previous studies have derived ocean oxygen concentrations through the analysis of ancient sediments containing isotopes of metals such as uranium and molybdenum. These elements have different chemical reactions in anoxic conditions compared to well-oxygenated conditions.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The researchers developed a new model which combined the existing metal isotope data with new data from samples of black shale, which was recovered from the Murzuq Basin in Libya. The shale was deposited in the geological record during the mass extinction event. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Based on the model, the researchers concluded that severe and prolonged anoxia must have occurred across large volumes of Earth’s deep seabeds.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The research indicates that the deoxygenation across modern oceans will push many species toward extinction. And by expanding our thinking of how oceans have behaved in the past, we could gain some insights into the oceans today.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 88 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4297,
'title' => 'Earth’s atmosphere more dustier than previous estimation',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Comparing data from dozens of airborne observations throughout the world, a new study has found our planet's atmosphere contains about 17 million metric tonnes of coarse dust (which is larger than fine dust). This is four times more than is simulated in current climate models.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Climate models are an invaluable tool for predicting the trajectory of the climate crisis, but we need them to be as accurate as possible if we're going to model everything from its pace, to its consequences, to its tipping points.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The tiny, invisible dust matter tends to warm the atmosphere a lot like greenhouse gases do, and yet in six widely-used global atmospheric simulations, most of that coarse dust appears to be missing.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">State-of-the-art climate models account for only 4 million metric tons, but new results showed more than four times that amount.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This means that previous simulations aren't incorporating nearly enough dust. And this could have a big impact on many of Earth's systems, from the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed in the ocean to the volume of rain falling.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Between Earth and the Sun, these coarse particles cop incoming radiation from both above and below. This can cause changes in atmospheric circulation, potentially driving phenomena like hurricanes, which have, incidentally, been increasing in frequency and severity with climate change.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This increases the likelihood of both fine and coarse particles contributing to a warming climate system, from the atmosphere above to the oceans below.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To properly represent the impact of dust as a whole on the Earth system, climate models must include an accurate treatment of coarse dust in the atmosphere.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Climate models are constantly being updated as we learn more about our planet, and this is just one aspect that seems to need a makeover. With the new information available, we'll be better equipped to determine Earth's future.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 89 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4306,
'title' => 'Parts of North America headed for mega drought',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Parts of the US and Mexico could be in line for a "megadrought" in the very near future, scientists warn.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">While the current drought may have happened anyway, the researchers estimate global warming is responsible for half of the drought's pace and half of its severity, producing hotter air that can hold more moisture pulled out of the ground.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Based on an analysis of precipitation levels since the turn of the century, and how they match up with soil moisture levels recorded by tree rings over the last 1,200 years, future modelling suggests the southwestern North American (SWNA) region could see a drought that's worse than any in recorded history.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Reliable weather records only go back to around 1900, but the researchers studied the ring patterns in thousands of trees to calculate soil moisture levels – and therefore rainfall – right back to 800 CE.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">They identified four megadroughts that were particularly severe, and the 19 years from 2000-2018 is outdoing three of those droughts in terms of lack of moisture, and is closely tied with the fourth (1575 to 1603).</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The analysis also showed that this current drought is affecting wider areas, and affecting them more consistently, which the team attributes to climate change.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The earlier droughts were brought on by natural factors such as cooling ocean temperatures that blocked storms from reaching the west coast of the US. Add those factors to human-caused temperature rises of about 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) and it's a scary picture.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">That temperature rise could cancel out the natural variability in precipitation seen in past centuries, making droughts longer, drier, and more widespread.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The study also showed that the 20th century was the wettest of all from the 1,200-year period covered – which may have lulled us into a false sense of security about how hard we would need to work to protect water supplies.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 90 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4343,
'title' => 'World losing 9% of its insect population every decade',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Scientists have warned that global insect populations are facing a rapidly accumulating decline in the most extensive analysis to date.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers shifted through more than 166 long-term surveys carried out across 1,676 sites between 1925 and 2018. The found the number of insects is falling on average 0.92 percent every year, or about 9 percent every decade.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">While the global pattern is one of decline, the rate at which this is happening isn't heterogeneous. It fluctuates over time and geography. In some spaces, the study's authors even noticed positive trends, meaning numbers of insects were going up not down.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Specifically, the results suggest the number of midges, mayflies and other freshwater insects have been increasing on average around 1.08 percent each year. The authors cautiously attributed this result to effective water protection policies.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The authors found that populations of insects living in tree canopies appear to have remained relatively stable, while flying insects and ground-dwelling insects have experienced some of the sharpest declines.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The study suggests there can be stark differences between regions, and even between areas that are geographically close to one another. The researchers found that protected sites and those less affected by human activity had lower levels of decline than those most affected by urbanization.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In general, the steepest declines were recorded in the western and mid-western U.S. states and Europe, where a 2017 study found numbers of flying insects had dropped more than 75 percent in less than 30 years.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The phrase 'insect Armageddon' has captured the collective attention and shined a spotlight on one of the most numerous and diverse groups of organisms on the planet. Yet, insects are critically understudied.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The authors call for more comprehensive testing of human pressure and more data from underrepresented parts of the world to address these limitations and gain a broader understanding of trends in global ecosystems.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
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'id' => (int) 4367,
'title' => 'Giant herbivores in Arctic to fight climate change',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A team of scientists has come up with a bizarre plan to fill the Arctic with hordes of grazing animals like reindeer and bison. The idea is to keep the permafrost frozen by trampling it under the weight of these hordes.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Climate change and its harmful impact on the Arctic is not unknown. However, the idea of fighting climate change or global warming with hordes of grazing animals is something unheard of before.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As per the team of scientists, this trick alone could save 80 percent of the Arctic’s permafrost until the year 2100.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The sounding reason behind this lies in the equation between the snow and the soil. In the Arctic, the snow that falls on the ground starts acting as a layer of insulation between the soil and the frigid air above it. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The idea is that restoring large herds of animals to the Arctic landscape could help protect permafrost, a carbon-rich layer of permanently frozen soil stretching across much of the tundra.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As temperatures rise in the rapidly warming Arctic, large swaths of permafrost are beginning to heat up and melt, releasing climate-warming carbon emissions in the process.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Due to worsening climate change, that insulation results in the soil’s temperature to rise. Beyond a point, this temperature rise eventually results in the permafrost beginning to thaw.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The study mentions that large herbivores like bisons and reindeers disperse the snow insulation as they walk around. In addition, these animals also help stamp down and compact the soil beneath them.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">There are, however, still doubts on the feasibility of the study. A simple question that renders it impractical is the scale at which it would have to be applied to attain any significant results. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The increasing climate change is headed towards tipping the Earth to a point of no return. The impact can be seen at almost every point on the planet. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The arctic, for instance, was recently found with a 1 million square kilometre wide hole in the Ozone layer. Usually, such occurrences were limited to the South Pole.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
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'id' => (int) 4382,
'title' => 'How ozone hole over Arctic closed?',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Last week, the <strong>European</strong> <strong>Union</strong>’s <strong>Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service</strong> (CAMS) announced that a hole in the Arctic ozone layer, believed to be the biggest reported, has closed.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The ‘ozone holes’ most commonly talked about are the depletions over Antarctica, forming each year in the months of September, October and November, due to a set of special meteorological and chemical conditions that arise at the South Pole.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The ozone hole’s closing was because of a phenomenon called the polar vortex, and not because of reduced pollution levels due to Covid-19 lockdowns around the world.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The hole in the North Pole’s ozone layer, which was first detected in February, had since reached a maximum extension of around 1 million sq km.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Ozone (chemically, a molecule of three oxygen atoms) is found mainly in the upper atmosphere, an area called the stratosphere, between 10 and 50 km from the earth’s surface. Though it is talked of as a layer, ozone is present in the atmosphere in rather low concentrations. Even at places where this layer is thickest, there are not more than a few molecules of ozone for every million air molecules.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">But they perform a very important function. By absorbing the harmful ultraviolet radiations from the sun, the ozone molecules eliminate a big threat to life forms on earth. UV rays can cause skin cancer and other diseases and deformities in plants and animals.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Ozone holes are also spotted over the North Pole, but owing to warmer temperatures than the South Pole, the depletions here are much smaller in size. Before this year, the last sizable Arctic ozone hole was reported in 2011.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As per a European Space Agency report, cold temperatures (below -80°C), sunlight, wind fields and substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were responsible for the degradation of the Arctic ozone layer.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Although Arctic temperatures do not usually fall as low as in Antarctica, this year, powerful winds flowing around the North Pole trapped cold air within what is known as the polar vortex, a circling whirlpool of stratospheric winds.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Scientists believe that the closing of the hole is because of the same polar vortex and not because of the lower pollution levels during the coronavirus lockdown.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 93 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4407,
'title' => 'Hurricanes slowing due to rising CO2 levels',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Scientists are warning that an increase in global warming could significantly slow down hurricanes, potentially leading to more destruction.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The researchers are talking about the speed hurricanes progress, not wind speed. So this slow down means more time to carve out a trail of destruction with both wind and rain when they hit land.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The stark warning is based on meteorological data collected since 1950, as well as readings taken on more recent storms from the last few years, and forward projections created by computer modelling.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Here the scientists are studying the 'translational' or forward motion of hurricanes, rather than the eye of the storm wind speeds. Because no matter how fast wind speeds are, the storm can still be slow moving.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Simulations suggest that future anthropogenic warming could lead to a significant slowing of hurricane motion, particularly in some populated mid-latitude regions.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Using detailed climate models, researchers ran six distinct patterns, based on 15 separate sets of initial conditions, which gave them a total of 90 different possible future scenarios.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The model was told to expect an increase in CO<sub>2</sub> levels and subsequent global warming of 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">That would cause the strong mid-latitude wind currents known as the westerlies to push further towards the poles, the simulations showed, leaving calmer conditions behind and less forward momentum for hurricanes.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Hurricanes in Asia and North America, along the latitudes close to New York, would be most affected, the models suggest. Hurricane speeds in the tropics would not be altered by the rise in temperatures.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The study was unable to find a definitive link between climate change brought on by human activity and the recent slowdown in hurricane patterns: at the moment, there isn't enough data to rule out random variations or some local cause.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4485,
'title' => 'Sea level could rise if emission targets are not met',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Oceans are likely to rise as much as 1.3 metres by 2100 if Earth's surface warms another 3.5 degrees Celsius, scientists have warned.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">About ten percent of the world's population, or 770 million people, today live on land less than five metres above the high tide line. Rise in sea levels will directly affect their livelihood.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">By 2300, when ice sheets covering West Antarctica and Greenland will have shed trillions of tonnes in mass, sea levels could go up by more than five metres under that temperature scenario, redrawing the planet's coastlines.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Even if the Paris climate treaty goal of capping global warming below 2C is met, the ocean watermark could go up two metres by 2300.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Earth's average surface temperature has risen just over one degree Celsius since the pre-industrial era, a widely used benchmark for measuring global warming.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The new projections for both the 2100 and 2300 horizons are significantly higher than those from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), including a special report on oceans it released in September.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">While less visible than climate-enhanced hurricanes or persistent drought, sea level rise may ultimately prove the most devastating of global warming impacts.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Across the 20th century, sea level rise was caused mainly by melting glaciers and the expansion of ocean water as it warms. But over the last two decades the main driver has become the melting and disintegrating of Earth's two ice sheets.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Over the last decade, the sea level has gone up about four millimetres per year. Moving into the 22nd century, however, the waterline could rise ten times faster, even under an optimistic greenhouse gas emissions scenario.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets hold enough frozen water to lift oceans about 13 metres. East Antarctica, which is more stable, holds another 50 metres' worth.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'title' => 'Climate change turning Antarctica snow green',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Warming temperatures due to climate change are helping the formation and spread of "green snow" and it is becoming so prolific in places that it is even visible from space, according to new research.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">While the presence of algae in Antarctica was noted by long-ago expeditions, such as the one undertaken by British explorer Ernest Shackleton, its full extent was unknown.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Using data collected over two years by the European Space Agency's Sentinel 2 satellite, together with on-the-ground observations, a research team has created the first map of the algae blooms on the Antarctic Peninsula coast.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The result is the first large-scale algae map of the peninsular, which will be used as a baseline to assess the speed at which the white continent is turning green due to the climate crisis and potentially offering sustenance to other species.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Mosses and lichens are considered the dominant photosynthetic organisms in Antarctica, but the new mapping found 1,679 separate algal blooms that are a key component in the continent's ability to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In some areas, the single-cell life-forms are so dense they turn the snow bright green and can be seen from space.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Almost two-thirds of the green algal blooms were found on small, low-lying islands around the peninsula, which has experienced some of the most intense heating in the world, with new temperature records being set this summer.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Green is not the only splash of colour in Antarctica. Researchers are now planning similar studies on red and orange algae, although that is proving harder to map from space.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'id' => (int) 4545,
'title' => 'Scientists discover way to make corals heat resistant',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Scientists in Australia say they have found a way to help coral reefs fight the devastating effects of bleaching by making them more heat-resistant.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The researchers believe their findings may help in the effort to restore coral reefs, which they say are "suffering mass mortalities from marine heatwaves".</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The team made the coral more tolerant to temperature-induced bleaching by bolstering the heat tolerance of its microalgal symbionts, tiny cells of algae that live inside the coral tissue.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">They then exposed the cultured microalgae to increasingly warmer temperatures over a period of four years. This assisted them to adapt and survive hotter conditions.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Once the microalgae were reintroduced into coral larvae, the newly established coral-algal symbiosis was more heat-tolerant compared to the original one.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">They found that the heat-tolerant microalgae are better at photosynthesis and improve the heat response of the coral animal. These exciting findings show that the microalgae and the coral are in direct communication with each other.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Climate change has reduced coral cover, and surviving corals are under increasing pressure as water temperatures rise and the frequency and severity of coral bleaching events increase.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Earlier this year, Australia's Great Barrier Reef suffered a mass bleaching event - the third in just five years. Warmer sea temperatures - particularly in February - are feared to have caused huge coral loss across it.</span></span></p>
</li>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
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'title' => 'Corals grow neon colours to survive',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A new study suggests that corals have an unusual survival method of taking on a vibrant neon colour when they face exceptional stress on their existence.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">When bleaching events occur, extended heat spikes cause corals to turn a ghostly white, often leading to their death. But “colourful bleaching” has the opposite effect: the dying corals gain more pigment, and glow in shades of bright pink, purple and orange. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Scientists first spotted the mysterious neon coral a decade ago, but they had been unable to figure out why it occurred. The study suggests the corals change colour as a last-ditch effort to survive.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Coral animals symbiotically coexist with tiny algae, providing them with shelter, nutrients and carbon dioxide in exchange for their photosynthetic powers. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Even slight increases in annual ocean temperatures can wreak havoc on this relationship, expelling the algae from the coral’s tissue and exposing its white skeleton. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">After the coral is exposed, it often breaks down and dies, altering the ecosystem for the diverse array of life that relies on it.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers recreated the stressful ocean temperatures in a lab. They found that colourful bleaching events occur when corals produce what is effectively a sunscreen layer on their surface to protect against harmful rays and create a glowing display that researchers believe encourages algae to return.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Research shows colourful bleaching involves a self-regulating mechanism, a so-called optical feedback loop, which involves both partners of the symbiosis. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The resulting sunscreen layer will subsequently promote the return of the symbionts. As the recovering algal population starts taking up the light for their photosynthesis again, the light levels inside the coral will drop and the coral cells will lower the production of the colourful pigments to their normal level.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It’s not just warming oceans that cause colourful bleaching. Changes in nutrient levels within coral reefs due to fertilizer run-off from farms also lead to bleaching events. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Experts believe only coral that has faced mild or brief disturbances, rather than extreme mass bleaching events, can attempt to save itself using this process. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">These corals can still undergo some of their normal functions for a short period of time as they hope their algae come back, whereas drastic changes in ocean temperature almost always lead to coral death.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Scientists emphasized that while colourful bleaching is a good sign, only a significant reduction of greenhouse gases globally, in addition to improvement in local water quality, can save coral reefs beyond this century.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 98 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4673,
'title' => 'Locusts in urban areas',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Over the last few days, swarms of locusts have been sighted in urban areas of Rajasthan, which is unusual. Swarms have also been reported from parts of Madhya Pradesh and Vidharbha region of Maharashtra.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The first swarms were sighted along the India-Pakistan border on April 11, months ahead of the usual time of arrival. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) is a short-horned grasshopper. They form huge swarms that can travel up to 150 km per day, eating up every bit of greenery on their way. These insects feed on a large variety of crops. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">If not controlled, locust swarms can threaten the food security of a country. At present countries in the Horn of Africa such as Ethiopia and Somalia are witnessing one of the worst locusts attacks in the last 25 years.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In India, locusts are normally sighted during July- October along the Pakistan border. Last year, parts of Western Rajasthan and Northern Gujarat reported swarms that caused damage to growing rabi crops. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Locusts are being seen in areas not historically associated with such sightings — Jaipur, MP’s Gwalior, Morena and Sheopur, and recently stray swarms in Maharashtra’s Amravati, Nagpur and Wardha.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Their early arrival can be traced back to the cyclonic storms Mekunu and Luban that had struck Oman and Yemen respectively in 2018. These turned large deserts tracts into lakes, facilitating locust breeding that continued through 2019.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The locusts will start laying eggs after the monsoon starts and continue breeding for two more months, with newer generations rising during the growth phase of the kharif crop. Control involves spraying insecticide on locusts’ night resting places like trees. </span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 99 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4695,
'title' => 'Climate change making younger and shorter trees',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Rising temperatures, deforestation, development and climate-induced disasters are transforming Earth's forests. Older, bigger trees are being lost at an alarming rate, making the planet's collective forests shorter and younger.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The shift is being driven at different rates by different causes in different places, but the consequences will be global.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Old growth forests absorb and store massive amounts of climate-warming carbon dioxide. They provide habitat for rare and critically endangered species and foster rich biodiversity. And they're disappearing fast.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers found that the world lost roughly one-third of its old growth forest between 1900 and 2015. In North America and Europe, where more data was available, they found that tree mortality has doubled in the past 40 years.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Warming temperatures, wildfires, logging and insect outbreaks were among the many causes of the decline.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To get a broader understanding of how forests are shifting globally though, researchers brought in more than 20 other researchers with varying expertise. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Together, they sifted through more than 160 previous studies about tree mortality and its global causes, applying current satellite data and modelling to create perhaps the most comprehensive look at Earth's shifting forests to date.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Human-driven climate change is also making it difficult for many forests to fully recover from the type of natural disturbances, wind events, flooding or fire that would normally occur.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The researchers did find evidence that increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could increase tree growth in some places, but not to an extent where it would outweigh the harm being done by increased temperatures.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4707,
'title' => 'Antarctic ice sheets melting faster than previous estimates',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Antarctic ice sheets retreated at speeds of up to 50 meters (164 feet) a day at the end of the last Ice Age, about ten times quicker than the fastest retreating sheets of today, researchers have found.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers warn that, should climate change carry on weakening ice shelves in coming decades, we could soon see similar levels of ice retreat, with huge implications for global sea levels.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Larsen Ice Shelf originally covered an area of 33,000 square miles, but has shrunk dramatically as air temperatures warmed in the second half of the 20th century.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Sections of the shelf have disintegrated and broken away, and in 2017 around 12% of the remaining lower middle section of the shelf broke away as a single massive iceberg.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Using autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) operating about 60 meters (197 feet) above the seabed, researchers studied ridges on the seafloor, which had been created by ice squeezing sediment on the sea bed as it moved and began to float.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">By examining the footprint of the ice sheet and sets of ridges on the seafloor, the team was able to find new evidence of past ice retreats.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Warmer summer temperatures are chiefly to blame for this ice loss. The warm temperatures have melted ice from the surface of the glaciers and ice sheets.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Experts say this new study shows that, given the speed at which the ice retreated in the past, the future rate of change and ice retreat could be significantly greater than previously thought.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Experts have warned that over the next three decades, hundreds of millions of people worldwide are at risk of losing their homes as entire cities sink under rising seas.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'metadescription' => 'Antarctic ice sheets retreated at speeds of up to 50 meters (164 feet) a day at the end of the last Ice Age, about ten times quicker than the fastest retreating sheets of today,',
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(int) 101 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4715,
'title' => 'Speeding up clean energy transition',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Coronavirus-related shutdowns helped slash daily global emissions of carbon dioxide by 14 percent in April. But the drop won't last, and experts estimate that annual emissions of the greenhouse gas are likely to fall only about 7 percent this year.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Unless we make substantial changes to global economies, it will be back to normal as usual, a path that leads directly to runaway climate change.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">What a lot of people don't understand is that to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, we actually have to reduce emissions by around 7-8 percent every single year from now until 2030, which is what the emissions drop is likely to be this year because of the COVID-19 crisis.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It means that we need government policy, particularly at the federal level to control pollution, because state policy can only go so far.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is assumed that renewable energy is growing so fast. But first of all, during the coronavirus pandemic, the renewable energy industry is actually doing very poorly. It's losing a lot of jobs. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">And secondly, we were not moving fast enough even before the coronavirus crisis, because renewable energy in the<em> best </em>year grew by only 1.3 percent.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Right now we're at around 36-37 percent clean energy. That includes nuclear, hydropower and new renewables like wind, solar and geothermal. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">But hydropower and nuclear aren't growing. Nuclear supplies about 20 percent of the grid and hydro about 5 percent depending on the year. And then the rest is renewable.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The delay and denial on climate change is a profitable enterprise for fossil fuel companies and electric utilities. The longer we wait to act on the crisis, the more money they can make because they can extract more fossil fuels from their reserves.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">People have to understand that stimulus spending is an opportunity to rebuild our economy in a way that creates good-paying jobs in the clean-energy sector that protects human health.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 102 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4733,
'title' => 'Climate change making marine species migrate towards poles',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Rising temperatures, shifts in precipitation patterns, and changes in vegetations, all direct effects of a warmer world, are changing the range and distribution of many species, they are now forced flee from their normal habitats to find more suitable places.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Marine species are actually moving to the poles six times faster than those on land, according to a recent meta-analysis that compared over 30,000 habitat shifts in more than 12,000 species.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Land species are moving closer to the poles as the planet heats up but this shift is at a pace that is much slower than expected, especially in areas with warm climates. Instead, marine species are following global thermal shifts much closer.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Marine species were found to move towards the poles at an average pace of six kilometres per year, while land animals showed a pace of almost 1.8 meters per year – which is faster than previous estimates but still much slower than marine species. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This might be due to air sensitivity. Air transports heat less effectively than water and land animals can easily regulate their body temperature.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This means marine species are more susceptible to the changing temperatures on the planet due to global warming. At the same time, animals in the water are capable to migrate easier when they have to, while on land the movement of animals is more difficult due to human activities and geography.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Habitat loss and fragmentation due to land-use changes may impede the ability of terrestrial species to track shifting isotherms. These complex interactions need to be accounted for to improve scenarios of biodiversity redistribution and its consequences on human well-being.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Today, animals are already swimming towards the poles and are at risk of running out of cooler water, competing with each other. This is happening on land too, with animals going up in the mountains. </span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 103 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4596,
'title' => 'Climate change making hurricanes stronger',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">An analysis of satellite imagery from the past four decades suggests that global warming has increased the chances of storms reaching Category 3 or higher.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Some scientists say that long-term natural variability in sea surface temperatures, on a time scale of decades, has played the major role in affecting storm activity.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">But in the North Atlantic, where hurricane activity has increased in recent decades and storms have caused tens of billions of dollars of damage in the United States and the Caribbean, factors other than climate change may have played more of a role in the increase in intensity</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Physics suggests that as the world warms, hurricanes and other tropical cyclones should get stronger, because warmer water provides more of the energy that fuels these storms. And climate simulations have long showed an increase in stronger hurricanes as warming continues.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">But confirming that through observations has been problematic, because of the relatively small number of hurricanes every year and the difficulty of obtaining data on their wind speeds and other characteristics. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers got around the limitations by using satellite images of storms worldwide and using computers to interpret them with a long-accepted pattern-matching algorithm, or set of instructions.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The study looked at tropical storms worldwide because that provided a lot more data than looking at those in just one region. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">And every region has natural variability or other factors that can affect storm intensity and make it more difficult to tease out the effects of warming.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The trend isn't universal. There are regions like the North Pacific, where cyclones haven't gotten stronger, likely because climate change has also moved their average storm tracks northward, to cooler regions with less ocean energy to feed them.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 104 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4767,
'title' => 'Rising sea levels could prove fatal for mangroves',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Mangrove forests aren’t moving fast enough to escape rising sea levels and could disappear by 2050, according to new research. That’s because these forests won’t be able to keep up with rising sea levels if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The mangrove trees play a vital role in storing planet-heating carbon dioxide and protecting communities from storms and coastal erosion.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Mangrove forests will be in danger of dying out when sea levels rise by more than 6 mm per year. That threshold could be reached in as little as 30 years, if people don’t cut their greenhouse gas emissions. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Sea levels are already rising globally at a rate of more than 3 mm a year — although some places are already seeing even more drastic change.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Mangrove trees do a lot of good for people and the planet. Restoring mangrove forests is one way to defend coastal communities from the ravages of climate change.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The trees create a barrier against destructive storm surges, stop encroaching seas from gobbling up more land, and give shelter to wildlife. On top of that, mangrove forests are even better at keeping carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere than rainforests of the same size.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">One-fifth of the world’s mangroves already perished between 1980 and 2010. The trees can usually adapt to rising water by moving inland, but human development along coastlines now blocks their way. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To figure out how much sea level rise is too much for mangroves to survive, researchers studied sediment cores from 78 locations across the globe. That revealed data on mangrove growth over the past 10,000 years. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">They found that mangrove ecosystems only developed when rates of sea-level rise dropped below about 7 mm a year.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 105 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4817,
'title' => 'Sea creature that cleans carbon from Ocean',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Scientists have identified a sea Larvacean that uses its filtering technique to separate carbon particles from ocean water by trapping in its filter.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Usually, the carbon particles that float through oceans are eaten by other organisms, which keeps it floating through the food chain. An increase in oceans absorbing and holding carbon compounds like carbon dioxide will both heat the oceans and disrupt marine ecosystems, and lead to saturation.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The giant Larvacean (Bathochordaeus) is a 10-centimeter long tadpole-like creature, but the mucus it secretes can fan out around it by up to one meter. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Larvacean has two filters — a coarse, external one that traps debris too big for the creature, and an internal filter that guides the food into the creature’s mouth. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">These mucus filters also trapped large quantities of carbon, which floats through the oceans. Once this filter gets clogged, the giant Larvacean abandons this filter to the deep seafloor and moves on.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Larvacean’s mucus filter traps a significant amount of carbon during its constant water filtration process, which goes through about 21 gallons an hour. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Mucus is ubiquitous in the ocean, and complex mucous structures are made by animals for feeding, health, and protection. Scientists now try to visualize its process in order to apply it to a real-life scenarios.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Though scientists believe that more research is necessary to understand how the Larvacean’s mucous membranes are built and inflated, they see tremendous potential in understanding and replicating the Larvacean’s carbon transporting process, in order to better assess and combat the impact of climate change.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 106 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4806,
'title' => 'Permafrost and thawing',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The principal reason that led to the recent 20,000-tonne oil leak at an Arctic region power plant in Russia that is now being recognised is the sinking of ground surface due to permafrost thaw.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The thermoelectric plant at Norilsk is built entirely on permafrost, whose weakening over the years due to climate change caused the pillars supporting a fuel tank at the plant to sink, leading to loss of containment on May 29.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Permafrost is ground that remains completely frozen at 0 degrees Celsius or below for at least two years. It is defined solely based on temperature and duration. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The permanently frozen ground, consisting of soil, sand, and rock held together by ice, is believed to have formed during glacial periods dating several millennia.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">These grounds are known to be below 22 per cent of the land surface on Earth, mostly in polar zones and regions with high mountains. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">They are spread across 55 per cent of the landmass in Russia and Canada, 85 per cent in the US state of Alaska, and possibly the entirety of Antarctica.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">While permafrost itself is always frozen, the surface layer that covers it need not be. In Canada and Russia, for example, colourful tundra vegetation carpet over permafrost for thousands of kilometres.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Its thickness reduces progressively towards the south, and is affected by a number of other factors, including the Earth’s interior heat, snow and vegetation cover, presence of water bodies, and topography.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A study has shown that every 1 degree Celsius rise in temperature can degrade up to 39 lakh square kilometre due to thawing. This degradation is expected to further aggravate as the climate gets warmer, putting at risk 40 per cent of the world’s permafrost towards the end of the century, causing disastrous effects.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As temperatures rise, the binding ice in permafrost melts, making the ground unstable and leading to massive potholes, landslides, and floods. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The sinking effect causes damage to key infrastructure such as roads, railway lines, buildings, power lines and pipelines that serve more than 3.5 crore people that live in permafrost regions. These changes also threaten the survival of indigenous people, as well as Arctic animals.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Beneath its surface, permafrost contains large quantities of organic leftover from thousands of years prior — dead remains of plants, animals, and microorganisms that got frozen before they could rot. It also holds a massive trove of pathogens.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">When permafrost thaws, microbes start decomposing this carbon matter, releasing greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers have estimated that for every 1 degree Celsius rise in average temperature, permafrost grounds could release greenhouse gases to the tune of 4-6 years’ of emissions from coal, oil, and natural gas — becoming a major factor of climate change in themselves.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Along with greenhouse houses, these grounds could also release ancient bacteria and viruses into the atmosphere as they unfreeze.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 107 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4893,
'title' => 'India’s first ever climate change assessment',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">For the first time, India has released its own national report on the state of the climate crisis.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The report, <em>Assessment of Climate Change over the Indian Region</em>, takes a close look at where we stand regarding long-term changes in climate patterns, and their attendant risks.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The report goes on to warn that the rapid changes in India’s climate will place increasing stress on the country’s natural ecosystems, agricultural output, and fresh water resources, while also causing escalating damage to infrastructure and economy.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The big revelation is that India’s average temperature has increased by 0.7 degrees Celsius between 1901-2018, and that this is purely due to the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The report further states that in a best-case scenario of immediate mitigation of emissions, India’s temperature will still rise by 2.7 degrees Celsius by 2099. The worst-case scenario sees a rise of 4.4 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It has been learnt that the sea level near Mumbai is rising at the rate of 3cm per decade. Off the Bengal coast, it’s 5cm per decade.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean (including the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea) have risen by 1 degree Celsius between 1951-2015, higher than the global average. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">When it comes to the monsoon, the report establishes that precipitation over north India has decreased by 6% (1951-2015) due to the polluting aerosol “brown cloud". </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The monsoon is expected to become more extreme over the coming decades, with longer dry spells alternating with very heavy rain. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The report points out that April-June heat waves will become four times more frequent by 2099 (compared to 1976-2005), and their duration might also double.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 108 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4915,
'title' => 'Arctic heatwave in Siberia',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Arctic Circle has recorded temperatures reaching over 38 degrees Celsius in the Siberian town of Verkhoyansk, likely an all-time high.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">These higher temperatures are pushing the world towards what might be the hottest year on record, despite a fall in emissions due to the coronavirus lockdown.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Russia had declared a state of emergency after a power plant fuel leak in its Arctic region caused 20,000 tonnes of diesel oil to escape into a local river called <strong>Ambarnaya</strong>. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The oil spill was caused when a tank at the power plant collapsed due to melting permafrost, that weakened the support it provided to the tank.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The warmer temperatures in Siberia have contributed to May being the warmest on record globally, at 0.63 degrees Celsius warmer than the recorded average temperatures for May between 1981-2010.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (CCCS), in the past month, the most above-average temperatures were recorded in Siberia. Siberia has been recording higher-than-average surface air temperatures since January.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This is not the first time that rising temperatures in the Arctic have created alarm. The daily anomalies during that year, for instance, recorded above normal temperatures exceeding 16 degrees Celsius in some locations.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Research has attributed the rising temperatures to large-scale wind patterns that blasted the Arctic with heat, the absence of sea ice, and human-induced climate change, among other reasons.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">In the last decades, there has been an increase of heatwave occurrences over the terrestrial Arctic. It also mentions that heatwave occurrences in this region have already started to threaten local vegetation, ecology, human health, and economy.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 109 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4937,
'title' => 'India to overachieve UNFCCC 2030 target',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The percentage of non-fossil fuel in India’s electric power installed capacity is estimated to increase to 64 percent in March 2030, according to a recent report by the Central Electricity Agency.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The report added that the percentage of non-fossil fuel in installed capacity stood at 49 percent and 36.5 percent in March 2022 and March 2019, respectively.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change target, the goal is to achieve about 40 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This is to be done with the help of the transfer of technology and low-cost international finance including from the Green Climate Fund.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In October 2015, India had submitted its INDC to UNFCCC. Another aim of the INDC target is to reduce the emissions intensity of its gross domestic product by 33 percent to 35 percent by 2030 from 2005 level.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It has also set a target of creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 billion tonnes to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India is taking several steps to achieve its INDC targets for increasing renewable energy share such as its ambitious target of achieving 450 MW renewable energy capacity by 2030, one of the largest such expansion plans in the world, is already underway.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Other plans include creating green energy corridors, solar parks, implementation of the National Smart Grid Mission, rolling out of solar-wind hybrid and battery storage tenders, and the introduction of innovative technologies to promote energy efficiency.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>India’s intended Nationally Determined Contributions to UNFCCC 2030</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 percent by 2030 from 2005 level.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To achieve about 40 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030, with the help of the transfer of technology and low-cost international finance, including from Green Climate Fund.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">To better adapt to climate change by enhancing investments in development programs in sectors vulnerable to climate change, particularly agriculture, water resources, Himalayan region, coastal regions, health and disaster management.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 110 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4956,
'title' => 'Indian ocean’s ancient climate pattern may return',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers have analysed simulations of past climate in the Indian ocean and predicted that the ongoing climate change could reawaken an ancient climate pattern.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">About 19,000-21,000 years ago, ice-sheets covered North America and Eurasia, and sea-levels were much lower. This period, the peak of ice age conditions, is called the Last Glacial Maximum. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">By studying microscopic zooplankton called foraminifera, the team first found evidence from the past of an Indian Ocean El Niño. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Foraminifera build a calcium carbonate shell, and studying these can tell us about the properties of the water in which they lived. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The team measured multiple individual shells of foraminifera from ocean sediment cores and was able to reconstruct the sea surface temperature conditions of the past.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This could be similar to the El Niño phenomenon of the Pacific Ocean bringing more frequent and devastating floods and drought to several densely-populated countries around the Indian Ocean region. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">If current warming trends continue, this new Indian Ocean El Niño could emerge as early as 2050. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Indian Ocean has the capacity to harbor much larger climate variability than observed during the last few decades or a century<em>. </em>The Indian Ocean can arise under increased greenhouse gas forcing of global climate change.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Under present-day conditions, changes in the Indian Ocean Dipole and the El Niño–Southern Oscillation strongly affect Indian Monsoon variability from year to year. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">If the hypothesized ‘equatorial mode’ emerges in the near future, it will pose another source of uncertainty in rainfall prediction and will likely amplify swings in monsoon rainfall.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">It could bring more frequent droughts to East Africa and southern India and increased rainfall over Indonesia. </span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 111 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 5003,
'title' => 'COVID-19 lessons on fighting global heating and extinction',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A new study argues that the spread of coronavirus shares common characteristics with two other crises, global heating and the impending “sixth mass extinction”.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Climate change and COVID-19 are two very different challenges, but they do have some key things in common. Both are global - they do not respect national boundaries - and both require countries to work together to find solutions. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The researchers make a case for learning lessons from Covid-19 and using these in fighting global heating and species extinction.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Lessons learned in containing Covid-19 — the need for early intervention, the curbing of some aspects of lifestyles — should also be at the heart of averting environmental catastrophe.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Both climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic require us to listen to experts, to unite behind the science and not play politics with people’s lives. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This means responding to the challenge at the appropriate scale and treating a crisis like a crisis with the urgency that’s needed. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Among the shared characteristics described, one is that each new Covid-19 case can spawn others and so lead to escalating infection rates — just as hotter climates alter ecosystems, increasing emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause warming.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The team also compares “lagged impacts”. For coronavirus, the duration or lag before symptoms materialise means that infected people spread the disease before they feel effects and change behavior. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The researchers equate this with the lag between our destruction of habitat and eventual species extinction, as well as lags between the emissions we pump out and the full effects of global heating, such as sea-level rise.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 5026,
'title' => 'Tree plantations and climate change',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Poorly-designed or badly-enforced policies to promote and incentivise tree plantations in an effort to fight climate change risk wasting public money by releasing more carbon than natural forests and destroying biodiversity.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Realising the importance of forests and trees in curbing global warming, global initiatives have been started such as the World Economic Forum’s to plant a trillion trees and the United Nations Bonn Challenge to bring 350 million hectares of the world’s deforested and degraded land into restoration by 2030.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">When forests grow, they absorb the carbon – a greenhouse gas whose emission is mainly responsible for climate change – from the atmosphere, functioning as a “carbon sink”.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Rather than restoring natural forests, such campaigns are promoting plantation of a single type of tree – monoculture – or a limited number of species. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">These plantations typically have significantly less potential for carbon sequestration and biodiversity promotion.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The potential benefit shrinks further if planted trees replace natural forests, grasslands or savannahs – ecosystems that have evolved to support unique, local biodiversity, said the study.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The findings are especially relevant for India, where a national programme that promotes compensatory monoculture plantations has become a simple tool to fell natural forests for non-forest purposes including industrial and development projects.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To fight climate change, India has pledged to get 33% of its geographical area under forest cover by 2022, compared to the existing 24%.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Under current law, the Indian government collects money from industries in lieu of the natural forest diverted for their projects. This money is later given to states for compensatory afforestation under the <strong>Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management & Planning Authority</strong> of the Union environment ministry.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Although mono-dominant plantations could match natural species-rich biodiverse forests in terms of carbon capture and storage potential in wet seasons, the latter were more stable and hence more reliable in their ability to capture carbon over the years, particularly during droughts.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Global campaigns could make a real difference if they focus on the restoration of degraded forests along with introducing strong subsidy restrictions, such as prohibitions against replacing native forests with tree plantations.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 5012,
'title' => 'Dry tropical forests at more risk than wet rainforests',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Dry tropical forests are more vulnerable to the impacts of global heating than had been thought, according to new research by scientists.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Some tropical forests are very wet, but others thrive in a drier climate and scientists had thought these drier forests would be better adapted to drought, and therefore more able to cope with the effects of the climate crisis.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The new study suggests that forests with an already drier climate show greater loss of biodiversity, and a reduced ability to support a wide variety of wildlife and plant species when subjected to warmer temperatures. Wetter forests, with year-round rainfall, show less change in biodiversity.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The researchers examined both wet and dry tropical forests in West Africa. Dry forests appear to be already on the verge of a tipping point, whereby further years of hot and dry conditions could cause a rapid transformation. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Wetter forests may be better able to withstand prolonged hotter and drier spells because of the greater reserves of moisture in their tree trunks and soils, but scientists do not know how long they may stay resilient.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Deforestation is growing rapidly in Africa, putting more of the world’s vital carbon sinks and biodiversity hotspots under threat. The findings should aid conservation efforts aimed at protecting the world’s remaining heavily forested areas.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Drier forests are becoming more homogeneous, in their function and composition, and that may mean forests are going to be less able to carry out their functions and they will not have so many species.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">While wetter rainforests better fit most people’s conception of what tropical forests are like, drier forests are also home to a wide range of plants and wildlife. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Other recent studies have found that many of the world’s forests are becoming so degraded by human activities, and damaged by worsening climate change, that they could cease acting as carbon sinks</span></span><span style="font-size:13.0pt"><span style="background-color:white"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif""><span style="color:#121212">.</span></span></span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4950,
'title' => 'Increased global warming caused by clouds',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A new study for understanding global warming indicates the reason is likely related to challenges simulating the formation and evolution of clouds.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Clouds have a complicated relationship with climate warming – certain types of clouds in some locations reflect more sunlight, cooling the surface, while others can have the opposite effect, trapping heat.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Compared with older models, these updated models has shown higher sensitivity to carbon dioxide – that is, more warming for a given concentration of the greenhouse gas.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">If the models on the high end are correct and Earth is truly more sensitive to carbon dioxide than scientists had thought, the future could also be much warmer than previously projected. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers have observed that interaction between clouds and tiny particles called aerosols in particular, seem to be contributing to higher sensitivity.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers have traditionally evaluated climate model sensitivity using two different metrics. The first, which has been in use since the late 1970s, is called equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS). </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It measures the temperature increase after atmospheric carbon dioxide is instantaneously doubled from preindustrial levels and the model is allowed to run until the climate stabilizes.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Aerosols, which can be emitted naturally from volcanoes and other sources as well as by human activity, also reflect sunlight and have a cooling effect. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">But they interact with clouds too, changing their formation and brightness and, therefore, their ability to heat or cool the surface.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 115 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 4951,
'title' => 'Antarctica’s melting sea ice having positive effect on Penguins',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">While the resulting rise in sea levels is a grave concern for the planet Earth in general, Antarctica's penguins seem to be happier when there is less sea ice.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The new research by researchers from Japan's National Institute of Polar Research now sheds some light on the mystery.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The research points out that Adelie penguins, Antarctica's most common species of penguins, are able to travel to farther distances by swimming in ice-free waters. The penguins are thus able to access food more easily than before.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During sparse sea-ice, penguins tend to see an increase in population while considerable breeding failures were observed in the years with substantial increase in sea ice in the region.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The team of researchers tagged 175 penguins in Antarctica with GPS devices and video cameras. This was to monitor their growth across four seasons in the region observing different sea ice conditions.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The researchers were able to track penguins on their trips and observe their walking, swimming and resting behavior. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The inspection also offered an estimate to the amount of prey captured by the penguins during sea dives. It is known that penguins, though slow on land, are swift swimmers.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A simple reason is that penguins have a larger area under the water surface to swim when there is less sea-ice.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In such conditions, penguins can dive and swim in a wider area, often right from their nests, thus reducing their efforts to catch prey. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Another reason is that with less sea ice, more sunlight is able to enter the water, promoting the growth of underwater plankton that is the main food of the krill that the penguins feed on.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The study points out that the penguins conserve an average of 15% to 33% energy per trip compared with ice-covered seasons. The conserved energy then enables their growth and reproduction.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The conditions are only true for the penguins living on the main "continental" part of Antarctica. The species found on the thin Antarctic peninsula on the outskirts of the continent undergo just the opposite effects of a drop in sea-ice.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 5035,
'title' => 'Thawing of Arctic permafrost may release ancient diseases',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Scientists have said the rapidly warming climate in the far north risks exposing long-dormant viruses, which may be tens or even hundreds of thousands of years old, and have been frozen in the permafrost in the Arctic.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Devastating heat-wave has seen temperatures in Siberia reach a record 38C (100.4F), meanwhile, vast fires are burning, releasing huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Due to the rapid heating – the Arctic is warming up at least twice as fast as the rest of the world – the permafrost is now thawing for the first time since before the last ice age, potentially freeing pathogens the like of which modern humans have never before grappled with.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">So far researchers have been able to successfully reactivate ancient DNA viruses, but not the more fragile RNA viruses.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">RNA viruses include diseases such as Spanish flu and the coronavirus responsible for the current pandemic.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">If the viruses come into contact with a proper host then they will reactivate. Human contact with viruses will allow their replication in a matter of time.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Thawing permafrost is also a time bomb: There’s more carbon stored in the permafrost than in the atmosphere. Melting it risks accelerating global warming even further.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The risk was not only due to the thawing permafrost, but also due to the increased human and animal activity in areas which have long been very sparsely populated.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A 2014 study estimates that thawing permafrost could release around 120 gigatons of carbon into the atmosphere by 2100, resulting in 0.29°C of additional warming.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The fear is that the thawing will encourage greater excavation in the Arctic. Mining and other excavation projects will become more appealing as the region grows warmer. </span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Permafrost</strong></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Permafrost is a layer of frozen soil that covers 25 percent of the Northern Hemisphere. It acts like a giant freezer, keeping microbes, carbon, poisonous mercury, and soil locked in place.</span></span></p>
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'title' => 'Melting glaciers cool Southern Ocean',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Research suggests glacial melting might explain the recent decadal cooling and sea ice expansion across Antarctica’s Southern Ocean.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Southern Ocean near Antarctica has never been easy to study. Its challenging conditions have placed it out of reach to all but the most intrepid explorers.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">For climate modellers, the surface waters of the Southern Ocean provide a different kind of challenge: It doesn’t behave the way they predict it would.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In recent decades, as the world warms, the Southern Ocean’s surface temperature has cooled, allowing the amount of ice that crystallizes on the surface each winter to grow. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">There are 30 or so climate models used to foresee what the world might look like as the climate changes. These models don’t match the recent observations of surface temperature in the Southern Ocean, leaving scientists with lots of question.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Earlier researchers had explored two possible influences driving the observed ocean trends: greenhouse gas emissions, and westerly winds — strengthened by expansion of the Antarctic ozone hole — blowing cold water northward from the continent. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The researchers carried out the experiments with the GISS global climate model where they abruptly introduce a fixed increase in melt water around Antarctica and then record how the model responds. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The researchers then apply the model’s response to a previous climate state to estimate how the climate should react to the observed forcing. The results are then compared to the observational record, to see if a factor is missing. This method is called hindcasting.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In their hindcasting, they estimate what would have happened to a pre-industrial Southern Ocean if up to 750 gigatons of meltwater were added each year.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">When this increase in glacial melt was added to the model, it led to sea surface cooling, decreases in salinity, and expansion of sea ice coverage that are consistent with observed trends in the Southern Ocean during the last few decades.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Their model results suggest that meltwater may account for the majority of previously misunderstood Southern Ocean cooling.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The model shows that a warming climate may be driving, in a counterintuitive way, more sea ice by increasing the rate of melting of Antarctica’s glaciers. The paper may solve the disconnect between what was expected and what was observed in the Southern Ocean.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 118 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 5066,
'title' => 'Climate change bigger threat than covid-19',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Poor air quality and climate change pose a bigger threat to people's health and the economy than coronavirus, scientists have warned.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The letter calls for scientific advisors to be involved in developing economic policy in the aftermath of the pandemic.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The COVID-19 pandemic has seen CO2 emissions drop significantly worldwide, but with the resumption of normal business activities, they are likely to accelerate. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that to avoid the most destructive impacts of climate change – drought and rising sea levels causing crop failure, population migration, infrastructure adaptation, and wildlife displacement, among others - it was imperative to limit global warming to the 1.5°C temperature goal set by the Paris Agreement by 2050.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">There's growing evidence, for instance, that air pollution makes us more susceptible to the disease and makes us more likely to have a bad outcome should we get it.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">There's convincing evidence too that diseases like Covid-19 are more likely to emerge as we destroy the natural world.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Pollution could lead to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, with possible links also to dementia and diabetes, as well as weight gain in babies and lung development in children.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Termed “revenge pollution”, post-recession hikes in emissions, are now anticipated to be one of the biggest threats we face in our efforts to avert the climate crisis.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The pandemic has shown three key things: that collective action is possible, science matters, and should be taken seriously and that government can and should act rapidly to lead.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Efforts to pedestrianise cities, encourage walking and cycling, and increasing how much energy is supplied by renewable sources should be sped up, as well as businesses getting money to help cut energy consumption and waste.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 119 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Climate Change',
'keyword' => 'climate-change',
'id' => (int) 5091,
'title' => 'Forest fires and carbon emissions',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During 2003–2017, a total of 5,20,861 active forest fire events were detected in India. According to the report of the Forest Survey of India, over 54% of the forest cover in India is exposed to occasional fire.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The study used remote sensing-based models to measure primary productivity over an area and also looked at burn indices, which help to demarcate the forest fire burn scars using satellite imagery.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The normalized burn ratio is an effective burn index commonly used to identify burnt regions in large fire zones. In normal conditions, healthy vegetation exhibits a very high reflectance in the near-infrared spectral region and considerably low reflectance in the shortwave infrared spectral region. These conditions get dismantled and reversed if a fire occurs.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The spectral differences between healthy vegetation and burnt forest areas can easily be identified and highlighted by remote sensing burn indices. It can be a promising tool for land resource managers and fire officials.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The team notes that the States of northeast India, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand are the most fire-prone in India.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Previous studies using forecasting models and <em>in-situ </em>observations in western Himalaya have shown a sharp increase of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and ozone during high fire activity periods. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The current paper noted very high to high carbon emissions in the eastern Himalayan states, western desert region, and lower Himalayan region.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The occurrence of high fire intensity at the low altitude Himalayan hilly regions may be due to the plant species (pine trees) in the area and proximity to villages. Villages make them more susceptible to anthropogenic activities like forest cover clearance, grazing, and so on.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Studies have shown that the sharp increase in average and maximum air temperature, decline in precipitation, change in land-use patterns have caused the increased episodes of forest fires in most of the Asian countries.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The team plans to further work on the prediction of forest fires with the support of advanced machine learning models and AI-based techniques.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Climate Change',
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'id' => (int) 5115,
'title' => 'High concentration of CO2 in atmosphere by 2025',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">By 2025, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) levels will very likely be higher than they were during the warmest period of the last 3.3 million years, according to new research.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong><br />
The team studied the chemical composition of tiny fossils, about the size of a pinhead collected from deep ocean sediments of the Caribbean Sea to arrive at the conclusion.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Scientists used data from chemical composition to reconstruct the concentration of CO<sub>2</sub> in Earth's atmosphere during the Pliocene epoch, around 3 million years ago when our planet was more than 3°C warmer than today with smaller polar ice caps and higher global sea-levels.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Knowledge of CO<sub>2</sub> during the geological past is of great interest because it tells us how the climate system, ice sheets and sea-level previously responded to the elevated CO<sub>2</sub> levels</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To determine atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub>, the team has used the isotopic composition of the element boron, naturally present as an impurity in the shells of zooplankton called foraminifera or 'forams' for short.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">These organisms are around half a millimetre in size and gradually accumulate in huge quantities on the seabed, forming a treasure trove of information on Earth's past climate. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The isotopic composition of the boron in their shells is dependent on the acidity (t