Montreal Protocol

• Protocol of Vienna Convention: Protection of the Ozone Layer,1985
• To cut down 99% of all ozone-depleting substance (ODS)
• India (1992)

Ozone layer

• Stratosphere, 
• absorbs UV rays
• 16 September 

Kigali Agreement

• 2016 (entered into force in 2019)
• 80% reduction in HFCs consumption by 2047.

Ozone-depleting substance (ODS)

• CFCs
• halons
• methyl bromide
• bromochloromethane

CFCs

• harmful for the Ozone layers
• Use: Refrigerators, AC, Fire extinguishers, foams

HFCs

• do not harm Ozone Layer 
• Causing global warming

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCC)

• Rio Earth Summit (1992) and into force(1994)
• India: Member
• Kyoto Protocol
• Paris Climate Agreement

Global Methane Pledge

• United States and EU
• India is not a Member
• COP26 (2021)
• reduce methane emissions by at least 30% below 2020 levels by 2030.

Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) Mission

• NASA
• Related to Methane
• helped to identify more than 50 super-emitters of methane gase

Intergovermental Panel On Climate Change(IPCC)

• 1988
• World Meterological Organization (WMO) and UNEP
• India is a Member
• Nobel Prize (2007)

Report

• Assessment Reports
• Special Reports
• Methodology reports

Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis)

• found only in the Brahmaputra valley, parts of North Bengal, and parts of southern Nepal.

IUCN  Status

• Indian rhino is listed as vulnerable.
• It was earlier placed in the endangered category

 September 22, World Rhino Day, in 2021

Polar Bears

• Canada’s Western Hudson Bay
• Churchill, the town that is known as ‘the Polar Bear Capital of the World’. 

COP15 biodiversity summit

• Delegates committed to protecting 30% of land and 30% of coastal and marine areas by 2030, fulfilling the deal’s highest-profile goal, known as 30-by-30.

United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

 Aichi Targets

• adopted during the 2010 CBD summit in Nagoya, located in Japan’s Aichi prefecture, included goals such as reducing deforestation by at least half during the coming decade and curbing pollution so that it no longer harmed ecosystems.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

The UNEP is a leading global environmental authority established on 5th June 1972. 

Headquarters: Nairobi, Kenya

Functions: 

It sets the global environmental agenda, promotes sustainable development within the United Nations system, and serves as an authoritative advocate for global environment protection. 

Major Reports: 

• Emission Gap Report, 
• Adaptation Gap Report, 
• Global Environment Outlook, 
• Frontiers, Invest in Healthy Planet. 

Major Campaigns: 

• Beat Pollution, UN75, 
• World Environment Day, 
• Wild for Life. 

Red Sand dunes of Vizag

• Erra Matti Dibbalu
• geo-heritage site by GIS in 2014
• other places Tamil Nadu, Visakhapatnam, and Sri Lanka

Kangar Valley National Park

• Bastar region of Chhattisgarh
• Deciduous type of forest
• Bastar Maina 

Agroforestry

• known as 'social forestry'
• aims at achieving a more ecologically diverse and socially productive output from the land than is possible through conventional agriculture

Great Indian Bustard

• Found mainly in Rajasthan and Gujarat
• Critically endangered by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

Why Critically Endangered??

• Transmission Lines

Conservation Efforts

• The SC in April 2021 ordered: Underground Transmission Line

Emissions Gap Report 2022

• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) 
• Titled ‘Emissions Gap Report 2022: The Closing Window — Climate Crisis Calls For Rapid Transformation of Societies’

The world is falling short of the goals set forth in the Paris Climate Agreement adopted in 2015, and no credible pathway is currently in place to restrict global warming to under 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

United Nations Climate Change Framework Convention (UNFCCC)

• The Conference of Parties (COP) is the apex decision-making body

• UNFCCC was formed in 1994

• To stabilize greenhouse gas emissions and to protect the earth from the threat of climate change

• COP Presidency rotates among the five recognized UN regions

COP27

• Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt

Air Quality Index (AQI)

• The color-coded AQI index was launched in India in 2014.
• Launched by the central government in 2014 as part of the Swachh Bharat campaign.
• a technical study was awarded to IIT Kanpur. 
• IIT Kanpur and the Expert Group recommended an AQI scheme.
• The pollutants measured include PM 10, PM 2.5, Nitrogen Dioxide, Ozone, Carbon, etc.

There are six categories of AQI, namely 

1. ‘Good’ (0-50), 
2. ‘Satisfactory’ (50-100),
3.  ‘Moderately polluted’ (100-200),
4.  ‘Poor’ (200-300), 
5. ‘Very Poor’ (300-400), and 
6. ‘Severe’ (400-500).

Source: Indian Express

Drought

Drought is a rainfall-scarce period, affecting the availability of water for irrigation, drinking,etc 

They are classified into three types:

• METEOROLOGICAL drought is a prolonged dry spell in periods when rainfall is expected 
• HYDROLOGICAL drought is when scarcity of water begins to hit normal supplies in the system 
• AGRICULTURAL drought is when scarcity of water begins to affect the agricultural production

Source: The Indian Express

Italy

• Lake Garda: country’s largest lake
• lake shrinks

**Also in News

• Po River

Heatwaves

• Period of abnormally High Temp.
• India: May-June

Criteria

• for Plains >40 C and Hilly Region >30 C

Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh

• Madhya Pradesh
• Cheetah from South Africa and Namibia

Population Viability Analysis

• the cheetahs will have a long-term future only in population size of 50 or more.

Status of Cheetah (Acinonyx Jubatus)

• IUCN - Vulnerable
• CITES - Appendix I

Reference

• Kuno National Park