News: Indian Prime Minister has addressed the Climate Ambition Summit 2020.
Facts:
- Climate Ambition Summit: It has been organized virtually to mark the five years of the adoption of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
- Hosted by: The summit was co-hosted by the United Nations, United Kingdom and France.
Key Takeaways from the summit:
- India has reduced its emission by 21% over 2005 levels.
- India’s Renewable energy capacity is the fourth largest in the world.It will reach 175 GigaWatts before 2020.
- India has also managed to grow its solar capacity from 2.63 GigaWatts in 2014 to 36 GigaWatts in 2020.
Additional Facts:
- Paris agreement: It was adopted at the UNFCCC COP21 held in Paris in 2015.It aims to keep global temperature rise in the 21st century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Explained: Plasmodium ovale and other types of malaria
News: A not very common type of malaria, Plasmodium ovale has been identified in a jawan in Kerala.
Facts:
- Malaria: It is caused by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito, if the mosquito itself is infected with a malarial parasite.
- Types: There are five kinds of malarial parasites — Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax (the commonest ones), Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium knowlesi.
- Is P Ovale different from other Parasites? P ovale is very similar to P vivax and the treatment modality is the same as it is for a person infected with P vivax.
- Prevalence of P Ovale: P ovale malaria is endemic to tropical Western Africa.It is relatively unusual outside of Africa and where found, comprises less than 1% of the isolates.
- Which Malarial Parasite is prevalent in India? In India, out of 1.57 lakh malaria cases in the high-burden states of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya and Madhya Pradesh in 2019, 1.1 lakh cases(70%) were cases of falciparum malaria.
Note: According to the World Malaria Report 2020, cases of Malaria in India dropped from about 20 million in 2000 to about 5.6 million in 2019.
Rare Myristica swamp treefrog found in Thrissur
News: Myristica swamp tree frog has been recorded for the first time north of the Shencottah gap in the Vazhachal Reserve Forest in Kerala’s Thrissur district.
Facts:
- Myristica Swamp Tree Frog: It is a rare arboreal species endemic to the Western Ghats.
- These frogs are rare and elusive for the reason that they are arboreal and active only for a few weeks during their breeding season.
Additional Facts:
- Arboreal species: These are animals who spend the majority of their lives in trees.
Sustainable Mountain Development Summit
News: The 9th edition of Sustainable Mountain Development summit commenced in virtual mode on the occasion of International Mountain Day.
Facts:
- Sustainable Mountain Development Summit(SMDS): The summit was organized by Indian Mountain Initiative(IMI)
- Aim: To deliberate on issues such as migration, water security, climate resilience and innovative solutions for the farm sector and disaster risk reduction in the Indian Himalayas.
- Theme: Emerging Pathways for Building a Resilient Post COVID-19 Mountain Economy, Adaptation, Innovation and Acceleration.
Additional Facts:
- Integrated Mountain Initiative (former Indian Mountain Initiative): It is a civil society led network formed in 2011 with the objective of providing stakeholders from the states of the Indian Himalayan Region a platform to come together to discuss issues related to the development of the Himalayan region.
BSNL launches world’s first satellite-based narrowband IoT network
News: BSNL has launched the world’s first Satellite-Based Narrowband IoT (Internet of Things) Network in partnership with Skylotec India.
Facts:
- Narrowband Internet of Things(IoT): It is a standards-based low power wide area (LPWA) technology developed to enable a wide range of new IoT devices and services.
- Advantages:
- very low power consumption
- excellent extended range in buildings and underground
- easy deployment into existing cellular network architecture
- network security & reliability
- lower component cost.
Additional Facts:
- Internet of Things(IoT): It describes the network of physical objects — “things”—that are embedded with sensors, software and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the internet.
