November 2018 Environment

Sakshi Education

UN climate talks need compromise, not stubbornness: UN chief
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged world leaders to set aside stubbornness and instead compromise to seal a deal on implementing the Paris climate accord.

Guterres called on governments to show ambition and leadership to meet the climate challenges, adding that leadership is also the capacity to compromise.

Guterres will join delegates from nearly 200 countries at the UN climate conference COP24 that opens this Sunday in the southern Polish city of Katowice. The conference aims to agree on a plan to move forward on the 2015 climate deal.

World leaders have been trying to breathe new life into the Paris Agreement following the US decision to pull out of the deal and backsliding from several nations over commitments made.

The Paris climate deal is to take effect in 2020 and calls for limiting global warming to less than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
EU sets goal to be 'climate neutral' by 2050
The European Union on 28 November, 2018 has urged government, businesses, citizens and regions to join it in an ambitious plan to cut emissions and make the bloc carbon neutral by 2050.

EU climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete said in Brussels that block is kicking off a process to determine how Europe's energy and climate policy will evolve between now and 2050.

He said member states will submit their draft national climate and energy plans to the EU by the end of 2018. Canete said while more homes will be insulated and transport will be modernised, the key plank of any successful strategy will be to reduce fossil fuel use in energy production by 80 per cent by 2050.
Fragile climate puts food security at risk: UN report
The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) on 28 November, 2018 renewed appeals for better policies and technologies to reach 'zero hunger' around the world.

The call came as FAO in a report said, feeding a hungry planet is growing increasingly difficult as climate change and depletion of land and other resources undermine food systems.

The FAO and International Food Policy Research Institute released the report at the outset of a global conference aimed at speeding up efforts to achieve zero hunger around the world.

The report said, hunger is still most severe in Africa, but the largest number of undernourished people live in the Asia-Pacific region. It said, good public policies and technology are the keys to improving the situation.
Make elephant corridors eco-sensitive zones: NGT
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to consider declaring all elephant corridors in India as eco-sensitive zones.

The NGT was hearing a plea moved by Assam resident Pradip Kumar Bhuyan on the increasing number of unnatural elephant deaths taking place in the State.
Elephant corridors:
- Elephant corridors are narrow strips of land that allow elephants to move from one habitat patch to another. There are 88 identified elephant corridors in India.
- In Africa, Botswana houses the largest number of free-roaming elephant herds.
- Elephants Without Borders (EWB) studies the movement of elephants is working to gain community support of local community corridors, so that elephants and humans can co-exist.
BASIC nations push for ‘climate finance’
Ahead of the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP) in December, Environment Ministers and top climate change negotiators from Brazil, South Africa, China and India (BASIC) convened in Delhi said the countries — as a group — would continue to push for developed countries on their earlier commitment to providing $100 billion annually from 2020.

So far only a fraction of these monies have actually been provided, the BASIC group stated.

At that meeting, countries had agreed to take steps to limit global warming to 2C below pre-industrial levels.

A key aspect to make this possible is climate finance, but countries so far aren’t agreed on what constitutes climate finance: do investments made by private companies in developed countries in new green technology count? Does improving efficiency in a thermal plant count?
Air pollution level continues to be severe in Delhi
The air pollution level in the National Capital continues to be in the severe category.

The air quality index was recorded at 426 this morning by the Central Pollution Control Board.

According to experts, a significant drop in temperature and reduced wind speed have also aggravated the situation.

The entry of trucks in Delhi has been banned from 08 November, 2018 night till 11 November, 2018.

However, the entry of trucks carrying essential commodities like fruits, vegetables, milk and medicines will not be stopped.

All construction activities involving excavation have already been stopped in the city till 10 November, 2018.

An aggressive clean air campaign is also underway to monitor and report polluting activities as well as to ensure quick action.
India home to two new gecko species
Two new Gecko species are latest additions to India's reptile fauna.

The Spot-necked day gecko and the Anaimudi day gecko both very distinctly-patterned lizards found only in the higher reaches of the Agasthyamalai and Anamalai hill ranges in the Western Ghats.

Both these diurnal geckos are currently known only from single localities in high-elevation forests located at more than 1,200 meters above mean sea level in the Ghats.
New leaf-warbler bird species discovered in Indonesia
The yellow-orange colored bird was sighted by a joint research team from the National University of Singapore and the Indonesian Institute of Science in Indonesian island.

It was a new species and named it Phylloscopusrotiensis after the Rote island, the only locality where it can be found.

The bird is unique among the Asian warblers because it has an unusually long bill.