Sustainable Finance for Tiger Landscapes Conference

A Sustainable Finance for Tiger Landscapes Conference is all set to be hosted by Bhutan to mobilise the funding.

• Co-organised by – The Royal Government of Bhutan and the Tiger Conservation Coalition.
• Aim – To mobilise 1 billion USD over 10 years for the preservation of tiger landscapes.
• Necessity – Maintaining tiger landscapes are vital to maintaining biodiversity, sequestering carbon, supplying resources to over 100 million people and ensuring the overall health of the planet.

Tiger Conservation Coalition

• It is a group of NGOs that has worked for many years with partners to conserve tigers.
• The 10 NGOs in the coalition are:
  • Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA),
  • Fauna & Flora International (FFI),
  • International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN),
  • Natural State,
  • Panthera,
  • TRAFFIC,
  • United Nations Development Programme (UNPD),
  • Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS),
  • The World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) and
  • The Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

Nitroplast

In a scientific breakthrough, an international team of researchers has recently discovered the “Nitroplast”.

• Nitroplast is the newly discovered nitrogen-fixing organelle found within eukaryotic cells.
• It has the ability to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere.
• It allows algae to convert atmospheric nitrogen into usable forms, a critical step for growth.
• Traditionally, nitrogen fixation was seen as a prokaryotic (bacteria and archaea) domain.
• Nitroplast discovery disrupts this notion, highlighting the fluidity of evolution.
• Benefits – Understanding nitroplasts could revolutionize agriculture.
• By incorporating nitrogen-fixing genes into crops, scientists envision plants that don't rely on fertilizers and can reduce the environmental impact.

Ports in News

• Shahid Beheshti and Shahid Kalantari – These are two distinct ports in the Chabahar project, in Iran.
• Chabahar, which sits at the mouth of the Gulf of Oman, is Iran’s first deepwater port that puts the country on the global oceanic trade route map.
• Matarbari Port – It is a deep-sea port under construction in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar District, south of Chattogram Port and north of Sonadia on the Bay of Bengal.
• The port is a joint development project between India and Japan, and is expected to be operational in 2027.
• Baltimore Port – A ship that hit Baltimore Bridge recently was 'unseaworthy' when it left the Baltimore port in USA.
• Port Said – It is located in northeastern Egypt, at the northern end of the Suez Canal.

State of the Climate in Asia report, 2023

The State of the Climate in Asia report, 2023 was recently released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

• The report highlights how climate change impacts are wreaking an ever-increasing human, financial and environmental toll, worsening food insecurity and poverty.

Key highlights of the report

• Heatwaves and their impacts on water resources will increase manifold in the near future.
• Shrinking water resources can lead to conflict situations within a country, endangering national security.
• The Asian continent was the world’s most disaster-prone region in 2023.
• Southwest China suffered a drought, and below-normal precipitation levels were recorded nearly every month of 2023, with rains linked to the Indian summer monsoon being below average.
• Floods and storms caused the highest number of reported casualties and economic losses in Asia, while the impact of heatwaves became more severe.
• Over 80% of reported hydro-meteorological hazards in Asia were flood and storm events in 2023.
• Sea level rise – In the Bay of Bengal off India’s eastern coast was the second-highest in the region last year, being nearly 30 per cent above the global average.
• Surface temperature – The annual mean near-surface temperature over Asia in 2023 was the second-highest on record.
• Sea surface temperature – The sea surface temperature in the areas of the Kuroshio Current system the Arabian Sea and so on were warmer more than three times faster than the globally averaged sea surface temperature.
• High Mountain Asia region – Centred on the Tibetan Plateau and containing the largest volume of ice outside of the Polar Regions with glaciers is under threat.
• Over the last several decades, most of these glaciers have been retreating, and at an accelerating rate (with) 20 out of 22 observed glaciers in the High Mountain Asia region.Precipitation – Was below normal in 2023 across almost the entire Asian region.
• The report emphasizes the need for robust climate finance mechanisms to scale up adaptation and address loss and damage in developing countries of Asia.

Species in News

• Golden trevally – The researchers of the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has succeeded in captive breeding of golden trevally (Gnathanodon speciosus).
• It is a high value marine fish.
• Neptis philyra – It is a rare butterfly species that was discovered in Arunachal’s Tale sanctuary.
• It is commonly known as long-streak sailor, has been discovered for the first time in India in Tale Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh.
• Vasuki Indicus – It is a 47 million years old ancient snake discovered in Gujarat.
• Vasuki Indicus is believed to have been one of the largest snakes ever, with an estimated length ranging from 11 to 15 meters.
• The snake belonged to the extinct madtsoiidae family, which existed for around 100 million years across various regions including Africa, Europe and India.
• Vasuki Indicus's size is comparable to that of Titanoboa, the longest known snake to have ever lived.
• Eastern Bumblebee – Scientists have revealed queens of the common eastern bumblebee, a bee species widespread in eastern North America.
• A pollinator of flowers and numerous fruit and vegetable crops.
• It can withstand submersion for up to a week when hibernating.
• It could help them survive flooding in the wild.