Ecology & Environment Current Affairs September 2015 (Part 1)

NASA and USAID Launched SERVIR-Mekong

• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) launched SERVIR-Mekong on August 31, 2015.
• It is a joint project launched in the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre in Bangkok, Thailand to strengthen regional environmental monitoring in five countries i.e., Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam in the lower Mekong region of Southeast Asia.
• SERVIR is focused on a host of issues vital to the region along the Mekong i.e„ ‘rice bowl of Asia’,. They are disaster risk reduction and response; protection of food and water resources; landscape management to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and safe, sustainable development of the entire Mekong River Basin.

See Also – International Current Affairs October 2015.

A Mission for Coastal Resource Conservation

• The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Chennai-based MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) will work together for the conservation of coastal resources as on August 21, 2015.
• The conservation programme will focus on the restoration of the Sorlagondi mangrove forest cover in Krishna district of
• Andhra pradesh. A roadmap to improve the mangrove forest cover in 200 acres and fish cultivation in around 50 acres of mangrove forest has been prepared.
• The UNFCCC will release the adaptation fund through the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard). The objective of the adaptation initiative is to overcome the consequences of sea level rise and seawater inundation following cyclonic storms.

Demarcation of Eco-Sensitive Zone around Okhla Bird Park

• As per the Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar’s statement the demarcation of eco-sensitive zone around the Okhla Bird Sanctuary in the national capital region has been completed on August 18, 2015. A notification in this regard will be issued within a week time.
• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed the Environment Ministry to issue the final notification on Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) around the sanctuary within three weeks Once the notification is issued.
• The government will also allow the home buyers outside the ESZ to get occupancy certificates of their flats, which had been pending for quite some time.
• The NGT had passed an order barring development of any infrastructure within ten-kilometre radius from the sanctuary’s boundary.

Australia Unveiled New Emissions Cut Target

• The Australian govemrnent has announced its carbon emissions reduction target on August 11, 2015 in the range of 26-28% by 2030, which would not harm Australia’s resource-driven economy.
• Other countries are already announced their emissions reduction targets. Europeans set their target at 34%, Japanese at 25%, South Koreans at 4%, the USA has pledged a 41% reduction in emissions by 2030, while Canada offered a 30% reduction.
• The Unite Nations (UN) inter-governmental panel on climate change will meet on November 30, 2015 in France, and the meeting will conclude on December 11, 2015.

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