Current Affairs and Environmental Information

Keep Confidence

• Success is possible from studying the last 30 days.
• Don't stress about current affairs.
• Current affairs is a combination of static and news.

Sources for Current Affairs

• PT 365
• Vision IAS
• India Year Book
• Final Lap

Environmental Information

Contribution of Greenhouse Gases

• Water vapor: Largest contributor to the greenhouse effect.
• Global warming potential: CO2 is the lowest, followed by methane, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, SF6.

Types of Carbon

• Blue Carbon: Carbon stored in coastal and marine ecosystems.
• Teal Carbon: Carbon stored in wetlands.
• Purple Carbon: Emitted from industrial emissions.

Role of Ozone

• Beneficial in the stratosphere, pollutant in the troposphere.
• Ozone hole: Levels below 220 Dobson Units in the Arctic and Antarctica.

Ozone Protection Conventions

• Vienna Convention (1985): Not legally binding.
• Montreal Protocol (1987): Replacing CFCs with HFCs.
• Kigali Amendment (2016): Reducing HFCs.

Climate Technology

• CTCN: Implements UNFCCC's technology mechanism.
• Greenfield Airports: Airports developed from scratch.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

• Eradicating poverty, eliminating hunger, health improvement, education, gender equality, clean water, etc.

Carbon Farming

• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through carbon sequestration in soil.

International Agreements

• Stockholm Convention: Related to POPs.
• Basel Convention: Transboundary hazardous waste.
• Rotterdam Convention: Hazardous chemicals and pesticides.
• Minamata Convention: Mercury.
• Washington Convention: Endangered species sites.
• Bonn Convention: Migratory species.

Biodiversity

• Project Tiger: Started in 1973, 58 tiger reserves.
• International Big Cat Alliance: Launched in 2023.

Forest and Water Resources

• Forest Cover: MP leads in absolute forest cover.
• Wetlands: Gujarat leads.
• Groundwater: India is the largest global user.

Other Important Initiatives

• Green Credit Program: One forest credit equals one tree.
• Waste to Energy: Incineration, pyrolysis, gasification.
• NCAP: National Clean Air Program.

Science and Technology

• Enzyme Replacement Therapy: Approved by the USFDA.
• Gene Therapy for Sickle Cell Disease: Casgavi, CRISPR-based.
• Bhashini Project: National Language Translation Mission.

Defense and Space

• Missile Defense System: India, Israel, USA.
• Astra Missile: Beyond visual range air-to-air missile.
• Varunastra: DRDO's anti-submarine torpedo.

Renewable Energy and Other Initiatives

• Global Biofuel Alliance: Global collaboration for biofuels.
• Green GDP: Chhattisgarh is the first state to adopt it.

This lecture will serve as a revision, and in the lecture at 4:00 PM, we will discuss politics, economy, etc.