Zombie Fires
- Zombie Fire is a fire from a previous growing season that can smoulder under the ground which is made up of carbon-rich peat.
- When the weather warms, the fire can reignite, these are also known as holdover fires.
- According to a new study, the fire regimes in the Arctic are changing rapidly, with ‘zombie fires’ becoming more frequent in addition to fires occurring in the once-frozen tundra.
- The fires in the Arctic spreading to areas which were formerly fire-resistant is a more worrying feature.
- The tundra is drying up and vegetation there like moss, grass, dwarf shrubs, etc. are starting to catch fire.
- In 2019 and 2020, burning occurred well above the Arctic Circle, a region not normally known to support large wildfires.
- Wildfires on permafrost in Siberia south of the Arctic are not uncommon.
- The reason for this anomaly is that temperatures in winter and spring were warmer than usual during 2019-20.
- Temperature in Siberia in 2020 had gone through the roof, with the region recording a severe heatwave.
- Nearly all of this year’s fires inside the Arctic Circle occurred on continuous permafrost, with over half of these burning on ancient carbon-rich peat soils.
Arctic Fires
- The Arctic region has a cold body of water and permafrost, it naturally acts as a carbon sink.
- On average it absorbs 58 megatons of CO2 a year in its cold water.
- Soils in areas of permafrost contain twice as much carbon as there is currently in the atmosphere.
- As the climate and permafrost soils have warmed, microbes have started to break down this organic carbon, which has been frozen and fixed in the permafrost.
- That has led to a rise in land emissions of CO2 and methane.
- Also there will be less absorption of carbon by water with rising temperature.
- It will be a feedback loop, as peatlands release more carbon, global warming increases, which thaws more peat and causes more wildfires.
- Arctic fires will affect the global climate over the long term depending on what they burnt.
- That’s because peatlands, unlike boreal forest, do not regrow quickly after a fire, so the carbon released is permanently lost to the atmosphere.
EX-Bongosagar
- Exercise Bongosagar is a bilateral naval exercise between India and Bangladesh, the first edition of the exercise was held in 2019.
- It aims to develop interoperability and joint operational skills through the conduct of a wide spectrum of maritime exercises and operations.
- It will be followed by the 3rd edition of India-Bangladesh Coordinated Patrol (IN-BN CORPAT), wherein both countries will undertake joint patrolling along the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL).
- The second edition of the exercise has held recently in Northern Bay of Bengal.
- This year’s edition assumes greater significance since it is being conducted during Mujib Barsho, the 100th birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Maritime Boundary
- A maritime boundary is a conceptual division of the Earth's water surface areas using physiographic or geopolitical criteria.
- As such, it usually bounds areas of exclusive national rights over mineral and biological resources, encompassing maritime features, limits and zones.
- Generally, a maritime boundary is delineated at a particular distance from a jurisdiction's coastline.
- Although in some countries the term maritime boundary represents borders of a maritime nation that are recognized by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, maritime borders usually serve to identify the edge of international waters.
- Maritime boundaries exist in the context of territorial waters, contiguous zones, and exclusive economic zones.
- However, the terminology does not encompass lake or river boundaries, which are considered within the context of land boundaries.
- Some maritime boundaries have remained indeterminate despite efforts to clarify them.
- The delineation of maritime boundaries has strategic, economic and environmental implications.
Data Governance Quality Index (DGQI)
- Data Governance Quality Index (DGQI) survey was conducted by Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), Niti Aayog.
- It aims to assess different Ministries/Departments' performance on the implementation of Central Sector Schemes (CS) and Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS).
- It also drives healthy competition among them and promote cooperative peer learning from best practices.
- Six major themes of DGQI are as follows
- Data Generation.
- Data Quality.
- Use of Technology.
- Data Analysis, Use and Dissemination.
- Data Security.
- HR Capacity and Case Studies.
- Ministries/Departments were classified in six categories:
- Administrative,
- Strategic,
- Infrastructure,
- Social,
- Economic,
- Scientific.
- Recently Department of Fertilizers (Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers) has been ranked 3rd out of the 65 Ministries/Departments with a score 4.11 on a scale of 5 on Data Governance Quality Index (DGQI).
- It has been ranked 2nd amongst the 16 Economic Ministries/Departments.
Confronting Carbon Inequality
- Confronting Carbon Inequality is a report released by Oxfam International and the Stockholm Environmental Institute (SEI).
- It highlights that a rich person contributes more to the climate crisis than a poor person.
- According to the report an Indian emitted only 1.97 tonnes of CO2 (tCO2) annually, while Americans and Canadians both emitted well over 16 tCO2.
- The per capita CO2 emissions of the richest 10% of Indians were about 4.4 tons in 2018, in comparison to the per capita emissions of the richest 10% Americans were 52.4 tons, almost 12 times that of the richest Indians.
- Highlights of the report are as follows
- Cumulative Emissions - The richest 1% of humanity accounted for 15% of cumulative emissions, while the poorest 50% accounted for only 7%.
- Depletion of Global Carbon Budget - The richest 10% depleted the global carbon budget by 31% and the poorest 50% used only 4% of the carbon budget.
A carbon budget is a cumulative amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions permitted over a period of time to keep within a certain temperature threshold.
- Emissions Growth - While the richest 10% accounted for 46% of emissions growth, the poorest 50% accounted for only 6%.
About half of the emissions of the richest 10% are associated with North America and the European Union (EU).
Source: PIB, the Hindu
