IPCC REPORT 2018

Context

• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released a special report on the actions the world needs to take to prevent global average temperatures from rising beyond 1.5°C as compared to pre-industrial times.
• The ‘Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C,’ compares the impact of global warming of 1.5 degree C and 2 degree C. It provides details on how the global response to climate change needs to be strengthened within the broader context of sustainable development and continuing efforts to eradicate poverty.
• The reportwill be a key scientific input for the Climate Change Conference in Poland in December 2018, when governments review the Paris Agreement to tackle climate change.

Background

• It was in 2015, at the Paris climate conference, that the global community made a pact to pursue efforts to limit warming to within 1.5°C — half a degree below the previous target of 2°C. With the increase in extreme events and the very survival of small islands at stake, the lower limit was greeted then with surprise and enthusiasm.

IPCC

• It is the international body for assessing the science related to climate change.
• It was set up in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to provide policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation.
• It assessments provide a scientific basis for governments at all levels to develop climate related policies, and they underlie negotiations at the UN Climate Conference – the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

About:

Key Highlights of the Report

• At current rate of emissions, the world is set to breach the global warming limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius between 2030 and 2052. At present, the world is 1.2°C warmer compared to pre-industrial levels.
• Climate change could have “irreversible” and “catastrophic” impacts if the global average temperatures were allowed to rise beyond 2 degrees Celsius. Climate-related risks for natural and human systems are higher.
• There could be progressive worsening of extreme weather events as temperature rises.
• The report gave a more comprehensive assessment of the differences in a 1.5C world and 2C world and quantified the carbon dioxide that would need to be removed from the atmosphere to achieve this.
• The international effort to tackle climate change must be accelerated in order to limit global temperature rises.
• The report notes that investment in physical and social infrastructure is a key enabler in enhancing resilience and adaptive capacity.
• Poorly designed or implemented adaptation projects can increase greenhouse gas emissions and water use, increase gender and social inequality, undermine health conditions, and encroach on natural ecosystems.
• Hence, adaptation efforts must pay attention to poverty and sustainable development and these efforts need financial support.
• Adaptation needs have generally been supported by public sector sources, multilateral development banks, NGOs, private funding and UNFCCC channels.
• According to the report, there is a need to integrate Disaster risk management (DRM) and adaptation to reduce vulnerability. The report also identifies “educational adaptation” options which motivate adaptation through building awareness.
• A more participatory approach towards adaptation, especially for vulnerable population will be to formulate adaptation action based on indigenous knowledge. These people are threatened by cultural modification, dispossession of land rights and land grabbing, rapid environmental and social changes. Therefore recognition of indigenous rights, governance systems and laws is central to adaptation, mitigation and sustainable development.
• Involvement of local governments is important too since they enable more participative decision-making and involve wider community in designing and implementing adaptation policies.

What is 1.5-degree C target?

• Since 1990s, countries started discussing climate change and began negotiating an international arrangement for tackling it together.The objective has been to limit rising global average temperatures to within 2°C from pre-industrial times
• Periodic Assessment Reports produced by IPCC, suggest that the impacts of climate change could be “irreversible” and “catastrophic” if the rise in temperature was allowed to go beyond the 2°C ceiling.
• Small island states and the least developed nations are likely to suffer the worst consequences of climate change. These countries negotiated that the goal should be to restrict the temperature rise within 1.5°C from pre-industrial times.
• A 1.5°C target demanded much deeper emission cuts from the big emitters, which in turn required massive deployment of financial and technological resources.
• The Paris Agreement ‘hold’ the increase in global average temperature to “well below” 2°C. It also promised to keep “pursuing efforts” to attain the 1.5°C target.
• Incidentally, the global average temperature has already risen by more than 1°C from pre-industrial times.At the current rate, the 1.5°C limit could be crossed as early as 2040.

How to attain the 1.5 degree target?

• The IPCC report suggests possible pathways to attain the 1.5°C objective.
• It would involve much sharper and quicker emission cuts by big emitters like China, the US, the European Union and India.
• These pathways are likely to be heavily dependent on the success of carbon removal technologies. However, no such technology exists yet but several possibilities are being explored.
  
  

  Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) IPCC has presented four pathways through which the 1.5 degree target can be achieved.Each of these pathways is also dependent on some amount of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR). CDR is the physical removal of the stock of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to reduce its concentrations. Technologies for CDR are still undeveloped and untested. According to the report, varying amounts between 100 to 1000 Gigatons of carbon dioxide would need to be removed from the atmosphere.

  Why settling for 1.5 degree target?
  • Research found that limiting global warming to 1.5°C could prevent around 3.3 million cases of dengue every year in Latin America and the Caribbean alone.
  • According to World Bank report, additional 150 million people could be at risk from malaria if the temperature was allowed to increase beyond 2°C.
  • The world could have 25 million fewer undernourished people by the end of the century, if the 1.5°C goal was achieved.
  • 350 million additional people could be exposed to deadly heat waves if the warming increased to 2°C as compared to 1.5°C.
  • A 1.5°C could prevent 153 million premature deaths due to air pollution by 2100, as compared to the 2°C scenario.
  • A UNDP report in 2016 claimed that a 1.5°C strategy could create double the number of jobs in the energy sector by 2050. The world could be 3% wealthier by 2100 in a 1.5°C scenario compared to a 2°C scenario.
  • Extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall and heat waves are likely to become more severe and frequent, and freshwater supply could fall sharply, in a 2°C world.
  Impact on India
  • According to the report, coastal nations and agricultural economies like India would be the worst affected.
  • Decline in crop yields, unprecedented climate extremes and increased susceptibility could push poverty by several million by 2050.
  • SunitaNarain, Director General, CSE in response to the report has remarked - “Even at a little over 1.0°C warming, India is being battered by the worst climate extremes – it is clear that the situation at 1.5°C is going to worsen. The new report from the IPCC has served us a final warning that we must get our act together — now and quickly,”
  • India hadn’t made any scientific contribution — in terms of modelling possible climate change-impact to its agriculture, monsoon, urban dwellings — to this report but gave critical inputs to the scientific basis underlying these assessments.
  Recommendations
  • To limit ourselves to 1.5°C, global net anthropogenic CO2 emissions should reduce by about 45 per cent from 2010 levels by 2030, and should reach net-zero around 2050. Along with it, we also need serious cuts to non-CO2 emissions.
  • Both methane and black carbon need to be reduced by 35 per cent or more of 2010 levels by 2050.
  • Achieving these cuts requires rapid and “far-reaching transitions in energy, land, urban and infrastructure (including transport and buildings), and industrial systems”.It will also require political action and significant scale-up of investment.
  • Average annual investment in low-carbon energy technologies and energy efficiency needs to scale up.
  • Use of coal should reduce steeply and its share in electricity mix should be reduced to close to 0 per cent by 2050. There is a need for a significant fall in the share of oil in energy production by 2050.
  • The industry sector will have to reduce emissions by around 75–90 per cent of 2010 levels by 2050.
  • Real emission reductions can be achieved through a combination of new and existing technologies, including sustainable bio-based feedstocks, product substitution, and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS).
  • In the land-use sector, some amount of pasture and non-pasture agricultural land for food and feed crops needs to be converted for energy crops.
  Way Forward
  • Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees would require  in all aspects of society.
  • The IPCC report suggests that while meeting the 1.5°C warming goal is improbable, it is not impossible. Meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement would inevitably have to involve carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere.
  • All pathways, which limit global warming to 1.5°C or allow a minimal breach, project the use of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) to the tune of 100–1000 GtCO2eq over this century.
  • It implies that achieving the target purely by reducing emission is extremely improbable; investment will have to move towards active removal through afforestation, carbon capture and storage, and other novel technologies.
  • The IPCC’s role is limited to bringing forth these options; it is now up to governments to decide on how to act.They can start by scaling up ambition on nationally determined contributions.

RECOVERY OF THE OZONE LAYER

Context

• A recent study by UN has confirmed that the ozone layer that shields life from cancer-causing solar rays is recovering at a rate of one to three percent per decade, reversing years of dangerous depletion caused by the release of harmful chemicals.
• Ozone is a molecule comprised of three oxygen atoms that occurs naturally in small amounts.

About

• Earth's ozone layer acts like a sunscreen, shielding the planet from potentially harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation that can cause skin cancer, cataracts, suppress immune systems and damage wildlife. It is produced in tropical latitudes and distributed around the globe.
• The four-yearly review of the Montreal Protocol, a 1987 ban on man-made gases that damage the fragile high-altitude ozone layer, found long-term decreases in the atmospheric abundance of controlled ozone-depleting substances and the on-going recovery of stratospheric ozone.
• A hole was found in the ozone layer above Antarctica in the 1980s as a result of harmful chemicals being pumped into the atmosphere. This has allowed large amounts of ultraviolet light to reach Earth unabated and has been linked to an increase in skin cancer diagnoses.
• Scientists have now found that severe bans on the manufacture of these products have seen the hole in the ozone recover at a rate of one to three per cent per decade.
• The U.N. had already hailed the success of the Montreal Protocol, which banned or phased out ozone depleting chemicals, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) once widely used in refrigerators and spray cans and were found to be the main reason behind the loss of the ozone layer, but the report said it was the first time that there were emerging indications that the Antarctic ozone hole had diminished in size and depth since 2000.
  
  

  Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) Chlorofluorocarbons are nontoxic, non-flammable chemicals containing atoms of carbon, chlorine, and fluorine. They are used in the manufacture of aerosol sprays, blowing agents for foams and packing materials, as solvents, and as refrigerants. CFCs are classified as halocarbons, a class of compounds that contain atoms of carbon and halogen atoms. Individual CFC molecules are labelled with a unique numbering system. For example, the CFC number of 11 indicates the number of atoms of carbon, hydrogen, fluorine, and chlorine. Whereas CFCs are safe to use in most applications and are inert in the lower atmosphere, they do undergo significant reaction in the upper atmosphere or stratosphere where they cause damage.

• The study also looked at the thinning of the ozone layer in the Arctic and found the annual variations were much larger. This made it harder for the researchers to confirm if there had been a definite recovery in the layer since 2000.
• However, while most of the banned gases have been phased out, the report found at least one violation of the protocol: an unexpected increase in production and emissions of CFC-11 from eastern Asia since 2012. The report said the source country or countries had not yet been identified.
• If CFC-11 emissions continued at the same rate, return of mid-latitude and polar ozone-depleting chemicals to their 1980 values would be delayed by about 7 and 20 years, respectively.
• The Antarctic ozone hole was expected to gradually close, returning to 1980 levels in the 2060s.
  
  

Significance

• The report said it was the first time the Antarctic ozone hole had shrunk in size and depth since 2000.
• At projected rates, Northern Hemisphere and mid-latitude ozone is scheduled to heal completely by the 2030s followed by the Southern Hemisphere in the 2050s and Polar Regions by 2060.

ASK DISHA APP

Context

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), as first-of-its-kind initiative, recently launched AI chatbot-- Ask Disha (Digital Interaction to Seek Help Anytime) to help its users with various queries.

About

• The chatbot is special computer programme designed to simulate conversation with users, especially over the internet.
• Users can ask questions to the AI chatbot by visiting the IRCTC website. As soon as the users start typing their queries, the AI chatbot automatically starts showing some options based on the typed phrases. Users can then either pick one of the queries from the displayed options or type in the complete question if their query is not being displayed on the screen.
• The AskDisha is live now and will be voice enabled, supporting several regional languages.
• The essential features of AskDisha include ability to quickly answer to customer queries, provide round-the-clock customer support, multitask, and zero waiting time for query to get answered.
  
  
• It has been jointly developed by IRCTC and CoRover Private Limited, which is a Bengaluru-based startup that develops AI and machine learning based chatbots pertaining to travel and tourism.
  

Significance

With AskDisha, IRCTC becomes the first and only government corporation in India to launch a chat-enabled helpdesk service program.AskDisha chatbot will provide seamless service to website and Android app users. It willfacilitate accessibility by answering users' queries pertaining to various services offered by IRCTC. Thus, it will ensure that customers have a stress-free experience and provide overall satisfaction.

AFFORDABLE WATER DISINFECTION SYSTEM- ONEER

Context

An innovative technology for “Drinking Water Disinfection System” with trade name “Oneer” has been developed by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (CSIR-IITR), Lucknow.

About

• The device will continuous treat water and eliminate all disease causing pathogens such as virus, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and cyst to provide safe drinking water to domestic and communities settings as per national and international standards prescribed for potable water (BIS, WHO etc.).
• It will provide access to safe and clean drinking water at a cost of just 2 Paise / Ltr.
• Its community level model has capacity of 450 LPH which can be scaled up to 5000 to 1 lakh L/day and is also maintenance and membrane free.
• The smaller unit of Oneer is particularly suitable for homes, street food vendors, and small establishments.

CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (CSIR-IITR), Lucknow, a constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), was established in 1965. It is the only institute of toxicology in the country contributing towards cutting-edge research and innovation in toxicology. It is working to mitigate problems of human health and environment. It has following objectives: Safety evaluation of chemicals used in industry, agriculture and everyday life. Mode of action of toxic chemicals/pollutants. Remedial/preventive measures to safeguard health and environment from pollutants. Occupational health hazards due to exposure in chemicals industries, mines, agricultural fields and environment. Simple/rapid diagnostic tests for disorders caused by industrial and environmental chemicals Collect, store and disseminate information on toxic chemicals. Human resource development for dealing with industrial and environmental problems. Provide a platform to public and entrepreneurs to address queries and concerns regarding safety/toxicity of chemicals additives and products.

Significance

According to the World Health Organization, "access to safe drinking-water is essential to health, a basic human right and a component of effective policy for health protection”. But, currently, a large proportion of India's rural community is consuming water that does not meet the WHO drinking water quality standards. It is well known that infection through drinking water results in an increase in morbidity and mortality particularly amongst children. The developed technology will enhance the quality of life of common people. It will be helpful especially for rural people since it can be solar powered. At economy front, it is also in line with the ‘Make in India’ mission.

DWARF PLANET 'THE GOBLIN' DISCOVERY

Context

• An extremely distant dwarf planet, named The Goblin, has been discovered in observations that are redefining the outer reaches of the solar system.
• A new minor planet called “the Goblin” is the second most distant known object in the solar system.
  
  

About

• Formal Name:As assigned by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, the new dwarf planetwould be formally known as 2015 TG387.
• It is memorably nicknamed Goblin because its human examination occurred in roughly the Halloween time frame.Astronomers made the discovery while hunting for a hypothetical massive planet, known as Planet Nine.
• The Goblin dwarf planet appears to be under the gravitational influence of a giant unseen object, possibly a hypothetical massive planet referred to as Planet Nine.
• Telescope used:The Japanese Subaru 8-metre telescope located on the dormant Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii was used.
• Why this telescope? The telescope is the only one in the world to be able to produce deep images capable of probing the outer reaches of the solar system, while it also has a wide enough field of view to be able to cover enough sky to discover rare objects.

About Goblin:

• Radius: The newly discovered icy world, estimated to be just 300km across, is in an extremely elongated orbit. At its closest, it gets about two and a half times as far from the sun as Pluto.
• Revolution time period: Then it heads off to the outermost fringes of the solar system, to almost 60 times further out than Pluto, taking an astounding 40,000 years to loop once around the sun.
• For 99% of its orbit, it would be too faint to see.

Significance

Why it is important:

• This will be adding to astronomers’ certainty that Planet Nine is out there.
• The object is the third minor planet to have been found in the outer solar system, following the discoveries of Sedna and, recently, another object called 2012 VP113. 
• Intriguingly the orbits of the three objects discovered so far appear to be clustered together, suggesting that they are being shepherded by a giant, unknown object. This has pointed astronomers to the existence of a ninth, super-Earth sized planet again.
• Planet Nine is suspected to be in orbit far beyond Pluto in a mysterious region known as the Oort Cloud.
  
  

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE SURVEY 2018: RBI

Context

Reserve Bank released the results of the September 2018 round of its Consumer Confidence Survey (CCS).

About

• The survey seeks qualitative responses from households, regarding their sentiments on general economic conditions, overall price situation, employment, income, spending, scenario
• Consumer confidenceis a key driver of economic growth and is widely considered a leading economic indicator of household spending on consumption. Confident consumers buy more goods and services, providing a boost to the Indian economy. Consumers tend to increase consumption when they feel confident about the current and future economic situation of the country and their own financial conditions.
• The survey was conducted in some major cities.
• The agency M/s Hansa Research Group Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai has been engaged to conduct the field work of this round of the survey on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India.

Findings

• Economic Condition:Only 29.1% of those surveyed said their economic condition had improved from what it was a year ago, while 34.4% said it had worsened.Perceptions on the current general economic situation dropped as compared with the preceding round and remained in the pessimistic zone.
• Price situation: While the majority of the respondents remained highly pessimistic about the price situation, there was a slight improvement in expectations one year ahead.
• Employment:2% said their employment prospects had improved, while 45.5% said they had worsened. However, those surveyed are hopeful that job prospects will improve a year from now. The one-year-ahead-expectations survey shows there is a net positive response of 25.1 percentage points.
• Income:On perceptions of income next the net response in September 2018, at 51.3 percentage points, is higher than 2013’s net response of 37.2 percentage points. People remain hopeful that incomes will rise; the government can derive some solace from that.
• The survey portrays reduced optimism on spending by consumers, particularly in respect of non-essential items.
• RBI’s current situation index of the consumer confidence survey is at 94.8 for September 2018, compared to 91.6 in December 2013, not too much of a gap, but, a marginal uptick is observed in the future expectations index at 121.1 points now, on the back of optimistic sentiments on future income, employment and the evolving price situation.

Significance

• Barometer of governance: It reflects the measurement of how happy people are with the government’s management of the economy. The government has done a considerable job of keeping people’s hopes alive. The risk for the government is that current reality may finally dampen future expectations, which is what seems to be happening in the markets.
• Boost to Indian Economy: In economies such as Indiaand the US, where personal consumption accounts for more than 60% and 70% of GDP respectively, consumer confidence has a particularly significant impact on the economy. Measuring it can provide critical insight into the economy's growth prospects. Consumer sentiment indices are essential tools used by global investors and will be an immense aid to individual and institutional investors in India.
• Monetary policy formulation: The results of this survey will provide useful information, data and statistics for monetary policy formulation in accordance with the market expectations and push and pull factors.   

BILATERAL MARITIME EXERCISE BETWEEN JAPAN AND INDIA (JIMEX 18)

Context

Bilateral maritime exercise JIMEX-18 between India and Japan was held in Visakhapatnam.  

About

• The nine-day event is aimed at enhancing inter-operability, improving understanding and imbibing the best practices of each other.
• From Japanese side, Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) with Ships Kaga, an Izumo Class Helicopter Destroyer and Inazuma – a Guided Missile Destroyer is taking part.
• The IN was represented by three indigenously designed and built warships and a Fleet Tanker.
• JIMEX-18 comprised of harbour phase and sea phase.
  • The Harbour Phase of the exercise will include professional and social interactions between ship’s crews, sports fixtures and operational planning for the Sea Phase.
  • The Sea Phase would include Anti-Submarine Warfare Exercises, VBSS (Visit, Board, Search and Seizure) Drills, Gun Firings, Cross Deck Helo Operations and coordinated operations in Anti-Submarine/ Anti-Air threat scenarios.
• The last edition of JIMEX was conducted in Dec 2013 off Chennai.
• Indo-Japanese Navies also participated in the recently concluded MALABAR 18 in the Pacific Ocean and biennial multilateral exercise RIMPAC-18 off Hawaii, USA.
• In addition, the ships of the two navies have been working in close coordination in Anti-Piracy Operations in the Gulf of Aden for the past few years.

Significance

The conduct of JIMEX-18 after five years is indicative of an upswing in the Indo-Japanese defense relations and the continued efforts of both Governments to work closely to enhance safety and security of the global commons in keeping with ‘rule based order’.