QUIZ – 2020: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 27 June 2020

Solution: b)

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, formerly known as the Millennium Dam is a gravity dam on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia that has been under construction since 2011.

The dam will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa when completed.

Solution: c)

India, with the help of Bangladesh and Nepal, engaged in a tough battle at the forum for international trade for endangered species to de-list ‘Dalbergia sisoo’, commonly known as rosewood or sheesham, from the list of threatened varieties in order to protect the livelihood of handicraft manufacturers and farmers in the Sub-continent. It requires two-third member countries of CITES to vote in our favour.

At the COP meeting in Johannesburg in 2016, the entire genus of Dalbergia, including Dalbergia sissoo was placed under Appendix II, following complaints from a number of South American and African countries that a rise in interest in the wood of Dalbergia in international markets, primarily in China was fuelling an illegal trade, which was decimating Dalbergia populations.

Once an item is listed in Appendix II, exporters need to obtain a certificate from CITES or an equivalent certificate from an authorised local body (Vriksh Shipment Certificate issued by EPCH in case of rosewood), which is a time-consuming and intricate process beyond the reach of small-scale artisans and farmers.

Unnecessary trade restrictions on rosewood had affected the future of over 30,000 artisans in India who are directly engaged with manufacturing of rosewood.

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Solution: c)

CITES is an international agreement to which States and regional economic integration organizations adhere voluntarily.

It regulates the international trade of wildlife and wildlife products—everything from live animals and plants to food, leather goods, and trinkets. It came into force in 1975 with the goal of ensuring that international trade does not threaten the survival of wild plants and animals.

There are about 5,800 species of animals and 30,000 species of plants protected by CITES currently. The vast majority of animals that are in the wildlife trade are not protected by CITES.

If a party violates the convention, CITES can respond with sanctions, which prevent a country from trading in CITES-listed species. But countries are rarely sanctioned and the process can become highly politicized. What’s more, because CITES membership is voluntary, a country could simply leave CITES rather than accept sanctions.

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Solution: d)

Announcing a new milestone in the history of marine exploration, an international collaboration of researchers recently said that it had finished mapping nearly one-fifth of the world’s ocean floor.

The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project, which is coordinating efforts to complete the mapping of the entire ocean floor by 2030, said on World Hydrography Day (June 21) that it had added 1.45 crore square kilometres of new bathymetric data to its latest grid.

The knowledge of bathymetry — the measurement of the shape and depth of the ocean floor — is instrumental in understanding several natural phenomena, including ocean circulation, tides, and biological hotspots. It also provides key inputs for navigation, forecasting tsunamis, exploration for oil and gas projects, building offshore wind turbines, fishing resources, and for laying cables and pipelines.

This data becomes highly valuable during disaster situations. According to an expert, thanks to the previously mapped seafloor, scientists in Japan were able to reconstruct the forces behind the destructive 2011 Tohoku earthquake.

As per a Seabed 2030 document, “The need for a bathymetric base map of the southeastern Indian Ocean also became particularly evident in the search for the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared 8 March 2014.”

Importantly, the maps would also ensure a better understanding of climate change, since floor features including canyons and underwater volcanoes influence phenomena such as the vertical mixing of ocean water, and ocean currents — which act as conveyor belts of warm and cold water, thus influencing the weather and climate. Climate change has impacted the flow of these currents, and more knowledge about them would help scientists create models forecasting the future behaviour of the climate, including sea-level rise.

A map of the entire global ocean floor would also help further achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal to conserve and sustainably use oceans, seas and marine resources.

The global initiative is a collaboration between Japan’s non-profit Nippon Foundation and the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO). As per its website, GEBCO is the only intergovernmental organisation with a mandate to map the entire ocean floor.

The Project was launched at the United Nations Ocean Conference in 2017, and coordinates and oversees the sourcing and compilation of bathymetric data from different parts of the world’s ocean through its five centres into the freely-available GEBCO Grid.

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Solution: c)

Loktak Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Northeast India and is famous for the phumdis (heterogeneous mass of vegetation, soil and organic matter at various stages of decomposition) floating over it. The lake is located at Moirang in Manipur.

Located on this phumdi, Keibul Lamjao National Park is the only floating national park in the world. The park is the last natural refuge of the endangered Sangai (state animal), or Manipur brown-antlered deer, one of three subspecies of Eld’s deer.

Considering the ecological status and its biodiversity values, the lake was initially designated as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention on 23 March 1990. It was also listed under the Montreux Record on 16 June 1993, “a record of Ramsar sites where changes in ecological character have occurred, are occurring or are likely to occur”.

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