Daily Current Capsules
07 March 2023

UN High Seas Treaty

 

What's the NEWS

 

• After almost two decades of negotiations, members of the United Nations have finally reached a consensus to legally protect and save the international waters of high seas and the marine life it contains. The development, following a mammoth final round of discussion lasting 38 hours, concluded the talks that began in 2004. The discussion had been underway for around a period of two weeks in New York.

 

What Are High Seas?

 

• Around two-thirds of the world's oceans are currently considered international waters, which means that all countries have a right to fish, ship and research here.
• It amounts to around 60 per cent of the world's oceans, but only about 1 percent of it has been protected.
• Now, with easy approachability and the least legal protection, the waters of high seas have been subjected to immense exploitation due to overfishing, pollution, mineral mining and much more.
• This ultimately affects the vast majority of marine life making them vulnerable at a time when climate change in itself is causing so much damage to the environment as a whole.

 

Know! about the High Seas Treaty

 

• The agreement of the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) is what is being called the High Seas Treaty.
• It is essentially a pact to save the treasures of waters and the precious life it sustains inside it.
• The agreement envisages placing 30 per cent of the world's international waters into protected areas (MPAs) by 2030.
• According to the United Nations, the treaty is a "legal framework that would place 30 percent of the world's oceans into protected areas, put more money into marine conservation, and cover access to and use of marine genetic resources".
• Since the high seas concern a large number of member nations, the resolution remained difficult for decades.
• The treaty is also a crucial step towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and a ‘30x30' pledge to protect a third of the world's biodiversity - on land and sea - by 2030.
• The newly established treaty will permit the establishment of marine protected areas within the international waters.
• This will build resilience from climate change, protect marine life, and will also oblige countries to conduct environmental impact assessments of proposed activities on the high seas.

 

 

Raisina Security Dialogue

 

What's the NEWS

 

• India held the second conference (It was held for the first time in April 2022) of intelligence and security chiefs and top officials from around the world, called the Raisina Security Dialogue, on March 1 which saw participation from over 26 countries
• The focus of the discussions was largely on global security which encompassed counterterrorism, radicalisation, drug trafficking, and illegal arms smuggling, among others

 

Know! about Raisina Security Dialogue

 

• It is modelled on the lines of the Munich Security Conference and Singapore's Shangri-La Dialogue.
• It is organized by the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS).

 

Know! about Munich Security Conference

 

• It is an annual conference on international security policy that has been held in Munich, Bavaria, Germany since 1963.
• It has become the most important independent forum for the exchange of views by international security policy decision-makers.
• The list of attendees includes heads of state, governments and international organizations, ministers, members of parliament, high-ranking representatives of armed forces, science, and civil society, as well as business and media.
• The conference is held annually in February.

 

Know! about Shangri-La Dialogue

 

• It is Asia's premier defense and security summit.
• It is attended by Defence Ministers, permanent heads of ministries and military chiefs of 28 Asia-Pacific countries.
• It is organized by an independent think-thank, International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
• The summit is named after the Shangri-La hotel in Singapore, where it has been held since 2002.

 

 

Swachh Sujal Shakti Samman 2023

  

 

What's the NEWS

 

• To celebrate women leadership in achieving Swachh and Sujal Gaon under Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen), Jal Jeevan Mission, and National Water Mission/other National water conservation efforts, ‘Swachh Sujal Shakti Samman' is being organised on the 4th March, 2023
• ‘Swachh Sujal Shakti Samman' highlight and acknowledge the leadership and contribution of women at the grass-root level in the journey towards making of a ‘Swachh Sujal Bharat'.
• On this occasion, The Hon'ble President of India felicitates the women achievers who have contributed exceptionally in ODF Plus Model Villages, Har Ghar Jal Villages, Water Conservation, etc. under the National Flagship Missions.
• This year's event was organized by the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti to honour the women champions of the rural water and sanitation sector.

 

Know! about Catch the Rain campaign

 

• Catch the Rain is a Jan Andolan campaign to encourage all stakeholders to create rainwater harvesting structures (RWHS).
• Tag line: Catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls.
• The campaign is implemented by the National Water Mission (NWM), Ministry of Jal Shakti.
• The campaign takes place across the country, in both rural and urban areas.

 

SWAMIH investment fund

 

What's the NEWS

 

• The Special Window for Affordable and Mid-Income Housing (SWAMIH) Investment Fund I has raised Rs 15,530 crore so far to provide priority debt financing for the completion of stressed, brownfield and Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA)-registered residential projects that fall in the affordable, mid-income housing category.

 

Know! about SWAMIH

 

• The Special Window for Affordable and Mid-Income Housing (SWAMIH) Investment Fund I is India's largest social impact fund specifically formed for completing stressed and stalled residential projects.
• The Fund is sponsored by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, and is managed by SBICAP Ventures Ltd., a State Bank Group company.
• The Fund has no precedent or comparable peer fund in India or the global markets.
• It is a Category-II AIF (Alternate Investment Fund) debt fund registered with SEBI
• Since the Fund considers first-time developers, established developers with troubled projects, developers with a poor track record of stalled projects, customer complaints & NPA accounts, and even projects where there are litigation issues, it is considered as the lender of last resort for distressed projects.

 

Know! about Alternate Investment Fund

 

• Alternative Investment Fund or AIF means any fund established or incorporated in India which is a privately pooled investment vehicle which collects funds from sophisticated investors, whether Indian or foreign, for investing it in accordance with a defined investment policy for the benefit of its investors.

 

Great Seahorse

 

 

What's the NEWS

 

• According to new study, the Hippocampus kelloggi, one of 12 species of fish with a horse-like head found in the Indo-Pacific region, could be migrating toward coastal Odisha due to fishing pressures.
• The study was based on a specimen of a juvenile great seahorse, or Hippocampus kelloggi, caught in a ring net and collected from the Ariyapalli fish landing centre in Odisha's Ganjam district.

 

Know! about Great Seahorse

Conservation status

 

1. IUCN: Vulnerable
2. CITES: Appendix II

 

 

• Great seahorses can be found in relatively deep waters.
• These are ovoviviparous and the males give birth to live young.
• They also have some traits, such as small body size, fast growth and high fecundity, that may confer resilience to high levels of exploitation
• There are 46 known species of seahorses worldwide. India's coastal ecosystems are home to nine of the twelve species found in the Indo-Pacific, which is a hotspot for seahorse populations.
• They are distributed across diverse ecosystems such as seagrass, mangroves, macroalgal beds, and coral reefs.
• These nine species are distributed along the coasts of eight States and five Union Territories from Gujarat to Odisha, apart from Lakshadweep and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• They are poor swimmers but migrate to new habitats by rafting (clinging to floating substrata such as macroalgae or plastic debris for dispersal by ocean currents) to ensure the survival of their population.

 

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