Relevance in - Prelims (about World Economic Forum's Davos Dialogue + about Industry 4.0) + Mains (GS III. Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate. )
What's the NEWS

• The Prime Minister, addressed the World Economic Forum's Davos Dialogue
• He spoke on the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution - using technology for the good of humanity'. Prime Minister also interacted with the CEOs during the event.

• India's ambition of self-reliance will strengthen globalism anew and will help in Industry 4.0
• India is working on all the four factors of Industry 4.0- connectivity, automation, artificial intelligence or machine learning and real-time data.
• India is among the countries where data charges are the cheapest and mobile connectivity and smart phones have reached far and wide.
• India's automation design expert pool is vast and the country has made a mark in the field of AI and machine learning.

• The 51^st World Economic Forum Annual Meeting will be held on the theme "The Great Reset" representing a commitment to jointly and urgently build the foundations of the global economic and social system for a more fair, sustainable and resilient future.
• The Meeting will be organized in a "twin" format, being both in-person and virtual, connecting key global governmental and business leaders in Davos with a global multi-stakeholder network in 400 cities around the world for a forward-oriented dialogue driven by the younger generation.

• The World Economic Forum (WEF), is an international NGO established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
• The WEF's mission is stated as "committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas".
• It is independent, impartial and not tied to any special interests.
• The WEF hosts an annual meeting at the end of January in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland.
• The meeting brings together some 3,000 business leaders, international political leaders, economists, celebrities and journalists for up to five days to discuss global issues, across 500 sessions.
• The organization also convenes some six to eight regional meetings each year in locations across Africa, East Asia, Latin America, and India and holds two further annual meetings in China and the United Arab Emirates.
• Beside meetings, the organization provides a platform for leaders from all stakeholder groups from around the world - business, government and civil society - to collaborate on multiple projects and initiatives.
• It also produces a series of reports and engages its members in sector-specific initiatives.

• The Global Competitiveness Report
• The Global Information Technology Report
• The Global Gender Gap Report
• The Global Risks Report
• The Global Travel and Tourism Report
• The Financial Development Report
• The Global Enabling Trade Report
• The Risk Response Network
• Nature Risk Rising
• In the year 2020, the forum published a report named: "Nature Risk Rising".
• In this report the forum estimated that approximately half of the global GDP is dependent highly or moderately on nature and 1 dollar spent on nature restoration yields 9 dollars in profit.

• Industry 4.0 is the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies.
• It includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things and cloud computing.
• Industry 4.0 creates what has been called a "smart factory".

Relevance in - Prelims (about Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) + Mains (GS II Health -initiatives taken by the government)
What's the NEWS

• January 30, 2021 will mark the second annual World Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Day, highlighting the global community's commitment to ending Neglected Tropical Diseases that cause immeasurable suffering among the world's most marginalized communities.
• India joins the world to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases. On this day the Qutub Minar will be lit up along with other landmarks across the world.
• On World NTD Day, on 30th January 2021, more than 50 landmarks representing 25 nations across the world will be lit up to celebrate how far we have come together in beating NTDs.
• India too will proudly join these countries, by illuminating UNESCO world heritage site Qutub Minar.
• 1 in 5 people around the world are affected by NTDs. India is home to the world's largest absolute burden of at least 11 of these major neglected tropical diseases.
• These diseases debilitate, disfigure, and can even be fatal to those affected.

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)

• NTDs are a diverse group of tropical infections which are common in low-income populations in developing regions of Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
• They are caused by a variety of pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, protozoa and parasitic worms (helminths).
• These diseases are contrasted with the big three infectious diseases (HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria), which generally receive greater treatment and research funding.
• In sub-Saharan Africa, the effect of these diseases as a group is comparable to malaria and tuberculosis.
• NTD co-infection can also make HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis more deadly.

Environment
National Marine Turtle Action Plan launched.

Relevance in - Prelims (about the Guidelines and Action Plan + about Marine turtle) + Mains (GS III Environment conservation)
What's the NEWS

• The Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has released ‘Marine Mega Fauna Stranding Guidelines' and ‘National Marine Turtle Action Plan'

Know! the objective of these two documents (highlights)

• Marine habitats in India, marine mega fauna species and marine turtles face a wide variety of challenges including stranding and entanglement.
• Managing such challenging situations requires coordination, action and people's participation which would help in the long-term conservation of marine species and their habitats.
• The documents contains ways and means to not only promote inter-sectoral action for conservation but also guide improved coordination amongst the government, civil society and all relevant stakeholders on the response to cases of stranding, entanglement, injury or mortality of marine mammals and also conservation of marine turtles.
• These two documents highlight actions to be taken for handling stranded animals on shore, stranded or entangled animals in the sea or on a boat, management actions for improved coordination, reducing threats to marine species and their habitats, rehabilitation of degraded habitats, enhancing people's participation, advance scientific research and exchange of information on marine mammals and marine turtles and their habitats.

Know! about marine turtles

• Five species of sea turtles are known to inhabit Indian coastal waters and islands.
• These are the Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea), Green (Chelonia mydas), Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), Loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and the Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) turtles.
• Except the Loggerhead, the remaining four species nest along the Indian coast.
• Threats to marine turtles in India are many, and varied. Some of the major threats include unplanned beach development (including ports, lighting, tourism and plantations), by-catch mortality (in trawl nets and gill nets), weak enforcement of fisheries and Protected Area regulations and, to a limited extent, killing of turtles for meat and the poaching of eggs.
• The coastal state of Odisha on the eastern coast of India experiences one of the world's largest mass nestings or arribada of the Olive Ridley turtle during the months of October to April.
• Three of the world's major mass nesting beaches for this species are located in Odisha, supporting a nesting population of probably more than half a million Olive Ridleys, making this one of the most critical conservation areas for this species globally.

Environment
2021: Year of Indo-French alliance towards a Greener Planet

Relevance in - Prelims (about the Indo-French Year of the Environment ) + Mains (GS III Environment conservation + GS II bilateral relations)
What's the NEWS

• Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the French Minister for Ecological Transition launched the Indo-French Year of the Environment
• The basic objective is to strengthen Indo-French cooperation in sustainable development, increase the effectiveness of actions in favor of global environment protection and give them greater visibility.

Know! about the Indo-French Year of the Environment

• The Indo-French Year of the Environment over the period 2021-2022 would be based on five main themes: environmental protection, climate change, biodiversity conservation, sustainable urban development, and the development of renewable energies and energy efficiency.
• It is also a platform for engaging in discussions on critical areas of collaboration relating to environment and allied areas.
• From the French side, it will be held under the aegis of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs with the support of the Embassy of France in Delhi and its partners.
• From the Indian side, it will be coordinated by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) along with the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and other concerned Ministries/Departments/Organisations.
• A joint screening committee will also be set up to finalise the calendar of the events for the Indo-French Year of the Environment.

India's achievement

• India has made significant progress towards climate change action & has already achieved 26% of reduction of emission intensity.
• As of 2020 the renewable capacity in India stands at 90 GW which includes 36 GW of solar energy & 38 GW of wind energy.

Miscellaneous
NCAVES India Forum 2021

Relevance in - Prelims (about Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services NCAVES + about SEEA + Mains (GS III Environment conservation) + GS II government policies and interventions + governance
What's the NEWS

• The NCAVES India Forum 2021, organised by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) in a virtual format, with live sessions on January 14, 21 and 28, 2021,concluded on the January 28, 2021.
• The event covered a wide range of topics pertaining to the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA).
• There was a general consensus that the SEEA framework can be used effectively to enable decisions that can ensure sustainability.
• The efforts made by MoSPI to implement the SEEA using a modular approach were complimented by all dignitaries.
• The Forum witnessed the policy makers urging the statistical community to give greater impetus to the work of environmental accounting, since it could help make informed economic decisions.

Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (NCAVES)

• The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Government of India, has taken up several initiatives under the domain of "Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (NCAVES)", which can help integrate the concerns of sustainability and conserving the environment for future use while charting the course for economic development.
• Since the work related to environment accounting in India is still in its early stages, primarily because of the large number of subjects to be covered under this domain, Services M0SPI would need a collaborative effort involving various stakeholders, including Line Ministries, state governments, multilateral organizations and research institutions for compiling a complete suite of accounts.With a view to facilitate this collaboration and highlight the uses to which natural capital accounts can be put, especially in the areas of decision making and policy analysis, the ministry is conducting the NCAVES India Forum (in a virtual format), as a series of three sessions in January 2021 to be held on January 14, 21 and 28, 2021.
• The NCAVES India Forum will be organized in collaboration with United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), European Union and UN Environment.

The objectives of the National Forum would be:

• To present India's achievements in the domain of Natural Capital Accounting (NCA);
• To prioritize the emerging opportunities for NCA in India;
• To familiarize stakeholders with the work undertaken by the different international agencies in the area of NCA; and
• To provide a platform to selected Research Institutions to present their research conducted in the valuation of ecosystem services.

System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA)

• The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) is an international statistical standard that uses a systems approach to bring together economic and environmental information to measure the contribution of the environment to the economy and the impact of the economy on the environment.

• The SEEA uses a structure and classifications consistent with the System of National Accounts (SNA) to facilitate the development of indicators and analysis on the economy-environment nexus.
• The SEEA framework follows a similar accounting structure as the System of National Accounts (SNA).
• The framework uses concepts, definitions and classifications consistent with the SNA in order to facilitate the integration of environmental and economic statistics.
• The SEEA is a multi-purpose system that generates a wide range of statistics, accounts and indicators with many different potential analytical applications.
• It is a flexible system that can be adapted to countries' priorities and policy needs while at the same time providing a common framework, concepts, terms and definitions.
• The SEEA is a statistical system that brings together economic and environmental information into a common framework to measure the condition of the environment, the contribution of the environment to the economy and the impact of the economy on the environment.
• The SEEA contains an internationally agreed set of standard concepts, definitions, classifications, accounting rules and tables to produce internationally comparable statistics.
• The SEEA facilitates better informed decision-making. The system of accounts offers a means of monitoring: pressures exerted by the economy on the environment, in terms of abstraction of natural resources and emissions; impacts in terms of changes in environmental condition; and how the economy responds in terms of expenditure on environmental protection and resource management.
• The SEEA does not propose particular indicators, but is instead a holistic multi-purpose information system that can generate a wide range of statistics and indicators with varying potential analytical applications.

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