Contents
- DELHI RECORDS COLDEST TEMPERATURES IN 118 YEARS
- KERALA LEADS RACE FOR UN DEVELOPMENT GOALS
- OVERALL GREEN COVER RISES, BUT NORTHEAST RECORDS A DIP
DELHI RECORDS COLDEST TEMPERATURES IN 118 YEARS
Why in News?
- With a maximum temperature of 9.4 degrees Celsius, Delhi recorded its coldest day temperature on Monday, according to data available with the Meteorological Department since 1901.
- The minimum temperature was 2.6 degrees Celsius, four degrees below normal.
KERALA LEADS RACE FOR UN DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Why in News?
- Kerala tops the States in progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), while Bihar is at the bottom of the NITI Aayog’s SDG Index, released in December 2019.
More about SDG
- The SDGs are a set of 17 broad based global goals and 232 indicators adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, and intended to be achieved by 2030.
- With one sixth of the world’s population, India is key to the achievement of the goals.
OVERALL GREEN COVER RISES, BUT NORTHEAST RECORDS A DIP
Why in News?
- The forest cover in the country increased by 3,976 square kilometers (sq km) but with the sharpest declines in the northeastern States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Mizoram.
More about the report
- Tree cover, defined as patches of trees less than 1 hectare and occurring outside the recorded forest area, grew by 1,212 sqkm.
- Tree and forest cover together made up 25.56% of India’s area.
- In the last assessment it was 24.39%
More about ISFR
- The ISFR, a biennial exercise, assesses the forest and tree cover, bamboo resources, carbon stock and forest fires. The top three States showing an increase in forest cover are Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.
