Contents
- NCAVES India Forum 2021
- India and UAE: Scientific and Technical Cooperation
NCAVES INDIA FORUM 2021
Context:
Three live sessions of NCAVES India Forum 2021 are scheduled to be held in January 2021, organised by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
Relevance:
Prelims, GS-II: International Relations
Dimensions of the Article:
- About the “Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services” (NCAVES) Forum
- Objectives of the NCAVES Forum
About the “Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services” (NCAVES) Forum
- In 2017, the European Union initiated a project, “Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services” (NCAVES) in 2017 to help nations advance the knowledge on environmental-economic accounting, in particular ecosystem accounting, that can help in ensuring sustainable economic growth.
- The NCAVES Project is being implemented in five countries – India, Brazil, China, Mexico and South Africa – by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Secretariat of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD).
- It aims to assist the five participating partner countries, to advance the knowledge agenda on environmental-economic accounting, in particular ecosystem accounting.
- The project is funded by the European Union through its Partnership Instrument (PI).
- In India, the NCAVES project is being implemented by the MoSPI in close collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC).
- The Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation has taken up several initiatives under the NCAVES Project during the past three years.
- With a view to disseminate the activities taken up by the Ministry under the Project and to 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 NCAVES India Forum (in a virtual format), in collaboration with United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), European Union and UN Environment.
Objectives of the NCAVES Forum
- 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.
INDIA AND UAE: SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL COOPERATION
Context:
The Union Cabinet has given its approval to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Scientific and Technical Cooperation between National Centre of Meteorology (NCM), United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) India.
Relevance:
GS-II: International Relations
Dimensions of the Article:
- Highlights of the India-UAE Scientific and Technical Cooperation
- Significance of the Collaboration between India and UAE in matters of Weather Forecasting Technology
- India-United Arab Emirates (UAE) relations
Highlights of the India-UAE Scientific and Technical Cooperation
The MoU provides for sharing of knowledge, data and operational products for meteorological, seismological and oceanic services, such as Radar, Satellite, Tide gauges, seismic and Meteorological stations.
The MoU was signed regarding:
- Exchange of experience/visits in term of scientists, research scholars and specialists, etc. for the purpose of research, training, consultation, focused on climatic information services, satellite data utilization for now casting and tropical cyclones forecasting.
- Exchange of scientific and technical information related to common interest activities.
- Deployment of Meteorological observation networks on mutual agreement over Ocean waters.
- Cooperation in the development of special capacities of Tsunami models researches for faster and more reliable forecasts of Tsunamis
- Cooperation to support the Tsunami Early Warning Centre (TEWC)
- Sharing the real-time seismic data of some of Seismic stations situated in south and west of India and North of the UAE
Significance of the Collaboration between India and UAE in matters of Weather Forecasting Technology
- Weather services make critical contributions in enhancing efficiency of weather dependent sectors of economy; and in managing risk in weather-dependent economic sectors such as agriculture, transport, water etc. which underpin the economic growth in the region.
- Resilience can be strengthened through regional and global cooperation as countries invest in early warning systems and modernize weather and forecasting services.
- Due to evolutionary nature of weather, regional collaboration can help improve understanding of changing weather patterns, devise effective response strategies, lower investment costs, and foster regionally relevant technological innovation and address challenges related to modernization and sustainability of weather services.
- Collaborative participation within MoES (India) and NCM-UAE in terms of activities related to multi-hazard early warning system and climate resilience can significantly contribute to economic growth in the region.
India-United Arab Emirates (UAE) relations
- Since 3000 B.C, relations between India and the seven emirates which now make up the United Arab Emirates were traditionally close. People-to-people contacts and barter trade for clothes and spices from India in exchange for dates and pearls from the region have existed for centuries.
- There are over a million Indians in the United Arab Emirates, being by far the largest migrant group in the country.
- Indians also make up the largest ethnic group in the UAE making up roughly more than 25% of the total UAE’s residents. These economic migrants over the years have also made a significant economic contribution to India in the form of remittances worth billions of dollars.
- Recently, UAE backed the decision of the Indian government to pursue passage of the 2019 Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill.
