PIB 20th December

Content

1. EChO NETWORK
2. OUTCOME OF COP-25
3. HAND-IN-HAND 2019
4. ARTECH SEMINAR
5. ASSOCHAM

EChO NETWORK

Why in News?

• EChO Network is a national program to provide a template for cross-disciplinary leadership in India with the specific focus of increasing research, knowledge, and awareness of Indian ecology and the environment
• This is the first such network in the world

• It was launched in December, 2019 by the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Govt.

Objectives

• The EChO Network aims to identify gaps in knowledge regarding selected topics in human and environmental ecosystems through interactive sessions with citizens, industry, academia, and the government.
• The program will then train postdoctoral leaders in research and outreach on these topics
• It will incorporate current public and private efforts into a national network.
• It would then establish nation-wide awareness in these issues through public  discourse and education for citizens, industry, and government with information exchange at all educational levels.
• EChO Network intends to create an international distributed institute comprising individuals housed within industry, government, private, and academic sectors, combining their expertise and resources collectively to tackle large scale problems.

OUTCOME OF COP-25

• COP-25 was the longest climate talks in the history of United Nations.
• The climate summit ended without crucial agreement on carbon market rules of the Paris Agreement.

MoEFCC statement

• India considers the outcome of COP 25 a balanced outcome – except ‘climate finance issues’
• Concerns of all Parties, especially those of the developing countries are addressed.
• Necessary building blocks for successful implementation of the UNFCCC and its Paris Agreement are provided.

Prelims Bit :

• Even though the summit was held in Spain, the summit was held under the Presidency of Government of Chile with logistical support from  Government of Spain.
• The next summit to be held at Glasgow in 2020.

Details:

Article 6 of Paris Agreement and Carbon Market

• One of the key issues that was aimed to get resolved at the summit was the regulation of carbon market.
• Putting a price on every tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by industry and  transport or saved from being emitted by being more efficient or locking away carbon by growing trees provides a cash incentive to curb carbon pollution.

• The summit also failed to reach an agreement on the implementation of Article 6 of Paris Agreement.
• The article 6 aims at promoting approaches to implement the NDC (Nationally Determined Contributions) through voluntary international cooperation.
• It also establishes a trading system where in the countries with low emission are allowed to sell their exceeding allowance to countries with larger emissions.
• Only 80 countries have so far submitted proposals to enhance their NDCs. These countries are primarily small and developing  representing only 10.5% of the world population.

Emission Gap Report

• The United Nations Environment Programme released its Emission Gap Report.
• This report assesses the gap between measures being done and measures to be done to tackle climate change.
• The report says that the global temperature will increase by 3.2 degrees by 2100 as compared to pre-industrial levels.
• The top four emitters of the world are China, USA, European Union and India contributed to 55% of total emissions in the last decade.

Global Carbon Project

• The Global Carbon Project was also tabled at the summit.
• The Global Carbon Project (GCP) was established in 2001
• It to quantify global carbon emissions and their causes.
• The GCP brings together emission experts and economists to tackle the problem of rising concentrations of greenhouse gases.
• The projects of GCP include global budgets for three dominant greenhouse gases namely carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide and complementary efforts in urban, regional, cumulative, and negative emissions

Climate Ambition Alliance

• The Presidency of the summit launched the Climate Ambition Alliance.
• The CAA will focus on Nationally Determined Contributions in order to achieve Net Zero by 2050.
• Around 73 countries have joined the Climate Ambition Alliance (CAA) at the COP25.
• The alliance is led by Chile and was launched at the Climate Action Summit, New York in 2019. 

Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) for Loss and Damage

• The summit recognizes the urgency of scaling-up of action and support under the review of WIM for loss and damage, associated with Climate Change Impacts.
• Objective of WIM is to address the loss and damage associated with the impacts of the climate change, including the extreme events such as hurricanes, heat waves etc., and slow onset events such as desertification, ocean acidification etc. 
• This mechanism existed prior to the Paris Agreement, and according to the Paris Agreement – this mechanism would continue.

India’s Second Biennial Update Report (BUR)

• India made a presentation on its second BUR (submitted to UNFCCC in December 2018) under the Facilitative Sharing of Views (FSV) process.
• The key highlight is the achievement of 21% reduction in emission intensity of its Gross Domestic Product over the period of 2005-2014.

HAND-IN-HAND 2019 

Why in News?

The eighth edition of India-China joint training exercise  Hand-in-Hand 2019 culminated on 20 December 2019 at Joint Training Node, Umroi, Meghalaya.

This exercise is a practice of joint drills of counter terrorism operations in a semi urban terrain under United Nation mandate.

Two tactical exercises scheduled during training are on counter terrorism scenario and Humanitarian and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations.

Background

• Joint Military Exercise Hand-in-Hand was 1st started in 2007 in Kunming (in China)

• After Chinese troops came to Belgaum in Karnataka for 2nd edition of exercise, it was halted.
• The exercised was resumed only 5 years later in 2013 when India and China suspended their military ties because of a staple visa row.

• Once again after the 73-day stand-off between two military forces in Sikkim’s Doklam area where troops from both sides (People’s Liberation Army [PLA] soldiers and Indian Soldiers) came face to face in 2016, there was a discontinuity.

• This situation eased in 2018 and troops from both sides interacted once again in China.

• Despite recent incident in Ladakh’s Demchok region where a Chinese group objected to locals celebrating birthday of Dalai Lama’s, the 2019 drill is still on track. This situation was diffused in flag meeting as is the practice.

ARTECH SEMINAR

Why in News?

• The fifth edition of ARTECH is being organised by Indian Army on ‘Technologies for Non-Contact Warfare’ which will be organised on 23 December 2019 at Manekshaw Centre, Delhi Cantonment.

Details:

• ARTECH Seminar was launched in 2016 as part of overall vision of ‘Make in India’
• It is conducted every year as part of events leading to Army Day celebrations.
• It provides an opportunity to practitioners of military operations, policy makers in Ministry of Defence, industry and academia to put forth their contemporary Defence related capabilities.
• It is also a forum for innovators in uniform to showcase their products and offer these to industry to refine & productionise.

ASSOCHAM

Why in News?

The inaugural session of 100 years of ASSOCHAM was conducted in New Delhi on 20th December.

Background

• The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) is the apex trade association of India.
• The goal of the organization is to promote domestic and international trade.
• It is one of the oldest organizations in the country that was established in 1921.
• The organization is located in Kolkata, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad.
• The GoI authorizes and has given the power for ASSOCHAM to issue certificates of origin, recommend business visa and certify commercial invoices.