CONTENTS
- Ideas4LiFE Portal
- India and US Sign Historic Cultural Property Agreement
Ideas4LiFE Portal
Context:
Recently, the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched Ideas4LiFE at IIT Delhi.
Relevance:
GS III: Environment and Ecology
Dimensions of the Article:
- Ideas4LiFE Portal
- About Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment)
Ideas4LiFE Portal
- Purpose and Launch
- The Ideas4LiFE portal was created to gather ideas that promote environmentally friendly behaviors and products.
- The initiative is designed to inspire and engage students, faculty, and researchers to contribute their creative solutions to the global Mission LiFE effort.
- This portal offers a valuable chance for creative individuals to take part in a worldwide movement focused on environmental sustainability.
- Encouragement and Participation
- The goal is to motivate and encourage innovative thinking among participants, fostering contributions to environmental sustainability.
About Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment)
- Overview
- Mission LiFE, short for Lifestyle for Environment, is a global movement led by India aimed at encouraging individuals and communities to take actions that benefit the environment.
- It was introduced during the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) held in Glasgow in November 2021.
- The idea promotes an environmentally conscious lifestyle that focuses on ‘mindful and deliberate utilisation’ instead of ‘mindless and wasteful consumption’.
Aim of LiFE:
- The LiFE Movement aims to utilise the power of collective action and nudge individuals across the world to undertake simple climate-friendly actions in their daily lives.
- The LiFE movement, additionally, also seeks to leverage the strength of social networks to influence social norms surrounding climate.
Pro-Planet People:
- The Mission plans to create and nurture a global network of individuals, namely ‘Pro-Planet People’ (P3), who will have a shared commitment to adopt and promote environmentally friendly lifestyles.
- Through the P3 community, the Mission seeks to create an ecosystem that will reinforce and enable environmentally friendly behaviours to be self-sustainable.
- LIFE recognizes that small individual actions can tip the balance in the planet’s favour.
Vision and Mission of LiFE:
Vision of LIFE:
The vision of ‘LIFE’ is to live a lifestyle that is in tune with our planet and does not harm it The people who live such a lifestyle can be called “Pro-Planet people.”
Mission liFE for India:
Mission LiFE borrows from the past, operates in the present and focuses on the future. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle are the concepts woven into our life. The Circular Economy has been an integral part of our culture and lifestyle.
India and US Sign Historic Cultural Property Agreement
Context:
India and the US have signed their first Cultural Property Agreement (CPA) to tackle illegal trafficking of cultural artifacts and facilitate the return of antiquities to their countries of origin.
Relevance:
GS II: International Relations
Cultural Property Agreement
- The agreement adheres to Article 9 of the 1970 UNESCO Convention, which aims to prevent and prohibit the illegal import, export, and transfer of ownership of cultural property.
- The CPA limits the import into the US of specific archaeological and ethnological items dated from 1.7 million years ago to 1947. The US government will issue a detailed list of these restricted items.
- The US will offer to return any forfeited items from the Designated List to India.
- Similar agreements are in place between the US and other countries such as Algeria, Cambodia, China, Egypt, and Italy.
- This agreement emerged from extensive bilateral talks that began during the G20 meetings. Under India’s G20 Presidency, protecting cultural property has been a major focus.
- The Kashi Culture Pathway and the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration (NDLD) of 2023 highlighted the commitment to combat illicit trafficking.
- This agreement represents a significant shift in global development strategies, emphasizing culture as a key goal in the post-2030 development framework.
