06 DECEMBER 2023

Topic 1 : GI-tagged agricultural products and climate change

Why in news: GI-tagged agricultural products face challenges due to climate change
 

Key details:

• Four of the agricultural products in the southern part of Tamil Nadu were recently given the Geographical Indication (GI) recognising their uniqueness.
• This identification of the products in the global market through GI tag has made it essential to safeguard and increase the uniqueness and its production respectively from the climatic challenges.  
• The four products are:
  • The Cumbum paneer grapes,
  • Authoor betel leaves,
  • Sholavandhan betel leaves and
  • Kanniyakumari matti banana.
• The farmers fear a possible decline in production due to various factors linked to climate change. 
  • There is fear of off-season rains because when the plant is in the growing stage, it will uproot the whole plant.
    • An unseasonal rain would reduce the quality of the fruit while retaining the appearance of the fruit
  • The Cumbum paneer grape varieties are very sensitive to water and if the soil tends to hold back water, it would rot the plant.  
  • The biggest challenge is to export the fruits to foreign countries while preserving them for the whole time.

Possible solutions:

• Finding solutions to make the crops climate resilient, particularly the GI tagged varieties, is challenging as the solution should not affect the intrinsic characteristics of the plant like odour, colour, and taste among others which the GI had recognised.  
• In addition to this, handling of the soil would also matter as the GI process had recognised and studied the properties of the soil before granting the GI tag. 
• Further studies to inculcate customised techniques suitable to the climate, soil, crop, and region among others are under way which would possibly help handle the climatic situation better.Topic 2 : Wild Okra

Why in news: Odia scientist discovers disease resistant wild okra.

Key details:

• The new plant species of ‘wild okra’ can be used for hybridisation to create a better variety having high disease resistance.
• It can also play a vital role in widening the genetic base of okra.
• For the first time a new plant species of ‘wild okra’ has been discovered anywhere in the country.
• Till now 13 different species of wild okra have been discovered of which two are being harvested for consumption.
• The new species is the 14th variety of the plant species and has been named ‘Abelmoschus Odishae’ after the state from where the type specimens were originally collected.
• The plant species is a perennial shrub up to 5 metre high.
• The species also has a seeds viability of 95 per cent.Topic 3 : World Meteorological Organisation report on extreme climatic events

Why in news: WMO recently released a report on extreme climatic events and its impact.
 

Key highlights of the report:

• Incidence of deaths:
  • The 2011-2020 decade, though warmest ever recorded in history, saw the lowest number of deaths from extreme events.
  • It is attributed to an improvement in the early warning system driven by improvements in forecasting and better disaster management.
  • In India, for instance, improvements in forecasting cyclone formation and the time it took to reach land have led to greater preparedness and evacuation of those most at risk.
• Ozone hole:
  • The report also says that this was the first decade that the depleted ozone hole visibly showed recovery.
• Glaciers:
  • Glaciers that were measured around the world thinned by approximately 1 metre per year on an average between 2011 and 2020.
  • Greenland and Antarctica lost 38% more ice during the period than during the 2001-2010 period.
  • The report also had a mention of the 2021 Uttarakhand rock-avalanche that was triggered from a breach in the Nanda Devi glacier in the Himalayas.
• Heatwaves:
  • The report further underlined that human-caused climate change significantly increased the risks from extreme heat events.
  • Heatwaves were responsible for the highest number of human casualties, while tropical cyclones caused the most economic damage.
• Finance:
  • Public and private climate finance almost doubled during the period.
  • However, it needed to increase at least seven times by the end of this decade to achieve climate objectives, including keeping global temperature from rising by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.About WMO
  • The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations.
  • It is responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics.
  • Evolution:
    • The WMO originated from the International Meteorological Organization, a nongovernmental organization founded in 1873 as a forum for exchanging weather data and research.
  • Members:
    • The WMO is made up of 193 countries.
  • Purpose:
    • It facilitates the free and unrestricted exchange of data, information, and research between the respective meteorological and hydrological institutions of its members.
  • Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Governance:
    • The WMO is governed by the World Meteorological Congress, composed of member states, which meets every four years to set policies and priorities.
  • Publications:
    • The annually published WMO Statement on the status of the World Climate provides details of global, regional and national temperatures and extreme weather events.
    • It also provides information on long-term climate change indicators including atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, sea level rise, and sea ice extent.Topic 4 : The journey towards a plastic-free world

Why in news: The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC), under the United Nations Environment Programme, met in Nairobi for its third round of negotiations to develop an international legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution worldwide.
 

Key details:

• Under the UN Environment Assembly Resolution, the INC is responsible for delivering a global plastics treaty by 2025.
• The INC-3 was a make-or-break opportunity as countries came together to negotiate the ‘zero draft’ text developed by the committee’s secretariat, with various options for core obligations and control measures.

About the ‘zero draft’:

• The zero draft contained strong options for an international legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution.
• Most countries agreed that the treaty’s objective should be to end plastic pollution and protect human health and the environment.
• But a group of like-minded countries argued to include the clause “while contributing to the achievement of sustainable development”, to ensure their economic interests and investments. These countries included:
  • Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Iran, and some members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
• Primary polymers:
  • The most important provision, that is a reduction in the production of primary polymers, also stirred controversy because of its implications for industry.
  • The industry’s influence was apparent by its presence with 36% more fossil fuels and chemicals sector lobbyists at INC-3 than in INC-2 at the negotiations.

Discussion on Finance:

• The zero draft contains options such as:
  • imposing a plastic-pollution fee to be paid by plastic polymer producers, and
  • fee on reducing the financial flow into projects with a high carbon footprint.
• But the same group of like-minded countries demanded that these provisions be deleted altogether from the draft.
• If these provisions are included, they will have considerable implications in particular, countries will have to cut, if not eliminate, fossil-fuel subsidies and investments in environmentally disfavourable technologies such as incineration and waste-to-energy plants.

Are there limits on plastic trade?

• While the plastics treaty is expected to plug the holes left open by the Basel Convention, any restrictions on trade is considered to be impinging on the freedom and sovereignty of nations.
  • The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, usually known as the Basel Convention, is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries.
• The WTO rules provide for sufficient scope for trade restrictions when they are necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health and nothing prohibits states under international law to regulate or restrict the trade of certain products and materials.
• Excluding the provision on waste management, in fact, almost all other provisions were watered down to account for “national circumstances and capabilities”.
• Even under waste management, there is a high risk of these countries insisting on the treaty accommodating unsound solutions.
  • This is because the phrase environmentally sound management isn’t well-defined even as terms such as best available science and best available technology continue to be used.

Issue with the rules of procedure:

• The rules of procedure continued to apply provisionally at INC-3, without any final determination
• The African group of countries and Small-Island Developing States (SIDS) advocated for strong binding provisions for the high-impact elements in the treaty.
• Their submissions stood out from the rest as they championed the voices of waste-pickers and indigenous peoples, and approached the treaty from a human-rights and public health perspective.

Conclusion:

• One of the closed-door meetings that discussed the synthesis report and possible list of topics for intersessional work was unable to reach a consensus until the very end.
• As a result, no intersessional work will happen between now and INC-4.
• INC-3 didn’t adopt the mandate to proceed with developing the first draft.
• As such, INC-3 exposed the considerable influence of industry and revealed the member states that are opposed to a strong binding treaty to end plastic pollution.