23.03.17 Daily Current Affairs

Members of Multilateral Forums

• Members of SAARC: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka
• Members of ASEAN: Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore.
• Members of BIMSTEC: India, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
• Common between SAARC and BIMSTEC: India, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka
• Common between ASEAN AND BIMSTEC: Myanmar and Thailand

Grand Challenge India

• The Grand Challenges India (GCI) is a mission-directed research initiative, collaboratively launched in 2012 under the umbrella of Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of BioTechnology and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
• As India transitions from Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals, the GCI partnership has ushered a new wave of innovative solutions to help address issues that are inextricably linked to social impact.
• It is working towards funding innovative solutions to societal problems not only within India but also has a reference to the developing nations.
• The GCI covers all kinds of health and developmental priorities, ranging from maternal and child health, infectious diseases, vaccines, point-of-care diagnostics, agriculture, food and nutrition to other related arenas of developing nations as per individual requirements.
• The first GCI meeting is being held this year.

Dev Raj Sikka

• Dev Raj Sikka, former director of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, who first proposed a link between the El Nino phenomenon and the Indian monsoon, died recently.
• Sikka, who began his career at the India Meteorological Department, was also credited with being among the pioneers of developing weather models and computer-modelling techniques to forecast the monsoon.
• Also known as Monsoon Man in some circles.

International Solar Alliance

• The ISA was launched as a coalition of solar resource-rich countries on the first day of the Paris Climate Conference or CoP21 (2015).
• It is a coalition of solar resource-rich countries lying fully or partially between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn to specifically address energy needs by tapping solar energy from the sun.
• ISA has been envisioned as a dedicated platform which will contribute towards the common goal of increasing utilization and promotion of solar energy and solar applications in its prospective member countries to help the world transition to a low-carbon and greener society.
• A Declaration was unveiled on the occasion to launch the International Solar Alliance of countries dedicated to the promotion of solar energy in Paris on 30 November, 2015. The Paris Declaration on ISA states that the countries share the collective ambition to undertake innovative and concerted efforts for reducing the cost of finance and cost of technology for immediate deployment of competitive solar generation and formulate financial instruments to effectively mobilize more than US$1000 billion dollars in investments that will be required by 2030 for the massive deployment of affordable solar energy and to pave the way for future solar generation, storage and good technologies for each prospective member countries’ individual needs.
• India has offered to meet ISA Secretariat expenses for initial five years, and has also made a contribution of Rs.175 Crore for creating ISA Corpus fund. In addition, Government of India (GOI) has offered training support for prospective ISA member countries at the National Institute of Solar Energy and also support to prospective ISA member countries for demonstration projects for solar home lighting, solar pumps for farmers and for other solar applications. The GOI has dedicated 5 acres of land in the National Institute of Solar Energy campus for the construction ISA Headquarters.

About NISE:

National Institute of Solar Energy, an autonomous institution of Ministry of New and Renewable (MNRE), is the apex National R&D institution in the field Solar Energy. The Government of India has converted 25 year old Solar Energy Centre (SEC) under MNRE to an autonomous institution in September, 2013 to assist the Ministry in implementing the National Solar Mission and to coordinate research, technology and other related works. HQ: Gurgaon, Haryana

International Day of Forests

• The United Nations celebrates the International Day of Forests annually on the 21st of March.
• Forests provide clean air, water and energy. Sustainably managed forests can provide renewable and carbon neutral energy for a greener future. Greater investment in technological innovation and in sustainably managed forests is the key to increasing forests’ role as a major source of renewable energy.
• Wood provides the world with more energy than solar, hydroelectric or wind power, accounting for roughly 45 percent (27 in Africa, 13 in Latin America and the Caribbean and 5 in Asia-Oceania) of current global renewable energy supply.
• Strategically placed trees in urban areas can cool the air by between 2 to 8 degrees Centigrade.

“Circular Economy”

• “A circular economy is one in which economic development and environmental sustainability are interdependent, with a strong emphasis on minimising pollution, while maximising reuse and recycling.”
• A circular economy is an industrial system in which the potential use of goods and materials is optimized and their elements returned to the system at the end of their viable life cycles.
• The philosophy is based on a holistic perspective of processes and technologies that goes beyond the focus of delivery, inventory and traditional views of cost. The underlying principle is that responsible products and practices are not only good for the environment, but are also important for long-term profitability.
• The circular economy is in direct opposition to consumerist culture, which is considered a linear structure that is sometimes expressed as take, make, dispose. Waste is an integral element of consumerism because its emphasis is on promoting the purchase of new goods — which often translates to disposing of older but still viable products.

United Nations’ Water Development Programme’s World Water Development Report (WWDR)

• 2017 Title: Wastewater: The Untapped Resource
• Report notes that more than 80% of the world’s wastewater — over 95% in some least developed countries — is released into the environment untreated.
• The WWDR estimates that for every $1 spent on sanitation, society benefits by an estimated $5.5, and notes that “neglecting the opportunities arising from improved wastewater management is nothing less than unthinkable in the context of a circular economy”.
• Last year, for example, the World Economic Forum warned that the water crisis would be the greatest global risk faced by people and economies over the next 10 years.