Goaltide Daily Current Affairs 2022

Dec 14, 2022

Current Affair 1:
Government Data roundup

 

Report 1: Monthly Data on India’s International Trade in Services for the Month of October 2022

The Reserve Bank of India releases monthly data on India’s international trade in services.

According to RBI, India’s services imports in October 2022 were worth USD 13,493 Million and the exports were worth USD 25,375 Million. Compared to October 2021, the imports have increased by 15.9% and the exports have gone up by 24.6% in October 2022.

Report 2: Smuggling in India report 2021-22

The 2021-22 ‘Smuggling in India Report’ highlights the trends, areas of concern, and the challenges involved in securing the country’s economic frontiers.

Key Findings:

According to the report, the quantum of smuggling had gone up during the period in which the economic activities were gradually unlocked post-COVID-19 related lockdowns.

Some statistics provided in the report are given below:

 

Current Affair 2:
Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT)

 

Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission will provide a trove of data on Earth’s water resources, even in remote locations.

SWOT is being jointly developed by NASA with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and United Kingdom Space Agency.

More than this not required.

Current Affair 3:
Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)

 

The 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) December 19, 2022.

Current Affair 4:
Soil organic carbon (SOC)

 

Soil organic carbon is a measurable component of soil organic matter. Organic matter makes up just 2–10% of most soil's mass and has an important role in the physical, chemical and biological function of agricultural soils.

Organic matter contributes to nutrient retention and turnover, soil structure, moisture retention and availability, degradation of pollutants, and carbon sequestration.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) content is important for climate change mitigation, but it is equally important for farmers and biodiversity.  Increasing soil carbon has the effect of drawing down carbon from the atmosphere, while simultaneously improving soil structure and soil health, soil fertility and crop yields, water retention and aquifer recharge. A soil must have at least 5% organic matter to be considered healthy.

In recent years, “carbon farming” has gained traction. It is the process of changing agricultural practices or land use to sequester carbon in soil and litter, as well as emission avoidance through better land management.

Also see Soil Organic Matter (SOM)

What is soil organic matter?

SOM is composed mainly of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, and has small amounts of other elements, such as nitrogen, phosphorous, sulfur, potassium, calcium and magnesium contained in organic residues. It is divided into ‘living’ and ‘dead’ components and can range from very recent inputs, such as stubble, to largely decayed materials that are thousands of years old. About 10% of below-ground SOM, such as roots, fauna and microorganisms, is ‘living’ (Figure 1).

SOM exists as 4 distinct fractions which vary widely in size, turnover time and composition in the soil:

  • dissolved organic matter
  • particulate organic matter
  • humus
  • resistant organic matter.

 

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