Current Affair 1:

SPACES Coalition

 

SPACES is a coalition that understands the central role of spatial intelligence in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals and other international socio-environmental agreements, such as the Paris Agreement and the Post-2020 Global Framework on Biodiversity.

Spatial intelligence is the ability to visualize a space and imagine it from different angles, noting facets and fine details.

SPACES is coordinated by the United Nations Environment Program’s World Conservation Monitoring Center (UNEP-WCMC) and SYSTEMIQ, working in partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), and the International Institute for Sustainability (IIS), among other organizations.

Current Affair 2:

Organ Donations Reported from Across the Country

 

In India, the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994 (THOA) was enacted to provide a standard legal framework relating to organ donation and transplantation as well as to prevent illegal commercial dealings in human organs. This was further reformed and amended, with the enactment of the Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Act 2011. 

Organs donated in 2021 back to pre-pandemic levels after a fall in 2020.

Trends in recent years indicated a gradual increase in the number of organs donated every year.

Increasing proportion of organ donations from living donors

Organs can be donated by either the living donors or from the deceased. Living donors include both related donors and unrelated donors who are emotionally attached to the one receiving the organ. The organs that living donors can donate include – Kidney, a portion of the Liver/lung/pancreas.

In India, trends indicate that the organ donation from the living is higher than from the deceased.

4 states make up more than 50% of the total organ donations:

In its response in Lok Sabha, the government highlighted the various steps taken towards increasing the awareness of organ donation.

Current Affair 3:

Asian Giant Tortoises

 

News:

Ten captive-bred Asian Giant Tortoise (Manouria emys) juveniles were released into Intanki National Park, inside a protected area in Nagaland.

The Asian Giant Tortoise is listed as ‘critically endangered’ under the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

Asian Giant Tortoises are the largest tortoises in mainland Asia and are found in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia among other places.

Re-wilded means: to protect an environment and return it to its natural state.

Current Affair 4:

Dieback disease hits neem trees in Telangana

 

Neem shows antibacterial, antifungal, and other versatile properties, but it does not exempt the neem trees from being attacked by pests and diseases.

It has become a familiar sight in Telangana and also in some other southern states over the last few years that twigs and leaves of neem trees dry up.

The disease posing a threat to the neem trees has been identified as twig blight and dieback disease in Telangana, and it has reappeared in the state this year on a massive scale.

The dieback disease affects leaves, twigs and the inflorescence of neem trees of all ages and it causes almost 100% loss of fruit production in severely infected trees.

The dieback disease was first reported in the country during the 1990s near Dehradun in Uttarakhand, while it was first noticed in Telangana in 2019, he said.

The dieback disease is mainly caused by the fungi Phomopsis azadirachtae.

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