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Current Affairs Dec 1


World Malaria Report 2023: India

GS Paper 2:  Issues related to Health

Context-:

The recently released World Malaria Report shows that the number of cases and deaths due to mosquito-borne infection in India has continued to decline.


Major Details-:

  • According to the World Malaria Report, India accounted for 66% of malaria cases in the World Health Organization’s South-East Asia region in 2022.
  • India and Indonesia accounted for about 94% of all malaria deaths in the region last year.
  • Presently, India accounts for 1.4% of total malaria cases in the world.
  • With an estimated 33.8 lakh cases and 5,511 deaths, India saw a decline of 30 percent in malaria incidence and 34 percent in mortality in 2022, compared to the previous year.
  • India’s downward trend was reflected in the larger WHO South East Asian region that remained on track to achieving the 2030 target of reducing cases and deaths by 90 percent.

India’s success story-:

  • A focus on providing primary healthcare to the remotest areas, surveillance that is now being backed by digital data.
  • Better handling of extreme weather events such as cyclones has been key to India’s success.
  • Good preventive practices, the use of effective tools to keep the mosquito population in check, the use of point-of-care tests for quick diagnosis, and good management of malaria cases.
  • India's National Framework for Malaria Elimination (2016-2030), has a vision of a malaria-free country by 2027 and elimination by 2030.

Challenges ahead-:
  • While India is doing well when it comes to malaria, issues such as resistance may derail it from its target of elimination by 2030.
  • “The biological threats include drug resistance, insecticide resistance, gene deletions in parasites which make diagnosis difficult.
  • Another challenge is vivax malaria, which accounts for over 40 per cent of malaria cases in India.
  • The vivax plasmodium is known to hide in the liver and cause recurrent infections.
  • To treat, a 14-day course of therapy has to be taken. 
  • Experts say the challenge with that is many do not complete the treatment and stop taking the drug once they feel better.


Global Scenario-:

  • Globally, in 2022, there were an estimated 249 million malaria cases, well above the pre-pandemic figure of 233 million cases in 2019.
  • The number of malaria deaths also remained higher than the pre-pandemic levels. 
  • There were 608,000 deaths reported in 2022 as compared to 576,000 cases in 2019.
  • The World Health Organization-defined African Region accounted for about 94% of cases globally. 
  • While the Southeast Asia region, which comprises nine countries, accounted for about 2% of malaria cases globally.
  • Cases in the Southeast Asia region declined by 76%, from 23 million in 2000 to about 5 million in 2022.


Climate change and malaria-:

  • Variations in temperature, humidity, and rainfall can affect the conduct and viability of the Anopheles mosquito, which carries malaria.
  • Severe weather occurrences, like heatwaves and floods, can similarly affect the transmission and disease impact.
  • In 2022, Pakistan experienced devastating floods, resulting in a five-fold rise in malaria instances.
  • Progress remains impeded by factors such as conflict, humanitarian crises, resource limitations, and biological obstacles like drug and insecticide resistance.

Related Search-:
 National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme.
Dengu and Chickengunia.

Prelims Specific-:
About Malaria
Its type and Symptom
World Malaria Report 2023.
Key Highlight.



GLOBAL RENEWABLES AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY PLEDGE

GS Paper 3: Mineral & Energy Resources

Context:
India has reportedly refused to sign the Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge at COP28 due to language on coal.


Key Info:
A total of 116 countries have signed the pledge.
China and Russia, too did not sign on the pledge either.
Both the U.S. and Brazil have signed the pledge.

About Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge:
  • The Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge, as of now, has committed to tripling worldwide installed renewable energy generation capacity to at least 11,000 gigawatts (GW).
  • It is to double the global average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements to more than 4 per cent by 2030.
  • The pledge was part of a bouquet of decarbonisation initiatives launched at the behest of the hosts.

Tripling of renewable energy:
  • The first major step towards the realisation of this goal was taken when the G20 countries included it in their New Delhi summit declaration in September.
  • Before the COP28 meeting began, over 60 countries had endorsed this goal.
  • It is on the agenda of the COP28 conference as well.
  • Adoption by COP28 will make it an official global goal, progress on which can be monitored regularly.
  • Pledges taken on the sidelines of the climate meetings do not have the same legal sanctity.


India's Stand:

  • India has already agreed to it at the G20 summit.
  • India’s own renewable energy expansion plans involve a tripling of capacity by 2030.


India's Installed Capacity:

  • As of March 2023, India already has close to 170 GW of installed capacity.
  • Tripling this actually overshoots the 500 GW commitment.
  • There is as yet global disagreement on whether large dams — India considers them as renewable energy sources — are indeed renewable sources.
  • The United States and Brazil have the second and third-largest installed renewable energy capacity followed by India.
  • India already has ambitious targets on renewable — 450 GW by 2030, and a thriving energy efficiency programme spanning sectors.
  • The hope is that India will champion tripling renewables and doubling energy efficiency by 2030 at COP-28 in the main text.


India's Coal Sector:

  • India heavily relies on coal, the foremost and most plentiful fossil fuel within its energy portfolio, catering to 55% of the nation's energy demands.
  • Coal accounts for almost 50% share in the total installed electricity generation capacity in India.
  • India has the fifth largest coal reserves, is second in coal production (after China) and is among the largest importer of coal (mainly from Indonesia, South Africa and Australia).

Related Search:
Coal Reserves in India
Classification of Coal

Prelims Specific:
About Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge
Its Signatories
What is Tripling of renewable energy?
Indias's Stand
India's energy Installed Capacity
India's Coal Sector



Methane Alert and Response System

GS Paper 3: Environment pollution & Conservation

Context:
The Methane Alert and Response System (MARS) notified governments of 127 plumes spanning four continents and identified 1,500 plumes in its pilot stage.


Key Info:

  • A new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) released at the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on December 1, 2023.
  • International Methane Emissions Observatory is playing a critical role in pulling this data together and putting it in the hands of those in a position to act on it.
  • IMEO gathers methane emissions-related information from satellites through MARS and from industries through the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0.

About Methane-:

  • Methane is the second-biggest cause of global warming caused by anthropogenic activity after carbon dioxide and is 80 times more powerful.
  • Energy, agriculture and waste sectors are the primary emitters of methane, responsible for 30 per cent of the earth’s warning.
  • However, the energy sector offers the most potential for mitigation.
  • Methane is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over 20 years.
  • It is responsible for around 30 per cent of the rise in global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution, according to the International Energy Agency.
  • Agriculture, fossil fuels as well as solid waste and wastewater are the three major sources of methane.
  • Methane emissions are increasing faster than at any time since the 1980s.

Oil & Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP 2.0):
  • It is UNEP’s flagship programme.
  • It includes a partnership of companies to improve the accuracy and transparency of methane emissions data from the oil and gas sector through a committed framework.
  • Some 114 oil and gas companies joined the OGMP 2.0 September 2023 cut-off.

Methane Alert and Response System:
  • The launch of MARS occurred during the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
  • It was established as a crucial component of the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) strategy.
  • IMEO is the first-ever global system that uses satellite data to monitor major emission events and notify governments and companies who can address them
  • It aimed at delivering pertinent data to facilitate emissions reduction measures.
  • This groundbreaking system marks the inaugural globally accessible platform designed to seamlessly link methane detection with transparent notification procedures.
It's Objectives:

  • MARS is poised to consolidate data from numerous current and upcoming satellites equipped to identify methane emissions globally, enabling the prompt dispatch of notifications to pertinent stakeholders for immediate action.
  • It was initially focused on major emissions sources within the fossil fuel sector.
  • MARS will progressively expand its scope to encompass emissions from coal, waste, livestock, and even rice fields over time.

Related Search:
Global Methane Pledge
Methane emitters
CoP 28

Prelims Specific:
About Methane
Its emission and emitters
About Oil & Gas Methane Partnership 2.0
What is Methane Alert and Response System
Its Objectives
About International Methane Emissions Observatory.


Global Initiative of Academic Networks

GS Paper 2: Issues relating to the development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources, issues relating to poverty and hunger.

Context:
Eight years after its inception, the Ministry of Education is gearing up to restart the fourth phase of the Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN).

The National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), after evaluating the scheme, recommended its continuation.


Details-:

  • GIAN is the pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rope in eminent scholars from across the world to teach at Indian universities.
  • The Central government has spent at least ₹126 crore in payment to support foreign faculty’s travel and honorarium since the inception of GIAN.
  • Each foreign faculty member is paid a lavish sum of $8000 (~ ₹7 lakh) for a week of teaching and $12,000 (~ ₹12 lakh) for conducting a two-week course.
  • As many as 1,073 academicians have taught the one-week course, while 553 experts have held two-week courses.
  • As many as 692 (39%) of 1,772 courses were delivered in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campuses, while the second largest cohort of lectures, 436 (24.6%), took place in the National Institute of Technology (NITs).
  • Up to 41.4% (668) of academicians who visited India belonged to the U.S. The rest consisted of experts from the U.K. (143), Germany (93), Canada (89), etc. Up to 72,000 Indian students directly benefitted.

GIAN program-:
  • Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) in Higher Education was launched in 2015.
  • It is a program of the Ministry of Human Resource and Development.
  • GIAN aims at tapping the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs to engage with the institutes of higher education in India to augment the country’s existing academic resources, accelerate the pace of quality reforms, and further strengthen India’s scientific and technological capabilities.

Objective-:
  • To increase the footfalls of reputed international faculty in the Indian academic institutes.
  • Provide opportunities for our faculty to learn and share knowledge and teaching skills in cutting-edge areas.
  • To provide opportunity for our students to seek knowledge and experience from reputed International faculty.
  • To create avenues for possible collaborative research with the international faculty.
  • Develop high-quality course material in niche areas, both through video and print that can be used by a larger body of students and teachers.
  • To document and develop new pedagogic methods in emerging topics of national and international interest.

Prelims Specific-:
About GIAN
Aim and Objective



White Lung Syndrome

Context-:
A new strain of bacterial pneumonia has emerged in China and spread to Denmark, the United States, and the Netherlands.

Details-:

The mysterious pneumonia cases in children are reaching 'epidemic levels' in Denmark, with chilling similarities to the beginnings of the coronavirus.

The Netherlands also reported a worrying increase in children with pneumonia, and Sweden is being affected as well.

Several regions in Ohio have also been affected by the enigmatic outbreak, marking it as the initial location in the United States to document cases of the illness, particularly with a notably elevated rate of children requiring hospitalization.


White Lung Syndrome-:

  • White Lung Syndrome is a severe form of pneumonia that can cause lung scarring and discoloration.
  • The exact cause of the illness is still unknown, but it is believed to be caused by a combination of bacterial, viral, and environmental factors.
  • White lung syndrome pneumonia' - nicknamed due to how the lung damage shows up on scans - is caused by mycoplasma pneumoniae, a bacterial infection that many antibiotics cannot fight.
  • The illness primarily affects children between the ages of three and eight years old.

Transmission-:
The disease is transmitted via coughing, sneezing, talking, singing, and breathing, carried by minuscule respiratory droplets.

Symptoms-:
Fever
Cough
Shortness of breath
Chest pain
Fatigue

COP 28; Global Stocktake

Context:

At COP28, countries will examine how much progress they have made in curbing global warming — a process called the Global Stocktake, which is happening for the first time — since the Paris Agreement in 2015.


Paris Deal-:

  • In 2015, Paris hosted COP21, a landmark event because it was the first time that all countries came together to fight the climate crisis.
  • Before Paris, there was the Kyoto Protocol of 2005 which involved only developed countries in cutting down greenhouse gas emissions and left out India and China, among other developing nations.
  • The Paris Agreement made it mandatory for all countries to set emissions-reduction targets and adapt to the impacts of climate change. This is known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Climate goal-:
  • It was decided that countries would assess their progress for the first time in 2023 and, then, every five years.
  • The Paris Agreement aims to keep global warming from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius from the pre-industrial era — mid-1800s —and to try to keep it under 1.5 degrees Celsius, the point till which the planet might still withstand severe climate change impact.

Initial report-:
  • The UN published a technical report on the first Global Stocktake in September 2023, according to which the global community spurred action and made some progress but it was still too little.
  • The UN found that “implementation must accelerate to increase ambition across all fronts, taking an all-of-society approach to make progress towards the Paris Agreement goals and respond to the climate crisis”.
  • While there are well-known gaps, the technical findings highlighted existing and emerging opportunities and creative solutions to bridge these gaps.