Senna Spectabilis

• Senna spectabilis, an exotic invasive plant that poses a serious danger to Karela’s animal habitat, has been identified as the target of a management strategy developed by the state.

• According to the management plan, no attempt should be made to remove trees before a comprehensive replanting strategy and the necessary funding are in place.

Senna spectabilis: What is it?

• The deciduous Senna spectabilis tree is indigenous to tropical America tree.
• After flowering, it quickly grows up to 15 to 20 meters tall and releases thousands of seeds.
• Other native tree and grass species cannot thrive because of the tree's dense foliage. As a result, it leaves the wildlife population, especially herbivores, with a food shortage.
• The native species' germination and growth are also negatively impacted.
• IUCN Red List classifies it as "Least Concern."

What is the Eradication Plan?

• The plan calls for managing the tree at the landscape level.

• The three-step process for removing invasive species from giant trees, large saplings, and small saplings must be used once the materials and resources for landscape restoration are ready.
• The collar portion of the huge trees as well as the area below breast height (1.3 m above ground level) must be debarked. After that, the trees should be checked once a month to cut down any new growth that has sprouted over the debarked region.
• Larger saplings can be uprooted with weed pullers that are specifically made for the job.
• The third step entails the mechanical removal of tiny plantlets.
• After debarking, it would take the enormous trees at least 18 months to completely dry out.

What is an invasive species?

• An organism that harms the ecology or the economy in a new habitat where it is not native is referred to as an invasive species.

• They have the potential to modify environments, reduce biodiversity, displace native organisms for scarce resources, and cause the extinction of local flora and animals.
• Ship ballast water, an unintentional release, and individuals are the most common ways that they are introduced to an area.
• Invasive species are widespread in India. For instance, Indian Bullfrogs, Lantana shrubs, Charru Mussels, etc.

Paris Club

• The Paris Club is probably going to provide the IMF with financial guarantees on the Sri Lankan debt.

More on the news:

• A loose association of predominantly western creditor nations, the Paris Club.

• It evolved from a gathering of Argentina's public creditors held in Paris in 1956.
• Finding long-term debt relief options for nations unable to pay back bilateral loans is its main goal.
• Members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation (OECD)
• and Development is also a member of the Paris Club.
• The following countries are members: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.
• The Paris Club has negotiated 478 agreements with 102 different debtor nations since its founding, totaling $614 billion in handled debt.
• According to the consensus and solidarity guiding principles of the Paris Club, any arrangement achieved with the debtor countries affects all Paris Club creditors equally.
• Since China has become the greatest bilateral lender in the world, the club has lost some of its previous century-long dominance as a bilateral lender.
• The three biggest bilateral creditors in Sri Lanka's case are China, Japan, and India, with Japan being a member of the Paris Club.