Ocean Currents and Global Warming

A recent study claims that the Galápagos Islands have been protected from global warming by cold ocean currents.

Key Study Findings

• Combating Global Warming:
  The islands are shielded from the warming Pacific Ocean by a chilly, eastward equatorial ocean current, which has been strengthening for decades.

• Since the early 1990s, the temperature of the water off the west coast of the Galápagos Islands has decreased by 0.5 degrees Celsius.
• The chilly ocean current and global warming are at odds with one another. The ocean current is currently under control because the weather is getting colder every year.

Relevance of Event:

• The Galápagos Islands should be cautiously optimistic in light of this phenomenon.

• The Galápagos' flora and wildlife could help restore depleted ecosystems and preserve the area's fisheries.
• In these Ecuadorian west coast seas, corals do not bleach and perish. In contrast to the neighbouring warm seas, the marine food chain does not suffer as a result.
• The Galápagos could be considered as a prospective location to actually try to put some climate change mitigation efforts into because the region has so far been relatively unscathed by climate change.

Ocean Current's Importance

• Water that is rich in nutrients: The force of the planet's rotation keeps the equatorial undercurrent in the Pacific Ocean linked to the equator.

• Cold, nutrient-rich water circulates quickly from west to east underneath the ocean's surface.
• When this water reaches the Galápagos Islands, some of it is driven to the surface.
• The nutrient-rich water starts photosynthesis, which produces an abundance of food for many different kinds of creatures.
• Coral reef stability: The cold ocean circulation produces a cooler, more stable environment for marine life, birds, and coral reefs that frequently live quite close to the poles.

Challenges

• Future of Current: If this current changes in the future, it could have seriously negative effects on the ecology.
• Regulation of Overfishing: There is unquestionably a need for better protection for the island group from overfishing and the pressures of expanding ecotourism.
• Human Pressures: There is a conflict between the human pressures on this place and the mechanisms that keep it alive. It's a valuable resource that needs to be safeguarded.
• El Nio's negative effects are a threat to the island group. Every couple of years, it stops the cold current, which causes penguin numbers to disappear. The eastern tropical Pacific Ocean has unusually warm surface waters as a result of the climate pattern known as El Nio.

Climate Change Effects on Ocean Currents

• Warm Freshwater Inflow: Ocean surface warming brought on by seawater evaporation, glacial and sea ice melting, and rising ocean temperatures could result in a warm freshwater inflow.

• Blocking Ice Formation: This would hinder the growth of sea ice and stop saltier, colder, denser water from sinking.
• Heat in the Atmosphere: The shallow, swift currents may ultimately restrict the amount of heat that the ocean can absorb, resulting in more of that heat staying in the atmosphere.

• Global climate impacts could include sharp drops in Europe's temperatures as a result of a disruption of the Gulf Stream as a result of these events, which have the potential to halt or even stop the ocean conveyor belt.
• Marine bacteria and species may be exposed to shallower, hotter, and quicker surface waters, which could have an impact on marine biodiversity.

Conclusion

• In order to balance out the uneven distribution of solar energy reaching Earth's surface, ocean currents can control the temperature on a worldwide scale.

• Regional temperatures would be more extreme without ocean currents, with extremely hot temperatures near the equator and icy temperatures toward the poles, and considerably less of Earth's land would be livable.

Read Also: CLIMATE CHANGE AND COP 26

Global Hunger Index 2022

India has performed worse than every nation in South Asia, with the exception of war-torn Afghanistan, according to the Global Hunger Index 2022. It came in at number 107 out of 121 nations.

Referring to the Global Hunger Index (GHI)

• India dropped to 101st place out of 116 countries according to the GHI 2021. (from its 94th position in 2020).
• The GHI is a tool created to fully assess and monitor hunger at the international, regional, and national levels, reflecting many aspects of hunger throughout time.
• Published by: The largest assistance and humanitarian organisation in Ireland, Concern Worldwide, and Welthungerhilfe collaborate to yearly issue the GHI.
• In 2006, the first GHI report was released.
• Calculation: Each nation's GHI score is determined using a system that combines four factors that collectively depict the multifaceted character of hunger.
• Undernourishment is the percentage of the population whose caloric intake is insufficient.
• Stunting in children is the percentage of children under the age of five that are underweight for their age.
• Child wasting is the percentage of kids under five that are underweight for their height, a sign of severe malnutrition.
• Child mortality is the percentage of kids that pass away before turning five, which is partially due to the deadly combination of poor nutrition and hazardous settings.
• The GHI score is determined on a scale of zero to one hundred, with zero denoting no hunger and one hundred denoting extreme hunger.
• Each set of GHI scores is based on data from a 5-year period, and the GHI is a yearly report. Data from 2017 through 2021 are used to compute the GHI scores for 2022.

What is each country's GHI 2022 performance?

• Global Development: Globally, the fight against hunger has mostly stalled in recent years; in 2022, the score was 18.2, down from 19.1 in 2014, which represents a little improvement. The 2022 GHI score is still regarded as "moderate," nonetheless.
• Conflicts between nations, climate change, the economic effects of the CoVid-19 pandemic, and the Russia-Ukraine war, which has driven up global food, fuel, and fertiliser prices and is anticipated to "worsen hunger in 2023 and beyond," are some of the plausible reasons for the stagnation in this progress.
• According to the index, 44 nations currently experience "severe" or "alarming" levels of hunger, and "without a substantial shift, neither the globe as a whole nor about 46 countries are forecast to attain even low hunger as defined by the GHI by 2030."

Best and worst actors:

• The top five nations in the GHI 2022 are Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, China, and Croatia.
• The nations at the bottom of the index are Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, the Central African Republic, and Yemen.
• India and Neighboring Countries: India (107) is rated last among the South Asian nations, trailing Sri Lanka (64), Nepal (81), Bangladesh (84), and Pakistan (99).
• India received a score of 29.1, putting it in the "severe" category.
• The only South Asian nation that ranks lower than India on the index is Afghanistan (109).
• China, together with 16 other nations, took the top spot on the chart with a score of less than 5.

Performance of India in the Four Indicators:

• Child Wasting: With a rate of 19.3%, India has the worst child wasting (low weight for height) than either 2014 (15.1%) or even 2000 (17.15%).
• Due to India's massive population, it is the highest of any nation in the globe and raises the average for the region.
• Undernourishment: From 14.6% in the years 2018–2020 to 16.3% in the years 2019–2021, the prevalence of undernourishment has increased nationwide.
• Out of the 828 million people worldwide, it suggests that 224.3 million people in India are undernourished.
  The indicator counts the percentage of the population who consistently don't consume enough calories from food.
• Child Mortality and Stunting: India has made progress in reducing child mortality and stunting.
• Between 2014 and 2022, the prevalence of child stunting (low height for age) decreased from 38.7% to 35.5%.
• In the same comparison era, child mortality (mortality rate for children under the age of five) decreased from 4.6% to 3.3%.

Indian Hunger Issues

• According to the Food and Agriculture Report, 2020, India is home to 195.9 million of the 821 million undernourished people worldwide, or around 24% of all hungry people.
• India has a 14.8% higher rate of undernourishment than the norm for Asia and the rest of the world.
• In 2020, the National Health Survey found that over 19 crore people in the nation were required to go to bed every night on an empty stomach.
• Under-five malnutrition and hunger: Due to famine and malnutrition, 4500 children under the age of five pass away in India every day. This equates to approximately 30,000 deaths every year caused only by child starvation.

Causes of malnutrition and hunger

• Specific Causes: Malnutrition in India takes on many forms.
• Despite the government's surplus of food grains, there is a calorific shortage as a result of inefficient distribution and allocation. Even the annual budget allotted is not used entirely.
• Pulses are a crucial solution to the problem of protein deficiency. However, there isn't enough money in the budget to include pulses in PDS. A simple option to increase protein consumption is lost when eggs aren't offered on the menus of midday meals in several states.
• India is experiencing a major crisis with regard to micronutrient deficiencies (hidden hunger). Poor diet, the prevalence of disease, or the failure to meet the increased micronutrient requirements during pregnancy and lactation are some of its causes.
• Poor access to sanitary facilities and safe drinking water (especially toilets).
• Inadequate levels of vaccination against communicable diseases.
• women are not adequately informed on the value of a holistic diet.
• Hunger, debt, and poverty are vicious cycles.
• Spoilage, waste, and post-harvest losses in warehouses
• Inadequate market and transportation connectivity.
• Poor people cannot afford fruits, nuts, eggs, or meat.

Governmental Actions

• The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has launched the "Eat Right India Movement" to encourage citizens to eat healthfully.
• ABHIYAN POSHAN: The Ministry of Women and Child Development launched it in 2018, and its goals include reducing anaemia, stunting, and undernutrition (among young children, women and adolescent girls).
• Pradhan MMVY: Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana A maternity benefit programme, funded centrally and overseen by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, is being implemented in all districts of the nation as of January 1st, 2017.
• The Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, a federally funded programme that provides maternity benefits, in all districts across the nation as of January 1, 2017.
• Fortification of foods: Food fortification, also known as food enrichment, is the process of improving the nutritional value of staple foods like rice, milk, and salt by adding important vitamins and minerals including iron, iodine, zinc, Vitamin A & D.
• National Food Security Act, 2013 It gave the Targeted Public Distribution System the authority to provide subsidised food grains to up to 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population.

Read Also: Global Hunger Index

Heli-India Summit 2022

• In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the Minister of Civil Aviation recently launched the 4th Heli-India Summit 2022.

• Theme: Helicopters for Last Mile Connectivity.

What are the Summit's Highlights?

• When announcing the accomplishments in the civil aviation sector, it was mentioned that from 1947 to 2014, the nation had only 74 airports; today, it has 141, with 67 of those being added in the last seven years.
• The current port in Srinagar would be tripled in size, and a civil enclave will be built in Jammu.
• Announced plans to create a HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Services) pilot program and a fractional ownership model.
• By using a combination of owners' capital, the cost barrier for purchasing helicopters and airplanes will be minimized.
• HEMS: Project Sanjeevani will deploy a helicopter to the AIIMS Rishikesh to provide emergency medical services.
• The aircraft will be stationed at the hospital with a 20-minute notice and serve a 150-kilometer radius.

What is the situation in India's civil aviation industry?

• Helicopters serve a variety of purposes, including providing urban connectedness, disaster management during floods, rescue missions, and other emergency medical services.
• In the last three years, India's civil aviation sector has become one of the fastest-growing in the nation. It can be broadly divided into three categories: scheduled air transport service, which includes both domestic and international airlines; non-scheduled air transport service, which includes charter operators and air taxi operators; and air cargo service, which includes the air delivery of mail and cargo.

Significance:

• Within the next ten years, India, which is currently the world's seventh-largest civil aviation industry, is anticipated to overtake the United States as the third-largest civil aviation market.
• According to the International Air Transport Association, (IATA) India is anticipated to surpass China and the United States as the third-largest air passenger market in the world during the next ten years, by 2030.
• Airports in India estimate that domestic passenger traffic will reach 166.8 million in FY22, up 58.5% year over year, while international passenger traffic will reach 22.1 million, up 118% year over year.

Opportunity:

• 100% of foreign direct investment (FDI) is permitted under the automatic route for both greenfield and brownfield projects, as well as for maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services and ground handling services.
• Growth Potential: The Indian civil aviation MRO market, currently valued at over USD 900 million, is projected to increase at a CAGR of roughly 14–15% to reach USD 4.33 billion by 2025.
• By 2038, it is anticipated that the country's fleet of aircraft will have grown fourfold, to about 2500 aircraft.
• Connecting New Airports: As part of the UDAN Scheme, the government plans to build 100 airports by 2024 and build top-notch civil aviation infrastructure to meet international standards.

Read Also: Ocean Currents and Global Warming

INS Arihant

Recently, INS Arihant carried out a successful launch of a Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM).

About India’s nuclear programme

• In 1998, India conducted nuclear tests under Pokhran-II.
• In 2003, India declared its nuclear doctrine based on the No First Use policy while reserving the right of massive retaliation if struck with nuclear weapons first.
• The Agni series of missiles constitute the backbone of India’s nuclear weapons delivery, which also includes the Prithvi short-range ballistic missiles.
• The Agni series of missiles are medium and intercontinental-range nuclear-capable ballistic assets.

About INS Arihant

• It was launched in 2009 and commissioned in 2016.

• It is India’s first indigenous nuclear-powered ballistic missile capable submarine built under the secretive Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) project, which was initiated in the 1990s.
• INS Arihant and its class of submarines are classified as ‘SSBN’, which is the hull classification symbol for nuclear-powered ballistic missile-carrying submarines.
• While the Navy operates the vessel, the operations of the SLBMs from the SSBN are under the purview of India’s Strategic Forces Command, which is part of India’s Nuclear Command Authority.
• INS Arihant is presently armed with K-15 SLBM with a range of 750 km.
• INS Arihant can carry a dozen K-15 missiles on board.

Do you know?

• The second submarine in the Arihant class is SSBN Alright.

• It is reported to have been launched in 2017 and is said to be undergoing sea trials at present.

The Missile

• The Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs) are sometimes called the ‘K’ family of missiles.

• They have been indigenously developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
• The family is codenamed after Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, the central figure in India’s missile and space programmes who also served as the 11th President of India.
• Because these missiles are to be launched from submarines, they are lighter, more compact and stealthier than their land-based counterparts.
• The development of the K family missiles has been done in consonance with the ATV project.
• Part of the K family is the SLBM K-15, which is also called B-05 or Sagarika. It has a range of 750 km.
• India has also developed and successfully tested K-4 missiles from the family, which have a range of 3,500 km.

Significance

Nuclear triad:

• The capability of being able to launch nuclear weapons submarine platforms has great strategic significance in the context of achieving a nuclear triad, especially in the light of the “No First Use” policy of India.

Second strike capability:

• These submarines can not only survive a first strike by the adversary but can also launch a strike in retaliation, thus achieving ‘Credible Nuclear Deterrence’.

China and Pakistan factor:

• The development of these capabilities is important in light of India’s relations with China and Pakistan.

Read Also: Agni-P (Prime) missile