World Wetlands Day
Context :
World Wetlands Day is celebrated each year internationally on 2 February. It denotes the anniversary of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance in Ramsar, Iran, on 2 February 1971.
Theme :
World Wetlands Day 2020 International Theme is Wetlands and Biodiversity. This theme reflected in the February 2020 edition of Wetlands Australia. Biodiversity is a foundational value of wetlands and an inherent part of the significance of these ecosystems.
It is through wetland biodiversity that critical ecological processes carried out. The contribution that wetland biodiversity has on broader environments, society, and economies has also been historically undervalued.
History :
World Wetlands Day was first celebrated in 1997. Several agencies, non-government organizations celebrated World Wetlands Day to raise public awareness of wetland values and benefits and promote the conservation and wise use of wetlands. These activities include seminars, nature walks, festivals, the announcement of new Ramsar sites, newspaper articles, radio interviews, and wetland rehabilitation.
Bodo Language
Context :
Bodo language is one of the key thrust areas in the Bodo Accord which was signed recently.
Key facts :
- Estimated to have 1.5 million speakers (Census 2011), Bodo is listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
- It is spoken in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and West Bengal.
- While Bodo is officially written in the Devanagri script, the language has a history of having been written in at least three different scripts — until in 1974, the Government recognised Devanagari as its official script. In the first decade of the 20th century, Bodos started writing in the Assamese/Bangla script. Then they also used Roman Script.
- In the pre-13th century era, it was called Deodhai.
Promises in the accord regarding Bodo language :
- It was only in 2003, under the then Bodo Accord, that the language was listed in the Eighth Schedule. And it was the first tribal language to be included in the Eight Schedule.
- In Assam, it has enjoyed the status of official associate language in undivided Goalpara district since 1986.
- Now the 2020 Accord makes Bodo the associate official language throughout Assam.
- The new Accord also promises to establish a separate directorate for Bodo medium schools, provincialise schools and colleges in the BTAD (Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District) and establish a Cultural Complex-cum-Centre of Excellence in Kokrajhar for protection and promotion of the language.
Green India Mission
Context :
A sum of Rs 343.08 crore has been released under the Green India Mission (GIM) for undertaking afforestation activities over an area of 126,916.32 hectare (ha) in 13 states, according to the Economic Survey 2019-20.
About Green India Mission :
GIM is one of the eight missions launched under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).
GIM, launched in February 2014, is aimed at protecting, restoring and enhancing India’s diminishing forest cover and responding to climate change by a combination of adaptation and mitigation measures.
Objectives of the Mission :
- To protect, restore and enhance India’s falling forest cover.
- To respond to climate change through a combination of adaptation as well as mitigation measures.
- To increased forest-based livelihood incomes.
- To enhance annual Carbon sequestration by 50 to 60 million tonnes in the year 2020.
Goals :
- Improvement in quality of forest cover and ecosystem services of forests /non-forests, including moderately dense, open forests, degraded grassland and wetlands (5 m ha).
- Eco-restoration/afforestation of scrub, shifting cultivation areas, cold deserts, mangroves, ravines and abandoned mining areas (1.8 m ha).
- Improvement in forest and tree cover in urban/peri-urban lands (0.20 m ha)
- Improvement in forest and tree cover on marginal agricultural lands/fallows and other non-forest lands under agroforestry /social forestry (3 m ha)
- Management of public forest/ non-forests areas (taken up under the Mission) by the community institutions
- Adoption of improved fuelwood-use efficiency and alternative energy devices by project-area households.
- Diversification of forest-based livelihoods of about 3 million households living in and around forests.
Sources: the Hindu.