Daily Prelims 11th December 2023

1) Green Rising Initiative: UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited, in collaboration with India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, introduced “Green Rising” initiative at COP28.  

• Aim to empower youth-led climate actions and solutions.  
• It was launched at Dubai Cares (philanthropic organization) hosted RewirEd Summit.  
• RewirEd Summit at COP28 is first ever global summit on education and climate.  
• Earlier in 2018, UN Secretary-General launched Generation Unlimited.  
• It is a global Public-Private-Youth Partnership, to co-create and deliver innovative solutions on global scale 

2) City of Lakes Project and 3i model: At a discussion held by C40, Delhi’s breakthroughs in fighting climate change like City of Lakes project and 3i model were mentioned.  

• C40 is a global network of nearly a hundred mayors of world’s leading cities that are united in action to confront climate crisis.  
• Delhi’s 3i model for Electric Vehicles focuses on Inclusion, incentivization, and Innovation.  
• City of lakes aims to rejuvenate water bodies in city.  
• It creates eco-tourism opportunities and enhances heat resilience, particularly during extreme weather events.  
• It led to an increase of up to 2 meters in groundwater levels. 

3) Agni-1: Training launch ‘Agni-1’ was carried out successfully from APJ Abdul Kalam Island, Odisha.  

• Agni-1 is Short-Range Ballistic Missile and is a very high precision missile system.  
• Range capacity: over 700 Kms.  
• It is nuclear-capable, road-mobile missile.  
• First deployed in 2007.  
• Agni-1 to 5 missiles are designed & developed by Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO). 

4) Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2024: India this year further improved its global CCPI ranking by securing 7th position (last year it was 8th).  

• Released by Germanwatch.  
• CCPI is an independent monitoring tool for tracking the climate protection performance.  
• It assesses countries performance in four categories:  
• GHG emissions (40% of the overall score),  
• Renewable energy (20%),  
• Energy use (20%),  
• Climate policy (20%).  
• Top three places i.e 1-3 are vacant in CCPI.  
• Germanwatch also releases The Global Climate Risk Index. 

Places in News: 

1) Guyana (Capital: Georgetown): 

• Venezuela, Guyana saw tensions over a border dispute around the Esequibo river, and an offshore area.  
• Political features  
• North eastern corner of South America.  
• Not landlocked. 
• Bordered by Atlantic Ocean (north), Suriname (east), Brazil (south), and Venezuela (west).  
• Geographical features  
• Mountains: Acaraí Mountains, Pakaraima Mountains, Kanuku Mountains.  
• Highest point: Mount Roraima (2,772 metres).  
• Main rivers: Courantyne, Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo (all empty into Atlantic)