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)