Climate change, Paris Agreement - GS questions based on daily current affairs

ANSWER: Both a & b

Explanation:
The two major causes of global sea-level rise are thermal expansion caused by the warming of the oceans (since water expands as it warms) and the loss of land-based ice (such as glaciers and polar ice caps) due to increased melting.

ANSWER: 182

Explanation:
The Paris Agreement has entered into force on Nov 4, 2016.

• The agreement involves GHG emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance.
• Paris Agreement’s entry into force comes after countries representing 55 percent of the world’s emissions joined the deal.
• As per Nov 2016, 192 states have signed the agreement.
• The EU is also a signatory to the agreement.
• 97 of these parties have ratified or accepted the agreement.
• Notable among these are the leading GHG emitters China, the US and India.
• The Paris Agreement is inked within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
• Language of the agreement was negotiated by 195 nations at the 21st COP of the UNFCC in Paris.
• It was adopted by consensus on 12th December 2015.
• It was launched for the signatories on 22nd April 2016 in NYC.
• The EU ratified the agreement in Oct 2016.
• The agreement has come into force due to ratification by enough countries.
• The prime aim of the protocol is to limit global average temperature to well below 2 degree C above pre-industrial levels.
• COP has established a global goal on adaptation of enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and lowering vulnerability to climate change.
• Averting, minimising and coping with losses due to climate change is another mitigation based goal.

• Technology Transfer
• Capacity Building
• Financing
• Implementation
• Review

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:

• Paris Agreement pertains to post-2020 climate actions. In the pre-2020 period, developed countries are to act as per Kyoto Protocol and some developing countries have taken voluntary pledges.
• The Union Cabinet has given its approval to ratify the Paris Agreement (on Climate Change) on 2nd October 2016, the day of Gandhi Jayanti.
• Paris Agreement was adopted by 185 nations last year on 12th December 2015 and India signed the Paris Agreement in New York early this year on 22nd April 2016.
• A total of 191 countries have signed to the Paris Agreement so far. As per the provisions of the Paris Agreement, the treaty will come into force as and when 55 countries contributing to 55 % of total global emission ratify the agreement.
• So far, 61 countries have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval accounting in total for 47.79% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions.
• India’s decision to ratify the agreement will take the number of cumulative level of emission of countries that have ratified the agreement so far to 51.89%.

ANSWER: 2, 3

Explanation:
The salient features of the Paris Agreement are as follows:

• The Paris Agreement acknowledges the development imperatives of developing countries. The Agreement recognizes the developing countries' right to development and their efforts to harmonize development with environment, while protecting the interests of the most vulnerable.
• The Paris Agreement recognizes the importance of sustainable lifestyles and sustainable patterns of consumption with developed countries taking the lead, and notes the importance of 'climate justice’ in its preamble.
• The Agreement seeks to enhance the 'implementation of the Convention' whilst reflecting the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances.
• The objective of the Agreement further ensures that it is not mitigation-centric and includes other important elements such as adaptation, loss and damage, finance, technology, capacity building and transparency of action and support
• Pre-2020 actions are also part of the decisions. The developed country parties are urged to scale up their level of financial support with a complete road map to achieve the goal of jointly providing US $ 100 billion by 2020 for mitigation and adaptation by significantly increasing adaptation finance from current levels and to further provide appropriate technology and capacity building support.

ANSWER: Both

Explanation:
- Veerabhadran Ramanathan discovered that human-produced gases and pollutants other than CO2 have a huge power to alter the Earth's climate.
- By acting on them it is possible to make a short-term dent on the rate of global warming.
- Ramanathan found that one tonne of CFCs traps as much heat in the atmosphere as 10 tonnes of CO2.
- Scientists at the time believed carbon dioxide to be the only human-produced greenhouse gas.
- But after Ramanathan's work, it was revealed that other gases such as methane and HFCs were also potent greenhouse gases.

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:
- The First World Climate Conference was held in 1979 in Geneva and sponsored by the WMO. It was one of the first major international meetings on climate change.
- IPCC was first established in 1988 by two United Nations organizations, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:
- National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) was launched during February 2011 by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) with the funding from Ministry of Agriculture.
- Under the program manually operated weather station to record daily rainfall, minimum and maximum temperature, relative humidity and wind speed.
- The four modules of NICRA – natural resource management, improving soil health, crop production and livestock – is aimed making the farmers self-reliant.

ANSWER: Kyoto Protocol

Explanation:
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is one of the Flexible Mechanisms defined in the Kyoto Protocol (IPCC, 2007) that provides for emissions reduction projects which generate Certified Emission Reduction units which may be traded in emissions trading schemes.

ANSWER: Alps

Explanation:
- The whole area, including other glaciers is part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch Protected Area, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001.
- It is located in Switzerland.
- It is under threat from the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
- Aletsch Glacier could almost vanish by 2100 due to global warming

ANSWER: Only 1, 3, 4 and 5

Explanation:
There are Eight National Missions - National Solar Mission, National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency, National Mission on Sustainable Habitat, National Water Mission, National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem, National Mission for a "Green India", National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, and National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change.