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8 November 2016

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CoP 22

At CoP 22, India will highlight climate impact on Himalayas
India will host a special side event during the UN Climate Change Conference opening on Monday at Marrakech, Morocco, on the 12 Himalayan States that face the impact of a changing climate.

The Himalayas provide water to 1.3 billion people in Asia, but have been inadequately represented over the past three decades in climate change discussions, an expert said. “Currently, the Himalayas are not spoken about even at discussions in international forums on mountain countries,” P.P Dhyani, Director of the Almora-based G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development, said.

Dr. Dhyani said the Centre has asked the G.B. Pant Institute to represent the 12 Himalayan States at the Conference of the Parties (CoP 22) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change being held between November 7 and 18. The Hindu Kush region was represented at UNFCCC by the Nepal-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development. At the CoP on November 17, the impact of climate change on disasters, biodiversity, livelihood, and agriculture will be highlighted. “Though the Himalayas are warming faster than the global average, they are not yet in focus,” he said. Plans to mitigate climate impact will be drawn up.

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Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has constituted a four-member team for conservation and management of Loktak Lake in Manipur. The team will visit Loktak Lake and hold discussions with the State government, its concerned agencies and other stakeholders including people living in the vicinity of the lake.

. About Loktak Lake

Loktak Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Northeast India and is famous for the phumdis floating over it. Phumdis are the heterogeneous mass of vegetation, soil and organic matter at various stages of decomposition. Keibul Lamjao National Park is also one of Phumdis in the lake. It is only floating national park in world and is last natural refuge of endangered Sangai deer. This ancient lake plays an important role in the economy of Manipur. It serves as a source of water for irrigation, drinking water supply and hydropower generation. Considering the ecological status and its biodiversity values, Loktak lake was initially designated as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention in 1990. Later it was also listed under the Montreux Record in 1993. Human activity has led to severe pressure on the lake ecosystem.

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SAMPRITI-2016

The seventh edition of India-Bangladesh joint military exercise SAMPRITI-2016 has commenced to practise counter-terrorism and disaster-management operations.
The 14-day (from 05 to 18 November 2016) joint military exercise will be held at Shaheed Salauddin Cantonment in Tangail, Dhaka (Bangladesh’s Capital).
Key Facts
The SAMPRITI 2016 will simulate a scenario where both nations are working together in a Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorism environment under the UN Charter. The exercise curriculum is progressively planned in which the participants will initially get familiar with each other’s organizational structure and tactical drills. Subsequently, the training will advance to joint tactical exercises wherein the battle drills of both the armies will be practiced. It will culminate with a final validation exercise in which troops of both armies will jointly practice a Counter Terrorist Operation in a controlled and simulated environment.

Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA)

The Union Government launched Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) to provide free health check-ups to pregnant women at government health centres and hospitals. The Scheme was launched by Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda in New Delhi. It was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his monthly radio address Mann Ki Baat in June 2016.

Key Features The national programme aims to provide pregnant ladies free ante-natal services (ANC) and required treatment for free on 9th of every month.
Objectives of the scheme are (i) Provide healthy life to the pregnant women. (ii) Lowering the maternity mortality rate. (iii) Making pregnant women aware of their health issues and diseases. (iv) Making sure safe delivery and healthy life of the baby. The scheme is applicable only for the pregnant women in their pregnancy period of 3 to 6 months. It will provide all kinds of medical checkups completely free to pregnant women. These checkups will take place at the medical centres, government and private hospitals and private clinics across the country. These free of cost tests will include blood pressure, sugar level, weight, haemoglobin test, blood test and screening. Women will be marked differently using different colour stickers based on their health problems so that doctors can easily detect the problem. Different colour stickers will be Red Sticker for Serious patients, Blue Sticker for High blood pressure and Yellow Sticker for Other diseases.

New Delhi Declaration, Asian Regional Plan adopted at AMCDRR 2016

First World Tsunami Awareness Day commemorated

The three-day Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) 2016 came to an end with the adoption of the ‘New Delhi Declaration’ and the ‘Asian Regional Plan for Implementation of the Sendai Framework’. The Closing ceremony was presided over by Union Home Minister ShriRajnath Singh.

This was the first Asian MinisterialConference for Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) after the advent of theSendai Framework for DRR (SFDRR).The SFDRR (2015-2030) was adopted by at the Third World Conference on DRRat Sendai in Japan in March, 2015. It identifies targets and priority action areastowards reducing disaster risk by ‘reducing the damage caused by naturalhazards like earthquakes, floods, droughts and cyclones, through an ethic of prevention’.

New Delhi Declaration

The ‘New Delhi Declaration’ is a political statement spelling out the commitment of participating governments towards preventing and reducingdisaster risk, and strengthening the resilience of communities, nations and the Asian region. Recognising the need to accelerate the implementation of global frameworks, it commits to a people-centred and whole-of-society approach towards DRR. It also emphasises the need to enhance the capacity of communities and ensure participation of all stakeholder groups towards achieving resilience.

Asian Regional Plan

The ‘Asian Regional Plan for Implementation of theSendai Framework’focuses on the ‘How to’ reduce disaster risk at national and local levels. It has arrived at a longer term road map of cooperation and collaboration, spanning the 15-year horizon of the Sendai Framework, as well as a two-year action plan to further disaster riskreduction with specific, actionable activities.

Voluntary action statements of stakeholder groups towards a ‘shared responsibility’ approach in implementation of theSFDRR were also made.

The Conference also commemorated the first World Tsunami Awareness Day to spread awareness ontsunami. The observance of the day stressed on the importance of early warning systems and preparedness of communities in order to mitigate damage fromthe often devastating natural hazard.

Winners of a short film competitionorganised during the Conference on themes related to DRR werefelicitated by ShriRajnath Singh.

Established in 2005, the AMCDRR is a biennial conference jointly organized by different Asian countries and the United Nations Office for Disaster RiskReduction (UNISDR).

The next AMCDRR will be held in Mongolia in 2018.