About Peatlands

• Peatlands are terrestrial wetland ecosystems in which waterlogged conditions prevent plant material from fully decomposing. 
• Consequently, the production of organic matter exceeds its decomposition, which results in a net accumulation of peat.
• Peatlands occur in every climatic zone and continent and cover 4.23 million km2, which corresponds to 2.84% of the Earth’s terrestrial surface.
• The majority of the world’s peatlands occur in boreal and temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, especially, Europe, North America, and Russia, where they have formed under high precipitation-low temperature climatic regimes.
• Peatlands include landscapes that are still actively accumulating peat, others that are no longer accumulating and do not support the principal peat forming plants, and peatlands used for economic uses such as agriculture, forestry, and excavation for energy and heat generation, horticulture, and other uses. 
• About 84% of the world’s peatlands are considered to be in natural, or near-natural state. 
• Drained peatlands make up about 16% of the world’s peatlands, or 0.5% of the Earth’s terrestrial surface. 
• Due to the process of peat accumulation, peatlands are carbon rich ecosystems. Peatlands are the largest natural terrestrial carbon store. They store more carbon than all other vegetation types in the world combined. 
• Damaged peatlands are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for almost 5% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions. 

Q1) What is the greenhouse effect?

The greenhouse effect is the process through which heat is trapped near Earth's surface by substances known as greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases consist of carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and water vapor.

Source: Canals used to drain peatlands are underappreciated hotspots for carbon emissions, new study finds

About Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS)

• It is a scheme introduced by the UK Government to facilitate developing countries to integrate into the global economy, create stronger trade and investment partnerships and strengthen supply chains.
• It is a simpler and more generous preferential trading scheme which has been designed to boost trade with developing countries in order to support their development. 
• It reduces or removes rates of duty, or tariffs, on imports from eligible developing countries into the UK.
• It also enables UK businesses to access thousands of products from around the globe at lower prices, reducing costs for UK consumers.
• The DCTS applies to 65 countries, that are:
  • least developed countries (LDCs) as defined by the United Nations.
  • low-income countries (LIC) and lower middle-income countries (LMIC) as defined by the World Bank.
• DCTS will provide duty-free, quota-free trade to LDCs on everything but arms and duty-free, quota-free trade on 85% of eligible goods to most low LIC and LMIC countries.
• The DCTS does not extend to countries and territories deemed by the World Bank as ‘upper-middle income’ for three consecutive years, or to LICs and LMICs who have a free trade agreement (FTA) with the UK.

Q1) What is the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT)?

It is a government organization in India responsible for the formulation of exim guidelines and principles for Indian importers and indian exporters of the country. It is an attached office of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and is headed by the Director General of Foreign Trade. It has been assigned the role of "facilitator". It is responsible for implementing the Foreign Trade Policy or Exim Policy with the main objective of promoting Indian exports.

Source: Exporters need to follow new UK rules to avail duty benefits: DGFT

About TEPA

• Features
  • Investment: TEPA sets out a target of a $100 billion investment into India from EFTA countries, and consequent one million jobs over a 15-year period.
  • It also provides India the ability to withdraw its tariff concessions if such expected investment is not achieved.
  • If India is not satisfied, it can pull back its tariff concessions in a proportionate manner after 18 years.
  • Trade in goods: India is mandated to eliminate tariff on most products within seven to 10 years.
  • With regard to India’s exports to EFTA, there will be no material impact since most products face very low or zero tariff for nations which have the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status in EFTA countries.
  • Trade in services: On services, both India and the EFTA members have committed to liberalisation across a wide range of sectors.
  • Sustainable development: The TEPA’s chapter on Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD), comprising commitments on environment and labour aspects, represents a first for India in any FTA.
  • The TSD chapter refers to a range of multilateral environmental agreements and labour conventions, whose implementation is based on a balance of rights and obligations.
  • Intellectual property rights: the EFTA countries are home to several pharmaceutical and high technology MNCs, whose ask has been commitments on protection of intellectual property rights that exceed the WTO’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.
  • The TEPA’s IPR Annex requires swift rejection of “prima facie unfounded” oppositions. This potentially opens up India’s internal regulatory process to external scrutiny on whether this standard was met. 

Q1) What Is the Most-Favored-Nation Clause?

A most-favored-nation (MFN) clause requires a country providing a trade concession to one trading partner to extend the same treatment to all.1 Used in trade treaties for hundreds of years, the MFN clause and its principle of universal equal treatment underpin the World Trade Organization

Source: What do FTAs with European countries signal? | Explained

About Bugun Liocichla

• It is a small babbler (only 20 cm) with olive-grey plumage and black cap.
• It has become an attraction of birdwatchers since it was discovered as a new bird species in 2006.
• It is found only in the Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary landscape and nowhere else in the world.
• The avian species is critically endangered with only 14 individual birds spotted so far in the Braiduah village under the Singchung sub-division.
• As a major step towards conservation, the Arunachal Pradesh government finally notified Braiduah Community Reserve under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
• The reserve is situated adjacent to the Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary.

Key facts about Bugun Tribe

• The Buguns migrated from Tibet via East Kameng, Arunachal Pradesh.
• They have their own geographical boundaries with neighbouring tribes and have a distinct language called Khowa.
• In ancient times the Bugun/Khowa tribe was known as “Shisung-Rubai.”
• The landscape of mountains and forests, rhododendrons, orchids, and the rich biodiversity are vital and sacred natural wealth that the Buguns are proud of daily lifestyles are integrally linked to their natural environment.
• Like other Indo-Mongoloid tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, Buguns (Khowas) too build their houses with bamboo.
• Their traditional houses are made of bamboo and wood with a stone base.
• They are known to be very hard working farmers and are skilled at extracting oil from a local wood species found in the forests called Chiblem.
• They have their own socio political administrative decision making body called the Nimiang that fluidly regulates the functioning of the community.
• The “Pham-Kho” is the annual festival of Bugun.
• Buguns are generally endogamous as they marry within their community.

Q1) Where is Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary?

It is a protected area of India in the Himalayan foothills of West Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh. It conjoins Sessa Orchid Sanctuary to the northeast and Pakhui Tiger Reserve across the Kameng river to the east. It is situated in the biodiversity hotspot of Eastern Himalayas and home to over 500 bird species.

Source: Arunachal tribe donates land for critically endangered songbird Bugun Liocichla

About Genetic Rescue

• Genetic rescue is the process of increasing population growth with new genetic variation by migrating individuals into another small population (i.e., gene flow).
• In practice, wildlife managers take individuals from a larger, healthier population, and bring them to a smaller population to introduce new variation and eventually help grow the population. 
• This conservation strategy aims to alleviate genetic load, decrease extinction risk, and enhance the viability of endangered species and populations. 
• It is often employed in conservation biology to mitigate the negative effects of inbreeding depression, which can occur when individuals within a population mate with close relatives, leading to decreased reproductive success and viability of offspring.
• Genetic rescue can have both beneficial and deleterious effects, depending on factors such as the magnitude and duration of gene flow, as well as the genetic and non-genetic factors influencing population dynamics.
• There can be risks involved with moving animals around, so it’s often thought of as a last resort.

Q1) What is a Gene?

A gene is the basic physical and functional unit of heredity. Genes are made up of DNA. Some genes act as instructions to make molecules called proteins.

Source: Conservation not enough for the highly inbred Ranthambore tigers — they require genetic rescue

About Barberton Greenstone Belt

• It is situated on the eastern edge of the Kaapvaal Craton in South Africa.
• It is known for its gold mineralisation and for its komatiites, an unusual type of ultramafic volcanic rock named after the Komati River that flows through the belt. 
• Some of the oldest exposed rocks on Earth (greater than 3.6 Ga) are located in the Barberton Greenstone Belt of the Eswatini–Barberton areas, and these contain some of the oldest traces of life on Earth, second only to the Isua Greenstone Belt of Western Greenland.
• The Makhonjwa Mountains make up 40% of the Baberton belt.
• Geological sampling indicates that some rock formations in these mountains are 3.2 to 3.6 billion years old.

What are ultramafic rocks?

• Ultramafic (or ultrabasic) rocks are dark-colored igneous and meta-igneous rocks that are rich in minerals containing magnesium and iron ("mafic" minerals) and have a relatively low content of silica.
• They are generally composed of more than 90 percent mafic minerals—that is, they have a high content of magnesium oxide (more than 18 percent MgO) and iron oxide (FeO). Their silica content is less than 45 percent, and their potassium content is low.
• The Earth's mantle is thought to be composed of ultramafic rocks.
• Most of the exposed ultramafic rocks have been found in orogenic (mountain-forming) belts. 

Q1) What are Igneous Rocks?

Igneous rocks are one of three main types of rocks (along with sedimentary and metamorphic), and they include both intrusive and extrusive rocks.Igneous rocks form when magma (molten rock) cools and crystallizes, either at volcanoes on the surface of the Earth or while the melted rock is still inside the crust. All magma develops underground, in the lower crust or upper mantle, because of the intense heat there. Igneous rocks can have many different compositions, depending on the magma they cool from.

Source: Oldest evidence of earthquakes found in strange jumble of 3.3-billion-year-old rocks from Africa

About Wearable Technology

• Wearable technology, also known as "wearables," is a category of electronic devices that can be worn as accessories, embedded in clothing, implanted in the user's body, or even tattooed on the skin.
• Wearable devices come in many shapes and sizes, including smart watches and sports watches, fitness trackers, head-mounted displays, smart jewellery, smart clothing, and even implantable devices.
• At a minimum, wearable devices are equipped with sensors, software and connecting technology.
• Working
  • The sensors gather information from the person wearing the device, and the software gathers the data and sends it to a device with processing capacity via a wireless connection.
  • The ecosystem on which wearable technology works is known as the Internet of Things (IoT).
  • It is the same principle as smart technology used at home, on devices such as thermostats that can be operated from a mobile device outside the home, or smart speakers, but applied at a personal level.
  • What makes an IoT solution even more attractive is the interpretation of the data gathered by the sensors.
• Benefits
  • Smart rings can provide more accurate readings than smartwatches, because they can use the capillaries (small blood vessels) in your finger to get their readings.
  • Another advantage of smart rings is that they have a longer battery life than smartwatches.
• Drawbacks
  • Smart rings can't and won't be able to replicate the functionality offered by a smartwatch.
  • Smart rings are unlikely to come with GPS or a screen.

Q1) What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?

It refers to an integrated system of physical objects (things) embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data within the systems over the “internet”. 

Source: Apple, Samsung smart rings to be available soon: What's wearable tech? Is it worth buying? Here is all you should know

About IceCube Neutrino Observatory

• It is a device at the earth’s South Pole that detects subatomic particles called neutrinos.
• It was built and is maintained by the IceCube Collaboration, which consists of many universities worldwide led by the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
• It consists of thousands of sensors buried more than 1.4 km beneath the ice plus multiple detectors above the surface.
• IceCube is the world’s biggest ‘neutrino telescope’; its sensors are distributed throughout a cubic kilometre of ice.
• Working
  • When a neutrino interacts with the ice surrounding the sensors, it may produce some charged particles and some radiation.
  • The sensors detect the radiation to infer the detection of a neutrino and use the radiation’s properties to understand more about the particle.
  • Neutrinos come in different types. IceCube can identify some of them in real-time.
  • For others, IceCube collects data for many years and scientists then comb through them to find neutrino interaction events.

Q1) What are Neutrinos?

Neutrinos are mysterious particles, produced copiously in nuclear reactions in the Sun, stars, and elsewhere. They also "oscillate"-- meaning that different types of neutrinos change into one another.A neutrino is a fermion that interacts only via weak interaction and gravity.

Source: Astronomers detect seven potential ‘ghost particles’ that passed through planet