29th Oct Daily current affairs for UPSC Civil Service Exam

Bonn Convention

• Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) is popularly known as Bonn convention.
• It is an environmental treaty under the aegis of United Nations Environment Programme.
• It brings together the States through which migratory animals pass (the range states) and lays down conservation measures.
• Migratory species threatened with extinction are listed on Appendix I of the Convention.
• CMS Parties strive towards strictly protecting these animals, conserving and mitigating obstacles to their migration.
• Migratory species that need or would significantly benefit from international co-operation are listed in Appendix II of the Convention.
• India is a party to this convention whereas China, Russia, US, Canada, Japan are not party to it.

Meeting of CMS and its outcomes

• The Twelfth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the Bonn Convention (CMS COP12) was held in Manila, the Philippines.
• It is the first time that the COP has been held in Asia.
• The slogan for the Conference is “Their Future is Our Future – Sustainable Development for Wildlife & People”, links to the Sustainable Development Goals.
• Four Asian Vultures such as red-headed vulture, white-rumped vulture, Indian vulture and slender-billed vulture are set to get highest protection by the convention.
• The whale shark, which inhabits the Indian Ocean, got global protection too.
• The Caspian seal, the only marine mammal found in the world’s largest inland sea has also been identified for conservation.
• The next edition of the meeting will be held in India in 2020.

Cholera

• After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti there was a sudden outbreak of cholera.
• According to a recent study, bacterial strains similar to those found in Haitian cholera were present in Delhi as early as 2004, showing that the disease may have originated in the Indian subcontinent.
• Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.
• Diarrhoea can be so severe that it leads within hours to severe dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. It can be successfully treated with oral rehydration solution.
• Cholera transmission is closely linked to inadequate access to clean water and sanitation facilities.
• During the 19th century, cholera spread across the world from its original reservoir in the Ganges delta in India.

Exocomets

• Scientists have detected the dusty tails of six exocomets – comets outside our solar system – orbiting a faint star 800 light years from Earth.
• They are some of the smallest objects yet found outside our own solar system.
• The discovery marks the first time that an object as small as a comet has been detected using transit photometry, a technique by which astronomers observe a star’s light for revealing dips in intensity.
• The detection was made using data from NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, a stellar observatory that was launched into space in 2009.

ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus)

• ADMM-Plus was inaugurated in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2010.
• It is an annual meeting that brings together the defence ministers of ten ASEAN countries, with those of eight “dialogue partners”.
• These include India, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia, and the United States.
• This year it was recently held in Manila, Philippines.
• India called for safeguarding freedom of navigation, over flight and commerce in regional waters.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

• ASEAN is a regional organisation comprising 10 Southeast Asian states which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic integration amongst its members.
• Member nations are: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
• ASEAN plus Three was created to improve existing ties with the People's Republic of China, Japan, and South Korea.
• ASEAN became ASEAN Plus Six with additional countries: Australia, New Zealand and India
• Even larger East Asia Summit (EAS) was formed which included ASEAN plus Three countries as well as India, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Russia.
• In 2006, ASEAN was given observer status at the United Nations General Assembly.
• In response, the organisation awarded the status of "dialogue partner" to the UN.

Source: The Hindu, Business Standard, Indian Express