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PRELIMS BOOSTERS – 2018: Chinkara and Antarctic Treaty System (ATS)

 

 

 

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PRELIMS BOOSTERS 2018

Red Panda  and Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)

 

Chinakara

 

  1. Least concerned – IUCN
  2. It is the smallest asiatic antelopechinkara
  3. Basically a shy and demure animaland stays away from human habitation
  4. Behaviour: 
  • Chinkaras are shy and avoid human habitation.
  • They can go without water for long periods and can get sufficient fluids from plants and dew
  1. Habitat
  • Arid plains and hills, grasslands and desert areas , dry scrub and light forests
  • Western and central India, extending through Pakistan, south-western Afghanistan and into north-central Iran. The Thar Desert of western India remains a stronghold.
  • Found sharing habitat with Nilgai.
  1. Threats
  • Indiscriminate hunting in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.
  • Habitat loss through overgrazing, conversion to agriculture and industrial development

Antarctic Treaty System (ATS)

 

  1. Antarctic Treaty and related agreements are collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS)

 

Antarctic Treaty System (ATS)

  1. It regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica
  2. Antarctica is defined as all of the land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude
  3. Antarctic Treaty Secretariat Headquarters —  Buenos Aires, Argentina
  4. Antarctic treaty 

a) First arms control agreement established during the Cold War

b) Signed in Washington on 1959(1 December) by the twelve countries whose scientists had been active in and around Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957-58

c) Entered into force in 1961

d) Currently has 53 parties

e) Sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve

f) Provisions

  • Antarctica shall be used for peaceful purposes only(Art. I)
  • Freedom of scientific investigation in Antarctica and cooperation toward that end … shall continue(Art. II).
  • Scientific observations and results from Antarctica shall be exchanged and made freely available(Art. III).

 

  1. Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty
  • Signed in Madrid on October 4, 1991
  • In 1998 — entered into force 
  • designates Antarctica as a “natural reserve, devoted to peace and science”
  • It sets forth basic principles applicable to human activities in Antarctica
  • Article 7 — prohibits all activities relating to Antarctic mineral resources, except for scientific research. 
  1. Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR),1982
  • Secretariat — Hobart, Tasmania
  • To conserve Antarctic marine life.
  • Why ? response to increasing commercial interest in Antarctic krill resources, a keystone component of the Antarctic ecosystem.
  • It practises an ecosystem-based management approach.
  1. India’s research centres in Antarctic

a) Dakshin Gangotri — established during the third Indian expedition to Antarctica in 1983/84

  • Abandoned as it was burried in ince in 1990

b) Maitri (1989) –– second permanent research station

  • situated on the rocky mountainous region called Schirmacher Oasis
  • India also built a freshwater lake around Maitri known as Lake Priyadarshini.

c) Bharti, 2012

d) Sagar Nidhi, 2008

  • An ice class vessel, it can cut through thin ice of 40 cm depth and is the first Indian vessel to navigate Antarctic water