Codex Alimentarius Commission

Recently Codex Alimentarius Commission praised India for its standards on Millets.

• The Codex Alimentarious Commission (CAC) is an international food safety and quality standard-setting body established in 1963.
• It is created by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
• The objective of it includes protecting consumer’s health and ensuring fair practices in food trade.
• Presently the Commission has 189 Codex Members made up of 188 Member Countries and 1 Member Organization (The European Union).
• Each member of the Commission is responsible for identifying any new scientific and other relevant information which may warrant revision of any existing Codex standards or related text.
• India became the member of Codex Alimentarius in 1964.
• The Codex Alimentarius includes standards for all the principal foods, whether processed, semi-processed or raw for distribution to the consumer.
• Codex standards and related texts are voluntary in nature not a substitute or alternative to national legislation.
• Every country’s laws and administrative procedures contain provisions with which it is essential to comply with it.
• Recently the commission has praised India’s Standards on Millets and accepted its proposal for the development of global standards for millets during its 46th session held in Rome, Italy.
• India has framed a comprehensive group standard for 15 types of millets specifying 8 quality parameters, which received resounding applause at the international meet.
• Codex currently has standards for Sorghum and Pearl Millet.

Akkadi Saalu

The recently released report by the FAO suggests that use of traditional framing practices including Akkadi Saalu could reduce the escalating human and environmental costs of producing food.

• Akkadi Saalu is an intercropping system that has been in traditional practice in Karnataka.
• It is a diversity based ecological farming practice that integrates multi-cropping with livestock, native seeds, soil enrichment, organic fertilizers and bio-markers as indicators of crop health.
• It helps to preserve life in the soil by reducing the use of pesticides.
• It is a traditional, biodiversity based ecological farming practice with zero chemical fertilisers, zero chemical pesticides and minimal use of ground water.
• It involves intercropping with a combination of legumes, pulses, oilseeds, trees, shrubs and livestock that improves the health of the soil.
• It is built on proven ecological principles integrated into locally adopted farming systems and innovations like BioChar.
• Akkadi Saalu helps farmers make the best use of land which depends on rains.

ALTERRA

The United Arab Emirates recently announced the ALTERRA, a privately managed fund of USD 250 billion to catalyse private sector climate investments globally by 2030.

• ALTERRA is privately managed fund that aims to mobilise USD 250 billion globally by 2030 to catalyse private sector climate investments.
• It is the World's Largest Private Investment Vehicle for Climate Action.
• It aims to revolutionise international climate finance by fostering a fairer system, with a focus on enhancing funding accessibility for the Global South.
• It is geared towards climate investments and intended to transform emerging markets and developing economies.
• It has been established by Lunate, an independent global investment manager, and is domiciled in the Abu Dhabi Global Market.
• The 4 verticals of the ALTERRA includes:
  1. Energy Transition
  2. Industrial Decarbonisation
  3. Sustainable Living
  4. Climate Technologies
• Its scale and structure will create a multiplier effect in climate focused investment, making it a significant vehicle for climate investment.
• It provides a transformational solution for attracting private capital.
• From the initial tranche, an unspecified amount has been earmarked for the development of over 6.0 Gigawatt (GW) of new clean energy capacity in India.
• 6.0 Gigawatt (GW) of new clean energy capacity in India will include establishing 1,200 MW of wind and solar projects that will begin producing clean power by 2025.

Global Drought Snapshot Report

Recently the Global Drought Snapshot Report was launched at the COP 28 by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in collaboration with the International Drought Resilience Alliance (IDRA).

• The Global Drought Snapshot Report highlights the need for urgent action to address the increasing frequency and severity of droughts.
• The report is released by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in collaboration with the International Drought Resilience Alliance (IDRA).
• Some of the human activities that can trigger droughts include over farming, Excessive irrigation, Deforestation and Erosion.
• Some climate patterns that can cause droughts include El Nino and La Nina.
• Droughts have a cascading effect that includes:
  • Dwindling reservoir levels and declining crop yields,
  • Loss of biological diversity to famines and serious economic consequences in agriculture and
  • Drought-related crop failures leading to food shortages and often skyrocketing prices, potentially disrupting global food supply chains.
• Key highlights of the report – The drought emergency was declared in 23 countries including India.
• The economic losses associated with the disaster were estimated to be in the billions of dollars annually.
• The Europe had the highest number of countries (8) in drought emergencies that include Spain, Italy, United Kingdom Greece, Portugal, Romania and Serbia.
• In recent years, droughts have expanded their territory and intensity.
• The United States and Canada also declared drought emergencies in January 2022 and March 2023 respectively.
• In Asia, 5 countries declared drought that includes India and Sri Lanka in August 2023, Indonesia in July 2023, Kazakhstan and China in April and May 2022 respectively.
• Humans are responsible for all global heating over the past 200 years leading to a current temperature rise of 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels.

Gajraj Suraksha

The Indian Railways has recently chosen the Northeast Frontier Railways to implement the Gajraj Suraksha technology on pilot basis to reduce the elephant–train collision in the forest areas.

• Gajraj Suraksha is an indigenous technology that aims to prevent elephant–train collision in the forest areas.
• It primarily relies on OFCs or Optical Fibre cables for quick transmission of signals.
• It is a kind of Intrusion Detection System that is based on an AI algorithm.
• It is very cost effective, the implementation cost on a vast network spanning 700 kilometres of railway tracks is only 181 crores.
• Working mechanism – Gajraj Suraksha uses pressure-wave based technology that detects the movement of elephants along the tracks.
• These vibrations trigger signals within the optical fibre network, enabling the system to identify the presence of elephants up to 200 meters ahead of their arrival on the track.
• The OFC-based Intrusion Detection System works by sending alarms to station masters whenever movement is detected along the tracks.