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Data Nugget: Geo-tagging of Chinar timber
Topic: Atmosphere
(Relevance: Understanding the geo-tagging of Chinar timber in Jammu and Kashmir is necessary for the UPSC examination, because it highlights conservation efforts and raises consciousness about necessary features associated to this tree. Moreover, the UPSC has beforehand requested questions on numerous timber and associated environmental details.)
Why within the information?
Lately, the Jammu and Kashmir authorities launched the “Tree Aadhaar” mission to preserve the area’s chinar timber, which have been lowering in quantity over time. The initiative entails conducting a census of chinar timber and giving a singular id to every one in every of them.
Key Takeaways :
1. Chinar, also called Oriental aircraft tree (plantus orientalis var cashmeriana), is a maple-like tree with an enormous cover and is present in cool local weather areas with ample water.
2. The tree is a attribute of the Japanese Himalayas. It takes 30-50 years for a tree to mature and 150 years to succeed in its full measurement. The tree can develop up to a peak of 30 metres whereas its girth ranges from 10 to fifteen metres.
3. Chinar is the “state tree” of Jammu & Kashmir, now a Union Territory. The tree is a significant vacationer attraction within the valley in the course of the autumn season when its inexperienced leaves slowly develop into crimson pink and golden.
4. The tree finds a particular place within the artwork, literature and craft of Kashmir — native papier mache, embroidery, hand-woven carpets and walnut wooden carvings usually function chinar motifs.
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5. The title “chinar” was given to the tree by the Mughals, with some suggesting that it was Mughal emperor Jahangir who coined the time period.
6. Notably, Mughals performed a big position in increasing chinar plantations within the Kashmir Valley and components of the Chenab area in Jammu. The Mughals thought of this tree a “royal tree.”
Chinar Conservation Undertaking
1. The venture goals to allow the federal government to watch the standing of every Chinar tree. Notably, permission from the federal government is required to chop down a Chinar tree, even whether it is on non-public property. Nevertheless, timber are sometimes minimize down with out authorisation. Due to this fact, the Chinar conservation venture focuses on bettering the monitoring of those timber.
2. The brand new initiative entails conducting a census of chinar timber throughout the Kashmir valley and the Chenab area. As a part of the method, the federal government has not solely enumerated chinar timber but in addition given a singular id — known as Tree Aadhaar — to every chinar tree. The census has been completed district-wise. Every tree has been geo-tagged.
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3. As a part of the initiative, metallic QR codes have been positioned on chinar timber. When scanned, these codes will present details about every tree throughout 25 parameters. This contains the tree’s longitude and latitude, age, peak, girth, variety of branches, and total well being. Moreover, the knowledge will cowl the tree’s cover and any ecological threats it could face.
BEYOND THE NUGGET: MISHTI (Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes) and Satellite tv for pc tagging of Ganges dolphin
1. The Union authorities’s Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats and Tangible Incomes (MISHTI) programme was launched after India joined the ‘Mangrove Alliance for Local weather’ in the course of the twenty seventh Convention of Events (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Conference on Local weather Change, held in Egypt in November 2022. The initiative was formally launched on June 5, 2023 on the event of World Atmosphere Day.
2. Mangroves aren’t simply a few of the most bio-diverse areas in India, additionally they shield the coastlines from the vagaries of inclement climate. As local weather change will increase the incidence of utmost climate occasions internationally, mangrove plantations have proven to make coastal lands resilient, stopping flooding, land erosion and appearing as a buffer for cyclones. Moreover, Mangroves are additionally wonderful carbon sinks.
Satellite tv for pc Tagging of Ganges Dolphin
1. The primary Ganges river dolphin (Platanista gangetica) was tagged in Assam on December 18, 2024, marking a historic milestone for Undertaking Dolphin, which goals to preserve India’s Nationwide Aquatic Animal.
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2. The tagging train goals to reinforce understanding of species’ seasonal and migratory patterns, vary, distribution, and habitat utilization, particularly in fragmented or disturbed river programs, as acknowledged within the Ministry of Atmosphere, Forest and Local weather Change press launch.
3. The Gangetic dolphin is one in every of 5 species of river dolphin discovered around the globe. It’s discovered primarily within the Indian subcontinent, notably in Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river programs.
4. In 2009, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, declared the Gangetic river dolphin because the Nationwide Aquatic Animal of India, in what was an try to spice up consciousness of the species and neighborhood participation in its conservation.
5. Each the Indus and Ganges dolphins have been listed as ‘Endangered’ within the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Purple Checklist for the reason that Nineties. This classification signifies that the species has “a really excessive threat of turning into extinct within the wild”.
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(References: Geo-tagging and ‘Aadhaar’: How, why the J&Okay govt is attempting to preserve chinar timber, Data nugget of the day: Satellite tv for pc tagging of a Ganges dolphin)
🚨 Click on Right here to learn the Union Funds Particular subject of the UPSC Necessities journal for February 2025. Share your views and recommendations within the remark field or at manas.srivastava@indianexpress.com🚨
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