CURRENT AFFAIRS CRASH COURSE

GEOGRAPHY – OCEANOGRAPHY &

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
 GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE

Why in News?
Great Pacific Garbage situated to the Centre of Turtle Gyre
 The Ocean Cleanup
The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit organization developing
and scaling technologies to rid the oceans of plastic.
 ISSUES
➢ Micro Plastics

➢ Marine debris at the sea floor

➢ 80 percent of plastic in the ocean is estimated to come

from land-based sources, with the remaining 20 percent
coming from boats and other marine sources.
IMPACT ON VARIOUS MARINE SPECIES
GHOST FISHING
 OCEAN AMNESIA

Why in News?
➢The world ocean is losing its memory under global
warming. Decline is a response to human-induced
warming.
 What is it?

Compared with the fast weather fluctuations of the

atmosphere, the slowly varying ocean exhibits strong
persistence, or "memory," meaning the ocean
temperature tomorrow is likely to look a lot like it does
today, with only slight changes.

As a result, ocean memory is often used to predict

ocean conditions.
What is it?
 CONSEQUENCES

➢Climate Prediction
➢Impact on Marine Ecosystems
 FIFTH INTERNATIONAL MARINE
PROTECTED AREAS CONGRESS (IMPAC5)

Why in News?
 About IMPAC
❖ IMPAC congresses - a collaborative effort between the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the
chosen host country.
❖ Held every four years
❖ The goal of IMPAC is to advance the conservation and sustainable
use of the world's marine biodiversity and to support the
implementation of the United Nations Convention on Biological
Diversity's goals for marine conservation and management.
 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MEET

✓ 70% of MPAs are underfunded.

✓ A well-managed and sufficiently funded MPA can
restore good health to vulnerable ecosystems.
✓ IMPAC5 aims to provide a forum for sharing knowledge,
successes and best practices in an open and respectful
environment for the exchanging of ideas among a
diversity of views.
 MARINE PROTECTED AREAS (MPAs)

What is it?
➢ MPAs are designated areas of the ocean that are set aside for the protection
and conservation of marine ecosystems and their biodiversity.
➢ Within the region, certain activities are limited, or entirely prohibited, to meet
specific conservation, habitat protection, ecosystem monitoring or fisheries
management objectives.
➢ MPAs do not necessarily exclude fishing, research or other human activities; in
fact, many MPAs are multi-purpose areas.
 NEED FOR ESTABLISHING MPAS

❖Biodiversity Conservation
❖Sustainable Fisheries
❖Climate Change Mitigation
❖Research and Education
❖Economic Benefits
 INDIA’S MPAs

✓ There are 24 MPAs in peninsular India and more than 100 MPAs in the
country's islands.
✓ The 24 MPAs of the mainland have a total area of about 8214 km , which is
about 5% of the total protected area network of India and represents 0.25%
of the total geographic area of the country.
✓ Under the provisions of the Wild Life (Protection), Amendment Act of 2002,
the Maine protected area seeks to preserve and protect the natural marine
ecosystems in their pristine state.
 SAMUDRAYAAN

Why in News?
➢India to send 3 aquanauts 500 mtrs under sea this
year in an indigenously built vessel, Samudrayaan,
this year.
About Samudraayan
 DEEP OCEAN MISSION

➢ Deep Ocean Mission (DOM) - the Ministry of Earth Sciences - a

period of five years.

➢ Deep Ocean Mission will be a mission mode project to support the

Blue Economy Initiatives of the Government of India.

➢ With an emphasis on the development of deep-sea technology,

the Deep Ocean Mission consists of development of manned
Submersible rated for 6,000 metre water depth along with
technologies for deep-sea mining, exploration of deep-sea
mineral resources, and marine biodiversity.
 OBJECTIVES

✓ Development of technologies for deep sea mining, underwater vehicles

and underwater robotics
✓ Development of ocean climate change advisory services
✓ Technological innovations for exploration and conservation of deep-sea
biodiversity
✓ Deep ocean survey and exploration
✓ Proof of concept studies on energy and freshwater from the ocean
✓ Establishing advanced marine station for ocean biology.
 TRIPLE DIP LANINA

Why in News?
➢The first “triple-dip” La Niña (three consecutive years) of the
21st century affected temperature and precipitation patterns
and exacerbated drought and flooding in different parts of the
world.
Normal condition
La Nina
El Nino
'Flavors' of El Niño
El Niño & La Nina
 GREAT BARRIER REEF

Why in News?
About Great Barrier Reef
What are Corals
Symbiotic relationship between Zooxanthellae & Polyp

oThe coral provides the zooxanthellae with a protected environment and compounds
necessary for photosynthesis.

oIn return, the zooxanthellae supply the coral with organic products of photosynthesis,
like carbohydrates, which are utilized by the coral polyps for synthesis of their calcium
carbonate skeletons.

oZooxanthellae are also responsible for the unique and beautiful colors of corals.
 TYPES OF
CORALS

Hard Soft
Corals Corals
Coral Reefs
Coral Distribution in World
Coral Reefs In India
 MARINE SPATIAL
FRAMEWORK (MSP)

Why in News?
 MSP

➢ Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) is a public process of analyzing and

allocating the spatial and temporal distribution of human activities in
marine areas to achieve ecological, economic and social objectives that
have been specified through a political process.

➢ Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO help

countries by providing a step-by-step guide for ecosystem-based MSP.
 MSP IN INDIA

❖ Ministry of Earth Sciences oversees the implementation of the MSP through

National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), the National Centre for Sustainable
Coastal Management, the Puducherry Coastal Zone Management Authority and
Department of Science, Technology and Environment, Puducherry in collaboration
with Norwegian Environment Agency.

❖ The two nations have agreed to provide continued assistance towards the
sustainable use of ocean resources, with the aim of promoting economic and
social development in coastal regions.

❖ After successful implementation of pilot project in Lakshadweep and Puducherry,

the framework can be replicated to other coastal regions of the country.
Significance of MSP Framework
 GLOBAL OVERTURNING
CIRCULATION

Why in News?
➢Climate change will slow down deep overturning ocean circulation in
the coming centuries. Using three dozen Earth system models, researchers
have concluded that the Southern Meridional Overturning Circulation
could completely shut down by 2300, causing disaster to the marine
ecosystem on a large portion of the planet.
 GLOBAL OVERTURNING
CIRCULATION

What is AMOC AND GLOBAL

OVERTURNING CIRCULATION?
 IS THE AMOC SLOWING DOWN?

➢ As our climate continues to change, is there a possibility that the AMOC will slow
down, or come to a complete stop? While research shows it is weakening over the
past century, whether or not it will continue to slow or stop circulating completely
remains uncertain.
➢ If the AMOC does continue to slow down, however, it could have far-reaching climate
impacts. For example, if the planet continues to warm, freshwater from melting ice
at the poles would shift the rain belt in South Africa, causing droughts for millions of
people.
➢ It would also cause sea level rise across the U.S. East Coast.
ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
 LITHIUM IN JAMMU & KASHMIR

Why in News?
 LITHIUM

✓ ‘White gold’ - high demand for rechargeable batteries, is a soft

and silvery-white metal.
✓ Extracted in different ways, depending on the type of the
deposit — generally either through solar evaporation of large
brine pools, or from hard-rock extraction of the ore.
✓ Uses -
 INFERRED RESOURCES
✓ The “inferred” mineral resource is a resource for which
quantity, grade and mineral content are estimated only with a
low level of confidence.
✓ It is based on information gathered from locations such as
outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes that may be of
limited or uncertain quality, and also of lower reliability from
geological evidence.
✓ It is based on the classification from United Nations
International Framework Classification for Reserves/Resources
– Solid Fuels and Mineral Commodities of 1997 (UNFC-1997).
 GLOBAL PEATLAND ASSESSSMENT
– UNEP

Why in News?
➢UNEP published the Global Peatlands Assessment
 WHAT ARE 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.
❖ Over millennia this material builds up and becomes several metres
thick.
❖ They occur in almost every country on Earth, currently covering 3% of
the global land surface.
❖ Peatland landscapes are varied – from blanket bog landscapes with
open, treeless vegetation in the Flow Country of Scotland – a tentative
World Heritage site – to swamp forests in Southeast Asia.
 THEIR IMPORTANCE

• Peatlands are the largest natural terrestrial carbon store. This area
sequesters 0.37 gigatonnes of CO2 a year.
• In their natural, wet state peatlands provide vital ecosystem
services.
• By regulating water flows, they help minimise the risk of flooding
and drought and prevent seawater intrusion.
• In many parts of the world, peatlands supply food, fibre and other
local products that sustain local economies.
• Preserve important ecological and archaeological information
such as pollen records and human artefacts.
 GLOBAL PEATLANDS INITIATIVE

✓ The Global Peatlands Initiative is an international partnership

formed in 2016 to save peatlands as the world’s largest
terrestrial organic carbon stock.
✓ Forty-six international partner organizations and four major
tropical peatland countries of Indonesia, Republic of Congo,
Democratic Republic of Congo and Peru have come together to
work to improve the conservation, restoration and sustainable
management of peatlands globally.
 WORLD’S MOST POPULOUS NATION
- INDIA

Why in News?
➢In 2022, China for the first time registered an absolute decline in its
population. According to projections by the World Population Review,
India has surpassed China as the world’s most populous nation. While
India’s population was 1.42 billion as of January 18, China for the first
time reported a fall of 850,000 since the 1960s and now stands at 1.41
billion.
 HIGHLIGHT OF THE REPORT

❖ The last time China reported a fall was during the ‘Great Leap Forward’, an
economic and social campaign led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
from 1958 to 1962, leading to widespread famine and starvation.
❖ This decline has come about a decade earlier than UN predictions. The
reasons estimated are the surging cost of living, the erstwhile ‘one-child
policy’ (discontinued in 2016), and the ‘later, longer, fewer’ family planning
campaigns.
❖ WPR predicts that while India’s population growth has slowed, it will
continue to rise till 2050. According to India’s National Commission on
Population, it will reach 1.52 billion by 2036.
 HIGHLIGHT OF THE REPORT
❖ More than half of the estimated increase in global population between 2022 and
2050 will be in just eight countries: Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan,
the Philippines, and Tanzania.
❖ While India continues to enjoy its demographic dividend, it could have adverse
effects if enough employment opportunities are not generated for people entering
the workforce every year.
❖ India’s labour force participation rate (an estimation of the active workforce and
people looking for work,) stood at 46 per cent in 2021 which is among the lowest in
Asia.
❖ Female participation in the workforce was even lower at 19 per cent, down from 26
per cent in 2005. By comparison, the rates for China and the United States stood at
68 per cent and 61 per cent respectively in the same year.
 FACTORS AFFECTING POPULATION

➢Total Fertility Rate (TFR)

➢Mortality Rate
➢Life Expectancy at Birth
India’s population
pyramid
 INDIA’s COAL CONSUMPTION

Why in News?
 DISTRIBUTION OF COAL IN INDIA
➢Gondwana Coal Fields (250 million years old)
➢Tertiary Coal Fields (15 – 60 million years old)
Classification
Coal Reserves & Production in world
 Coal Reserves & Production in world

Production (World)
China, India and U.S

Coal Reserves & Production in India:

Reserves: Jharkhand, Odisha and Chattisgarh

Production: Jharkhand, Odisha and Chattisgarh