Solution (a)

The ‘Blue Flag’ is a certification that can be obtained by a beach, marina, or sustainable boating tourism operator, and serves as an eco-label. 

The certification is awarded by the Denmark-based non-profit Foundation for Environmental Education, which sets stringent environmental, educational, safety-related and access-related criteria that applicants must meet and maintain. 

It is awarded annually to beaches and marinas in FEE member countries.

The Blue Flag programme was started in France in 1985 and in areas out of Europe in 2001. The programme promotes sustainable development in freshwater and marine areas through four main criteria: water quality, environmental management, environmental education and safety.

Forty-seven countries currently participate in the program, and 4,573 beaches, marinas, and boats have this certification.

Article Link: Eden becomes first Puducherry beach to get coveted Blue Flag tag

Solution (b)

The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries are parties to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence.

The origins of the FVEY can be traced back to informal secret meetings during World War II between British and US code-breakers that started before the US entry into the war, followed by the Atlantic Charter agreed by the Allies to lay out their goals for a post-war world.

In spite of continued controversy over its methods, the Five Eyes relationship remains one of the most comprehensive known espionage alliances in history.

Article Link: Aukus powers up five eyes’ anti-China plan, boosts Quad

Solution (d)

Transforming Food Systems for Rural Prosperity report is released recently by the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Findings of the report:

• Food systems are responsible for 37 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions and are also highly vulnerable to a changing climate.
• There are 800 million hungry people and yet high obesity rates. 
• Nutritious diets are expensive yet many small-scale farmers are poor. 
• Current food growing practices are not good for our environment.
• Farms of up to two hectares produce 31 per cent of the world’s food on less than 11 per cent of the farmland.
• Over the past 70 years, a focus on industrial farming and producing more calories at low cost has been accompanied by growing malnutrition, increased food waste and a high environmental cost.

Recommendations of the report:

The report recommended concrete actions to be taken by governments:

• Rewarding farmers for ecosystem services such as maintaining healthy soil and regulating pests and incentives for nature-based practices and local, healthy diet.
• Making available innovations such as nature-based solutions, agro-ecology and affordable digital technologies to boost rural small-scale famers’ production. The measures will also enable the cultivators to be climate-resilient employing low-carbon and sustainable techniques
• Developing and focussing on pricing systems that reflect the full and true cost of production
• Shifting food systems towards circular resource use for sustainability and resilience

Article Link: Dramatic changes needed in global food systems to address nutrition disparity, poverty: IFAD

Solution (c)

Chandaka Elephant Sanctuary is a wildlife reserve located in the south fringe of cuttack in Odisha.

It was designated as an elephant reserve in December 1982.

The Indian elephant is the flagship species and indicative of the potential productivity of the habitat. Chital, barking deer, mouse deer, wild boar, common langur, rhesus monkey, small Indian civet, common Indian mongoose, small Indian mongoose, ruddy mongoose, pangolin, sloth bear, ratel, Indian wolf and hyena are other mammals of the area.

The Zoological Survey of India (in 2002) reported 37 species of mammals, 167 species of birds, 33 species of reptiles, 13 species of amphibians and 28 species of fishes in this sanctuary.

Article Link: Odisha readies radio collars for 7 elephants

Solution (c)

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of compounds consisting of metal ions or clusters coordinated to organic ligands to form one-, two-, or three-dimensional structures. They are a subclass of coordination polymers, with the special feature that they are often porous.

MOFs are considered good candidates to be employed in wastewater treatment technologies.

MOFs also find applications in the storage of gases such as hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Other possible applications of MOFs are in gas purification, in gas separation, in catalysis, as conducting solids and as supercapacitors.

Article Link: Researchers develop super-hydrophobic cotton for oil-spill cleanup