Current Affairs Question - 23 September 2020

Explanation :

• The Convention on Biological Diversity was opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro on 5 June 1992 and entered into force on 29 December 1993.
• It is a key document regarding sustainable development. It comes under the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
• It has two supplementary agreements, the Cartagena Protocol and Nagoya Protocol.

Main Goals

• Conservation of biological diversity.
• Sustainable use of its components.
• Fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.

Members

• 196 countries are a party to the CBD.
• India is also a party to the Convention. India ratified it in 1994.The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 was enacted for giving effect to the provisions of the Convention.

Cartagena Protocol

• The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international treaty governing the movements of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology from one country to another.
• It was adopted on 29 January 2000 as a supplementary agreement to the CBD and entered into force on 11 September 2003.

Nagoya Protocol

• The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS) to the Convention on Biological Diversity is another supplementary agreement to the CBD.
• It provides a transparent legal framework for the effective implementation of one of the three objectives of the CBD.
• It was adopted on 29 October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan and entered into force on 12 October 2014.

Explanation :

• On March 27, 2019, India conducted Mission Shakti, an anti-satellite missile test, from the Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam Island launch complex, Odisha(formerly known as Wheeler Island).
• This was a technological mission carried out by DRDO. The satellite used in the mission was one of India’s existing satellites operating in lower orbit.
• The significance of the test is that India has tested and successfully demonstrated its capability to interdict and intercept a satellite in outer space based on complete indigenous technology.
• The test made India the fourth country after the US, Russia and China to have tested an ASAT weapon.