• Environment ministers of the African continent have agreed to institute national and regional strategies to minimise environmental impacts in the extraction and processing of critical mineral resources.
• Fifty-four countries acknowledged key environmental challenges faced by the continent — land degradation, desertification and drought – in the Addis Ababa declaration signed on August 18, 2023.
• The declaration was a key outcome of the 19^th African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) 2023 held at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
• The theme for AMCEN 2023 was “Seizing Opportunities and Enhancing Collaboration to Address Environmental Challenges in Africa”.
• The declaration prioritises urgent, wide-ranging action on environmental challenges related to climate change, plastics pollution, marine protection, biodiversity conservation and natural capital.
  • These actions would minimise environmental impacts and contribute to the global goals of mitigating climate change, protecting ecosystems and promoting sustainable development.

• As per a new study, up to 10,000 emperor penguin chicks across four colonies in Antarctica’s Bellingshausen Sea may have died as the sea ice underneath their breeding grounds melted and broke apart in late 2022.

ABOUT EMPEROR PENGUIN (APTENODYTES FORSTERI)

• It is the tallest and heaviest of all 18 living penguin species.
• It is endemic to Antarctica.
• The diet primarily consists of fish, but also includes crustaceans and squids. .
• They have two layers of feathers, a good reserve of fat and proportionally smaller beaks and flippers than other penguins to prevent heat loss.
• It is the only penguin species that breeds during the Antarctic winter.
  • They breed and raise their young mostly on ‘fast ice’, a floating platform of frozen ocean which is connected to the land or to ice shelves.
• Approximate population- 600,000
• The lifespan is typically 20 years in the wild, although observations suggest that some individuals may live to 50 years of age.
• IUCN status: Near threatened.

• With the recent explosion in the amount of data available, scientists have shed new light on somatic genetic variants.

HOW ARE THEY FORMED?

• The human genome has 23 pairs of chromosomes, one inherited from each of our parents.
• The genome is the blueprint of our genetic makeup.
• After fertilisation, the combined single cell, with the 23 chromosomes, starts to divide, copying the genetic material over and over to nearly a trillion cells – which make up the human body.
• As the cells divide, the DNA is copied with extremely high accuracy thanks to proteins that proofread and correct errors in the DNA.
• But despite this mechanism, there is still an error rate of 0.64-0.78 mutations per billion base pairs per division.
• The number and effect of these errors vary significantly, depending on the stage of development or the point in the life-cycle at which they occur.
• An error that occurs in the DNA after birth but during development is called a somatic genetic mutation.

• Their occurrence is driven by the repeated ‘copy-pasting’ of the genome – which means there will be more somatic genetic mutations the older an individual is and the higher the turnover of the tissue.

IMPACTS

• Sometimes, a somatic genetic mutation can render a cell fitter than others, which lead to the formation of tumours. So these mutations are called driver mutations.
• Many genetic conditions arise from somatic genetic variants.
• Somatic genetic variants are important for a number of normal physiological processes like immune system

USE OF THIS INFORMATION-

• Can help with early detection, diagnosis, and prognosis of cancer.
• Detection of development of genetic diseases.
• Precision medicine

• The report is an assessment of the distribution range, trends in abundance and conservation status of 942 of India’s 1,200 bird species and has been carried out by 13 partner organisations, including the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and Zoological Survey of India (ZSI).
• The assessments rely on three indices-
  • long-term trend (change over 30 years)
  • current annual trend (change over past seven years)
  • measure of distribution range size in India.

MAJOR FINDINGS

• There is a general decline in numbers in most bird species in the country. Raptors, migratory shorebirds and ducks have declined the most.
• Bird species such as the Indian Peafowl, Rock Pigeon, Asian Koel and House Crow are healthy in both abundance and distribution, and showing an “increasing trend”.
  • In the last 20 years, Indian Peafowl has expanded into the high Himalaya and the rainforests of the Western Ghats.
• Of the 338 species, for which long-term trends have been identified, it says, 204 or 60% have declined in the long term, 98 species are stable, while 36 have increased.
• Using IUCN standards, the report says that 178 bird species are high conservation priority, 323 as moderate priority and 441 as low priority.
• Bird species which are “specialists’’ – restricted to narrow habitats like wetlands, rainforests and grasslands, as opposed to species that can inhabit a wide range of habitats such as plantations and agricultural fields – are rapidly declining.
  • The “generalist’’ birds that can live in multiple habitat types are doing well as a group.
• Long-distance migratory birds, such as those from Eurasia and the Arctic, have suffered significant declines, while resident species remain more stable.
• Major threats include– Climate Change, Urbanization, Monocultures, Energy Infrastructure.

• August 23^rd has been declared as National Space Day to commemorate India’s achievement of Chandrayaan-3 soft landing on moon’s south pole.
• Also the landing site of Chandrayaan-3’s moon lander would be referred as ‘Shiv shakti Point.’
• Moreover, the crash-landed site of Chandrayaan-2 on the lunar surface in 2019 is now known as ‘Tiranga Point.’

• Neeraj Chopra has made history by winning the gold medal in the men’s javelin throw event at the World Athletics Championships held in Budapest, Hungary.
• He became the first-ever Indian athlete to win a gold at the Championship.
• Neeraj made a throw of 88.17 meters during his second attempt.

• Max Verstappen has won the Dutch Grand Prix for the third consecutive year.
• Fernando Alonso came in second place.
• Pierre Gasly finished at third place on the podium.

• India’s ‘goldilocks’ scenario rests on corporate earnings growth trajectory.

ABOUT GOLDILOCKS ECONOMY

• An economy that is neither running too hot nor too cold, but at an ideal pace.
• A steady-growing economy with moderate inflation and low unemployment rate can be optimal for long-term growth and represents a Goldilocks economy.

• An Indian Air Force (IAF) contingent departed for participating in Exercise BRIGHT STAR-23.
• It is a biennial multilateral tri-service exercise.
• It is scheduled to be held at Cairo (West) Air Base, Egypt
• The exercise will also see participation of contingents from the United States of America, Saudi Arabia, Greece and Qatar.
• Objective –to practice planning and execution of joint operations.

• Assam’s Chokuwa rice recently earned a GI (Geographical Indication) tag.
• Magic rice also known as Chokuwa rice is a part of Assam culinary heritage, this unique rice has been a staple of the troops of the mighty Ahom dynasty.
• This unique and healthy rice is cultivated around the Brahmaputra area and is cultivated in several parts of Assam like Tinsukia, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Nagaon, Morigaon.
• Chokuwa rice is basically a semi-glutinous winter rice, known as Sali rice.
• This rice is pre-boiled, dried, then stored and soaked right before consumption.
• This rice variety is widely consumed for its convenience of preparation and nutritional value.