International Court of Justice (ICJ)

At the ICJ, Palestine charges Israel of apartheid.

Context:

• The legal ramifications of Israel’s territorial occupation are being discussed at hearings before the International Court of Justice.

About International Court of Justice :-

• The main judicial body of the United Nations (UN) is the ICJ.
• The United Nations Charter established it in June 1945, and it started operations in April 1946.
• The Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), which was established by the League of Nations in 1922, is replaced by this court.
• The ICJ is housed in The Hague’s Peace Palace, just like the PCIJ.
• Of the six main UN organs, it is the only one that is not based in New York City. (The General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, and Secretariat are the other five organs.)
• “To settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies” is the ICJ’s own description of its functions. “The principal legal systems and the major forms of civilization throughout the world must be represented by the court as a whole.”
• The official languages of the ICJ are French and English.
• Although every UN member is immediately bound by the ICJ statute, this does not mean that the ICJ has universal jurisdiction over conflicts involving them. Only with the agreement of both parties does the ICJ acquire jurisdiction.
• The parties to a case are legally bound by the ICJ’s final ruling. There is no appeals process; at most, it can be interpreted or revised in the event that new information is discovered.
• The International Court of Justice’s power is dependent on nations’ willingness to follow its rulings, so it is unable to guarantee that its orders will be followed.
• The UN Security Council and General Assembly vote concurrently but independently to choose the fifteen judges that make up the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for nine-year mandates.
• A candidate needs to secure the majority of the votes cast in both bodies in order to win.
• Every three years, a third of the court is chosen.
• There are now four Indian members of the ICJ.

Climate change increasing the probability of extreme weather events

• It has been determined that 2023 will be the hottest year on record for global temperatures since 1850, which has sparked discussions about the possibility of extreme weather occurrences in the near future.

Context:

• Since 1850, the average world temperature has risen by at least 1.1 degrees Celsius, mostly as a result of human activity that has boosted the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases to previously unheard-of levels.Globally, extreme weather events are becoming more common and intense as a result of the temperature surge. Heat waves, droughts, floods, storms, and wildfires are a few of these occurrences.

About the interconnection between climate change and extreme weather events:

• Because extreme heat evaporates more moisture from the soil, it makes conditions more conducive to wildfires and lengthens the wildfire season. Climate warming has more than increased the chance of intense “fire weather” conditions in Eastern Canada, according to a 2023 analysis by Weather Attribution (WWA).
• Droughts can be made worse by warmer air sucking moisture from the soil.
• As a result of water evaporating at higher temperatures, more moisture is retained in the atmosphere due to the melting of land, oceans, and other bodies of water.
• The atmosphere can retain roughly 7% extra moisture for every degree Celsius that the average temperature rises. This increases the intensity, length, and/or frequency of precipitation, which can ultimately result in severe flooding, making storms more deadly.
• Ninety percent of the extra heat produced by recent greenhouse gas emissions has been absorbed by the oceans. As a result, since 1850, the average sea surface temperature has increased by over 0.9 degrees Celsius worldwide.

Chenab bridge

• The highest single arch railway bridge in the world, the Chenab Bridge, will be officially opened by Prime Minister Modi.

Context:

• After two decades of waiting, the single-arch bridge over the River Chenab in J&K, approved in 2003 and contracted in 2008, is now going to make India’s railroad history, all thanks to the fact that it completed all required testing.

About Chenab bridge

• The bridge is 1315 meters long overall and crosses the Chenab River.
• An important route between Katra and Banihal is the arch bridge, which spans Bakkal and Kauri in the Jammu and Kashmir district of Reasi.
• At 1,178 feet above the riverbed, it is 35 meters higher than the Eiffel Tower, a popular tourist destination in Paris.
• Included in the Rs 35000 crore Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Link (USBRL) project is the bridge. The project’s goal is to improve Jammu and Kashmir’s connectivity by offering connection in challenging weather and topography.
• It is anticipated that the bridge will last for about 120 years.
• Additionally, winds up to 260 km/h will not be able to stop it.

CENTRAL ASIAN FLYWAY (CAF)

• February 17, 2024, the Central Asian Flyway initiative, which was presented by India, was approved by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention for the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP 14).

Context:

• Every three years, the CMS organizes a Conference of the Parties (COP), where member nations examine advancements made and approve fresh plans for migratory species protection. The 14th COP, the first UN wildlife summit in Central Asia, took place in February 2024 at Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

About:

• Within the framework of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), an international treaty whose goal is to protect and conserve migratory animals and their habitats, India is spearheading the Central Asian Flyway (CAF) program.
• The program seeks to improve coordination and cooperation between the range states and other stakeholders, as well as to support the protection and sustainable use of migratory waterbirds and their habitats.
• Between the Arctic and Indian oceans, as well as the related island chains, lies a sizable continental region of Eurasia known as the Central Asian Flyway (CAF).
• A flyway is a specific geographic area where a migratory species, either alone or in a group, completes its yearly cycle of breeding, moulting, staging, and non-breeding.
• Waterbird migration routes within the CAF are numerous and significant; the majority of them stretch from Siberia’s northernmost breeding grounds to the southernmost non-breeding wintering areas in West Asia, India, the Maldives, and the British Indian Ocean Territory.
• At least 279 migratory waterbird populations of 182 species, including 29 globally vulnerable or near-threatened species, are covered by the CAF, which spans 30 nations.
• Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Georgia, India, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, the Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom (British Indian Ocean Territory), Uzbekistan, and Yemen are the nations that make up the Central Asian Flyway.

Marine Heatwaves in the Arctic Ocean

• According to a recent study titled “Arctic marine heatwaves forced by greenhouse gases and triggered by abrupt sea-ice melt,” which was published in the journal Nature Communications, there have been unprecedented Marine Heatwave (MHW) episodes over the Arctic Ocean since 2007.

Context:

• An extreme weather event is an MHW. It happens when a specific maritime region’s surface temperature rises by three or four degrees Celsius over the course of at least five days.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) states that MHWs can endure for several weeks, months, or even years at a time.

Major conclusions/highlights of the research:

• From 2007 to 2021, the Arctic saw 11 instances of Marine Heatwaves (MHWs), which are defined by persistently high Sea Surface Temperatures (SST). Record decreases in Arctic Sea ice occur at the same time as these phenomena. According to the State of the Global Climate 2022 Report, the Arctic had severe and intense marine heatwaves in the Laptev and Beaufort seas from spring to autumn in 2022.
• Known to reflect solar energy, the Arctic Ocean’s permanent sea ice cover has significantly decreased over the summer and winter since the mid-1990s. A noticeable regime shift from a thicker, more distorted ice cover to a thinner, more uniform one has occurred since 2007. Because the thin ice melts more quickly and is less resilient, solar radiation can warm the water’s surface.
• Arctic MHWs mainly happen over marginal seas, such as the Chukchi, East Siberian, Laptev, and Kara seas. These areas are favorable for the establishment of MHW because they have shallow mixed-layer depths and primarily first-year ice cover.
• Marine heatwaves with temperatures above 5°C would not be possible without GHGs. With a 66-99% probability, greenhouse gas emissions are a sufficient cause of moderate marine heatwaves.
• The Arctic is clearly warming over the long run, with the SST rising by 1.2°C every decade between 1996 and 2021. Extreme SST events have been more frequent in the eastern Arctic marginal waters over the past 20 years.