Note4Students

Mains Paper 3: Environment| Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

Prelims level: State of Climate Report

Mains level: Oceanic warming

News

• Ocean heat hit a record high in 2018, the United Nations has said.

State of the Climate Report

• In its latest State of the Climate overview, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reaffirmed that the last four years had been the hottest on record.
• 2018 saw new records for ocean heat content in the upper 700 metres.
• The UN had data for heat content in the upper 700 metres of the ocean dating back to 1955.
• About 93 percent of excess heat — trapped around the Earth by greenhouse gases that come from the burning of fossil fuels – accumulates in the world’s oceans.
• It proves what we have been saying that climate change is moving faster than our efforts to address it.

About World Meteorological Organization

• The WMO is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 192 Member States and Territories.
• It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), the roots of which were planted at the 1873 Vienna International Meteorological Congress.
• Established by the ratification of the WMO Convention on 23 March 1950, WMO became the specialised agency of the United Nations for meteorology.
• The Secretariat, headquartered in Geneva, is headed by the Secretary-General.