Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 6: Covid-19 was detected in 14,672 persons in Kerala on Sunday while 21,429 patients have recovered from the disease, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.
“In the last 24 hours, Covid was not detected in any person who recently came to Kerala from the UK taking the total to 126, and their samples have been sent to NIV, Pune for further testing. So far, 11 people who came from the UK were diagnosed with the genetically modified virus,” the CM said in a press release here this evening.
Meanwhile, 227 recent deaths were confirmed today as due to Covid taking the death toll in the state to 9,946.
He said 1,02,792 samples were tested during the last 24 hours and the test positivity rate is 14.27 %. Till now, a total of 2,05,07,598
samples have been sent for testing.
Today, 27 places were identified as new hotspots while five places have been excluded from the list, taking the total to 891 hotspots in the State.
Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 5: In a first, the global meet on gender equality hosted by The Gender Park earlier this year achieved carbon neutrality and became the first carbon neutral event of the state government.
The Gender Park, under the state’s Department of Women and Child Development, organized the second edition of the International Conference on Gender Equality (ICGE II) on February 11, 12 and 13 in association with UN Women.
With sustainability as its core theme, the three-day global meet held at The Gender Park’s new campus in Kozhikode followed PAS 2060 and ISO 14064 Carbon Neutrality Standards that set out the requirements for conducting and demonstrating carbon neutrality – allowing the event to improve environmental credentials with accuracy and transparency.
The Gender Park achieved its mission of carbon-neutrality at ICGE II by taking on board Vydyuthi Energy Services (VES), a Kerala-based energy and carbon consulting startup recognized by UN-WEP, who provided an overall framework for validating and preparing the calculations, and documentation of the entire event’s direct and indirect emission sources (Scope 1, Scope 2, Scope 3).
An independent third-party verification agency RINA Services S.p.A issued the carbon neutrality statement for the event. The total greenhouse gas emissions were 50 tons of CO2e for the entire event including the emissions related to organizing and onsite assessments performed for award.
The organization had offset these emissions through purchase of 50 units of United Nations Certified Emission Reduction (CERs) generated from a waste to energy project in Delhi listed under UNFCCC’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
The department of Women & Child Development had taken massive steps to ensure that the conference fully adhered to sustainability as its core theme. It was in accordance with PAS 2060:2014, “Specification for the demonstration of carbon neutrality”.
The first step was to reduce energy usage by using efficient LED lightings with centralized custom controls, LED display screens over LCD projectors, minimal usage of diesel generators at the conference venue, thus significantly reducing the Scope 1 emissions of CO2.
Scope 2 emission, which is the utility energy from the state’s electricity board, was also validated. The event used eco-friendly items and avoided single-use plastics. Furthermore, close monitoring to reduce the dependency and operational efficiency of fossil fuel-based transportation systems were considered to reduce the associated Scope 3 emission sources.
Nevertheless, the event had a certain amount of emissions that were inevitable and these emissions were compensated by purchasing certified emission reduction credits from CDM.
“The Gender Park is proud to have played the pioneering role in holding a carbon neutral event in Kerala which enhances awareness and capacity building activities in line with State Action Plans for Climate Change (SAPCC),” said Dr P T M Sunish, CEO, The Gender Park, which supports the state in its journey towards creating a #CarbonNeutralKerala”.
Being the country’s first such initiative, The Gender Park would open doors for creating gender equality and their engrossment in creating a sustainable ecosystem.
The high-profile conclave, which focused on ‘Gender in Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Social Business: The Mediating Role of Empowerment’, was attended by policymakers, academics, professionals and domain experts from across the globe.
The event discussed the crucial linkages between entrepreneurship, economic growth and poverty alleviation, which are in tune with the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Nairobi/Rome, Jun 4: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have urged Governments to “ensure that their COVID-19 recovery plans incorporate significant allocations for ecosystem restoration” as a central component to delivering a green, sustainable and fair recovery.
In a joint report #GenerationRestoration: Ecosystem restoration for People, Nature and Climate, released in a virtual press conference the two UN bodies said, “The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic will be felt for generations. Yet this crisis has also demonstrated the power of international cooperation and provided us with an opportunity to steer away from our current destructive trajectory. To put countries on a path that is green, sustainable and fair, national governments must include ecosystem restoration in their pandemic recovery plans. This decade can serve as a launchpad to accelerate the transformative changes we need to combat the climate crisis, prevent mass extinctions and build social and economic resilience.”
The UN has declared this decade as UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. “This report presents the case for why we must all throw our weight behind a global restoration effort. Drawing on the latest scientific evidence, it sets out the crucial role played by ecosystems, from forests and farmland to rivers and oceans, and it charts the losses that result from a poor stewardship of the planet,” UNEP Executive Director, Inger Andersen and FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, wrote in the report’s foreword.
“Degradation is already affecting the well-being of an estimated 3.2 billion people – that is 40 percent of the world’s population. Every single year we lose ecosystem services worth more than 10 percent of our global economic output,” they added, stressing that “massive gains await us” by reversing these trends.
The report highlighted the facts that around one third of the world’s farmland is degraded, about 87 per cent of inland wetlands worldwide have disappeared since 1700, and one third of commercial fish species are overexploited.
Degradation is already affecting the well-being of an estimated 3.2 billion people – that is 40 per cent of the world’s population. Every single year, we lose ecosystem services worth more than 10 per cent of our global economic output.
“If we can manage to reverse this trend, massive gains await us. Reviving ecosystems and other natural solutions could contribute over one third of the total climate mitigation needed by 2030. Restoration can also curb the risk of mass species extinctions and future pandemics. Agroforestry alone could increase food security for 1.3 billion people,” the report said. Currently, only about 18 per cent of recovery stimulus plans can be characterized as ‘green’, it added,
Underlining benefits of ecology restoration the report said that Ecosystem restoration creates livelihood opportunities. Shifting towards investment in ecosystem restoration can be a powerful means of job creation, supporting economic recovery at the same time as rebuilding natural capital.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated the need for a holistic approach to the human and ecosystem health crisis, one that unites experts from epidemiology and public health to ecology and social science. Restoration on a global scale requires sustained investments. But there is growing evidence that it more than pays for itself.
‘Restoring coral reefs to good health by 2030 could yield an extra USD 2.5 billion a year for both Mesoamerica and Indonesia; having doubled its forest cover since the 1980s, Costa Rica has seen ecotourism grow to account for six per cent of GDP,” the report further stated.
New Delhi/Beijing, Jun 4: China, Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to explore ways to deepen trilateral cooperation and substantively expand the Belt and Road Initiative in Afghanistan, so as to bring more benefits to the people of the region.
Foreign ministers of the three countries held talks, hosted by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in Guiyang on Thursday. Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi joined the dialogue via video link.
Wang said that the current international and regional situations are undergoing complex and profound changes, and the security and stability of Afghanistan and the region are facing new challenges.
Under such circumstances, it is more necessary for the three countries to strengthen communication and cooperation to make the situation in Afghanistan more conducive to the common interests of Afghanistan and other countries in the region, Wang said, reports state-run Xinhua news agency.
Atmar and Qureshi said Afghanistan and Pakistan are willing to forge closer and more friendly neighbouring partnership with China, strengthen joint construction of the Belt and Road, deepen cooperation in politics, economy and connectivity, and jointly promote peace, stability and development of the three countries and the region.
The three sides called for practically advancing the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan, and ceasefire should be realised and violence should be ended at an early date.
They agreed that the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan should be carried out in a responsible and orderly manner to prevent the deterioration of the security situation in Afghanistan and the return of terrorist forces.
China wants to invest in Afghanistan, eying its natural resources, especially copper. But it is wary of the security situation in the South Asian country in the wake of US troops drawdown by September 11.
China is concerned about the constant fighting between the government and the Taliban and Afghan groups. It is equally wary of the country becoming a den of Islamic insurgents who could threaten security and stability in its Xinjiang region.
Xinhua said China and Pakistan reaffirmed their firm support for the Afghan peaceful reconstruction and their willingness to expand economic and trade exchanges with Afghanistan, and to assist Afghanistan in enhancing its development capacity.
Raichur, Jun 3: Karnataka Transport Minister Laxman Savadi on Thursday said the state will explore all legal options against Central Registry of Trademarks recent order which ruled in favour of Kerala, allotting the short form ‘KSRTC’ emblem and the widely used term ‘Ana Vandi’ to Kerala SRTC.
However, Mr Savadi said, ‘Karnataka and Kerala RTCs have never competed with each other and even if Karnataka RTC continues to use the acronym KSRTC, there will be no harm to Kerala RTC. In a federal system, States need to cooperate and resolve our differences. Neither State should make this a
prestige issue.’
He said Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC ) and Kerala Road Transport Corporation are Public Service enterprises and unlike in private firms, the company name and logo did not affect both the Corporations much.
On Wednesday evening, Kerala Transport Minister Antony Raju issued a statement stating the Trade Marks Registry issued orders under the Trade Marks Act, 1999 allotting the short form ‘KSRTC’ emblem and the widely used term ‘Ana Vandi’ to Kerala SRTC.
‘The Central Registry of Trademarks has ruled in favour of Kerala, rejecting Karnataka’s contention that Kerala must be barred from using the acronym,’ Mr Raju said in a Facebook post.
Both Karnataka and Kerala SRTCs have been using the acronym KSRTC for many decades now. However, Karnataka RTC registered the acronym and its logo with the Controller General of Patents, Designs and
Trademarks and issued a notice to Kerala RTC asking it not to use the acronym as they had patented it in 2014.
Kerala SRTC had soon approached the Registry, and the judgement in the case, favourable to Kerala, was issued recently, sources added.
Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 3: Kerala reported 18,853 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday along with 26,569 recoveries, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.
“In the last 24 hours, Covid was not detected in any person who recently came to Kerala from the UK taking the total to 126, and their samples have been sent to NIV, Pune for further testing. So far, 11 people who came from the UK were diagnosed with the genetically modified virus,” the CM said in a press release here this evening.
Meanwhile, 153 recent deaths were confirmed on Thursday from Covid taking the death toll in the state to 9,375.
He said 1,23,885 samples were tested during the last 24 hours and the test positivity rate is 15.22 %. Till now, a total of 2,01,78,932 samples have been sent for testing.
On Thursday, no new place was declared as new hotspot while six more places were excluded from the list, taking the total to 871 hotspots in the state currently.
Nairobi/Rome, Jun 3: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have urged Governments to “ensure that their COVID-19 recovery plans incorporate significant allocations for ecosystem restoration” as a central component to delivering a green, sustainable and fair recovery.
In a joint report #GenerationRestoration: Ecosystem restoration for People, Nature and Climate, released in a virtual press conference the two UN bodies said, “The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic will be felt for generations. Yet this crisis has also demonstrated the power of international cooperation and provided us with an opportunity to steer away from our current destructive trajectory. To put countries on a path that is green, sustainable and fair, national governments must include ecosystem restoration in their pandemic recovery plans. This decade can serve as a launchpad to accelerate the transformative changes we need to combat the climate crisis, prevent mass extinctions and build social and economic resilience.”
The UN has declared this decade as UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. “This report presents the case for why we must all throw our weight behind a global restoration effort. Drawing on the latest scientific evidence, it sets out the crucial role played by ecosystems, from forests and farmland to rivers and oceans, and it charts the losses that result from a poor stewardship of the planet,” UNEP Executive Director, Inger Andersen and FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, wrote in the report’s foreword.
“Degradation is already affecting the well-being of an estimated 3.2 billion people – that is 40 percent of the world’s population. Every single year we lose ecosystem services worth more than 10 percent of our global economic output,” they added, stressing that “massive gains await us” by reversing these trends.
The report highlighted the facts that around one third of the world’s farmland is degraded, about 87 per cent of inland wetlands worldwide have disappeared since 1700, and one third of commercial fish species are overexploited.
Degradation is already affecting the well-being of an estimated 3.2 billion people – that is 40 per cent of the world’s population. Every single year, we lose ecosystem services worth more than 10 per cent of our global economic output.
“If we can manage to reverse this trend, massive gains await us. Reviving ecosystems and other natural solutions could contribute over one third of the total climate mitigation needed by 2030. Restoration can also curb the risk of mass species extinctions and future pandemics. Agroforestry alone could increase food security for 1.3 billion people,” the report said. Currently, only about 18 per cent of recovery stimulus plans can be characterized as ‘green’, it added,
Underlining benefits of ecology restoration the report said that Ecosystem restoration creates livelihood opportunities. Shifting towards investment in ecosystem restoration can be a powerful means of job creation, supporting economic recovery at the same time as rebuilding natural capital.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated the need for a holistic approach to the human and ecosystem health crisis, one that unites experts from epidemiology and public health to ecology and social science. Restoration on a global scale requires sustained investments. But there is growing evidence that it more than pays for itself.
‘Restoring coral reefs to good health by 2030 could yield an extra USD 2.5 billion a year for both Mesoamerica and Indonesia; having doubled its forest cover since the 1980s, Costa Rica has seen ecotourism grow to account for six per cent of GDP,” the report further stated.