▪︎PLACES IN NEWS - 30
■ HARIKE WETLAND
□ WHY IN NEWS ?
Winter migratory waterbirds using the central Asian flyway have started making a beeline to Punjab’s Harike wetland, offering a delight for bird lovers.
□ ABOUT :-
◇ Harike wetland also is the largest wetland in northern India in the border of Tarn Taran Sahib district and Ferozepur district of Punjab.
◇ The wetland and the lake were formed by constructing the headworks across the Sutlej River in 1953.
◇ The headworks is located downstream of the confluence of the Beas and Sutlej rivers just south of Harike village.
◇ The rich biodiversity of the wetland which plays a vital role in maintaining the precious hydrological balance in the catchment with its vast concentration of migratory fauna.
◇ It was accorded as a wetland in 1990, by the Ramsar Convention, as one of the Ramsar sites in India, for conservation, development and preservation of the ecosystem.
▪︎PLACES IN NEWS -2
■ PARACEL ISLAND.
□ WHY IN NEWS ?
A United States warship sailed through the Paracel Islands in the disputed South China Sea.
□ ABOUT :-
◇ The Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea.
◇ The archipelago includes about 130 small coral islands and reefs, most grouped into the northeast Amphitrite Group or the western Crescent Group.
◇ They are distributed over a maritime area of around 15,000 square kilometers with a land area of approximately 7.75 square kilometers.
◇ The archipelago includes Dragon Hole, the deepest underwater sinkhole in the world.
◇ It is surrounded by productive fishing grounds and a seabed with potential, but as yet unexplored, oil and gas reserves.
■ MURA -DRAVA - DANUBE (MDD) BIOSPHERE RESERVE.
□ WHY IN NEWS ?
UNESCO has designated Mura-Drava-Danube (MDD) as the world’s first ‘five-country biosphere reserve’.
□ ABOUT :-
◇ The biosphere reserve covers 700 kilometres of the Mura, Drava and Danube rivers and stretches across Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Serbia.
◇ The total area of the reserve — a million hectares — in the so-called ‘Amazon of Europe’, makes it the largest riverine protected area on the continent.
◇ The reserve is home to floodplain forests, gravel and sand banks, river islands, oxbows and meadows.
◇ Home to continental Europe’s highest density of breeding white-tailed eagle (more than 150 pairs), as well as endangered species such as the little tern, black stork, otters, beavers and sturgeons.
◇ Also an important annual resting and feeding place for more than 250,000 migratory birds, according to WWF.
◇ Almost 900,000 people live in the biosphere reserve.
▪︎PLACES IN NEWS -
■ WEDDELL SEA.
□ WHY IN NEWS ?
India has extended support for protecting the Antarctic environment and for co-sponsoring the proposal of the European Union for designating East Antarctica and the Weddell Sea as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
□ ABOUT :-
◇ The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre.
◇ Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula.
◇ Much of the southern part of the sea is covered by a permanent, massive ice shelf field, the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf.
◇ The sea is contained within the two overlapping Antarctic territorial claims of Argentine Antarctica, the British Antarctic Territory, and also resides partially within the Antarctic Chilean Territory.
□ CCAMLR ?
◇ It is an international treaty to manage Antarctic fisheries to preserve species diversity and stability of the entire Antarctic marine ecosystem.
◇ Came into force in April 1982.
▪︎PLACES IN NEWS -
■ ZOJILA TUNNEL
□ WHY IN NEWS ?
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways has inspected the work on Zojila and Z Morh tunnels.
□ ABOUT :-
◇ The Zojila is set to be Asia’s longest bi-directional tunnel.
◇ It will connect Srinagar, Dras, Kargil and Leh via a tunnel through the famous Zojila Pass.
◇ Located at more than 11,500 feet above sea level, the all-weather Zojila tunnel will be 14.15 km long and ensure road connectivity even during winters.
◇ It will make the travel on the 434-km Srinagar-Kargil-Leh Section of NH-1 free from avalanches, enhance safety and reduce the travel time from more than 3 hours to just 15 minutes.
◇ The speed limit inside the tunnel is likely to be the same as in the Atal tunnel – 80 kmph.
□ Z-Morh tunnel
◇ The Z-Morh tunnel — being developed at Sonmarg — will provide it all-weather connectivity with Srinagar allowing it to remain open to tourists all year round.
