Tuesday, 22nd June 2021
The GAR Special Report on Drought 2021
In News
The Global Assessment Report (GAR) Special Report on Drought 2021 is released by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
Key Highlights of the Report
- Droughts are recurrent events that affect large areas around the world each year. Their lengths are highly variable, from a few weeks to several years. They are challenging to define, characterize and manage due to their slow onsets (in most cases) and indeterminate ends.
- Drought is not aridity or water scarcity. The drought hazard is a failure of whatever system drives the hydrological balance. This can include reduced rainfall, inadequate timing or ineffectiveness of precipitation etc.
- Drought conditions arise from changes in atmospheric conditions. El Niño Southern Oscillation, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation are key indicators of changes in atmospheric conditions associated with drought conditions across the world.
- Understanding the mechanisms of such climate features is key to improving capabilities for a timely seasonal prediction of drought events.
- Drought has directly affected 1.5 billion people from 1998 to 2017, more than any other slow-onset disaster. This also led to economic losses of at least $124 billion across the world. E.g., annual losses in the USA of approximately $6.4 billion, and €9 billion in the European Union.
- Climate change is an increasing driver of drought generation and is intensifying drought impacts, increasing the frequency, severity and duration in many regions of the world.
- Drought is one of the drivers of desertification and land degradation, thus increasing fragility of ecosystems and social instability, especially in rural communities.
- Drought hazard and human activities (e.g., land and water management) are strongly intertwined, such that these activities can exacerbate the drought hazard and increase the risk of severe socioeconomic and ecological impacts.
- In recent decades, several drought hotspots (areas particularly often or severely affected) have been identified as: The Mediterranean region, Southern Australia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Southern South America, South-western USA, North-eastern Brazil.
India-specific findings
- The impact of severe droughts on India’s GDP is about 2-5% per annum across sectors. For instance, in recent major droughts in Tamil Nadu, a 20% reduction in the primary sector caused an overall 5% drop in industry and a 3% reduction in the service sector.
- The Deccan region sees the highest frequency (of more than 6%) of severe droughts in all of India.
- The report found “significant drought conditions” once in every three years in the Deccan Plateau leading to large scale migration and desertification.
Key recommendations
- Prevention has far lower human, financial and environmental costs than reaction and response.
- A mechanism for drought management at the international and national levels could help address the complex and cascading nature of drought risk.
- Financial systems and services need to evolve to encourage cooperative approaches, to promote social protection mechanisms and to encourage risk transfer and contingent financing, so as to provide diversified adaptive support to drought risk management.
https://www.undrr.org/event/launch-gar-drought-2021
https://www.undrr.org/publication/gar-special-report-drought-2021
Draft e-commerce policy norms
In News
Government has issued draft e-commerce policy note.
About the News
To protect the interests of consumers and encourage free and fair competition in the market, Government has proposed the draft of the proposed amendments to the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020. The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 were first notified in July 2020. Their violations attract penal action under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
Sources: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1729201
World Investment Report 2021
In News
India received $64 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2020, the fifth largest recipient of inflows in the world, according to the World Investment Report 2021 by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Global FDI Status
- Global FDI flows: As per the report, global FDI flows have been severely hit by the pandemic and they plunged by 35 per cent in 2020 to $1 trillion from $1.5 trillion the previous year. Lockdowns slowed down existing investment projects.
- Digital Boom: The pandemic boosted demand for digital infrastructure and services globally. This led to higher values of Greenfield FDI project announcements targeting the ICT industry, rising by more than 22 per cent.
- Asia’s Impact: A wider resurgence of the virus in Asia could significantly lower global FDI in 2021. The FDI inflows in Asia are expected to increase in 2021, outperforming other developing regions with a projected growth of 5–10 per cent.
- Asia is the only region to record growth and increasing Asia’s share of global inflows to 54 per cent. While some of the largest economies in developing Asia such as China and India recorded FDI growth in 2020, the rest recorded a contraction.
India’s FDI Status
- FDI Trends: In India, FDI increased 27 per cent in 2020, pushed up by acquisitions in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry, making the country the fifth largest FDI recipient in the world. India ranked 18 out of the world’s top 20 economies for FDI outflows.
- Contraction: Announced Greenfield projects in India contracted by 19 per cent in 2020 and the second wave can lead to a larger contraction in 2021.
- Boost by PLI scheme: India’s Production Linkage Incentive (PLI) scheme, designed to attract manufacturing and export-oriented investments in priority industries including automotive and electronics can drive a rebound of investment in manufacturing.
About Foreign Direct Investment
Foreign direct investment (FDI) is when a company takes controlling ownership in a business entity in another country. With FDI, foreign companies are directly involved with day-to-day operations in the other country. This means they are not just bringing money with them, but also knowledge, skills and technology.
Image Source: https://unctad.org/news/global-foreign-direct-investment-set-partially-recover-2021-uncertainty-remains