Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas

According to the World Soil Biodiversity Atlas prepared by the World Wide Fund for Nature, India's soil biodiversity is in serious danger.

key points

• WWF's 'Risk Index or Risk Index' - indicates the decrease in biodiversity, pollution, overloading of nutrients, overgragging, intensive agriculture, fire, soil erosion, desertification and hazard caused by climate change over the land.
• The areas of red color on this Atlas include many countries of Pakistan, China, Africa and Europe and most of North America.
• These findings are part of the 'Living Planet Report' 2018 It is worth mentioning that this report is published twice a year.
• One major aspect of this year's report is the danger for soil biodiversity and major components of pollination [such as bees].

Components of Soil Biodiversity

• Soil biodiversity includes the presence of micro organisms, microbes [for example, Nematodes and Tardigrades] and micro-organisms (the ants, termites, and earthworms).

Status of India

• This index shows India among the countries whose soil biodiversity is facing the highest level of risk.
• According to a study conducted by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, 150 million bee colonies were needed in India to meet the pollination requirements of nearly 50 million hectares of agricultural land whereas only 1.2 million colonies were present.

Global position

• From 1970 to 2014, the average population of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles has decreased by 60%, and in this period, the population of freshwater species has decreased by 83%.
• Since the 1960s, the global ecological footprint has increased by more than 190%.
• There has been a decrease of 87% in the range of wetlands since 1970 on the global level.
• The WWF also included in its report that two major factors of biodiversity loss were more exploitation of natural resources and agriculture.
• According to the WWF, the high population of India has made it sensitive to the ecological crisis.

Ecological footprint

• Ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystem.
• It compares human demand with the ability of the reproduction of the Earth's ecology.
• Using it, it can be assumed that if every person follows a certain lifestyle, then how much of the earth will be needed to help humanity.

SolutionIn order to address the above challenges, the WWF has also suggested three essential measures:

1. To clearly specify a goal for the reclamation of biodiversity.
 
2. Develop a set of scalable and relevant indicators of progress.
 
3. Consent on a group of tasks that collectively achieve the target in the required time frame.

5. Why in the discussion? Recently, the World Bank released its latest 'Doing Business Report' (DBR 2019). India has improved its position in DBR-2019's ' Ease of Doing Business ' by leaping 23 notches. 
   
   
   Major findings of the report

   • According to 'Doing Business Report', records 314 regulatory improvements between June 2, 2017 to May 1, 2018. 128 economies across the world have presented adequate regulatory improvements, making it easier to do business in doing all the areas involved in doing measurement by doing business.
   • Economics that make the most significant improvement in Doing Business 2019 are Afghanistan, Djibouti, China, Azerbaijan, India, Togo, Kenya, Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Turkey and Rwanda.
   • One-third of all trade regulatory reforms registered by Doing Business 2019 came in the economies of sub-Saharan Africa. With a total of 107 reforms, the number of reforms in sub-Saharan Africa is a record.
   • Bricks economies - Brazil, Russian Federation, India and China had a total of 21 improvements, in which the most common areas of improvement - cross-border trade and electricity production.
   • The 10 top economies of the Business Facilitation Index share the general characteristics of regulatory efficiency and quality, in which compulsory inspection during construction, use of automated tools to restore service during power cuts, strong security measures available to creditors in bankruptcy proceedings Availability and automatic specialized commercial courts.

   Status of India

   • 190 countries were included in the estimation of the 'Doing Business Report' by the World Bank, in which India has climbed above the 100th position of 2017 and now reached 77th.
   • India's high leverage of 23 positions placed in the 'Ease of business' index is definitely important because in the last year, India has made a tremendous jump of 30 places in its index, which is the largest and diverse country of India size. There is a great achievement for me.
   • In the 'Ease of business' index, India has climbed 53 places in the last two years and 65 ratings points in the last four years. 

   Importance of Doing Business Report

   • From 'Doing Business Assessment', those 10 scales are found in 190 countries about business or business rules and regulations and the objective goals of implementing them, which affect the business cycle of any business.
   • In DBR, the ranking of countries is done on the basis of 'Distance to Front (DTF)', which is a specific score and reflects the difference between business practices adopted in any economy and global best business practices. India's DTF score, which was 60.76 in the previous year, has increased to 67.23 this year.
   • India has been able to improve its ranking associated with 6 of the 10 indicators, and with it it has reached 7 best indicators of global indicators in terms of global best practices.
   • The most notable improvement has been seen in the case of indicators related to 'construction permit' and 'cross border trade'. In terms of acceptance of building permit, India's ranking has improved from 181st in 2017 to 52th in 2018, which reflects the unprecedented improvement of 129 rankings in the same year.
   • Similarly, in the case of indicators related to 'cross border trade', India's ranking has improved from 146 th year 2017 to 80th in 2018, which reflects the remarkable improvement of 66 rankings in the same year.
   • The six indicators which have improved India's ranking are the following:

   
   

   According to the World Soil Biodiversity Atlas prepared by the World Wide Fund for Nature, India's soil biodiversity is in serious danger.

   key points

   • WWF's 'Risk Index or Risk Index' - indicates the decrease in biodiversity, pollution, overloading of nutrients, overgragging, intensive agriculture, fire, soil erosion, desertification and hazard caused by climate change over the land.
   • The areas of red color on this Atlas include many countries of Pakistan, China, Africa and Europe and most of North America.
   • These findings are part of the 'Living Planet Report' 2018 It is worth mentioning that this report is published twice a year.
   • One major aspect of this year's report is the danger for soil biodiversity and major components of pollination [such as bees].

   Components of Soil Biodiversity

   • Soil biodiversity includes the presence of micro organisms, microbes [for example, Nematodes and Tardigrades] and micro-organisms (the ants, termites, and earthworms).

   Status of India

   • This index shows India among the countries whose soil biodiversity is facing the highest level of risk.
   • According to a study conducted by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, 150 million bee colonies were needed in India to meet the pollination requirements of nearly 50 million hectares of agricultural land whereas only 1.2 million colonies were present.

   Global position

   • From 1970 to 2014, the average population of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles has decreased by 60%, and in this period, the population of freshwater species has decreased by 83%.
   • Since the 1960s, the global ecological footprint has increased by more than 190%.
   • There has been a decrease of 87% in the range of wetlands since 1970 on the global level.
   • The WWF also included in its report that two major factors of biodiversity loss were more exploitation of natural resources and agriculture.
   • According to the WWF, the high population of India has made it sensitive to the ecological crisis.

   Ecological footprint

   

   • Ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystem.
   • It compares human demand with the ability of the reproduction of the Earth's ecology.
   • Using it, it can be assumed that if every person follows a certain lifestyle, then how much of the earth will be needed to help humanity.

   SolutionIn order to address the above challenges, the WWF has also suggested three essential measures:

   1. To clearly specify a goal for the reclamation of biodiversity.
    
   2. Develop a set of scalable and relevant indicators of progress.
    
   3. Consent on a group of tasks that collectively achieve the target in the required time frame.

   
   

   Why in the discussion? Recently, the World Bank released its latest 'Doing Business Report' (DBR 2019). India has improved its position in DBR-2019's ' Ease of Doing Business ' by leaping 23 notches. 
   
   
   Major findings of the report

   • According to 'Doing Business Report', records 314 regulatory improvements between June 2, 2017 to May 1, 2018. 128 economies across the world have presented adequate regulatory improvements, making it easier to do business in doing all the areas involved in doing measurement by doing business.
   • Economics that make the most significant improvement in Doing Business 2019 are Afghanistan, Djibouti, China, Azerbaijan, India, Togo, Kenya, Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Turkey and Rwanda.
   • One-third of all trade regulatory reforms registered by Doing Business 2019 came in the economies of sub-Saharan Africa. With a total of 107 reforms, the number of reforms in sub-Saharan Africa is a record.
   • Bricks economies - Brazil, Russian Federation, India and China had a total of 21 improvements, in which the most common areas of improvement - cross-border trade and electricity production.
   • The 10 top economies of the Business Facilitation Index share the general characteristics of regulatory efficiency and quality, in which compulsory inspection during construction, use of automated tools to restore service during power cuts, strong security measures available to creditors in bankruptcy proceedings Availability and automatic specialized commercial courts.

   Status of India

   • 190 countries were included in the estimation of the 'Doing Business Report' by the World Bank, in which India has climbed above the 100th position of 2017 and now reached 77th.
   • India's high leverage of 23 positions placed in the 'Ease of business' index is definitely important because in the last year, India has made a tremendous jump of 30 places in its index, which is the largest and diverse country of India size. There is a great achievement for me.
   • In the 'Ease of business' index, India has climbed 53 places in the last two years and 65 ratings points in the last four years. 

   Importance of Doing Business Report

   • From 'Doing Business Assessment', those 10 scales are found in 190 countries about business or business rules and regulations and the objective goals of implementing them, which affect the business cycle of any business.
   • In DBR, the ranking of countries is done on the basis of 'Distance to Front (DTF)', which is a specific score and reflects the difference between business practices adopted in any economy and global best business practices. India's DTF score, which was 60.76 in the previous year, has increased to 67.23 this year.
   • India has been able to improve its ranking associated with 6 of the 10 indicators, and with it it has reached 7 best indicators of global indicators in terms of global best practices.
   • The most notable improvement has been seen in the case of indicators related to 'construction permit' and 'cross border trade'. In terms of acceptance of building permit, India's ranking has improved from 181st in 2017 to 52th in 2018, which reflects the unprecedented improvement of 129 rankings in the same year.
   • Similarly, in the case of indicators related to 'cross border trade', India's ranking has improved from 146 th year 2017 to 80th in 2018, which reflects the remarkable improvement of 66 rankings in the same year.
   • The six indicators which have improved India's ranking are the following:

   Key features of India's performance this year

   • The World Bank has included India in the top countries that make significant improvements during the year.
   • India has been counting for the second consecutive year in the top countries that have made significant improvements.
   • India is the first BRICS and South Asian country which has been included in the second consecutive year in the reforming countries.
   • India has made a huge jump of 53 places in its rankings in two years, which shows the highest growth done by any major country in two years after Doing Business Assessment in two years.
   • Thanks to the continuous improvement in the performance, India has now reached number one position in South Asian countries, while it was sixth in the year 2014.

   Doing Business - 2019

   • 'Doing Business-2009: Training for Reform' is an important publication of the World Bank Group. It is the 16th edition of a series of yearly activities measuring regulators that increase the business and hinder it.
   • Doing Business offers quantitative indicators on the safety of business rules and property rights, which can be compared to Afghanistan from Zimbabwe to 190 economies.
   • Doing Business reviews the rules affecting 11 areas of business. Ten out of these areas have been included in this year's Business Accessibility Index. These are 10 areas-

   1. Start a business
    
   2. Construction permit
    
   3. Get electricity
    
   4. Registering property
    
   5. Getting the loan
    
   6. Protect Small Investors
    
   7. Paying taxes
    
   8. Cross-border trade
    
   9. Implementing contracts
    
   10. Resolve the problem of bankruptcy.

   • Labor market regulation is also measured in Doing Business, but this year's ranking has not been included in this ranking.
   • Indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and to know which rules when and how they worked.