India's Ramsar Tally Reaches 98

1 February 2026National

Ahead of World Wetlands Day, India designated two new Ramsar sites - Patna Bird Sanctuary (UP) and Chhari-Dhand (Gujarat) - taking the national total to 98, the most in Asia and third globally.

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Zoological Survey of India Describes Three New Rhysida Centipede Species from the Western Ghats

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GK ByteThe Zoological Survey of India was established in 1916 and is headquartered at Kolkata under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change | Centipedes belong to the class Chilopoda within the phylum Arthropoda and have one pair of legs per body segment | India has four biodiversity hotspots: the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, the Himalaya, Indo-Burma and Sundaland

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The United Nations Environment Programme released the Emissions Gap Report 2026, subtitled 'The Point of Return', in October 2026. Global greenhouse gas emissions in 2025 stood at 58.4 GtCO2e, marginally below the revised 58.5 GtCO2e of 2024, the first such flattening in years. India remained the third-largest emitter at 4.3 GtCO2e behind China and the United States, but its per capita emissions of about 3.1 tonnes CO2e were under half the global average of 6.6 tonnes. Current policies point to about 2.8°C of warming this century, and UNEP says emissions must fall 45% from 2025 levels by 2035 for the lowest-overshoot 1.5°C pathways.

GK ByteUNEP was established in 1972 following the Stockholm Conference and is headquartered at Nairobi, Kenya | The Emissions Gap Report is released annually ahead of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties and measures the gap between pledges and the 1.5°C and 2°C pathways | UNEP also publishes the Adaptation Gap Report, the Global Environment Outlook and the Frontiers report

📅 21 Oct 2026InternationalRead complete →

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GK ByteMission LiFE was announced by PM Narendra Modi at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 and formally launched at Kevadia (Ekta Nagar), Gujarat, in October 2022 | WWF was founded in 1961, is headquartered at Gland, Switzerland, and uses the giant panda as its logo | The Commission for Air Quality Management for the NCR got statutory status in 2021 and implements the Graded Response Action Plan

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GK ByteMaharashtra's tiger reserves include Tadoba-Andhari, Melghat, Pench, Bor, Nawegaon-Nagzira and Sahyadri | Project Tiger was launched on 1 April 1973 and the National Tiger Conservation Authority was constituted in 2005 under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 | The tiger is India's national animal and is listed in Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972

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