Editorial 1: Global tropical primary forest cover continued to decline unabated in 2022
Context
- Tropical areas lost 4.1 million hectares of forest cover – equivalent to losing an area of 11 football fields per minute – in 2022, new research quoted by the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Global Forest Watch has said.
The Primary forests
- Primary forests are mature, natural forests that have remained undisturbed in recent history.
- They often store more carbon than other forests and are rich sources of biodiversity.
- Primary forest loss is almost irreversible in nature: even if the green cover regrows, a secondary forest is unlikely to match the extent of biodiversity and carbon sequestering capabilities of a primary forest.
- Rainforests are also called “Primary Forests” thanks to their pristine untouched vegetation because unaffected by any human activity.
- As the population of the country grows, there is more demand for food, which in turn is leading to an expansion of area under agriculture and encroachment of land hosting primary forests.
- Primary forests are burned for short-term cultivation and then left fallow for regeneration of soil nutrients.
Distribution
 |
- Tropical rain forests can be found in Asia, Australia, Africa, South America, Central America, Mexico, and several Pacific Islands, all of which are around 28 degrees north or south of the equator.
- They cover about 6-7 percent of the earth’s surface and are home to half of the planet’s biodiversity.
- Brazil (South America), the Democratic Republic of Congo (Africa), and Indonesia are home to the world’s largest rainforests.
- South America’s Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest, occupying an area almost two-thirds the size of the continental United States.
Global Forest Watch findings
- According to Global Forest Watch, India lost 43.9 thousand hectares of humid primary forest between 2021 and 2022, which accounts for 17% of the country’s total tree cover loss in the period.
- The total global tree cover loss in 2022 declined by 10%. This includes primary, secondary, and planted forests.
- This decrease, according to Global Forest Watch, is a direct result of a decrease in fire-related forest losses which decreased 28% from 2021. Non-fire losses in 2022 increased by slightly less than 1%.
- Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo are the two countries with the most tropical forest cover, and both registered losses of this resource in 2022.
Suggestions
- We need to reduce global deforestation by at least 10% every year to meet the 2030 target. In 2022, although the global deforestation rate was 3.1% lower than the baseline from 2018-2020. This puts the world off track to meet the 2030 goal.
- To meet the target of restoring 350 mha of forests globally by 2030, the world needs to increase tree cover by 22 mha per year, between 2021 and 2030.
- Reducing deforestation will strengthen the resilience of the Amazon rainforest and safeguard its threatened areas.
- The Brazilian government’s current administration is in the spotlight, and it is being urged to implement a zero-deforestation policy to change the situation.
- Constructing knowledge about the role of trees in the Amazon ecosystem and creating awareness among students and youths of the importance of trees to the Amazon ecosystem.
- To protect them, it is also necessary to limit global greenhouse gas emissions.
- Corporates are required to follow corporate responsibility guidelines which bans them from taking part in endeavours that harm Amazon.
Conclusion
- The solution of saving Tropical forests must be based on what is feasible, not overly idealistic, and depends on developing a conservation approach built on the principle of sustainable use and development of rainforests.
Editorial 2: Untangling Threads
Context
- Multiple outages plagued the platform while billionaire owner Elon Musk cited data scraping by other organisations as his reason for limiting the number of tweets both paying and non-paying accounts could view every day. In response to complaints,
The Threads
- Launched by Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp-parent Meta on July 5, Threads is a text-based public conversation app that was built by the team behind the photo-sharing app Instagram.
- Both iOS and Android users in over 100 countries could access the app this week.
Working
- Threads is part of a user’s Instagram account.
- Threads users will need to sign up through Instagram, and can cross over with their original username and the accounts they were following on Instagram. A number of settings such as blocking, restricting users, and hiding words are synced between the two platforms.
- However, if a user decides they don’t like Threads, they can only deactivate the account.
- Deleting Threads would mean deleting their Instagram account as well.
- There are also plans to let users choose to see only the accounts they follow. There is also no way to privately message others on Threads yet.
- According to Google’s Play Store, Threads can collect data such as a user’s location, their personal information, financial information, health and fitness, messages, photos and videos, files and documents, calendar events, and more.
Similarity between Threads and Twitter
- Threads is similar to Twitter in terms of its user interface and basic features.
- Threads users can make posts and comment in response. They can also heart posts, repost and quote them, or share posts on Instagram, Twitter, and other platforms.
- News organisations and other professionals often rely on Twitter for instant updates and official statements or comments.
- However, Threads does not yet support the keyword searches which are necessary for these users. Threads also does not display trends in the way Twitter does.
- Threads does not have advertisements yet. It remains to be seen how the platform will evolve in response to user and advertiser demands.
Concerns
- Meta’s Threads app, designed to provide a platform for discussions and community engagement, is currently not being launched in the EU.
- The company’s decision stems from regulatory concerns regarding compliance with the DMA, a framework introduced to address the dominance of large digital platforms and ensure fair competition within the digital market.
Understanding the Digital Markets Act
- It applies to the ‘gatekeepers’ in the online space. These companies will have to comply with the new rules.
- The Digital Markets Act (DMA) entered into force in the European Union (EU) on November 1 2022.
- It introduces quantitative thresholds and penal provisions to keep a check on large digital platforms.
- It opens up possibilities of an equal market – based on the merits of their products and services.
- As for consumers it ensures access to a wider array of options as well as a lower price of services by enforcing competition and de-exclusivities.
- The Act designates companies with sizeable dominance in any of the ‘core platform services’ as ‘gatekeepers’.
- These services include app stores, online search engines, social networking services, certain messaging services, video sharing platform services, virtual assistants, web browsers, cloud computing services, operating systems, online marketplaces and advertising services.
Conclusion
- With the new evolving apps it is not only for the individuals but even for the enterprises – social media policies must be used and prepared, and third-party experts must be hired to monitor their employees’ online activities.
- When somebody has access to an individual’s social media accounts, the potential for abuse and invasion of privacy is simply too high.
- The use of social media can reveal information that may lead to privacy violations if not properly managed by the user which could have a devastating impact for the employer.
