About UN Declaration on Sea-Level Rise:

• It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly during a high-level plenary meeting on September 24, 2026.
• It is the UN’s first declaration on sea level rise.
• The declaration establishes a common international position on the legal and practical challenges posed by rising seas.
• Global mean sea level reached a record high in 2024, and its rate of rise has doubled, from1 millimeters per year in 1993-2002 to 4.7 millimeters per year in 2015-2024.
• Major Highlights of the Declaration:
  • It affirms that countries threatened by rising oceans do not automatically lose their statehood if their territory becomes submerged.
    • This means that the continued existence of a country under international law would not necessarily depend on its territory remaining above water.
    • It supported the continued existence of such states’s sovereignty, rights, responsibilities, and UN membership.
    • The issue is particularly relevant to small island developing States (SIDS), where rising seas can reduce habitable land and, in extreme cases, lead to the submergence of territory.
  • It calls for stability in maritime zones despite physical changes to coastlines.
    • It states that countries can maintain maritime zones established under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as sea levels rise, while retaining the right to update them.
    • The issue arises because maritime zones are generally measured from coastal baselines.
    • This is particularly important for island nations because maritime zones determine rights over ocean resources and activities.
  • The declaration also addresses the wider threat that rising seas pose to coastal populations, infrastructure, and livelihoods.
  • Without significant efforts to reduce emissions and adapt to rising seas, the risks facing coastal cities and communities could increase tenfold by 2100.
  • The declaration calls for stronger anticipatory action, including multi-hazard early warning systems, and for climate-related risk assessments to be incorporated into planning and decision-making.
  • It also urges greater international cooperation to provide financial, technical and policy support to developing countries, particularly SIDS and least developed countries.
  • The declaration calls for increased funding to support local responses to sea level rise.
  • It identifies nature-based measures, including the protection and restoration of mangroves, kelp forests, and seagrass meadows, as ways to help coastal communities adapt.
  • The declaration also calls for sea level rise projections to be taken into account when planning, constructing, and maintaining critical coastal infrastructure.

About Indian Peafowl:

• Indian peafowl are a species in a group of birds called pheasants.
• The males are called peacocks, while the females are called peahens. Together, they are peafowl.
• Scientific Name: Pavo cristatus
• Habitat and Distribution:
  • They are resident breeders across the Indian subcontinent and inhabit the drier lowland areas of Sri Lanka.
  • They are found in moist and dry deciduous forests near water and in montane forests and can also adapt to live in cultivated regions and around human habitations.
  • It is the national bird of India and has a significant cultural and historical presence.
• Features:
  • Peafowl are among the largest of all birds that fly.
  • Males and females show strong physical differences.
    • Peacock is brightly colored, with a predominantly blue fan-like crest of spatula-tipped wire-like feathers, and is best known for the long train (tail) made up of elongated upper-tail covert feathers, which bear colorful eyespots.
    • These stiff feathers are raised into a fan and quivered in a display during courtship.
    • Despite the length and size of these covert feathers, peacocks are still capable of flight.
    • Peahens lack the train and have a greenish lower neck and duller brown plumage.
  • Diet: Omnivorous; feeds on seeds, grains, fruits, insects, reptiles, and other small animals.
• Conservation Status:
  • IUCN Red List: Least Concern.

About Dengue:

• Dengue (break-bone fever) is a mosquito-borne viral infection caused by the dengue virus (DENV).
• While many dengue infections are asymptomatic or produce only mild illness, the virus can occasionally cause more severe cases and even death.
• The virus is most common in tropical and subtropical regions, including Central and South America, Africa, parts of Asia, and the Pacific Islands, mostly in urban and semi-urban areas.
• Dengue epidemics tend to have seasonal patterns, with transmission often peaking during and after rainy seasons.
• Transmission:
  • It is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes carrying one of four types of dengue virus (DENV).
  • It isn’t contagious from person to person except when passed from a pregnant person to their child.
  • A person can be infected with dengue multiple times in their life.
• Treatment:
  • There is no specific medicine to treat dengue. The focus is on treating pain
  • It is generally treated with supportive care such as pain relievers, bed rest, and fluids.

About Tiangong Space Station:

• The Tiangong Space Station, translating to ‘Sky Palace’, is a Chinese-owned and operated permanently crewed space station in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
• It represents the third and final step of China’s Manned Space Program.
• The first module of the space station was launched in 2021, following two precursor missions, Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2.
• The station consists of a core module known as Tianhe, which connects two science modules, Wentian and Mengtian, as well as a planned space telescope module, Xuntian.
  • Xuntian is a huge, Hubble-like space telescope, which will share the space station's orbit and be able to dock with it for repairs, maintenance, and possibly upgrades.
• Tiangong orbits Earth at an altitude between 340 to 450 kilometers, approximately the same orbital height as the International Space Station (ISS).
• Tiangong is much smaller than the ISS, with only three modules compared with 16 modules on the ISS.
• Tiangong is also considerably lighter than the ISS, which weighs about 400 tons (450 metric tons); the Chinese station is about 20% as massive.
• But unlike the ISS, Tiangong is operated by a single nation.
• The station typically hosts three astronauts at a time for six-month stays. It can support six astronauts at a time during crew handovers.
• The aims of the Tiangong Space Station are to:
  • Build a long-term, reliable space station in orbit.
  • Guarantee the long-term health and safety of stationed astronauts.
  • Provide conditions for scientific and technological experiments in space.
• The station serves as an in-orbit laboratory with enclosed experiment racks, each covering a different proposed experiment in the fields of:
  • Space life sciences and biotechnology
  • Microgravity fluid physics and combustion
  • Material science in space
  • Fundamental physics in microgravity
• The space station also features platforms for exposed and unpressurised external experiments.

About Bhima River:

• It is a perennial river and the largest tributary of the Krishna
• Course:
  • It originates near Bhimashankar Temple in the Bhimashankar hills on the western side of the Western Ghats in the Pune District of Maharashtra.
  • It flows through Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Telangana.
  • It merges into the Krishna River in Karnataka’s Raichur district.
• The Bhima drainage area is defined by the Western Ghats (west), the Balaghat Range (north), and the Mahadeo Hills (south).
• Major Tributaries:
  • Right Bank: Indrayani River, Mula River, Mutha River, and Pavana River.
  • Left Bank: Sina and Nira,
• Spiritual Significance:
  • Pandharpur is an important pilgrimage centre located on the right bank of the Bhima River.
  • The river is also referred to as Chandrabhaga River, especially at Pandharpur, as it resembles the shape of the moon.
  • Bhimashankar Temple: It is one of the 12 holy Jyotirlinga shrines in India.

About Swell wave:

• Swell waves are long-wavelength ocean waves formed on the surface of the seas and travel away from their places of origin.
• These are composed of a series of surface gravity waves.
• Swell waves are also called Kallakkadal waves in India, which is a colloquial term used by Keralam fishermen.
• These waves organise themselves into groups of similar heights and periods, and then travel long distances without much change. 
• Formation:
  • They are usually created by windstorms or other weather systems.
    • Windstorms and other powerful air current systems transfer energy from the air to water, making swell waves more powerful than locally generated waves. 
    • During such storms, huge energy transfer takes place from the air into the water, leading to the formation of very high waves. Such waves can travel thousands of kilometres from the storm centre until they strike shore.
  • They occur not due to the local winds, but rather due to distant storms like hurricanes, or even long periods of fierce gale winds.
• Features:
  • Swells have a narrower range of frequencies and directions than locally generated wind waves.
    • It is because swell waves have dispersed from their generation area, have dissipated and therefore lost an amount of randomness, taking on a more defined shape and direction.
  • These waves can propagate in directions that differ from the direction of the wind, in contrast to a wind sea.
  • Their wavelengths may rarely exceed more than 150 m. Swell wavelength, also, varies from event to event. Occasionally, swells which are longer than 700 m occur as a result of the most severe storms.
  • It occurs without precursors or any kind of local wind activity and as a result.
• Early warning systems in India: Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) launched the Swell Surge Forecast System in 2020 which gives forewaring seven days in advance.