Civil Service Bytes

Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund  (CEPF) is a global program that provides funding and technical assistance to non-governmental organizations and other private sector partners to protect critical ecosystems. They focus on  biodiversity hotspots , the Earth's biologically richest yet most endangered areas. World Wide Fund for Nature The  World Wide Fund for Nature  ( WWF ) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961, working in the field of the wilderness preservation, and the reduction of humanity's footprint on the environment. It was formerly named the  World Wildlife Fund , which remains its official name in Canada and the United States. It is the world's largest conservation organization. Currently, much of its work focuses on the conservation of three biomes that contain most of the world's biodiversity: oceans an...

Here are the major topics which have been in news recently and there is a possibility that UPSC might pose a question from any of the latest happenings. Policy to adopt world heritage sites UNESCO, with the help of 21 member World Heritage Committee and advisory bodies such as International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), within the framework of its Operational Guidelines, decides about the cultural and natural sites to be included on the World Heritage list.  Such cultural and natural sites must display the necessary Outstanding Universal Value (OUV), fulfill one or more out of 10 prescribed criteria (as given below), maintain the condition of authenticity and integrity and should be in a good state of conservation.  There are 32 sites from India declared as World Heritage sites - 25 are cultural sites and 7 are natural sites. The Criteria for the assessment of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) as per UNE...