UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 27 January 2026 covers important current affairs of the day, their backward linkages, their relevance for Prelims exam and MCQs on main articles
InstaLinks : Insta Links help you think beyond the current affairs issue and help you think multidimensionally to develop depth in your understanding of these issues. These linkages provided in this ‘hint’ format help you frame possible questions in your mind that might arise(or an examiner might imagine) from each current event. InstaLinks also connect every issue to their static or theoretical background.
Table of Contents
GS Paper 3:
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Cybercrime and the crisis of global governance
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Enhancing Circular Economy of ELVs in India Report
Content for Mains Enrichment (CME):
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Tap Water Coverage Urban India
Facts for Prelims (FFP):
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Wings India 2026
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Humanoid Robot ‘ASC ARJUN’
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Antarctic Activities and Environmental Protection Law
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Polar Vortex
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Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs)
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Day Zero
Mapping:
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Aralam Butterfly Sanctuary
UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 27 January 2026
GS Paper 3:
Cybercrime and the crisis of global governance
Source: TH
Subject: Cybersecurity
Context: India has not signed the UN Convention against Cybercrime (2024), reflecting deep fractures in global cyber governance.
- The episode highlights a widening gap between global cyber norms and national priorities, raising concerns over India’s institutional autonomy in a polycentric digital order.
About Cybercrime and the crisis of global governance:
What it is?
- The crisis of global governance refers to the widening gap between universal international legal principles and their fragmented on-ground practice.
- While nations agree on broad goals like safe AI or combating child abuse material, they diverge sharply on implementation, leading to polycentricism—a system of overlapping, often conflicting, regional and bilateral rules.
Key Trends in Cybercrime:
- Surge in Incidents: India recorded a massive rise in cyber incidents, jumping from 10.29 lakh in 2022 to 22.68 lakh in 2024.
- AI-Powered Attacks: Artificial Intelligence is being used as a “force multiplier” for sophisticated phishing, deepfake-based fraud, and automated malware.
- Ransomware Evolution: Attacks in 2026 combine sensitive data theft with multi-stage extortion and psychological leverage, targeting even smaller organizations with limited budgets.
- Financial Toll: In the first half of 2025, India lost an average of ₹1,000 crore per month to cyber frauds, with annual projections potentially reaching 0.7% of GDP.
- Identity-Centric Threats: Identity security has become the primary battleground, as deepfakes and credential abuse bypass traditional biometric and perimeter defences.
About UN Convention against Cybercrime (Hanoi Convention):
- Universal Criminalization: Establishes the first global framework to criminalize offences like ransomware, financial fraud, and non-consensual sharing of intimate images.
- Electronic Evidence Sharing: Facilitates cross-border requests for digital evidence, crucial for investigating decentralized transnational crimes.
- 24/7 Cooperation Network: Establishes a permanent global network to provide real-time assistance for investigations and recovery of crime proceeds.
- Human Rights Safeguards: Includes provisions meant to protect privacy and dignity, though critics argue these are tethered to prevailing domestic frameworks.
- Child Protection focus: It is the first global treaty to specifically target sexual violence against children committed through information technologies.
Initiatives at Global Forums:
- Budapest Convention: A 2001 European-led effort (76 parties) that remains the most widely used framework, though criticized for being non-inclusive toward major powers like India, Russia, and China.
- Hiroshima Process (G7): Focused on establishing global consensus and safety standards for the development of generative AI.
- UN Global Digital Compact: A high-level initiative aimed at fostering a safe and human-centric digital future for all UN member states.
- Cyber Initiative Tokyo 2025: A global forum exploring data security and integrated deterrence for critical infrastructure in the age of AI.
Challenges Associated with Countering Cybercrime:
- Legal vs. Practical Gaps: Broad consensus on principles is often undermined by prescriptive, diverse domestic rules.
E.g. India’s draft rules for 10% watermark labels on all AI-generated content are seen as an exceptionally prescriptive implementation of a universal safety principle.
- Institutional Control Concerns: Major powers resist surrendering sovereignty over citizen data to international bodies.
E.g. India refused the UN Convention partly because it did not retain sufficient institutional control over its citizens’ data during cross-border investigations.
- Supply-Chain Dependencies: Fragmented governance leads to vulnerabilities in sprawling vendor networks.
E.g. Indian organizations identify third-party breaches (18%) as the top threat they are least prepared to address.
- Human Rights Risks: Vague definitions of serious crimes could be exploited to target activists or journalists.
E.g. Civil society warned that broad definitions in the new UN treaty could enable the prosecution of political opponents in various jurisdictions.
- Systemic Financial Gaps: Loopholes in digital banking and weak verification enable anonymous cross-border crimes.
E.g. The issuance of ghost SIM cards by PoS agents remains a primary enabler for UPI and financial frauds in India.
Way Ahead for India:
- Build Technical Capacity: India must develop high-level technical expertise to engage in global rulemaking across multiple layers (legal, technical, and political) simultaneously.
- Domestic Regulatory Reform: Rapidly implement administrative and legal reforms, such as updating the National Cyber Security Policy, to address AI and IoT threats.
- Adopt Zero Trust Architecture: Transition organizations from legacy VPNs to Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) to minimize the blast radius of compromised credentials.
- Strengthen Public-Private Partnerships: Collaborate with private sector actors for AI-driven threat detection and forensic analysis.
- District-Level Units: Establish localized, district-level cybersecurity units to manage threats closer to citizens and coordinate effectively with CERT-In.
Conclusion:
India faces a defining moment where institutional autonomy must align with global cooperation to tackle borderless cyber threats. In a polycentric world of cyber sabotage and financial fraud, principles without operational capacity are inadequate. India must convert global norms into strong domestic enforcement while simultaneously strengthening its technical and diplomatic cyber capabilities to lead in the digital age.
Enhancing Circular Economy of ELVs in India Report
Source: TP
Subject: Economy
Context: A NITI Aayog report “Enhancing Circular Economy of ELVs in India” has warned that end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) in India could double to nearly 50 million by 2030, posing serious safety, pollution and waste-management risks.
About Enhancing Circular Economy of ELVs in India Report:
What is ELVs?
- End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs) as those no longer roadworthy, invalidly registered, or voluntarily declared as waste by owners. The study emphasizes the scientific management of ELVs to recover valuable resources like steel while mitigating the hazards of unscientific dismantling.
Key Trends and Data:
- Surging ELV Stock: The number of ELVs is expected to nearly double from 23 million in 2025 to 50 million by 2030.
- Pollution Load: Older BS-I vehicles emit up to eight times more pollutants than modern BS-VI standard vehicles.
- Resource Potential: Approximately 98 million tonnes of steel can be recovered from vehicles manufactured between 2005 and 2023.
- Infrastructure Gap: India requires 500 Automated Testing Stations (ATS) by 2027, but as of September 2025, only 156 are operational.
- Informal Dominance: The informal sector handles roughly 2-3 lakh ELVs annually, while formal facilities (RVSFs) only managed 72,000 in FY 2024-25.
Regulatory Landscape for ELVs:
- Voluntary Vehicle-Fleet Modernisation Program (2021): Introduced mandatory fitness testing for private vehicles (>20 years) and commercial vehicles (>15 years).
- Motor Vehicles (RVSF) Rules, 2021: Established the framework for Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facilities and the issuance of Certificates of Deposit (CoD).
- EPR Rules, 2025: Mandates Extended Producer Responsibility for OEMs, requiring them to meet steel recovery targets (e.g., 8% for 2025-2030).
- Mandatory ATS Testing: As of October 2024, fitness testing for heavy, medium, and light transport vehicles must be conducted exclusively through ATS.
- Incentive Schemes (SASCI): The Ministry of Finance provided over INR 2,000 crore to states to support vehicle scrapping and ATS setup.
Key Challenges:
- Significant price differential: Informal scrappers outbid formal players by evading GST, environmental norms, and compliance costs, making them more attractive to owners seeking quick cash.
E.g. An informal buyer offers ~₹38,000 for a Dzire-class car, while an RVSF can pay only ~₹23,000, creating a ₹15,000 incentive to choose the informal route.
- Regional infrastructure imbalance: ATS and RVSFs are clustered in a few states, forcing owners elsewhere to rely on informal scrapping due to distance, cost, and access barriers.
E.g. Gujarat operates ~56 ATS units, whereas states like Sikkim or Arunachal Pradesh have negligible or no functional facilities.
- Procedural bottlenecks in de-registration: Paper-heavy, physical verification requirements deter owners from formal closure, keeping ghost vehicles on official records.
E.g. Many vehicles remain active on the VAHAN database despite being scrapped, as there’s no penalty for failing to de-register.
- Weak financial viability of formal facilities: High capex and low inflow—diverted to informal yards—leave RVSFs underutilized and financially stressed.
E.g. With <20% capacity utilization, a typical RVSF may take nearly a decade to reach break-even.
- Improper issuance of fitness certificates: Shortcuts and intermediaries undermine testing integrity, eroding safety and environmental objectives.
E.g. Some ATS units issue fitness certificates without vehicle presence, charging unofficial premiums above notified fees.
NITI Aayog Recommendations:
- Infrastructure Expansion: Adopt a one ATS per district goal and explore PSU-led models for RVSFs in commercially unviable regions.
- Sector Formalization: Integrate informal clusters through the Udyam Assist Platform and provide one-time waivers for legacy environmental liabilities.
- EPR Strengthening: Raise steel recovery targets (up to 35% by 2035) and refine rules to exclude production scrap from meeting ELV targets.
- Digital Reforms: Mandate Aadhaar-based ownership transfer and allow de-registration only upon submission of a valid CoD.
- Financial Innovation: Ratify a methodology for Carbon Credits from formal scrapping, potentially adding INR 2,000 per vehicle in revenue.
Conclusion:
Developing a formal ELV ecosystem is critical for India to balance rapid motorization with its climate goals and resource security. By bridging the price gap between formal and informal sectors and simplifying digital de-registration, India can unlock significant economic value. Success depends on a coordinated rollout of infrastructure and strict regulatory enforcement across all states.
UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 27 January 2026 Content for Mains Enrichment (CME)
Tap Water Coverage Urban India
Context: Urban tap water coverage has increased from 49% (2011) to about 77%, driven largely by the implementation of AMRUT and AMRUT 2.0 under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
About Tap Water Coverage Urban India:
What it is?
- Tap water coverage refers to the proportion of urban households receiving piped water supply within premises, ensuring reliable, safe, and affordable drinking water access.
Key trends / data:
- Coverage rose from 49% (2011) → ~77% (2025–26).
- 228 lakh household tap connections provided so far.
- 20 lakh sewer connections added and Faecal Sludge and Septage Management coverage expanded.
- ~6,000 MLD of treated wastewater now reused.
- AMRUT (2015–): 6,008 projects approved (₹83,470.84 cr).
- AMRUT 2.0 (2021–): ~9,000 projects approved (₹1.89 lakh cr); focus on water security, reuse, and universal coverage
- Jal Hi Amrit: Water Resource Recovery Cells set up in 25 States/UTs; AMRUT Mitra engaged 28,000+ women SHG members
- Environmental co-benefits: 7,480 acres of water bodies rejuvenated; 2,704 acres of green spaces developed
Significance:
- Improves public health outcomes by reducing water-borne diseases
- Advances urban water security and climate resilience via reuse and demand management
- Promotes inclusive urban development, especially for the urban poor
- Supports sustainable cities through integrated water–wastewater–green infrastructure planning
Relevance for UPSC syllabus
- GS Paper II – Governance
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- Urban local bodies; delivery of basic services; welfare schemes
- Centre–State coordination; implementation outcomes (AMRUT 2.0)
- GS Paper III – Infrastructure & Environment
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- Water supply, sanitation, wastewater reuse
- Urban sustainability; resource efficiency; climate adaptation
UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 27 January 2026 Facts for Prelims (FFP)
Wings India 2026
Source: News on Air
Subject: Miscellaneous
Context: Wings India 2026, Asia’s largest civil aviation event, will be held from 28–31 January 2026 at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad, showcasing India’s rapid rise as a global aviation hub.
About Wings India 2026:
What it is?
- Wings India is a biennial global civil aviation exhibition and conference, combining air displays, static aircraft exhibitions, B2B/B2G meetings, and policy dialogues across the aviation ecosystem.
Launched in:
- The aviation airshow series began in 2008 as India Aviation, later rebranded as Wings India.
- It is organised by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, with Hyderabad designated as the permanent venue.
Theme: Indian Aviation: Paving the Future – From Design to Deployment, Manufacturing to Maintenance, Inclusivity to Innovation and Safety to Sustainability
History:
- The first edition, India Aviation 2008, was held at Begumpet Airport and featured the historic landing of the Airbus A380.
- Over time, Wings India has evolved into Asia’s largest civil aviation platform, reflecting India’s growing aviation scale and ambition.
Aim:
- To showcase India’s transformation into a major global aviation hub spanning connectivity, aircraft manufacturing, MRO, training, cargo, innovation and sustainability.
- To facilitate investment, technology transfer, partnerships and policy coordination in the aviation sector.
Key features:
- Aircraft displays (static and flying) featuring 30+ aircraft.
- 500+ B2B and B2G meetings, CEO roundtables and investor sessions.
- Representation across the aviation value chain: airlines, airports, OEMs, MROs, lessors, startups, training institutes and regulators.
- Strong focus on Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), green airports, digital air navigation and advanced air mobility.
Significance:
- Positions India as one of the largest future aviation markets amid record aircraft orders and passenger growth.
- Highlights flagship initiatives such as UDAN, greenfield airports, MRO policy reforms and aerospace manufacturing.
Humanoid Robot ‘ASC ARJUN’
Source: PIB
Subject: Science and Technology
Context: Indian Railways has deployed a humanoid robot named ‘ASC ARJUN’ at Visakhapatnam Railway Station, marking a first-of-its-kind initiative across the railway network.
About Humanoid Robot ‘ASC ARJUN’:
What it is?
- ASC ARJUN is an AI-powered humanoid robot deployed to assist the Railway Protection Force (RPF) in station surveillance, crowd management and passenger assistance.
Developed by:
- Indigenously designed and developed in Visakhapatnam by a dedicated Indian Railways technical team using home-grown technology.
Launched in:
Aim:
- To enhance passenger safety and security, optimise manpower deployment, and improve service delivery through the use of emerging technologies.
Key functions:
- Security & surveillance: Face Recognition System (FRS) for intrusion detection and AI-based crowd monitoring.
- Real-time alerts: Instant alerts to RPF control rooms during suspicious activities or emergencies.
- Emergency response: Fire and smoke detection systems for early warning.
- Passenger assistance: Automated public announcements in English, Hindi and Telugu.
- Autonomous patrolling: Semi-autonomous navigation with obstacle avoidance for round-the-clock platform patrols.
- Human interaction: Friendly gestures like Namaste for passengers and salutes for RPF personnel.
Significance:
- Demonstrates Indian Railways’ technological innovation and indigenisation push.
- Improves public safety and crowd management at high-footfall stations.
Antarctic Activities and Environmental Protection Law
Source: TH
Subject: International Relations
Context: China has proposed a draft Antarctic Activities and Environmental Protection Law, submitted for first reading to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee in December 2025.
About Antarctic Activities and Environmental Protection Law:
What it is?
- A comprehensive domestic law to regulate all China-linked activities in Antarctica, aligning national practice with the Antarctic Treaty System.
Proposed by:
- The Government of China, tabled before the National People’s Congress Standing Committee for legislative scrutiny.
Aim:
- To coordinate, manage and legally regulate Antarctic activities;
- Ensure peaceful use and environmental protection;
- Strengthen China’s role in global Antarctic governance.
Key features:
- Wide jurisdiction: Applies to Chinese citizens/entities and foreign expeditions organised from China or departing Chinese ports.
- Permitting regime: Expands administrative permissions beyond science to tourism, shipping and fishing.
- Environmental safeguards: Mandatory Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), waste management rules, marine pollution control, and protection of flora, fauna, and heritage sites.
- Peaceful use: Military activities prohibited, except limited support for peaceful purposes; no weapons testing or combat operations.
- Resource protection: Ban on mineral exploitation, except for scientific research.
- Compliance & penalties: Sanctions for unauthorised activities; requirements for insurance/financial guarantees and emergency response plans.
- Low-carbon conduct: Encourages environmentally friendly operations and incident-response mechanisms.
Significance:
- Marks China’s shift from policy-based management to a binding legal framework for Antarctic engagement.
- Helps close regulatory gaps around private tourism and commercial activities amid rising Chinese presence.
NOTE: Just remember the law’s name, the country involved, and its aim. There is no need to remember key features.
Polar Vortex
Source: IE
Subject: Geography
Context: A polar vortex–driven winter storm swept across the United States in January 2026, bringing heavy snow, freezing rain and sub-zero temperatures to nearly 17 states, causing deaths and severe travel disruptions.
About Polar Vortex:
What it is?
- The polar vortex is a large, persistent area of low pressure and extremely cold air that circulates around the Earth’s polar regions.
- It exists in two forms:
- Tropospheric polar vortex (lower atmosphere, where weather occurs)
- Stratospheric polar vortex (higher atmosphere, strongest in winter)
How it forms?
- During winter, reduced solar heating at the poles creates intense cold air, generating a strong low-pressure system.
- This system drives fast-moving winds that normally keep Arctic air locked near the poles.
Factors influencing polar vortex disruptions:
- Jet stream behaviour: A strong vortex keeps the jet stream stable; a weakened vortex makes it wavy, allowing cold air to spill south.
- Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW): Rapid warming in the stratosphere can weaken or split the vortex.
- Arctic amplification: Faster warming of the Arctic compared to lower latitudes reduces the temperature gradient, making the vortex more unstable.
- Atmospheric pressure systems: Blocking high-pressure systems can divert cold air toward mid-latitudes.
Implications:
-
- Extreme cold waves, heavy snowfall, ice storms and wind chill hazards.
- Energy stress, power outages and disruption to transport and daily life.
- Increased risks of hypothermia and frostbite in regions unaccustomed to such cold.
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- Cold surges in North America, Europe and Asia linked to polar vortex shifts.
- Greater weather volatility, with sharper contrasts between extreme cold spells and warmer periods.
- Raises concerns about how climate change may be reshaping atmospheric circulation, even as average global temperatures rise.
Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs)
Source: TP
Subject: Economy
Context: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed reopening the licensing window for Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs) after a gap of more than 20 years, seeking stakeholder feedback.
About Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs):
What it is?
- Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs) are member-owned, community-based banks operating mainly in urban and semi-urban areas, providing banking and credit services to small borrowers, traders, salaried employees and MSMEs.
- They function on co-operative principles such as mutual help, democratic control (“one member, one vote”), and local participation.
Launched / Origin:
- The urban co-operative credit movement in India began in the late 19th century, inspired by co-operative experiments in Britain and Germany.
- The first urban co-operative credit society was registered in Kanchipuram (1904) under the Co-operative Credit Societies Act, 1904.
Historical evolution:
- Expanded rapidly in the early 20th century to serve middle- and lower-income urban groups excluded by joint-stock banks.
- Brought partly under RBI regulation in 1966 through the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, leading to dual control (RBI + State Governments).
- Rapid licensing in the 1990s led to governance failures, prompting the RBI to stop new UCB licences in 2004.
- Reforms such as the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2020 and creation of NUCFDC (2024) strengthened supervision, governance and technology adoption.
Key functions:
- Deposit mobilisation from local communities.
- Credit delivery to small businesses, traders, professionals and households.
- Support to financial inclusion through affordable interest rates and local familiarity.
- Financing of MSMEs and urban informal sector activities.
Significance:
- Act as a bridge between informal finance and formal banking, especially for small borrowers.
- Offer lower interest rates compared to microfinance institutions.
- Bring local trust, proximity and financial literacy into urban banking.
- Renewed licensing could expand RBI-regulated coverage, improving depositor protection—if entry norms are balanced.
Day Zero
Source: IT
Subject: Environment
Context: The concept of “Day Zero” has re-entered global focus as the United Nations warned that worsening climate change, groundwater depletion, and weak water governance could push many cities—including in India—towards acute water collapse.
About Day Zero:
What it is?
- “Day Zero” refers to the point at which a city or region’s usable water supply falls below a critical threshold, forcing authorities to shut off regular tap water and supply water only through rationed emergency distribution points.
Origin of the term:
- The term gained global prominence during Cape Town’s near Day Zero crisis in 2018, when reservoir levels dropped to dangerously low levels.
- Since then, UN agencies have adopted the term to describe systemic urban water collapse, not just temporary droughts.
Key features of Day Zero:
- Suspension of normal water supply to households.
- Water prioritised for essential services such as hospitals, sanitation, and firefighting.
- Rationing of water through public collection points with strict per-person limits.
- Triggered by long-term stressors, not a single bad monsoon or drought year.
- Often linked to over-extraction of groundwater, poor planning, and climate variability.
Implications:
- Public health crises due to lack of safe drinking water and sanitation.
- Urban disruption, including power shortages, food supply stress, and economic losses.
- Social unrest and inequality, with women, children, and informal settlements disproportionately affected.
- Agricultural and food security risks, especially in groundwater-dependent regions.
UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 27 January 2026 Mapping:
Aralam Butterfly Sanctuary
Source: TH
Subject: Mapping
Context: The Kerala government has officially renamed Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary as Aralam Butterfly Sanctuary, making it the first butterfly sanctuary in Kerala.
About Aralam Butterfly Sanctuary:
What it is?
- A protected area in the Western Ghats, now exclusively recognised as Kerala’s first butterfly sanctuary, dedicated to the conservation of butterfly species and their habitats.
Located in: Kannur district, Kerala, on the western slopes of the Western Ghats, bordering Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary (Karnataka) and adjoining Kottiyoor Wildlife Sanctuary.
History:
- Constituted in 1984 under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
- Originally notified as Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary, carved out from vested private forests and reserved forests.
- Renamed in July 2025–January 2026 following a recommendation of the State Board for Wildlife, citing unmatched butterfly richness.
Key geographical features:
- Area: ~55 sq km of evergreen and semi-evergreen forests.
- Hydrology: Drained by the Cheenkanni River, a major tributary system of Kannur district.
- Climate:
- High rainfall (~4000–6000 mm annually).
- Temperature range: 11°C–40°C.
- High humidity supporting rich microclimates.
- Biodiversity hotspot:
- 266 of Kerala’s 327 butterfly species recorded.
- Noted for mass butterfly migration and mud-puddling.
- Habitat of the Schedule I Slender Loris and other Western Ghats endemics.
Significance:
- Elevates Aralam as a nationally unique conservation model focused on insects, especially pollinators.
- Strengthens protection of butterflies as indicators of ecosystem health.
- Enhances Kerala’s profile in biodiversity conservation and eco-tourism.
- Supports Western Ghats conservation, a UNESCO World Heritage biodiversity hotspot.
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