Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon (Environment) – August 29, 2020

In 2017, 49 scientists authored a landmark paper, “An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm” that called for a Global Deal for Nature (GDN) — a companion to the Paris Climate Agreement — to promote increased habitat protection and restoration, national and regional conservation strategies, and the empowerment of indigenous peoples to protect their sovereign lands.

• The goal of such a deal would be to protect half the terrestrial realm to halt the extinction crisis while sustaining human livelihoods.
• A key concept in the paper is that each of the world’s 846 terrestrial eco-regions needs its own plan shared by the countries whose boundaries overlap its geophysical extent.
• In April 2019, many of these scientists published a new paper called “A Global Deal for Nature: Guiding Principles, Milestones, and Targets” that explains why protecting half the Earth is needed, and presents a science-driven plan to save the diversity and abundance of life on Earth.
• It builds upon many scientific proposals for protecting key biodiversity areas and the latest climate science, calling for a milestone of at least 30% of lands protected by 2030 with an additional 20% in climate stabilization areas. It is also the first to include land, freshwater, and marine eco-regions in one global plan.

The policy’s mission is to save the diversity and abundance of life on the earth — for the price tag of $100 billion a year.

A local paint manufacturer and distributor have developed a type of paint that can eliminate harmful air pollutants such as nitrogen oxide (NOx) and other volatile organic compounds.

• Mainly generated by vehicle emissions, NOx is a common air pollutant known to have serious consequences for health and the environment, including causing acid rain and smog.
• Called KNOxOUT, the paint – developed by Pacific Paint (Boysen) Philippines, Inc. – contains ultrafine titanium dioxide that breaks down NOx and converts it into harmless substances.

Earth Beats, an international and collaborative initiative gathering 18 news media outlets from around the world to focus on solutions to waste and pollution.

From Wandering Albatross to Coastal Redwood, Google on April 22, 2019 celebrated Earth Day with a series of animations on six unique inhabitants on the Earth.

• While Wandering Albatross has the widest wingspan in the world, Coastal Redwood is the tallest tree in the world at 377 feet.
• Paedophryne Amauensis is a species of frog from Papua New Guinea. At 7.7 mm in length, it is considered the world’s smallest known vertebrate.
• Another animation is on Amazon Water Lily which is the largest aquatic plant.
• Then there is Coelacanth — a fish that was long considered a “living fossil”. It evolved into roughly its current form approximately 400 million years ago.
• Several recent studies have shown that Coelacanth body shapes are much more diverse than previously thought.
• The last animation is on “Deep Cave Springtail”, insects that live in total darkness in caves where they feed on fungi and decomposing organic matter.

The theme of this year’s Earth Day was ‘Protect Our Species’ and intended to draw attention to the rapid global destruction and reduction of the world’s plant and wildlife populations.

The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve falls under the biogeographic region of  the Malabar rain forest. The Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Wyanaad Wildlife Sanctuary Bandipur National Park, Nagarhole National Park, Mukurthi National Park and Silent Valley are the protected areas present within this reserve.

Tamil Nadu has been a pioneer State in Protected Area management and development of forest resources and wildlife.

• The total area under the protected area management is 7,072.95 sq. km. which comes to 30.92% of the State’s Forest area.
• The Protected Areas in the State includes 5 National parks, 15 Wildlife sanctuaries, 15 bird sanctuaries and 2 conservation reserves besides 4 Tiger Reserves viz. Anamalai,  Kalakkad – Mundanthurai, Mudumalai and Sathyamangalam.
• These Protected Areas have been established under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
• Further Tamil Nadu also has the distinction of having 3 Biosphere Reserves viz. Nilgiris, Gulf of Mannar and Agasthiarmalai, which are internationally acclaimed for their rich and unique biodiversity.

Bannerghatta National Park (Karnataka): was declared a national park in 1974, with a portion of it being made into BBP in 2002. BBP has four divisions: the zoo, the safari, the butterfly park and the rescue centre.

Machia Biological Park (Jhodpur, Rajasthan): The primary aim of the Park is conservation and to supplement the efforts for in situ conservation of the flora and fauna of the Aravalli and desert ecosystem.

Soor Sarovar Bird Sanctuary is located at Agra (Uttar Pradesh).

The Kudremukh National Park is located at a distance of 96 km from the district of Chikmagalur in the state of Karnataka in India.

• Nestled in the Western Ghats, the park is spread over an area of over 600 sq km at an altitude of 1,894 m above sea level.
• The Kudremukh National Park derives its name from a hill top that resembles the shape of the head of a horse.
• The park houses four ranges named Kudremukh, Kerekatte, Kalasa, and Shimoga. The entire park is covered by thick forests with various species of flora. It is also surrounded by tea and coffee plantations.
• The Kudremukh National Park falls under the Global Tiger Conservation Priority-I, under the format developed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and World Wide Fund-USA.
• It is also the origin of three very well known rivers – the Nethravathi, the Tunga and the Bhadra.
• A statue of Lord Varaha at a height of six feet can be found inside an ancient cave and a temple of goddess Bhagavathi is also present here. These attract many tourists, mainly pilgrims, here.
• Kudremukh National Park is home to several species of flora and fauna. Eucalyptus, casuarinas, acacia auriculiformis and Grevillea Robusta are some of the species of flora found here.
• Together with a wide array of wildlife consisting of tigers, leopards, wild dogs, Malabar giant squirrels, common langurs, sloth bears, gaurs, porcupines, sambar, spotted deer, barking deer, jackals, giant flying squirrels and mongoose found here.

Saprotrophs feed by a process known as absorptive nutrition, in which the nutritional substrate (e.g., dead organism or other nonliving organic matter) is directly digested by a variety of enzymes that are excreted by the saprotroph.

The enzymes convert the detritus into simpler molecules, which are then absorbed by the cells to feed the organism.

The inspiration came from Chi-Chi: a giant panda that had arrived at the London Zoo in the year 1961, when WWF was being created.

Aware of the need for a strong, recognizable symbol that would overcome all language barriers, WWF’s founders agreed that the big, furry animal with her appealing, black-patched eyes would make an excellent logo.