Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon (Environment) – July 25, 2020

Kaiser-i-Hind (Teinopalpus imperialis) is one of the most elusive swallowtail butterflies, with a 90mm to 120mm wingspan.

• It occurs in Eastern Himalayan States like Bengal (Darjeeling), Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, the Khasi hills of Meghalaya as well as outside India in Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, southern China, Vietnam and Laos.
• The butterfly keeps to the top of trees and is therefore difficult to capture. It was once plentiful in the Khasi hills, near Cherrapunjee.
• Kaiser-i-Hind is a rare and spectacular swallowtail butterfly species. It is protected by Indian law under schedule II of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
• This butterfly is an IUCN red-listed species.
• It has a strong and fast flight. It usually flies at tree-top level but when there is strong morning sunlight it descends to sit on low vegetation.
• April to July is the period when it is in flight. Its eggs are laid on the underside of leaves and are pale purplish red in colour and smooth and spherical in shape.

Lorises are unique tiny creatures that live on trees. Endemic to the Eastern Ghats they are distributed in select pockets across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

• The patch of deciduous shrub forest in Ayyalur, situated on the Dindigul-Tiruchi-Karur border has been identified as an international hotspot for the Grey Slender Loris by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).
• IUCN has listed them as Endangered, whereas they are listed under the Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of India, 1972, according them the highest level of legal protection.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a process of evaluating the likely environmental impacts of a proposed project or development, taking into account inter-related socio-economic, cultural and human-health impacts, both beneficial and adverse.

• EIA is basically a tool used to assess the positive and negative environmental, economic and social impacts of a project. This is used to predict the environmental impacts of a project in the pre-planning stage itself so that decisions can be taken to reduce the adverse impacts.
• EIA started in India in 1976-77 when the Planning Commission directed the Department of Science & Technology to assess the river valley projects from the point of view of the environment.
• Then, in 1986, the government enacted the Environment (Protec­tion) Act which made EIA statutory.
• The other main laws in this regard are the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act (1972), the Water Act (1974), the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act (1981), and the Biological Diversity Act (2002).

The platypus is a remarkable mammal found only in Australia. The platypus is a duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed, egg-laying aquatic creature native to Australia.

• The platypus is the sole living representative of its family, and genus, though a number of related species appear in the fossil record.
• It is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young.

Indira Gandhi Zoological Park is located amidst Kambalakonda Reserve Forest in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It is the third largest zoo in the country. The zoological park is named after the former Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi. It was declared open to the public on 19 May 1977.

Nehru Zoological Park is a zoo located near Mir Alam Tank in Hyderabad, Telangana, India.

Amirthi Zoological Park is a zoo in Tiruvannamalai District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It was opened in 1967 and is about 25 kilometres from the Vellore city. The area of the park is 25 hectares and one can find beautiful waterfalls.

Scientists have discovered remnants of the world’s oldest fossil forest — an extensive network of trees around 386 million years old — in sandstone quarry in the U.S.

• The fossil forest in Cairo would have spread from New York all the way into Pennsylvania and beyond, according to the researchers from Binghamton University, and New York State Museum in the U.S.
• The forest is around 2 or 3 million years older than what was thought to be the world’s oldest forest at Gilboa, also in New York State and around 40 kilometres away from the Cairo site.

The Global Carbon Project is a Global Research Project of Future Earth and a research partner of the World Climate Research Programme.

• It was formed to work with the international science community to establish a common and mutually agreed knowledge base to support policy debate and action to slow down and ultimately stop the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
• The overwhelming realization that anthropogenic climate change is a reality has focused the attention of the scientific community, policymakers and the general public on the rising atmospheric concentrations of the main greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O).
• The GCP has approached this challenge by focusing comprehensively on the global biogeochemical cycles which govern these three greenhouse gases, including their natural and human drivers, and opportunities for low carbon pathways.
• The scientific goal of the Global Carbon Project is to develop a complete picture of the global carbon cycle, including both its biophysical and human dimensions together with the interactions and feedbacks between them.

“Operation Clean Art” was the first pan India operation to crackdown on the smuggling of mongoose hair in the country.

• There are six species of mongoose found in India and we have mostly recovered [in the raids] grey mongoose [hair].
• An adult mongoose yields over 30-40 gm of long hair, from which only 20-25 gm of “brush-making hair” is recovered.
• Operation Clean Art was conceived by WCCB with the singular aim of ensuring that the mongoose hair brush trade should be closed down across the country.
• Describing the making of brushes with mongoose hair an “organised crime”, the official said most of these animals were poached by “hunting communities” across the country.
• The mongoose is listed in Schedule II Part 2 of the Wildlife Protection Act and any smuggling or possession of its body part is a non-bailable offence.

Seeking to address some of the most pressing issues facing India, including air pollution, through innovation, the United Nations Development Programme in November 2019, launched the country chapter of its Accelerator Lab here.

• The laboratory that will be housed in the UNDP India office has partnered with the Indian government’s Atal Innovation Mission to achieve its objectives.
• Other issues that the laboratory will seek to address include sustainable water management and client-resilient livelihoods.

At a time when India has managed to increase its forest cover to over 20 percent of its geographical area, forest health continues to show signs of strain.

• Regeneration is either inadequate or absent in about 45 percent of all forest areas and about 95 percent of all forest plots inventoried show some signs of degradation.
• The report, “Strengthening Forest Fire Management in India”, jointly prepared by the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and the World Bank says forest fires are today a leading cause of forest degradation in India.
• The report discusses policies on forest fire prevention and management (FFPM) at the national, state and local levels, underscoring the need for a comprehensive national policy and guidelines.
• It provides recommendations on five broad themes – policy, institutions and capacity, community engagement, technology, and data and information and looks at national and international best practices in FFPM.