Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon (Environment) – May 30, 2020

National Parks in India.

Statement 1 is correct: National Park is defined by state government via notification. There is no need to pass legislation (act) by the state assembly to declare a National Park.

Statement 2 is incorrect: The state government can fix and alter boundaries of the National Parks with prior consultation and approval with National Board of Wildlife.

Statement 3 is correct: No human activity is permitted inside the national park except for the ones permitted by the Chief Wildlife Warden of the state under the conditions given in CHAPTER IV, WPA 1972.

Conservation reserves and community reserves in India are terms denoting protected areas of India which typically act as buffer zones to or connectors and migration corridors between established national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserved and protected forests of India. Such areas are designated as conservation areas if they are uninhabited and completely owned by the Government of India but used for subsistence by communities and community areas if parts of the lands are privately owned. These protected area categories were first introduced in the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act of 2002 − the amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.

There are 163 existing Community Reserves in India covering an area of 833.34 km2, which is 0.03% of the geographical area of the country (National Wildlife Database, March. 2020).

State-wise break up of Community Reserves:

The Global Soil Partnership (FAO) is currently developing a new tool, SoiLEX, a global database on national legislation on soil protection, conservation and restoration to facilitate access to information on the existing legal instruments in force and bridge the gap between the various soil stakeholders. The online platform will facilitate the search for national soil legal instruments, the understanding of the different legal areas relevant to soil management and protection, as well as the exchange of experiences in soil governance between countries and regions.

Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) are ‘sites contributing significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity’, in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems.  The Global Standard for the Identification of Key Biodiversity Areas (IUCN 2016) sets out globally agreed criteria for the identification of KBAs worldwide. Sites qualify as global KBAs if they meet one or more of 11 criteria, clustered into five categories: threatened biodiversity; geographically restricted biodiversity; ecological integrity; biological processes; and, irreplaceability. The KBA criteria can be applied to species and ecosystems in terrestrial, inland water and marine environments. Although not all KBA criteria may be relevant to all elements of biodiversity, the thresholds associated with each of the criteria may be applied across all taxonomic groups (other than micro-organisms) and ecosystems.

Over the last 50 years the population of the Great Indian Bustard has recorded a decline of over 82 per cent, falling from an estimated 1260 in 1969, to 100-150 in 2018. Similarly, the population of the Lesser Florican has also witnessed a sharp decline of 80 per cent over the past few decades, from 3530 individuals recorded in 1999, to less than 700 individuals in 2018. Both these birds are facing the threat of imminent extinction in spite of the highest level of protection under the Schedule one (I) Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.

Falcons covered under Schedule (IV) Wild life (Protection) Act, 1972.

Carnivorous plants are usually categorized based on the way they catch the insects. There are wide varieties of common predator plants — pitcher plants, sundews, sarracenia, Venus fly trap and butterworts.

A team of botanists has discovered a new species of a flowering plant in the northern hilly forests of West Bengal. This new species belongs to a genus called Drypetes that globally comprises about 220 species, and is distributed chiefly in the tropical and subtropical regions of Asia and Africa.  “Named Drypetes kalamii after the late Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam, it is a herb, having separate male and female plants”. In India, about 20 species of Drypetes are found. However, this newly found species of Drypetes is unique among them because of its shrubby nature, scrambling life-form and prominent modified leaf structures. The plant produces clusters of greenish and pale-yellow flowers with orange-red and red fruits. Such red fruits easily attract birds, which disperse the seeds far and wide. The new plant belongs to the same group of plants that include Putranjiva roxburghii. Since the new plant is a close relative of such medicinal plants, it might also possess some medicinal properties.

Gahirmatha Sanctuary.

Statement 1 is correct: Gahirmatha is the lone mass nesting spot in Indian Ocean region and the only turtle sanctuary in Odisha. The Olive Ridley turtles travel across the South Pacific to breed on the coast of Gahirmatha. Millions of Olive Ridley turtles visit the beach during mass nesting every year.

Statement 2 is correct: Olive Ridley turtles get their name from the coloring of their heart-shaped shell. It starts out gray but changes to olive green when the turtles turn adults. It is an ideal destination because it is the world’s largest nesting beach of Olive Ridley Sea Turtles.

Blue carbon is simply the term for carbon captured by the world’s ocean and coastal ecosystems. Sea grasses, mangroves, and salt marshes along our coast “capture and hold” carbon, acting as something called a carbon sink. These coastal systems, though much smaller in size than the planet’s forests, sequester this carbon at a much faster rate, and can continue to do so for millions of years.  Most of the carbon taken up by these ecosystems is stored below ground where we can’t see it, but it is still there. The carbon found in coastal soil is often thousands of years old!

UN Environment launched Clean Seas (#CleanSeas on social media) in February 2017, with the aim of engaging governments, the general public and the private sector in the fight against marine plastic pollution. Over the next five years, we will address the root-cause of marine litter by targeting the production and consumption of non-recoverable and single-use plastic. To do this effectively, we need citizens to be aware, engaged and active in addressing the problem in their daily lives and beyond.