Environment Quiz: Conservation Efforts (Environment) |23 Apr, 2021

India is a member of all major international conservation treaties related to habitat, species and environment (like Ramsar Convention, 1971; Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, 1973; Convention on Migratory Species, 1979; Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992, among others).

Source: https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/forests/wildlife-conservation-in-india-are-we-really-serious–51505

Once famous for dolomite mining, Buxa was declared a tiger reserve in 1983 and got the status of National Park in 1992.

• Located in the Assam-Bhutan border, Buxa has an area of 745 sq km, the largest forest in North Bengal.
• The Park holds the maximum number of elephants, Indian bison, leopard, many species of deer and many smaller mammals, innumerable species of birds and reptiles.
• Buxa is rich with biodiversity and has a great collection of rare orchids and medicinal plants.

Source: The Hindu

Snow leopard is the icon of high mountains of Asia.

• In India, they inhabit the higher Himalayan and Trans-Himalayan landscape in an altitudinal range between approximately 3,000 m to 5,400 m above MSL, spanning c. 100,000 km2 in the five states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
• This area contributes to about 5% of the global snow leopard range.
• Long term research and conservation efforts in India have made it one of the best researched snow leopard range countries in the world.

Source: http://164.100.117.97/WriteReadData/userfiles/SPAI.pdf

Historically, the great Indian bustard was distributed throughout Western India, spanning 11 states, as well as parts of Pakistan.

• Its stronghold was once the Thar Desert in the north-west and the Deccan plateau of the peninsula.

• Today, its population is confined mostly to Rajasthan and Gujarat. Small population occurs in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
• WWF-India has provided inputs in developing the ‘Guidelines for the State Action Plan for Resident Bustard Recovery Programme’.
• It has played an important role in raising awareness about the declining populations and highlighting the importance of implementing a focused bustard conservation programme at the national level.
• WWF-India, is undertaking initiatives towards conservation of GIB in and around Desert National Park.

Source: https://www.wwfindia.org/about_wwf/priority_species/threatened_species/great_indian_bustard/

The brow-antlered deer is found in Keibul Lamjao National Park in Manipur. It is largely seen over the floating biomass, locally called “phumdi” in the South Eastern part of Loktak Lake inside the park.

• The Park covers an area of 40 km² and the home range of the deer in the park is confined to 15–20 km².
• Phumdi is the most important and unique part of Sangai’s habitat. It is the floating mass of entangled vegetation formed by the accumulation of organic debris and biomass with soil.
• The sangai is an endemic and endangered subspecies of brow-antlered deer found only in Manipur, India. It is also the state animal of Manipur.

Source: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/manipurs-sangai-deer-needs-a-new-home/article9973347.ece

Project Crocodile was introduced in 1975. The primary focus was on breeding and rearing in captivity.

• The initiative was taken by the Government of India in association with the Food and Agriculture Organization and United Nations Development Fund.
• Due to the implementation of this project, there is an increase in the population of crocodiles, which has saved them from extinction.
• The protected areas include National Chambal Sanctuary and Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary.
• The Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area in the Upper Gangetic plain in Uttar Pradesh, India and covers an area of 400.6 km² in the Terai of the Bahraich district.

Source: https://blog.ipleaders.in/top-5-conservation-projects-wildlife-india/

The National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE), which seeks to strengthen the market for energy efficiency by creating conducive regulatory and policy regime.

• NMEEE has been envisaged to foster innovative and sustainable business models to the energy efficiency sector.
• The NMEEE seeks to create and sustain markets for energy efficiency in the entire country which will benefit the country and the consumers”.

Four New Initiatives to Enhance Energy Efficiency:

• Perform Achieve and Trade
• Market Transformation for Energy Efficiency
• Energy Efficiency Financing Platform (EEP)
• Framework for Energy Efficient Economic Development (FEEED)

Source: Shankar

India is one of the better-performing countries in the global Animal Protection Index 2020, created by international animal welfare charity, World Animal Protection.

• The Animal Protection Index (API) aims to showcase where countries are doing well, and where they fall short on animal welfare policy and legislation, so they can take steps to improve.
• The index ranks countries from A (being the highest score) to G (being the weakest score) according to their policy and legislation.

• India has attained a C ranking in the index, along with countries like New Zealand, Mexico, France, and Spain.

Source: The Hindu

The term ‘acid rain’ refers to the deposition of wet or dry acidic materials from the atmosphere on the earth’s surface.

• Although most conspicuously associated with rainfall, the pollutants may fall on the earth’s surface either in the form of snow, sleet, hail or fog or in the dry form of gases or particulate matter.
• Sulphuric acid and nitric acid are considered as the principal agents responsible for acid rain. But the major culprits are human beings.

• Smokes emitted from the industries are the major source of sulphur dioxide whereas smokes emitted from the motor vehicle is the major source of nitrogen oxide.
• These emissions mixed with atmospheric moisture from the sulphuric acid and nitric acids which, sooner or later precipitate on earth in various form.

Source: NCERT

Article 48A (DPSP) of the Indian Constitution, it is stated that the State shall endeavor to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wild life of the country.

Source: The Hindu