International Initiatives and Biodiversity, Forests and Wildlife in India

What the official syllabus says

General Studies-III (Main Examination, Paper VI), (B) Environmental Science and Disaster Management:

• International initiatives (Treaties, Protocols etc.) and India's commitment, Biodiversity, Forest and Wildlife in India and Gujarat.

This page takes the international initiatives and the India part of the line. Gujarat's biodiversity, forests and wildlife have a page of their own: Gujarat: Biodiversity, Forests and Wildlife.

Topics in detail

International environmental initiatives

• Stockholm Conference (1972) and the United Nations Environment Programme
• Rio Earth Summit (1992): Agenda 21, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Desertification Convention (1994)
• Kyoto Protocol (1997): binding targets for developed countries, clean development mechanism
• Paris Agreement (2015): nationally determined contributions, the 1.5 and 2 degree goals, global stocktake
• Common but differentiated responsibilities; climate finance; loss and damage fund
• Montreal Protocol (1987) and the Kigali Amendment (2016) on hydrofluorocarbons
• Ramsar Convention (1971) on wetlands; CITES (1973) on trade in endangered species
• Convention on Migratory Species (Bonn, 1979): its thirteenth Conference of the Parties was held at Gandhinagar in 2020
• Chemicals and waste: Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Minamata Conventions
• Biodiversity protocols: Cartagena (biosafety, 2000), Nagoya (access and benefit sharing, 2010), Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (2022, the '30 by 30' target)

India's commitment

• India's NDC targets: emissions intensity of GDP, non-fossil power capacity, additional carbon sink through forests
• Panchamrit announced at COP26 (Glasgow, 2021) and net zero by 2070
• Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), launched at Ekta Nagar (Kevadia), Gujarat in 2022
• International Solar Alliance; Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure; Global Biofuels Alliance
• Green Credit Programme; phase-out of single-use plastics

Biodiversity in India

• Levels of biodiversity: genetic, species, ecosystem; India as a megadiverse country
• Biodiversity hotspots in India: Himalaya, Indo-Burma, Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, Sundaland (Nicobar Islands)
• Biogeographic zones of India, including the Indian desert and the coasts
• Threats: habitat loss, invasive species, poaching, pollution, climate change
• In-situ conservation (protected areas, biosphere reserves) and ex-situ conservation (zoos, seed banks, gene banks)
• IUCN Red List categories
• Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (amended 2023): National Biodiversity Authority, State Biodiversity Boards, Biodiversity Management Committees, People's Biodiversity Registers

Forests of India

• Forest types (Champion and Seth classification): tropical evergreen, moist deciduous, dry deciduous, thorn, montane, mangrove
• India State of Forest Report: forest cover and tree cover, carbon stock
• Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and its 2023 amendment (Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam)
• Forest Rights Act, 2006: individual and community forest rights
• Joint forest management; compensatory afforestation (CAMPA); Green India Mission
• National Forest Policy, 1988

Wildlife in India

• Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (amended 2022): schedules, protected areas (national parks, sanctuaries, conservation and community reserves)
• Project Tiger (1973), Project Elephant (1992), Project Cheetah (2022), Project Lion
• Wildlife Crime Control Bureau; human-wildlife conflict
• Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017; Ramsar sites of India

Overlaps

• Prelims General Studies: policies and treaties for the protection of environment at the national and international level, biodiversity, forest and wildlife and their legal framework.