Environment and Disaster Management

What the official syllabus says

GPSC Preliminary Examination, General Studies, under the heading Science and Technology:

• Environmental Science: Issues and concerns related to environment and its legal aspects, Policies and treaties for the protection of environment at the national and the international level, Biodiversity, Climate change, International initiatives (Policies, Protocols) and India's commitment, Forest and Wildlife; Legal framework for Forest and Wildlife Conservation in India. Environmental Hazards, Pollution and related issues, Carbon emission, Global warming. National Action plans on Climate Change and Disaster management. Health & Environment, etc.

Topics in detail

The official line on Environmental Science is long: read it as five blocks, ecology, forests and wildlife, pollution, climate change and disaster management.

Ecology and biodiversity

• Ecosystems: components, food chains and webs, energy flow, ecological pyramids, succession
• Biodiversity: levels, hotspots in India, endemic and threatened species, IUCN Red List categories
• In-situ and ex-situ conservation: national parks, sanctuaries, biosphere reserves, conservation and community reserves, zoos, seed banks
• Wetlands, mangroves, coral reefs; Ramsar sites; Gujarat's mangroves and Marine National Park

Forest and wildlife

• Forest cover of India (India State of Forest Report); forest types
• Projects for species: Project Tiger, Project Elephant, Project Lion (Asiatic lion), great Indian bustard, cheetah reintroduction
• Legal framework: Indian Forest Act 1927, Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, Forest (Conservation) Act 1980, Biological Diversity Act 2002, Forest Rights Act 2006

Environmental pollution and hazards

• Air, water, soil, noise, plastic, e-waste and radioactive pollution: sources, effects, control
• Laws: Water Act 1974, Air Act 1981, Environment (Protection) Act 1986; Central and State Pollution Control Boards (including the Gujarat Pollution Control Board); National Green Tribunal
• Environmental Impact Assessment; solid waste and plastic waste rules
• Health and environment: vector-borne diseases, heat stress, fluorosis, industrial and chemical disasters

Climate change

• Greenhouse gases, carbon emission, global warming, ozone depletion
• International initiatives: UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol, Paris Agreement, COP meetings; Montreal Protocol and Kigali amendment; CBD, Nagoya and Cartagena protocols; CITES, CMS, Ramsar Convention
• India's commitments: nationally determined contributions, net zero target, LiFE mission, International Solar Alliance
• National Action Plan on Climate Change and its eight missions; state action plans (Gujarat was the first state with a separate Climate Change Department)
• Carbon markets, carbon credits, green finance

Disaster management

• Types of disaster: natural (earthquake, cyclone, flood, drought, tsunami, heatwave) and man-made (industrial, chemical, fire)
• Disaster Management Act, 2005; NDMA, SDMA, DDMA; NDRF and SDRF; National Disaster Management Plan
• Gujarat State Disaster Management Act, 2003, enacted after the Kachchh earthquake; Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management
• Sendai Framework; early warning systems; disaster-resistant construction and community preparedness

Overlaps

Mains General Studies-III (B) Environmental Science and Disaster Management covers the same ground, with Gujarat named for biodiversity, forests, wildlife and disaster management.