UGC NET — Environmental Sciences (subject code 89) · India · National Testing Agency for the University Grants Commission
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersWhat 'sustainable' means and how the idea developed: from Malthus and Silent Spring to Brundtland, the SDGs, planetary boundaries and doughnut economics; weak and strong sustainability; the three pillars and their critics. It sets up the frameworks that later reporting, carbon and EIA subjects apply.
In the exams: GATE ES Section 9 (sustainable development, SDGs, hurdles); UGC NET Environmental Sciences Unit 10; UPSC CSE environment; SEA (GBCI) core concepts
UGC NET Environmental Sciences (Unit 10) and ICAR AICE/ASRB
History of environmental thought and conferences (Stockholm, Rio, Johannesburg, Rio+20), Brundtland, MDGs and SDGs, environmental ethics positions, TEK, indicators such as HDI and ecological footprint.
How our questions for UGC NET spread across the units of Sustainability Science: Concepts, History & Ethics. Difficulty: 16 easy, 48 medium, 27 hard.
| Environmental ethics: anthropocentric, biocentric, ecocentric | 9 | |
| Sustainability indicators and composite indices | 9 | |
| History of environmental thought: Malthus, Leopold, Carson, Limits to Growth | 8 | |
| Brundtland definition and the Stockholm, Rio and Johannesburg conferences | 8 | |
| Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals | 8 | |
| Weak versus strong sustainability and natural capital | 8 | |
| Planetary boundaries and the Anthropocene | 8 | |
| Environmental justice and intergenerational equity | 8 | |
| Hurdles to sustainability: rebound effects, lock-in, trade-offs | 8 | |
| Doughnut economics and safe-and-just space | 7 | |
| Triple bottom line and its critiques | 6 | |
| Indigenous and traditional ecological knowledge | 4 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
The Limits to Growth (1972) was commissioned by which organisation?
D. The Club of Rome
Meadows and colleagues at MIT wrote it for the Club of Rome, using the World3 model.
Further reading: Meadows et al. 1972
The debate between John Muir and Gifford Pinchot contrasted which two approaches?
C. Preservation vs wise-use conservation
Muir argued for preserving wilderness for its own sake; Pinchot for managed use for the greatest good of the greatest number for the longest time.
Further reading: History of conservation
Which Indian prime minister addressed the 1972 Stockholm conference, linking poverty with environmental degradation?
B. Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi asked whether poverty and need were not the greatest polluters, framing developing countries' concerns.
Further reading: Stockholm 1972
Gross savings are 20 % of national income, depreciation 10 %, education spending 4 %, resource depletion 6 % and pollution damage 2 %. What are adjusted net savings?
C. 6 %
ANS = 20 − 10 + 4 − 6 − 2 = 6 %. 14 % omits education and pollution; 18 % omits depletion and depreciation's sign; 42 % adds everything.
Further reading: World Bank ANS
What are the 'three pillars' of sustainable development?
C. Economic, social and environmental
The three pillars mirror the triple bottom line at policy level.
Further reading: Sustainability literature
Which scientists popularised the term 'Anthropocene' in 2000?
B. Crutzen and Stoermer
Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer proposed the term. Meadows and Randers worked on Limits to Growth; Wackernagel and Rees on the ecological footprint.
Further reading: Crutzen and Stoermer 2000
How many dimensions make up the doughnut's social foundation?
D. Twelve
Twelve: food, health, education, income and work, peace and justice, political voice, social equity, gender equality, housing, networks, energy and water.
Further reading: Raworth 2017
What did O'Neill and colleagues (2018) find when assessing countries against the doughnut?
C. No country met basic needs within planetary boundaries
Countries meeting many social thresholds exceeded several boundaries, and those within boundaries fell short socially.
Further reading: O'Neill et al. 2018
What is the present value of 1000 received in 100 years at a 5 % discount rate?
D. 7.6
PV = 1000/1.05^100 = 1000/131.5 = 7.6. 950 discounts one year; 50 is simply 5 % of 1000; 369.7 is the 1 % result.
Which CBD article concerns the knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities?
C. Article 8(j)
Article 8(j) asks parties to respect, preserve and maintain traditional knowledge. Article 2 has definitions; 15 access to genetic resources; 20(4) concerns developing countries' implementation and finance.
Further reading: CBD
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