UPSC Civil Services Examination — Environment & Ecology (Prelims GS and Mains GS-III) · India · Union Public Service Commission
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersThe map of the whole field: the four spheres, natural resources and their status, human population and consumption, and the main environmental problems an agricultural graduate meets. Compulsory in most undergraduate degrees worldwide and the opening unit of ICAR AICE subject 71.
In the exams: ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF subject 71 Unit 1; ICAR AIEEA-PG 3.6; UGC NET Environmental Sciences Unit 1; CUET-UG Environmental Studies
How our questions for UPSC Civil Services Examination spread across the units of Principles of Environmental Science. Difficulty: 5 easy, 15 medium, 7 hard.
| Natural resources: land, soil, water, forest, mineral and energy | 5 | |
| Environmental effects of mining and large dams | 4 | |
| Natural disasters: floods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes, landslides | 4 | |
| Scope of environmental science and its links with agriculture | 3 | |
| Food resources and environmental problems of modern agriculture | 3 | |
| Environmental ethics and the role of citizens and NGOs | 3 | |
| Land degradation and wastelands: extent and reclamation | 2 | |
| Biotic, abiotic and social components of the environment | 1 | |
| Human population growth, consumption and the IPAT identity | 1 | |
| Ecological footprint and carrying capacity | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Which outcomes are associated with the 1992 Rio Earth Summit?
B. Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration and the UNFCCC and CBD
Rio produced Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration and opened the climate and biodiversity conventions for signature. Kyoto (1997), Paris (2015), Montreal (1987), UNEP (1972) and the SDGs (2015) came at other times.
Further reading: See the manual sources: standard environmental science textbooks and the UN, FAO, UNCCD and UNDRR documents named in the explanation
Which 1977 intergovernmental conference, organised by UNESCO and UNEP, set out the goals and principles of environmental education that many countries later built into compulsory courses?
B. The Tbilisi Intergovernmental Conference
The Tbilisi Declaration (1977) defined environmental education's goals of awareness, knowledge, attitudes, skills and participation. Stockholm (1972) launched UNEP; Rio (1992) adopted Agenda 21; the Brundtland Commission reported in 1987.
Further reading: See the manual sources: standard environmental science textbooks and the UN, FAO, UNCCD and UNDRR documents named in the explanation
Sacred groves, found in South Asia, West Africa and the kaya forests of coastal Kenya, are an example of
A. community conservation of forest rooted in religious values
Sacred groves are traditionally protected by communities for religious reasons and conserve biodiversity; they illustrate social components shaping the environment. They are not commercial plantations or statutory protected areas by origin.
Further reading: See the manual sources: standard environmental science textbooks and the UN, FAO, UNCCD and UNDRR documents named in the explanation
A country has annual renewable freshwater of 1400 km³ and a population of 1.42 billion. Using the Falkenmark index, how is it classified?
A. Water scarce, at about 986 m³ per person
1400 × 10⁹ m³ ÷ 1.42 × 10⁹ people ≈ 986 m³ per person, below 1000 m³ (scarcity) but above 500 m³ (absolute scarcity). The other values result from arithmetic slips.
Further reading: See the manual sources: standard environmental science textbooks and the UN, FAO, UNCCD and UNDRR documents named in the explanation
Roughly how much land have countries pledged in total to restore under the UNCCD, the Bonn Challenge and related initiatives?
D. About 1 billion hectares
Pledges add up to roughly a billion hectares, though much is not yet under restoration. 100 billion ha exceeds Earth's land area (about 13 billion ha); 1–10 Mha would be a single country's pledge.
Further reading: See the manual sources: standard environmental science textbooks and the UN, FAO, UNCCD and UNDRR documents named in the explanation
According to ICOLD, a dam counts as 'large' if it is
B. 15 m or more high, or 5–15 m high impounding over 3 million m³
ICOLD uses height (≥15 m) or height 5–15 m with >3 million m³ storage. Power capacity and length are not the criteria.
Further reading: See the manual sources: standard environmental science textbooks and the UN, FAO, UNCCD and UNDRR documents named in the explanation
What is the purpose of the local development funds that many mining laws now require leaseholders to pay into?
B. To fund welfare of mining-affected people
Such funds, along with community development agreements and royalties earmarked for affected districts, share mining benefits with affected communities; EITI asks countries to disclose these payments.
Further reading: See the manual sources: standard environmental science textbooks and the UN, FAO, UNCCD and UNDRR documents named in the explanation
According to UNDRR and global disaster databases, which hazard types account for most recorded natural disasters worldwide?
B. Floods and storms
Floods and storms (including tropical cyclones) make up the majority of recorded disaster events, and Asia has the most people affected. Earthquakes and tsunamis are less frequent though often deadlier per event; eruptions, landslides, wildfires and heatwaves are a smaller share of recorded events.
Further reading: See the manual sources: standard environmental science textbooks and the UN, FAO, UNCCD and UNDRR documents named in the explanation
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