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 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
How our questions for UPSC Civil Services Examination spread across the units of Sustainability Science: Concepts, History & Ethics. Difficulty: 13 easy, 32 medium, 6 hard.
| Brundtland definition and the Stockholm, Rio and Johannesburg conferences | 8 | |
| Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals | 8 | |
| Environmental ethics: anthropocentric, biocentric, ecocentric | 8 | |
| Planetary boundaries and the Anthropocene | 7 | |
| History of environmental thought: Malthus, Leopold, Carson, Limits to Growth | 6 | |
| Indigenous and traditional ecological knowledge | 5 | |
| Sustainability indicators and composite indices | 5 | |
| Environmental justice and intergenerational equity | 3 | |
| Triple bottom line and its critiques | 1 |
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
According to the UN SDG Report 2024, roughly what share of SDG targets with data were on track?
A. About 17 %
The 2024 report found only about 17 % on track, with many stalled or reversed.
Further reading: UN SDG Report 2024
Who coined the term 'triple bottom line' in 1994?
A. John Elkington
Elkington coined it and developed it in Cannibals with Forks (1997).
Further reading: Elkington 1997
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
Peter Singer's Animal Liberation (1975) is a foundational text of which view?
C. Sentientism
Singer extended moral consideration to beings capable of suffering, with implications for livestock farming.
Further reading: Singer 1975
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
Which index combines health, education and income?
D. Human Development Index
UNDP's HDI (1990) combines life expectancy, schooling and income. The EPI ranks environmental performance; the footprint measures demand on nature; the LPI tracks vertebrate populations.
Further reading: UNDP
Humanity's ecological footprint has been estimated at roughly how many Earths?
A. About 1.7
Estimates suggest humanity uses resources as if it had about 1.7 Earths, marked by Earth Overshoot Day.
Further reading: Global Footprint Network
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