Environmental ecology, Biodiversity & Climate change - GS questions based on daily current affairs

ANSWER: Coastal Regulation

Explanation:

• The Report of the Committee to Review the Issues relating to the Coastal Regulation Zone, 2011 was submitted to the government.
• Shailesh Nayak Committee has recently relaxed norms under coastal regulation zones.
• It has proposed for allowing housing infrastructure and slum redevelopment activities, tourism, ports and harbor and fisheries-related activities in coastal regulation zone.
• On development and construction, the report recommends that all activities except those requiring environmental clearances should fall under the ambit of the state and local planning bodies instead of being regulated by central policy.
• The areas affected by this amendment would be coastal towns, rural areas and waters up to 12 nautical miles from the coast.
• For rural areas with a population density of over 2,161 persons/sq km, the committee has recommended that the “no-development buffer zone” be limited to 50m from the High Tide Line (HTL).
• For other areas, the buffer has been recommended at 200m from the HTL.
• This HTL, though has not been determined for the country’s coastline yet and is currently being put together by the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management.
• The report has also called for allowing reclamation of lands for specific infrastructure such as ports, bridges and fisheries-related structures for the “larger public interest”.
• The recommendations make a case for allowing temporary tourist facilities in no-development zones in coastal areas as well as permanent structures on the landward sides of national/state highways when these pass through these zones.
• Further, especially considering the plea from the government of Maharashtra, the panel has suggested that urban planning rules prepared by local authorities be prioritised for slum development and rehabilitation instead of the 2011 regulations which were deemed restrictive by states.
• States would also be able to decide the Floor Area Ratio for construction activity in coastal areas if the recommendations are implemented.
• The committee has suggested that the central government’s role in coastal areas be limited to environmental clearances and regulating environmentally-sensitive areas.

ANSWER: Arunachal Pradesh

Explanation:

• Paga means hornbill in Nyishi language and the aim of the three-day Pakke-Paga Festival at Seijosa in East Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh is to popularise the role played by the community in conserving the endangered species.
• The festival is being celebrated at Pakke wildlife sanctuary and tiger reserve where visitors can witness the great Indian hornbill, wreathed hornbill, oriental pied hornbill and rufous-necked hornbill, and more than 300 other bird species.
• The festival will allow visitors to adopt a hornbill nest with a minimum annual contribution of Rs 5,000.
• A monthly report of the adopted nest will be provided to the person concerned.
• 16 wildlife conservation NGOs are supporting the event, which is organised by the state department of environment and forests and residents of Seijosa.
• Visitors can enjoy local sports and cuisine, jeep safari, elephant safari, bird-watching, butterfly walk, family rafting and other activities during the fest where over 11 communities from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh will perform.

ANSWER: NGT

Explanation:

• The National Green Tribunal imposed an interim nationwide ban on use of glass-coated ‘manja’ for flying kites as the sharp string poses a danger to humans, animals and birds.
• A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Swatanter Kumar passed the order after noting that ‘manja’, string coated with glass and metal powder and used for flying kites, poses a threat to the environment.
• The green panel said that the ban order would apply on nylon, Chinese and cotton manja coated with glass.
• It directed Manja Association of India to submit report to Central Pollution Control Board on harmful effects of kite strings.
• November 2015 order of the Allahabad High Court banned the use of Chinese manja in entire Uttar Pradesh.
• Also ‘manja’ posed a huge threat when it came into contact with live overhead electric wires, leading to grid failure.
• Due to ‘manja’ being coated with glass, metals and other sharp material, these strings act as good conductors of electricity, increasing the probability of detached manja strings stuck in power lines, electrocuting kite flyers and passers-by coming into contact with these strings.
• PETA also said that minor children were engaged by the cottage industry for the manufacture of ‘manja’ which caused respiratory problems as they inhaled harmful substances which were extremely detrimental to their health.

ANSWER: Only 1

Explanation:

• The gaur, also called Indian bison, is the largest extant bovine, native to South Asia and Southeast Asia.
• The species has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986.
• Where gaur have not been disturbed, they are basically diurnal.
• In other areas, they have become largely nocturnal due to forest molestation caused by humans.
• In central India, they are most active at night, and are rarely seen in the open after 8 o'clock in the morning.
• The gaur is the tallest species of wild cattle.
• Domesticated form of gaur is mithum or gayal.
• Nilgiri tahr is not gaur.
• The Nilgiri tahr known locally as the Nilgiri ibex or simply ibex, is an ungulate that is endemic to the Nilgiri Hills and the southern portion of the Western Ghats in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in southern India.
• Niligiri tahr is the state animal of Tamil Nadu. Despite its local name, it is more closely related to the sheep of the Ovis genus than the ibex and wild goats of the Capra genus.

ANSWER: Rhinoceros

Explanation:

• Indian Rhino Vision 2020 programme (IRV2020), a collaborative effort between various organisations, including the

1. International Rhino Foundation,
2. Assam’s Forest Department,
3. Bodoland Territorial Council,
4. WWF-India, and
5. The US Fish and Wildlife Service.

• IRV2020 hopes to raise the number of rhinos in Assam to 3,000 by 2020.
• It aims to spread them over seven of the state’s protected areas: Kaziranga, Pobitora, Orang national park, Manas national park, Laokhowa wildlife sanctuary, Burachapori wildlife sanctuary and Dibru Saikhowa wildlife sanctuary.

This will be achieved by adopting the following three-pronged strategy:

1. Enhance protection in the existing rhino-bearing areas.
2. Undertake range expansion through translocations to re-introduce rhinos in potential rhino habitats (Manas NP, Dibru Saikhowa WLS and Laokhowa–Bura Chapori WLS) from existing rhino bearing areas (Pobitora WLS and Kaziranga NP).
3. Secure and manage the habitats for rhinos.

• Support is being provided in all the rhino-bearing areas of the state for enhancing security infrastructure and capacity-building of frontline forest staff.
• To seek their support towards rhino conservation and making them aware about IRV2020 in the state, more than 25,000 villagers (including school children) have been reached out to in Manas and other rhino-bearing areas until now.
• In partnership with local NGO’s and the State Agriculture Department, the livelihood options of the communities living on the fringes of the park are being developed by undertaking agriculture support programs.
• A pilot programme to reduce fuelwood consumption has been undertaken by promoting the use of solar energy and energy-efficient chulhas in the villages around Manas National Park.

ANSWER: Western Ghats

Explanation:
Montane laughingthrushes are endemic to the Western Ghats.

BirdLife International, an organisation which assesses the conservation status of birds globally, has split the group of montane laughingthrushes and recognised them as two new species.

As a result, Kerala now has four mountain laughingthrushes in place of two.

The newly accepted species are Banasura laughingthrush (Trochalopteron jerdoni), which has a very restricted distribution in Wayanad district and Travancore laughingthrush (Trochalopteron merdionale) found in Thiruvananthapuram district.

The conservation status of the Banasura species was assessed as endangered.

The Travancore variety was considered vulnerable, considering the risk both the species were facing.

The two original species of the family were Nilgiri laughingthrush and Palani laughingthrush.

The Nilgiri species, assessed as an endangered one, is found in Silent Valley National Park and Siruvani hills of Kerala.

The near-threatened Palani laughingthrush is found mainly in Munnar hills and the mountains of Periyar Tiger Reserve apart from Grass Hills and Palani hills in Tamil Nadu.

Laughingthrushes are found only in the peaks of Western Ghats, popularly known as sky islands.

These mountain peaks are separated from the others so well that the birds from one sky island find difficult to move to the next sky island.

This has resulted in the creation of four closely related species, each of them occupying a series of mountain tops across the entire range of southern Western Ghats.

ANSWER: Zebrafish

Explanation:
Scientists of the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) have found a new species of Zingiber (commonly referred as Ginger) from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The species Zingiber pseudosquarrosum, new to science, belonging to genus Zingiber.

It was already used by the local Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups ( PVTGs) of the Andamans for its medicinal values.

The fresh extract [juice] of fleshy tuberous roots is used to treat abdominal pain and anti-helminthic troubles by Nicobarese and certain other tribal communities.

This pseudo stem of the new species is predominantly red in colour.

Flowers have a vermilion tinge and dehisced fruit [fully mature fruits] are lotus shaped.

Inflorescence buds are urceolate in shape.

The species has got tuberous root.

The morphological features of this species makes it distinct from other species belonging to the genus Zingiber.

Like other species of Gingers, this new species is edible and can be propagated vegetatively from the rhizome.

The planted rhizomes were successfully vegetatively propagated at the BSI garden at Port Blair after transplantation.

ANSWER: Intel

Explanation:
Recognizing the importance of developing the online River Water and Air Quality Monitoring (WAQM) systems, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India and Intel are collaborating to jointly initiate “DST-Intel Collaborative Research for Real-Time River Water and Air Quality Monitoring” soliciting proposals from Academic/Research Institutions and providing grant-in-aid support to the selected project(s).

The aim of this initiative is to develop key technologies for sensing, communication and analysis of large-scale data collected from autonomous networks of perpetual/long-lived sensor nodes, followed by integration and deployment for water and air quality monitoring in real-time.

The program will be administered by the binational Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF).

ANSWER: 1, 2, 4, 5

Explanation:
The ESZ guidelines says that activities, including commercial mining, setting of saw mills and industries causing pollution, commercial use of firewood and major hydro-power projects, are prohibited in such areas.

It also prohibits tourism activities like flying over protected areas in an aircraft or hot air balloon, and discharge of effluents and solid waste in natural water bodies or terrestrial areas.

Felling of trees, drastic change in agriculture systems and commercial use of natural water resources, including groundwater harvesting and setting up of hotels and resorts, are the activities regulated in the areas.

Activities permitted in the areas include ongoing agriculture and horticulture practices by local communities, rainwater harvesting, organic farming, adoption of green technology and use of renewable energy sources.

ANSWER: Only 1

Explanation:
The width of the ESZ and type of regulation may vary from protected area to area. However, as a general principle, the width of the ESZ could go up to 10 kms around the protected area.

The purpose of declaring an Eco-Sensitive Zone is to create a buffer zone, where activities will be regulated to protect areas demarcated as Protected Areas.

The ESZ guidelines include a broad list of activities that could be allowed, promoted, regulated or promoted. This is an important checklist for conservationists to keep in mind while identifying threats in ESZs.