Environment & Ecology Mixed Quiz: Set 16

The correct answer is D, Perfluorocarbons. The Kyoto Protocol, adopted in Japan in December 1997 and in force from February 2005, set binding cuts for six greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride. Perfluorocarbons come mostly from aluminium smelting and from making semiconductors; they are released in tiny amounts but survive in the atmosphere for thousands of years and trap far more heat than the same weight of carbon dioxide, which is why the Protocol counted them. Nitrogen trifluoride was added as a seventh gas later, under the Doha amendment of 2012. A is wrong because chlorine is not a greenhouse gas; chlorine released from CFCs harms the ozone layer, a matter the Montreal Protocol deals with. B is wrong because phosgene is a poisonous industrial gas and is not on the Kyoto list. C is wrong because carbon monoxide is an air pollutant that the Protocol does not cover. Exam tip: the six Kyoto gases are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, HFCs, PFCs and sulphur hexafluoride.

The correct answer is B, Haryali. Haryali is a centrally sponsored watershed development project launched in 2003 by the Ministry of Rural Development, and its whole point is that the village panchayat plans and carries out the work itself. Under it gram panchayats build check dams, farm ponds, percolation tanks and contour bunds so that rain is held where it falls; wells recharge, and dryland farmers get water for a second crop. The watershed committee is chosen by the gram sabha, and the villagers share part of the cost and the upkeep of the structures. A is wrong because the Arvary Pani Sansad is a people's parliament of villages on the Arvari river in Alwar, Rajasthan, a community effort and not a central scheme. C is wrong because Jal Kranti Abhiyan was a later water awareness campaign of the water resources ministry. D is wrong because Neeru-Meeru was a state water conservation programme of Andhra Pradesh. Exam tip: Haryali 2003, central and panchayat-led; Neeru-Meeru is Andhra Pradesh; Arvari Pani Sansad is Rajasthan.

The correct answer is A, National Green Tribunal. The National Green Tribunal was set up under the National Green Tribunal Act of 2010 to settle cases on the environment, forests, water, air and biodiversity quickly, and India thus became one of the first countries in the world to create a special court of this kind. Its principal bench sits at New Delhi, with other benches at Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai, and it is expected to dispose of a case within six months of filing. The Tribunal is not bound by the Code of Civil Procedure and follows the principles of natural justice, applying the polluter pays principle, the precautionary principle and the idea of sustainable development. It can order compensation, restoration of the environment and the closing of a polluting unit. B, C and D are wrong because they are invented expansions; no body of any of those names exists, and the word in the title is Tribunal, a court-like body, not Tribe. Exam tip: NGT Act 2010, principal bench New Delhi, cases to be decided in six months.

The correct answer is D, Space Research. Space research is not one of the Sustainable Development Goals. The United Nations General Assembly adopted seventeen such goals in September 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with 169 targets to be met by 2030; they replaced the Millennium Development Goals, which ran from 2000 to 2015. The seventeen cover poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality, clean water, energy, decent work, industry, inequality, cities, responsible consumption, climate action, life below water, life on land, peace and justice, and partnerships. Option A is wrong because Gender Equality is Goal 5. Option B is wrong because Zero Hunger is Goal 2. Option C is wrong because Good Health and Well-being is Goal 3. In India NITI Aayog tracks state progress on the goals through its SDG India Index. Exam tip: 17 goals, 169 targets, adopted 2015, target year 2030; Goal 1 is No Poverty and Goal 17 is Partnerships for the Goals.

The correct answer is D, Thermal Power Plant. Fly ash is the fine, powdery residue that rises with the flue gases when pulverised coal is burnt to raise steam in a coal-fired power station. Because it is so light it escapes up the chimney unless electrostatic precipitators trap it, and untrapped fly ash settles on fields and water bodies carrying heavy metals such as arsenic and mercury. India's Fly Ash Notification makes it compulsory for thermal power stations to use this ash, so today most of it goes into cement, bricks, road embankments and mine filling, turning a pollutant into a building material. Option A is wrong because an oil refinery mainly releases sulphur dioxide, hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds. Option B is wrong because a fertilizer plant emits ammonia and oxides of nitrogen. Option C is wrong because a cement plant gives out cement dust and carbon dioxide; it consumes fly ash rather than producing it. Exam tip: fly ash comes from coal-based thermal power plants, is captured by electrostatic precipitators and is reused in cement and bricks.

The correct answer is B. Mulching means covering the bare soil between plants with a layer of organic matter such as straw, dry leaves, husk or grass clippings. The cover shades the ground, so less water evaporates and the soil stays moist and cool, and it also softens the blow of falling rain, which would otherwise loosen the topsoil and wash it away. As the mulch rots it adds humus to the field, and by cutting off light it keeps weeds down. Farmers use it widely in orchards and vegetable plots, and in dry regions it is one of the cheapest ways to hold moisture. A is wrong because raising barriers of stone, grass and soil along the contours is contour barrier work. C is wrong because growing different crops in alternate rows is strip cropping. D is wrong because piling up rocks to slow the flow of water describes a rock dam. Exam tip: mulching covers the soil, strip cropping alternates rows, terracing cuts steps into a hillside.

The correct answer is A, terror of Bengal. Water hyacinth is an aquatic weed introduced into India from South America. In water enriched with sewage and fertiliser it grows so fast that it covers the surface, blocks sunlight, cuts the oxygen supply, clogs waterways and provides breeding grounds for mosquitoes; because it spread so violently in the water bodies of Bengal it earned the name terror of Bengal. Options B, C and D are wrong because none of them is a recognised name for this or any other aquatic weed; they are invented distractors placed there to see whether the standard phrase has been learnt. The weed is a textbook illustration of two ideas at once: the effect of eutrophication, and the damage an invasive alien species can do to a native ecosystem.

The correct answer is C, Garhwal Himalayas. The Chipko movement began in 1973 in the Garhwal Himalayas, in Chamoli district of what is now Uttarakhand, when villagers hugged trees to stop contractors from felling them. Its name comes from the Hindi word chipko, to cling. Chandi Prasad Bhatt led the first protest at Mandal village, Gaura Devi led the women of Reni village in 1974, and Sunderlal Bahuguna carried the message across the hills with the slogan that the soil, water and pure air are the real produce of a forest. The movement led to a fifteen-year ban on green felling above 1,000 metres in the Himalayan forests of Uttar Pradesh in 1980. Option A is wrong because Patna in Bihar has no link with it. Option B is wrong because Thrissur is in Kerala, far from the movement. Option D is wrong because Jammu was never its centre. Exam tip: Chipko 1973, Garhwal; Appiko 1983, Karnataka.

The correct answer is C, 16 September. The day marks the signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer in 1987 and is observed every year with a theme announced by the United Nations. Option A is wrong because the fifth of June is World Environment Day, which marks the opening of the Stockholm Conference of 1972. Option B is wrong because the twenty second of April is Earth Day. Option D is wrong because the second of December is observed in India as National Pollution Control Day, in memory of the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984. Environment sections regularly place these four dates in one question, so learn them as a set along with the twenty second of May for biological diversity and the second of February for wetlands.

The correct answer is B, 5th June. The United Nations General Assembly named 5 June as World Environment Day in 1972, and the day has been observed every year since 1974. The date recalls the opening day of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held at Stockholm from 5 to 16 June 1972, the first big world meeting on the environment. The same conference led to the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme, or UNEP, which leads the celebrations each year. Every year the day has a new theme and a host country; India hosted it in 2018 with the theme 'Beat Plastic Pollution'. A is wrong because May's main environment date is 22 May, the International Day for Biological Diversity. C is wrong because July has World Population Day on 11 July, not World Environment Day. D is wrong because 5 August is not linked with this day at all. Exam tip: 22 April, Earth Day; 22 May, Biodiversity Day; 5 June, World Environment Day; 16 September, World Ozone Day.

The correct answer is D, anthracite. Anthracite is the oldest and hardest grade of coal, with the highest proportion of carbon, so it gives the most heat for its weight and burns with a clean, almost smokeless flame. Option A is wrong because bituminous coal, though the grade most widely used in industry and in power stations, stands below anthracite in carbon content and produces more smoke. Option B is wrong because lignite, also called brown coal, is a low grade with high moisture, used mainly in power stations built at the mine itself. Option C is wrong because peat is the first stage of the process, little more than partly decayed plant matter, with the least carbon and the most moisture of the four. The rising order to remember is peat, lignite, bituminous, anthracite.

The correct answer is C, Polythene bag. Polythene is a synthetic plastic that bacteria and fungi cannot break down, so it is non-biodegradable. A plastic bag can stay in soil or water for hundreds of years. Biodegradable waste is anything that decomposers can break down into simple, harmless substances, and it usually comes from plants or animals. Plastic bags choke drains and cause waterlogging, are swallowed by cattle and sea animals, and give off toxic gases when burnt, which is why their use must be reduced and the bags reused and recycled rather than thrown away. Waste is best kept in two bins: wet (biodegradable) and dry (non-biodegradable). A is wrong because vegetable peels rot within days and make good compost. B is wrong because dead leaves decay into humus that enriches the soil. D is wrong because a rotting fruit is already being broken down by microbes. Exam tip: if microbes can eat it, it is biodegradable; plastic, glass, metal cans and DDT are not.

The correct answer is D, Surinsar-Mansar Lakes. These twin lakes lie near Jammu in the Jammu and Kashmir region, not in Uttar Pradesh, so they are the odd one out in this list. Option A is wrong because Sur Sarovar, also called Keetham Lake, lies close to Agra in Uttar Pradesh and is named after the poet Surdas. Option B is wrong because the Samaspur Bird Sanctuary is in the Rae Bareli district of Uttar Pradesh and is a winter haven for migratory waterfowl. Option C is wrong because Sarsai Nawar Jheel lies in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh and is known for the sarus crane, the state bird. The trap in such questions is that the names sound alike; fix the state of each site by the district it belongs to, and remember that Uttar Pradesh holds a large cluster of Ramsar wetlands along the Ganga plain.

The correct answer is D, Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu is the first state in India to make rooftop rainwater harvesting structures compulsory for all houses and buildings across the state, through a law brought in 2003. The state depends heavily on the north-east monsoon and on groundwater, and Chennai faced severe water shortages, so collecting roof water and sending it into the ground became a priority. Rooftop harvesting collects rain from roofs and stores it in tanks or uses it to recharge wells and aquifers, which raises the water table. Option A is wrong because Kerala gets heavy rain and has promoted harvesting, but it was not the first to make it compulsory for every house. Option B is wrong because Gujarat is known for check dams and other water works, not for this first law. Option C is wrong because Rajasthan is known for traditional harvesting, such as the tankas of Bikaner and Phalodi, not for the first statewide law. Exam tip: Tamil Nadu was the first state to make rooftop rainwater harvesting compulsory (2003); tankas are Rajasthan's traditional underground tanks.

The correct answer is C, SDG 6. Sustainable Development Goal 6 is clean water and sanitation, and its aim is to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. The seventeen goals were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and they took over from the Millennium Development Goals. Goal 6 covers safe drinking water, toilets and an end to open defecation, better treatment of waste water, efficient use of water in farming and industry, and the protection of rivers, lakes and groundwater. A is wrong because SDG 4 is quality education. B is wrong because SDG 7 is affordable and clean energy. D is wrong because SDG 5 is gender equality. Exam tip: SDG 4 education, SDG 5 gender equality, SDG 6 clean water and sanitation, SDG 7 clean energy; the seventeen goals were adopted in 2015 with 2030 as the target year.

The correct answer is D, 20°C. An ocean thermal energy conversion plant works only where the warm surface water is at least about 20 degrees Celsius hotter than the cold water drawn from the depths.

OTEC uses that difference as its heat source. The warm surface water boils a liquid with a low boiling point, such as ammonia, and the vapour turns a turbine to make electricity; cold water pumped up from roughly a kilometre down condenses the vapour back to liquid so the cycle repeats. The gap of 20 degrees is needed because a smaller one leaves too little energy to run the pumps and still send power out. Such conditions are found in tropical seas, and India has tested OTEC near the Lakshadweep and Andaman islands.

Option A is wrong because a 40 degree gap does not occur between the surface and the deep sea. Option B is wrong because 250 degrees belongs to a furnace, not the ocean. Option C is wrong because 50 degrees is far beyond any natural ocean difference.

Exam tip: OTEC needs a surface to deep water difference of about 20°C and works best in tropical waters.

The correct answer is B, 2005. The Kyoto Protocol came into force on 16 February 2005. It had been adopted at Kyoto in Japan on 11 December 1997 as the first binding agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992. It could start only after 55 parties had ratified it, including developed countries that accounted for at least 55 per cent of the 1990 carbon dioxide emissions of that group. Russia’s ratification in November 2004 crossed that mark, and the treaty began ninety days later. Its first commitment period ran from 2008 to 2012 and asked developed countries to cut emissions to about five per cent below their 1990 levels. A is wrong because 2004 is the year Russia ratified, not the year the treaty began. C and D are wrong because the protocol was already working by then; 2007 is remembered instead for the Bali road map. Exam tip: adopted in 1997, in force in 2005, first commitment period 2008 to 2012.

The correct answer is D, Ninety days. Section 22 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 allows a person aggrieved by an award, order or decision of the Tribunal to appeal to the Supreme Court within ninety days of the day it is communicated, and the Court may admit a later appeal if it is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for the delay. The Tribunal itself was created in 2010 to hear environmental cases quickly, with its principal bench at New Delhi, and it is expected to decide a case within six months. A is wrong because thirty days is the period within which a person may go to the Tribunal against an order of a body such as a State Pollution Control Board, not the period for an appeal to the Supreme Court. B and C are wrong because the Act fixes no limit of forty-five or sixty days for such an appeal. Exam tip: NGT Act 2010 – thirty days to appeal to the Tribunal, ninety days to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The correct answer is A, fluoride. A small quantity of fluoride in drinking water protects teeth against decay, but when the concentration rises above the permissible limit it causes fluorosis. Dental fluorosis mottles and discolours the teeth, and skeletal fluorosis stiffens the joints and bends the bones; it is a serious problem in parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where the groundwater is naturally rich in fluoride. Option B is wrong because chloride mainly affects the taste of water and at high levels its salinity. Option C is wrong because sulphate in excess has a laxative effect but does not cause fluorosis. Option D is wrong because magnesium, along with calcium, is what makes water hard, affecting soap lather and boilers. The remedy is defluoridation or providing water from an alternative source.

The correct answer is B, hydrofluorocarbons. Hydrofluorocarbons were adopted as substitutes for chlorofluorocarbons in refrigeration and air conditioning because they do not harm the ozone layer, but they turned out to be very powerful greenhouse gases, so the Kigali Amendment of 2016 brought them under the Montreal Protocol with a schedule for reducing their use. Option A is wrong because chlorofluorocarbons were covered by the original protocol of 1987 and their production has already been phased out under it. Option C is wrong because sulphur dioxide, the main cause of acid rain, is controlled by national air quality laws and emission standards, not by this treaty. Option D is wrong because methyl bromide, used to fumigate soil, is also part of the original list of ozone depleting substances. The point being tested is that Kigali deals with a climate gas through an ozone treaty.