Environmental laws, bodies & conventions

Answer: (a) It enjoys the same level of protection as the tiger.

Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 gives a species the highest degree of protection, the same level as the tiger. Listing says nothing about the species being extinct in the wild or being confined to one region.

• ✓ (a) Tiger and other rare and endangered species are in Schedule I, which gives the highest degree of protection. A tortoise placed in the same Schedule gets that same top-level protection.
• ✗ (b) Schedule I is a legal category of protection for rare and endangered species that still live in the wild. It is not a statement that a species has disappeared from the wild or that extinction cannot be stopped.
• ✗ (c) Being endemic to one region is not the test for Schedule I. The Schedule lists rare and endangered species from many parts of the country, and the protection is the same wherever they live.
• ✗ (d) Both (b) and (c) are wrong, so (d) fails.

Remember · Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 = highest legal protection, the same tier as the tiger. It does not mean 'extinct in the wild' or 'endemic'.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

The UNCCD (adopted 1994) works through national action programmes backed by international cooperation, and it insists that local people take part in decisions on combating desertification. Its special regional priority is Africa (Article 7), not South Asia and North Africa, so statement 2 is wrong.

• ✓ 1. Article 2 makes action at every level, backed by international cooperation and partnerships, the Convention's objective; in practice this is delivered through national action programmes drawn up by affected countries.
• ✗ 2. Article 7 gives priority to affected African country Parties. The Convention's secretariat does not hand out the bulk of funds to any region; financing comes from Parties, the GEF and the Global Mechanism.
• ✓ 3. Article 3(a) asks Parties to take decisions on anti-desertification programmes with the participation of populations and local communities, a bottom-up approach.

Remember · UNCCD (1994): national action programmes plus international partnership; participation of local communities; regional priority = Africa (Article 7).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

NGRBA, set up by a notification of 20 February 2009 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, adopted a river-basin approach to planning and management and acted as the national planning, financing and coordinating authority for cleaning the Ganga. It was chaired by the Prime Minister, not by a Chief Minister in rotation.

• ✓ 1. Its stated objective was to abate pollution and conserve the Ganga by adopting a river basin approach for comprehensive planning and management.
• ✓ 2. It was the apex body at the national level, mandated as the planning, financing, monitoring and coordinating authority for the Centre's and States' efforts to conserve the river.
• ✗ 3. The Prime Minister chaired the authority; the Chief Ministers of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal were members, with no rotation of the chair.
• • Since then NGRBA was dissolved with effect from 7 October 2016 and replaced by the National Council for Rejuvenation, Protection and Management of River Ganga (National Ganga Council), also under the EPA, 1986 (NMCG).

Remember · NGRBA (2009-2016): river-basin approach, chaired by the PM, CMs of Ganga States as members; NMCG was its implementing arm. Replaced by the National Ganga Council in October 2016.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 3 only

Only the third pair is right. 'Annex I' is a category of Parties under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992), used again in the Kyoto Protocol; Certified Emission Reductions are the credits issued under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism. The Cartagena and Nagoya Protocols belong to the Convention on Biological Diversity and deal with biosafety and benefit-sharing.

• ✗ 1. Annex I lists the developed countries and economies in transition that took on specific mitigation commitments under the UNFCCC. The Cartagena Protocol (2000) governs the safe handling and transport of living modified organisms.
• ✗ 2. Certified Emission Reductions come from CDM projects under Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol. The Nagoya Protocol (2010) is about access to genetic resources and fair sharing of benefits from their use.
• ✓ 3. Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol (1997) created the Clean Development Mechanism, under which projects in non-Annex I countries earn CERs that Annex I countries may use towards their targets.

Remember · UNFCCC/Kyoto: Annex I, CDM, CERs, emissions trading, joint implementation. CBD protocols: Cartagena (biosafety, LMOs) and Nagoya (access and benefit-sharing).

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 2 and 3 only

TEEB is a global initiative, housed in UNEP (not in the IMF or the World Economic Forum), that draws attention to the hidden economic value of nature and gives decision-makers an approach to recognise, demonstrate and capture that value. So statements 2 and 3 are correct and 1 is not.

• ✗ 1. UNEP hosts the TEEB Office (in Geneva since March 2011). The IMF and the World Economic Forum are not its hosts.
• ✓ 2. TEEB seeks to draw attention to the invisibility of nature in the economic choices that governments and businesses make.
• ✓ 3. TEEB's structured approach to valuation helps decision-makers recognise the benefits of ecosystems, demonstrate their values in economic terms and, where suitable, capture those values in decisions.

Remember · TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity): a UNEP-hosted global initiative to make nature's values visible - recognise, demonstrate, capture. Not an IMF or WEF body.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3

REDD+ is mainly a climate tool that pays countries to cut emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, but the UN-REDD Programme's own material says well-planned REDD+ action also gives wider benefits: conserving biodiversity, strengthening ecosystem resilience and advancing goals such as poverty reduction. All three statements are therefore correct.

• ✓ 1. UN-REDD lists biodiversity conservation among the environmental benefits REDD+ can deliver when it prevents loss or degradation of forests.
• ✓ 2. Biodiversity kept intact through REDD+ helps strengthen ecosystem resilience.
• ✓ 3. UN-REDD says REDD+ actions with wider benefits can help countries progress on national goals such as biodiversity, green growth and poverty reduction.

Remember · UN-REDD (run by UNEP, FAO and UNDP) backs REDD+: cutting forest emissions while also protecting biodiversity, building forest resilience and supporting livelihoods and poverty reduction.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

Agenda 21 is the global plan for sustainable development adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, so statement 1 is correct. It did not originate at the 2002 Johannesburg summit, so statement 2 is wrong.

• ✓ 1. Agenda 21 aims at global sustainable development and is meant to combat environmental damage, poverty and disease through global co-operation.
• ✗ 2. It was signed by world leaders in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), the Rio Earth Summit, ten years before the Johannesburg summit.

Remember · Agenda 21 = the 1992 Rio Earth Summit (UNCED) action plan for sustainable development in the 21st century; Johannesburg 2002 was a later summit.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 10 Contemporary India – II, Ch 1 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Contemporary World Politics, Ch 6 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error