Day-491 | Daily MCQs | UPSC Prelims | ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

Answer: C
Explanation:
● The GEF provides funding to assist developing countries in meeting the objectives of international environmental conventions.
● The GEF serves as a “financial mechanism” to five conventions: Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and Minamata Convention on Mercury.
● The GEF, although not linked formally to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, supports the implementation of the Protocol in countries with economies in transition.
● The Global Environment Facility was established in October 1991 under the chairmanship of Mohamed El-Ashry as a $1 billion pilot program in the World Bank to enable developing countries to take action on environmental challenges and to promote sustainable development. The United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the World Bank were the three initial partners implementing GEF projects.
● In 1992, at the Rio Earth Summit, the GEF was restructured and established as a permanent, separate institution.
● Since 1994, the World Bank has served as the Trustee of the GEF Trust Fund and provides administrative services.
● The financial contributions to the GEF are replenished every 4 years.
● Through its Small Grants Programme, GEF has provided support to more than 25000 civil society and community initiatives in 135 countries.
● GEF has the responsibility to manage various funds like Special Climate Change Fund, Least Developed Countries Fund, Global Biodiversity Environment Facility, etc.

Answer: D
Explanation:
● Biodiversity hotspots are regions with high species richness and a high degree of endemism. They can be found over tropical and subtropical regions.
● The British biologist “Norman Myers” coined the term “biodiversity hotspot” in 1988 as a biogeographic region characterized both by exceptional levels of plant endemism and by serious levels of habitat loss.
● According to Conservation International (an American Non-profit environmental organisation), to qualify as a hotspot, a region must meet two strict criteria:
1. Should have at least 1500 vascular plant species that are endemic (high degree of endemism)
2. Must have lost majority (70%) of its native vegetation (highly threatened)
● The 36 biodiversity hotspots cover 2.4% of the Earth’s land surface, yet more than 50% of the world’s plant species and 42% of all terrestrial vertebrate species are endemic to these areas.
● In 2011, the Forests of East Australia region was identified as the 35th biodiversity hotspot. The North American Coastal Plains were declared as the 36th Biodiversity Hot spot in Feb 2016.
● India is home to 4 Biodiversity Hotspots: Himalayas, Indo-Burma, Sundaland and Western Ghats.

Answer: C
Explanation:
Nanoparticles are known to have several environmental effects:
● Reduction of albedo: NPs coagulate and form dust clouds which decrease the intensity of sunlight. Asian brown clouds(dust) carry large amounts of soot and black carbon and deposit them on the Himalayan glaciers, thereby reducing albedo. This implies higher absorption of the sun’s heat and potentially enhanced melting of glaciers.
● Ozone depletion: NPs can increase the production of free radicals like Cl¯ which destroy the ozone.
● NPs are very reactive. So, they bind readily with Hydroxyl radicals and ultimately result in their reduction in the troposphere. This lowers the natural “pollutant-scrubbing capacity” of the atmosphere.
● Stratospheric cooling: NPs in the troposphere interact with molecular hydrogen accidently released from hydrogen fuel cells and other sources. Molecular hydrogen along-with NPs, moves up to the stratosphere causing abundant water vapour there and consequent stratospheric cooling because of the formation of stratospheric clouds (mostly ice crystals). This is also an ozone-destructive phenomenon.
● Food chain disruption: Nanoparticles, owing to their size and composition, can pass easily across the trophic levels in food-chain through the process of biomagnification.
● Phytotoxicity: Although NPs can have stimulatory effects on plants at low concentrations, they have inhibitory impacts at high concentrations. Phytotoxicity occurs when NPs modify biochemical pathways or up and down-regulate genes involved in cellular functions.

Answer: B
Explanation:
● The global movement Extinction Rebellion, also referred to as ‘XR’, describes itself as a “decentralised, international and politically non-partisan movement using non-violent direct action and civil disobedience to persuade governments to act justly on the Climate and Ecological Emergency”.
● XR was launched in the United Kingdom on October 31, 2018, as a response to a report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which declared that “we only have 12 years to stop catastrophic climate change and our understanding that we have entered the 6th mass extinction event”.
● The logo of Extinction Rebellion is an ‘X’ with the top and bottom crossed so that it resembles, according to the movement’s website, an hourglass, which stands for a warning that time is running out for many species. The extinction (X) hourglass is placed within a circle that represents the planet Earth.

● The movement now has a presence in 75 countries, including India.

Answer: B
Explanation:
● The PIC procedure is a mechanism for formally obtaining and disseminating the decisions of importing parties on their willingness to receive future shipments of hazardous chemicals.
● Rotterdam Convention (signed in 1988 and effective since 1994) is a multilateral treaty to promote shared responsibilities in relation to importation of hazardous chemicals. The convention promotes open exchange of information and calls on exporters of hazardous chemicals to use proper labelling, include directions on safe handling, and inform purchasers of any known restrictions or bans. Signatory nations can decide whether to allow or ban the importation of chemicals listed in the treaty, and exporting countries are obliged to make sure that producers within their jurisdiction comply.
● It has 161 parties, which includes 158 UN member states, the Cook Islands, the State of Palestine, and the European Union. Non-member states include the United States.
● In 2012, the Secretariats of the Basel and Stockholm conventions, as well as the UNEP-part of the Rotterdam Convention Secretariat, merged to a single Secretariat with a matrix structure serving the three conventions.
● International trade of two new hazardous pesticides — Iprodione and Terbufos — has been recommended for “prior informed consent” (PIC) procedure under the Rotterdam Convention. The chemicals are dangerous for humans and aquatic animals.
● Iprodione, a fungicide used on vines, fruits, trees and vegetables, has been classified as carcinogenic and toxic for reproduction.
● Terbufos is a soil insecticide used commonly on sorghum, maize, beet and potatoes. It has also been found to pose risk to aquatic organisms due to its toxicity.