Contemporary Issues: Environment, Disaster Management and Sustainable Development
What this domain tests
This domain links environmental degradation, hazard risk and sustainable development, with Indian and Rajasthan examples.
Core rules
- Environmental issues include air and water pollution, land degradation, desertification and climate change.
- Disaster management cycle: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Mitigation reduces hazard risk; adaptation adjusts to actual or expected change.
- Sustainable development meets present needs without compromising future generations. The SDGs provide 17 global goals.
- Rajasthan hazards: drought, heat waves, floods in eastern districts, dust storms and occasional earthquakes.
Worked example
A district facing recurrent drought introduces rainwater harvesting, watershed treatment and crop diversification. Reasoning: harvesting raises soil moisture and groundwater recharge; watershed treatment reduces runoff; diversification lowers crop failure risk. These are mitigation and adaptation measures, not mere relief.
Traps
Mitigation reduces the hazard or vulnerability; adaptation adjusts to impacts. Relief is post-disaster response, not mitigation. Sustainable development is not only environmental protection; it includes equity and economy. Drought is not simply low rainfall; it is a water shortage relative to demand.