Environment, Ecology, Biodiversity and Disaster Management
What is tested
Ecosystem concepts, protected areas, national and state pollution and conservation law, and disaster risk specific to Karnataka's hazards.
Protected areas and frameworks
- Karnataka has five tiger reserves: Bandipur, Rajiv Gandhi (Nagarhole), Kali (Anshi-Dandeli), Bhadra and Biligiri Ranganatha Temple (BRT), notified in 2011.
- Bandipur and Nagarhole form part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, India's first, declared in 1986 and shared with Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
- Key statutes: Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972; Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980; Environment (Protection) Act, 1986; Biological Diversity Act, 2002 with the Karnataka Biodiversity Board.
- Disaster profile: drought across the Maidan (Ballari, Koppal, Vijayapura), floods in coastal and Malnad districts, the 2018 Kodagu landslides, and recurrent urban flooding in Bengaluru.
Worked example
Question: An elephant corridor between Bandipur and Nagarhole is being severed by a highway. Which instrument applies? Reasoning: a corridor is not a notified protected area, so the Wild Life (Protection) Act alone is insufficient. The operative route is the environmental impact assessment process and eco-sensitive zone rules, with the National Green Tribunal providing the enforcement forum.
Traps that cost marks
- Using "biosphere reserve" and "tiger reserve" interchangeably; their legal bases differ.
- Ignoring the distinction between reserved forest, protected forest and unclassed forest.
- Treating drought only as meteorological; agricultural and hydrological drought are also examined.