COP-18 TO UNFCCC(UNITED NATIONS  FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE )

COP-18 to UNFCCC is going to be held at DOHA, QATAR from november26 to december7 2012 .
This conference discusses the DURBAN PLATFORM arrived at last year at Durban,South Africa on the lines of COP-17. 

IUCN LIST OF MOST 100 THREATENED SPECIES

IUCN(INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR THE CONSERVATION OF NATURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES) IDENTIFIED  RELEASED A  LIST  OF 100 MOST THREATENED SPECIESN OF THE PLANET WHICH ARE CONSIDERED CLOSEST TO EXTINCTION.
   
    THE LIST COMPILED BY THE SPECIES SURVIVAL COMMISSION (SSC) OF IUCN WAS RELEASED BY ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON AT THE WORLD CONSERVATION CONGRESS BEING HELD AT JEJU , SOUTH KOREA FROM SEPTEMBER 6-15 , 2012.

THE LIST INCLUDES GREAT INDIAN BUSTARD, PEACOCK TARANTULA, WHIT E-BELLIED HERON AND SPOON -BILLED SAND PIPER. THE NUMBER OF THESE SPECIES HAS DRASTICALLY COME DOWN AND HENCE THERE IS A NEED TO CONSERVE THEM BI EX-SITU METHODS LIKE CAPTIVE BREEDING AND INCREASE THEIR NUMBERS.THESE SPECIES HAVE A GREAT ECOLOGICAL ROLE AND HENCE NEED TO BE PRESERVED.

GREAT INDIAN BUSTARD

WHITE BELLIED HERON

PEACOCK TARANTULA

The IUCN World Conservation Congress is the world’s largest and most important conservation event. Held every four years, the Congress aims to improve how we manage our natural environment for human, social and economic development.

ISRO SUCESSFULLY LAUNCHED PSLV-C21

ISRO sucessfully launched  today pslv-c21 from satish dhawan space centre .After 51 hour countdown pslv-c21 was launched at 09.53am .

 India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its twenty-second flight (PSLV-C21) launched the French earth observation satellite SPOT 6 along with a micro-satellite from Japan in to a 655 km polar orbit inclined at an angle of 98.23 deg to the equator. PSLV-C21 was  launched from the First Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota. 

With a lift-off mass of 712 kg, SPOT 6 is the heaviest satellite  launched by PSLV for an international customer. The Japanese micro-satellite PROITERES, carried as an auxiliary payload, has a lift-off mass of 15 kg. PSLV-C21 is the eighth flight of PSLV in 'core-alone' configuration (without solid strap-on motors). 

PSLV-C21 LAUNCH

The Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) is launching PSLV-C21 ON SEP  09 2012 this sunday.

This is going to be the 22nd  PSLV launch of ISRO.If this launch is successful ISRO achieves 21 consecutive PSLV sucesses.This is going to be the ISRO 's 100th launch.This is going to be another complete commercial success as pslv-c21 is launching two foreign satellites-FRANCE'S SPOT-6 earth observation satellite and PROITERES of Japan.Last time ISRO carried out such commercial launch was in 2008 whenPSLV-C  launched Israel's POLARIS or TECSAR.The launch of SPOT is going tobe the heaviest commercial lift for PSLV.The PSLV-C21 launch to be carried out from SDSC(SATISH DHAWAN SPACE CENTRE) is going to be witnessed by PM MANMOHAN SINGH.

IUCN RED LIST

The Red list of threatened species, prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), has listed 132 species of plants and animals as Critically Endangered, the most threatened category, from India.Plants seemed to be the most threatened life form with 60 species being listed as Critically Endangered and 141 as Endangered.

The Critically Endangered list included 18 species of amphibians, 14 fishes and 10 mammals. There are also 15 bird species in the category. The agency listed 310 species as Endangered ones, including 69 fishes, 38 mammals and 32 amphibians. Two plant species were reported to be extinct in the wild, including the Euphorbia mayuranthanii of Kerala. A leaf frog species and six plants were recorded as extinct, according to the latest assessment.

Of the total 63,837 species globally assessed, the IUCN classified 3,947 as Critically Endangered, 81 as Extinct, 63 as Extinct in the Wild. In the lower risk categories, there were 5766 species in Endangered, 10,104 in Vulnerable and 4,467 in Near Threatened categories. Scientific data regarding 10,497 species was not available and hence classified as Data Deficient, the report said.The threat level of as many as seven Indian bird species had increased in the last one year, say experts.According to the latest figures, 15 species of Indian birds, including the great Indian bustard, Siberian crane and sociable lapwing are there in the list of Critically Endangered birds. In the lower risk categories, the agency included 14 bird species as Endangered and 51 as vulnerable ones.

Compared to the previous year, the conservation status of Baer's Pochard had been uplisted to the Critically Endangered from the Endangered and the Long-tailed Duck to Vulnerable from the Least Concerned

This year, Saker Falcon has been listed as Endangered against the previous year's rating of Vulnerable. The threat perspective faced by the River Lapwing resulted in its classification as the Near-Threatened from the earlier Least Concerned. River Tern, a wetland-dependent species found in Kerala among other places has been moved to the Near-Threatened category from the Least concern and Black-bellied Tern to the Endangered from the Near-threatened in the latest list, Dr. Nameer said.

Sinhoe's Storm-petrel, which was first sighted in India in Chavakad last year, has also been classified as the Near-Threatened. Last year, the species was classified as the Least concerned, he said.

Four fish species from Kerala, including the Pookode Lake Barb and Nilgiri Mystus, are included in the Critically Endangered fishes of India. The agency listed 39 species from Kerala as endangered, including the Periyar Latia, Nilgiri Danio, Cardamom Garra, Periyar Garra and Anamalai Sucker Catfish.

The number of Critically Endangered species from Kerala has dropped to four from seven of last year whereas the endangered list had gone up to 39 from the 37 of the previous assessment.

IMPORTANT TOPICS FOR CIVIL SERVICES MAIN EXAM 2012 IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY , ENVIRONMENT.

1. BIOPROSPECTING
2. BIOSIMILARS
3. NOORI
4. CONCERNS INVOLVED IN CULTIVATION OF BT CROPS IN INDIA
5. MELOXICAM
6. MEGHA-TROPIQUES
7. GAGAN
8. SIGNIFICANCE OF PSLV IN INDIAN SPACE PROGRAMME
9. GSLV MARK -III
10. JALMANI
11. NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATIONS
12. WI FI
13. ASTRA
14. BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENCE SYSTEM IN INDIA
15. ORGANIC FARMING
16. BIOFERTILISERS
17. BIOPESTICIDES
18. OCEAN ACIDIFICATION
19. GEO ENGINEERING
20. TELEPORTATION
21. TRANSGENICS
22. RNA INTERFERENCE
23. QUASI CRYSTALS
24. HIGGS BOSON
25. BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS

ENVIROMENT MCQ FOR CSAT

1.Eutrophication of water bodies resulting to killing of fishes is mainly due to-
(a) Non-availability of food
(b) Non-availability of light
(c) Non-availability of oxygen
(d) Non-availability of essential minerals

 2.The pyramid of biomass will be inverted in the ecosystem of-
(a) Forests(b) Ponds(c) Grasslands(d) Drylands

3.The pyramid of number of a parasitic food chain in forest ecosystem is-
(a) Always inverted      

(d) Always upright
(b) Mixture of inverted & upright
(d) Sometimes inverted and sometimes upright

4.UV radiations is injurious to plants because it-
(a) Break phosphate bonds(b) Increases respiration
(c) Causes dehydration  (d) Causes genetic changes

5.A term biotype means-
(a) All individuals having same phenotype
(b) All individuals having same genotype
(c) All individual with different phenotype
(d) All individuals with different genotype

6.In which of the following the maximum plant diversity is found-
(a) Tropical rain forests
(b) Tropical moist deciduous forests
(c) Sub tropical mountain forests
(d) Temperate moist forests

7. The Ecological pyramid that is always upright
(a) Pyramid of energy   

(b) Pyramid of biomass
(c) Pyramid of number  

(d) None of the above

8. Many individuals of the same species living together in a  defined area form a/an 

a community     b genus. c population. d ecosystem.

9.Which of the following terms best describes the inter- relationship between nitrogen‑fixing bacteria and the pulses plants in whose roots they live? 

a . mutualism                 b . commensalism

c  amensalism               d  parasitism

10.In a lake polluted with pesticides, which one of the following will contain the maximum amount of pesticides

a.small fish                    b.zooplankton

c.big fish                       d.water birds

11. In our country the Van Mahotsav Day is observed on

(a) Second of October           (b) First of December

(c) Tenth of August               (d) First of July

12.According to Thomas Malthus, population increases_______ while food supply increases _____

a. geometrically,arithematically

b. arithematically, geometrically,

c  fractionally,progressively

d. geometrically,geometrically

13.All the populations of plants and animal species that live and interact in a given area at a particular time, as well as the chemical and physical factors that make up the non-living environment are called

a.ecosystem                              b.ecotone   c.ecological niche                 d,community

14.The belief that a disproportionate number of hazardous facilities are placed in areas populated by poor and minority people is called 

a.anthropocentrism        b.environmental racism

c environmental divide     d environmental dominance

15.The two compounds that acid rain contains that are most damaging to the environment are

a.carbon dioxide; water  b.sulfuric acid; nitric acid

c.nitrogen; wate                        d.carbon dioxide; sulfuric acid

16.The International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) was celebrated around the world on
a) May 5, 2011              b) May 22, 2011
c) June 5, 2011              d) June 20, 2011 

17. The first session of world’s first intergovernmental agency on renewable energy ‘IRENA Assembly’ was held at ______.
a) Doha            b) Muscot         c) Abu Dhabi    d) Vienna

18.India’s battery powered and compressor less mini refrigerator ‘ChotuKool’ is a product of which of the following companies?
a) LG   b) Godrej          c) Whirlpool d) Videocon

19. Enrica Lexie which came into news recently on account of killing two Indian  fishermen off the Kerala coast is a 
a) a oil tanker from Quwait     b) a oil tanker from Iran
c) a oil tanker from UAE        d) a oil tanker from Italy

20.the head quarters of international whaling commission

a)newyork        b)Kyoto   c)perth           d)Cambridge

21. increased defoliation in plants is caused by

a)ozone depletion                       b)acid rains

c)global warming                       d)ground pollution

22.The Himalayan ibex is a type of

a)goat   b)deer      c)ass                         d)cattle

23.For providing environmental information to decision makers, policy planners, scientists and engineers, research workers, etc. all over the country., ENVIS was established in the year

a)1979              b)1980              c)1981          d)1982

24.which of the following is not a mission listed under national Action Plan on Climatic Change

a)national mission on sustainable development

b)national mission on enhanced energy efficiency

c)national mission on sustainable Himalayan ecosystem

d)national mission on strategic knowledge  for climate change

25.the only conference of parties held in India

a)cop-12           b)cop-13           c)c0p-14    d)c0p-15