Environment & Biodiversity Current Affairs MCQs

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In order to promote road safety and reduce vehicular pollution, Rajasthan Transport department is going to observe a “No Vehicle Day” once a month in 2020. The employees of the transport department are to come to their offices as pedestrians, via bicycles or a public transport.

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According to the recent data from the Ministry of Forest Environment and Climate Change (MoEFCC), the total number of tiger deaths was under 100 after three years. In the year 2019, 95 tigers were dead in total, among them 84 tigers were actually dead and 11 of them were presumed dead by identifying their body parts. In the previous year 2018, there were 100 deaths of tigers in total and in 2017, the count was 115.

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India’s first rehabilitation centre for freshwater turtles will be inaugurated in the Bhagalpur forest division of Bihar. The centre, which is to be open soon can accommodate 500 turtles at a time. The forest division is near to the river Ganga, which makes it a perfect breeding area for freshwater turtles. The turtles are abducted and hurt by smugglers will be rescued by the team of the rehabilitation centre and will be provided proper treatment.

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The Manas National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site and a biosphere reserve is situated in Assam. Recently a one-horned rhinoceros of the national park named R3A gave birth to its calf. The R3A was also born in the same park to the elder rhino ‘Laisri’ in 2013.
The One-horned rhinoceros or the Indian rhinoceros is an endangered species and is listed as ‘Vulnerable’ in the IUCN Red list of threatened species. At present, the national park is home to 42 rhinos.

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Arunachal Pradesh inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), to prepare a red-list assessment of Orchids. With this agreement, Arunachal Pradesh becomes the first Indian state to prepare such an assessment. The IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species is a critical indicator of the health of biodiversity of the world.
The Botanical Survey of India recently conducted the first comprehensive census of orchids of India. As per the census, the total number of orchid species in India is 1,256. The highest number of orchid species is recorded from Arunachal Pradesh with 612 species, followed by Sikkim and West Bengal.

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The Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) will become one of the world’s largest general-purpose observatories, once it is constructed. The proposed site for its location is over the Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii islands, which is a sacred place for the island’s locals. Several protests are being witnessed demanding to shift the construction of the observatory to some other place.
India is also a member of the collaboration of the research institutions and governments and has committed 10 % of the project resources. India recently announced that it would like the project to move to an alternate and appropriate place.

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The Supreme Court of India recently permitted the Centre to introduce the ‘African Cheetahs’ to the appropriate habitats in India. As the Asiatic cheetah, commonly called as the Indian Cheetah, has become almost extinct, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) filed a petition, which sought permission for introducing African Cheetahs to India.
The bench headed by the Chief Justice S A Bobde also set up a committee with three members from Wildlife Institute of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests, which will guide the NTCA in this regard.

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Renowned environmental economist and UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Goodwill Ambassador Pavan Sukhdev has been awarded the prestigious Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, for this year.
The award was instituted in 1973 and is otherwise known as the Nobel prize for environment. Pavan Sukhdev shares the prestigious award with another conservation biologist from the United States, Gretchen Daily. Sukhdev is only the third Indian in the last decade to receive this coveted award. His report on ‘The Economics of Environment and Biodiversity’ was the base for the Green Economy movement of UNEP.

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Kaamya Karthikeyan a student from Mumbai, recently became the youngest girl in the world to scale Mt Aconcagua. Mt Aconcagua is the highest peak in South America, located in Argentina. It is the highest peak outside Asia with the height of 6962 metres.
The student of Navy children school has already scaled the some of the highest peaks in Africa, Europe, and Australia in the past.

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Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Edappadi K. Palaniswami recently announced that the Cauvery delta region would be declared as a ‘Protected Special Agriculture Zone’.
This declaration would ensure the food security of the State. The Cauvery delta region in the central districts of Tamil Nadu would be converted into Protected Special Agriculture Zone. Special legislations are to be enacted in this regard.