Environment & Biodiversity Current Affairs MCQs

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The United Nations called the Santiago river as Mexico’s most polluted waterway. According to the 2017 figures, less than a third of the country’s industrial wastewater is treated. Recently, Mexico has signed an expansive trade deal with the US and Canada in which it made an explicit promise to conserve its environment.

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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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Carbon Disclosure Project-India (CDP), an environmental non-profit organisation released its annual report of 2018, titled “Corporates #StepUp Climate Action”. As per the report, 25 companies committed to science-based targets in alignment with the Paris Agreement by December 2018. This has earned the 5th rank to India, which is only after the US, Japan, Britain and France in corporate climate action.
The report examines carbon reduction activities of companies and revealed that 58 Indian companies of the 59 firms surveyed between 2018 and 2019, have board-level oversight of climate-related issues.

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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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The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has recently released the first stage of Long Range Forecast (LRF) for south-west monsoon season.
As per its forecast, the southwest monsoon from June to September over India may be normal across the country. It also forecasted that the intensity of monsoon rainfall would be between 96 and 104 per cent of the long period average (LPA) of the country, which is 880 mm during 1961-2010.

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Recently, a rare species of Trionychidae turtle was caught by local fishermen at Deuli Dam under the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha.
It was rescued and released by the forest department in Deuli dam. Trionychidae turtles are softshell turtles, that are usually found in Africa, Asia, and North America. As per the forest department, the turtles weigh more than 30 kilograms and has a maximum life is 50 years.

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The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is an international agreement between governments. India is also a signatory to CITES. It seeks to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.
The Environment ministry has issued rules for dealing with the import of exotic species and for assessing scale of possession within the country, as per the CITES agreement. Exotic live species are defined as plants and animals that are moved from their original habitat to a new one by human intervention.

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Considered as extinct over seventy years back, the Woolly flying squirrel was spotted at Gangotri National Park in Uttarakhand.
As per the Forest Research Institute, the flying squirrel was added in the IUCN Red List. It was spotted during the survey conducted in the national park. The animal uses its wool-like furry claws like a parachute and fly.

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Union Minster of Petroleum has stated that Five state run oil and natural gas PSUs will become corporate partners of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
These PSUs would make financials contribution to ISA’s corpus fund. This announcement was made during the 1st World Solar Technology Summit organized by ISA. ONGC, IOCL, BPCL, HPCL and GAIL are the 5 PSUs.

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A recent study on the Himalayan brown bear by scientists of Zoological Survey of India, has forecast that there is a decline in their suitable habitat, due to climate change.
The study has urged scientists to suggest an adaptive planning of protected area network in the western Himalayas, to conserve the Himalayan brown bear species (Ursus arctos isabellinus).