Environment & Biodiversity Current Affairs MCQs

Notes:
Typhoon Kajiki killed at least three people and injured 10 others in Vietnam on 26 August 2025. The storm damaged nearly 7,000 homes, inundated 28,800 hectares of rice fields, and felled 18,000 trees. It brought down 331 electricity poles, causing widespread blackouts in Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Thai Nguyen, and Phu Tho provinces. Typhoon Kajiki is considered as powerful as Typhoon Yagi in 2024, which killed around 300 people and caused $3.3 billion in damages.

Notes:
Concerns were recently raised about unauthorised road construction and repair inside Srivilliputhur–Meghamalai Tiger Reserve (SMTR) in Theni district, Tamil Nadu. It was created in February 2021 by merging the Srivilliputhur Grizzled Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary and Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuary. It spans Theni, Virudhunagar, and Madurai districts in Tamil Nadu. The reserve links Kerala’s Periyar Tiger Reserve with Tamil Nadu’s Kalakkad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, ensuring wildlife corridor connectivity. It depends on Vaigai, Suruliyaru, and Shanmuganathi rivers for water resources.

Notes:
Udaipur was conferred the prestigious Wetland City Accreditation by the Ramsar Convention on September 9, 2025. The recognition was announced during the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan Awards and Wetland Cities Recognition Ceremony 2025, organised by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). The Ramsar Wetland City tag honours cities with exemplary efforts in conserving wetlands, biodiversity, and sustainable livelihoods. Udaipur, the ‘City of Lakes’, qualified due to community participation, strong conservation practices, and integration of wetlands in urban planning.

Notes:
Recently, a Forest Department patrol at Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS), Maharashtra, discovered a poached pangolin. Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Yavatmal district, Maharashtra. It is named after Goddess Tipai shrine in Tipeshwar village. The sanctuary lies in Patanbori and Parwa ranges of the Pandarkawad Forest Division. Four rivers—Purna, Krishna, Bhima, and Tapti—flow through it, making it the “Green Oasis of Eastern Maharashtra.” The land has basaltic volcanic soil and supports village livelihoods.

Notes:
A new edible mushroom species named Lactifluus khasianus has been discovered in the East Khasi Hills of Meghalaya. It was already known to Khasi tribes as “Tit iongnah” and used as a seasonal delicacy during the monsoon. The mushroom grows with Khasi pine (Pinus kesiya) at 1,600 metres altitude. It differs from related species by its chocolate-brown cap, larger cystidia, and DNA markers. It is the fifth confirmed Lactifluus sect. Gerardii species in India, but the first edible one. Meghalaya contributes significantly to India’s 34+ Lactifluus species diversity.

Notes:
Recently, two new wetlands from Bihar were added to the Ramsar Convention list of Wetlands of International Importance. These are Gokul Jalashay in Buxar district and Udaipur Jheel in West Champaran district. With this, India now has 93 Ramsar sites, the highest in Asia and third in the world after the UK (176) and Mexico (144). Bihar now has five Ramsar sites in total. India’s Ramsar sites increased from 26 in 2012 to 93 in 2025, covering 13.6 lakh hectares.

Notes:
Continuous heavy rains in Kalaburagi, Karnataka and parts of Maharashtra have caused a sharp rise in Bhima River water levels, triggering flooding in several villages. Bhima River, also called Chandrabagha River, is the largest tributary of Krishna River. It originates near Bhimashankar Temple in Bhimashankar hills, Western Ghats, Pune District, Maharashtra. It flows southeast through Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Telangana and merges into Krishna River at Raichur, Karnataka.

Notes:
A recent survey by State Forest Department and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) found rare nesting of Pallid Fish Eagle in Corbett Tiger Reserve. The bird is also called Pallas’s sea eagle or band-tailed fish eagle and is a large brownish sea eagle. It lives near lakes, marshes and rivers from lowlands up to 5,000 metres elevation. It is partially migratory, with Central Asian birds wintering in northern India and further west to the Persian Gulf. It is found across East Palearctic regions like Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia, China, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Its IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List status is Endangered.

Notes:
Recently, the Tamil Nadu Forest Department monitored an injured makhna (tuskless male elephant) standing in the Bhavani River along the Tamil Nadu–Kerala border. The Bhavani River is a major tributary of the Cauvery River. It flows through Tamil Nadu and Kerala and is the second-largest river in Tamil Nadu. It originates from the Western Ghats in the Nilgiri Hills of Tiruppur District, Tamil Nadu. The river flows into Kerala through Silent Valley National Park and re-enters Tamil Nadu.

Notes:
During Wildlife Week 2025 at Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, the Union Environment Minister launched five major conservation projects and four national-level wildlife monitoring programmes. Tigers Outside Tiger Reserves (TOTR) Project is a new national initiative by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). TOTR will be implemented from 2025–2028 with a budget of ₹88.7 crore, coordinated by NTCA and executed through state forest departments. The project aims to reduce human–tiger conflicts in non-reserve areas and ensure safe coexistence.