UPSC Prelims 2017 Environment questions: topic-wise weightage
UPSC Prelims 2017 asked 14 environment questions in GS Paper I, spread over 5 topics. See the environment weightage for 2017 below, then attempt each question with the official answer and an explanation.
Environment 2017: questions by topic
- Ecology and ecosystems1
- Biodiversity and species3
- Protected areas and conservation4
- Climate change and international conventions3
- Pollution, environmental laws and green technology3
Counted from the 14 questions on this page, tagged by topic in the Battle IAS PYQ bank.
Seeing 14 Environment questions spread over 5 topics can feel overwhelming. That's exactly why the Battle IAS PYQ Book maps every question topic by topic, so you know what to study first. Download free sample
Ecology and ecosystems 1
Due to some reasons, if there is a huge fall in the population of species of butterflies, what could be its likely consequence/consequences ?
- 1. Pollination of some plants could be adversely affected.
- 2. There could be a drastic increase in the fungal infections of some cultivated plants.
- 3. It could lead to a fall in the population of some species of wasps, spiders and birds.
Select the correct answer using the code given below :
Answer (c) & explanation
Statements 1 and 3 are correct (c). Butterflies are pollinators of many flowering plants, so a big fall in their numbers could hurt pollination (1). Butterflies and their caterpillars are also food for wasps (some lay eggs in caterpillars), spiders and birds. Losing them would affect these predators further up the food web (3). Statement 2 has no link. Butterflies do not control plant fungi, so their loss would not cause a sudden rise in fungal infections of crops.
Butterflies are also bio-indicators, sensitive to pesticides and climate change. Notice the wider idea of a trophic cascade: losing one link in the food web can ripple through the whole ecosystem, much like declines in bees threaten food security.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Biodiversity and species 3
Consider the following statements in respect of Trade Related Analysis of Fauna and Flora in Commerce (TRAFFIC) :
- 1. TRAFFIC is a bureau under United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
- 2. The mission of TRAFFIC is to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature.
Which of the above statements is/are correct ?
Answer (b) & explanation
Only statement 2 is correct (b). Statement 1 is wrong because TRAFFIC was set up in 1976 as a joint programme of WWF and IUCN, not as a bureau under UNEP. It is now an independent NGO based in Cambridge, UK. Statement 2 is right because its mission is to make sure trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to conservation. It tracks markets and smuggling routes, and supports CITES with data and training.
TRAFFIC India works with WWF-India and helps the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau fight trade in pangolins, star tortoises, red sanders and other species. Notice how often UPSC asks who runs what: TRAFFIC belongs to WWF+IUCN, while CITES's secretariat is run by UNEP.
TRAFFIC works with CITES (hosted by UNEP), but TRAFFIC itself is not part of UNEP.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
According to the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, which of the following animals cannot be hunted by any person except under some provisions provided by law ?
- 1. Gharial
- 2. Indian wild ass
- 3. Wild buffalo
Select the correct answer using the code given below :
Answer (d) & explanation
All three cannot be hunted except as the law allows (d). Section 9 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 bans hunting any wild animal listed in the Schedules. The exceptions are narrow, such as an animal that has become dangerous to human life (Section 11), or for research and education with permission (Section 12). The gharial (1), Indian wild ass (2) and wild buffalo (3) are all Schedule I species, with the highest protection.
The 2022 amendment cut the Schedules from six to four and brought in CITES listings. Notice where these animals live: the gharial in the Chambal, the wild ass only in the Little Rann of Kutch, and the wild buffalo in Assam and Chhattisgarh, where it is the State animal.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
In India, if a species of tortoise is declared protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, what does it imply ?
Answer (a) & explanation
Schedule I listing gives the same protection as the tiger (a). Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 gives the highest protection and the heaviest penalties: jail of 3 to 7 years and a fine of at least ₹25,000. Every animal on it gets the same level of protection, whether it is a tiger or a star tortoise. Listing does not mean the animal is extinct in the wild or beyond saving (b). It does not mean it is endemic to one region (c). So (d) is wrong too.
After the 2022 amendment, there are four Schedules: I and II for animals with different levels of protection, III for plants, and IV for CITES species. Notice the protected Indian tortoises, such as the Indian star tortoise and the Travancore tortoise.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Protected areas and conservation 4
From the ecological point of view, which one of the following assumes importance in being a good link between the Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats ?
Answer (a) & explanation
Sathyamangalam links the two Ghats (a). Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve in Erode district, Tamil Nadu, sits where the Western and Eastern Ghats meet. It joins the Nilgiri Biosphere landscape, including Mudumalai, Bandipur and BRT Hills (Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple), giving tigers and elephants a vital corridor. It was declared a tiger reserve in 2013. The other options are wrong because Nallamala (b), home of the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam reserve, and Seshachalam (d) lie entirely in the Eastern Ghats, while Nagarhole (c) is entirely in the Western Ghats.
BRT Hills is the other well-known meeting point of the two ranges. Notice the Moyar river gorge, which separates the Nilgiris from the Sathyamangalam forests.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
If you want to see gharials in their natural habitat, which one of the following is the best place to visit ?
Answer (b) & explanation
The Chambal River is the best place to see gharials (b). The National Chambal Sanctuary, set up in 1979 and shared by Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, holds most of the world's wild gharials. The gharial is Critically Endangered, needs clean, fast, sandy rivers, and eats only fish. Bhitarkanika (a) in Odisha is famous for saltwater crocodiles, not gharials. Pulicat (c) is a lagoon known for flamingos. Deepor Beel (d), near Guwahati, is a Ramsar wetland.
Smaller gharial groups live in the Girwa (Katarniaghat), Son and Gandak rivers, and in Corbett. Notice India's three crocodilians: the gharial, the mugger (marsh crocodile) and the saltwater crocodile, all on Schedule I.
Bhitarkanika does have crocodiles, but they are saltwater crocodiles.
Fell for this one? Most aspirants do. The PYQ Book puts every UPSC trap side by side, so the pattern finally clicks. Try the free sample
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
The term ‘M-STrIPES’ is sometimes seen in the news in the context of
Answer (b) & explanation
M-STrIPES is used to manage tiger reserves (b). M-STrIPES (Monitoring System for Tigers – Intensive Protection and Ecological Status) is a GPS-based mobile app brought in by the NTCA and the Wildlife Institute of India in 2010. Forest guards use it to record patrol routes, wildlife sightings, poaching signs and habitat data, which gives managers a live picture of protection in each reserve. It has nothing to do with captive breeding (a), NavIC (c), or highway security (d).
Data from M-STrIPES feeds into the All India Tiger Estimation, which counted 3,682 tigers in 2022. Notice the related tools: camera traps, the Management Effectiveness Evaluation of reserves, and the CA|TS global standard for tiger sites.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Recently there was a proposal to translocate some of the lions from their natural habitat in Gujarat to which one of the following sites ?
Answer (b) & explanation
The proposal was to move lions to Kuno-Palpur (b). Kuno-Palpur in Madhya Pradesh was chosen to give the Asiatic lion a second home, so that a single epidemic or disaster could not wipe out the only wild population in Gir, Gujarat. In 2018, canine distemper killed over 20 Gir lions. In 2013, the Supreme Court ordered the move, but Gujarat has never sent any lions. Corbett (a), Mudumalai (c) and Sariska (d) were not the chosen sites.
In 2022, Kuno National Park instead received cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa under Project Cheetah. The 2025 count found 891 lions in Gujarat. Notice that Gujarat is spreading lions across the Greater Gir landscape, including Barda, as its own alternative.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Climate change and international conventions 3
In the context of mitigating the impending global warming due to anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide, which of the following can be the potential sites for carbon sequestration ?
- 1. Abandoned and uneconomic coal seams
- 2. Depleted oil and gas reservoirs
- 3. Subterranean deep saline formations
Select the correct answer using the code given below :
Answer (d) & explanation
All three are possible storage sites (d). Geological carbon sequestration, part of CCS (carbon capture and storage), pumps CO₂ deep underground. Unmineable coal seams absorb CO₂ onto the coal and can release methane in exchange, a method called ECBM (1). Depleted oil and gas fields once held gas safely for millions of years, and injecting CO₂ can also push out leftover oil (enhanced oil recovery) (2). Deep saline aquifers have the largest storage capacity of all (3).
Norway's Sleipner project has stored CO₂ in a saline formation since 1996. Notice India's steps: NITI Aayog's CCUS report (2022) and ONGC's EOR trials. Remember the other carbon sinks too: oceans, forests and soils.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
With reference to ‘Global Climate Change Alliance’, which of the following statements is/are correct?
- 1. It is an initiative of the European Union.
- 2. It provides technical and financial support to targeted developing countries to integrate climate change into their development policies and budgets.
- 3. It is coordinated by World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
Select the correct answer using the code given below :
Answer (a) & explanation
Statements 1 and 2 are correct (a). The Global Climate Change Alliance was started by the European Union in 2007 (1) and became GCCA+ in 2014. It gives technical and financial support to poor, climate-exposed countries, mainly small island states (SIDS) and least developed countries (LDCs). The aim is to help them build climate change into their development policies and budgets (2), with a focus on adaptation and disaster risk reduction. Statement 3 is wrong because WRI and WBCSD run the GHG Protocol, not the GCCA.
Notice the trap: UPSC mixes up who runs which climate body. Remember these pairs: GCCA belongs to the EU, the CCAC to UNEP with partner countries, REDD+ to the UN or World Bank, and the GHG Protocol to WRI and WBCSD.
The WRI–WBCSD pairing belongs to the GHG Protocol.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following statements :
- 1. Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) to Reduce Short Lived Climate Pollutants is a unique initiative of G20 group of countries.
- 2. The CCAC focuses on methane, black carbon and hydrofluorocarbons.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
Answer (b) & explanation
Only statement 2 is correct (b). Statement 1 is wrong because the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) was started in 2012 by UNEP and six countries: Bangladesh, Canada, Ghana, Mexico, Sweden and the USA. It is not a G20 body. Statement 2 is right because it targets short-lived climate pollutants: methane, black carbon, HFCs and tropospheric ozone. These stay in the air only days to years, so cutting them slows warming quickly and also cleans the air.
India joined the CCAC in 2019. Notice the related efforts: the Global Methane Pledge (COP26, 30% cut by 2030), which India has not signed, and the Kigali Amendment (2016) to phase down HFCs, which India ratified in 2021.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Pollution, environmental laws and green technology 3
In the context of solving pollution problems, what is/are the advantage/advantages of bioremediation technique ?
- 1. It is a technique for cleaning up pollution by enhancing the same biodegradation process that occurs in nature.
- 2. Any contaminant with heavy metals such as cadmium and lead can be readily and completely treated by bioremediation using microorganisms.
- 3. Genetic engineering can be used to create microorganisms specifically designed for bioremediation.
Select the correct answer using the code given below :
Answer (c) & explanation
Statements 1 and 3 are correct (c). Bioremediation uses microbes, fungi or plants to clean up pollution by speeding up the natural biodegradation that happens anyway (1). Genetic engineering can create microbes designed for particular pollutants (3). Ananda Chakrabarty's oil-eating Pseudomonas was the first patented living organism (1980). Statement 2 is wrong because heavy metals like cadmium and lead cannot be broken down. Microbes and plants can only change their form or concentrate them, as in phytoremediation. So "any ... readily and completely" goes too far.
Bioremediation is used after oil spills, and India's TERI developed Oilzapper for this. Notice the related terms: in-situ (on site) and ex-situ (removed) treatment, and bioaugmentation (adding microbes).
"any", "readily" and "completely" in one line is a strong warning sign.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
It is possible to produce algae based biofuels, but what is/are the likely limitation(s) of developing countries in promoting this industry ?
- 1. Production of algae based biofuels is possible in seas only and not on continents.
- 2. Setting up and engineering the algae based biofuel production requires high level of expertise/technology until the construction is completed.
- 3. Economically viable production necessitates the setting up of large scale facilities which may raise ecological and social concerns.
Select the correct answer using the code given below :
Answer (b) & explanation
Statements 2 and 3 are correct (b). Statement 1 is wrong because algae can be grown on land in open ponds, in closed photobioreactors, and even in wastewater, not only at sea. The real hurdles for developing countries are that setting up and engineering these plants needs high expertise and technology (2), and that making the fuel pay needs large facilities, which use land, water and nutrients and may raise ecological and social concerns (3).
Algae are third-generation biofuels: they grow fast, make oil, and do not compete with food crops the way first-generation sugarcane and maize ethanol do. Notice India's biofuel path: the National Policy on Biofuels (2018, amended 2022) and the E20 petrol target, which India reached in 2025.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) is a standard criterion for
Answer (c) & explanation
BOD is used to test pollution in water (c). Biochemical (Biological) Oxygen Demand is the amount of dissolved oxygen that microbes use to break down the organic matter in a water sample, usually measured over 5 days at 20°C. A high BOD means heavy organic pollution, as from sewage or dairy waste, which takes oxygen away from fish. Clean river water has a BOD under about 3 mg/L, which is the bathing standard. It has nothing to do with blood (a), forests (b), or high altitudes (d).
COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) measures all oxidisable matter and is always higher than BOD. Notice how the CPCB uses BOD to list polluted river stretches. Low dissolved oxygen with high BOD leads to eutrophication and fish deaths.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
All years by topic
Every question from 2011 to 2026, grouped by syllabus topic, with year-wise trends.