UPSC: Environment & Ecology has emerged as one of the most important topics for the UPSC (IAS) prelims examination. This section covers a significant part of the prelims paper and 10-12 questions have been repeatedly asked from this section in the past 5 years prelims exam. The reason for the increased weightage of the Environment and Ecology section is the merging of the Indian Forest Services examination prelims process with the Civil Services examination. This makes the Environment and Ecology section highly important for the exam. In this article, we have provided important tricks to revise the Environment and Ecology section in the last days before the UPSC Civil Services (Prelims) exam 2021.
UPSC Previous Year Paper Analysis:
One way to revise the UPSC environment is to first go through the previous years’ question papers and analyze the environment questions. You can refer to the below link for the exclusive analysis of questions based on Environment and Ecology asked in the past 5 years Prelims exam.
Static and Factual Topics:
It is important to know the basic terminology and important terms and facts related to the environment for a UPSC aspirant. For this section, an aspirant should refer to a good book on the environment for UPSC and look up the important concepts that are frequently seen in the news. For example, food chain, biogeochemical cycle, biological oxygen demand, etc. Aspirants can refer to the Environmental Studies textbook by Erach Bharucha. Aspirants can also check our Environment & Ecology compiled list of important topics in the link below.
UPSC (IAS) Prelims 2021: Important Topics from Environment & Ecology Syllabus
National Initiatives:
An aspirant must be abreast of all the government initiatives taken up by the environment such as the National Solar Mission, the National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem, the National Mission for Sustainable Habitat, etc. Every year 1-2 questions are asked from such initiatives hence this should be a part of the aspirant’s revision process.
International initiatives:
This is the most important section in the environment syllabus of UPSC and should not be overlooked during the revision. Under this section, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and other international conventions and organizations (both UN and non-UN), Ramsar Convention, IUCN list, etc. should be well revised.
National Parks and Reserves in News:
This topic should be studied by interlinking with the current affairs. Newly declared National parks, reserves, and national parks in news due to biodiversity or species. Aspirants can use the mapping method to locate important national parks in the country.
Plant and Animal Species:
Every year some new species of plants and animals are discovered. It is important to know their scientific names, places of discovery, and other important details. Also, every year certain new species are added to the Endangered list and some are shifted from Endangered to Critically endangered or extinct. Keep an eye on such species mentioned in the news.
The strong link of the Environment & Ecology syllabus to current affairs makes it prudent to scan the current affairs correlate it with any topic in the prescribed books. Terms like climate change, ecosystem, sustainable development, natural disaster, etc. are regularly featured in the news. Hence, it is important that while revising your current affairs, an aspirant lay more important to such terms and revise the Environment & Ecology syllabus simultaneously.
Also Check: Topic-wise Important Questions on Environment & Ecology