Daily Static Quiz Prelims Practice 2027
Option (b) is correct — Conservation International's two criteria are at least 1,500 endemic vascular plant species and having lost at least 70% of original habitat (retaining less than 30% of primary vegetation), both required simultaneously. Option (a) is wrong — the habitat loss threshold is 70% loss (30% retained), not 50%. Option (c) is wrong — the plant threshold is 1,500, not 5,000, which would exclude most recognised hotspots. Option (d) is wrong — vertebrate endemism is supporting evidence, not part of the official two-criterion definition, which specifies vascular plants.
- 1. National Park — Human habitation, grazing, and forestry operations are prohibited; boundaries cannot be altered except by a State Legislature resolution.
- 2. Wildlife Sanctuary — Regulated human activities may be permitted with the Chief Wildlife Warden's approval; boundaries can be altered by the State government.
- 3. Biosphere Reserve — A statutory category under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, with a legally defined core zone, buffer zone, and transition zone.
- 4. Conservation Reserve — Declared by the State government on community or government land with the consent of local communities; allows continuation of traditional community uses.
Pairs 1, 2 and 4 are correctly matched. National Parks (Section 35) prohibit habitation, grazing, and resource extraction, with boundary changes requiring a State Legislature resolution. Wildlife Sanctuaries permit regulated activities with Chief Wildlife Warden approval, with boundaries alterable by State government notification under Section 26A. Conservation Reserves (Section 36A) are declared with local community consent, explicitly allowing continued traditional uses. Pair 3 is incorrect — Biosphere Reserves are not a statutory category under the Wildlife Protection Act; they are designated by MoEFCC under UNESCO's Man and Biosphere Programme through an administrative order, with the core-buffer-transition model having no legal enforceability under wildlife law.
Option (c) is correct — "Extinct in the Wild" (EW) refers to species surviving only in captivity, cultivation, or naturalised populations outside their historic range, like the Scimitar-horned Oryx today or the Arabian Oryx before reintroduction. Option (a) is wrong — the risk hierarchy is CR > EN > VU, so Endangered is actually higher risk than Vulnerable, the reverse of what's claimed. Option (b) is wrong — Data Deficient means inadequate information exists, not that the species is safe; many DD species are later found threatened. Option (d) is wrong — Near Threatened means close to qualifying for a threatened category, not currently qualifying as Vulnerable, which would place it in the VU category itself.
Option (b) is correct — the Nagoya Protocol, a supplementary CBD agreement adopted at COP-10 in Nagoya (2010, in force 2014), aims at Access and Benefit Sharing: ensuring users of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge share benefits with the country of origin and local communities, critical to combating biopiracy in India. Option (a) is wrong — CITES governs wildlife trade with no ABS framework. Option (c) is wrong — the UNFCCC handles climate change; forest carbon is addressed separately through REDD+. Option (d) is wrong — the Ramsar Convention covers wetland conservation, not genetic resource access.
Option (a) is correct — in-situ conservation protects species within their natural ecosystems, as at Kaziranga National Park, home to about two-thirds of the world's one-horned rhinoceros population; ex-situ conservation maintains species outside their natural habitat, as at the National Zoological Park, Delhi. Options (b), (c), and (d) all reverse the classification — gene banks/seed vaults and captive breeding are actually ex-situ tools, while Biosphere Reserves, Sacred Groves, Tiger Reserves, and Community Reserves are in-situ, and Botanical Gardens are ex-situ, not in-situ as claimed.
