How to Prepare Environment for UPSC Exam

Being a UPSC aspirant you must have already gone through the syllabus thoroughly and you might have noticed that the topic of the environment has been included in the curriculum for both of the preliminary examinations and mains examination.

How to Prepare Environment for UPSC Exam

Being a UPSC aspirant you must have already gone through the syllabus thoroughly and you might have noticed that the topic of the environment has been included in the curriculum for both of the preliminary examinations and mains examination. So, while having a very limited time for the UPSC preparation is a genuine problem for some, preparing for the topic of environment would ensure that you are learning this for both parts of the examination including prelims and mains. Though no subject specialized skill is required for answering the environment-related questions asked in the prelims since they are mostly general knowledge and general issue related. On the other hand, the mains examination has the environment as a topic in Paper III. 

Since the concerns regarding the environment and climate change are increasing day by day, the topic has become very frequent in UPSC exam papers. If you follow the previous year’s question papers, you will find that every year a minimum of 15 to 20 questions are asked from this section in prelims and answering them correctly is crucial to clear the first round. So, this can be seen that how much important it is to prepare the environment topic properly and here is the complete guide:

• Being not a very concrete subject, there is no ultimate study material that you can rely on. Rather, this section is highly correlated with the current affairs and recent updates regarding this topic should be noted down. So, do not forget to go through the newspaper with the utmost attention daily. Pick up the relevant issues and try to research more about that particular topic to increase conceptual clarity.
• NCERT textbooks, Geography (classes VI to XII), biology (classes XI and XII), chapters of geography and environment from the Indian yearbook, etc should be followed as a study material.
• Important topics that should not be overlooked include human survival and its importance, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, red data book and its importance, biodiversity hot spots that are mostly from the biodiversity section of the environment
• Pollution is a hot topic nowadays and as the level of pollution is increasing every year, all pollution-related questions including acid rain, smog, greenhouse gases, algal bloom, ozone layer are very important
• As the environment and ecology of nature are getting disturbed, the topic of conservation is very important nowadays. All the topics including conservation of natural resources, wildlife conservation, national parks, wetlands, biosphere reserves are top-asked questions. 
• As we discussed before, climate change is a very impactful factor in the environment and hence several questions from Kyoto Protocol, Montreal Protocol, climate change summits are asked frequently. 
• Various questions are asked about ecologically sensitive areas that include Western Ghats, Himalayas. 
• Special agencies including UNEP, FAO, UNESCO working for the betterment of the environment to ensure its positive effects on the eco-system are should be researched thoroughly.  

Laws, regulatory bodies and policies that are related to the environment should be given importance since they are asked frequently in the examinations.