UPSC Prelims 2014 · Question 90 of 100
UPSC Prelims 2014 question on Biosphere Reserves
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2014
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectEnvironment and Ecology
- TopicBiodiversity
- DifficultyMedium
- TypeDirect
The most important strategy for the conservation of biodiversity together with traditional human life is the establishment of
Show answer
Answer: A. biosphere reserves
Verdict
The answer is biosphere reserves. They are designed to conserve biodiversity while allowing traditional human life to continue.
Analysis
A biosphere reserve is zoned into a strictly protected core, a buffer where limited research and education activity is allowed, and a transition area where communities live and work, which is exactly what conserving biodiversity together with traditional human life requires. National parks and wildlife sanctuaries are legal categories under the Wildlife (Protection) Act aimed primarily at protecting species and habitat, with human activity restricted rather than integrated, and rights are more tightly curtailed in a national park than in a sanctuary.
Source
NCERT Class XII Biology, Unit 10, Chapter 15.
How to crack it
The decisive phrase in the stem is together with traditional human life, and only one category in Indian conservation is built around coexistence rather than exclusion. Read protected area questions by asking what the designation is for, not just what it protects: sanctuaries and national parks exclude, biosphere reserves integrate, conservation and community reserves formalise local stewardship. Attaching the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere programme to the biosphere reserve concept also covers the international dimension of this topic.
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