enera Knowledge aay India’s Daily €-Magazine of GK & Current Affairs General Studies Manual for UPSC and State Public Services Examinations 2014 Environment, Biodiversity and Climate Change Module-5: Environment Related Issues and Concepts-2 www.gktoday. First Published in 2010 Last Updated: June 2013, © 2010-2015 Suresh Soni |All Rights Reserved No part ofthis publication may be reproduced orcopied in any material form (including photo copying or storing itin any medium informof graphics, electronic or mechanical meansand whetheror not transient or Incidentalto some otheruse of this publication) without written permissionof the copyright owner. Decamer \Whileelicarehas been taken n the preparation ofthis material, noresponsibiltyisacceptedby theauthar forany errors, omissionsorinaccuracies. The material providedin this resourcehasbeen preparedtoprovidegeneral informationonly.[tisnotintendedtobereied upon orbea substitute forlegalor other professionaladvice. No responsibility can beacceptedby the author forany known or unknawnconsequences that mayresultfromreliancecn any informationprovidedinthis publication‘General Studies Manual for UPSC and Stale Public Servioe Examinations Environments: Environment Related Isues and Concepts-2 Contents Chapter 1. Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPS)... ‘Common Characters of the POPs. Blo-accurnulation, Bio-concentration and Bio -magnification Blomagnification. Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants... India and Stockholm Convention nnn Stockholm Convention and Endusulphan ... International Programme on Chemical Safety... Rotterdam Convention on Hazardous Substances. Chapter 2. Marine Pollution, Cil Spills, Marine Protected Areas London Convention on Marine PoLLUtion nn Mercury Poisoning in Fishes. Minimata Disease OIL SPILLS Bioremediation of Oil Spi. OFl Zapper... United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. a (UNCLOS). Marine Protected Area, India’s Marine Protected Areas... International. Convention for the Regulation of whaling. Wadden Sea Agreement. ACCOBAMS, MARPOL 73/78 svn 7 Chapter 3. Climate Change Concepts & Questions. ‘What is Climate? What are Forcings in context with Climate? . What is Radiation Balance of EOPth? wv What are Climate Feedback mechanisms? What is Ico-albedo feedback? wn How Climate can be predicted but Weather can not? ‘What is Polar amplification? : What are carbon ele and Global Carbon Budget? nn What is Ocean Acidification? se What is Carbon Footprint? What is Carbon Offsetting? What is Carbon sequestration?.... Can Organic Farming help in Carbon Sequestration What are Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ) and Dead Zones ‘What is Global dimming? ‘What is Eutrophication? ‘What is Green GDP?. ‘What is Ecological debt?... 21 ‘What is the Carrying Capacity?... 21 ‘What is Ecological Foot print?.. 22 What is a Global Hectare?, 22 ‘What is Impact of Population on Brocapadiy. 22 What is Water Footprint? 23 ‘What is Ecological Deficit... 28 (© 2010-2013 Suresh on Al Right Reseed | Emit sresheagtoday in 2|Page‘General Studies Manual for UPSC and Stale Public Servioe Examinations Environments: Environment Related Isues and Concepts-2 ad rsistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Persistence is an important characteristic of the environmental pollutants in an environmental medium (air/ water/ soil) or in a living tissue, which the pollutants remain active for a longer time ina toxic form through chemical, biological, and photolytic processes. Persistent organic pollutants (POPS) are organic compounds that, to a varying degree, resist photolytic, biological and chemical degradation. Due to persistence, the pollutants are” piay Dozen capable of longerange transport, | CA (oc) sana ivenignony onthe POPE Toa poser bap bioaccumulation and wth 12 POPs which were mos cman at hate They wee called biomagnification, Most of the POPS The Biry Desenare: include pesticides, Industrial solvents, “rin, chlordane, = DDT, dicidrin, '—endrin, _neptacilor, polyvinyl chloride, and pharmaceuticals. The Other words used are PBTs (Persistent, Bioaccumulative and Toxic) or TOMPs (Toxic Organic Micro Pollutants.) ‘Common Characters of the POPs The persistant Organic Pollutants generally have _: Y Low Water solubility ¥ High lipid solubility: This property leads them to bioaccumulation in animal ts ¥ Semi volatile: The property of their phys ‘o-chemical characteristics that permit these compounds to occur either in the vapour phase or adsorbed on atmospheric particles, thereby facilitating their long range transport through the atmosphere © The POPs with higher Molecular weights are more toxic and more persistent generally. © Most of the POPs are halogenated and many have Chlorine as a component. Bio-accumulation, Bio-concentration and Bio-magnification The above three terms are different with each other. ¥ Bioaccumulation refers to increase in concentration of a substance in certain tissues of organisms body. ¥ While Bioaccumulation occurs when an organism absorbs a toxic substance from all sources ata rate greater than that at which the substance is lost. Bioconcentration occurs when an organism absorbs a toxic substance from ONLY Water at a rate greater than that at which the substance is lost. ¥ Please note that Bioaccumulation and Bioconcentration are synonymous except the difference of the source. Bath Bioaccumulation and Bioconcentration occur in the same ‘organism. But Biomagnification occurs across various trophic levels in a food chain, (© 2010-2013 Suresh on Al Right Reseed | Emit sresheagtoday in 3) Page