Model Answers- Answer Writing Practice- Day 6

Day 6: Model Answers for Mains Questions posted on 2nd July

1. “The healthier our ecosystems are, the healthier the planet & its people” Explain the statement with services provided by ecosystem & major issues associated with it.

“An ecosystem is a functional unit composed of a biotic community integrated with its physical non-living environment through flow of energy & nutrients”.

Various Services (Benefits) provided by ecosystem are: 

 The major issues associated with are:  

1. Over exploitation of resources.
2. Habitat destruction (construction, converting into agriculture & plantations etc.)
3. Natural factors: Earthquake, volcanoes etc.
4. Hunting, poaching etc.
5. Deforestation
6. Global warming & climate change.

With a degraded ecosystem, it becomes difficult to provide services & benefits to humanity. This in turn affects food security, livelihood and in fact all sectors of economies of the world.

Way forward:

1. Acts & policies – Wild life Act 1972, Social forestry, Joint forest management etc.
2. NAPCC (National green mission) & National Forest policies. - To increase forest cover to 33% & afforestation.
3. Bonn Challenge, accepted by India to increase forest cover.
4. REDD +
5. UN – “Decade of ecosystem restoration”

2. “Extreme weather conditions are becoming the norm of Climate Change”. Justify the statement with special reference to Cyclones in North Indian Ocean.

Climate change refers to the change in the long term recorded statistical data of (elements of climatology) such as temperature, precipitation, humidity, etc. Sudden change in precipitation, temperature (heat waves & cold waves) , El-Nino etc. due to change in composition of atmosphere are some of the examples of  extreme weather conditions.

Reports given by WMO, NOAA etc. highlighted the impact of changing composition of atmosphere in making extreme weather conditions a regular & persisting phenomenon. In fact, IPCC in its Fourth Assessment Report in 2007, warned tropical countries of the world will be most affected by extreme weather conditions.

Among the tropical countries of the world, India is also one of the countries most affected by extreme weather conditions. It is the second most populous country, seventh largest country with a long coastline of around 7516 km along Bay of Bengal & Arabian Sea. The North Indian Ocean mainly includes the Bay of Bengal & Arabian sea. 

Cyclones are irregular winds which rotate around a low pressure center due to atmospheric disturbances over & above the surface. Based on formation & position these are classified as tropical cyclones & temperate cyclones. The North Indian ocean is affected by tropical cyclones. Generally the number of tropical cyclones are more in Bay of Bengal i.e both Insitu & ex-situ cyclones. Earlier, tropical cyclones in the Arabian Sea were restricted to Gujarat. Now even Kerala and Karnataka have also become more vulnerable to cyclones. A recent example is 'Ockhi’. Tauktae is the fourth cyclone in consecutive years to have developed in the Arabian Sea. Cyclone Mekanu hit Oman in 2018, Cyclone Vāyu struck Gujarat in 2019 and Cyclone Nisarga hit Maharashtra in 2020.

 The number of cyclone started to increase even in Arabian sea because of :

1. Global warming is increasing the sea surface temperature of the Arabian sea.
2. Increasing incidences of El-Nino Modoki.
3. Enhancing phase of MJO (Madden Julian Oscillation)
4. Positive phase of IOD (Indian Ocean Dipole)

The cyclones have not only increased in number, but also become severe &  are undergoing rapid intensification which makes it difficult to predict. The increase in cyclones & severity is responsible for huge socio-economic losses when they make landfall. Effective disaster management with improved early warning systems will help in reducing the impact of increasing tropical cyclones in the North Indian Ocean.