Environment

Correct Answer: UNESCO

Developing a vegetational cover is the most comprehensive approach to restoring ecological balance in mined areas. Plants help stabilize soil, prevent erosion, restore nutrient cycles, and create habitat for other organisms. While preventing soil erosion is important, vegetation establishment addresses multiple ecological processes simultaneously and initiates natural succession.

Biosphere reserves face significant threats from various forms of pollution including air pollution, water contamination, and industrial waste. Pollution disrupts delicate ecological balances, harms wildlife, and degrades habitat quality. While rainfall and soil erosion are natural processes, and population rate affects many ecosystems, pollution represents the most direct and widespread anthropogenic threat to protected areas.

Mulching helps in moisture conservation. As these mulches slowly decompose, they provide organic matter which helps keep the soil loose.

Correct Answer: animal husbandry

Contour trenching involves digging pits or trenches along the contour lines of a slope. These trenches accumulate runoff water, allowing it to infiltrate the soil rather than flowing down the slope and causing erosion. Bench terracing creates level platforms, contour terracing follows contours, and leveling creates flat surfaces - but specifically digging pits on slopes for runoff accumulation is contour trenching.

 Bunds, dams and drains are constructed to prevent gully erosion.

The Gulf of Khambat has the highest tidal energy potential due to its unique geography and extreme tidal range (up to 11 meters). Gulf of Kachchh ranks second with significant tidal potential. Sunderbans has lower tidal energy potential compared to these two gulfs. The correct descending order is Gulf of Khambat > Gulf of Kachchh > Sunderbans.

Madhya Pradesh

NEERI (National Environmental Engineering Research Institute) under CSIR is the premier organization for environmental planning and research in India, headquartered in Nagpur. CSIR is the parent Council for scientific research, UNCW is not an Indian organization, and ICAR deals with agricultural research.

Majuli in Assam (Brahmaputra River) faces degradation from annual floods causing massive erosion, bank recession, and submergence, combined with increasing human population pressure on the shrinking land. Transport development (roads) also contributes, but the primary factors are floods (1), erosion (2), and population pressure (3).

In arid and semi-arid zones, ploughing exposes moist soil to hot, dry winds causing rapid evaporation and loss of critical soil water. This is the primary disadvantage as water is the limiting factor. While soil organisms are exposed and particles may break down, the water loss is the most significant negative impact in water-scarce regions.

As per the State of Forests Report 2008 (released February 13, 2008), the forest cover in India was 20.60% of the total geographical area. The report documented forest cover assessment using satellite data. This figure represents actual forest cover recorded in that assessment cycle.