CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Chipko Movement began in the early 1970s in the Garhwal Himalayas of Uttarakhand (then part of Uttar Pradesh). 

The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) is an international statistical framework developed to integrate environmental and economic data. 

A recent report submitted by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) revealed that 80% of the environmental compensation funds remain unutilized. 

On a historic day, the Union Transport Minister inaugurated India’s first National Highway constructed using Bio-Bitumen — the Nagpur-Mansar Bypass on National Highway 44. 

The Government of Karnataka has declared Hesaraghatta Grassland as a conservation reserve. This decision is a significant initiative towards protecting the shrinking ecological diversity and natural resources under the pressure of urbanization.

On May 22, 2025, under a historic agreement, the United Kingdom has announced to hand over the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. This agreement has ended the decades-old rule of the British administration on the Indian Ocean archipelago, which has been the subject of ongoing legal and diplomatic disputes since the separation of the islands from Mauritius in 1965.

White Category Industries are those industries or business activities that have negligible or no adverse impact on the environment. 

Light pollution refers to the excessive, misdirected, or obtrusive use of artificial outdoor light. 

Steel slag is a solid waste by-product produced during the steel-making process, especially in basic oxygen furnaces (BOF) and electric arc furnaces (EAF). 

Gas flaring is a long-standing but under-addressed environmental concern in the global energy sector.