Ability Enhancement Compu lsory Course

Year- 2
Ability Enhancement Course on
Environmental Science: Theory into Practice {I) - at UG level {AEC-1)

Unit 5
Global Environmental Issues and Policies (7 lectures 8 practical/ outreach activities)
• Causes of Climate change, Global warming, Ozone layer depletion , and Acid rain ;
Impacts on human communities, biodiversity, global economy, and agriculture

• International agreements and programmes: Earth Summit, UNFCCC, Montreal and

Kyoto protocols, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Ramsar convention, The
Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), UNEP, CITES, etc.
• Sustainable Development Goals: India's National Action Plan on Climate Change and
its major missions
• Environment legislation in India: Wildlife Protection Act, 1972; Water (Prevention and
Control of Pollution) Act, 1974; Forest (Conservation) Act 1980; Air (Prevention &
Control of Pollution) Act, 1981; Environment Protection Act, 1986; Scheduled Tribes
and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006

Suggested Readings
1. Divan, S. and Rosencranz, A. (2002). Environmental Law and Policy in India: Cases, Material &
Statutes, 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press, India. Chapter 2 (Pages: 23-39); Chapter 3
(Pages: 41-86) .
2. Raven , P.H, Hassenzahl, D.M. , Hager, M.C, Gift, N.Y. and Berg, L.R. (2015) . Environment, 9th
Edition. Wiley Publishing, USA. Chapter 19 (Pages: 370-376) ; Chapter 20 (Pages: 385-399).
3. Singh, J.S. , Singh, S.P. and Gupta, S.R. (2017). Ecology, Environmental Science and
Conservation . S. Chand Publishing, New Delhi. Chapter 23 (Pages: 555-598); Chapter 30
(Pages: 801-807) .

Practical/Exercises/Experiential activities/Outreach activities

(College may choose as per requirement)
1. Depict temperature/precipitation trend of a given study area using online data
2. Formulate questionnaire/online surveys for assessment of the impact of climate change on
people
3. Assess Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of developed and developing countries
4. Development and simulation of Model UNFCCC for inoculating negotiation skills at climate
change summits
5. Development and simulation of Moot Court for Mock Trials in Negotiation Green Tribunal
6 . Identify carbon footprint of your college/home/locality (refer [email protected]).
7. Analyze the status of at least 3 sustainable development goals in your neighbourhood and
write a proposal to help achieve them at global standard (identify environmental problems and
its social and economic impact, define objectives , explain methodology, budgetary requirements, and
suggest the expected outcome's) . A PowerPoint presentation to be made based on the project
proposal.

Unit 6
Biodiversity and Conservation (8 lectures and 8 practical/ outreach activities)
• Definition of Biodiversity; Levels of biological diversity: genetic, species and
ecosystem diversity
• India as a mega-biodiversity nation; Biogeographic zones of Ind ia; Biodiversity
hotspots; Endemic and endangered species of India; IUCN Red list criteria and
categories
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• Value of biodiversity: Ecological, economic, social, ethical, aesthetic, and

informational values of biodiversity with examples; sacred groves and their
importance with examples
• Threats to biodiversity: Habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation; Poaching of
wildlife; Man-wildlife conflicts; Biological invasion with emphasis on Indian
biodiversity; Current mass extinction crisis
• Biodiversity conservation strategies: in-situ and ex-situ methods of conservation;
National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, and Biosphere reserves; Keystone, Flagship,
Umbrella, and Indicator species; Species reintroduction and translocation
• Case studies: Contemporary Indian wildlife and biodiversity issues, movements, anq
projects (e.g., Project Tiger, Project Elephant, Vulture breeding program, Project Great
Indian Bustard, Crocodile conservation project, Silent Valley movement, Save Western
Ghats movement, etc)

Suggested Readings
1. Primack, R. B. (2014). Essentials of Conservation Biology, Oxford University Press, USA. Page.
1-536.
2. Raven, P.H, Hassenzahl, D.M., Hager, M.C, Gift, N.Y. and Berg, L.R. (2015). Environment, 9th
Edition. Wiley Publishing, USA. Chapter 5 (Pages: 97-99); Chapter 16 (Pages: 299-318) .
3. Singh, J.S. , Singh, S.P. and Gupta, S.R. (2017). Ecology, Environmental Science and
Conservation. S. Chand Publishing, New Delhi. Chapters 24 (Pages : 599-690); Chapter 26
(Pages: 664-714).

Practical/Exercises/Experiential activities/Outreach activities

(College may choose as per requirement)
1. Acquaintance with open-source databases of biodiversity
2. Determine species location in a given study area .
3. Depict distribution of biodiversity across latitude and altitude
4. Show species distribution across space and time
5. Quantify species loss across different time periods
6. Sampling of plant and animal biodiversity of the College campus
7. Identification of the floral diversity of Delhi and other states.
Documentation of the plants by clicking pictures , finding out the scientific names/ local names through
literature or mobile applications, identification of their conservation status (IUCN red book list), medicinal
properties, water consumption status, and socio-economic-environmental importance. A short report to be
submitted)
8. Exercise to understand the socio-economic-environmental impact of wildlife
conservation.
(Students can choose any global animal species and identify the relevance of the species for the ecosystem/
society/ culture/local economy, historic or present range of the species, emerging threats due to human
activities, identification of documented events of natural disasters/ conflicts/ poaching of the species in the
present range, conservation status (IUCN red book list), identification of protected areas/ programs of the
government! international organisation, and their opinion to further improve the conservations of the species.
A short report to be submitted .

Unit 7
Human Communities and the Environment (61ectures and 7 practical/ outreach activities)
• Human population growth: Impacts on environment, human health, and welfare;
Carbon foot-print
• Resettlement and rehabilitation of developmental project affected persons and
communities; relevant case studies
• Environmental movements: Chipko movement, Appiko movement, Silent valley
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movement, Bishnois of Rajasthan, Narmada Bachao Andolan, etc

• Environmental justice: National Green Tribunal and its importance
• Environmental philosophy: Environmental ethics; Role of various religions and
cultural practices in environmental conservation
• Environmental communication and public awareness: case studies (e.g. , CNG
vehicles in Delhi, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, National Environment Awareness
Campaign (NEAC), National Green Corps (NGC) "Eco-club" programme, etc)

Suggested Readings
1. Divan, S. and Rosencranz, A. (2002) . Environmental Law and Policy in India: Cases, Material
& Statutes, 2nd Edition . Oxford University Press, India. Chapter 10 (Pages: 416-473) .
2. Raven , P.H, Hassenzahl, D.M., Hager, M.C, Gift, N.Y. and Berg, L.R. (2015) . Environment, 9th
Edition. Wiley Publishing, USA. Chapter 2 (Pages: 33-36); Chapter 8 (Pages: 148-162) .
3. Singh, J.S., Singh, S.P. and Gupta, S.R . (2017) . Ecology, Environmental Science and
Conservation. S. Chand Publishing, New Delhi. Chapter 1 (Pages: 23-26); Chapter 31 (Pages:
826-842).

Practical/Exercises/Experiential activities/Outreach activities

(College may choose as per requirement)
1. Assessment of carbon foot-print of different countries using online databases and
mathematical tools
2. Visit to marginalized localities and students for environmental education and environmental
awareness
3. Formulation of questionnaire/online surveys for assessment of the impact of environmental
education
4. Visit to any developmental project affected locality for assessing the impacts of economic
development on human lives
5. Correlation analysis of human population growth and impacts on the environment and
human health

6.2 Essential Readings

1. Brusseau, M.L. , Pepper, I.L., and Gerba, C.P. (2019). Environmental and Pollution
Science, 3rd Edition. Academic Press, USA. (pp. 1-520).
2. Divan , S. and Rosencranz, A. (2002). Environmental Law and Policy in India: Cases,
Material & Statutes, 2nd Edition . Oxford University Press, India. (pp. 1-837).
3. Gadgil, M., and Guha, R. (1993). This Fissured Land: An Ecological History of India.
University of California Press, Berkeley, USA. (pp. 1-245).
4. Raven, P.H , Hassenzahl, D.M ., Hager, M.C, Gift, N.Y., and Berg , L.R. (2015).
Environment, 8th Edition. Wiley Publishing, USA. (pp. 1-472).
5. Singh , J.S. , Singh , S.P., and Gupta, S.R. (2017). Ecology, Environmental Science and
Conservation. S. Chand Publishing, New Delhi. (pp.1-842).

6.3 Weekly Lesson Plan (Year 1)

Weeks 1 -2
Multidisciplinary nature of environmental studies; components of environment: atmosphere,
hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere
- Scope and importance; Concept of sustainability and sustainable development; Brief history of
environmentalism

Weeks 3-7
Definition and concept of Ecosystem: Structure of ecosystem (biotic and abiotic components);
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