NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Political Science Chapter 6: Environment and Natural Resources (NCERT 2026–27)
These Class 12 Political Science Chapter 6 solutions cover Environment and Natural Resources from Contemporary World Politics, the NCERT textbook for the 2026–27 session. The chapter shows how environmental and resource issues moved to the centre-stage of world politics from the 1960s onwards. Below you will find step-by-step, exam-ready answers to all 9 NCERT exercise questions, plus clear notes on key concepts — the global commons, the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, common but differentiated responsibilities, resource geopolitics, environmental movements and the rights of indigenous peoples — along with extra practice, MCQs, Assertion–Reason questions and FAQs.
Class: 12Subject: Political ScienceBook: Contemporary World PoliticsChapter: 6Chapter Name: Environment and Natural ResourcesSession: 2026–27
Chapter 6, Environment and Natural Resources, examines the growing significance of environmental and resource issues in world politics. Awareness of the environmental consequences of economic growth acquired a political character from the 1960s, helped by the Club of Rome’s Limits to Growth (1972), the Brundtland Report Our Common Future (1987), and especially the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, which produced conventions on climate change and biodiversity and the action plan Agenda 21. The chapter assesses the protection of global commons (the atmosphere, Antarctica, the ocean floor and outer space), the North–South divide over the environment, the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, the Kyoto Protocol and India’s stand on environmental issues. It then surveys diverse environmental movements (forest, anti-dam and mineral-industry struggles), the geopolitics of resources like oil and water, and the concerns of indigenous peoples at the margins of world politics.
Key Concepts & Terms
Global commons: areas and resources located outside the sovereign jurisdiction of any single state, requiring common governance by the international community — the Earth’s atmosphere, Antarctica, the ocean floor and outer space. Also called res communis humanitatis.
Common property resources: resources not owned by any individual but shared by a community, where members have both rights and duties regarding their use and upkeep — e.g. the sacred groves traditionally managed by village communities in India.
Earth Summit (Rio, 1992): the UN Conference on Environment and Development, attended by 170 states, thousands of NGOs and many MNCs. It produced conventions on climate change, biodiversity and forestry and the action plan Agenda 21.
Sustainable development: combining economic growth with ecological responsibility so that present needs are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.
Common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR): the principle, accepted in the Rio Declaration and the UNFCCC, that all states must protect the environment but the developed countries, having contributed more to degradation, must bear a greater share of responsibility.
Kyoto Protocol (1997): an international agreement setting targets for industrialised countries to cut greenhouse-gas emissions (carbon dioxide, methane, HFCs, etc.). Developing countries such as India and China were exempt because of their low historical emissions.
UNFCCC (1992): the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which requires parties to act on the basis of equity and their “common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.”
Resource geopolitics: the politics of “who gets what, when, where and how” in the control of natural resources — historically dominated by trade, war and power, with oil the single most important resource in global strategy.
Environmental movements: responses to environmental degradation led by groups of conscious volunteers rather than governments — forest movements, anti-dam/pro-river movements (e.g. the Narmada Bachao Andolan), and struggles against the minerals industry.
Indigenous peoples: the descendants of peoples who inhabited a territory before others of a different culture arrived and overcame them; they live more in conformity with their own social, economic and cultural traditions and are known in India as Tribals.
NCERT Exercises – Full Solutions
All questions below are reproduced verbatim from the NCERT textbook’s end-of-chapter Exercises. Answers are original, written in exam-ready style.
1. Which among the following best explains the reason for growing concerns about the environment?
a. The developed countries are concerned about protecting nature.b. Protection of the environment is vital for indigenous people and natural habitats.c. The environmental degradation caused by human activities has become pervasive and has reached a dangerous level.d. None of the above.
ANSWER(c) The environmental degradation caused by human activities has become pervasive and has reached a dangerous level.Cultivable land is no longer expanding and is losing fertility, grasslands are overgrazed, fisheries are over-harvested, water bodies are depleted and polluted, natural forests are being cut, biodiversity is being lost and the ozone layer is thinning. Because this damage is now widespread and dangerous, environmental concern has grown across the world.
2. Mark correct or wrong against each of the following statements about the Earth Summit:
a. It was attended by 170 countries, thousands of NGOs and many MNCs.b. The summit was held under the aegis of the UN.c. For the first time, global environmental issues were firmly consolidated at the political level.d. It was a summit meeting.
ANSWERa. Correct — the Rio Summit was attended by 170 states, thousands of NGOs and many multinational corporations.b. Correct — it was the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held under the aegis of the UN.c. Correct — the growing focus on the environment in global politics was firmly consolidated at Rio, bringing environmental issues to the centre-stage of world politics.d. Correct — it was indeed a summit meeting, attended at the highest levels by heads of state and government.
3. Which among the following are TRUE about the global commons?
a. The Earth’s atmosphere, Antarctica, ocean floor and outer space are considered as part of the global commons.b. The global commons are outside sovereign jurisdiction.c. The question of managing the global commons has reflected the North-South divide.d. The countries of the North are more concerned about the protection of the global commons than the countries of the South.
ANSWERa. TRUE — the atmosphere, Antarctica, the ocean floor and outer space are the recognised global commons.b. TRUE — they lie outside the sovereign jurisdiction of any one state and need common governance by the international community.c. TRUE — the management of the global commons (e.g. the ozone hole, outer space) has been deeply influenced by North–South inequalities.d. FALSE as a blanket statement — the North and the South have different priorities (the North stresses ozone depletion and global warming; the South stresses the link between development and the environment), so it is not correct to say the North simply cares more about the global commons.
4. What were the outcomes of the Rio Summit?
ANSWERThe 1992 Rio Earth Summit (UN Conference on Environment and Development) produced several important outcomes:1. Conventions: it produced legally framed conventions dealing with climate change, biodiversity and forestry.2. Agenda 21: it recommended a list of development practices called Agenda 21, a blueprint for action.3. Sustainable development: it built a consensus on combining economic growth with ecological responsibility, an approach known as sustainable development.4. CBDR: the Rio Declaration accepted the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.Limitations: the Summit left considerable North–South differences unresolved, and critics argued that Agenda 21 was biased in favour of economic growth rather than ecological conservation.
5. What is meant by the global commons? How are they exploited and polluted?
ANSWERMeaning: the global commons are those areas and resources that lie outside the sovereign jurisdiction of any one state and therefore require common governance by the international community. They are also called res communis humanitatis and include the Earth’s atmosphere, Antarctica, the ocean floor and outer space.How they are exploited and polluted: the atmosphere suffers from the steady decline of ozone and the build-up of greenhouse gases that drive global warming. Antarctica has been degraded by waste from oil spills despite limited activity being permitted there. The ocean floor and coastal waters are increasingly polluted, largely by land-based human activity. Outer space too is becoming a contested arena where exploitative activities are far from equally beneficial.Why cooperation is hard: agreement on common environmental agendas is difficult because evidence and time frames are often vague, and management is influenced by North–South inequalities. Even so, path-breaking agreements such as the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, the 1987 Montreal Protocol and the 1991 Antarctic Environmental Protocol have been reached.
6. What is meant by ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’? How could we implement the idea?
ANSWERMeaning: ‘Common but differentiated responsibilities’ (CBDR) is the principle, accepted in the 1992 Rio Declaration and the UNFCCC, that all states share a common responsibility to protect the Earth’s environment, but that this responsibility is differentiated according to each country’s contribution to the problem and its capabilities. Because the largest share of historical and current emissions has originated in the developed countries, they must bear a greater responsibility for undoing the damage.How it can be implemented: (i) developed countries should take the lead in cutting greenhouse-gas emissions and undoing past damage; (ii) developing countries, whose per-capita emissions are still low, should not be subjected to the same restrictions while they industrialise; (iii) developed countries should provide developing nations with financial resources and clean, environmentally-sound technology on concessional terms; and (iv) the special needs of developing countries should be considered in framing and applying international environmental law, as the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol attempt.
7. Why have issues related to global environmental protection become the priority concern of states since the 1990s?
ANSWEREnvironmental protection became a priority concern of states from the 1990s for several reasons:1. Dangerous degradation: by then environmental damage — loss of fertile land, deforestation, water depletion and pollution, biodiversity loss and ozone thinning — had become pervasive and reached dangerous levels.2. Cross-border nature: most environmental problems are such that no single government can solve them alone; they spill across boundaries and so must become part of world politics.3. Scientific awareness: studies and reports such as the Club of Rome’s Limits to Growth (1972) and the Brundtland Report Our Common Future (1987) raised global awareness about the limits of resources and unsustainable growth.4. The Rio Summit (1992): the Earth Summit firmly consolidated the environment as a central issue of global politics, producing conventions and Agenda 21.5. Deeper political questions: issues of who causes degradation, who pays the price and who controls resources are questions of power, making the environment an unavoidable political priority.
8. Compromise and accommodation are the two essential policies required by states to save planet Earth. Substantiate the statement in the light of the ongoing negotiations between the North and South on environmental issues.
ANSWERThe North–South negotiations on the environment show that the planet can be saved only through compromise and accommodation, because the two groups approach the problem very differently.The differing positions: the developed North wants to discuss the environmental problem as it stands now and wants everyone to be equally responsible for conservation, focusing on ozone depletion and global warming. The developing South argues that most ecological damage is the product of the North’s past industrialisation, so the North must take greater responsibility; the South also insists it must not be subjected to the same restrictions while it is still industrialising.Need for compromise: if either side rigidly insists on its own view, no agreement is possible and the planet suffers. The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities is itself a compromise — it shares the common duty of protection while accommodating the special needs and historical innocence of the South.Examples of accommodation: the Rio Declaration, the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol all accommodate the South by exempting developing countries such as India and China from binding cuts and by calling on the North to transfer finance and clean technology. Such mutual give-and-take, rather than confrontation, is the only realistic way to save the Earth.
9. The most serious challenge before the states is pursuing economic development without causing further damage to the global environment. How could we achieve this? Explain with a few examples.
ANSWERThe challenge of developing the economy without harming the environment can be met by following the path of sustainable development — combining economic growth with ecological responsibility, as agreed at the Rio Summit.How it can be achieved: states should adopt cleaner technologies and renewable energy, conserve resources, control pollution, protect the global commons and honour the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, with the North helping the South with finance and clean technology.Examples from India’s efforts: India ratified the Kyoto Protocol (2002) and the Paris Climate Agreement (2016); its National Auto-fuel Policy mandates cleaner fuels for vehicles; the Energy Conservation Act, 2001 promotes energy efficiency; the Electricity Act, 2003 encourages renewable energy; India imports natural gas and adopts clean-coal technologies, planned a National Mission on Biodiesel, and runs one of the world’s largest renewable-energy programmes.Other measures: protecting common property resources such as India’s sacred groves, supporting pro-river and anti-dam movements for more sustainable management of river systems, and respecting the rights of indigenous peoples all help reconcile development with environmental protection.
Extra Practice Questions
Short Answer Type Questions
Q1. What is the Kyoto Protocol?
ANSWERThe Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement, adopted in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, that sets targets for industrialised countries to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions (carbon dioxide, methane, HFCs, etc.). It is based on principles set out in the UNFCCC; developing countries such as India and China were exempted because of their low historical emissions.
Q2. What are common property resources? Give an Indian example.
ANSWERCommon property resources are resources owned by no single individual but shared by a community, whose members have both rights and duties regarding their use and upkeep. A good Indian example is the sacred groves — parcels of uncut forest preserved for religious reasons and traditionally managed by village communities along the forest belt of South India.
Q3. What is meant by ‘resource geopolitics’?
ANSWERResource geopolitics is the politics of who gets which resources, when, where and how. It has historically been dominated by the relationship of trade, war and power — for example, control over oil, naval timber and strategic minerals — with oil remaining the single most important resource in global strategy.
Q4. Why were India and China exempted from the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol?
ANSWERIndia, China and other developing countries were exempted because their contribution to greenhouse-gas emissions during the industrialisation period was not significant, and their per-capita emissions remain very low. Under the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, the major responsibility for cutting emissions rests with the developed countries that accumulated emissions over a long period.
Q5. Who are indigenous peoples, as defined by the UN?
ANSWERThe UN defines indigenous populations as the descendants of peoples who inhabited the present territory of a country at the time when persons of a different culture or ethnic origin arrived from other parts of the world and overcame them. They live more in conformity with their own social, economic and cultural customs and traditions; in India they are known as Tribals (the Scheduled Tribes).
Long Answer Type Questions
Q1. Explain India’s stand on environmental issues.
ANSWERIndia signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol in August 2002 and the Paris Climate Agreement in October 2016. Following the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, India holds that the major responsibility for curbing emissions rests with the developed countries, which have accumulated emissions over a long period; its negotiating position relies heavily on historical responsibility as enshrined in the UNFCCC. India is wary of attempts within the UNFCCC to impose binding emission cuts on rapidly industrialising countries such as Brazil, China and India, arguing this contravenes the spirit of the Convention, especially as its per-capita emissions remain far below the world average. At the same time India acts responsibly through its National Auto-fuel Policy, the Energy Conservation Act (2001), the Electricity Act (2003), clean-coal and natural-gas initiatives, a planned National Mission on Biodiesel, and one of the world’s largest renewable-energy programmes. India also stresses that developed countries must transfer finance and clean technology on concessional terms, and that the SAARC countries should adopt a common position so the region’s voice carries greater weight.
Q2. ‘Environmental movements are among the most vibrant and diverse social movements today.’ Discuss with examples.
ANSWERSome of the most significant responses to environmental degradation have come not from governments but from groups of environmentally conscious volunteers, making environmental movements among the most vibrant, diverse and powerful social movements in the world. They raise new ideas and long-term visions and reinvent forms of political action. Forest movements of the South — in Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia, Africa and India — resist forest clearing, though destruction has actually increased in recent decades. Movements against the minerals industry, such as the campaign in the Philippines against the Australia-based Western Mining Corporation, oppose pollution and the displacement of communities. Anti-dam, pro-river movements, such as the Narmada Bachao Andolan in India and the earlier campaign to save Australia’s Franklin River, demand more sustainable and equitable management of river systems; in India the most important shared idea in these movements is non-violence. Their diversity — in regions, issues and methods — is precisely what makes them so significant.
Q3. Discuss the importance of oil and water in resource geopolitics.
ANSWEROil: oil has been the most important resource in global strategy and the global economy relied on it throughout the 20th century as a portable, indispensable fuel. The immense wealth associated with oil generates political struggles to control it, so the history of petroleum is also a history of war and struggle, most obviously in West Asia and Central Asia. The Gulf region accounts for about 30 per cent of global oil production but holds about 64 per cent of the world’s known reserves; Saudi Arabia has a quarter of the world’s reserves and is the single largest producer, while Iraq’s reserves are second only to Saudi Arabia’s. The major consumers — the USA, Europe, Japan, and increasingly India and China — lie far from the region, making secure supply a strategic concern. Water: water is another crucial resource. Regional variations and growing scarcity of freshwater point to the possibility of disagreements over shared water as a leading source of conflict in the 21st century — described by some as ‘water wars’. Downstream (lower riparian) states object to pollution, excessive irrigation or dam-building by upstream (upper riparian) states; examples of violence include disputes between Israel, Syria and Jordan over the Jordan and Yarmuk rivers, and tensions between Turkey, Syria and Iraq over dams on the Euphrates.
MCQs & Assertion–Reason
1. The 1992 Earth Summit was held at:
(a) Kyoto (b) Rio de Janeiro (c) Stockholm (d) Johannesburg
2. Which of the following is NOT a part of the global commons?
(a) Earth’s atmosphere (b) Antarctica (c) Outer space (d) A country’s territorial land
3. The action plan recommended by the Rio Summit was called:
(a) Agenda 21 (b) Montreal Protocol (c) Our Common Future (d) Limits to Growth
4. The Kyoto Protocol was agreed to in:
(a) 1992 (b) 1995 (c) 1997 (d) 2002
5. ‘Limits to Growth’ (1972) was published by:
(a) the United Nations (b) the Club of Rome (c) UNEP (d) the Brundtland Commission
6. The 1987 report ‘Our Common Future’ is also known as the:
For each Assertion–Reason question, choose: (A) Both true and the Reason correctly explains the Assertion; (B) Both true but the Reason is not the correct explanation; (C) Assertion true, Reason false; (D) Assertion false, Reason true.
A-R 1. Assertion: Environmental issues have become part of world politics.
Reason: Most environmental problems are such that no single government can address them fully.
A-R 2. Assertion: Developing countries like India and China were exempted from the Kyoto Protocol’s emission cuts.
Reason: Their per-capita and historical greenhouse-gas emissions are relatively low.
A-R 3. Assertion: The global commons are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of individual states.
Reason: The global commons lie outside the sovereign jurisdiction of any one state and require common governance.
A-R 4. Assertion: Water may become a leading source of conflict in the 21st century.
Reason: Countries that share rivers can disagree over pollution, irrigation and dam-building, leading to ‘water wars’.
A-R 5. Assertion: In India’s anti-dam and environmental movements, the most important shared idea is non-violence.
Reason: The Narmada Bachao Andolan is one of the best-known of these movements.
Answer key: 1-(A), 2-(A), 3-(D), 4-(A), 5-(B).
Exam Tips & Common Mistakes
How to score full marks in this chapter
Fix the key dates in memory — 1972 (Limits to Growth), 1987 (Brundtland Report / Our Common Future), 1992 (Rio Earth Summit & UNFCCC) and 1997 (Kyoto Protocol). For the Rio Summit, list its outcomes as bullet points (conventions on climate change, biodiversity and forestry; Agenda 21; sustainable development; CBDR). Always name the four global commons (atmosphere, Antarctica, ocean floor, outer space). For value-based and North–South questions, structure the answer in two sides (North vs South) and conclude with common but differentiated responsibilities. Support India’s stand with concrete examples — Kyoto (2002), Paris (2016), Energy Conservation Act (2001) and the Electricity Act (2003).
Common mistakes to avoid
Confusing the Rio Earth Summit (1992) with the Kyoto Protocol (1997) — they are different events with different roles.
Treating the global commons as belonging to particular states — they lie outside any single state’s jurisdiction.
Forgetting that India and China were exempted from Kyoto’s binding cuts because of low historical and per-capita emissions.
Mixing up common property resources (community-shared, like sacred groves) with the global commons (international).
Misstating CBDR as ‘equal responsibility’ — the responsibility is common but differentiated.
Leaving the ‘mark correct/wrong’ and ‘TRUE about global commons’ questions partially answered — respond to every sub-part.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Chapter 6 of Class 12 Political Science (Contemporary World Politics) about?
Chapter 6, Environment and Natural Resources, examines how environmental and resource issues entered world politics from the 1960s. It covers the global commons, the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, the Kyoto Protocol, India’s stand, environmental movements, resource geopolitics (oil and water) and the rights of indigenous peoples.
What is the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’?
It is the principle, accepted in the 1992 Rio Declaration and the UNFCCC, that all states share a common duty to protect the environment, but the developed countries — having contributed most to past degradation and possessing greater resources — must bear a larger share of responsibility, while developing countries are not subjected to the same restrictions.
How many questions are in the NCERT exercise for Chapter 6?
The end-of-chapter Exercises for Contemporary World Politics Chapter 6 contain 9 questions (including multiple-choice and ‘correct/wrong’ style questions with several sub-parts), all answered in full on this page.
