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Environment › Protected areas and habitats

Marine and coastal ecosystems

Coasts and seas as ecosystems: mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass, estuaries and lagoons, coastal regulation and erosion, marine protected areas and the treaties for the high seas. Prelims has asked what blue carbon is and where India has coral reefs.

UPSC has asked

  • Prelims 2026: why mangroves matter for climate resilience
  • Prelims 2018: coral reefs
  • Prelims 2016: The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)
  • Prelims 2014: where India has coral reefs

Showing 2 of 7 subjects, those that changed from 16 to 31 July 2026.Show all

Kalpasar project

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Prelims

Kalpasar is a proposed dam across the Gulf of Khambhat in Gujarat that would turn part of the gulf into a coastal freshwater reservoir for Saurashtra, with renewable generation and a road and rail corridor on the dam.

What changed

  1. 27 Jul 2026New subjectalso in news

    • The detailed project report for a dam across the Gulf of Khambhat in Gujarat, which would create a coastal freshwater reservoir for Saurashtra, is nearing completion with Dutch technical help. About 2,470 MW of hybrid renewable capacity and a road and rail corridor over the dam are planned. Salinity ingress and the loss of tidal flats are the ecological questions.

    PIB, 27 Jul 2026: SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT AND TECHNICAL PROGRESS OF THE KALPASAR PROJECT (opens in a new tab)

Mangroves

Mangroves of the Sundarbans

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Prelims and Mains

West Bengal holds the largest share of India's mangrove cover, almost all of it in the Sundarbans, where the forest is under pressure from conversion to fish ponds known locally as bheries.

What changed

  1. 25 Jul 2026New subjectalso in news

    • A survey of ten locations found more than 600 hectares of Sundarbans mangrove converted into shallow fish ponds called bheries, cleared from inside so that the forest still looks dense from the water. West Bengal holds 42.45 per cent of India's mangrove cover, about 2,119 sq km.

    The Hindu, 25 Jul 2026: Will restore mangroves lost to encroachments: Minister (opens in a new tab)

Also filed elsewhere