UPSC Editorials Quiz : 21 April 2026

Solution: B

• Statement 1 is correct: The Coral Larvae Cryobank is an ex-situ conservation Its objective is to store coral gametes (eggs and sperm) or larvae to preserve the genetic diversity of reefs, acting as a “backup” against mass extinction caused by climate change and bleaching.
• Statement 2 is correct: The technology used is vitrification, which involves treating larvae with cryoprotectants to prevent ice crystal formation and then plunging them into liquid nitrogen at –196°C. This turns the biological material into a stable, glass-like state where all metabolic processes cease, allowing for storage for decades.
• Statement 3 is incorrect: The project is not for commercial aquarium production. It is a biodiversity conservation project initiated in Southeast Asia (specifically the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Malaysia) to restore degraded reefs in the Coral Triangle, one of the world’s most ecologically significant marine regions.

Solution: A

• Statement 1 is correct: In 2025, the Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve (CDBR) was officially added to UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) during the 5th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves, making it the 13th site from India to receive this global recognition.
• Statement 2 is correct: The CDBR is located in the Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh. Its core and buffer zones include high-altitude protected areas such as Pin Valley National Park, Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary, and Chandratal Wetland.

Statement 3 is incorrect: While the CDBR is a significant high-altitude ecosystem spanning 7,770 sq km, it is not the largest biosphere reserve in India. The Gulf of Kutch (Great Rann of Kutch) in Gujarat remains the largest, covering over 12,454 sq km. CDBR is, however, India’s first high-altitude cold desert biosphere reserve in the UNESCO network.

Solution: D

• The Coastline Paradox is a mathematical and geographical concept which states that the length of an irregular shoreline does not have a single, fixed value. Instead, the measured length increases as the unit of measurement (the “ruler”) becomes smaller. This is because a smaller ruler can follow the intricate “fractal” curves, inlets, and rocky outcrops that a larger ruler would simply skip over as a straight line.
• This paradox is the reason why India’s coastline “lengthened” from 7,516 km to 11,098 km; the new survey used high-resolution GIS data (scale 1:250,000) which captured nearly 50% more detail than the older 1970s maps.

Solution: B

• Booms are the most common and visible tools in oil spill response. They are physical, floating barriers made of plastic or metal. Their primary purpose is to contain the oil in a specific area, preventing it from spreading further into sensitive coastal ecosystems like beaches or mangroves.
• Once the oil is contained by the booms, it can be more easily recovered using mechanical skimmers or sorbents. Booms do not change the chemical properties of the oil (unlike dispersants) nor do they vacuum it up (unlike skimmers).

Solution: D

• The Coral Triangle is a marine area in the western Pacific encompassing the waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and the Solomon Islands. It contains over 75% of the world’s coral species. Because this region is under intense threat from climate change, the Coral Larvae Cryobank was launched in the Philippines as a regional effort to preserve coral genetic material for future reef restoration projects, particularly as a response to devastating mass bleaching events.