ISC Environmental Science Class 12 Syllabus 2025

There are two papers in the subject: Paper I is Theory of 3 hours and 70 marks. Paper II is Practical or Project Work of 30 marks. Paper I is written paper of three hours duration carrying 70 marks divided into two parts. Part 1 (20 marks) consists of compulsory short answer questions on the entire syllabus.

Part 2 (50 marks) consists of three sections. Each section has three questions. You are expected to answer five questions in all choosing at least one from each section.

Section A

1. Human Beings and Nature

(i) Modern schools of ecological thought.

(ii) Deep ecology (Gary Snyder, Earth First) vs. shallow ecology.

(iii) Stewardship of land (e.g. Wendell Berry).

(iv) Social ecology [Marxist environmentalism and socialist ecology (Barry Commoner)].

(v) Feminism.

(vi) Green Politics (e.g. Germany and England).

(vii) Sustainable Development.

2. Population and Conservation Ecology

(i) Population dynamics: factors causing population change (birth, death, immigration and emigration); relation between the factors; age structure and its significance; population pyramids; survivorship curves; three general shapes r and K strategies.

(ii) Human populations (Malthusian model and demographic transition).

(iii) Population Regulation: growth without regulation (exponential); simple population regulation (logistic growth curve); factors regulating population size (space, food and water, territories, predators, weather and climate, parasite and diseases, disasters and self-regulation).

(iv) Human population control: family planning; education; economic growth; status of women.

(v) Threats to the ecosystem: habitat destruction; genetic erosion; loss of diversity; expanding agriculture; impound water; waste from human societies; increasing human consumption.

(vi) Conservation: importance; the critical state of Indian forests; conflicts surrounding forested areas - populations and tribals and their rights - tourism - poaching - roads - development projects - dams; scientific forestry and its limitations; social forestry; the role of the forest department; NGOs; joint forestry management; wild life - sanctuaries, conservation and management in India; Project Tiger as a case study in conservation.

3. Monitoring Pollution

(i) Pollution monitoring.

Primary and secondary pollutants. Importance of monitoring air pollution including Ambient Air Quality Monitoring (gaseous and particulate). Concept of carbon credits and carbon trading in regulating emissions. Causes for excessive vehicular pollution and various steps taken to regulate pollution-emission standards for new vehicles, implementation of CNG programme, inspection & maintenance programme for in-use vehicles, phasing out of old commercial vehicles and promotion of public transport.

(ii) Monitoring the atmosphere: techniques.

Monitoring at emission source and of ambient air quality, criteria for monitoring stations, types of stations, number of stations, frequency of data collection, characteristics of ambient air sampling, basic consideration for sampling (to be dealt with in brief).

Classification of techniques - manual and instrumental. Manual-Passive samplers, High Volume Samplers and Bubbler Systems. Instrumental-photometric techniques -NDIR, Chemiluminescence - principle and use.

(iii) International and national air quality standards.

National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring (NAAQM); the main functions of the Central Pollution Board and the State Pollution Control Board, objectives of air quality standards, New name of NAAQM, National Air Monitoring Programme (NAMP) objectives of the NAMP.

Definition of air quality standards and importance; National air quality standards for gases/particulate matter covered under WHO guidelines.

(iv) Water testing: indicators of water quality.

Indicators (electrical conductivity, turbidity, pH, dissolved oxygen, faecal waste, temperature, hardness, nitrates and sulphates) the significance of each and their interpretations. B.O.D. and C.O.D., theoretical concept only (lab work for better understanding and not for testing)

(v) Soil testing: indicators of soil type and quality and laboratory work.

Soil indicators - the characteristics of a good soil indicator, the three basic types of soil indicators- biological, physical and chemical, two examples of each. The information provided by each of these types of indicators. Definitions, effects and experiments to find out soil respiration, soil pH, soil aggregate, infiltration rate and simple methods of controlling each of these.

Section B

4. Third World Development

(i) Urban-rural divide: urbanisation - push and pull factors; consequences on rural and urban sectors; future trends and projections.

(ii) A critical appraisal of conventional paradigm of development from the viewpoints of sustainability, environmental impact and equity.

(iii) A case study of Gandhian approach in terms of its aims and processes.

(iv) Urban environmental planning and management: problems of sanitation; water management; transport; energy; air quality; housing; constraints (economic, political) in tackling the problems; inapplicability of solutions that have worked in the First World and the need for indigenous approach to urban environment.

5. Sustainable Agriculture

(i) Traditional Agriculture in India: irrigation systems; crop varieties; techniques for maintaining soil fertility; impact of colonialism; Indian agriculture at independence - food scarcity - food import - need for increasing production - the need for land reform; green revolution - HYVs - fertilizers - pesticides - large irrigation projects (dams); critical appraisal of the green revolution from the viewpoints of agro-bio diversity; soil health; ecological impact of pesticides; energy (petroleum and petrochemicals); ability to reach the poorer sections of the rural communities; sustainability - need for sustainable agriculture - characteristics for sustainable agriculture; techniques of water soil and pest management.

(ii) Food: the twin problems of production and access; food situation in the world; integrated and sustainable approach to food security for the Third World. Food Security.

Section C

6. Environmental and Natural Resource Economics

(i) Definition: resources; scarcity and growth; natural resource accounting.

(ii) GNP vs. other forms of measuring income.

(iii) Economic status and welfare (net economic welfare, nature capital, ecological capital, etc.)

(iv) Externalities: cost benefit analysis (social, ecological).

(v) Natural capital regeneration.

7. International Relations and the Environment

(i) Trans-national characteristics of environmental issues using case study of Amazonia, Trade in Wildlife and Ozone Depletion.

(ii) Impact of international politics, national sovereignty and interest.

(iii) International trade: a theoretical perspective; free trade vs. protectionism; import barriers; domestic industry vs. free trade; transnational companies - a historical perspective (colonialism and its lasting impact today); trade between the first and the third world - characteristics - terms of trade; India's international trade - characteristics - major imports and exports - foreign exchange crises - the export imperative and its impact on the environment; the case study of aquaculture in India; diversion of scarce resource from production of subsistence needs to commercial products; toxic waste trade - extent and impact; Globalisation - trade regimes (WTO, GATT, IPR) and their impact on third world.

(iv) International aid: agencies; advantages; limitations; need for re-orienting aid; aid vs. self-reliance.