The Supreme Court ordered in 2003 for the introduction of Environment education as a compulsory subject at higher secondary and undergraduate levels. The introduction of the common course on environment under compulsion obviously brought confusion in the academic communities due to the lack of suitable textbooks in the subject and lack of orientation about the subject among the teachers and students of various disciplines. The authors, with their long experience in environmental teaching and research, took up the challenge and brought out a standard textbook. The book is written as per SPPU syllabus and the various units associated with it have been presented in a simple and lucid style to suit the requirements of the course. The exercises as descriptive answer questions and multiple type questions with their answer keys are given at the end of each unit for practice are intended to reinforce the knowledge of the students.
This book covers the major environmental aspects as per the syllabus framed by SPPU, Pune like, major environmental ecosystems, natural resources, biodiversity and their conservation, environmental pollution, environmental policies and practices, human communities and environment and guidelines for field work study.