ICSE Class 9 Environmental Application Syllabus for Board Exam 2026-27, Download PDF Here

Events

Description

Examination Name

Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE)

Board Name

Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations

Syllabus Release

Officially released in June 2026 on the official website.

Main Subjects

Wide range of subjects including English, Hindi, Mathematics, Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology), Social Science (History, Geography, Civics, Economics), Computer Science, Art, Music, Physical Education, etc.

Board Exams

Conducted in February-March for Class 9.

Website

cisce.org

Units 

Decriptions 

1. Understanding our Environment 

(a) Environmental Science.

What do we understand by ‘Environment’?

What does the study of Environmental Science

involve?

(b) Our main environmental problems.

Environmental problems to be studied in

terms of resource depletion, pollution and

extinction of species.

(c) A global perspective of environmental

problems.

To be studied with reference to the developed

and developing countries.

(d) The root of environmental problems.

Population crisis and consumption crisis

should be covered.

(e) A sustainable world.

Concept of sustainability to be explained;

sustainable societies to be discussed.

2. Living things in Ecosystems

(a) Ecosystem.

Concept of ecosystems to be explained; biotic

and abiotic structures, organisms and

species; populations, communities.

(b) Habitat and ecological niche.

To be discussed in terms of address and

function.

(c) How species interact with each other.

Interaction of species should be covered in

terms of - predation, competition, parasitism,

mutualism and commensalism. Law of

Limiting Factors; synergisms.

(d) Adapting to the environment.

Evolution by natural selection; co-evolution,

extinction.

3. How Ecosystems work

(a) Energy flow in ecosystems.

An explanation of how life depends on the sun;

who eats what; respiration: burning the fuel.

Energy transfer: food chains, food webs and

trophic levels.

(b) The cycling of materials.

The water cycle, the carbon cycle (how

humans are affecting the carbon cycle) and

the nitrogen cycle; Not to be tested, for

knowledge and understanding only.

Interdependence of natural cycles.

(c) How ecosystems change.

Succession- secondary and primary.

4. Kinds of Ecosystems

(a) Forests.

Tropical rainforests and threats to

rainforests; temperate rainforests; temperate

deciduous forests; Taiga.

(b) Grasslands, Deserts and Tundra.

Tropical savannas; temperate grasslands:

prairies, steppes and pampas; deserts;

Tundra. Threats to the temperate grasslands,

deserts and Tundra.

(c) Freshwater ecosystems.

The study to cover - lakes and ponds; wetlands

- marshes and swamps; rivers. Threats to

wetlands and rivers must also be highlighted.

(d) Marine ecosystems.

Estuaries, coral reefs, oceans and how each is

threatened should be discussed. Polar

ecosystems of the Arctic and the Antarctic and

the threats to them must also be covered.

Only threats to the specifically mentioned

ecosystems will be tested for the purpose of

the examination. The rest are for knowledge

and understanding

(e) Biogeographic zones of India.

The different biogeographic zones/ regions of

India and predominant wildlife in these zones/

regions.

5. Water

(a) Our water resources.

Water resource in the form of frozen solid in

polar ice caps, surface water (rivers of

controversy, dams), groundwater (aquifers

running low). Solutions to water shortages

must be covered in terms of desalting the sea,

towing water, water conservation and water

harvesting.

(b) Freshwater pollution.

Point pollution and non-point pollution;

wastewater treatment plants, pathogens. The

manner in which water pollution affects

ecosystems; artificial eutrophication, thermal

pollution. Cleaning up water pollution. The

special problem of groundwater pollution;

bottled water.

(c) Ocean pollution.

How pollutants get into oceans; preventing

ocean pollution; who owns the oceans?

6. Air

(a) Causes of air pollution.

Air pollution due to - natural disasters;

domestic combustion; air pollution on

wheels; industrial air pollution.

Major air pollutants - carbon monoxide,

oxides of nitrogen, oxides of sulphur, ozone,

lead, hydrocarbons, benzene and particulates

-their sources, health effects and the

environmental effects must be studied.

Classification of air pollutants based on

composition - gaseous pollutants and

particulate matter (grit, dust, smoke and lead

oxide); broader classification - primary and

secondary pollutants.

Aerosols (smog), sources – natural

(continental, oceanic and anthropogenic);

their effect on our lives.

Air pollution episode - the Bhopal gas

tragedy.

(b) Thermal inversions, photochemical smog and

acid precipitation.

Thermal inversions (Los Angeles),

Photochemical Smog (Mexico City) and Acid

Precipitation (Mumbai) - how acid

precipitation affects ecosystems.

(c) Impact of air pollution.

Impact of air pollution should be covered in

terms of economic losses, lowered

agricultural productivity and health

problems.

7. Atmosphere and Climate

(a) The atmosphere.

Balance between photosynthesis and

respiration; layers of the atmosphere. Not to

be tested, for knowledge and understanding

only.

(b) Climate.

What determines climate (latitude,

atmospheric circulation patterns, ocean

circulation patterns, local geography,

seasonal changes in climate). Not to be tested,

for knowledge and understanding only.

(c) Greenhouse earth.

The Greenhouse Effect, rising carbon dioxide

levels, GHGs and the earth’s temperature

(global warming); effect on weather,

agriculture and sea-levels; slowing the

temperature change.

(d) The Ozone layer.

Ozone in the troposphere, ozone in the

stratosphere; detection of the damage to the

ozone layer; causes and consequences of

ozone thinning; alternatives to CFCs.

8. Soil and Land

(a) Deforestation.

Causes and consequences of rapid and

progressive deforestation in the developing

world - fuel crisis, competition for land, land

exploited for cash and food crops, population

pressures, increasing demand for timber to

meet the needs of the developed world,

grazing and its link with desertification.

Effects of deforestation on climate,

atmosphere and soil process.

(b) Soil erosion and desertification.

Causes and consequences of soil erosion and

desertification - removal of vegetation,

overgrazing, overculture, clearance of slopes,

drought, heavy rainfall, bad farming

practices.

(c) Land pollution.

Causes and consequences of land pollution -

salinization, fertilizers, pesticides, toxic

wastes, nuclear wastes, domestic wastes,

ground water contamination.

7. Atmosphere and Climate

(a) The atmosphere.

Balance between photosynthesis and

respiration; layers of the atmosphere. Not to

be tested, for knowledge and understanding

only.

(b) Climate.

What determines climate (latitude,

atmospheric circulation patterns, ocean

circulation patterns, local geography,

seasonal changes in climate). Not to be tested,

for knowledge and understanding only.

(c) Greenhouse earth.

The Greenhouse Effect, rising carbon dioxide

levels, GHGs and the earth’s temperature

(global warming); effect on weather,

agriculture and sea-levels; slowing the

temperature change.

(d) The Ozone layer.

Ozone in the troposphere, ozone in the

stratosphere; detection of the damage to the

ozone layer; causes and consequences of

ozone thinning; alternatives to CFCs.

8. Soil and Land

(a) Deforestation.

Causes and consequences of rapid and

progressive deforestation in the developing

world - fuel crisis, competition for land, land

exploited for cash and food crops, population

pressures, increasing demand for timber to

meet the needs of the developed world,

grazing and its link with desertification.

Effects of deforestation on climate,

atmosphere and soil process.

(b) Soil erosion and desertification.

Causes and consequences of soil erosion and

desertification - removal of vegetation,

overgrazing, overculture, clearance of slopes,

drought, heavy rainfall, bad farming

practices.

(c) Land pollution.

Causes and consequences of land pollution -

salinization, fertilizers, pesticides, toxic

wastes, nuclear wastes, domestic wastes,

ground water contamination.

9. People

(a) World poverty and gap between developed

and developing countries.

Dimensions of world poverty and gap between

developed and developing countries using

development indicators such as per-capita

incomes, housing, levels of disease and

nutrition.

(b) Poverty in developed countries, poverty in

developing countries.

Rural poverty and urban poverty.

(c) The implications of poverty trap for the

environment in developing countries.

Self-explanatory.

10. Urbanisation

(a) Causes of urbanisation.

The push-pull factors to be discussed.

(b) Manifestations of urbanisation.

Growth of slums, growth of informal sector,

pressure on civic amenities; degradation of

human resources; growing sense of despair.

(c) Social, economic and environmental

problems.

Problems of housing, congestion, pollution,

loss of agricultural land and provision of

services to be covered.

11. Agriculture

(a) Unsustainable patterns of modern

industrialised agriculture.

Monocultures, disappearance of traditional

crop varieties, pollution risk due to use of

pesticides and inorganic fertilizers; problems

of irrigation – surface and ground water.

(b) Environmental damage due to large farm

units.

Self-explanatory.

(c) Food mountains in developed countries.

Surplus and waste.

(d) The Green Revolution.

Discussion on whether Green Revolution is a

success or a failure.