Environment

RAMSAR Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Iran; 02 February 1971)

(Parties 170)

• The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.
• The treaty came into force in 1975.
• The List of Wetlands of International Importance included 2,331 Ramsar Sites in May 2018 covering over 2.1 million square kilometres (810,000 sq mi). The country with the highest number of Sites is the United Kingdom with 170, and the country with the greatest area of listed wetlands is Bolivia, with over 140,000 square kilometres (54,000 sq mi).
• The Ramsar Convention works closely with six other organisations known as International Organization Partners (IOPs). These are:
  • Birdlife International
  • International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
  • International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
  • Wetlands International
  • WWF International
  • Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT)
• The 2nd of February each year is observed as World Wetlands Day, marking the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands.

The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm Sweden; June 5–16 in 1972)

• The Stockholm Conference addressed many international environmental issues, and marked a turning point in the development of international environmental politics.
• The Stockholm Conference is considered as the Magna Carta of environment protection and sustainable development. It is also known as the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment.

Purposes of the Stockholm Conference

• To contribute to the integration of cultural policies in human development strategies at international and national level, and
• To strengthen the United Nation’s Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization’s contributions to cultural policy formulation and international cultural co-operation.
• The United Nations Environment Programme has been established by the United Nations General Assembly in pursuance of the Stockholm Conference.

Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage (Paris; 17 Oct-21 Nov 1972)

• The Convention recognizes the way in which people interact with nature, and the fundamental need to preserve the balance between the two.

Strategic Objectives

• The “Five Cs”: Credibility, Conservation, Capacity-building, Communication, Communities
• An Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the Cultural and Natural Heritage of Outstanding Universal Value, called “the World Heritage Committee”, is hereby established.

CITES 1973 (United States, Washington D.C.; 3 March 1973)

(Parties: 183)

• CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals.
• Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species in the wild, and it accords varying degrees of protection to more than 35,000 species of animals and plants.
• In order to ensure that the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was not violated, the Secretariat of GATT was consulted during the drafting process.
• Although CITES is legally binding on the Parties – in other words they have to implement the Convention – it does not take the place of national laws. Rather it provides a framework to be respected by each Party, which has to adopt its own domestic legislation to ensure that CITES is implemented at the national level.
• India made its ratification on the treaty on 20 July, 1976 and came into force on 18 October, 1976.

Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (Bonn, Germany; 1979)

• The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals - more commonly abbreviated to just the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) or the Bonn Convention and CMS COP is known as Global Wildlife conference - aims to conserve terrestrial, marine and avian migratory species throughout their range.
• It is an international treaty, concluded under the aegis of the United Nations Environment Programme, concerned with the conservation of wildlife and habitats on a global scale.
• The CMS is the only global and UN-based intergovernmental organization established exclusively for the conservation and management of terrestrial, aquatic and avian migratory species throughout their range.
• CMS and its daughter agreements determine policy and provide further guidance on specific issues through their Strategic Plans, Action Plans, resolutions, decisions and guidelines.
• India was one of the founding member of this convention and ratified on 1983.
• India will host next Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) Conference of Parties 13 (CMS COP13) in year 2020. CMS COP is also known as a Global Wildlife Conference.

World Conservation Strategy (1980)

• ‘The World Conservation Strategy (WCS): Living Resource Conservation for Sustainable Development’ is contained in a report published in 1980 and prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (now called IUCN—The World Conservation Union).
• The World Conservation Strategy, is the first international document on living resource conservation produced with inputs from governments, non-governmental organizations, and other experts.
• The report argues that for development to be sustainable, it should support conservation rather than hinder it.
• It targets policymakers, conservationists and development practitioners with its core tenets of protection of ecological processes and life-support systems, preservation of genetic diversity and sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems.
• It highlights priority conservation issues and ways to tackle them to achieve the Strategy’s aim. The report influenced “Our Common Future,” also known as the “Brundtland Report” (1987) and laid the foundations for defining the principle of sustainable development.

Nairobi Convention (June 21, 1985; Nairobi, Kenya)

• The Nairobi Convention, which was first signed in 1985 and entered into force in 1996, is part of UN Environment’s Regional Seas Programme.
• The programme aims to address the accelerating degradation of the world’s oceans and coastal areas through the sustainable management and use of the marine and coastal environment.
• The Contracting Parties (Comoros, France, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania and the Republic of South Africa) to the Convention are part of more than 143 countries that participate in 18 Regional Seas initiatives.

Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (22 March 1985, Vienna)

(Signatories: 28; Ratifiers: 197)

• The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer is a multilateral environmental agreement signed in 1985 that provided frameworks for international reductions in the production of chlorofluorocarbons due to their contribution to the destruction of the ozone layer and resulting increase in the threat of skin cancer.
• The threats associated with reduced ozone pushed the issue to the forefront of global climate issues and gained promotion through organizations such as the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations. The Vienna Convention was agreed upon at the Vienna Conference of 1985 and entered into force in 1988.
• In terms of universality, it is one of the most successful treaties of all time, having been ratified by 197 states
• The treaty’s provisions include the international sharing of climate and atmospheric research to promote knowledge of the effects on the ozone layer.

Montreal Protocol for ODS (Montreal, 26 August 1987)

(Signatories: 46; Ratifiers: 197)

• The International Day for Preservation of Ozone Layer (or World Ozone Day) is observed every year on September 16 for the preservation of the Ozone Layer. In 2018, the theme for the Day was ‘Keep Cool and Carry On: The Montreal Protocol’. The day was designated by United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Its observance commemorates the date in 1987 on which Montreal Protocol was signed on substances that deplete the ozone layer.
• The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (a protocol to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer) is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion.
• It is legally binding on member countries has been ratified by 197 parties making it universally ratified protocol in UN history. It is also highly successful international arrangement, as it has phased-out more than 95% of the ODS so far as per its main mandate in less than 30 years of its existence. It has helped in recovering the ozone hole in Antarctica.
• On January 1, 2019 the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol came into force. Under the Kigali Amendment countries promised to reduce the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by more than 80% over the next 30 years. India and some other developing countries — Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and some oil economies like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait — will cut down their HFCs by 85 per cent of their values in 2024-26 by the year 2047.

Basel Convention (Basel, Switzerland; 22 March 1989)

(Signatories: 53; Parties: 187)

• The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, usually known as the Basel Convention, is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries (LDCs).
• The Convention is also intended to minimize the amount and toxicity of wastes generated, to ensure their environmentally sound management as closely as possible to the source of generation, and to assist LDCs in environmentally sound management of the hazardous and other wastes they generate.
• The Protocol on Liability and Compensation was adopted in 1999. It addresses who is financially responsible in the event of damage - to humans or to the environment - as a result of the trans-boundary movement of wastes, including incidents occurring because of illegal traffic in those wastes.
• The Protocol is not in effect because only 10 countries have ratified it; ratification by 20 countries is necessary. Israel has not ratified the Protocol.

Earth Summit (Rio de Janeiro, 1992)

• The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, the Rio Summit, the Rio Conference, and the Earth Summit, was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992.
• Due to conflict relating to sustainability being too big for individual member states to handle, Earth Summit was held as a platform for other Member States to collaborate. Since the creation, many others in the field of sustainability show a similar development to the issues discussed in these conferences, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
• In 2012, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development was also held in Rio, and is also commonly called Rio+20 or Rio Earth Summit 2012.
• The Earth Summit resulted in the following documents:
  • Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
  • Agenda 21
  • Forest Principles
• Moreover, important legally binding agreements (Rio Convention) were opened for signature:
  • Convention on Biological Diversity
  • Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
  • United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

(Signatories: 165; Ratifiers: 197)

• The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international environmental treaty adopted on 9 May 1992 and opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992.
• It then entered into force on 21 March 1994, after a sufficient number of countries had ratified it.
• The UNFCCC objective is to “stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”.
• The framework sets non-binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions for individual countries and contains no enforcement mechanisms. Instead, the framework outlines how specific international treaties (called “protocols” or “Agreements”) may be negotiated to specify further action towards the objective of the UNFCCC.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

(Signatories: 168; Parties: 196)

• The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty.
• The Convention has three main goals including: the conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity); the sustainable use of its components; and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.
• CBD has two supplementary agreements - Cartagena Protocol and Nagoya Protocol.
  • The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international treaty governing the movements of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology from one country to another. It was adopted on 29 January 2000 as a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity and entered into force on 11 September 2003.
  • The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS) to the Convention on Biological Diversity is a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity. It provides a transparent legal framework for the effective implementation of one of the three objectives of the CBD: the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (Paris, France; 17 June 1994)

(Parties and Ratification: 197)

• The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in those countries experiencing serious drought and/or desertification, particularly in Africa is a convention to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought through national action programs that incorporate long-term strategies supported by international cooperation and partnership arrangements.
• The Convention, the only convention stemming from a direct recommendation of the Rio Conference’s Agenda 21, was adopted in Paris, France on 17 June 1994 and entered into force in December 1996.
• It is the only internationally legally binding framework set up to address the problem of desertification.
• The new UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework is the most comprehensive global commitment to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) in order to restore the productivity of vast expanses of degraded land, improve the livelihoods of more than 1.3 billion people, and reduce the impacts of drought on vulnerable populations to build- “A future that avoids, minimizes, and reverses desertification/land degradation and mitigates the effects of drought in affected areas at all levels- to achieve a land degradation-neutral world consistent with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.
• India became a signatory to UNCCD on October 14, 1994 and ratified it on December 17, 1996.
• The Asia Pacific Regional Workshop of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), jointly hosted by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and UNCCD was held in New Delhi On April 28, 2018.

Kyoto Protocol to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Kyoto, 11 December 1997)

(Signatories: 83; Parties: 192)

• The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that (part one) global warming is occurring and (part two) it is extremely likely that human-made CO2 emissions have predominantly caused it.
• The targets for the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol cover emissions of the six main greenhouse gases, namely:
  • Carbon dioxide (CO2);
  • Methane (CH4);
  • Nitrous oxide (N2O);
  • Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs);
  • Perfluorocarbons (PFCs); and
  • Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)
• Under the Protocol, countries must meet their targets primarily through national measures. However, the Protocol also offers them an additional means to meet their targets by way of three market-based mechanisms. The Kyoto mechanisms are:
  • International Emissions Trading
  • Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
  • Joint implementation (JI)
• India ratified the treaty on 26 Aug, 2002. India, China and Brazil are considered to be the most advanced developing countries. They are in non-Annex group and they have no binding obligations.

Minamata Convention on Mercury (Kumamoto, Japan; 10 October 2013)

(Signatories: 128; Parties: 101)

• The Minamata Convention on Mercury is an international treaty designed to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.
• The Convention is named after the Japanese city Minamata. This naming is of symbolic importance as the city went through a devastating incident of mercury poisoning. It is expected that over the next few decades, this international agreement will enhance the reduction of mercury pollution from the targeted activities responsible for the major release of mercury to the immediate environment.
• India signed the convention on 30 September 2014 whereas ratified on 18 June 2018.

Paris Agreement on Climate Change (Paris, 12 December 2015)

(Signatories: 195; Parties: 184)

• The Paris Agreement is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), dealing with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance, starting in the year 2020. The agreement’s language was negotiated by representatives of 196 state parties at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in Paris, France, and adopted by consensus on 12 December 2015.
• The Paris Agreement sets an over-arching target of keeping the emissions in control so that either the rise in global temperature remains below 2°C by the turn of 21st century or as low as 1.5°C. To achieve this goal, the countries will need to peak their emissions and then bring them down. The other purposes of Paris Agreement are-
  • Increasing ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of the climate change and foster climate change resilience
  • Making finance flows consistent with the pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development.
• Under Kyoto, no Green House Gas targets were set for China, India and other developing countries; in Paris, the countries followed their INDCs.

India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC)

• India’s INDC include a reduction in the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 per cent by 2030 from 2005 level.
• India has also pledged to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
• India will anchor a global solar alliance, INSPA (International Agency for Solar Policy & Application), of all countries located in between Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn.