Conventions, Treaties & Organisations — PPSC previous year questions

The Montreal Protocol (1987) is the global agreement that lays down specific control measures and phase-out schedules for ozone-depleting substances such as CFCs and halons. The Vienna Convention (1985) only set the framework for cooperation on ozone protection, without binding controls. The Kyoto Protocol (1997) deals with greenhouse gases. The Rio conference (1992) dealt with sustainable development.

The Earth Summit — the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) — was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992. It produced Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration, the Forest Principles, and opened the UNFCCC and the Convention on Biological Diversity for signature. Its follow-ups were Rio+10 (Johannesburg, 2002) and Rio+20 (Rio, 2012).

The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (1985) is the framework treaty on ozone; its Montreal Protocol (1987) set the actual cuts in ozone-depleting chemicals. The Basel Convention deals with movement of hazardous waste, Rotterdam with prior informed consent for trade in dangerous chemicals, and Stockholm with persistent organic pollutants.

The quoted text is the aim of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS). It was adopted in 2010 under the Convention on Biological Diversity, in force since 2014. It carries out the CBD's third objective — fair and equitable sharing of benefits from genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge. India ratified it in 2012 and implements it through the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. The Bonn Convention deals with migratory species, the Montreal Protocol with ozone-depleting substances and the Kyoto Protocol with greenhouse-gas reduction.

CITES is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, 1973. It controls only international trade in listed wild species. It has no provisions on habitat destruction or climate change. So statement 1 is wrong. The IUCN itself compiles and releases the Red List of Threatened Species. CITES only draws on it when choosing species for its Appendices. So statement 2 is wrong as well. Neither statement holds.

'Our Common Future' (1987) is the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development. Norway's Gro Harlem Brundtland chaired it, so it is called the Brundtland Report. It gave the classic definition of sustainable development: 'development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'. It set the stage for the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.

The Kyoto Protocol covers six gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide (N2O), HFCs, PFCs and sulphur hexafluoride (nitrogen trifluoride was added in 2012). From the list, methane, CO2, PFCs and SF6 are covered. Nitric oxide (NO) is not the same as nitrous oxide, and HCFCs are handled by the Montreal Protocol, not Kyoto.

The Kigali Amendment (2016) amends the Montreal Protocol. Its parties must phase down hydrofluorocarbons by 80–85 per cent from baselines by the late 2040s. HFCs are potent greenhouse gases used in refrigeration and air-conditioning. India, in the third group of countries, will freeze HFCs in 2028 and cut them by 85 per cent by 2047. It ratified the amendment in 2021. Agenda 21 is the Rio 1992 action plan. The Bonn Convention protects migratory species. The Kunming-Montreal Framework (2022) sets biodiversity targets.

The Stockholm Conference (1972) led to the creation of UNEP (4). The Rio Earth Summit (1992) adopted Agenda 21 (3). The Kyoto Protocol (1997) was the first legally binding treaty setting emission-reduction targets for developed countries (2). The Paris Conference (COP21, 2015) asked every country to submit Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (1). > A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1

'The Limits to Growth' (1972) was commissioned by the Club of Rome, a think-tank founded in 1968. The report is usually credited to it. A team at MIT led by Dennis and Donella Meadows ran the computer simulation (the World3 model). But the report was the Club of Rome's project on the 'predicament of mankind'. It predicted that unchecked growth in population and consumption would exhaust the earth's resources within a century. MIT was the research host, not the propounder.