SCHOOL OF LAW

2020-2021

B.B.A., LL.B. (HONS.) VII SEMESTER

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

INTERNAL ASSESSMENT- I

“PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMEN: NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE”

SUBMITTED TO-

MR. TANMAY AGRAWAL

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

JLU, BHOPAL

SUBMITTED BY-

NUPUR GUPTA

(2017BBLH006)

&

ANURAG SINGH

(2017BBLH018)
TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

2.
INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENYS HIGHLIGHTING THE CLIMATE CHANGE
CRISIS

Global warming is a Global Phenomenon which adversely impacts the environment and human
beings. As the problem is not limited to a nation, it is a global issue which is detrimental to all.
This global crisis can not be solved by one country but it requires mutual efforts of every nation.
In that direction, it is relevant to sign the international treaties on global warming to combat
global warming.

 Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (1985)

Background

By the mid‐1980s, scientists observed the thinning of the ozone layer that forms naturally in the
stratosphere because at that time the globe had already seen advancements in the scientific
understanding of ozone depletion and its impacts on human health and the environment.  In
response, the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer was signed in 1985
and came into effect in 1987. Under the convention, UN member countries recognized the
importance of curbing damage to the ozone layer. 

Preamble

The Preamble of the convention be keeping into consideration the potential harmful impact of
the modification of the ozone layer on human health and the environment, highlighted the need
of the precautionary measures for the protection of the ozone layer and also of the further
research and systematic observations to further develop scientific knowledge of the ozone layer
and possible adverse effects resulting from its modification.

Provisions
This convention imposed the general obligation on the Parties to take appropriate measures in
accordance with the provisions of this Convention to protect human health and the environment
against adverse effects resulting from human activities which modify the ozone layer. The
Convention aimed to promote cooperation among nations by exchanging information on the
effects of human activities on the ozone layer.

The Vienna Convention cheers the intergovernmental cooperation on scientific research,

systematic observation of the ozone layer, monitoring of CFC production and the exchange of
information. Although this convention does not require the parties to take any action to reduce
CFC production or consumption, yet this Convention was an important milestone as the nations
agreed to address a global environmental problem by accepting the “precautionary principle”.1

 Montreal Protocol  (1987)

Background

The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was negotiated under the
Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, 1985. The Protocol was signed in
1987 and entered into force in January 1989. Both the Vienna Convention and the Montreal
Protocol have each been ratified by 196 nations and the European Union and making them
the first universally ratified treaties in history of UN.

The Montreal Protocol is one of the remarkable global Instruments aimed to ban the global
production and use of ozone-damaging chemicals including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and the
hydro chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs).

Preamble

This convention set out that parties to the protocol being parties to Vienna convention are under
an obligation to take appropriate measures to protect the ozone layer from depletion which are in
accordance with the relevant scientific knowledge and also taking into account technical and
economic considerations.

Provisions

1
http://mountainlex.alpconv.org/images/documents/international/convention_ozone_layer.pdf
 It sets out a mandatory timetable for the phase out of ozone depleting substances. This timetable
has been reviewed regularly, with phase out dates accelerated in accordance with scientific
understanding and technological advances

The Montreal Protocol sets binding progressive phase out obligations for developed and
developing countries for all the major ozone depleting substances, including chlorofluorocarbons
(CFCs), halons and less damaging transitional chemicals such as hydro chlorofluorocarbons
(HCFCs).

It also states that each party shall ban the import of the controlled substances from any State not
party to this Protocol.2 Further, it provides for special situations for developing nations
considering its consumption and production of controlled substances. 3 It requires the Parties to
co-operate, consistent with their national laws, regulations and practices and taking into account
in particular the needs of developing countries, in promoting, directly or through competent
international bodies, research, development and exchange of information on best technologies
for improving the containment, recovery, recycling, or destruction of controlled substances.4

This convention has provision to hold meetings at regular intervals to review, update scientific
information and make decisions to improve compliance with the Montreal Protocol and the
information base upon which Parties.5

Amendments to the Montreal Protocol

The Montreal Protocol has been further strengthened through six Amendments which are as
follow-

The London Amendment 1990, The Copenhagen Amendment (1992), The Montreal Amendment
(1997), The Beijing Amendment (1999) and The Kigali Amendment (2016). 6

 UNFCCC Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992)

Background

2
Article 4
3
Article 5
4
Article 9
5
Article 11
6
https://ozone.unep.org/treaties/montreal-protocol
Finally to address the Human-driven climate change crisis, UN Conference on Environment
and Development, also known as the Rio Conference and Earth Summit held in June 1992, the
conference produced the first major treaty in response to global climate change which is
popularly known as UN Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC). It entered
into force in March 1994. 165 countries were the signatories of the agreement. The UNFCCC
has 197 parties to the convention, who meet annually in Conferences of the Parties (COP) to
assess progress in dealing with climate change. The treaty sets limits on GHG emissions on
countries, but these are not binding and there are no enforcement mechanisms either. However,
there are provisions for updates or protocols that can be used to set legally binding emission
limits on countries.

Preamble

It acknowledges the common concern of humankind with respect to climate change as well as
reaffirms the responsibility of state to co operate internationally to address the climate change. It
primarily concerned about the dangerous human interference in the climate system which need to
be prevented. 7

Provisions

The Parties should protect the climate system for the benefit of present and future generations of
humankind, The Parties should take precautionary measures to anticipate, prevent or minimize
the causes of climate change and mitigate its adverse effects.8

Parties to the convention agreed that the extent to which developing nations can meet their treaty
obligations would depend on the extent to which developed countries provide finance and
technology, and that developed countries “should take the lead in combating climate change and
the adverse effects”. According to the agreement, “Economic and social development and
poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of the developing country parties”.9

7
https://unfccc.int/files/essential_background/background_publications_htmlpdf/application/pdf/conveng.pdf
8
Article 3
9
Article 4
Further, it provides for the establishment of the Conference of the Parties as the “supreme body”
of the Convention which shall keep under regular review the implementation of the Convention
and any related legal instruments that the Conference of the Parties may adopt.10

 Kyoto Protocol (1997)

Background

At the third COP of the UNFCC which was taken place at Kyoto in 1997, the first major change
was seen by the nations regarding the climate change crisis. The Kyoto Protocol is the first
implementing agreement of the UNFCCC.  This agreement was the first and only legally binding
targets for developed nations to reduce their emissions, as well as important international
monitoring, reporting and verification mechanisms to enforce compliance. Kyoto Protocol
applies to 6 greenhouse gases; carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons,
perfluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride. The Kyoto Protocol entered into force in February 2005.
From 2005 onwards, each COP has also served as the ‘meeting of parties’ to the Kyoto
Protocol.11

Preamble

It sets out that the Parties to the Protocol being Parties to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change shall proceed in furtherance of the ultimate objective of the
Convention which is to achieve the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the
atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate
system.

Provisions

The Kyoto Protocol consist of provisions which focused on reductions of six specific greenhouse
gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons and
perfluorocarbons by the developed countries as mentioned in the Annex I. Each industrialized
nation would be required to reduce emissions of these gases to a specific percentage of a baseline
level. 12

10
Article 7
11
https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/kpeng.pdf
12
Article 2
Three Mechanism of Kyoto Protocol

1. Emissions Trading - The Kyoto Protocol set the limit for each countries to emit the gases
within the unit so prescribed. There can be situation where a country emits more than the set
limit and the other country emits less than the set limit. To deal with this issue, this protocol
provides for the trading of emission units which means if a country emits less than the set limit
so it can sell the other remaining units to be in the limit, to other country who emits more than
the set limit. 13

2. Joint Implementation (JI) – This mechanism allows a country to limit its domestic emission
unit by carrying out or financing any climate project which will reduce the emission unit. Under
this Mechanism, one developed country can carry out or finance any climate project in another
country by which it can reduce its emission unit. Here, the host country will not get any
reduction in its emission unit. 14

3. Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) – This Mechanism works in the manner in which
the Joint Implementation mechanism does. The only difference lies in the fact that here the
project is being carried out in the developing countries which are not obliged to limit the
emission units. When a project is taken place in developing country, it certifies the emission
savings that are achieved by the developed country through CDM project. Thereafter, these
certified emission reductions (CERs) can be credited to the developed country's account and it
can achieve its limitation goal.15

Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol

In the year 2012 when first commitment period which started in 2008, the Parties to the Kyoto
Protocol adopted an amendment to the Kyoto Protocol at the eighth session of the Conference of
the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) held in Doha,
Qatar, on 8 December 2012.This Amendment sets out new commitments for parties to the
Protocol to reduce their overall emissions of such gases by at least 18 per cent below 1990 levels
in the Second commitment period 2013 to 2020.16

13
Article 17
14
Article 6
15
Article 12
16
https://unfccc.int/files/kyoto_protocol/application/pdf/kp_doha_amendment_english.pdf
 Paris Agreement

Background

At COP 21 in Paris, Parties to the UNFCCC agreed to adopt a landmark instrument to combat
climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a
sustainable low carbon future which is commonly known as The Paris Agreement. The Paris
Agreement opened for signature on 22 April 2016 and entered into force on 4 November 2016.

Preamble

The preamble of the paris Agreement sets out that the parties to the Agreement shall proceed in
consonance with the objective to meet climate goals and to strengthen the climate regime by an
appropriate accord. Paris agreement turns out as a historic deal to stop global warming.17

Provisions

The Paris Agreement sets out the goal of limiting global temperature increase to well below 2
degrees Celsius, while pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees. 18 In order to achieve
the set out, this agreement commit the parties to prepare, communicate and maintain a nationally
determined contribution (NDC) and to pursue domestic measures to achieve them.19

Further, this Agreement highlights the need of spreading Climate change education, training,
20
public awareness, public participation and public access to information. The agreement
recognises the role of non-Party stakeholders in addressing climate change, including cities,
other subnational authorities, civil society, the private sector and others. 21 The Agreement
requires that the information submitted by each Party undergoes international technical expert
review to ensure the transparency.22

IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS COMBATING

CLIMATE CHANGE- THE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

17
https://unfccc.int/files/essential_background/convention/application/pdf/english_paris_agreement.pdf
18
Article 2
19
Article 4
20
Article 12
21
Article 6
22
Article 13
Executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has
addressed the crisis that climate change or depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer, are
inherently global in character, and affect all states, not necessarily equally, but at least to the
extent that impacts are global for which solutions are required. International cooperation on
climate change has been shaped by principles enunciated in several early norm-setting
agreements, including the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and the UNFCCC.
The UNFCCC established a framework, principles, and goals for the international response to
climate change. Under such Instruments, parties committed to periodically communicate
information on their emissions, “with the aim of returning individually or jointly.

The UNFCC has obliged the parties to meet annually to review the performance and as a result
of which numerous legally binding protocols were adopted by the parties. Under the Protocol, 37
industrialized countries and the European Community enumerated in Annex B have committed
to reducing their emissions by an average of 5 percent against 1990 levels over the five-year
period 2008-2012. According to UNFCCC, GHG inventories, aggregate GHG emissions from
all Annex B countries were reduced by 13.6% from 1990 to 2011 if land-use and forestry-sector
changes are taken into account and 8.5% if they are not.

The environmental effectiveness of the Protocol’s first commitment period was less than it could
have been for several reasons. Such as, only Annex B parties had emissions reduction
responsibilities and not all Annex B parties participated like The United States, Canada and
Russia, Japan, and New Zealand opted not to participate in the second commitment period
(2013−2020). Since 1990, the Annex B countries’ share of global GHG emissions declined
significantly, from approximately 56% of global emissions in 1990 to about 39% in 2010.
Simultaneously, overall global GHG emissions have risen significantly; global emissions in 2010
were 31% higher than in 1990 ( JRC 2013), with the bulk of this increase coming from the large
rapidly growing and emerging economies notably China, India, Brazil, South Korea, South
Africa, Mexico, and Indonesia which are not subject to the commitment. Additionally, despite
the Kyoto Protocol’s compliance system, it was difficult in practice to enforce its targets because
of the lack of a legal authority with enforcement powers, and the weakness of possible sanctions
relative to the costs of compliance.
The Paris Agreement is the latest and most ambitious undertaking by the international
community to prevent dangerous human-induced climate change. The central component of the
Paris Agreement is a pledge and review system of nationally determined contributions (NDCs)
that represent roughly 10-year national goals for climate mitigation. In terms of its eventual
environmental performance, the first set of NDC pledges taken in 2016 is not sufficient to meet
the ambition of the Paris Agreement to limit global average temperature to “well below 2◦C
above preindustrial levels,” However, pre-NDC trajectories suggest that global emissions would
have been considerably greater in the absence of the Paris Agreement. (UNFCCC 2016).

Apart from UNFCC, it is also significant to assess the performance of Montreal Protocol. The
Montreal Protocol’s subsequent amendments, adjustments, and decisions have achieved nearly
universal participation and have made significant contributions to reducing GHG emissions as
the UNFCCC does not address GHGs already controlled by the Montreal Protocol. The Montreal
Protocol’s overall net contribution to climate change mitigation may have been five times what
the Kyoto Protocol achieved during its first commitment period. The Montreal Protocol applied
equally stringent emission requirements on all countries but allowed for a 10-year grace period
for countries with low per-capita CFC consumption to meet their requirements. The experience
of the Montreal Protocol illustrates how transfers can engage participation by major developing
countries through financial and technological assistance.