* IMPORTANT CONVENTIONS ARE DISCUSSED IN THIS PDF

Conventions related to Ozone depletion:

➢ 28 countries originally signed the Vienna convention on 22nd March

1985 in Vienna, Austria which came to effect in 1988.
➢ The 1985 Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer was
an international agreement in which United Nations members
recognized the fundamental importance of preventing damage to the
stratospheric ozone layer
➢ The 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone
Layer and its succeeding amendments were subsequently negotiated to
control the consumption and production of anthropogenic ozone-
depleting substances (ODSs) and some hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
➢ The Montreal Protocol’s control of ODSs stimulated the development of
replacement substances, firstly hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and
then HFCs, in a number of industrial sectors.
➢ On 16th September 2009, Vienna Convention along with Montreal
Protocol was universally ratified and thus became the first treaties in the
history of the United Nations to achieve universal ratification.
➢ The 8th amendment was made to Montreal Protocol and it came to be
known as Kigali Agreement (The Amendment was signed in Rwanda’s
capital Kigali.)

Kigali Amendment
➢ In 2016, more than 170 countries agreed to amend the Montreal
protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer in Kigali/Rwanda.
➢ The Kigali Amendment aims for the phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons
(HFCs) by cutting their production and consumption.
➢ The amendment has entered into force on 1 January 2019 with a goal to
achieve over 80% reduction in HFC consumption by 2047.
➢ The impact of the amendment will avoid up to 0.5 °C increase in global
temperature by the end of the century.
➢ It is a legally binding agreement between the signatory parties with non-
compliance measures.
 The Kigali amendment has divided the signatory parties into 3
groups-

Group I –consists of rich and developed economies like USA, UK and EU

countries who will start to phase down HFCs by 2019 and reduce it to
15% of 2012 levels by 2036.
Group II –consists of emerging economies like China, Brazil as well as
some African countries who will start phase down by 2024 and reduce it
to 20% of 2021 levels by 2045.
Group III –consists of developing economies and some of the hottest
climatic countries like India, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia who will start
phasing down HFCs by 2028 and reduce it to 15% of 2024-2026 levels till
2047.

Stockholm Convention on POPs

➢ Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is an
international environmental treaty, signed in 2001 and effective from
May 2004, that aims to eliminate or restrict the production and use of
persistent organic pollutants (POPs).

What are Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)?

They are organic chemical substances which possess a set of physical and
chemical properties such that when they are released into the
atmosphere/environment, they:
Remain intact, without getting degraded, for exceptionally long periods
of time (several years)
Become widely distributed throughout the environment as a result of
natural processes involving soil, water and, most notably, air
Accumulate in the fatty tissues of living organisms including humans,
and are found at higher concentrations at higher levels in the food chain.
Ramsar Convention
➢ It was signed in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar and is one of the
oldest inter-governmental accord for preserving the ecological
character of wetlands.
➢ It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands.
➢ Its aim is to develop and maintain an international network of wetlands
which are important for the conservation of global biological diversity
and for sustaining human life through the maintenance of their
ecosystem components, processes and benefits.
➢ Wetlands declared as Ramsar sites are protected under strict guidelines
of the convention.
➢ The RAMSAR Secretariat is based at the headquarters of the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Gland,
Switzerland.
➢ World Wetlands Day is celebrated on February 2nd
➢ The Convention uses a broad definition of wetlands- It includes all lakes
and rivers, underground aquifers, swamps and marshes, wet grasslands,
peatland, oases, estuaries, deltas and tidal flats, mangroves and other
coastal areas, coral reefs, and all human-made sites such as fishponds,
rice paddies, reservoirs and salt pans.

Montreux Record:
➢ Montreux Record under the Ramsar Convention is a register of wetland
sites on the List of Wetlands of International Importance where changes
in ecological character have occurred, are occurring, or are likely to
occur as a result of technological developments, pollution or other
human interference.
➢ It is maintained as part of the Ramsar List.
➢ Currently(2021), 2 wetlands of India are in Montreux record: Keoladeo
National Park (Rajasthan) and Loktak Lake (Manipur).
➢ In 1993 Chilka lake was also listed in Montreux record due to problem of
Siltation, But later in 2002, it was removed from the list as problem was
tackled by govt actions.
Stockholm Convention
➢ United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
➢ It was first declaration of international protection of the environment
➢ It was held in Stockholm, Sweden from June 5–16 in 1972.
➢ The meeting agreed upon a Declaration containing 26 principles
concerning the environment and development.
➢ The conference let to increased interest and research collaboration
which paved the way for further understanding of global warming, which
has led to such agreements as the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris
Agreement, and has given a foundation of modern environmentalism.
➢ The United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP) has been
established by the United Nations General Assembly in pursuance of the
Stockholm Conference.

Convention of Migratory Species(CMS) of Wild Animals

➢ CMS is also known as the Bonn Convention. It is the only convention that
deals with taking or harvesting of species from the wild. It currently
protects 173 migratory species from across the globe.
➢ Enforcement Year: The Convention came into force on November 1,
1983. The Secretariat that administers the Convention was established
in 1984.
➢ As of 1 January2021 the Convention on Migratory Species has 132
Parties including INDIA.
➢ Species Covered: Convention has two Appendices:
➢ Appendix I lists migratory species that are endangered or threatened
with extinction.
➢ Appendix II lists migratory species which have an unfavourable
conservation status and which require international agreements for
their conservation and management.
➢ Migratory Species: A migratory species is one that cyclically and
predictably crosses one or more national jurisdictional boundaries due
to factors like food, temperature, shelter, etc.
Basel Convention - Control of Transboundary Movements of
Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal:
➢ Opened for signature on 22 March 1989 & entered into force on 5 May
1992 Number of Signatories: 53, Number of Parties: 188.
➢ Haiti and the United States have signed the Convention but not ratified.
➢ It 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).
➢ It does not address the movement of radioactive waste.
➢ The Convention is also intended to minimize the amount and toxicity of
wastes generated, to ensure their environmentally sound management
and to assist LDCs in environmentally sound management of the
hazardous and other wastes they generate.

Examples of wastes regulated by the Basel Convention:

Biomedical and healthcare wastes.
Used oils
Used lead acid batteries.
Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP) wastes.
Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs).
Thousands of chemical wastes generated by industries and other
consumers.
However, the Convention is not legally binding on the member countries.

Rotterdam Convention:
➢ The Rotterdam Convention (formally, the Rotterdam Convention on the
Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and
Pesticides in International Trade) signed in 1998 is a multilateral treaty
to promote shared responsibilities in relation to importation of
hazardous chemicals, effective from 2004.
➢ It covers pesticides and industrial chemicals that have been banned or
severely restricted for health or environmental reasons by Parties and
which have been notified by Parties for inclusion in the PIC procedure
➢ Convention creates legally binding obligations for the implementation of
the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure.
United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (Earth Summit), 1992
➢ In continuation of Stockholm Declaration, 1972 and the Nairobi
Declaration,1982 the third major Declaration was held in Rio-de-Janeiro
in Brazil in the year 1992 known as The United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Summit,
the Rio Conference, and the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92)
➢ It was was also called as the “Parliament of the planet” then.
➢ Agenda-21, a massive document containing a detailed action-plan for
sustainable development constitutes the key document of the Rio.
➢ The Rio Declaration was adopted in the conference recognizing the
universal and integral nature of Earth and by establishing a global
partnership among states and enlisting general rights and obligations on
environmental protection.
➢ The Rio Declaration is a statement of 27 principles for the guidance of
national environmental behaviour and enlisting general rights and
obligations on environmental protection.
➢ Legally Non-Binding Principles of Forestry.

U.N. Frame Work Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 1992

➢ In 1992, countries joined an international treaty, the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change, as a framework for
international cooperation to combat climate change by limiting average
global temperature increases and the resulting climate change, and
coping with impacts that were, by then, inevitable.

➢ The primary goals of the UNFCCC were to stabilize greenhouse gas

emissions at levels that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic
interference with the global climate.
➢ The convention embraced the principle of common but differentiated
responsibilities which has guided the adoption of a regulatory structure.
➢ India signed the agreement in June 1992 which was ratified in November
1993. As per the convention the reduction/limitation requirements
apply only to developed countries. The only reporting obligation for
developing countries relates to the construction of a GHG inventory.
➢ Kyoto Protocol, Paris Agreement are a part of the UNFCCC.
Kyoto Protocol (COP 3; UNFCCC Summit 1997)
➢ The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997.
➢ India ratified Kyoto Protocol in 2002.
➢ The Kyoto Protocol came into force in February 2005.
➢ USA never ratified Kyoto Protocol.
➢ Goal: Fight global warming by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations
in the atmosphere to “a level that would prevent dangerous
anthropogenic interference with the climate system.”
➢ Kyoto protocol aimed to cut emissions of greenhouse gases across the
developed world by about 5 per cent by 2012 compared with 1990
levels.
➢ The Protocol is based on the principle of common but differentiated
responsibilities.
➢ Kyoto Protocol is the only global treaty with binding limits on GHG
emissions.

The Kyoto Protocol emission target gases include

Carbon dioxide (CO2),
Methane (CH4),
Nitrous oxide (N2O),
Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6),
groups of hydro fluorocarbons (HCFs) and
groups of Per fluorocarbons (PFCs).

Carbon credit – Kyoto Protocol

A carbon credit (often called a carbon offset) is a tradable certificate or
permit.
One carbon credit is equal to one tonne of carbon dioxide.
Carbon credits are a part of attempts to mitigate the growth in
concentrations of GHGs.
Carbon credits or carbon offsets can be acquired through afforestation,
renewable energy, CO2 sequestration, methane capture, buying from an
exchange (carbon credits trading) etc.
Carbon trading is the name given to the exchange of emission permits.
Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992
➢ The Convention on Biological Diversity (a multilateral treaty) was opened
for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and entered
into effect in 1993.
➢ The Convention has three main goals:
conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity);
sustainable use of its components; and
fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.

Cartagena Protocol
➢ CBD covers the rapidly expanding field of biotechnology through its
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety(2000).
➢ It addresses technology development and transfer, benefit-sharing and
biosafety issues.
➢ The Biosafety Protocol seeks to protect biological diversity from the
potential risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from
modern biotechnology.

Nagoya Protocol
➢ It is the second Protocol to the CBD after Cartagena protocol.
➢ It is a 2010 supplementary agreement to the 1992 Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD).
➢ The Nagoya Protocol is about “Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair
and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization”, one of
the three objectives of the CBD.

Minamata Convention:
➢ It is an international treaty, Signed in 2013 & India has ratified it.
➢ Aims 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 devastating incident
of mercury poisoning.
➢ It aims to control anthropogenic releases of mercury throughout its
lifecycle.
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
➢ The ‘Law of the Sea Treaty’, formally known as United Nations
Convention on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS) was adopted in 1982 to
establish jurisdictional limits over the ocean areas.
➢ The convention defines distance of 12 nautical miles from the baseline
as Territorial Sea limit and a distance of 200 nautical miles distance as
Exclusive Economic Zone limit.
➢ It provides for technology and wealth transfer from developed to
underdeveloped nations and requires parties to implement regulations
and laws to control marine pollution.
➢ India became a signatory to the UNCLOS in 1982.

CITES - Convention on International Trade in Endangered

Species of Wild Flora & Fauna
➢ CITES is an international agreement between governments with the
objective of the preservation of the planet’s plants and animals by
ensuring that the international trade in their specimens does not
threaten their survival.
➢ It was adopted in 1963 and entered into force in 1975.

The Bamako Convention

➢ The Bamako Convention is a treaty of African nations prohibiting the
import into Africa of any hazardous (including radioactive) waste. The
convention came into force in 1998.

UNCCD - United Nation Convention to Combat

Desertification
➢ It aims to combat desertification and the ill-effects of drought.
➢ It was adopted in 1994.
➢ It came into force in 1996.
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