A Protocol to the Convention is an agreement that is formulated and signed by diplomatic negotiators as the basis for a final convention in which the parties set specific goals or legal obligations. This agreement serves as the basis for the convention. In most cases, when a significant provision is to be included in the regulations of the convention, a protocol is called among the countries that were signatory of the original convention when it was signed and approved. This is done so that the major provision can be incorporated.
A List of Environmental Conventions and Protocols
In both the preliminary and the main examinations for the UPSC, candidates are questioned multiple times on topics related to the environment. In the Environment and Ecology section of the UPSC Mains GS III exam, one of the most important topics to cover is international environmental conventions and protocols.
This is a list of international agreements pertaining to the environment.
The majority of the following agreements have been formally ratified by their respective countries, making them legally binding in those nations. Some of them, like the Kyoto Protocol, differentiate between different types of countries and the responsibilities that each type of country is responsible for under the agreement. There are several hundred international environmental agreements, but the vast majority of them only link a select group of nations. Despite the fact that these agreements are only legally binding for the nations that have ratified them, they are still an essential part of the international environmental regime. These agreements can be bilateral or trilateral. In addition to the major conventions that are listed below, the IEA Database Project has identified more than 3,000 international environmental instruments. [1]
Convention Framework on Climate Change of the United Nations (UNFCCC)
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an international environmental treaty.
At the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (also known as the Earth Summit), which took place in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, the agreement was negotiated and signed.
Bonn serves as the organisation’s headquarters, and it came into effect on March 21, 1994. Parties: 197
The concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere need to be stabilised at a level in order to prevent potentially catastrophic anthropogenic interference with the climate system.
In its original form, it did not contain any provisions for the regulation or control of greenhouse gas emissions and did not impose any binding limits on individual countries’ GHG emissions.
In the context of this framework, the Kyoto Protocol (1997) was negotiated.
The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the highest governing body of the UNFCCC Climate-Tech Centre Network, which serves as the UNFCCC’s operational arm. It encourages the transfer of technology for the development of low-carbon and carbon-resilient communities.
Conclusion
Either the Economic and Social Council will vote to pass a resolution to recommend that the United Nations General Assembly consider holding a conference on environmental issues, or the UN General Assembly will vote to pass a resolution on its own to call for the holding of an environmental conference.