Important Environment Organization(for UPSC)
There has been a trend upsc examination about questions related with important environmental organization with minute details and sometimes conservation programs run by central government.
Here we have compiled important environment organizations which can be asked in UPSC examination. Candidates are required to go point by point and remember them.
Important environment organizations:-
Global environment facility:-
- Founded in October 1991
- Headquarter-Washington(usa)
- 183 governments
- To address environmental issue and sustainable development initiative.
- Provide funds to developing countries for climate change, Biodiversity and ozone layer
- Also serve as financial mechanism for conventions like-
- Unites nation framework for climate change(UNFCCC)
- Stockholm convention on POP
- United nations convention to combat desertification
- Convention on biodiversity(CBD)
- Minmata convention on mercury
- Since 1994, however, the World Bank has served as the Trustee of the GEF Trust Fund and provided administrative services.
Green climate fund:-
- It is a fund within the framework of UNFCCC
- It is founded to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change.
- Formed in 2010
- First mention of concept in Copenhagen Accord in CoP-15
- Formally in CoP-16 at Cancun.
- WB is chosen as a temporary trustee of the fund.
- HQ : Incheon, South Korea
Intergovernmental panel on climate change:-
- Scientific intergovernmental body under the auspices of the United Nations.
- Set up at the request of member governments.
- It was first established in 1988 by two United Nations organizations, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).Membership of the IPCC is open to all members of the WMO and UNEP.
- The IPCC produces reports that support the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
- IPCC reports cover all relevant information to understand the risk of human-induced climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.
- The IPCC does not carry out its own original research.
- The aims of the IPCC are to assess scientific information relevant to:Human-induced climate change,
- In accordance with its mandate, the IPCC prepares at regular intervals comprehensive Assessment Reports of scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of human induced climate change, potential impacts of climate change and options for mitigation and adaptation.
- Special Reports
- Special Reports have been prepared on topics such as aviation, regional impacts of climate change, technology transfer, emissions scenarios, land use, land use change and forestry, carbon dioxide capture and storage and on the relationship between safeguarding the ozone layer and the global climate system.
- For details see here http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=154095
BioCarbon Fund Initiative:-
- The BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (ISFL) is a multilateral fund, supported by donor governments and managed by the World Bank.
- It seeks to promote reduced greenhouse gas emissions from the land sector, from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD+), and from sustainable agriculture, as well as smarter land-use planning, policies and practices.
International union for conservation of nature(IUCN):-
- Its full legal name is International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
- It is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources
- Founded in 1948 in Fontainebleau, France.
- HQ : Gland, Switzerland
- It is involved in data gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, lobbying and education.
- Over the past decades, IUCN has widened its focus beyond conservation ecology and now incorporates issues related to gender equality, poverty alleviation and sustainable business in its projects.
- It publishes IUCN Red List which assesses the conservation status of species worldwide
- IUCN has observer and consultative status at the United Nations
- Both Governments and NGOs are its members
South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN):-
- INDIA has adopted this network in april 2016 and became its formal member in order to strengthen ties with the member countries in controlling the trans-boundary wildlife crime through communication, coordination, collaboration, capacity building and cooperation in the region.
- SAWEN, a Regional network is comprised of eight countries in South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
- SAWEN is regional inter-governmental wildlife law enforcement support body launched in January, 2011 in Paro, Bhutan
- It aims at working as a strong regional intergovernmental body for combating wildlife crime by attempting common goals and approaches for combating illegal trade in the region.
- Following objectives have been set to attain the goal:
- To take initiatives for bringing harmonization and standardization in laws and policies of member countries concerning conservation of fauna and flora;
- To document the trend of poaching and illegal trade, and related threats to the natural biodiversity within and across countries in the region;
- To strengthen institutional responses to combat wildlife crime by promoting research and information sharing, training and capacity building, technical support, sharing experiences and outreach; and
- To encourage member countries to prepare and implement their National Action Plans in curbing wildlife crime and to collaborate towards effective implementation.
United nations environment prograame:-
- It is an UN agency
- It coordinates UN’s environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.
- It was founded as a result of the UN Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm Conference) in 1972
- HQ : Nairobi, Kenya
- Its activities cover a wide range of issues regarding the atmosphere, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, environmental governance and green economy.
- UNEP has also been active in funding and implementing environment related development projects
- UNEP has aided in the formulation of guidelines and treaties on issues such as the international trade in potentially harmful chemicals, trans boundary air pollution, and contamination of international waterways
- UNEP is also one of several Implementing Agencies for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol
International solar alliance:-
- The ISA was launched at the 2015 Paris Climate Change Summit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande.
- It seeks to empower solar-rich countries located between the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn to make collaborative efforts to harness solar energy to generate the electricity.
- Under this alliance, 121 countries that fall within the tropics have been invited. Most of these countries fall within Asia, Africa and South America.
- Three Objectives:
- To force down prices by driving demand,
- To bring standardization in solar technologies and
- To foster research and development.
- India and France have launched a programme with $1 trillion Potential Solar Programme under the International Solar Alliance (ISA). It is a solar finance programme that aims at helping developing countries to fully harness their solar resources for a clean energy future. The solar finance programme aims at lowering the cost of finance and facilitates the flow of more than 1 trillion dollars investment to members of the ISA
- For full details click here:- http://pib.nic.in/newsite/backgrounders.aspx?relid=135761
Alliance of small island states:-
- It is an intergovernmental organization of low lying coastal and small island nations.
- Established in 1990
- Purpose of the alliance is to consolidate the voices of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to address global warming
- As the existence of many AOSIS states are put at risk by climate change AOSIS has threatened lawsuits
- AOSIS has a membership of 44 states
- India is not a member
- In Indian ocean 4 states are member :
- Maldives
- Comoros
- Seychelles
- Mauritius
REDD AND REDD+ :-
- It is a mechanism to incentivize developing countries to better manage, protect and save the forests to help in climate change.
- REDD+ goes beyond just forest conservation and incentivizes sustainable management of forests and increasing forest stocks.
- Thus countries that undertake initiatives for reducing emissions and sustainable management of forest resources can benefit from funds. Thus a country can be rewarded for increasing its forest cover and tree cover.
- The local community that participates in achieving this can benefit by obtaining more forest resources and also monetary benefits from funds received under REDD+.
- It is under negotiation under UNFCC since 2005
- Its objective is to mitigate climate change through reducing net emissions of greenhouse gases through enhanced forest management in developing countries.
- In the last two decades, various studies estimate that land use change, including deforestation and forest degradation, accounts for 12-29% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
- For this reason the inclusion of reducing emissions from land use change is considered essential to achieve the objectives of the UNFCCC
- During the negotiations for the Kyoto Protocol the inclusion of tropical forest management was debated but eventually dropped due to anticipated methodological difficulties in establishing – in particular – additionality and leakage (detrimental effects outside of the project area attributable to project activities)
- India did not participated in UN-REDD
The Man and biosphere programme:-
- Launched in 1971, UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an Intergovernmental Scientific Programme that aims to establish a scientific basis for the improvement of relationships between people and their environments along with rational and sustainable use & conservation of the resources of the biosphere
- Predicts the consequences of today’s actions on tomorrow’s world and thereby increases people’s ability to efficiently manage natural resources for the well-being of both human populations and the environment
- Promotes the exchange and transfer of knowledge on environmental problems and solutions, and to foster environmental education for sustainable development
- Biosphere reserves have three main aims
- Conservation
- Economic development
- Research & education
So these are important environment organization very important for UPSC learn them and keep revising them. Keep remember ek saathi aur bhi tha.
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