International Agreements MCQ Quiz in मल्याळम - Objective Question with Answer for International Agreements - സൗജന്യ PDF ഡൗൺലോഡ് ചെയ്യുക

Climate change, ozone depletion and greenhouse emissions are hard-hitting realities and a wakeup call for everyone to leave behind the prejudices and act on it. Various initiatives have been launched and international agreements have been signed for the said purpose.

The Montreal Protocol:

• The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (the Montreal Protocol) is an international agreement made in 1987. It sits under the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (the Vienna Convention).
• The Montreal Protocol is signed by 197 countries – the first treaty in the history of the United Nations to achieve universal ratification – and is considered by many the most successful environmental global action.
• It was designed to stop the production and import of ozone-depleting substances and reduce their concentration in the atmosphere to help protect the earth's ozone layer.
• It targets 96 ozone-depleting chemicals in thousands of applications across more than 240 industrial sectors.
• It has also produced other significant environmental benefits. Most notably, it has benefitted the global climate by reducing the amount of greenhouse gas going into the atmosphere.
• The Montreal Protocol is widely considered as the most successful environment protection agreement. It sets out a mandatory timetable for the phase-out of ozone-depleting substances.
• The global shift away from ozone-depleting substances has also had co-benefits on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, mainly CO2 emissions reduction.

NOTE:

• 16 September is International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. It celebrates the anniversary of the day the Montreal Protocol came into effect.
• The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal is a multilateral agreement negotiated under the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) beginning in 1988.

Hence, it can be concluded that the co-benefit of the Montreal Protocol is the reduction in carbon dioxide (equivalent) emissions.

The correct answer is  6.

Key Points

The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, which ran from 2008-2012, covered six greenhouse gases for reducing their emissions: 

1. Carbon dioxide (CO2)
2. Methane (CH4)
3. Nitrous oxide (N2O)
4. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
5. Perfluorocarbons (PFCs)
6. Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)

• These gases were targeted because they are the most significant contributors to global warming, and reducing emissions from these gases would help to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
• The Protocol established emissions reduction targets for developed countries and provided mechanisms for the transfer of emissions-reducing technologies to developing countries.
• The maximum amount of emissions (measured as the equivalent in carbon dioxide) that a Party may emit over a commitment period in order to comply with its emissions target is known as a Party’s assigned amount.
• The individual targets for Annex I Parties are listed in the Kyoto Protocol's Annex B.​

Important Points

Kyoto protocol: 

• ​The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty.
• It deals with reducing overall greenhouse emissions. Hence statement 1 is true.
• It was the result of the Rio-1992 and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997.
• It entered into force on 16 February 2005. Hence statement 2 is true.
• There are currently 192 parties.
• Canada withdrew from the protocol in 2012.
• The USA never ratified it.

• Global Warming Potential (GWP) of GHGs:

  Gas	Year
  CO2	1
  Methane	21
  N2O	310

​Biodiversity is all the different kinds of life you'll find in one area—the variety of animals, plants, fungi, and even microorganisms like bacteria that make up our natural world.

Key PointsConvention on Biological Diversity (CBD) or Biodiversity Convention:

• The convention has three main goals:
  • the conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity);
  • the sustainable use of its components;
  • and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resource
• The convention was opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro on 5 June 1992 and entered into force on 29 December 1993.
• The United States is the only UN member state which has not ratified the convention.
•  It has two supplementary agreements, the Cartagena Protocol and Nagoya Protocol.

Hence the convention on Biodiversity was signed during Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, in 1992.

Additional Information

•  Human Environment Conference, Stockholm 1972:
  • The major result of the Stockholm Conference was the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
  • The United Nations Environment Programme is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system.
• The Kyoto Protocol
  • It was an international treaty that extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that global warming is occurring and that human-made CO₂ emissions are driving it.
• Montreal Protocol
  • It is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion. It was agreed upon on 16 September 1987 and entered into force on 1 January 1989.  

Paris Agreement:

• The Paris Agreement (French: L'accord de Paris) is a legally binding international treaty on climate change United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to combat climate change.
• It was adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016.
• As of February 2020, all UNFCCC members have signed the agreement, 189 have become a party to it, and the only significant emitters which are not parties are Iran and Turkey.

Goals of the Paris Agreement:

• Limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.
• Reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible to achieve a climate-neutral world by mid-century.

• It was a legally binding treaty on climate change and the central aim of this agreement was to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change.
• The objective of the Paris agreement is to decrease global warming below 2-degree Celsius over the pre-industrial level and put efforts to minimize the temperature increase by 1.5 degrees.
• This agreement is the leading light in this climate change process as it is the first time where all the countries have come together for a common cause and to combat climate change.
• This agreement also aims at global goal adaptation to reduce climate change and minimizing damage and loss caused to the environment.

Thus, the main aim of the Paris agreement is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change.

The correct answer is Green House Gases Emissions.

Key Points

• Countries with commitments under the Kyoto Protocol to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions must meet their targets primarily through national measures.
• As an additional means of meeting these targets, the Kyoto Protocol introduced three market-based mechanisms, thereby creating what is now known as the carbon market.

• The Kyoto mechanisms:

  • Stimulate sustainable development through technology transfer and investment.
  • Help countries with Kyoto commitments to meet their targets by reducing emissions or removing carbon from the atmosphere in other countries in a cost-effective way.
  • Encourage the private sector and developing countries to contribute to emission reduction efforts.
  • CDM and JI are the two project-based mechanisms that feed the carbon market.
  • CDM and JI are the two project-based mechanisms that feed the carbon market. The CDM involves investment in emission reduction or removal enhancement projects in developing countries that contribute to their sustainable development, while JI enables developed countries to carry out emission reduction or removal enhancement projects in other developed countries. 

The International Solar Alliance is an alliance of 105 signatory countries, most being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

Key Points

International Solar Alliance ISA:

• It is headquartered in Gurugram, ‎Haryana‎, ‎India
• It was conceived as a joint effort by India and France to mobilize efforts against climate change through the deployment of solar energy solutions.
• It was conceptualized on the sidelines of the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Paris in 2015.
• With the amendment of its Framework Agreement in 2020, all member states of the United Nations are now eligible to join the ISA.

Hence the vision statement of ISA is Let us together make the sun brighter. 

Important Points At present, 101 countries are signatories to the ISA Framework Agreement, of which 80 countries have submitted the necessary instruments of ratification to become full members of the ISA.

• Emerged from COP3 deliberation: The Kyoto Protocol was adopted at the Third Conference of the Parties (COP3) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997.
• It was concluded and established legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
• Its goal is to 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% by 2012 compared with 1990 levels.

Additional Information

• India ratified Kyoto Protocol in 2002.
• The Kyoto Protocol came into force in February 2005.
• There are currently 192 Parties in Kyoto Protocol.
• Canada withdrew its name from the Kyoto protocol in 2012.
• Kyoto Protocol is the only global treaty with binding limits on GHG emissions.

International convention

• An international convention or treaty is an agreement between different countries that is legally binding to the contracting States.
• Existing international conventions cover different areas, including trade, science, crime, disarmament, transport, and human rights.
• A convention becomes legally binding to a particular State when that State ratifies it.
• Signing does not make a convention binding, but it indicates support for the principles of the convention and the country’s intention to ratify it.

Key Points

The International Agreements/Convention/Protocols are legally binding on the member countries (parties) are:

Convention on Biological Diversity

• It is a legally binding agreement and an outcome of the Rio Earth Summit of 1992. 
• It has three main goals-
  • Conservation of biodiversity
  • Sustainable use of components of biodiversity

  • It has three major aims, one of which focuses on sharing the benefit of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way.

The Montreal Protocol:

• The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (the Montreal Protocol) is an international agreement made in 1987.
• The Montreal Protocol is signed by 197 countries – the first treaty in the history of the United Nations to achieve universal ratification – and is considered by many the most successful environmental global action.
• It sits under the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (the Vienna Convention).
• It was designed to stop the production and import of ozone-depleting substances and reduce their concentration in the atmosphere to help protect the earth's ozone layer.
• It targets 96 ozone-depleting chemicals in thousands of applications across more than 240 industrial sectors.
• It has also produced other significant environmental benefits. Most notably, it has benefitted the global climate by reducing the amount of greenhouse gas going into the atmosphere.
• The Montreal Protocol is widely considered as the most successful environment protection agreement. It sets out a mandatory timetable for the phase-out of ozone-depleting substances.
• The only UN treaty related to environmental issues that have been ratified by all 197 UN member states is Montreal Protocol​.

Therefore, option 2 is the correct answer.

Additional Information

1. Paris Agreement

• The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change.
• It was adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016. Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.
• The Paris Agreement sets out a global framework to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. It also aims to strengthen countries' ability to deal with the impacts of climate change and support them in their efforts.

2. Kyoto Protocol

• Kyoto Protocol, in full Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, international treaty, named for the Japanese city in which it was adopted in December 1997, that aimed to reduce the emission of gases that contribute to global warming.

• Kyoto Protocol only binds developed countries and places a heavier burden on them under the principle of “common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities”, because it recognizes that they are largely responsible for the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere.

The answer is 3) Statement (I) is incorrect but Statement (II) is correct.Key Points 

• Statement (I): Incorrect. Under the Montreal Protocol, developed and developing countries have different timetables for phasing out Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS). Developed countries had to completely phase out most ODS by 1996, while developing countries were given a grace period and had to phase them out by 2010.
• Statement (II): Correct. The Montreal Protocol does refer to developing countries as "Article 5 Countries". This is because Article 5 of the protocol outlines the specific provisions for developing countries, including the differentiated timetable for phasing out ODS.

Therefore, only Statement (II) is accurate. Statement (I) is incorrect because of the different timelines for developed and developing nations.

 Key Points

Various protocols/Summits in chronological order are described as follows :

Hence, B, D, C, and A is the correct chronological order.