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UPPCS Environment Gap Sheet: Environmental Conventions and Summits.
UPPCS has asked 21 of these. 8 have not been asked yet. Lock the first list, then read the second: it holds what UPPCS has not used yet.
First, the concept
The modern story starts at Stockholm (1972), which created UNEP. The Rio Earth Summit (1992) then gave three conventions: on climate (UNFCCC), on biodiversity (CBD) and, soon after, on desertification (UNCCD).
Each big convention has 'protocols' that add rules: Kyoto and Paris under the UNFCCC; Cartagena and Nagoya under the CBD; Kigali under the Montreal Protocol.
UPPCS asks a treaty with its year, its city, or its subject.
✅ Already asked (21)
Climate and ozone
- Montreal Protocol · 1987; phases out CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances
- UNFCCC · 1992, Rio; the climate change convention; its yearly meeting is the COP
- Kyoto Protocol · 1997; binding cuts for rich countries; carbon credits and CDM
- Paris Agreement · 2015 (COP21); keep warming well below 2°C, try for 1.5°C; national pledges (NDCs)
- Loss and Damage Fund · Agreed at COP27, Sharm el-Sheikh (2022)
- COP26, Glasgow · 2021; India announced net zero by 2070 (Panchamrit)
- COP28 Dubai and COP29 Baku · 2023: first global stocktake; 2024: new climate finance goal
Nature and biodiversity
- Ramsar Convention · 1971, Iran; wetlands
- CITES · 1973, Washington; trade in endangered plants and animals
- Bonn Convention (CMS) · 1979; migratory species; India hosted COP13 at Gandhinagar (2020)
- Convention on Biological Diversity · 1992, Rio; India's Biological Diversity Act 2002 follows it
- Cartagena Protocol · 2000; safe movement of genetically modified organisms
- Nagoya Protocol · 2010; access and benefit sharing of genetic resources
Chemicals and waste
- Rotterdam Convention · 1998; prior informed consent for hazardous chemicals in trade
- Stockholm Convention · 2001; persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as DDT
Landmark meetings and bodies
- Stockholm Conference · 1972; first UN meeting on the human environment; 5 June became World Environment Day
- UNEP · 1972; headquarters in Nairobi
- Brundtland Report · 1987, 'Our Common Future'; defined sustainable development
- Rio Earth Summit and Agenda 21 · 1992, Rio de Janeiro
- Rio+20 · 2012; led to the Sustainable Development Goals
- International Solar Alliance · Launched by India and France at COP21 (2015); based in Gurugram
❌ Not asked yet (8)
Items marked 'asked in other exams' have come in UPSC or other state exams, not yet in UPPCS.
🔒 8 items not asked yet
Climate and ozone: 2 · Nature and biodiversity: 2 · Chemicals and waste: 2 · Landmark meetings and bodies: 2
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⚠️ Montreal Protocol is about the ozone layer, Kyoto about greenhouse gases. Kigali amended the Montreal Protocol, not the Kyoto Protocol. Ramsar is in Iran, Rio is in Brazil.
'Asked' and 'not asked' are checked against every UPPCS question on this site. 'Not asked yet' does not mean it will surely come.