[Mission 2023] STATIC QUIZ, 10 November 2022 – Environment

Solution: c)

The Global Tiger Initiative (GTI) was launched in 2008 as a global alliance of governments, international organizations, civil society, the conservation and scientific communities and the private sector, with the aim of working together to save wild tigers from extinction. In 2013, the scope was broadened to include Snow Leopards.

The GTI’s founding partners included the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Smithsonian Institution, Save the Tiger Fund, and International Tiger Coalition (representing more than 40 non-government organizations).

Solution: d)

Published annually since 2005, the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) tracks countries’ efforts to combat climate change. As an independent monitoring tool it aims to enhance transparency in international climate politics and enables comparison of climate protection efforts and progress made by individual countries.

Germanwatch, the NewClimate Institute and the Climate Action Network publish the index annually.

If a country fails to meet its NDCs, there is no penalty.

Solution: d)

The UNFCCC was adopted in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit, which marked the beginning of the international community’s first concerted effort to confront the problem of climate change.

Known also as the Rio Convention, the UNFCCC established a framework for action to stabilise concentrations of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere.

The UNFCCC entered into force in 1994, and nearly all of the world’s nations—a total of 197 (as of 2020)—have ratified.

The framework sets non-binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions for individual countries and contains no enforcement mechanisms.

Solution: c)

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is a treaty for conservation and sustainable use of such sites. It is named after Ramsar, the Iranian city where the treaty was signed in 1971, and places chosen for conservation under it are given the tag ‘Ramsar site.’

The convention, signed in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar, is one of the oldest inter-governmental accord for preserving the ecological character of wetlands.

Also known as the Convention on Wetlands, it aims to develop a global network of wetlands for conservation of biological diversity and for sustaining human life. Wetlands provide a wide range of important resources and ecosystem services such as food, water, fibre, groundwater recharge, water purification, flood moderation, erosion control and climate regulation.

Over 171 countries are party to the Ramsar Convention and over 2,300 designated sites have been recognised under it.

The Ramsar Convention works closely with six other organisations known as international organization partners (IOPs). These are:

• BirdLife International
• International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
• International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
• Wetlands International
• WWF International
• Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT)

These organizations support the work of the convention by providing expert technical advice, helping implement field studies, and providing financial support. The IOPs also participate regularly as observers in all meetings of the conference of the parties and as full members of the Scientific and Technical Review Panel.

Solution: c)

The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration runs from 2021–2030. Similar to other nature related international decades, its purpose is to promote the United Nation’s enviromental goals.

Following on from the 2011 – 2020 United Nations Decade on Biodiversity, the decade on Ecosystem Restoration was launched in June 2021.

The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration is co-led by two UN agencies – the UNEP and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Other key bodies involved are the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF).