1. Global Environment Facility

It was established in October 1991 as a $1 billion pilot program in the World Bank to assist in the protection of the global environment and to promote sustainable development 

It serves as financial mechanism for

1. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
2. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
3. Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
4. UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)
5. Minamata Convention on Mercury
6. although not linked formally to Montreal Protocol on Ozone depleting substances, supports implementation of the Protocol in countries with economies in transition

Discuss– Green Climate Fund and Green Bnds

2. Earth summit, 1992 (UNCED)

United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) led to

• UNFCC
• CBD
• UNCCD <combat desertification>

Note – United Nation Conference on Human environment was held in 1972 at Stockholm

Discuss-  what happened in Rio+20

3. IPCC and UNEP

• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is an agency of United Nations and coordinates its environmental activities.
• It was founded in 1972
• It publishes Global Environment Outlook <GEO>
• Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 by two UN organization, UNEP and World meteorological Organization (WMO)
• The IPCC does not carry out its own original research, nor does it do the work of monitoring climate or related phenomena itself. The IPCC bases it’s assessment on published literature.
• So far 5 assessment reports have been published

Discuss – who publishes global economic outlook

Discuss- major findings of 5th assessment report

Discuss- what is this Brundtland commission report? When was it published?

4. Convention on Biological Diversity

3 goals

1. conservation of biological diversity <cartagena protocol on biosafety, 2003, to protect biodiversity from LMOs>
2. sustainable use of its components
3. fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources < Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization, wef 2014>
4. There are 20 Aichi <place in Japan> Targets for biodiversity under short term strategic plan for biodiversity 2011- 2020

• COP 13, 2016 will take place in Cancum, Mexico
• COP 12, 2014 was held in Pyeongchang, ROK and the theme was Biodiversity for Sustainable Development

Discuss- Imp Aichi targets

5. Biological Diversity Act, 2002

enacted to meet the obligations under CBD

3 tier structure

• National Biodiversity Authority (NBA)-autonomous body, headquartered in Chennai
• State Biodiversity Boards (SBB)
• Biological management committees (for each local body)

Imp.- foreigner, non-resident Indian or foreign company need to take permission from NBA before obtaining any biological resources or associated knowledge from India for research, survey, commercial utilisation while citizens orIndian companies need to take permission from the concerned State Biodiversity Board

Result of research using biological resources from India cannot be transferred to a non-citizen or a foreign company without the permission of NBA

Discuss- Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL)