Page 16 - Guidelines for Training/ Orientation of Faculty on IKS

Unit VIII. Environmental Treaties and Legislation

Learning outcomes
After completion of this unit, students would be able to:

• Learn about how the nations of the world work together for the environment.

• Learn about the major international treaties and our country’s stand on and responses to
the major international agreements.
• Learn about major international institutions and programmes and the role played by
them in the protection and preservation of the environment.

Unit Outline
An overview of instruments of international cooperation; bilateral and multilateral agreements;
conventions and protocols; adoption, signature, ratification and entry into force; binding and non-
binding measures; Conference of the Parties (COP)

Major International Environmental Agreements: Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); Cartagena
Protocol on Biosafety; Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing; Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES); Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of
International Importance; United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD); Vienna
Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer; Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete

the Ozone Layer and the Kigali Amendment; Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary
Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal; Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed
Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade; Stockholm
Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants; Minamata Convention on Mercury; United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); Kyoto Protocol; Paris Agreement; India’s status
as a party to major conventions

Major Indian Environmental Legislations: The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972; The Water
(Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974; The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980; The Air
(Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981; The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986; The
Biological Diversity Act, 2002; The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers
(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006; Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000;
Industry-specific environmental standards; Waste management rules; Ramsar sites; Biosphere
reserves; Protected Areas; Ecologically Sensitive Areas; Coastal Regulation Zone; Status phase-out
of production and consumption of Ozone Depleting Substances by India; National Green Tribunal;
Some landmark Supreme Court judgements

Major International organisations and initiatives: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN),World Commission on Environment and
Development (WCED), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme.

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