Environment Quiz: Environmental Organizations |20 Apr, 2021

The Indian Network on Climate Change Assessment (INCCA) was launched in October 2009 by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) in an effort to promote domestic research on climate change, and build on the country’s climate change expertise.

· INCCA is a network-based programme of the MoEF, which consists of over 120 institutions and over 250 scientist’s country wide is aimed at bringing in more science-based policy-making, based on measurements, monitoring and modeling.

· Reports prepared by the INCCA will form a part of India’s National Communication (Nat Com) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Source: Shankar

In pursuance of the implementation of the provisions of the Convention, India’s Initial National Communication (NATCOM) to the UNFCCC has been initiated in 2002 funded by the Global Environment Facility under its enabling activities programme through the United Nations Development Programme, New Delhi.

Source: Shankar

The Kyoto Protocol is made up of essential architecture that has been built and shaped over almost two decades of experience, hard work and political will. The beating heart of KP is made up of:

1. Reporting and verification procedures;

2. Flexible market-based mechanisms, which in turn have their own governance procedures; and

3. A compliance system.

The Kyoto Flexible Market Protocol mechanisms:

• Joint Implementation (JI)

• The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

• Emission Trading

Source: Shankar

The GEF was established in 1991 by the World Bank in consultation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), to provide funding to protect the global environment.

Source: GEF

The inspiration came from Chi-Chi: a giant panda that had arrived at the London Zoo in the year 1961, when WWF was being created.

Aware of the need for a strong, recognizable symbol that would overcome all language barriers, WWF’s founders agreed that the big, furry animal with her appealing, black-patched eyes would make an excellent logo.

Source: Shankar

The GEF’s governance, operational, financial and administrative oversight procedures are set out in the Instrument for the Establishment of the Restructured Global Environment Facility, which was adopted in 1994 and subsequently amended in 2002 (GEF Instrument). The GEF now has six focal areas:

· biological diversity;

· climate change;

· international waters;

· land degradation, primarily desertification and deforestation;

· ozone layer depletion; and

· persistent organic pollutants.

Source: GEF

The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) is the main international convention covering prevention of pollution of the marine environment by ships from operational or accidental causes.

· The MARPOL Convention was adopted on 2 November 1973 at IMO. The Protocol of 1978 was adopted in response to a spate of tanker accidents in 1976-1977.

· As the 1973 MARPOL Convention had not yet entered into force, the 1978 MARPOL Protocol absorbed the parent Convention. The combined instrument entered into force on 2 October 1983.

· In 1997, a Protocol was adopted to amend the Convention and a new Annex VI was added which entered into force on 19 May 2005. MARPOL has been updated by amendments through the years.

· The Convention includes regulations aimed at preventing and minimizing pollution from ships – both accidental pollution and that from routine operations – and currently includes six technical Annexes.

Source: Shankar

Build up scientific knowledge on wildlife resources. Train personnel at various levels for conservation and management of wildlife.

· Carry out research relevant to management including the development of techniques appropriate to Indian conditions.

· Provide information and advice on specific wildlife management problems.

· Collaborate with international organizations on wildlife research, management and training.

· Develop as a regional centre of international importance on wildlife and natural resource conservation.

· Publicity and consultancy services

Source: Shankar

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and wildlife, and have harmful impacts on human health or on the environment.

· Exposure to Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) can lead to serious health effects including certain cancers, birth defects, dysfunctional immune and reproductive systems, greater susceptibility to disease and damages to the central and peripheral nervous systems.

· Given their long-range transport, no one government acting alone can protect its citizens or its environment from POPs.

· In response to this global problem, the Stockholm Convention, which was adopted in 2001 and entered into force in 2004, requires its parties to take measures to eliminate or reduce the release of POPs into the environment.

Source: Stockholm Convention

Sinking islands may become a reality with sea level rise and climate change in decades to come.

· Tamil Nadu has hit upon a novel idea to protect such islands on its coast – deployment of artificial reefs near vulnerable islands.

· Artificial reefs, made of concrete, have been found to be capable of preventing further erosion of ecologically sensitive islands and also regenerate coral biodiversity in the Gulf of Mannar region.

· Vaan is one of the 21 islands in the Gulf of Mannar, which was declared marine biodiversity park in 1986.

· Indiscriminate mining of coral and use of destructive fishing practices in the past few decades have fully submerged two of the islands while Vaan was on the verge of submergence when the project began in 2015.

· Its area had been reduced from 16 hectares in 1986 to 2 hectares in 2014.

Source: The Hindu