UPSC Prelims 2010 · General Studies

Question 56: Environment and Ecology

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international treaty drawn at

aUnited Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm, 1972

bUN Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 1992

cWorld Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, 2002

dUN Climate Change Conference, Copenhagen, 2009

AnswerThe answer is (b).

The UNFCCC was adopted in 1992 at the UN Conference on Environment and Development, the Rio Earth Summit, and entered into force in 1994. It commits parties to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations and sets the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. Stockholm 1972 was the first UN environment conference, Johannesburg 2002 reviewed sustainable development, and Copenhagen 2009 was a meeting of the parties to the UNFCCC, not the place where it was drawn up. Remember: Rio 1992 = UNFCCC, CBD and Agenda 21.

Why each option is right or wrong

(a) Stockholm 1972 was the first UN conference on the human environment, long before the UNFCCC.
(b) Right: the UNFCCC was drawn up at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.
(c) Johannesburg 2002 reviewed sustainable development ten years after Rio.
(d) Copenhagen 2009 was a UNFCCC meeting; it did not draw up the treaty.

Explanation: written by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.

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Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2010, General Studies, Series A. The paper on upsc.gov.in.