UPPSC 2019 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 97 of 150

Correct — D, Kyoto Protocol — Save water. The question asks for the mismatched pair, and this is it. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted at the third Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, held at Kyoto in December 1997, and it entered into force in February 2005. Its subject is greenhouse gases, not water: it placed legally binding emission-reduction targets on the developed (Annex-I) countries for a basket of gases including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, and created three flexibility mechanisms — international emissions trading, Joint Implementation and the Clean Development Mechanism, the last of which generated the 'carbon credits' Indian firms earned. Water conservation is nowhere in its text; the treaty most associated with water bodies is the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (1971). Since the other three pairs are all correct, (d) is the answer.

• (a)Cartagena Protocol — Biosafety — Correctly matched, so it is not the answer. The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety was adopted in 2000 under the Convention on Biological Diversity and entered into force in 2003; it regulates the transboundary movement, handling and use of living modified organisms, using the precautionary approach and an advance informed agreement procedure.
• (b)Stockholm Convention — Persistent organic pollutant — Correctly matched, so it is not the answer. The Stockholm Convention, adopted in 2001 and in force from 2004, targets persistent organic pollutants — the original 'dirty dozen' included DDT, PCBs, dioxins and furans — chemicals that resist degradation, travel long distances and accumulate in fatty tissue.
• (c)Montreal Protocol — Ozone layer — Correctly matched, so it is not the answer. The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was agreed in 1987 under the Vienna Convention of 1985 and phases out chlorofluorocarbons, halons and HCFCs; its Kigali Amendment of 2016 extended control to hydrofluorocarbons, which are potent greenhouse gases.

Multilateral environmental agreements come in families, and each family has a parent convention with protocols hanging off it. Under the Vienna Convention (1985) sits the Montreal Protocol on ozone. Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992) sit the Kyoto Protocol (1997) and the Paris Agreement (2015). Under the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) sit the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2000) and the Nagoya Protocol on access and benefit sharing (2010). The chemicals-and-waste cluster is separate again — Basel on hazardous waste (1989), Rotterdam on prior informed consent (1998) and Stockholm on persistent organic pollutants (2001). Learn the parent, and each protocol's subject follows.

This is the classic 'odd pair out' item, and it is designed to be solved by elimination rather than by deep knowledge. Three pairs are textbook-standard. The fourth attaches a famous climate treaty to a subject — water conservation — that has no treaty of that name at all, which is the give-away. Examiners also mine the near-miss: pairing Kyoto with the ozone layer instead, a trap UPSC used in 2005. Keep the two atmospheric treaties separate in your head: Montreal is ozone (chemicals that destroy stratospheric ozone), Kyoto is climate (gases that trap heat).

• Kyoto Protocol: adopted December 1997 under the UNFCCC, in force February 2005; binding greenhouse-gas targets for developed (Annex-I) countries, with emissions trading, Joint Implementation and the Clean Development Mechanism.
• Montreal Protocol: adopted 1987 under the Vienna Convention (1985); phases out ozone-depleting substances such as CFCs, halons and HCFCs; the Kigali Amendment (2016) added hydrofluorocarbons.
• Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety: adopted 2000 under the Convention on Biological Diversity, in force 2003; governs transboundary movement of living modified organisms.
• Stockholm Convention: adopted 2001, in force 2004; eliminates or restricts persistent organic pollutants, beginning with the 'dirty dozen' including DDT, PCBs and dioxins.
• No global protocol is called a 'save water' treaty; wetlands and water bodies are covered by the Ramsar Convention of 1971.

• Pairing the Kyoto Protocol with the ozone layer — an old favourite; ozone belongs to Montreal.
• Assuming Cartagena is a climate protocol because of the city's Latin-American ring; it sits under the biodiversity convention.
• Mixing up Nagoya (access and benefit sharing of genetic resources) with Cartagena (living modified organisms).

UPPSC asks these as one-line 'correctly / not correctly matched' pairs, while UPSC embeds the same knowledge in multi-pair statement sets such as 'Annex-I Countries : Cartagena Protocol' — the same treaty families, tested with more cross-wiring.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following pairs is correctly matched?

  • (a)Basel Convention — transboundary movement of hazardous wastes
  • (b)Ramsar Convention — persistent organic pollutants
  • (c)Nagoya Protocol — ozone-depleting substances
  • (d)Paris Agreement — biosafety of living modified organisms

  Answer(a) Basel Convention — transboundary movement of hazardous wastes. Ramsar covers wetlands, Nagoya covers access and benefit sharing of genetic resources, and the Paris Agreement covers climate change.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Kigali Amendment (2016) to the Montreal Protocol brought which group of substances under control?

  • (a)Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
  • (b)Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
  • (c)Persistent organic pollutants
  • (d)Methane and nitrous oxide

  Answer(b) Hydrofluorocarbons — they do not deplete ozone but are powerful greenhouse gases, so the ozone treaty was extended to phase them down.