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THE THREE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTIONS ON THE ENVIRONMENT PDF Stampa E-mail

 


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Climate Change (UNFCCC)

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Drawn up in 1992 during the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro ; came into effect in 1994. 188 signatory states.
Results so far:
The signatory states of Appendix I (24 industrialized countries, the European Union, and 14 countries in economic transition) agreed to limit the greenhouse effect by reducing to the 1990 level all polluting emissions by the year 2000. The developing countries have the right to apply for financing from the funds of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) set up by the United Nations so as to present a report.
With Appendix II, the 24 industrialized countries and the European Union reached a financial agreement for allocating resources for the transfer of technology.
The GEF has allocated $884 million for projects on climate change and has received another $4.9 billion from beneficiary countries and other organizations.
The Kyoto Protocol, 1997, requires all countries under Appendix I to reduce, by 2012, polluting emissions by 5.2 percent with respect to 1990 levels.

Problems:
The Kyoto Protocol is still the subject of much controversy; 40 states have ratified it but, to make it valid, at least 55 countries must ratify it, including those in Appendix I who are responsible for 55 percent of world emissions.
In the industrialized countries, emissions continue to increase and the USA has recently withdrawn from the Kyoto Protocol.


Biodiversity (CBD)

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Drawn up in 1992 during the UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro. Came into effect in 1993. 192 signatory states.
Sets out wide-reaching lines of conduct for the conservation of biodiversity at national level and requires participating countries to develop national strategies for safeguarding biodiversity.

Results so far:
Recognizes national sovereignty of biological resources and affirms the principle of "prior informed consent" before any resources are exported from a country. Stresses that biodiversity use must be sustainable and that the benefits accruing must be shared equally between the country of origin and the importing country.
The GEF has financed projects for safeguarding biodiversity for $1,02 billion in 120 developing countries.

Problems:
So far, only about 70 countries have drawn up national strategies. Most of the available resources have been used to produce national reports and only 54 countries have respected the deadline (May 2001).

The Cartagena Protocol of the year 2000 on Biological Security allows governments to admit, or not, the import of genetically modified organisms, but up to the present it has only been ratified by 7 countries (at least 50 ratifications are needed to make it valid).



Struggle Against Desertification (UNCCD)

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In order to halt this alarming phenomenon which affects not only depressed and under-populated areas but also the rich "first world"(southern Europe, according to UNEP, the UN Environment Programme) is one of the areas in the world most affected percentage wise by degradation and desertification, the effects of which are only too well-known in the continents of Africa and Latin America) , the UN drew up this International Convention in 1994; it became effective in 1996. Up to the present, 179 countries are Parties to the CCD.

Results so far:
A flexible structure, consisting of a network of five regions: Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, northern Mediterranean, and Central and Eastern Europe (this last annex was approved during the Fourth Session of the Conference of the Parties and enter into force on September 2001). Each of these regions has the power to plan and execute projects to meet local needs. At least 175 reports have been submitted by countries affected by desertification. At the same time a growing number of action plans at the national, sub-regional and regional level have been presented and in some places projects are already under way.

Problems:
The treaty states that the greater part of the financial resources required should come from the interested countries themselves, thus depriving many projects of a stable financial source (these projects do not figure among those having right of access to the GEF fund).
The commitments made by the developing countries, and equally those by the industrialized countries, are rather generic, leaving ample space for inaction.

In many aspects, the three UN Conventions on the environment overlap. Among the elements common to all three is the recognition of the necessity for a better understanding of the impact of human activity on the global environment (regarding climatic, meteorological and hydrological systems) and repercussions on the land and living organisms.
On the scientific level, one is inclined to believe that once an integrated approach to the three issues has been agreed, the need will arise for international and national coordination of the planning and implementation of specific interventions.
The experience gained from earlier treaties on the environment shows that the efficacy of an agreement is strengthened when the scientific understanding of the problems deepens, technologies improve and public opinion for reform is stimulated.

 
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