National & International Organization for Environment, Climate Change & Bio-diversity

Environmental Organisation

International Union For Conservation Of Nature (IUCN)

IUCN has become the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it. The knowledge and the tools IUCN provide are critical for ensuring that human progress, economic development and nature conservation take place together.

IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, was established on 5 October 1948

in the French town of Fontainebleau. It changed its name to the International Union for

Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) in 1956 and was also known as the

World Conservation Union.

• The IUCN is the world’s oldest global environmental organization.
• Its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland.
• As the first global environmental union, it brought together governments and civil society organisations with a shared goal to protect nature. Its aim was to encourage international cooperation and provide scientific knowledge and tools to guide conservation action.
• IUCN also played a fundamental role in the creation of key international conventions, including the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (1971), the World Heritage Convention (1972), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (1974), and the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992).
• In 1980, IUCN – in partnership with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) – published the World Conservation Strategy, a groundbreaking document which helped define the concept of ‘sustainable development’ and shaped the global conservation and sustainable development agenda.
• A subsequent version of the strategy, caring for the Earth, was published by the three organisations in the run-up to the 1992 Earth Summit. It served as the basis for international environmental policy and guided the creation of the Rio Conventions on biodiversity (CBD), climate change (UNFCCC) and desertification (UNCCD). 
• In the early 2000s, IUCN developed its business engagement strategy. Prioritising sectors with a significant impact on nature and livelihoods, such as mining and oil and gas, its aim is to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.
• Later in the 2000s, IUCN pioneered ‘nature-based solutions’ – actions to conserve nature which also address global challenges, such as food and water security, climate change and poverty reduction.
• Today, with the expertise and reach of its more than 1,300 Members – including States, government agencies, NGOs and Indigenous Peoples’ Organisations – and over 10,000 international experts, IUCN is the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network. It continues to champion nature-based solutions as key to the implementation of international agreements such as the Paris climate change agreement and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

There are various programs and initiatives of IUCN are given below: -

1. IUCN Red Data List

• Established in 1964, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of animal, fungi and plant species.
• The IUCN Red List is a critical indicator of the health of the world’s biodiversity. It provides information about range, population size, habitat and ecology, use and/or trade, threats, and conservation actions that will help inform necessary conservation decisions.
• The IUCN Red List is used by government agencies, wildlife departments, conservation-related non-governmental organizations (NGOs), natural resource planners, educational organizations, students, and the business community.
• The Red List process has become a massive enterprise involving the IUCN Global Species Program, the IUCN Species Survival Commission and partner networks who compile the species information to make The IUCN Red List the indispensable product it is today.
• Currently there are more than 105,700 species on The IUCN Red List, with more than 28,000 species threatened with extinction, including 40% of amphibians, 34% of conifers, 33% of reef building corals, 25% of mammals and 14% of birds.

2. Ecosystem Management Programme

The well-being of people all over the world depends on the various goods and services provided by ecosystems, including food, fuel, construction materials, clean water and air, and protection from natural hazards. Ecosystems, however, are under increasing pressure from unsustainable use and other threats including outright conversion. To address this concern, IUCN promotes the sound management of ecosystems through the wider application of the Ecosystem Approach – a strategy for the integrated management of land, water and living resources that places human needs at its centre, through the Ecosystem Management Programme.

The Ecosystem Management Programme works on five key programmatic areas for IUCN:

• Red List of Ecosystems, compiles information on the state of the world’s ecosystems at different geographic scales. Its central objective is to assess the risk of ecosystem collapse.
• Ecosystem based Adaptation, where the Initiative aims to include biodiversity concerns in adaptation and mitigation polices and practice, as well as furthering natural resource management strategies that help biodiversity and people to adapt to the impacts of climate change. The Initiative coordinates Climate Change work across IUCN's programmes, regions, Commissions and member organizations.
• Disaster Risk Reduction, where the programme aims to promote integration of ecosystem management, livelihoods, community vulnerability and climate change adaptation to disaster management.
• Drylands, where the programme demonstrates the high value of ecosystem services and shows how to adapt development and conservation approaches to the unique challenges of aridity and climatic uncertainty.
• Global Island Partnership, this is a voluntary partnership for all islands, regardless of size or political status, to take bold steps to build resilient and sustainable island communities through innovative partnerships. In addition, the Programme provides technical input on integrating wider ecosystem-scale biodiversity issues into IUCN’s programmes globally, regionally and nationally.

3. Red List of Ecosystems

The Red List of Ecosystems evaluates whether ecosystems have reached the final stage of degradation, whether they are threatened at Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable levels, or if they are not currently facing significant risk of collapse (Least Concern). It is based on a set of rules, or criteria, for performing evidence-based, scientific assessments of the risk of ecosystem collapse, as measured by reductions in geographical distribution or degradation of the key processes and components of ecosystems.

A) The Red List of Ecosystems will be of great value to a number of different sectors, including:

• Conservation: to help prioritize investments in ecosystem management and restoration, reform resource use practices, and reward good and improved ecosystem management.
• Natural resource management: to illustrate ecosystem risks under different land use/development scenarios, and offer insights into ecosystems that provide services such as clean water, soil productivity and the availability of natural products.
• Macro-economic planning: to highlight both the economic costs of reduced ecosystem services and potential economic benefits of improved ecosystem management.
• Improvement of governance and livelihoods: to inform development of governance systems that improve ecosystem management, livelihood security and social outcomes.
• Global environmental reporting: to inform governments and the global community on progress towards achieving international environmental targets.
• Private sector: to assess potential environmental and social benefits and costs of alternative designs of future development projects, as well as monitor and report on environmental impacts.
• Public sector: to inform the public about the current state of ecosystems and their future prognosis.

B) Red List of Ecosystems objectives and goals

• A global assessment of the ecosystems of the world by 2025.
• Technical support will be provided for stakeholders to carry out finer scale assessments at national and regional levels. These may be led by government agencies, NGOs, academic institutions, IUCN national and regional offices and their networks of collaborators.
• The Red List criteria may be applied to assess individual ecosystems of particular interest to stakeholders.

C) Ecosystem red lists have the potential to complement the policy successes of species red lists in several ways.

• Ecosystems may more effectively represent biological diversity as a whole than individual species.
• The eco-systemic scale includes fundamental abiotic components that are only indirectly included in species assessments.
• Decline in ecosystem status may be more apparent than extinctions of individual species.
• Ecosystem-level assessments may be less time consuming than species-by-species assessments.
• Red lists of ecosystems may suggest areas in which extirpation are likely to result from extinction debt in response to loss and fragmentation of species’ habitats, because decline in the extent and status of an ecosystem may precede the loss of its species.

D) Red List of Ecosystems Categories and Criteria

The IUCN Red List of Ecosystems protocol includes five criteria for assessing the risk of ecosystem collapse:

• Reduction in geographic distribution
• Restricted geographic distribution
• Environmental degradation
• Disruption of biotic processes or interactions
• Quantitative analysis that estimates the probability of ecosystem collapse

4. Global Drylands Initiative

A) Drylands are found in tropical and temperate latitudes and account for 41.3% of the global terrestrial area.

• They can be classified into four types - dry sub-humid, semi-arid, arid and hyper-arid lands - encompassing a variety of ecosystems.
• The goal of the Global Drylands Initiative is to restore, sustainably manage and protect dryland ecosystems for multiple environmental, economic and social benefits.
• The Initiative supports countries to adapt ecosystem management policy and practice to the unique conditions of the drylands and to the evolving challenges that the drylands face

B) The Global Drylands Initiative aims to:

• Generate evidence for targeting and monitoring of dryland conditions and trends through adapted assessment approaches that operationalize current understanding on nonequilibrium dryland ecology.
• Strengthen governance for sustainable land management by strengthening of resource rights, establishment of institutional mechanisms for ecosystem management, and development of enabling conditions for policy implementation and revision.
• Promote policy implementation for dryland ecosystem management by enhancing the knowledge and capacity of various stakeholders to adapt policies and investments to the unique conditions of the drylands.

5. Mangroves for the Future

• MFF is a unique partner-led initiative to promote investment in coastal ecosystem conservation for sustainable development.
• Co-chaired by IUCN and UNDP.
• MFF provides a platform for collaboration among the many different agencies, sectors and countries which are addressing challenges to coastal ecosystem and livelihood issues.
• The goal is to promote an integrated ocean-wide approach to coastal management and to building the resilience of ecosystem-dependent coastal communities.
• MFF builds on a history of coastal management interventions before and after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. It initially focused on the countries that were worst affected by the tsunami -- India, Indonesia, Maldives, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Thailand. More recently it has expanded to include Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Vietnam.
• Mangroves are the flagship of the initiative, but MFF is inclusive of all types of coastal ecosystem, such as coral reefs, estuaries, lagoons, sandy beaches, seagrasses and wetlands.
• Each country manages its own MFF programme through a National Coordinating Body which includes representation from government, NGOs and the private sector. MFF addresses priorities for long-term sustainable coastal ecosystem management which include, among others: climate change adaptation and mitigation, disaster risk reduction, promotion of ecosystem health, development of sustainable livelihoods, and active engagement of the private sector in developing sustainable business practices.
• The emphasis is on generating knowledge, empowering local communities and advocating for policy solutions that will support best practice in integrated coastal management.
• MFF will increasingly focus on building resilience of ecosystem-dependent coastal communities by promoting nature-based solutions and by showcasing the climate change adaptation and mitigation benefits that can be achieved with healthy mangrove forests and other types of coastal vegetation.

6. The Restoration Initiative (TRI)

The Restoration Initiative unites 10 Asian and African countries and three Global Environment Facility agencies – IUCN, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, and the UN Environment Program – in working to overcome existing barriers to restoration and restore degraded landscapes at scale, and in support of the Bonn Challenge. A growing global movement of political and community leaders, farmers, scientists, businesses and investors is taking action to restore degraded landscapes. One significant outcome of this support is the Bonn Challenge – a global effort to bring 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded land into restoration by 2020, and 350 million hectares by 2030. To date, 57 governments and private sector entities have pledged 170 million hectares towards the Bonn Challenge target.

For each partnering country, project interventions will include work in four key areas:

• Policy development and integration enhancing the in-country enabling environment for FLR;
• Implementation of restoration programmes and complementary initiatives providing direct support for implementation of integrated landscape restoration work, and providing scalable models for wider uptake;
• Capacity building and finance mobilisation supporting efforts to unlock and mobilise additional funding for FLR, and to strengthen and enhance the abilities of countries, institutions, and people to plan and manage FLR; and
• Knowledge sharing and partnerships providing support for the capture and sharing of innovative experiences and best practices, raising awareness of FLR needs and opportunities, and developing and strengthening critical partnerships.

7. The Bonn Challenge

• The Bonn Challenge is a global effort to bring 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested land into restoration by 2020 and 350 million by 2030.
• The 2020 target was launched at a high level event in Bonn in 2011 organized by the Government of Germany and IUCN, and was later endorsed and extended to 2030 by the New York Declaration on Forests of the 2014 UN Climate Summit. To date, 56 governments, private associations and companies have pledged over 168 million hectares to the Challenge.
• The Bonn Challenge is an implementation vehicle for national priorities such as water and food security and rural development while simultaneously helping countries contribute to the achievement of international climate change, biodiversity and land degradation commitments.
• The restoration of 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested lands in biomes around the world – in line with the forest landscape restoration (FLR) approach – will create approximately US$ 84 billion per year in net benefits that could bring direct additional income opportunities for rural communities.
• About 90% of this value is potentially tradable, meaning that it encompasses market-related benefits. Achieving the 350-million-hectare goal will generate about US$ 170 billion per year in net benefits from watershed protection, improved crop yields and forest products, and could sequester up to 1.7 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually.

Further, as the IUCN Focal Point to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the Global Drylands Initiative leads IUCN's efforts to influence the global discourse on Land Degradation and Sustainable Land Management. In this case, the Initiative supports countries to implement their commitments to the Convention by demonstrating good practices on the ground, influencing the sciencepolicy interaction of the Convention itself and working with other stakeholders to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

• The IPCC was created to provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments on climate change, its implications and potential future risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation options.
• IPCC assessments provide a scientific basis for governments at all levels to develop climate related policies, and they underlie negotiations at the UN Climate Conference – the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• IPCC created in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the objective of the IPCC is to provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies.
• The IPCC is an organization of governments that are members of the United Nations or WMO. The IPCC currently has 195 members.
• People from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC. For the assessment reports, IPCC scientists volunteer their time to assess the thousands of scientific papers published each year to provide a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks.
• The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was shared between the IPCC and Al Gore.
• Besides the Sixth Assessment Report, to be completed by 2022. The IPCC released the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C in October 2018, the Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL), published on 7 August 2019, and the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC), released on 25 September 2019

Key points of IPCC report

A) Unprecedented Scale

• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says the 1.5 deg. C goal is technically and economically feasible, but depends on political leadership to become reality.
• The panel says capping global warming at 1.5 deg. C above pre-industrial levels will require "rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society".
• Earth's average surface temperature has already gone up 1 deg. C - enough to unleash a surge of deadly extreme weather - and is on track to rise another two or three degrees unless there is a sharp and sustained reduction in carbon pollution.
• At current levels of greenhouse gas emissions, the planet could pass the 1.5 deg. C marker as early as 2030, and no later than mid-century.
• Emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) - the main greenhouse gas - should peak no later than 2020 and curve sharply downwards from there, according to scenarios in the report.
• Limiting global warming to 1.5 deg. C will require investing about US$2.4 trillion in the global energy system every year between 2016 and 2035, or about 2.5 per cent of world gross domestic product. This price tag, however, must be weighed against the even steeper cost of inaction, the report says.

B) 1.5 deg. Centigrade versus 2 deg. Centigrade

• The 2 deg. C was long considered the temperature guardrail for a climate-safe world.
• Some tropical fisheries may collapse between the 1.5 deg. C and 2 deg. C. Staple food crops will decline in yield and nutritional value by an extra 10 per cent to 15 per cent. Coral reefs will mostly perish. Species loss will accelerate substantially.
• Temperature thresholds between 1.5 deg. C and 2 deg. C could push Arctic sea ice, methaneladen permafrost and melting polar ice sheets past a point of no return

The United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP)

• The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system, and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.
• It was founded by Maurice Strong as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm Conference) in June 1972.
• It has played a significant role in developing international environmental conventions, promoting environmental science and information and illustrating the way those can be implemented in conjunction with policy, working on the development and implementation of policy with national governments, regional institutions in conjunction with environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
• UNEP has also been active in funding and implementing environment related development projects.
• UN Environment has aided in the formulation of guidelines and treaties on issues such as the international trade in potentially harmful chemicals, transboundary air pollution, and contamination of international waterways. Relevant documents, including scientific papers, are available via the UNEP Document Repository.
• The World Meteorological Organization and UN Environment established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988. UN Environment is also one of several Implementing Agencies for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol, and it is also a member of the United Nations Development Group.
• UNEP publishes the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) assessment is a comprehensive report on environment, development and human well-being, providing analysis and information for policy makers and the concerned public.

Emission Gap Report

1. The annual UN Environment Emissions Gap Report presents an assessment of current national mitigation efforts and the ambitions countries have presented in their Nationally Determined Contributions, which form the foundation of the Paris Agreement.
2. Scientists agree that to get on track to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C, emissions must drop rapidly to 25 gigatons by 2030.
3. Collectively, if commitments, policies and action can deliver a 7.6% emissions reduction every year between 2020 and 2030.

Campaigns and Awards by UNEP

Clean Seas: 

• UN Environment launched Clean Seas (#CleanSeas on social media) in February 2017, with the aim of engaging governments, the general public and the private sector in the fight against marine plastic pollution. The campaign contributes to the goals of the Global Partnership on Marine Litter, a voluntary open-ended partnership for international agencies, governments, businesses, academia, local authorities and non-governmental organizations hosted by UN Environment.

UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration:

• The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed 2021–2030 as the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, following a proposal for action by over 70 countries from all latitudes. The UN Decade positions the restoration of ecosystems as a major nature- based solution towards meeting a wide range of global development goals and national priorities.
• The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration aims to:

1. Showcase successful government-led and private initiatives to halt ecosystem degradation, restore those ecosystems that have already been degraded
2. Enhance knowledge exchange on what works and why (policy, economics and biophysical aspects), and how to implement restoration at scale
3. Connect initiatives working in the same landscape, region, or topic, to increase efficiency and impact
4. Create links between ecosystem restoration opportunities and initiatives with businesses interested in building a solid portfolio of sustainable production and impact investment
5. Bring a wider spectrum of actors on board, especially from sectors that are not traditionally involved, by demonstrating the importance of ecosystem restoration to conservation as well as generation of social and economic benefits.

World Environment Day: 

• World Environment Day (5th june) is the United Nations day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment. Since it began in 1974, the event has grown to become a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated in over 100 countries. The theme for 2019 is “Air pollution”.

Champions of The Earth:

• The UN Environment Programme’s Champions of the Earth award is the world’s flagship environmental honour. Since 2005, we have recognized heroes who inspire, encourage others to join them, and defend a cleaner future.
• Champions of the Earth are celebrated in four categories:

1. Policy leadership – individuals or organizations in the public sector leading global or national action for the environment. They shape dialogue, lead commitments and act for the good of the planet.
2. Inspiration and action – individuals or organizations taking bold steps to inspire positive change to protect our world. They lead by example, challenge behavior and inspire millions.
3. Entrepreneurial vision – individuals or organizations challenging the status quo to build a cleaner future. They build systems, create new technology and spearhead a groundbreaking vision.
4. Science and innovation – individuals or organizations who push the boundaries of technology for profound environmental benefit. They invent possibilities for a more sustainable world.

The World Meteoroligical Organization (WMO)

• It is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 193 Member States and Territories.
• WMO originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was founded in 1873 to facilitate the exchange of weather information across national borders.
• Established in 1950, the WMO became a specialized agency of the United Nations in 1951. Its mandate is in the areas of meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences.
• WMO has played a unique and powerful role in contributing to the safety and welfare of humanity. It has fostered collaboration between the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services of its Members and furthered the application of meteorology in many areas.
• WMO assists Members with technology transfer, training for capacity development, collaboration on research and the application of meteorology to public weather services, agriculture, the energy sector, the environment, health, transport (aviation and shipping), the management of water resources, disaster risk reduction and many more.
• The Organization also contributes to policy formulation in areas related to weather, climate and water at national and international levels.
• The World Meteorological Day is held annually on 23 March. the theme “The Sun, the Earth and the weather”.
• The Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Programme of WMO focuses on building a single coordinated global understanding of atmospheric composition, its change, and helps to improve the understanding of interactions between the atmosphere, the oceans and the biosphere. The GAW Programme operates according to the GAW Implementation Plan 2016-2023.

Global Atmosphere Watch data are used in the following assessments:

    

    a) WMO/UNEP Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion

    b) Global Precipitation Chemistry Assessment

    c) WMO Arctic and Antarctic ozone bulletins

    d) Greenhouse gas bulletins

    e) Aerosol bulletins

The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) is co-sponsored by the World Meteorological

Organization (WMO), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations

Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (IOC-UNESCO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment), and the International Science Council (ISC). It

regularly assesses the status of global climate observations of the atmosphere, land and ocean and produces guidance for its improvement.

CITES (The Convention on Internationalization Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora)

• CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.
• CITES was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of IUCN (The World Conservation Union). The text of the Convention was finally agreed at a meeting of representatives of 80 countries in Washington, D.C., the United States of America, on 3 March 1973, and on 1 July 1975 CITES entered in force. This is also known as Washington convention.
• CITES is an international agreement to which States and regional economic integration organizations adhere voluntarily. States that have agreed to be bound by the Convention ('joined' CITES) are known as Parties. For many years CITES has been among the conservation agreements with the largest membership, with now 183 Parties.
• Although CITES is legally binding on the Parties – in other words they have to implement the Convention – it does not take the place of national laws. Rather it provides a framework to be respected by each Party, which has to adopt its own domestic legislation to ensure that CITES is implemented at the national level.
• International wildlife trade:

        1. Estimated to be worth billions of dollars and to include hundreds of millions of plant                    and animal specimens.

        2. The trade is diverse, ranging from live animals and plants to a vast array of wildlife                    products derived from them, including food products, exotic leather goods, wooden                  musical instruments, timber, tourist curios and medicines.

        3. Levels of exploitation of some animal and plant species are high and the trade in them,              together with other factors, such as habitat loss, is capable of heavily depleting their                populations and even bringing some species close to extinction.

        4. Many wildlife species in trade are not endangered, but the existence of an agreement              to ensure the sustainability of the trade is important in order to safeguard these                        resources for the future.

• The species covered by CITES are listed in three Appendices, according to the degree of protection they need.

        1. Appendix I: It includes species threatened with extinction. Trade in specimens of these              species is permitted only in exceptional circumstances. E.g. gorillas, sea turtles, lady                slipper orchids and giant pandas

        2. Appendix II: It includes species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but in which

            trade must be controlled in order to avoid utilization incompatible with their survival.                  E.g. paddlefish, lions, American alligators, mahogany and many corals

        3. Appendix III: This Appendix contains species that are protected in at least one country,

            which has asked other CITES Parties for assistance in controlling the trade. E.g. map             turtles, walruses and Cape stag beetles

A specimen of a CITES-listed species may be imported into or exported (or re-exported) from a State party to the Convention only if the appropriate document has been obtained and presented for clearance at the port of entry or exit.

CMS (Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals)

• It is an environmental treaty under the aegis of the United Nations Environment Programme, CMS provides a global platform for the conservation and sustainable use of migratory animals and their habitats. CMS brings together the States through which migratory animals pass, the Range States, and lays the legal foundation for internationally coordinated conservation measures throughout a migratory range.
• CMS signed in 1979 in Bonn, Germany, the Convention entered into force in 1983.
• As the only global convention specializing in the conservation of migratory species, their habitats and migration routes, CMS complements and co-operates with a number of other international organizations, NGOs and partners in the media as well as in the corporate sector.
• Migratory species threatened with extinction are listed on Appendix I of the Convention. CMS Parties strive towards strictly protecting these animals, conserving or restoring the places where they live, mitigating obstacles to migration and controlling other factors that might endanger them.
• Migratory species that need or would significantly benefit from international co-operation are listed in Appendix II of the Convention. For this reason, the Convention encourages the Range States to conclude global or regional agreements.
• The agreements may range from legally binding treaties (called Agreements) to less formal instruments, such as Memoranda of Understanding, and can be adapted to the requirements of particular regions.
• The Convention on Migratory Species has 130 Parties.

What is the CMS SGP?

The CMS Small Grants Programme (SGP) was established in 1994 by the Fourth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties as a grassroots tool that has served as a catalyst for further action to conserve migratory species and their habitats, funding projects in more than 30 countries since its inception.

The SGP has played an important role in strengthening the implementation of the Convention through supporting CMS conservation initiatives for a number of migratory taxa, with a strong focus on implementation in developing countries.

Migratory Species in India

• The Indian sub-continent is also part of the major bird flyway network, i.e, the Central Asian Flyway (CAF) that covers areas between the Arctic and Indian Oceans, and covers at least 279 populations of 182 migratory waterbird species, including 29 globally threatened species.
• India is a temporary home to several migratory animals and birds. The important among these include Amur Falcons, Bar-headed Geese, Black-necked cranes, Marine turtles, Dugongs, Humpbacked Whales, etc.
• India has also launched the National Action Plan for the conservation of migratory species under the Central Asian Flyway.

WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature)

• The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961, working in the field of wilderness preservation, and the reduction of human impact on the environment.
• It was formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States
• WWF is the world's largest conservation organization with over five million supporters worldwide, working in more than 100 countries, supporting around 1,300 conservation and environmental projects.
• WWF is a foundation with 55% of funding from individuals and bequests, 19% from government sources (such as the World Bank, DFID, USAID) and 8% from corporations in 2014.
• WWF aims to "stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature."
• The Living Planet Report is published every two years by WWF since 1998; it is based on a Living Planet Index and ecological footprint calculation.
• In addition, WWF has launched several notable worldwide campaigns including Earth Hour and Debt-for-Nature Swap, and its current work is organized around these six areas: food, climate, freshwater, wildlife, forests, and oceans.

World Wide Fund for Nature -India:  (WWF India) was founded with the express objective of ensuring the conservation of the country's wildlife and natural habitats. It was set up as a Charitable Public Trust on 27 November 1969. It was then known as the World Wildlife Fund India, much before the terms 'wildlife' and 'environment' had caught the attention of the government or the public.

Earth Hour is a global movement organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The event is held annually encouraging individuals, communities, and businesses to switching-off non-essential electric lights, for one hour, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on a specific day towards the end of March, as a symbol of commitment to the planet. It was started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia, in 2007.

The Nature Conservancy

• It is a global environmental non-profit working to create a world where people and nature can thrive.
• The Nature Conservancy (TNC), headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States.
• Founded at its grassroots in the United States in 1951, The Nature Conservancy has grown to become one of the most effective and wide-reaching environmental organizations in the world.
• The Nature Conservancy's Plant a Billion Trees campaign is an effort to restore 2,500,000 acres (10,100 km2) of land and plant one billion trees by 2025 in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil.

The Nature Conservancy in India:

1. Restoring Wetlands in Chennai - To develop and implement a science-led lake restoration plan and piloting efforts on Sembakkam lake in Chennai. Partners: Care Earth Trust & Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai
2. Enhancing Drought Resilience for People and Nature - To develop a comprehensive science-led drought resilience plan for the Devnadi watershed in the Nashik district of Maharashtra. Partners: Yuva Mitra
3. Ending Crop Residue Burning in Northwest India - Working with partners to promote the use of an agricultural technology – the Happy Seeder – which enables utilisation of rice residue in the field itself and eliminates the need to burn. It is a win-win for farmers and the environment as it is known to improve farm yield and soil health, while also reducing water use. Working with farmers in selected districts of Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh to address behavioural and financial barriers to the uptake of the Happy Seeder, and increase its use from a mere 2000 in a year to at least 50,000 units by 2022. Partners: The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Borlaug Institute of South Asia (BISA), Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), and Tata Trusts.
4. Establishing India's First Water Fund - TNC India launch India’s first such initiative in the Ghod river basin in the Pune district of Maharashtra. The Ghod river originates in the Bhima Shankar Wildlife Sanctuary – home to the endemic giant Malabar squirrel – and is the main source of water for more than 4.5 million people and 200 industries. Partners: ITC Ltd.
5. Renewable Energy (RE) and Reforestation by Design - To enhance a decision-support tool – DARPAN – already being used by planners to site RE projects, by adding socio-ecological criteria to the selection of RE sites. This will enable planners to avoid lands with high conservation and social values and select degraded lands for setting up RE projects. Partners: Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (C-STEP); and Foundation for Ecological Services (FES)
6. Restoring River Ganga - To develop a framework for evaluating the consequences and trade-off of alternative river management actions on the health of the middle Ganga (Haridwar to Varanasi). With the right commitment and partnerships, and promoting solutions inspired by sound science, India can aspire towards a healthy Ganga. Partners: Center for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (CGRBMS), Wildlife Institute of India (WII), National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), WWF-India.

Birdlife International

Birdlife International is a global partnership of conservation organisations (NGOs) that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources.

• There are 121 Birdlife Partners worldwide – one per country or territory – and growing. Birdlife is widely recognised as the world leader in bird conservation. Rigorous science informed by practical feedback from projects on the ground in important sites and habitats enables us to implement successful conservation programmes for birds and all nature. Our actions are providing both practical and sustainable solutions significantly benefiting nature and people.
• Each Birdlife Partner is an independent environmental or wildlife not-for-profit, nongovernmental organisation (NGO). This allows each Partner to maintain its individual national identity within the Global Partnership.
• Headquarters: Cambridge, United Kingdom
• Founded: 1922

Important Bird & Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) are the sites of international significance for the

conservation of the world's birds and other nature as identified by BirdLife. These sites are also

all Key Biodiversity Areas, sites that contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity. Initially, IBAs were identified only for terrestrial and freshwater environments, but over the past decade, the IBA process and method has been adapted and applied in the marine realm.

IBAs are:

• Places of international significance for the conservation of birds and other biodiversity
• Recognised world-wide as practical tools for conservation
• Distinct areas amenable to practical conservation action
• Identified using robust, standardised criteria
• Sites that together form part of a wider integrated approach to the conservation and sustainable use of the natural environment

Threats the most threatened IBAs:

This includes shifting cultivation (the main threat), illegal logging, hunting and exploitation of fuel wood. Impoverished local communities depend on forest products for resource. The forests are an important source of products such as firewood, charcoal, construction materials and lianas. Loss and degradation of forests therefore has major implications for livelihoods.

BirdLife supported the development by IUCN of the Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) Standard for

identifying sites that contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity: the world`s most important sites for nature in terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments Sites qualify as global KBAs if they meet one or more of 11 criteria, clustered into five categories: threatened biodiversity; geographically restricted biodiversity; ecological integrity; biological processes; and, irreplaceability.

Few important KBA Partnership comprises partners:

    a) IUCN

    b) Conservation International

    c) Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund

    d) Global Environment Facility

    e) Global Wildlife Conservation

    f) WWF

    g) BirdLife International

BNHS

• The Bombay Natural History Society, founded in 1883. Its headquater situated in Mumbai, India.
• It is one of the largest non-governmental organisations in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research.
• The BNHS logo is the great hornbill, inspired by a great hornbill named William, who lived on the premises of the Society.
• The BNHS is the partner of BirdLife International in India.

Function of BNHS

• It organizes and conducts nature trails and camps for the general public.
• It has been designated as a ‘Scientific and Industrial Research Organization by the Department of Science and Technology.
• It sponsors studies in Indian wildlife and conservation, and publishes a four-monthly journal, Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (JBNHS), as well as a quarterly magazine, Hornbill.

Conservation International (CI)

• CI is an American non-profit environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, 1987. Its goal is to protect nature as a source of food, fresh water, livelihoods and a stable climate.
• Mission: Building upon a strong foundation of science, partnership and field demonstration, Conservation International empowers societies to responsibly and sustainably care for nature, our global biodiversity, for the well-being of humanity.
• Vision: A healthy, prosperous world in which societies are forever committed to caring for and valuing nature, for the long-term benefit of people and all life on Earth.

Note: Logo of the organization are taken from the respective websites and social media handle.

Climate Change: A Review of Recent Development

Climate Change

Climate Change is the defining issue of our time and we are at a defining moment. From shifting weather patterns that threaten food production, to rising sea levels that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, the impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in scale. Without drastic action today, adapting to these impacts in the future will be more difficult and costly.

The Evidences of Climatic Change:

1. Global Temperature Rise

The planet's average surface temperature has risen about 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century, a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere.4 Most of the warming occurred in the past 35 years, with the six warmest years on record taking place since 2014. Not only was 2016 the warmest year on record, but eight of the 12 months that make up the year — from January through September, with the exception of June — were the warmest on record for those respective months.

2. Warming Oceans

The oceans have absorbed much of this increased heat, with the top 700 meters (about 2,300 feet) of ocean showing warming of more than 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1969.

3. Shrinking Ice Sheets

The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have decreased in mass. Data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment show Greenland lost an average of 286 billion tons of ice per year between 1993 and 2016, while Antarctica lost about 127 billion tons of ice per year during the same time period. The rate of Antarctica ice mass loss has tripled in the last decade.

4. Glacial Retreat

Glaciers are retreating almost everywhere around the world — including in the Alps, Himalayas, Andes, Rockies, Alaska and Africa.

5. Decreased Snow Cover

Satellite observations reveal that the amount of spring snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere has decreased over the past five decades and that the snow is melting earlier

6. Sea Level Rise

Global sea level rose about 8 inches in the last century. The rate in the last two decades, however, is nearly double that of the last century and is accelerating slightly every year.

7. Declining Arctic Sea Ice

Both the extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice has declined rapidly over the last several decades.

8. Extreme Events

Glaciers are retreating almost everywhere around the world — including in the Alps, Himalayas, Andes, Rockies, Alaska and Africa. The number of record high temperature events in the United States has been increasing, while the number of record low temperature events has been decreasing, since 1950. The U.S. has also witnessed increasing numbers of intense rainfall events.

9. Ocean Acidification

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the acidity of surface ocean waters has increased by about 30 percent. This increase is the result of humans emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and hence more being absorbed into the oceans. The amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by the upper layer of the oceans is increasing by about 2 billion tons per year.

Causes

Certain gases in the atmosphere block heat from escaping. Long-lived gases that remain semi-permanently in the atmosphere and do not respond physically or chemically to changes in temperature are described as "forcing" climate change. Gases, such as water vapor, which respond physically or chemically to changes in temperature are seen as "feedback."

Gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect include:

Water Vapour

The most abundant greenhouse gas, but importantly, it acts as a feedback to the climate. Water vapor increases as the Earth's atmosphere warms, but so does the possibility of clouds and precipitation, making these some of the most important feedback mechanisms to the greenhouse effect.

Carbon dioxide (CO2)

A minor but very important component of the atmosphere, carbon dioxide is released through natural processes such as respiration and volcano eruptions and through human activities such as deforestation, land use changes, and burning fossil fuels. Humans have increased atmospheric CO2 concentration by more than a third since the Industrial Revolution began. This is the most important long-lived "forcing" of climate change.

Methane

A hydrocarbon gas produced both through natural sources and human activities, including the decomposition of wastes in landfills, agriculture, and especially rice cultivation, as well as ruminant digestion and manure management associated with domestic livestock. On a molecule-for-molecule basis, methane is a far more active greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, but also one which is much less abundant in the atmosphere.

Nitrous oxide

A powerful greenhouse gas produced by soil cultivation practices, especially the use of commercial and organic fertilizers, fossil fuel combustion, nitric acid production, and biomass burning.

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)

Synthetic compounds entirely of industrial origin used in a number of applications, but now largely regulated in production and release to the atmosphere by international agreement for their ability to contribute to destruction of the ozone layer. They are also greenhouse gases.

On Earth, human activities are changing the natural greenhouse. Over the last century the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil has increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). This happens because the coal or oil burning process combines carbon with oxygen in the air to make CO2. To a lesser extent, the clearing of land for agriculture, industry, and other human activities has increased concentrations of greenhouse gases.

The consequences of changing the natural atmospheric greenhouse are difficult to predict, but certain effects seem likely:

On average, Earth will become warmer. Some regions may welcome warmer temperatures, but others may not. Warmer conditions will probably lead to more evaporation and precipitation overall, but individual regions will vary, some becoming wetter and others dryer.

A stronger greenhouse effect will warm the oceans and partially melt glaciers and other ice, increasing sea level. Ocean water also will expand if it warms, contributing further to sea level rise.

Meanwhile, some crops and other plants may respond favorably to increased atmospheric CO2, growing more vigorously and using water more efficiently. At the same time, higher temperatures and shifting climate patterns may change the areas where crops grow best and affect the makeup of natural plant communities.

The Role of Human Activity

In its Fifth Assessment Report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of 1,300 independent scientific experts from countries all over the world under the auspices of the United Nations, concluded there's a more than 95 percent probability that human activities over the past 50 years have warmed our planet.

The industrial activities that our modern civilization depends upon have raised atmospheric carbon dioxide levels from 280 parts per million to 412 parts per million in the last 150 years. The panel also concluded there's a better than 95 percent probability that human-produced greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have caused much of the observed increase in Earth's temperatures over the past 50 years.

Solar Irradiance

It's reasonable to assume that changes in the Sun's energy output would cause the climate to change, since the Sun is the fundamental source of energy that drives our climate system. Indeed, studies show that solar variability has played a role in past climate changes. For example, a decrease in solar activity coupled with an increase in volcanic activity is thought to have helped trigger the Little Ice Age between approximately 1650 and 1850, when Greenland cooled from 1410 to the 1720s and glaciers advanced in the Alps.

But several lines of evidence show that current global warming cannot be explained by changes in energy from the Sun:

Since 1750, the average amount of energy coming from the Sun either remained constant or increased slightly. If the warming were caused by a more active Sun, then scientists would expect to see warmer temperatures in all layers of the atmosphere. Instead, they have observed a cooling in the upper atmosphere, and a warming at the surface and in the lower parts of the atmosphere. That's because greenhouse gases are trapping heat in the lower atmosphere.

Climate models that include solar irradiance changes can’t reproduce the observed temperature trend over the past century or more without including a rise in greenhouse gases.

Effects

Global climate change has already had observable effects on the environment. Glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earlier, plant and animal ranges have shifted and trees are flowering sooner.

Effects that scientists had predicted in the past would result from global climate change are now occurring: loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise and longer, more intense heat waves.

Scientists have high confidence that global temperatures will continue to rise for decades to come, largely due to greenhouse gases produced by human activities. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which includes more than 1,300 scientists from the United States and other countries, forecasts a temperature rise of 2.5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century.

According to the IPCC, the extent of climate change effects on individual regions will vary over time and with the ability of different societal and environmental systems to mitigate or adapt to change.

The IPCC predicts that increases in global mean temperature of less than 1.8 to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (1 to 3 degrees Celsius) above 1990 levels will produce beneficial impacts in some regions and harmful ones in others. Net annual costs will increase over time as global temperatures increase.

"Taken as a whole," the IPCC states, "the range of published evidence indicates that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be significant and to increase over time."

Future Effects

The amount of heat-trapping gases emitted globally, and how sensitive the Earth’s climate is to those emissions.

Temperatures Will Continue to Rise

Because human-induced warming is superimposed on a naturally varying climate, the temperature rise has not been, and will not be, uniform or smooth across the country or over time.

Frost-free Season (and Growing Season) will Lengthen

The length of the frost-free season (and the corresponding growing season) has been increasing nationally since the 1980s, with the largest increases occurring in the western United States, affecting ecosystems and agriculture. Across the United States, the growing season is projected to continue to lengthen.

In a future in which heat-trapping gas emissions continue to grow, increases of a month or more in the lengths of the frost-free and growing seasons are projected across most of the U.S. by the end of the century, with slightly smaller increases in the northern Great Plains. The largest increases in the frost-free season (more than eight weeks) are projected for the western U.S., particularly in high elevation and coastal areas. The increases will be considerably smaller if heat-trapping gas emissions are reduced.

Changes in Precipitation Patterns

Average U.S. precipitation has increased since 1900, but some areas have had increases greater than the national average, and some areas have had decreases. More winter and spring precipitation is projected for the northern United States, and less for the Southwest, over this century.

Projections of future climate over the U.S. suggest that the recent trend towards increased heavy precipitation events will continue. This trend is projected to occur even in regions where total precipitation is expected to decrease, such as the Southwest.

More Droughts and Heat Waves

Droughts in the Southwest and heat waves (periods of abnormally hot weather lasting days to weeks) everywhere are projected to become more intense, and cold waves less intense everywhere.

Summer temperatures are projected to continue rising, and a reduction of soil moisture, which exacerbates heat waves, is projected for much of the western and central U.S. in summer. By the end of this century, what have been once-in-20-year extreme heat days (one-day events) are projected to occur every two or three years over most of the nation.

Hurricanes Will Become Stronger and More Intense

The intensity, frequency and duration of North Atlantic hurricanes, as well as the frequency of the strongest (Category 4 and 5) hurricanes, have all increased since the early 1980s. The relative contributions of human and natural causes to these increases are still uncertain. Hurricane-associated storm intensity and rainfall rates are projected to increase as the climate continues to warm.

Sea Level Will Rise 1-8 feet by 2100

Global sea level has risen by about 8 inches since reliable record keeping began in 1880. It is projected to rise another 1 to 8 feet by 2100. This is the result of added water from melting land ice and the expansion of seawater as it warms.

In the next several decades, storm surges and high tides could combine with sea level rise and land subsidence to further increase flooding in many regions. Sea level rise will continue past 2100 because the oceans take a very long time to respond to warmer conditions at the Earth’s surface. Ocean waters will therefore continue to warm and sea level will continue to rise for many centuries at rates equal to or higher than those of the current century.

Arctic Likely to Become Ice-Free

The Arctic Ocean is expected to become essentially ice free in summer before mid-century.

The Human Fingerprint on Greenhouse Gases 

1. The concentration of GHGs in the earth’s atmosphere is directly linked to the average global temperature on Earth;
2. The concentration has been rising steadily, and mean global temperatures along with it, since the time of the Industrial Revolution;
3. The most abundant GHG, accounting for about two-thirds of GHGs, carbon dioxide (CO2), is largely the product of burning fossil fuels.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was set up by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Environment to provide an objective source of scientific information. In 2013 the IPCC provided more clarity about the role of human activities in climate change when it released its Fifth Assessment Report. It is categorical in its conclusion: climate change is real and human activities are the main cause.

Fifth Assessment Report

The report provides a comprehensive assessment of sea level rise, and its causes, over the past few decades. It also estimates cumulative CO2 emissions since pre-industrial times and provides a CO2 budget for future emissions to limit warming to less than 2°C. About half of this maximum amount was already emitted by 2011.

The report found that: From 1880 to 2012, the average global temperature increased by 0.85°C. Oceans have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished and the sea level has risen. From 1901 to 2010, the global average sea level rose by 19 cm as oceans expanded due to warming and ice melted. The sea ice extent in the Arctic has shrunk in every successive decade since 1979, with 1.07 × 106 km² of ice loss per decade.

Given current concentrations and ongoing emissions of greenhouse gases, it is likely that by the end of this century global mean temperature will continue to rise above the pre-industrial level. The world’s oceans will warm and ice melt will continue. Average sea level rise is predicted to be 24–30 cm by 2065 and 40–63 cm by 2100 relative to the reference period of 1986–2005. Most aspects of climate change will persist for many centuries, even if emissions are stopped.

There is alarming evidence that important tipping points, leading to irreversible changes in major ecosystems and the planetary climate system, may already have been reached or passed. Ecosystems as diverse as the Amazon rainforest and the Arctic tundra, may be approaching thresholds of dramatic change through warming and drying. Mountain glaciers are in alarming retreat and the downstream effects of reduced water supply in the driest months will have repercussions that transcend generations.

Global Warming of 1.5°C

In October 2018 the IPCC issued a special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C, finding that limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society. With clear benefits to people and natural ecosystems, the report found that limiting global warming to 1.5°C compared to 2°C could go hand in hand with ensuring a more sustainable and equitable society. While previous estimates focused on estimating the damage if average temperatures were to rise by 2°C, this report shows that many of the adverse impacts of climate change will come at the 1.5°C mark.

The report also highlights a number of climate change impacts that could be avoided by limiting global warming to 1.5ºC compared to 2ºC, or more. For instance, by 2100, global sea level rise would be 10 cm lower with global warming of 1.5°C compared with 2°C. The likelihood of an Arctic Ocean free of sea ice in summer would be once per century with global warming of 1.5°C, compared with at least once per decade with 2°C. Coral reefs would decline by 70-90 percent with global warming of 1.5°C, whereas virtually all (> 99 percent) would be lost with 2ºC.

The report finds that limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require “rapid and far-reaching” transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities. Global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching ‘net zero’ around 2050. This means that any remaining emissions would need to be balanced by removing CO2 from the air.

United Nations legal instruments

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

The UN family is at the forefront of the effort to save our planet. In 1992, its “Earth Summit” produced the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a first step in addressing the climate change problem. Today, it has near-universal membership. The 197 countries that have ratified the Convention are Parties to the Convention. The ultimate aim of the Convention is to prevent “dangerous” human interference with the climate system.

Kyoto Protocol

By 1995, countries launched negotiations to strengthen the global response to climate change, and, two years later, adopted the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol legally binds developed country Parties to emission reduction targets. The Protocol’s first commitment period started in 2008 and ended in 2012. The second commitment period began on 1 January 2013 and will end in 2020. There are now 197 Parties to the Convention and 192 Parties to the Kyoto Protocol.

Paris Agreement

At the 21st Conference of the Parties in Paris in 2015, Parties to the UNFCCC reached a landmark agreement to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future. The Paris Agreement builds upon the Convention and – for the first time – brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so. As such, it charts a new course in the global climate effort.

The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

On Earth Day, 22 April 2016, 175 world leaders signed the Paris Agreement at United Nations Headquarters in New York. This was by far the largest number of countries ever to sign an international agreement on a single day. There are now 186 countries that have ratified the Paris Agreement.

2019 Climate Action Summit

On 23 September 2019, Secretary-General António Guterres convened a Climate Summit to bring world leaders of governments, the private sector and civil society together to support the multilateral process and to increase and accelerate climate action and ambition. He named Luis Alfonso de Alba, a former Mexican diplomat, as his Special Envoy to lead preparations. The Summit focused on key sectors where action can make the most difference—heavy industry, nature-based solutions, cities, energy, resilience, and climate finance. World leaders reported on what they are doing, and what more they intend to do when they convene in 2020 for the UN climate conference, where commitments will be renewed and may be increased. In closing the Climate Action Summit, the Secretary-General said “You have delivered a boost in momentum, cooperation and ambition. But we have a long way to go.”

“We need more concrete plans, more ambition from more countries and more businesses. We need all financial institutions, public and private, to choose, once and for all, the green economy.”

Scientific Consesus

1. American Association for the Advancement of Science

"Based on well-established evidence, about 97% of climate scientists have concluded that human-caused climate change is happening." (2014)

2. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

“Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, and sea level has risen."

“Human influence on the climate system is clear, and recent anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases are the highest in history. Recent climate changes have had widespread impacts on human and natural systems.”

3. International Academies: Joint Statement

"Climate change is real. There will always be uncertainty in understanding a system as complex as the world’s climate. However there is now strong evidence that significant global warming is occurring. The evidence comes from direct measurements of rising surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures and from phenomena such as increases in average global sea levels, retreating glaciers, and changes to many physical and biological systems. It is likely that most of the warming in recent decades can be attributed to human activities (IPCC 2001)." (2005, 11 international science academies).

Climate Change in NEWS

Response Option

The impacts of global climate change in the United States are already being felt and are projected to intensify in the future, especially without further action to reduce climate-related risks. As the impacts of climate change grow, Americans face decisions about how to respond.

Actions to prepare for and adjust to changing climate conditions—thereby reducing negative impacts or taking advantage of new opportunities—are known as adaptation. The other major category of response options—known as mitigation—involves efforts to reduce the amount and speed of future climate change by limiting emissions or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Adaptation and mitigation actions are linked in multiple ways and can be considered complementary strategies—mitigation efforts can reduce future risks, while adaptation can minimize the consequences of changes that are already happening as a result of past and present emissions.