PIB 14 April to 31 May, 2019.Indd
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th st www.iasscore.in PIB: 16 April to 31 May, 2019 2 www.iasscore.in CONTENTS PIB (1st to 15th March, 2019) Sr. No. Area Topics Page No. COP meetings of BASEL, ROTTERDAM & STOCKHOLM 1 Environment & Ecology 04 Conventions 2 Environment & Ecology Rudraksh Plantation in Ganga Basin 06 3 Defense Fourth Scorpene Class Submarine - VELA 07 4 Defense WTO Ministerial meeting of Developing Countries 08 5 Internal Security Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) 10 6 Miscellaneous Cyber Excercise 12 7 International Relations IN-VPIN BILAT Ex 13 8 Environment & Ecology Water Storage Level 14 9 Economy Eight Core Industries 15 10 Defense INS Ranjit 16 11 Miscellaneous World Customs Organisation 16 12 Defense Apache Helicopter 17 13 Defense Flight Test of ABHYAS 19 14 Disaster Management Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) 19 15 International Relations AUSINDEX-19 20 Redefi ned units of measurement of Kilogram, Kelvin Mole and 16 Miscellaneous 20 Ampere 17 Governance High Level Committee on Oil & Gas 23 18 Science & Technology RISAT-28 24 19 Defense BRAHMOS Missile 26 Environment and 20 Indigenous Bio-Jet Fuel 26 Ecology 21 Miscellaneous Second SCO Mass Media Forum at BISHKEK 28 22 Defense Akash - MK - 1S 29 23 Governance PM - Kisan Scheme Extension 30 Initiative to control Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and 24 Governance 30 Brucellosis ********** 3 th st www.iasscore.in PIB: 16 April to 31 May, 2019 COP MEETINGS OF BASEL, ROTTERDAM AND STOCKHOLM 1 CONVENTIONS CONTEXT: The joint meetings of three conventions on chemicals and waste that is the fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (COP 14) was held along with the ninth meeting of the COP to Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade and the ninth meeting of the COP to Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. The theme of the meetings this year was “Clean Planet, Healthy People: Sound Management of Chemicals and Waste”. ABOUT: An Indian delegation of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and comprising other ministries such as Agriculture, Chemicals, and Electronics and Information Technology participated in the meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 29 April to 10 May 2019. In Basel Convention, two important issues were discussed and decided, i.e. technical guidelines on e-waste and inclusion of plastic waste in the PIC procedure. The draft technical guidelines stipulated the conditions when used electrical and electronic equipment destined for direct reuse, repair, refurbishment or failure analysis should be considered as non-waste. India had major reservations regarding these provisions as in the name of re-use, repair, refurbishment and failure analysis there was a possibility of dumping from the developed world to the developing countries including India in view of the growing consumption of electronic equipment and waste across the world. The Indian delegation strongly objected the proposed decision on these guidelines during plenary and did not allow it to be passed by the conference of the parties (COP). Many rounds of multilateral and bilateral negotiations happened under the aegis of the Convention Secretariat in order to address India’s concerns which were supported by a large number of other developing countries. On the fi nal day of the COP, a modifi ed decision was adopted in which all the concerns raised by India were incorporated. These were: dumping of e-waste in developing countries; recognition that the interim guideline has issues and further work is required specially on the provision on distinguishing waste from non-waste; the guidelines were adopted on an interim basis only; the tenure of the expert working group was extended to address the concerns raised by India; and the usage of interim guidelines to be done only on a pilot basis. Due to the strong intervention by the Indian delegation, it was possible to defend the country’s interest against the potential dumping of e-waste by developed countries and thereby opened a window for further negotiations and corrections in the interim technical guidelines on e-waste. Under the Basel Convention, another major achievement of COP 14 was the decision to amend the convention to include unsorted, mixed and contaminated plastic waste under PIC (Prior Informed Consent) procedure and improve the regulation of its transboundary movement. This is a signifi cant step taken towards addressing plastic pollution which has become a major environmental concern across the globe. Further, Basel Convention has also adopted partnership on plastic which was welcomed by the Indian delegation. These steps will help prevent the illegal dumping of plastic wastes in developing countries. India has already imposed a complete prohibition of import of solid plastic waste into the country. India has also made an international commitment to phase-out single-use plastic. India 4 PIB: 16th April, to 31st May, 2019 www.iasscore.in fully supported this exercise and one of the members of the Indian delegation was co-chair in the contact group which negotiated this agreement for amendment in the annexes of Basel Convention to bring plastic waste under PIC procedure. Under the Stockholm Convention the COP decided to list “Dicofol” in Annex A without any exemption. The Perfl uorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) was also listed with some exemptions in the Annex A of the Stockholm Convention. Under the Rotterdam Convention, two new chemicals (Phorate and HBCD) were added in the list for mandatory PIC procedure in international trade. Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions Title: Convention on the Control of Title: Convention on the Prior informed Title: Convention on persistent Organic Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Pollutants Wastes and their Disposal Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade Entry into force: 17 May 2004 Entry into force: 10 September 1998 Entry into force: 24 February 2004 Number of parties: 179 (as of February Number of Parties: 183 (as of February 2016) 2016) Number of parties: 152 (as of February 2016) Objectives: protect human health and Objectives: to protect human health and the the environment from peristent organic Objectives: To promote shared responsibility environment against the adverse effects of and cooperative efforts among Parties in the pollutants hazardous wastes international trade of certain hazarduous Scope: 24 persistent organic pollutants Scoep: hazardus wastes based on their origin chemicals Key provisions: and/or composition and their characteristics Scope: pesticides and industrial chemicals and other wastes (household waste and that I have been banned or severely restricted i. Elimination of persistent organic ininerator ash) for health or environmental reasons by pollutants, listed in annex A Parties. Key Provisions: ii. Restriction of persistent organic Key Provisions: pollutantsm, listed in annex B i. Minimization of the generation of hazardous and other wastes i. Prior informed Consent procedure on a naational decision making ii. Obligation to ensure the process on import of hazardous environmentally sund management chemicals of hazardous and other wastes ii. Exchange of information on a broad range of potentially hazarodous chemicals The RoƩ erdam ConvenƟ on ! The Rotterdam Convention is a multilateral treaty to promote shared responsibilities in relation to importation of hazardous chemicals. ! The convention promotes open exchange of information and calls on exporters of hazardous chemicals to use proper labeling, include directions on safe handling, and inform purchasers of any known restrictions or bans. ! Signatory nations can decide whether to allow or ban the importation of chemicals listed in the treaty, and exporting countries are obliged to make sure that producers within their jurisdiction comply. ! In 2012, the Secretariats of the Basel and Stockholm conventions, as well as the UNEP-part of the Rotterdam Convention Secretariat, merged to a single Secretariat with a matrix structure serving the three conventions. Basel Convention ! The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, usually known as the Basel Convention, is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifi cally to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries (LDCs). It does not, however, address the movement of radioactive waste. 5 th st www.iasscore.in PIB: 16 April to 31 May, 2019 ! The Convention is also intended to minimize the amount and toxicity of wastes generated, to ensure their environmentally sound management as closely as possible to the source of generation, and to assist LDCs in environmentally sound management of the hazardous and other wastes they generate. ! The Convention was opened for signature on 22 March 1989, and entered into force on 5 May 1992. As of October 2018, 186 states and the European Union are parties to the Convention. Haiti and the United States have signed the Convention but not ratifi ed it. Stockholm ConvenƟ on ! Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is an international environmental treaty, signed in 2001 and effective from May 2004, that aims to eliminate or restrict the production and use of persistent organic