Major International Environmental Conventions: Biodiversity, Climate, Ozone, Chemicals and Wastes, Land, Heritage and the Oceans

The principles of international environmental law are given operational force by multilateral environmental agreements. This note covers the conventions that matter most for examinations and for Indian law: the biodiversity cluster (the CBD and its Cartagena and Nagoya Protocols, CITES, Ramsar and the Convention on Migratory Species), the climate regime (UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement), the ozone regime, the chemicals and wastes cluster (Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Minamata), desertification, world heritage, the law of the sea and whaling. It ends by explaining how India gives effect to these agreements under Article 253 of the Constitution.

1. The Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was opened for signature at the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992 and entered into force on 29 December 1993. It has near-universal participation (the United States is the notable non-party). India ratified it in 1994 and implements it through the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

The CBD made three conceptual advances. It recognised that the conservation of biological diversity is a common concern of humankind. It reaffirmed that States have sovereign rights over their biological resources, ending the earlier view of genetic resources as a freely available 'common heritage'. And it treated biodiversity at three levels: genes, species and ecosystems.

1.1 Objectives of the CBD

1.2 Conservation of biodiversity

The CBD requires each party to develop national biodiversity strategies and action plans (Article 6), identify and monitor components of biodiversity (Article 7), and carry out in situ conservation (Article 8), which is the primary method: establishing protected areas, managing biological resources inside and outside them, restoring degraded ecosystems, controlling alien invasive species, and respecting and preserving the knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities (Article 8(j)). Ex situ conservation (Article 9), in zoos, gene banks and botanical gardens, is complementary. Article 14 requires environmental impact assessment of projects likely to have significant adverse effects on biodiversity.

1.3 Sustainable use under the CBD

Article 2 defines 'sustainable use' as the use of components of biological diversity in a way and at a rate that does not lead to the long-term decline of biological diversity, thereby maintaining its potential to meet the needs and aspirations of present and future generations. Article 10 requires parties to integrate conservation and sustainable use into national decision-making, protect customary use of biological resources compatible with conservation, and encourage co-operation between government and the private sector. The Addis Ababa Principles and Guidelines (2004) give practical guidance.

1.4 Access and benefit sharing

Article 15 establishes the access and benefit sharing (ABS) framework. Authority to determine access to genetic resources rests with national governments. Access requires the prior informed consent (PIC) of the party providing the resources and must be on mutually agreed terms (MAT), and benefits arising from research, development and commercial use must be shared fairly and equitably with the provider. The logic is a bargain: biodiversity-rich developing countries grant access; users, often in developed countries, share the benefits. The failure of voluntary compliance led to the Nagoya Protocol.

1.5 The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2000)

The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety was adopted in 2000 and entered into force in 2003. It regulates the transboundary movement of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology that may have adverse effects on biodiversity. Its central mechanism is the advance informed agreement (AIA) procedure for the first intentional transboundary movement of LMOs for introduction into the environment, such as seeds for planting. It establishes a Biosafety Clearing-House for information exchange, and expressly adopts the precautionary approach: lack of scientific certainty does not prevent an importing party from restricting an import (Articles 10(6) and 11(8)). The Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress (2010) adds rules on response measures for damage from LMOs. In India, genetically engineered organisms are regulated under the Rules of 1989 framed under the EPA, with the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee as the approving body.

1.6 The Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (2010)

The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization was adopted in 2010 and entered into force in October 2014. It makes the ABS framework enforceable. Provider countries must establish clear, transparent access rules; user countries must take measures to ensure that genetic resources used within their jurisdiction were accessed with PIC and on MAT, through checkpoints and an internationally recognised certificate of compliance. It also covers traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources held by indigenous and local communities. India gives effect to it through the Biological Diversity Act, the National Biodiversity Authority and its ABS regulations.

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (COP15, December 2022) set 23 targets for 2030, including the '30 by 30' target of conserving 30 per cent of land and of oceans, and restoring 30 per cent of degraded ecosystems. COP16 at Cali (2024) established the Cali Fund for benefit sharing from the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources.

2. CITES, Ramsar and the Convention on Migratory Species

2.1 CITES

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was signed at Washington in 1973 and entered into force in 1975. It does not regulate domestic use or habitat, but international trade, through a permit system based on three Appendices:

• Appendix I: species threatened with extinction. Commercial trade is essentially prohibited; trade for non-commercial purposes requires both an export permit and an import permit. The tiger and the Asian elephant are examples.
• Appendix II: species not necessarily threatened now but which may become so unless trade is controlled. Trade requires an export permit, issued only if it will not be detrimental to the survival of the species (a 'non-detriment finding').
• Appendix III: species protected in at least one country that has asked other parties for help in controlling trade.

Each party designates a Management Authority and a Scientific Authority. India joined in 1976 and has given CITES full domestic effect through Chapter VB of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, inserted by the 2022 amendment, which regulates trade in specimens listed in the Appendices.

2.2 The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat was signed at Ramsar, Iran in 1971 and entered into force in 1975. It is the oldest of the modern global environmental treaties. Parties must designate at least one wetland for the List of Wetlands of International Importance, promote the 'wise use' of all wetlands in their territory, and co-operate internationally. Listed sites whose ecological character is threatened may be placed on the Montreux Record. India became a party in 1982; Chilika Lake and Keoladeo National Park were its first sites, and the number of Indian Ramsar sites has grown rapidly in recent years. Domestically, wetlands are protected under the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017.

2.3 The Convention on Migratory Species

The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS, or Bonn Convention) was signed in 1979 and entered into force in 1983. Migratory species cross national boundaries and can be protected only by co-operation among range States. Appendix I lists endangered migratory species, which range States must strictly protect; Appendix II lists species with an unfavourable conservation status that would benefit from international agreements among range States. India is a party and hosted the 13th Conference of the Parties at Gandhinagar in 2020, at which the Great Indian Bustard, the Asian elephant and the Bengal florican were added to Appendix I.

3. The Climate Change Regime

3.1 The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992)

The UNFCCC was opened for signature at Rio in 1992 and entered into force on 21 March 1994. It has near-universal membership. Its ultimate objective (Article 2) is to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system, within a time-frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.

Article 3 sets out the principles: equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, with developed countries taking the lead; the specific needs of developing countries; the precautionary approach; sustainable development; and a supportive and open international economic system. Article 4 lays down commitments for all parties (inventories, national programmes) and additional commitments for developed countries listed in Annex I, and for the richer countries in Annex II to provide finance and technology. The Conference of the Parties meets annually.

3.2 The Kyoto Protocol (1997)

The Kyoto Protocol was adopted at COP3 in 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. It imposed legally binding, quantified emission reduction targets on the developed countries listed in its Annex B, aggregating to at least 5 per cent below 1990 levels in the first commitment period (2008 to 2012). Developing countries, including India and China, had no binding targets, in application of CBDR.

Kyoto introduced three flexibility mechanisms: international emissions trading among Annex B parties; joint implementation of projects among them; and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), under which developed countries could earn certified emission reduction credits by financing projects in developing countries. India became one of the largest hosts of CDM projects. The Doha Amendment (2012) created a second commitment period (2013 to 2020). The Protocol's weaknesses, the absence of the United States and of binding targets for large emerging economies, led to the search for a new model.

3.3 The Paris Agreement (2015)

The Paris Agreement was adopted at COP21 on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016. It applies to all parties, developed and developing, and replaces Kyoto's top-down targets with a bottom-up system of national pledges subject to international review. Its key provisions are:

1. Article 2 (goal): holding the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C; increasing adaptive capacity; and making finance flows consistent with low-emission development. Implementation reflects equity and CBDR-RC in the light of different national circumstances.
2. Article 4 (mitigation): each party shall prepare, communicate and maintain successive nationally determined contributions, updated every five years, each representing a progression beyond the previous one and reflecting its highest possible ambition.
3. Article 6: voluntary co-operation, including carbon market mechanisms.
4. Article 7: a global goal on adaptation.
5. Article 8: averting, minimising and addressing loss and damage.
6. Article 9: developed countries shall provide financial resources to developing countries.
7. Article 13: an enhanced transparency framework for reporting and review.
8. Article 14: a global stocktake every five years, the first completed in 2023.
9. Article 15: a facilitative, non-punitive compliance committee.

3.4 Nationally Determined Contributions

An NDC is a party's own statement of the climate action it will take. The obligation to prepare and maintain an NDC and to pursue domestic measures to achieve it is binding; achieving the stated target is not, which is why the Agreement relies on transparency, peer pressure and the ratchet of five-yearly progression. India's updated NDC (2022) commits it to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 45 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030, and to achieve about 50 per cent of cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030; India has also announced a goal of net zero by 2070.

Later decisions have developed the regime: a fund for responding to loss and damage (agreed at COP27, 2022 and operationalised at COP28, 2023); a new collective quantified goal on climate finance of at least USD 300 billion a year by 2035 (COP29, 2024); and at COP30 in Belém (2025), a 'Global Mutirão' decision that, among other things, called for efforts to triple adaptation finance by 2035. The United States withdrew from the Agreement with effect from January 2026.

4. The Ozone Regime: Vienna Convention and Montreal Protocol

The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (1985) is a framework convention. It was adopted before there was conclusive proof of ozone depletion, a notable early application of precaution, and obliges parties to co-operate in research, exchange information and adopt appropriate measures.

The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (1987) turned the framework into binding phase-out schedules for chlorofluorocarbons, halons and other ozone-depleting substances. It is widely regarded as the most successful environmental treaty. It was the first treaty to achieve universal ratification (2009). Its success rests on several features: an adjustment procedure allowing control measures to be tightened without formal amendment; a ten-year grace period for developing countries (Article 5 countries); a Multilateral Fund to meet their incremental costs; trade restrictions with non-parties; and a non-compliance procedure. The Kigali Amendment (2016) extended the Protocol to hydrofluorocarbons, which do not deplete ozone but are powerful greenhouse gases, making the Protocol an important climate instrument. India ratified the Kigali Amendment in 2021. Domestically, the Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 give effect to the Protocol.

5. Chemicals and Wastes: Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Minamata

5.1 The Basel Convention (1989)

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was adopted in 1989, after scandals in which hazardous waste from industrialised countries was dumped in Africa, and entered into force in 1992. Its principles are that generation of hazardous waste should be minimised, that waste should be disposed of as close as possible to its source, and that transboundary movement is permitted only with the prior informed consent of the importing and transit States and in an environmentally sound manner. Illegal traffic is a criminal offence and the exporting State must take the waste back. The Ban Amendment, prohibiting exports of hazardous waste from developed to developing countries, entered into force in 2019, and the plastic waste amendments (2019) brought most plastic waste within the prior informed consent procedure. India gives effect to Basel through the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016, and the Supreme Court dealt with imports of hazardous waste and ship-breaking in Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy v. Union of India.

5.2 The Rotterdam Convention (1998)

The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade was adopted in 1998 and entered into force in 2004. It does not ban chemicals. It requires that chemicals listed in its Annex III, banned or severely restricted for health or environmental reasons, be exported only with the prior informed consent of the importing country, and promotes information exchange and labelling. It is a 'right to know' treaty for importing countries.

5.3 The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (2001)

The Stockholm Convention on POPs was adopted in 2001 and entered into force in 2004. POPs are chemicals that persist in the environment, bioaccumulate in living organisms, travel long distances and are toxic, such as DDT, PCBs and dioxins (the original 'dirty dozen'). The Convention requires parties to eliminate the production and use of chemicals in Annex A, restrict those in Annex B (DDT is permitted for disease vector control), and reduce unintentional releases of those in Annex C. It expressly refers to precaution in its objective and in the procedure for listing new chemicals.

5.4 The Minamata Convention on Mercury (2013)

The Minamata Convention on Mercury is named after the Japanese town where industrial discharge of methyl mercury poisoned thousands of people in the 1950s. It was adopted in 2013 and entered into force in 2017; India ratified it in 2018. It covers the whole life-cycle of mercury: a ban on new mercury mines and phase-out of existing ones, phase-out of mercury in many products such as batteries, thermometers and certain lamps, controls on emissions and releases, and measures on artisanal gold mining.

6. The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (1994)

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa (UNCCD) was adopted in 1994, following a recommendation of Agenda 21, and entered into force in 1996. Desertification means land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from climatic variations and human activities. The Convention adopts a bottom-up, participatory approach through national, sub-regional and regional action programmes, and regional implementation annexes. India hosted the 14th Conference of the Parties in 2019 and has committed to restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 in pursuit of land degradation neutrality.

7. The World Heritage Convention and Natural Heritage

The Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage was adopted by UNESCO in 1972 and entered into force in 1975. It is unusual in protecting cultural and natural heritage together. Article 2 defines natural heritage as natural features, geological and physiographical formations and delineated areas constituting the habitat of threatened species, and natural sites, of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science, conservation or natural beauty.

Each State recognises its duty to identify, protect, conserve and transmit its heritage to future generations (Article 4). Sites of outstanding universal value are inscribed on the World Heritage List by the World Heritage Committee; sites under serious threat may be placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger. India's natural World Heritage sites include Kaziranga, Keoladeo, Manas, the Sundarbans, Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers, the Western Ghats and the Great Himalayan National Park, with Khangchendzonga inscribed as a mixed site.

8. The Law of the Sea and the Marine Environment

8.1 UNCLOS and marine pollution

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), adopted in 1982 and in force since 1994, is often called the 'constitution for the oceans'. Part XII (Articles 192 to 237) is the most comprehensive treaty regime on the protection of the marine environment.

Article 193 balances this with the sovereign right to exploit natural resources in accordance with that duty. Article 194 requires States to take all measures necessary to prevent, reduce and control pollution from any source. Part XII then addresses six sources of pollution: land-based sources (Article 207), seabed activities under national jurisdiction (Article 208), activities in the Area (Article 209), dumping (Article 210), vessels (Article 211) and the atmosphere (Article 212). It allocates enforcement among flag States, coastal States and port States, and requires monitoring and environmental assessment (Articles 204 to 206).

Specialised treaties supplement UNCLOS: MARPOL 73/78 on pollution from ships; the London Convention (1972) and its 1996 Protocol on dumping of wastes at sea; and civil liability and fund conventions for oil pollution. The BBNJ Agreement on marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, adopted in 2023 as an implementing agreement under UNCLOS, entered into force on 17 January 2026. It covers marine genetic resources and benefit sharing, area-based management tools including marine protected areas, environmental impact assessments, and capacity-building and technology transfer.

9. The International Whaling Convention: An Introductory Note

The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling was signed at Washington in 1946. Its original purpose was to conserve whale stocks so as to make the orderly development of the whaling industry possible, a resource-management rather than a conservation aim. It established the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which adopts a Schedule of regulations.

As scientific concern and public opinion shifted, the IWC in 1982 adopted a moratorium on commercial whaling, effective from the 1985 to 1986 season. Article VIII of the Convention allows parties to issue special permits for scientific research, which some States used to continue whaling. In Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v. Japan; New Zealand intervening), ICJ 2014, the Court held that Japan's JARPA II programme was not 'for purposes of scientific research' because its design and implementation were not reasonable in relation to its stated objectives, and ordered that permits under it be revoked. Japan withdrew from the Convention with effect from 2019. India is a party and supports the moratorium.

10. International Environmental Agreements and Article 253 of the Constitution

India follows a dualist approach to treaties. A treaty ratified by the executive does not by itself create rights and obligations enforceable in Indian courts; legislation is required where the treaty affects private rights or requires changes in domestic law (Maganbhai Ishwarbhai Patel v. Union of India, (1970) 3 SCC 400). Article 253 empowers Parliament to make any law for implementing any treaty, agreement or convention, or any decision made at an international conference, notwithstanding the distribution of legislative subjects between the Union and the States. This matters because many environmental subjects, such as water, land and public health, lie in the State List.

The EPA itself recites in its preamble that it implements the decisions of the Stockholm Conference. Courts have also given effect to international environmental law without legislation, by reading conventions consistently with fundamental rights (Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan, 1997) and by treating customary principles as part of Indian law (Vellore, 1996).

11. Related Topics and Provisions