Introduction

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Introduction

The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change is the nodal Ministry in the Government of India for all Multilateral Environmental Agreements. These include UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Basel Convention on Trans-boundary Movement of Hazardous Substances, Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete Ozone Layer, UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Kyoto Protocol, Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, Rotterdam Convention, Ramsar Convention etc.

International Co-operation (IC) Division within the Ministry coordinates all issues related to international environmental cooperation. The IC Division is the nodal Division for United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP) and Global Environment Facility (GEF). It coordinates environmental issues related to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and also deals with regional bodies like Economic & Social Commission for Asia & Pacific (ESCAP), South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Union (EU), India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Summit on Environment, etc., within the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change.

The Division also handles bilateral country to country co-operation in the areas of environment protection. The Division supports annual contributions to various UN and other international bodies, like Environment Fund of UNEP, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), UNFCCC, UNCCD, SAARC, SACEP, Integrated Mountain Development – International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), etc.

SD Cell under IC Division also deals with the matters related to follow-up on Rio+20 outcome document, Sustainable Development and development of Sustainable Development Goals as part of UN Post 2015 Development Agenda.