UPSC Prelims 2014 · Question 58 of 100

UPSC Prelims 2014 question on Biodiversity International Agreements

Consider the following international agreements:

1. The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
2. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
3. The World Heritage Convention

Which of the above has/have a bearing on the biodiversity?

  1. 1 and 2 only
  2. 3 only
  3. 1 and 3 only
  4. 1, 2 and 3
Show answer

Answer: D. 1, 2 and 3

Verdict

The answer is 1, 2 and 3. All three agreements have a bearing on biodiversity, even though only one of them names biodiversity in its title.

Analysis

Statement 1 is CORRECT. The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture governs conservation, access and benefit sharing for crop genetic diversity. Statement 2 is CORRECT. The Convention to Combat Desertification treats land, climate and biodiversity as intimately connected and works alongside the Convention on Biological Diversity and the climate convention. Statement 3 is CORRECT. The World Heritage Convention protects natural sites, many inscribed precisely for their biodiversity value.

Source

Press Information Bureau material and the desertification convention's own statement of its links to the other Rio conventions.

How to crack it

Read the words has a bearing on carefully. The question asks about influence, not about mandate, and an influence test is far easier to satisfy than a title test. Candidates lose this question by demanding that biodiversity be the treaty's stated subject. Whenever a stem uses soft phrasing such as has a bearing on, is related to, or has implications for, expect the inclusive answer and check for a reason to exclude rather than a reason to include.

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