UPSC Prelims 2016 · Question 38 of 98

UPSC Prelims 2016 question on UNCCD Importance

What is/are the importance/importances of the ‘United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification’?

1. It aims to promote effective action through innovative national programmes and supportive international partnerships.

2. It has a special/particular focus on South Asia and North Africa regions, and its Secretariat facilitates the allocation of major portion of financial resources to these regions.

3. It is committed to a bottom-up approach, encouraging the participation of local people in combating desertification.

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

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

Answer: C. 1 and 3 only

Verdict

The answer is 1 and 3 only. UNCCD promotes national programmes with international partnerships and works bottom up, but it has no special focus on South Asia and North Africa.

Analysis

Statement 1 is CORRECT. Established in 1994, the Convention promotes effective action through national action programmes supported by international partnerships, and it is the sole legally binding agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. Statement 3 is CORRECT. It is explicitly committed to a bottom up approach involving local people in combating desertification. Statement 2 is INCORRECT. The Convention addresses arid, semi arid and dry sub humid areas worldwide, with Africa given particular attention through a dedicated annex, and its secretariat does not steer the bulk of finance to the two regions named.

Source

Press Information Bureau material and UNCCD documentation.

How to crack it

Statement 2 combines a regional preference claim with a financial allocation claim, and a convention open to universal membership rarely privileges two named regions in that way. Treat any statement that gives a global treaty a narrow geographical focus as suspect. Then anchor the trio of Rio conventions, on climate, biodiversity and desertification, all traceable to the 1992 Earth Summit, because questions frequently test which of the three covers a given issue.

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