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In December, 2015, global leaders assembled in Paris to come out with effective solutions regarding climate change. Reducing the emission of gases that major decision taken during the event. This in short sums up the Paris Agreement.

You might already know that the global temperature is increasing. This is due to the release of greenhouse gases, like methane. The phenomenon of global temperature increase is known as global warming.

The Paris Agreement, also known as COP21 was designed to curb the release of greenhouse gases to levels that would prevent global temperatures from increasing not more than 2 degree Celsius. 197 countries signed the agreement and it came into effect by November, 2016.

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Some of the African countries are constantly in the headlines due to the effects of severe drought and famine. We all know the harmful effects of cutting down forests, the lungs of the Earth. Desertification of the Earth would lead to a lot of environmental damage including the loss of the top layer of fertile soil, and drought.

The United Nations has come up with a long- term strategy to deal with the problem of desertification and cutting down the effects of drought. It held a convention to combat desertification in those countries experiencing serious drought and/or desertification in Africa. This strategy was drafted in 1994 and was signed in 1995. This was the result of the direct recommendation of Agenda that we discussed earlier.

To publicise the programme, the year 2006 was declared as the ‘International Year of Deserts and Desertification’.

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In 1997, a second major environmental conference led by the UN happened in Kyoto, Japan. The plan was to save the environment by reducing the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The UN wanted the industrialized nations to significantly reduce their carbon dioxide emissions.

The Protocol was linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. A protocol is an official procedure or a set of rules that the members are supposed to abide by.

After long and difficult negotiations, the developed countries agreed to reduce their emissions by five per cent from the levels of 1990. However, many environmentalists suggested that the emissions had to be reduced at least by 50 per cent.

Though the plan seemed splendid, it was not successful. The Kyoto Protocol was not a treaty and therefore, it was not mandatory to sign it. Moreover, USA, the world’s largest polluter, refused to accept the Protocol.

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In 1983, the UN General Assembly launched a World Commission on Environment and Development. This Commission was assigned to draft a report about environment and climate change along with strategies for sustainable development.

When the Commission reported back to the General Assembly in 1987, it suggested to organize a major worldwide conference on the environment.

The UN Conference on Environment and Development, also known as the Earth Summit was the result of this. 178 representatives participated in the Summit that was organized in Brazil in 1992. However, no enforcements were made during the summit.

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We already know about the United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) that came into effect in 1972. Eleven years after that, the UN proposed that development should not exploit the natural resources. This idea of sustainable development then became the key plank of all of UN’s development programmes.

The UN is also working to make the whole world accept the model of sustainable development. It was presented during the Earth Summit that was conducted in Rio de Janeiro in1992.

Agenda 21 of the Earth Summit is an action plan to achieve sustainable development and concerns with individual governments across the world that operates at local, national and global levels.

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‘Perhaps the single most successful international agreement to date has been the Montreal Protocol.’ Kofi Annan was not wrong to say this.

The Montreal Protocol is indeed a success story. The ozone hole in Antarctica is slowly recovering and is expected to reach the 1980 levels between 2050 and 2070.

The Montreal Protocol phases down both the production and use of nearly a hundred harmful chemicals. This is done in several steps. The developed and developing countries follow a different timetable in the process.

Without this treaty, ozone layer depletion would have increased at least by ten times by 2050 in comparison with the current levels. This treaty also aids the global climate system.

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By the 1990, people around the world became aware of the problem of the ozone layer. Human activity has damaged the ozone layer that protects us from the harmful UV radiations. The UN looked into this problem and in response, designed the Montreal Protocol.

The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone layer is an international treaty to protect the ozone layer. The treaty asked nations to phase out the production of many substances that would deplete the ozone layer.

The UN got the major industrialized nations to sign the treaty. The treaty was adopted in September, 1987 and came into force in September, 1989.

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The UN has faced and mediated many threats to the world including nuclear war. The organisation is now trying hard to deal with something that is more complex and worrying. It is trying to deal with something that has put all living creatures to the risk of mass destruction and that is climate change.

We have been warned that human activity is rapidly changing the Earth and the environment since the mid-1980s. Pure water and air has increasingly become a rarity.

The ozone layer has been damaged due to the release of harmful substances like CFCs from appliances like air conditioners and refrigerators. The waste from factories and households has polluted the air, water and soil.

Millions of acres of rainforests have been irreplaceably cut down. This situation has forced the UN into actions against climate change.

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The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) was active from 1999 to 2006. It was one of the most difficult peacekeeping missions of the 21st century.

The civil war in Sierra Leone began when the Revolutionary United Front campaigned to remove the then President Joseph Momoh. When things went out of hand, the UN was asked to help. Several attempts for negotiations were made after an exploratory mission, but none of them were successful.

So, the UN employed the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) to make sure that the Lome Peace Accord was implemented. It was an agreement to end the civil war.

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It was in 1992 that the UN sent a peacekeeping force- the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) to Yugoslavia. The force was sent to the Serb-controlled areas of Croatia.

It was the duty of the UNPROFOR to ensure that the United Nations Protected Areas were free of military action. It was also responsible for the patrolling of borders. However, the conflict worsened; it spread to Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The airport at Sarajevo was under threat. Because of this, the UNPROFOR widened the area that it watched over to ensure security. This was followed by days of violent attacks.

Yugoslavia had to survive a string of bombarding. The lives of the people were in great danger. The UN force worked hard to provide them with food and medical supplies.

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