What is/are the importance/importances of the ‘United Nations Convention to Combat Desertfication’? 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 bottom-up approach, encouraging the participation of local people in combating the desertification. Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

The correct answer is C (1 and 3 only). The UNCCD was adopted in 1994, came into force in 1996, and is based in Bonn.

• Statement 1 is correct. The Convention's core objective is to promote effective action through innovative national programmes and supportive international partnerships.
• Statement 2 is wrong. The Convention's special focus is on Africa, not South Asia and North Africa. Its Secretariat does not allocate financial resources. Funding comes mainly through the Global Environment Facility and other donors, and the Global Mechanism helps mobilise it.
• Statement 3 is correct. The Convention stresses a participatory, bottom-up approach, with local communities and civil society central to planning and implementation.

The core concept is the UNCCD as a legally binding framework on land degradation in drylands, which is linked to SDG 15.3 on land degradation neutrality. For Mains, link it to India's commitment to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 and to community-led watershed and forest management.

Trap: Aspirants assume every UN environmental convention is funded by its own Secretariat, or that a regional focus on South Asia applies here.