International Years and Decades: UN List and Exam Facts

The correct answer is B, millets. The United Nations General Assembly declared 2023 the International Year of Millets on a proposal moved by India and supported by more than seventy countries, and the Food and Agriculture Organization led the observance; India promoted the crops at home under the name Shree Anna. Option A is wrong because pulses had their own year in 2016, which is the pairing most often swapped with this one. Option C is wrong because camelids, the family that includes camels, llamas and alpacas, were the subject of the year 2024. Option D is wrong because plant health was the theme of 2020. Notice that every option is a real international year placed against the wrong number, which is how these questions are always built, so learn the year together with the name.

The correct answer is B, India. India moved the proposal, it was supported by more than seventy member states, the General Assembly adopted it in 2021 and the year was observed in 2023 with the Food and Agriculture Organization as the lead agency. India's interest is easy to explain in an examination: it is among the largest growers of millets such as jowar, bajra and ragi, which need little water and grow on poor soil. Option A is wrong because Brazil, though a large agricultural producer, did not move this proposal. Option C is wrong because Nigeria grows millets in quantity but was a supporter, not the proposer. Option D is wrong because China did not propose the year. India's other well known success of this kind is the International Day of Yoga on 21 June.

The correct answer is C, the United Nations General Assembly. An international year exists because the Assembly, in which every member state has one vote, adopts a resolution declaring it, usually on a proposal from one or more states. Option A is wrong because UNESCO may be named the lead agency for a year about science, culture or languages, and may recommend one, but it does not declare the year. Option D is wrong for the same reason: the Food and Agriculture Organization led the International Year of Millets and the International Year of Pulses without declaring either. Option B is wrong because the Security Council deals with international peace and security, and its work is resolutions on conflicts, sanctions and peacekeeping, not observances. The same rule holds for international days and decades.

The correct answer is A, camelids. The year 2024 was the International Year of Camelids, the family of animals that includes camels, llamas, alpacas, vicunas and guanacos, which carry loads, give milk, meat and wool, and support families in deserts and high mountains where little else can live. Option B is wrong because glass had its international year in 2022, marked for its role in optics, medicine and communication. Option C is wrong because quinoa, the grain of the Andes, had its year in 2013, the same year as water cooperation. Option D is wrong because natural fibres such as jute, cotton and wool had their year in 2009, along with astronomy. Since all four are genuine designations, the mark depends entirely on holding the number and the name together.

The correct answer is B, plant health. The General Assembly declared 2020 the International Year of Plant Health to show how protecting plants from pests and diseases protects food supply, trade and the environment, and the Food and Agriculture Organization led the year. Option A is wrong because soils had their year in 2015, when 5 December was also observed as World Soil Day. Option C is wrong because family farming was the theme of 2014, and a full decade of family farming was later declared for the years 2019 to 2028. Option D is wrong because fruits and vegetables were the subject of the very next year, 2021, which is the commonest confusion in this question. Learning the two farm years in order, plant health then fruits and vegetables, removes the trap.

The correct answer is C, 2016. The year 2016 was the International Year of Pulses, led by the Food and Agriculture Organization, and it drew attention to crops such as gram, arhar, moong, urad and masoor, which give protein cheaply and fix nitrogen in the soil. The year matters to India, the largest producer as well as the largest consumer of pulses in the world. Option A is wrong because 2014 was the International Year of Family Farming and of Crystallography. Option B is wrong because 2015 was the International Year of Soils and of Light and Light-based Technologies. Option D is wrong because no international year of a crop was declared for 2018, which is remembered instead for the beginning of the water decade running to 2028. Pair pulses in 2016 with millets in 2023.

The correct answer is B, the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements. The year 2019 marked one hundred and fifty years since Dmitri Mendeleev arranged the elements in his table in 1869, and the United Nations declared it the International Year of the Periodic Table alongside the International Year of Indigenous Languages. Option A is wrong because the International Year of Chemistry was 2011, chosen for the centenary of Marie Curie's Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Option C is wrong because the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies was 2015. Option D is wrong because crystallography had its year in 2014, a century after the award of the Nobel Prize for X-ray diffraction. Note that indigenous languages were later given a full decade, from 2022 to 2032, and a year should not be confused with that decade.

The correct answer is C, 2021 to 2030. The Decade on Ecosystem Restoration runs from 2021 to 2030, the same ten years as the Sustainable Development Goals, and it is led jointly by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization; its aim is to revive damaged forests, wetlands, grasslands and coasts. Option A is wrong because 2011 to 2020 was the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity, and also the first Decade of Action for Road Safety. Option B is wrong because 2015 to 2024 was the International Decade for People of African Descent. Option D is wrong because 2022 to 2032 is the International Decade of Indigenous Languages. Three other decades share the years 2021 to 2030: ocean science, healthy ageing and the second decade of road safety.

The correct answer is A, indigenous languages. After the International Year of Indigenous Languages in 2019 showed how many languages are close to disappearing, the General Assembly set aside the ten years from 2022 to 2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, with UNESCO as the lead agency. Option B is wrong because the Decade of Healthy Ageing runs from 2021 to 2030 and is led by the World Health Organization. Option C is wrong because the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development also runs from 2021 to 2030. Option D is wrong because the International Decade for Action on water for sustainable development began earlier, in 2018, and runs to 2028. The safest way to answer is to remember that only the languages decade starts in 2022.

The correct answer is B, forests. The year 2011 was the International Year of Forests, observed to show how forests support water, soil, climate and the livelihood of people who live in and around them; the same year was also the International Year of Chemistry. Option A is wrong because biodiversity had its year in 2010, and the ten years that followed, 2011 to 2020, formed the Decade on Biodiversity. Option C is wrong because youth also had the year 2010, which therefore carried two designations. Option D is wrong because cooperatives had the year 2012, alongside sustainable energy for all. The years from 2010 to 2013 are the ones most often mixed up in papers, so revise them as a block: biodiversity, forests, cooperatives, water cooperation. Forests are also the subject of an international day, 21 March, which is worth remembering with this year.

The correct answer is A, glaciers' preservation. The General Assembly declared 2025 the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation, to draw attention to the melting of glaciers that feed rivers such as the Ganga, the Indus and the Brahmaputra and to the risk this carries for water supply and for floods. The same year also carried the designations of quantum science and technology and of cooperatives. Option B is wrong because plant health was the theme of 2020. Option C is wrong because artisanal fisheries and aquaculture belonged to 2022, along with glass and basic sciences. Option D is wrong for the same reason, since basic sciences for sustainable development was one of the three designations of 2022. Glaciers matter to Indian papers because of the Himalayan rivers. The year also brought in a new observance, the World Day for Glaciers, marked on 21 March.

The correct answer is B, India. India proposed the observance at the United Nations, the General Assembly adopted the resolution in 2014 with the support of a very large number of member states, and the first International Day of Yoga was observed on 21 June 2015. The date was chosen because 21 June is the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice. Option A is wrong because Nepal, though a co-sponsor like many other states, did not move the proposal. Option C is wrong because Sri Lanka also only supported it. Option D is wrong because Indonesia, the country with the largest number of islands taking part in such events, was likewise a supporter. This question is set beside the millets question, since both show India proposing an observance.