ENV - NEWS

The meeting yielded the adoption of 18 decisions, including a landmark agreement on a sulphur emissions control area in the Mediterranean.

Business leaders and policymakers met in late November and early December at the 2021 European Business and Nature Summit (EBNS), a high-level political and technical forum. They capitalised on the growing awareness that businesses impact and depend on nature and the ecosystem services it provides to align ambitions ahead of the in-person segment of the Convention on Biodiversity’s COP15.

The first segment of the 4th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP-4) took place online from 1 to 5 November, with over a thousand participants and an ambitious programme of work. It constructively considered important issues including evaluation, reporting, funding, increased international cooperation, and the listing of new products under the convention. A second in-person segment is planned for 21 - 25 March 2022 in Bali, Indonesia.

On 10-11 November the European Commission and the European External Action Service organised the EU Arctic Forum and the Annual Arctic Indigenous Peoples’ Dialogue. Over two days, ministers, ambassadors, European and local policy makers, representatives of Indigenous Peoples, NGOs, scientists, and university students discussed the situation in the Arctic and addressed the implementation of the updated EU Arctic Policy as expressed in the Joint Communication of 13 October 2021.

The UNFCCC COP26 ‘Action on Forests and Land Use’ Summit brought together an unprecedented alliance of governments, companies, financial actors, and non-state leaders to raise ambitions to preserve the lungs of the world. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a €1 billion contribution from the European Union.

The first segment of the Fifteenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15) took place in the Chinese city of Kunming and online from 11 to 15 October 2021. This was the biggest biodiversity conference in a decade. It included the participation of over 2900 delegates in Kunming, and 2400 connecting virtually.

On 8 October 2021, at its 48th session, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted Resolution 48/13, officially recognising for the first time that having a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a human right.

Ministers from the 42 Member States of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), gathered in Cairo for the 2nd UfM Ministerial Conference on Environment and Climate Action, agreed on a common agenda to strengthen efforts in tackling the urgent multiple environmental and climate challenges faced by the Euro-Mediterranean region, including marine litter, sustainable waste management, biodiversity loss and air pollution.

Game-changing new financing commitments for nature and people were announced at UNGA’s 76th High Level event “Transformative Action for Nature and People”. These included the reiteration by President von der Leyen of her announcement in her State of the Union address that the European Union will double its external funding for biodiversity in the next 7 years, as well as the biggest-ever philanthropic commitment to nature conservation.

Senior officials from ASEAN and the EU gathered virtually on 16 September for the third EU-ASEAN High-Level Dialogue (HLD) on Environment and Climate Change, which was hosted by Brunei Darussalam.

The first high-level meeting of the Global Alliance on Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency (GACERE) took place on September 14, at the World Circular Economy Forum. The Alliance, a deliverable of the EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan of March 2020, has the objective of advocating for a transition to the circular economy as a way of contributing to solving the climate, biodiversity and pollution crises.

Building on previous forums, WCEF2021 focused on the system level changes, or “game changers”, needed to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

The IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille (3-11 September) closed with its members proclaiming a Manifesto, through which they committed to respecting the perspectives and harnessing the agency of all citizens – especially youth, indigenous peoples and local community leaders who play a central role in nature and biodiversity conservation –, and promoting investments in nature, the transition to a nature-positive economy and nature-based solutions.

The Governments of Ecuador, Germany, Ghana and Vietnam jointly organised a Ministerial Conference to build momentum and the political will to advance a coherent global strategy to end marine litter and combat plastic pollution.

Read the main outcomes of the G20 Environment Ministers Meeting, held on July 22, and the G20 Leaders Summit organized from October 30 to 31, 2021.

Under the theme “Global Agreements for a Healthy Planet: Sound management of chemicals and waste”, the fifteenth meeting of the COP to the Basel Convention, the tenth meeting of the COP to the Rotterdam Convention and the tenth meeting of the COP to the Stockholm Convention (BRS triple COP) convened in a virtual format from 26 to 30 July 2021. A face-to-face segment will follow in Geneva, Switzerland, from 6 to 17 June 2022.

This major international debate on the Ocean provides an opportunity to share knowledge and cross approaches, particularly by integrating climate change, in order to better anticipate oceanic crises and technological, scientific and environmental transformations.

The overall theme for UNEA-5 is “Strengthening Actions for Nature to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals”. This highlights the pivotal role nature plays in our lives and in social, economic and environmental sustainable development.

UNEP@50 is a time to reflect on the past and envision the future. It provides an opportunity to reinvigorate international cooperation and spur collective action to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste.

The upcoming 74th meeting of the CITES Standing Committee will take place in the Metropolis of Lyon (France) and bring together members and observers to review strategic, policy and species-specific matters affecting the implementation of the Convention in preparation for the 19th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP19) to take place in November 2022 in Panama.

The resumed sessions of the twenty-fourth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA 24), the third meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI 3) and the third meeting of the Open-ended Working Group on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (WG2020-3), originally scheduled for 12-28 January 2022 are now planned to take place on 13-29 March 2022, at the International Conference Center Geneva in Geneva, Switzerland.

The European Commission adopted its revised Guidance on the EU regime governing ivory trade on 16 December, as part of its commitment under the EU Biodiversity Strategy to take additional action against elephant poaching and ivory trafficking globally.

Provisional agreement was reached on 1 December 2021 between the European Parliament and the Council on the 8th Environment Action Programme (EAP). The 8th EAP anchors the Member States’ and Parliament’s commitment to environmental and climate action until 2030, guided by a long-term vision to 2050 of wellbeing for all, while staying within the planetary boundaries. The provisional agreement is now tabled for confirmation by the Parliament and the Council.

The Strategy sets out concrete measures for the protection, restoration and sustainable use of soils.

The Commission delivers on circular economy and zero pollution ambitions by proposing stronger rules on waste exports to protect the environment and people’s health.

The regulation will address the negative consequences of POPs in waste and in material that could be recovered from it.

The proposed new rules intend to ensure that the products that EU citizens buy, use and consume on the EU market do not contribute to global deforestation and forest degradation.

The EU forest strategy for 2030 is one of the flagship initiatives of the European Green Deal and builds on the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030. The strategy recognises the central and multifunctional role of forests, and the contribution of foresters and the entire forest-based value chain to achieving prosperous rural areas, EU biodiversity objectives and a sustainable and climate neutral economy by 2050.

The exhibition consists of 25 original photographs showing species of wild, migratory or resident animals living within Mexican borders.