ENV - NEWS

Held under the theme “Strengthening Flyway Conservation in a Changing World”, AEWA’s MOP8 concluded with the adoption of 16 resolutions and new guidelines aiming to improve the conservation status of 255 migratory waterbirds listed under the UN-backed treaty.

The Forum brought together scientists, policy makers, public and private stakeholders with expertise on endocrine disruptors to exchange information and best practices, identify challenges and build synergies in order to inform the Commission’s reflections.

Under the theme: “Securing people’s well-being and ensuring environmental sustainability in Africa”, the resumed 18th session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) focused on the need for people-centred post-Covid recovery with an emphasis on people’s well-being through environmentally friendly actions that create jobs and improve livelihoods.

The G20 Environment and Climate Ministerial Meeting, where Commissioner Sinkevičius and EVP Timmermans represented the EU, discussed a variety of global issues, reaching agreement on some of them while a number of others remained controversial. The meeting ended with a Chair’s Summary of the discussions outlining the commitments on which “broad agreement” had been found.

Participants made progress on the outline for a future framework on chemicals and waste to guide global efforts for years to come, and agreed to reconvene in early 2023 for further deliberations to enable the framework’s adoption at the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM5) in September 2023.

The first in-person meeting of the HLPF in three years reviewed five SDGs in particular: SDGs 4 (quality education), 5 (gender equality), 14 (life below water), 15 (life on land), and 17 (partnerships for the Goals). Also discussed were the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic across all SDGs and the integrated, indivisible, and interlinked nature of the Goals.

The ninth session of the IPBES Plenary (IPBES-9) continued a trend of publishing high profile, high quality, comprehensive, and thorough assessments on a variety of biodiversity-related topics by adopting two new assessments – on sustainable use of wild species and on conceptualization of multiple values of nature and its benefits — and by laying the foundation for future work under the Platform’s Rolling Work Programme up to 2030 and its task forces.

Commissioner Sinkevičius also held six bilateral meetings focused on biodiversity, with the African Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy, and Sustainable Environment; the Executive Director of the CBD Convention and the Ministers of Environment from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Morocco and Ghana. The latter, notably at understanding their positions and exchanging on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) to be adopted at CBD COP 15 in December in Canada. These exchanges showed a wide variety of country realities, priorities and level of engagement on the CBD negotiations.

In the margins of the G20 Ministerial meeting, the Commissioner had bilateral encounters with the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and environmental ministers from Australia, Egypt, Indonesia, South Korea, and Japan.

This year, the Conference will focus on greening the economy in the pan-European region and applying circular economy principles to sustainable tourism.

At IWC68, stakeholders will present and discuss the outcomes of IWC67 and move forward with the implementation of specific measures to regulate whaling and conserve whale stocks. These measures include catch limits (which may be zero as it the case for commercial whaling) by species and area, designating specified areas as whale sanctuaries, protection of calves and females accompanied by calves, and restrictions on hunting methods.

The WTO Trade and Environment Week is a forum for government officials, business representatives, international organizations, academics, and civil society to discuss ways to make global trade more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive.

The IRP and its Steering Committee will review ongoing work, discuss its future projects, and celebrate the IRP’s 15th anniversary. The meeting is open to Panel members, Steering Committee members, Strategic Partners and invited observers.

The 2022 Summit will be an important milestone leading up to the second part of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in December 2022. It will strengthen the European ‘Business for Biodiversity movement’ and help the business community shape and prepare for these imminent changes.

The G7 Climate, Energy and Environment Ministers committed to mainstreaming, enhancing, and scaling up, across all sectors at home and abroad, the implementation of Nature-based-Solutions (NbS), to benefit biodiversity and climate. To transform commitments into action, this workshop provides a platform to enable the sharing of best practices and initiate an exchange of lessons learned on NbS implementation to create synergies and incentivise increased cooperation and action. A special focus will be placed on marine and coastal NbS, as the oceans are a priority of the German G7 Presidency.

Parties of the framework convention for the protection and sustainable development of the Alpine region will meet to discuss the outcomes of the Multi-Annual Work Program 2017-2022 and launch the 2022-2027 programme. This will be in parallel with the Conference of The Environment and Transport Ministers of the Alpine Countries and the European Commissioners for the Environment and for Transport (Simplon Alliance).

The International Tropical Timber Council is ITTO’s governing body. It meets once a year to discuss wide-ranging issues of interest to members, including those related to the legal trade of tropical timber and the sustainable management of tropical forests. Council sessions are open to official delegates and accredited observers.

COP27 stands out from previous COPs. This year will mark 30 years since the UNFCCC was adopted and seven years since the Paris Agreement was agreed at COP21. With the tagline ‘Together for implementation’, it will be a critical test of whether the international process can respond to the increasing urgency of the situation.

The aim of the workshop will be to take stock of activities undertaken by G7 representatives and others to address lead pollution and develop future work and cooperation to reduce sources of lead in the environment and minimize exposure to it in developing countries and vulnerable communities.

This year’s World Wildlife Conference is being asked to consider stricter trade regulations for nearly six hundred species of animals and plants believed to be under increased threat of extinction from international trade. In what is being seen as a barometer for the state of the world’s wildlife, just nine species are being recommended for less restrictive trade regulations.

Parties, other Member States and stakeholders will have an opportunity to share their experiences in implementing pollutant release and transfer registers, in particular, during agenda items on the development of the Protocol and on subregional and national activities.

INC-1 is open to all States Members of the United Nations and members of United Nations specialised agencies, to regional economic integration organisations and to relevant regional and international instruments and initiatives and all stakeholders in the context of the mandate of the intergovernmental negotiating committee.

Among the highlights of this meeting are the celebration of the Convention’s thirtieth anniversary, a ‘UNECE/OECD Seminar on the effective management of technological risks of accidents triggered by natural hazards’, and the adoption of a Decision on Natech risk management in the Economic Commission for Europe region and beyond. Parties will also be invited to endorse a Roadmap for action for strengthening tailings safety in follow-up to the Decision 2020/1 on tailings safety taken at CoP-11.

All Contracting Parties of the Bern Convention as well as observer states and national and international organisations, both governmental and non-governmental, will meet at the Council of Europe premises in Strasbourg.

For the first time, WCEF2022 invites the world to Africa to build circular economy solutions. “With the youngest population in the world, the African continent can take a crucial role in the global transition towards circularity,” says Rwanda’s Minister of Environment Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya.

The conference will see the adoption of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, which provides a strategic vision and a global roadmap for the conservation, protection, restoration and sustainable management of biodiversity and ecosystems for the next decade.

The conference will focus on the first Zero Pollution Monitoring and Outlook, with a high-level session in the morning and parallel seminars in the afternoon. The draft programme and registration will be available soon.

The third edition of the Environmental Implementation Review based on 27 individual country reports draws conclusions on the current state of implementation of the EU environmental legislation in the Member States. Since its first edition in 2017 it has become a key reporting tool that supports environmental enforcement and raises awareness about the importance of implementing environmental rules, contributing to the overall objective to ensure good environmental outcomes for citizens, and to maintain a level playing field for businesses while creating opportunities for economic development.

The Recommendation concerns a Council Decision authorising the opening of negotiations on behalf of the European Union for an international agreement on plastic pollution to be negotiated by an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) established by Resolution 5/14 of the Fifth Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) held from 28 February to 2 March 2022.

The 2022 Report addresses the current geopolitical shifts reinforcing the megatrends that are already affecting the EU, such as climate change and environmental degradation, digital hyper-connectivity and technological transformation alongside pressure on democracy and values, as well as shifts in the global order and demography. These geopolitical shifts will clearly affect Europe’s path to achieving fair green and digital transitions. Against this new geopolitical backdrop, the 2022 Report presents a forward-looking strategic reflection on the interactions between the green and digital transitions.