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information on new developments in environmental policy and law,

at global, regional and national levels,

interesting reports and documents

published by governments, international institutions or civil society organisations,

links to full texts.

 

Key messages of documents or reports are highlighted, sometimes with short notes or comments.

 

Just scroll down and find news and links on:

• Pandemic - Covid 19
• Environmental health
• International environmental governance
• EU environmental policy
• Environmental law developments
• Sustainable development and SDG
• Climate change
• Biodiversity and forests
• Marine environment
• Environment and waste

• Nuclear energy

 

PANDEMIC - COVID 19

 

COVID-19 and the environment 

 

The COVID-19 pandemic was also a crisis interesting from the environmental point of view. From the very beginning of the crisis, the links between the pandemic and environmental factors were emphasized. We heard and read every day that the mortality from the virus in most cases was due to the combination of the virus infection and the patients’ existing sicknesses many of which may have been caused by environmental pollution or exposure to hazardous substances such as respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases or cancer.

 

Then, there was - and still is - the debate about whether or not the origin of the corona virus infection was a zoonotic disease going back to a human contact with wildlife, considering also that zoonotic diseases are an increasing risk today because of (illegal) wildlife trade and landuse changes such as deforestation, habitat fragmentation or expanding agricultural practices. The debate is still open but this hypothesis cannot be ruled out just as other hypotheses cannot be ruled out so far. The costs of the  measures against the pandemic - the basically global lockdowns of many economic activities – could be seen quickly; they not only included stress and sufferings for humans and economic disasters, disruptions of supply chains, massive closure of businesses, not to speak about the impacts the measures had on the political systems and the societies as a whole, they also brought additional burdens on the environment and ecosystems. All suggests to look at pandemics also as environmental challenges.

 

There is a consensus that the economic recovery after the pandemic needs to be environmentally friendly and sustainable. It is not enough, however, to vaguely speak about "rebuilding better" as this may mean quite different things. Recovery must be viable economically, socially and ecologically. We must reduce pollution which is a major threat to human health, and we must put an end to the pressure on nature and natural resources. It is only this way that we achieve the resilience which is needed. Believing simply in technolgocal cures to the problems we create is absurd. The sustainable recovery of the global economy after COVID-19 is not only an opportunity as many loftily argue; it is a necessity to avoid the catastrophes. One should take it as a final warning to eventually take environmental protection seriously. Will we hear the warning?

 

The path to the change which is needed will not be easy; we should have no illusion about it. There is the real risk that the crisis and the enormous amounts of money which governments in a number of countries made available may not be used for "rebuilding better"; instead it may also be used by vested interests to go back to business-as-usual and fossil economic practices or to establishing a new order that has nothing to do with sustainability. So, let's pay attention; part of our work will be to prevent such counterproductive practices and developments, and all in civil society around the world, NGOs but also forward-looking businesses and economists, should be aware of the risk and watch carefully.

 

For all who manage to keep their critical look, follow information and statements from international environmental organisations such as:

UNEP http://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/statement/unep-statement-covid-19

IUCN https://www.iucn.org/news/secretariat/202004/iucn-statement-covid-19-pandemic

 

Covid 19 and governance

 

UNDP Oslo Governance Centre and Southern Voice on 31 May 2022 launched the report COVID-19 and the Crisis of Governance: The impact of the Pandemic on Peace, Justice and Inclusion (SDG 16). The report presents remarkable findings which commentators called “disturbing” and “worrying”. Indeed, the findings should worry and make people think. The report on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected governance systems worldwide concludes, inter alia:

• The pandemic has been a humanitarian crisis with millions dead and suffering and leading to economic emergencies in hundreds of millions of households.
• The pandemic and its consequences have been used by governments as an excuse in order to limit civic and democratic space and to restrict civic space accelerating existing authoritarian trends, undermining dissent, targeting human rights defenders and the media, and eroding oversight institutions, including the judiciary and legislative institutions.
• The pandemic has increased social exclusion with significant political consequences while Inequalities and social exclusion have grown over the last two years.
• The pandemic’s consequences of rising inequality and poverty can be root causes of future conflicts due to reversals across the board on targets related to peace, justice, and inclusion leading to high levels of mistrust of governments and risks of social unrest.

Full report at: https://www1.undp.org/content/oslo-governance-centre/en/home/library/covid-19-and-the-crisis-of-governance--the-impact-of-the-pandemi.html

 

COVID-19: lessons for sustainability?

A European Environmental Agency report published 20 January 2022 has the follwoing key messages:

• COVID-19 can be seen as a ‘late lesson’ from an early warning. Environmental degradation increases the risk of pandemics. COVID-19 emerged and escalated through the complex interplay between drivers of change, such as ecosystem disturbance, urbanisation, international travel and climate change.
• The pandemic has shown that our societies have immense potential for collective action and change when faced with a perceived emergency.

• Thus far, the unprecedented agency shown by governments in responding to COVID-19 does not seem to have greatly served the cause of sustainability.

• Human health and environmental integrity are intertwined. A transition to a sustainable society and economy is necessary to protect human health.
• To ‘build back better’, society and governments must reflect on what to do differently and what to stop doing altogether.

https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/covid-19-lessons-for-sustainability

 

Covid-19 recovery and climate

 

United In Science 2021: A multi-organization high-level compilation of the latest climate science information, published by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ; United Nations Environment Programme ; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ; United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) ; Global Carbon Project, on 16 September 2021, finds:

• COVID-19 did not slow the relentless advance of climate change. There is no sign that we are growing back greener, as carbon dioxide emissions are rapidly recovering after a temporary blip due to the economic slowdown and are nowhere close to reduction targets. Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere continue at record levels, committing the planet to dangerous future warming.
• Rising global temperatures are fuelling devastating extreme weather throughout the world, with spiralling impacts on economies and societies. Billions of work hours have been lost through heat alone. The average global temperature for the past five years was among the highest on record. There is an increasing likelihood that temperatures will temporarily breach the threshold of 1.5° Celsius above the pre-industrial era, in the next five years.

In his foreword, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres writes:

• “We are still significantly off-schedule to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.  This year has seen fossil fuel emissions bounce back, greenhouse gas concentrations continuing to rise and severe human-enhanced weather events that have affected health, lives and livelihoods on every continent.  Unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to 1.5°C will be impossible, with catastrophic consequences for people and the planet on which we depend.”

Presenting the Report, WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas said:

• “Throughout the pandemic we have heard that we must build back better to set humanity on a more sustainable path and to avoid the worst impacts of climate change on society and economies. This report shows that so far in 2021 we are not going in the right direction.”

Report at: https://library.wmo.int/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=21946#.YUNPuVVKjIU 

 

Covid-19 recovery  -  Where does public money go in times of Covid?

 

A recent report (June 2021) gives a hint, at least for the G7 states, and it is a rather sobering one:

Cleaning up their act? G7 fossil fuel investments in a time of green recovery. Report published by Tearfund, in collaboration with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

Key findings

• This analysis shows that, between January 2020 and March 2021, G7 nations committed more than US$189 billion to support coal, oil and gas, while clean forms of energy received only $147 billion. In other words, fossil fuels received more than half of the total support to energy-intensive sectors. These investments – including the many direct support measures and environmental deregulations adopted in favour of the fossil fuel industry – are inconsistent with the steep decline in emissions needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C and with G7 countries’ own net-zero targets.
• G7 nations also missed major opportunities to make their response to Covid-19 greener. More than eight in every ten dollars committed to fossil fuels came with no ‘green strings’ attached: they benefited fossil-fuel intensive activities without requirements for any climate targets or reductions in pollution.

Report at: https://learn.tearfund.org/-/media/learn/resources/reports/2021-tearfund-consortium-cleaning-up-their-act-g7.pdf

 

If this is so, then it seems that the great change towards sustainable development which many wish to think and speak of as a chance in the pandemic, is still not happening. Past trends leading to distortions, imbalances, inequalities and global risks are obviously hard to overcome. We may still wonder what actually is going on.

 

 

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH – Diseases from environmental risks

 

A more recent study published in February 2021, undertaken by Harvard University, in collaboration with the University of Birmingham, the University of Leicester and University College London, reaches similar conclusions: More than 8 million people died in 2018 from fossil fuel pollution, significantly higher than previous research suggested. In the new study, researchers estimated that exposure to particulate matter from fossil fuel emissions accounted for 18 percent of total global deaths in 2018, a little less than 1 out of 5. The findings underscore the detrimental impact of fossil fuels on global health.

More: https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2021/02/deaths-fossil-fuel-emissions-higher-previously-thought

 

Healthy environment, healthy lives: how the environment influences health and well-being in Europe,

EEA Report No 21/2019.

A significant proportion of the burden of disease in Europe continues to be attributed to environmental pollution resulting from human activity. This report highlights how the quality of Europe’s environment plays a key role in determining our health and well-being.

Created 18 Aug 2020 , Published 08 Sep 2020

https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/healthy-environment-healthy-lives

 

7 September is the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, marked for the first time in 2020.

From the UNEP press release:

• Extreme impacts of a crisis that affects us all – air pollution affects human, animal and planetary health, with an estimated 7 million people dying prematurely from diseases caused by air pollution. Air pollution is the greatest environmental risk to human health and one of the main avoidable causes of death and disease globally. Each year. Many millions more living with these diseases suffer a substantial amount of disability.  
• Air pollution not only threatens the health of people but also has negative impacts on plants and ecosystems. Ozone air pollution alone is responsible for 52 million tons of global crop losses annually. Air pollution also drives the climate crisis with many greenhouse gases and air pollutants coming from the same sources, meaning air pollution is not only bad human for health and quality of life today, but also makes the future less safe for coming generations.
• "Air pollution is a huge environmental risk to human health. It has a disproportionate impact on the poor. The economic costs are mounting – whether through healthcare bills, lost productivity, reduced crop yields or the eroded competitiveness of cities." (Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP)

UNEP press release at: https://www.cleanairblueskies.org/press-release/first-international-day-clean-air-calls-decisive-global-action-beat-air-pollution

 

There are good reasons to ask: Where is the media outcry about the 7 million people dying every year from air pollution? A mega city of 7 million people just disappearing, every year, by air pollution alone? Do we simply accept it?

Drinking water

Microplastics in drinking-water

WHO calls for more research into microplastics and a crackdown on plastic pollution

22 August 2019

 

More …

https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/microplastics-in-drinking-water/en/

 

Note: Media around the world referred to this study as indicating that there was no evidence that microplastics were damaging human health. In reality the WHO declared that we are confronted with a major problem and that it is urgent to do intensive research to clarify the risks. That message is significantly different.

 

Air pollution risks and mortality

 

New WHO global air quality guidelines: Particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide, published 22 Sep 2021.

 

WHO information:

The new WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines provide clear evidence of the damage air pollution inflicts on human health, at even lower concentrations than previously understood. The guidelines recommend new air quality levels to protect the health of populations, by reducing levels of key air pollutants, some of which also contribute to climate change.

Clean air is fundamental to health. Compared to 15 years ago, when the previous edition of these guidelines was published, there is now a much stronger body of evidence to show how air pollution affects different aspects of health at even lower concentrations than previously understood. But here’s what hasn’t changed: every year, exposure to air pollution is still estimated to cause millions of deaths and the loss of healthy years of life.

Every year, exposure to air pollution is estimated to cause 7 million premature deaths and result in the loss of millions more healthy years of life. In children, this could include reduced lung growth and function, respiratory infections and aggravated asthma. In adults, ischaemic heart disease and stroke are the most common causes of premature death attributable to outdoor air pollution, and evidence is also emerging of other effects such as diabetes and neurodegenerative conditions. This puts the burden of disease attributable to air pollution on a par with other major global health risks such as unhealthy diet and tobacco smoking.

Source: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240034228

 

Note: The WHO Guidelines are partly stricter than the current EU legislation values. EP members and environmental groups react and call on the EU Commission to revise the Air Quality Directive to bring it in line with the new WHO guidelines.

 

Air quality in Europe — 2019 report.

This EEA Report presents an updated overview and analysis of air quality in Europe from 2000 to 2017. - Air pollution continues to have significant impacts on the health of the European population, particularly in urban areas. Europe's most serious pollutants, in terms of harm to human health, are PM, NO2 and ground-level O3. - Air pollution also damages vegetation and ecosystems. It leads to several important environmental impacts, which affect vegetation and fauna directly, as well as the quality of water and soil and the ecosystem services they support. The most harmful air pollutants in terms of damage to ecosystems are O3, ammonia and nitrogen oxides (NOX).

https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/air-quality-in-europe-2019

 

In a new study „Cardiovascular disease burden from ambient air pollution in Europe reassessed using novel hazard ratio functions”, published in the current issue of the European Heart Journal (Feb 2019), a team of scientists updates the calculations of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD), a worldwide health study, and also its own calculations in the past: The previous calculation of the global mortality rate of 4.5 million deaths per year from air pollution is now re-assessed to amount to 8.8 million deaths per year. Europe has a higher rate of mortality than the global average; around 800.000 people die in Europe from air pollution every year, the study finds.

Study download: https://academic.oup.com/DocumentLibrary/EHJ/2019_PR/ehz135.pdf

WHO Report (March 2016)  “Preventing disease through healthy environments: a global assessment of the burden of disease from environmental risks”. See: http://www.who.int/quantifying_ehimpacts/publications/preventing-disease/en/

Economic cost of the health impact of air pollution in Europe - WHO Europe, study published 29 April 2016. --- A staggering US $ 1.6 trillion is the economic cost of the approximate 600 000 premature deaths and of the diseases caused by air pollution in the WHO European Region in 2010, according to the first-ever study of these costs conducted for the Region. The amount is nearly equivalent to one tenth of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the entire European Union in 2013. - - -The economic value of deaths and diseases due to air pollution – US$ 1 600 000 000 000 – corresponds to the amount societies are willing to pay to avoid these deaths and diseases with necessary interventions. In these calculations, a value is attached to each death and disease, independent of the age of the person and which varies according to the national economic context. --- Air pollution: the single largest environmental health risk --- Over 90% of citizens in the Region are exposed to annual levels of outdoor fine particulate matter that are above WHO's air quality guidelines. This accounted for 482 000 premature deaths in 2012 from heart and respiratory diseases, blood vessel conditions and strokes, and lung cancer. In the same year, indoor air pollution resulted in an additional 117 200 premature deaths, five times more in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries.

 

INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE 

 

Multilateralism

 

New GDP Center/UNCTAD Report:  A New Multilateralism for Shared Prosperity

This report, launched on 12 April 2019, advances a set of “Geneva Principles for a Global Green New Deal” that can form the foundations for a new multilateral trade and investment regime that has shared prosperity and sustainable development as its core goals. The report has been prepared by the Boston University Global Development Policy (GDP) Center and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The report states, inter alia:

• The current state of uncertainty and insecurity is the result of inherent financial instability, rising inequality, and climate breakdown.
• After eons of co-existence between humans and nature, changes such as rapid technological advances, exploitation of new sources of carbon-based energy, greater intensity in the in the use of land and water, and changing consumption patterns have transformed our relationship with nature to one of exploitation in support of “boundless” wealth creation. It has come at a huge cost. With global temperatures set to exceed the desired 1.5 degree increase by 2030, keeping that increase well below 2 degrees is now the urgent challenge and a core organizing principle for the world economy.
• The threat of rising temperatures from high levels of atmospheric carbon levels is in large part due to emissions from the richest 10 percent of people in the world. But the environmental breakdown is multi-dimensional; species loss, land degradation, extreme weather events, acidification of oceans, etc., are concurrent and compounding. That the situation will worsen is not in doubt; the only question is by how much, and whether we will take the threat seriously enough.
• The resulting costs are not evenly shared; the poorest communities are on the frontline of this environmental breakdown with serious local damage already apparent in many developing countries. But given the tight interdependence of the natural world, more systemic effects are already being felt as damage in one area disrupts other parts of that world, triggering larger changes at the global level.
• The social consequences of environmental breakdown will no doubt follow a complex path and will be clouded in uncertainty. At the very least it will produce more suffering and more migration.
• More importantly, hyperglobalization doesn’t offer a way out; “market-like” solutions to the environmental breakdown, such as carbon pricing or tax incentives, are only as good as the state policies that define them. The market does not achieve remedies on its own accord. The use of pricing disciplines has a place in a comprehensive global strategy to arrest and reverse climate catastrophe, but they are, by themselves, not a solution.
• Nicholas Stern famously described global climate change as history’s greatest case of market failure; periodic financial collapses are probably the second greatest. The persistence of neo-liberalism will make solutions to climate catastrophe more difficult to achieve.

The report concludes:  The “Geneva Principles for a Global Green New Deal” advances an urgent research and policy agenda for a New Multilateralism that rebuilds the rules of the global economy toward goals of coordinated stability, shared prosperity, and environmental sustainability, while deliberately respecting the space for national policy sovereignty.

Download: http://www.bu.edu/gdp/a-new-multilateralism-for-shared-prosperity/

 

State of the environment - recent reports:

 

UNEP Report “Making Peace With Nature” launched 18 February 2021 - The synthesis of latest UN assessment reports addresses the triple crisis of the planet - climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution - and makes proposals on how it can be tackled jointly within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals. The report serves to translate the current state of scientific knowledge into crisp, clear and digestible facts-based messages that the world can relate to and follow up on. It first provides an Earth diagnosis of current and projected human-induced environmental change, by putting facts and inter-linkages in perspective, including by using smart info-graphics. In building on this diagnosis, the report identifies the shifts needed to close gaps between current actions and those needed to achieve sustainable development. The analysis is anchored in current economic, social and ecological reality and framed by economics and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. By synthesizing the latest scientific findings from the global environmental assessments, the report communicates the current status of the world’s urgent issues and opportunities to solve them. 

Full text, summary, key messages and statements accompanying the launch: https://www.unep.org/resources/making-peace-nature

 

Global Environment Outlook (2019)

Published in time for the Fourth United Nations Environmental Assembly, UN Environment’s sixth Global Environment Outlook (2019) calls on decision makers to take immediate action to address pressing environmental issues to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals as well as other Internationally Agreed Environment Goals, such as the Paris Agreement.

It emphasizes that urgent and inclusive action is needed by decision makers at all levels to achieve a healthy planet with healthy people.

More ... 

https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/global-environment-outlook-6

 

Global Chemicals Outlook, second edition, 2019 - The Global Chemicals Outlook II – From Legacies to Innovative Solutions: Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, mandated by the UN Environment Assembly in 2016, seeks to alert policymakers and other stakeholders to the critical role of the sound management of chemicals and waste in sustainable development. It takes stock of global trends as well as progress made and gaps in achieving the global goal to minimize the adverse impacts from chemicals and waste by 2020. The Global Chemicals Outlook II finds that the global goal to minimize adverse impacts of chemicals and waste will not be achieved by 2020. Solutions exist, but more ambitious worldwide action by all stakeholders is urgently required.

More ... https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/chemicals-waste/what-we-do/policy-and-governance/global-chemicals-outlook

 

WWF ZSL Living Planet Report 2020

https://www.zsl.org/global-biodiversity-monitoring/indicators-and-assessments-unit/living-planet-index

 

WWF Living Planet Report 2018, the 12th edition of WWF’s biennial flagship publication. 

More ... 

https://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/all_publications/living_planet_report_2018/ 

 

Global Resources Outlook 2019

Natural Resources for the Future We Want

Since the 1970s, global population has doubled and global Gross Domestic Product has grown fourfold. These trends have required large amounts of natural resources to fuel economic development and the attendant improvements in human well-being this has brought across the globe. However, these gains have come at a tremendous cost to our natural environment, ultimately impacting human well-being and exacerbating inequalities within and between countries. 

More ... 

http://www.resourcepanel.org/

http://www.resourcepanel.org/reports/global-resources-outlook 

 

The Global Risks Report 2019

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has published the 14th edition of its annual report ranking global risks, both in terms of impact and likelihood, with environmental threats topping both lists for the third year in a row. 

More ... 

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Risks_Report_2019.pdf 

 

World Water Development Report 2019 - Leaving No One Behind

The 2019 edition of the World Water Development Report (WWDR 2019) entitled ‘Leaving No One Behind’ seeks to inform policy and decision-makers, inside and outside the water community, how improvements in water resources management and access to water supply and sanitation services are essential to overcoming poverty and addressing various other social and economic inequities. It was launched at the Human Rights Council, at the Palais des Nations  in Geneva (Switzerland), on 19 March 2019.

From the Report:

2,1 billion people have no access to clean and permanently available drinking water.  Menschen haben keinen Zugang zu sauberem und durchgängig verfügbarem Trinkwasser. 4,3 billion people cannot use clean sanitary places.  

More ... https://en.unesco.org/water-security/wwap/wwdr/2019 

 

Governance developments: UNEP & UNEA

 

On UNEP activities see: https://www.unenvironment.org/

 

On UNEA (UN Environment Assembly) see: http://web.unep.org/environmentassembly/

On the 2019 session of UNEA see a summary at: http://enb.iisd.org/unep/oecpr4-unea4/

A book to remember a milestone in the debate not only about sustainable development but also the need of international environmental governance reform: Defining Sustainable Development for Our Common Future. A History of the World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission). By Iris Borowy, Routledge, November 2013.
The UN World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, alerted the world to the urgency of making progress toward economic development that could be sustained without depleting natural resources or harming the environment. The Brundtland Report strongly argued that sustainable development must be based on social, economic and environmental grounds, and that this change in perception must also have institutional implications at national and international levels. Some 30 years after the Brundtland Commission started its work we are still struggling with it.
More …. http://www.routledge.com

Rio+20 (2012) --- The Future We Want - The final document adopted at Rio+20 Conference, available at: http://www.uncsd2012.org/thefuturewewant.html

The Contested Legacy of Rio+20, by Maria Ivanova, (September 20th, 2012). See: http://uncsd.iisd.org/guest-articles/the-contested-legacy-of-rio20/

 

EUROPEAN UNION ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

 

European Commission 2019 and the Green Deal

 

The new EC is approved by the EP on 27 November 2019. Environment and climate change are to be priorities of the new EC. The new EC President, Ms. von der Leyen, announced a proposal for a Green Deal which was presented in December 2019. The environmental community will probably watch its implementation attentively.

 

Green Deal Milestones

 

General

Commission Communication on the Green Deal 11 December 2019

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:b828d165-1c22-11ea-8c1f-01aa75ed71a1.0002.02/DOC_1&format=PDF

Communication Annex (Green Deal Roadmap)

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:b828d165-1c22-11ea-8c1f-01aa75ed71a1.0002.02/DOC_2&format=PDF

 

Climate action

Commission proposal for a EU climate law, March 2020

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52020PC0080&from=DE

Commission proposal for new climate action target 2030 (Sep 2020)

https://ec.europa.eu/clima/sites/clima/files/eu-climate-action/docs/com_2030_ctp_en.pdf

Impact Assessment for new 2030 target

https://ec.europa.eu/clima/sites/clima/files/eu-climate-action/docs/impact_en.pdf

EU Climate Law adopted, Council, 28 June 2021

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2021/06/28/council-adopts-european-climate-law/

“Fit for 55” Package (I), 14 July 2021

https://ec.europa.eu/info/files/communication-fit-55-delivering-eus-2030-climate-target-way-climate-neutrality_en

 

Other Green Deal pillars

EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, 20 May 2020

https://ec.europa.eu/environment/strategy/biodiversity-strategy-2030_en

“A Farm to Fork Strategy”, 20 May 2020

https://ec.europa.eu/food/horizontal-topics/farm-fork-strategy_en

Circular Economy Action Plan, March 2020

https://ec.europa.eu/environment/strategy/circular-economy-action-plan_fr

 

A new Green Deal driven EU environmental programme under preparation

 

As a response to the continuous and dramatic environmental challenges which Europe and the world are facing, especially climate change and loss of biodiversity, the European Commission published a proposal for an 8th Environment Action Programme (EAP) on 14 October 2020.

 

https://ec.europa.eu/environment/strategy/environment-action-programme-2030_fr

 

The outgoing EU environmental programme (2013-2020)

"Living well, within the limits of our planet" --- New EU environmental action program formally adopted. 
On 15 November 2013 the Council adopted a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on a general union environment action programme to 2020 (PE-CO_S 64/13, 15519/13 ADD1 REV1). Adoption of the legislation followed an agreement reached during the informal discussions with the European Parliament on 19 June 2013. The seventh Environment Action Programme entitled "Living well, within the limits of our planet" replaces the sixth programme, which expired in July 2012.
More at: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/envir/139603.pdf

Topics

 

EEA publication “The European environment – state and outlook 2020”, its new State of the Environment Report (SOER) released on 4 December 2019:. --- With important messages such as:

• We face urgent sustainability challenges that require urgent systemic solutions. This is the unambiguous message to policymakers in Europe and globally. The overarching challenge of this century is how we achieve development across the world that balances societal, economic and environmental considerations.
• We do not only have to do more; we also have to do things differently.
• Europe continues to consume more resources and contribute more to environmental degradation than other world regions.
• SOER 2020 shows that despite the success of EU environmental policies, the outlook for Europe’s environment is discouraging.
• Societal systems of production and consumption (food, energy and mobility) must be transformed to achieve Europe’s sustainable, low-carbon future.

A sobering reading indeed, for all of us, decision-makers and citizens.

More at: www.eea.europa.eu

 

Reforming the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)

Agriculture is a core sector in the EU. The CAP is a core EU policy. Agriculture is at the core of the environmental problems in Europe.

This is not new, and pressure to reform the CAP has a long history in the meantime. It seems though that obstacles are rather high to change the CAP which promotes – or at least does not prevent - practices threatening and damaging nature and biodiversity and undermining the basis of life and even the very basis of agriculture itself. Not to speak of the economic and social impacts it has in Europe and elsewhere.

In November 2019, a number of organisations on behalf of more than 2500 scientists make another attempt and send an open letter “Reform the CAP: harmful agriculture is destroying nature” to the European Parliament and the members of the new European Commission.

A quote from the letter: “The CAP is turning rural areas into green deserts of uninhabitable maximum-yield monocultures. The greening measures within Pillar 1 of the CAP are largely ineffective at retaining or restoring biodiversity and are too often poorly controlled. The current agri-environmental schemes are both underfunded and insufficiently targeted to meet the scale of the damage to farmland biodiversity. In-depth analyses also show that the proposal made by the Commission for the CAP post-2020 fails to offer a real reform, and even risks lower ambition. Without a fundamental reform of the CAP, such negative trends will not only diminish nature in current EU member states, but will also threaten the nature of candidates ones. EU membership should not be causing silent springs.“

Text of the open letter: https://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/open-letter-reform-cap

 

Complying with EU environmental legislation

See the monthly infringement procedures at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/law/press_en.htm

EU enlargement and the environment
For the annual enlargement packages, see: http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/countries/strategy-and-progress-report/index_en.ht

Free trade and the environment

Criticism of the EU's free trade agreement practices is widespread, it comes from many sides and raises many issues, environmental and others. The debate focused for some time on the (planned) TTIP with the US and the CETA with Canada, the latter having been signed and now being in the ratification processes. Meanwhile, the criticim addresses the EU's free trade agreements generally. The tensions between the two principles - free trade and environmental protection - are obvious. An early warning came from a German government advisory body: "Making TTIP environmentally sound", German Advisory Council on the Environment, opinion released 24 February 2016, more at: http://www.umweltrat.de/EN/TheGermanAdvisoryCouncilOnTheEnvironment/thegermanadvisorycouncilontheenvironment_node.html
 

 

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

 

The Impact of Environmental Law - Stories of the World We Want, published in the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law series, edited by Rose-Liza Eisma-Osorio, University of Cebu, Philippines, Elizabeth A. Kirk, University of Lincoln, UK and Jessica Steinberg Albin, Elisabeth Haub School of Law, Pace University, US. 2020, 192 pp. - This book invites readers to rethink environmental law and its critical role in ensuring a sustainable future for all. Illustrating narratives of successful developments in environmental law, contributors draw out key lessons and practices for effective reform and highlight opportunities by which we can respond to environmental challenges facing the planet. - More at:

https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/usd/the-impact-of-environmental-law-9781839106927.html

 

Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group established by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 72/277 (“Towards a Global Pact for the Environment”), second session 18-20 March 2019, summary at http://enb.iisd.org/unep/globalpact/oewg2/

“Global Pact” more at https://globalpact.informea.org/ 

Also:

Gaps in international environmental law and environment-related instruments: towards a global pact for the environment. Report of the UN Secretary-General, 30 November 2018, UN Doc A/73/419. Link at http://enb.iisd.org/unep/globalpact/oewg2/   

 

Global Assessment of the Environmental Rule of Law: Launched on 24 January 2019, the first ever global assessment of environmental rule of law finds weak enforcement to be a global trend that is exacerbating environmental threats, despite prolific growth in environmental laws and agencies worldwide over the last four decades.

More info, links at https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/assessment/environmental-rule-law-first-global-report

 

 

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT & SDG

Agenda 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals

 

Text at: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/summit

All information on SDGs and the developments since 2015, also on the High-Level Political Forum regular meetings: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/ 

 

Reports on SDG progress 2022

 

Sustainable Development Report 2022 – From Crisis to Sustainable Development:
the SDGs as Roadmap to 2030 and Beyond, presented on 2 June at the Stockholm+50 conference.

 

This seventh edition of the annual Sustainable Development Report includes the 2022 SDG Index, the 2022 International Spillover Index, and Dashboards. The report warns that “[f]or the second year in a row, the world is no longer making progress on the SDGs.” It shows that the “multiple and simultaneous” crises spanning the areas of health, climate, biodiversity, and geopolitics have hit poor and vulnerable countries hardest, and presents a global plan to finance sustainable development.

More:

https://irp.cdn-website.com/be6d1d56/files/uploaded/UNSDSN%20SDR22%20WEB%20V6%20290522.pdf

 

Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Report of the Secretary-General (advance unedited version, released in May 2022).

It will inform discussions during the July 2022 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).

The report highlights the multiple and interlinked global crises the world is facing – COVID-19, the climate crisis, and ongoing violent conflicts, including the war in Ukraine. It warns that years, or even decades, of development progress have been halted or reversed and that the very viability of achieving the SDGs by 2030 is at risk.

More: https://hlpf.un.org/2022/documentation

 

Sustainable development in the European Union. Monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context, 2022 edition.

Source:

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-statistical-books/-/ks-09-22-019

 

Older reports

 

UN 2019 Sustainable Development Report.  Released 12 Sep 2019.

Messages:

• Globally social inequality is growing.
• Climate change continues.
• Biological diversity losses progress.
• Amounts of wastes from human activities grow further.
• Negative effects hard to change or irreversible threaten achieving the SDGs.
• Efforts to implement Agenda 2030 must be much more ambitious.

More https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/globalsdreport/2019

 

The Sustainable Development Report 2019, a Bertelsmann Foundation publication, was released on 19 June 2019. Among the main findings are:

• High-level political commitment to the SDGs is falling short of historic promises. Many have not taken the critical steps to implement the SDGs. The gap between rhetoric and action must be closed. 
• Trends on climate (SDG 13) and biodiversity (SDG 14 and SDG 15) are alarming. On average, countries obtain their worst scores on SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 14 (Life Below Water) and SDG 15 (Life on Land). No country obtains a “green rating” (synonym of SDG achieved) on SDG 14 (Life Below Water). Trends on greenhouse gas emissions and, even more so, on threatened species are moving in the wrong direction. 
• Sustainable land-use and healthy diets require integrated agriculture, climate and health policy interventions. Land use and food production are not meeting people’s needs. Agriculture destroys forests and biodiversity, squanders water and releases one-quarter of global greenhouse-gas emissions. In total, 78% of world nations for which data are available obtain a “red rating” (synonym of major SDG challenge) on sustainable nitrogen management; the highest number of “red” rating across all indicators included in the report. At the same time, one-third of food is wasted, 800 million people remain undernourished, 2 billion are deficient in micronutrients, and obesity is on the rise. 
• High-income countries generate high environmental and socio-economic spillover effects. International demand for palm oil and other commodities fuels tropical deforestation. Tax havens and banking secrecy undermine other countries’ ability to raise the public revenues needed to finance the SDGs. Tolerance for poor labor standards in international supply chains harms the poor, and particularly women in many developing countries. New evidence presented in this report shows that high-income countries generate negative impacts on fatal accidents at work, typically by importing products and services from low- and middle-income countries with poor labor standards and conditions.
• Human rights and freedom of speech are in danger in numerous countries. Under SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions), fair and transparent institutions are recognized as objectives in themselves but also as important levers for sustainable development. Yet, conflicts in many parts of the world continue to lead to reversals in SDG progress. Modern slavery and the share of unsentenced detainees in prison remain high, in particular in low-income countries. Trends on corruption and freedom of press are worsening in more than 50 countries covered in the report – including in a number of middle and high-income countries.

• Eradicating poverty and strengthening equity remain important policy priorities. Eradicating extreme poverty remains a global challenge with half of the world’s nations not on track for achieving SDG 1 (No Poverty). 

Free download of Report: https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/fileadmin/files/user_upload/Sustainable_Development_Report_2019_Complete.pdf

 

Critical voices: idea and reality of sustainable development

 

Sustainability will only be achieved if we change, at a global scale, the way we produce and consume, how we run the economy, and this change must be fundamental. Many if not all agree with this statement; yet, what happens in practice? Are we on the way to sustainable development or are we not? --- Clearly, change is a matter of awareness, knowledge and strategic thinking but it is also a matter of interests and power. No doubt, there are powerful interestes blocking the road to sustainability. They need to be known, analysed and overcome. For that, we need critical voices and reality checks: Where are the interests, where is the power, and how can we organize change? --- There's no need to share all the critical views but we should not ignore them but rather think about.

 

A drastical look at realities of the globalized economy gives the Mighty Earth Report “Cargill, the worst company in the world”, released on 9 July 2019. - A fairly critical look at unsustainable practices of a big company in various parts of the world.

Report at: http://www.mightyearth.org/wp-content/uploads/Mighty-Earth-Report-Cargill-The-Worst-Company-in-the-World-July-2019.pdf

 

For German-speaking readers:

Thilo Bode, Die Diktatur der Konzerne. Wie globale Unternehmen uns schaden und die Demokratie zerstören. S. Fischer, 2018. - The former Greenpeace International CEO and then founder of Foodwatch presents multiple examples of where economic power sits today.

Jean Feyder, Leistet Widerstand. Eine andere Welt ist möglich, Westend, 2018. - The long-time respresentative of Luxembourg at the UN in Geneva, gives insights into national and international economic and trade policies. His hopes are with civil society pushing for change. Civil society and collective actions against destructive practices, need to be mobilized and organized, though. How to achieve that? Don't we need, again, society mechanisms like policies and media diagnozed often to be "on the other side"?

Another critical view: Kathrin Hartmann, Aus kontrolliertem Raubbau, 2015, Blessing-Verlag. Though a publication launched a few years back but more valid than ever, suggesting that we are far from abandoning the unsustainable way of production and consumption. - A sobering look at - still common - unsustainable use of natural resources, pollution of the environment, suffering of people, and attempts to camouflage all that.
www.blessing-verlag.de

 

 

CLIMATE CHANGE

 

Recent Reports

 

UNEP IUCN on nature-based solutions for climate action: Strong safeguards and additional finance will be required.

Gland/Nairobi, 5 November 2021. Analysing scientific literature, the new report by UNEP and IUCN finds that Nature-based Solutions (NbS) can deliver emission reductions and removals of at least 5 gigatons of CO2 per year by 2030, and at least 10 gigatons by 2050 on a conservative basis. The report highlights that this contribution from nature, in addition to the rapid decarbonisation of the global economy, can play a significant role in reaching the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to below 1.5°C. To fulfil this potential, NbS require additional funding and must be implemented according to strict standards.

Download

https://www.iucn.org/news/nature-based-solutions/202111/keep-global-warming-below-15degc-a-significant-contribution-nature-based-solutions-necessary-and-possible-report-unep-and-iucn

 

UNEP Adaptation Gap Reports

UNEP Emission Gap Reports

https://www.unep.org/publications-data

 

FCCC Report: Nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement Synthesis report by the secretariat, released on 17 Sep 2021.

From the FCCC Press Release:

• The NDC Synthesis report indicates that while there is a clear trend that greenhouse gas emissions are being reduced over time, nations must urgently redouble their climate efforts if they are to prevent global temperature increases beyond the Paris Agreement’s goal of well below 2C – ideally 1.5C – by the end of the century.
• The report includes information from all 191 Parties to the Paris Agreement based on their latest NDCs available in the interim NDC registry as at 30 July 2021, including information from 86 updated or new NDCs submitted by 113 Parties. The new or updated NDCs cover about 59% of Parties to the Paris Agreement and account for about 49% of global GHG emissions.
• For the group of 113 Parties with new or updated NDCs, greenhouse gas emissions are projected to decrease by 12% in 2030 compared to 2010. This is an important step towards the reductions identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which estimated that limiting global average temperature increases to 1.5C requires a reduction of CO2 emissions of 45% in 2030 or a 25% reduction by 2030 to limit warming to 2C.
• The report also contains some worrying findings. The available NDCs of all 191 Parties taken together imply a sizable increase in global GHG emissions in 2030 compared to 2010, of about 16%. According to the latest IPCC findings, such an increase, unless actions are taken immediately, may lead to a temperature rise of about 2.7C by the end of the century.

Text of report: https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/cma2021_08_adv_1.pdf​ 

 

 

 

Climate Ambition Summit 2020

“Five years after Paris, we are still not going in the right direction,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres alerted at the opening of the Climate Ambition Summit held virtually on 12 December 2020, making a call for a global coalition for carbon neutrality by mid-century and 45% cuts to greenhouse (GHG) emissions by 2030 below 1990 levels.

 

Raised ambition was declared by many; we will see if action follows. Moreover, observers questioned whether that raised ambition was sufficient to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement. “The World Meteorological Organization estimates a 24% chance of surpassing the threshold of 1.5°C of warming in the next five years. The 2020 UNEP Emissions Gap Report concludes that the world remains on track to exceed 3°C of warming by the end of the century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that emissions cuts of 40-60% from 2010 levels are needed by 2030 to stay on track to limit warming to the Agreement’s lower threshold of 1.5°C. Most countries who spoke at the summit came nowhere close to this level of ambition.” (IISD)

IISD Summary of the meeting: https://enb.iisd.org/download/pdf/enb12778e.pdf

 

Climate Transparency Report 2020 (former Brown-to-Green-Report)

launched by Climate Transparency Nov 2020.

 

The Summary Report 2020 provides a comprehensive overview of all G20 countries, whether – and how well – they are doing on the journey to transition towards a net-zero emissions economy. The report draws on the latest emissions data from 2019 and 2020 and covers 100 indicators on decarbonisation, climate policies, finance and vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Providing country ratings, it identifies leaders and laggards in the G20.

 

More: https://www.climate-transparency.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Climate-Transparency-Report-2020.pdf

 

WMO Statement on the state of the global climate 2019, published 2020

https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=10211

 

The WMO on 25 Nov 2019 published findings on another record high in GHG concentration in 2018: Globally averaged concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) reached 407.8 parts per million in 2018, up from 405.5 parts per million (ppm) in 2017. - WMO Press Release https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/greenhouse-gas-concentrations-atmosphere-reach-yet-another-high

 

UNEP 2019: Lessons from a decade of emissions gap assessments.

From the introduction: “…this publication revisits the gap rationale and how it has evolved, comparing the expectations following the Copenhagen Accord with the reality 10 years later. The findings are sobering. Despite a decade of increasing political and societal focus on climate change and the milestone Paris Agreement, global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have not been curbed, and the emissions gap is larger than ever.” Read more at:

https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/30022/EGR10.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

 

FCCC / UNDP Report: THE HEAT IS ON, Taking Stock of the Global Climate Ambition, NDC Global Outlook Report 2019, released Sep 2019. – From the messages: It’s clear that business as usual simply isn’t good enough anymore. We must do more – much more – in areas related to mitigation, adaptation, and the finance to support all of this work. And we must do it quickly.

More at: https://outlook.ndcs.undp.org/

 

IPCC Special Report on the Oceans and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC),

released on 25 September 2019. 

Summary for Policy-Makers https://report.ipcc.ch/srocc/pdf/SROCC_SPM_Approved.pdf

Full report https://report.ipcc.ch/srocc/pdf/SROCC_FinalDraft_FullReport.pdf

 

IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL), released on 8 August 2019 and addressing land as a critical resource, desertification and land degradation, food security, and land and climate change responses.

Download at: https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl-report-download-page/

 

WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2018. This publication, issued on 28 March 2019, marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate, which was first issued in 1994.

Key messages:

2018 was the fourth warmest year on record. – 2015-2018 were the four warmest years on record as the long-term warming trend continues. - Ocean heat content is at a record high and global mean sea level continues to rise. - Artic and Antarctic sea-ice extent is well below average. - Extreme weather had an impact on lives and sustainable development on every continent. - Average global temperature reached approximately 1 °C above pre-industrial levels . - We are not on track to meet climate change targets and rein in temperature increases . - Every fraction of a degree of warming makes a difference.

More … https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=5789

 

IPCC SPECIAL REPORT: Global Warming of 1.5 ºC.

Issued 2018, revised January 2019: An IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty.

 

Key points:

Human activities are estimated to have caused approximately 1.0°C of global warming above

pre-industrial levels, with a likely range of 0.8°C to 1.2°C. Global warming is likely to reach 1.5°C

between 2030 and 2052 if it continues to increase at the current rate. (high confidence)

 

Warming from anthropogenic emissions from the pre-industrial period to the present will persist for

centuries to millennia and will continue to cause further long-term changes in the climate system,

such as sea level rise, with associated impacts (high confidence), but these emissions alone are

unlikely to cause global warming of 1.5°C (medium confidence).

 

Climate-related risks for natural and human systems are higher for global warming of 1.5°C than

at present, but lower than at 2°C (high confidence). These risks depend on the magnitude and rate

of warming, geographic location, levels of development and vulnerability, and on the choices and

implementation of adaptation and mitigation options (high confidence).

 

Climate-related risks to health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security, and

economic growth are projected to increase with global warming of 1.5°C and increase further with

2°C.

 

Pathways limiting global warming to 1.5°C with no or limited overshoot would require rapid

and far-reaching transitions in energy, land, urban and infrastructure (including transport and

buildings), and industrial systems (high confidence). These systems transitions are unprecedented

in terms of scale, but not necessarily in terms of speed, and imply deep emissions reductions in all

sectors, a wide portfolio of mitigation options and a significant up-scaling of investments in those

options (medium confidence).

More ... https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/

Paris Agreement 2015

 

Text of Paris Agreement: https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/english_paris_agreement.pdf 

More information on the process: 

https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement

 

All info on the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC), its COPs, Meetings of the Parties under Kyoto and Paris, decisions, documents etc: https://unfccc.int/

Readings

 

The ice shields of the Earth are melting rapidly

 

A new study published in Cryosphere concludes: We combine satellite observations and numerical models to show that Earth lost 28 trillion t of ice between 1994 and 2017. Arctic sea ice (7.6 trillion t), Antarctic ice shelves (6.5 trillion t), mountain glaciers (6.2 trillion t), the Greenland ice sheet (3.8 trillion t), the Antarctic ice sheet (2.5 trillion t), and Southern Ocean sea ice (0.9 trillion t) have all decreased in mass. Just over half (60 %) of the ice loss was from the northern hemisphere, and the remainder (40 %) was from the southern hemisphere. The rate of ice loss has risen by 57 % since the 1990s – from 0.8 to 1.2 trillion t per year – owing to increased losses from mountain glaciers, Antarctica, Greenland, and from Antarctic ice shelves. During the same period, the loss of grounded ice from the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets and mountain glaciers raised the global sea level by 35.0 ± 3.2 mm. The majority of all ice losses from were driven by atmospheric melting (68 % from Arctic sea ice, mountain glaciers ice shelf calving and ice sheet surface mass balance), with the remaining losses (32 % from ice sheet discharge and ice shelf thinning) being driven by oceanic melting. Altogether, the cryosphere has taken up 3.2 % of the global energy imbalance.

 

Source: Slater, T., Lawrence, I. R., Otosaka, I. N., Shepherd, A., Gourmelen, N., Jakob, L., Tepes, P., and Gilbert, L.: Review Article: Earth's ice imbalance, The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-232, in review, 2020.

 

Losing Earth, by Nathaniel Rich, Pan Macmillan, 2019; 

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374191337

in German published by Rowohlt Verlag, 2019

https://www.rowohlt.de/hardcover/nathaniel-rich-losing-earth.html

 

The Uninhabitable Earth - Life After Warming, By David Wallace-Wells, 2019

More: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/586541/the-uninhabitable-earth-by-david-wallace-wells/9780525576709/

 

Publication on the Paris Agreement (in German): 

“Unter 2 Grad? Was der Weltklimavertrag wirklich bringt“ ("Below 2°? What the world climate agreement is really good for"). --- Details: Sommer, Jörg & Müller, Michael (Hrsg.), Unter 2 Grad? Was der Weltklimavertrag wirklich bringt. 320 S., Stuttgart (Hirzel-Verlag, 2016), ISBN 978-3-7776-2570-6, Euro 19,80

Contributions by: Franz Alt, Hans Diefenbacher, Ottmar Edenhofer, Christian Flachsland, Jochen Flasbarth, Thomas Friesel, Hartmut Graßl, Rüdiger Haum, Peter Hennicke, Lukas Hermwille, Anton Hofreiter, Pierre Ibisch, Hartmut Ihne, Andreas Jung, Claudia Kemfert, Ulrike Kornek, Maria Krautzberger, Manfred Kriener, Martin Kaiser, Mojib Latif, Reinhold Leinfelder, Claude Martin, Matthias Miersch, Volker Mosbrugger, Michael Müller, Kai Niebert, Hermann E. Ott, Nick Reimer, Holger Rogall, Sabine Schlacke, Ann-Kathrin Schneider, Uwe Schneidewind, Susanne Schwarz, Christoph Seidler, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Jörg Sommer, Frank Uekötter, Barbara Unmüßig, Beate Weber-Schuerholz, Hubert Weiger, Anders Wijkman, Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker. --- The book was published on 22 April 2016, the day when the Paris Agreement was signed. ---

More: http://www.hirzel.de/service/suche.html

 

BIODIVERSITY

 

UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030.

Entitled “Preventing, halting and reversing the degradation of ecosystems worldwide“, it was launched on World Environment Day 5 June 2021.

 

Ambitions and hopes are high: “The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration is a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, for the benefit of people and nature. It aims to halt the degradation of ecosystems, and restore them to achieve global goals. Only with healthy ecosystems can we enhance people’s livelihoods, counteract climate change, and stop the collapse of biodiversity.

The UN Decade runs from 2021 through 2030, which is also the deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals and the timeline scientists have identified as the last chance to prevent catastrophic climate change.

Led by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the UN Decade is building a strong, broad-based global movement to ramp up restoration and put the world on track for a sustainable future. That will include building political momentum for restoration as well as thousands of initiatives on the ground.

Through communications, events and a dedicated web platform, the UN Decade will provide a hub for everyone interested in restoration to find projects, partners, funding and the knowledge they need to make their restoration efforts a success.”

More at: https://www.decadeonrestoration.org

 

The Economics of Biodiversity - The Dasgupta Review, published by the UK Government, 2 Feb 2021

The Dasgupta Review is an independent, global review on the Economics of Biodiversity led by Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta (Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus, University of Cambridge). The Review was commissioned in 2019 by HM Treasury and has been supported by an Advisory Panel drawn from public policy, science, economics, finance and business.

The Review calls for changes in how we think, act and measure economic success to protect and enhance our prosperity and the natural world. Grounded in a deep understanding of ecosystem processes and how they are affected by economic activity, the new framework presented by the Review sets out how we should account for Nature in economics and decision-making.

 

More: Full text, Abridged Version, and Headline Messages at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/final-report-the-economics-of-biodiversity-the-dasgupta-review

 

5^th Global Biodiversity Outlook 2020 launched on 15 Sep 2020 at CBD SBSTTA meeting

Summary for Policy-makers

https://www.cbd.int/gbo/gbo5/publication/gbo-5-spm-en.pdf

Full report

https://www.cbd.int/gbo/gbo5/publication/gbo-5-en.pdf

 

Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

2019 Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

First global biodiversity assessment since 2005. - A definitive new global synthesis of the state of nature, ecosystems and nature's contributions to people - the first such report since the landmark Millennium Ecosystem Assessment published in 2005, and the first ever that is inter-governmental - will be presented to representatives of 132 Governments for consideration of approval in May 2019. - Report agreed on and Summary for Policy-Makers released on 6 May 2019.

Some fundamental findings: 

• Human actions threaten more species with global extinction now than ever before and will pose a serious risk to global food security .
• Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the 2030 Agenda will not be met under current trajectories. Most of the 2020 targets will be missed.
• Current negative trends in biodiversity and ecosystems will undermine progress towards 80% of the assessed targets of SDGs related to poverty, hunger, health, water, cities, climate, oceans, and land (SDGs 1, 2, 3, 6, 11, 13, 14, and 15).
• Without transformative change, negative trends in nature, ecosystem functions  will continue to 2050 and beyond.

More: https://www.ipbes.net/news/ipbes-global-assessment-summary-policymakers-pdf

 

IPBES Regional: For other assessment reports of IPBES, especially the regional reports on Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, released in 2018, see https://www.ipbes.net/assessment-reports

IUCN protected area guidelines
Borrini-Feyerabend, G., N. Dudley, T. Jaeger, B. Lassen, N. Pathak Broome, A. Phillips and T. Sandwith (2013), Governance of Protected Areas: From understanding to action. Best Practice Protected Area Guidelines Series No. 20, Gland, Switzerland, IUCN. xvi + 124pp. ---
The guidelines are available online at: www.iucn.org/publications

 

FORESTS

 

State of world forests - reports and data

 

How much forest was lost in 2021?

The 2021 tree cover loss data analysis, released today on the Global Forest Review, shows stubbornly high forest loss in 2021: the tropics lost 11.1 million hectares of tree cover, including 3.75 million hectares of loss that occurred within tropical primary rainforests — areas of critical importance for carbon storage and biodiversity — equivalent to a rate of 10 football pitches a minute.  And it's not just tropical forests that are of concern. Boreal forests — mainly those in Russia — experienced unprecedented tree cover loss in 2021, largely driven by fires. These trends underscore just how much action it will take to achieve global zero-deforestation goals.

More:

https://research.wri.org/gfr/latest-analysis-deforestation-trends?utm_medium=email&utm_source=announcement1&utm_campaign=treecoverloss2021&utm_content=readmore

 

Loss of animal species in forests by 50% since 1970 at global level. - WWF Forest Report 2019, released 13 August 2019. - 

More: https://www.wwf.de/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF/WWF-Globaler-Waldreport_BelowTheCanopy.pdf

 

Forest losses in 2018

The tropics lost 12 million hectares of tree cover in 2018, the fourth-highest annual loss since record-keeping began in 2001. Of greatest concern is the disappearance of 3.6 million hectares of primary rainforest, an area the size of Belgium. The figures come from updated data from the University of Maryland, released 25 April 2019 on Global Forest Watch.

https://blog.globalforestwatch.org/data-and-research/world-lost-belgium-sized-area-of-primary-rainforests-last-year

 

Open letter of scientists on Brazil

In an open letter to the EU, published on 26 April 2019 in “Science”, more than 600 scientists and two organisations representing 300 indigenous peoples, raise human rights and environment protection concerns over Brazil’s current policies and request the EU bodies to insist in the trade negotiations with Brazil  in the respect of human rights and environmental standards : “We urge the EU to make trade negotiations with Brazil conditional on: (i) upholding the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; (ii) improving procedures to trace commodities associated with deforestation and Indigenous rights conflicts; and (iii) consulting with, and gaining consent from, Indigenous Peoples and local communities to define strict social and environmental criteria for traded commodities.” 

Open letter at:  https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6438/341.1 

 

LAND

 

State of world land resources

 

The way land resources – soil, water and biodiversity – are currently mismanaged and misused threatens the health and continued survival of many species on Earth, including our own, warns a stark new report from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) - UNCCD’s evidence-based flagship report Global Land Outlook 2 (GLO2).

 

Messages

 

The GLO2 summary for decision makers is available  at https://bit.ly/GLO2SDM

The full report is available at https://bit.ly/GLO2full

 

WORLD HERITAGE

 

World Heritage Watch just published its Report 2021 which takes a look at risks to 48 World Heritage sites around the globe – 20% more than last year. Pressure on World Heritage of humankind continues unabated, and especially in Europe more and more world heritage sites are threatened with irreparable damage or even irretrievable loss.

More: Download the Report from: https://world-heritage-watch.org/content/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/WHW-Report-2021.pdf
 

 

MARINE ENVIRONMENT AND POLAR REGIONS

 

Intergovernmental Conference on an International Legally Binding Instrument under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, Second Session 25 March-5 April 2019. - Summary of the session with brief history and background at: http://enb.iisd.org/oceans/bbnj/igc2/ 

German Advisory Council on Global Change Flagship Report 2013:

World in Transition: Governing the Marine Heritage
Despite numerous international treaties and voluntary commitments, the seas are still being massively overfished, polluted and increasingly exploited as the Earth's last resort. In view of the oceans’ poor condition the WBGU developed a long-term vision of the conservation and sustainable use of the blue continent: All marine zones with the exception of territorial waters should be declared the common heritage of mankind. In order to move closer to this ultimate goal for ocean governance, the WBGU also makes recommendations for action that link up with ongoing political processes. In this context it examines the example of two focal themes: food (sustainable fisheries and aquaculture) and energy from the sea. The report shows that sustainable stewardship of the oceans is urgently necessary, that the seas can be incorporated into a transformation towards a low-carbon, sustainable society, and that such a transformation can achieve substantial benefits worldwide both for a sustainable energy supply and for food security.
The report is in German, with an English summary. The flagship reports of the Council are all available online. ---
More… http://www.wbgu.de/en/flagship-reports/
The English version has been published in February 2014 ---
More ... http://www.wbgu.de/fr-2013-oceans

Arctic: Life Linked to Ice. This new report on biodiversity impacts of sea ice changes (Oct 2013) examines the consequences for biodiversity of the dramatic changes occurring to sea ice. It was prepared by the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna working group (CAFF), and both draws from and builds on Arctic Council assessments in order to present an overview of the state of knowledge about sea-ice-associated biodiversity. The report is intended as a briefing and reference document for policy makers. ---
More…http://www.caff.is/publications/view_document/254-life-linked-to-ice-a-guide-to-sea-ice-associated-biodiversity-in-this-time-of-rapid-change

Marine fisheries
Fishery practices in the Arctic: new report on destructive fisheries (March 2016).

More see:
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/publications/Campaign-reports/Climate-Reports/This-Far-No-Further/

 

 

ENVIRONMENT AND WASTE

 

Biodegradable bags

Biodegradable bags can hold a full load of shopping three years after being discarded in the environment. Researchers from the International Marine Litter Research Unit (University of Plymouth) publish new research in Environmental Science and Technology. More about this study published 29 April 2019 at: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/news/biodegradable-bags-can-hold-a-full-load-of-shopping-three-years-after-being-discarded-in-the-environment

So, we better forget about plastic bags altogether, “bio” or not, support all initiatives that could phase them out, and go shopping with the good old shopping bags. That’s really no big deal.

 

Global trade in plastic waste

A new GAIA (Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives) report, published on 23 April 2019, analyses the current trends in global trade in plastic wastes, the origin of the wastes in industrialized countries (21 countries of origin with USA, UK, Germany and Japan on top), and the environmental impacts in the receiving countries (water contamination, crop death, illness, and the open burning of plastic waste) whose communities lack the capacities to deal adequately with the wastes. Just another issue of justice in international environmental governance. With data from Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

More statements and info at: https://www.greenpeace.org/southeastasia/press/2426/new-research-exposes-a-crisis-in-the-global-trade-of-recyclable-plastics/

The report at GAIA’s webpage:

https://wastetradestories.org/?_ga=2.138839859.1442011879.1556556224-536436912.1556556224

 

The issue is at the Basel Convention meeting 29 April – 10 May 2019 which discusses a proposal of Norway to apply the prior-informed-consent rule to the export of plastic wastes. More on the meeting, the Basel Convention, and its role in international waste governance at http://www.basel.int/

 

NUCLEAR ENERGY

The legacy of Chernobyl and Fukushima. - A new report addresses the unsettled problems of nuclear energy uses:
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/publications/nuclear/2016/Nuclear_Scars.pdf

Germany:
At the occasion of remembering Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima (2011) the Federal Minister for the environment declared (10 March 2016): "Nuclear energy has no future". See: www.bmub.bund.de/presse.

At the same time (March 2016), the German Federal Constitutional Court considers the case brought before it by power supply companies that the phasing out of nuclear energy in Germany decided in 2011 by the federal government was unconstitutional.

Information: http://www.dw.com/en/top-court-to-rule-on-german-nuclear-phaseout/a-19117079

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

For a comprehensive all-inclusive and regular preview of upcoming events in the environment and sustainable development fields, including major international conferences and meetings, see: http://www.iisd.org/calendar/