The world must unite to “beat plastic pollution” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message for World Environment Day, noting that microplastic particles in the ocean, “now outnumber stars in our galaxy”.
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Climate Action
By Robert Johnson
BRUSSELS | LOMÉ (ACP | IDN) – African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union will walk the talk on global governance by organising joint activities during United Nations conferences this year, according to co-presidents of the Joint ACP-EU Council of Ministers.
The Council issued a joint declaration reaffirming its commitment to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and to the attainment of the long-term goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement.
The joint activities ACP and EU have agreed are: the UN high-level political forum (HLPF) on sustainable development in July, the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit in September, and the 24th Conference of Parties (COP24) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December.
By Jaya Ramachandran
BONN (IDN) – Since the climate negotiations in Bonn failed to pave the way for a successful United Nations climate summit COP24 in Poland in December, an extra round is being convened from September 3-8 in Bangkok.
Commenting the negotiations in Bonn, concluded on May 10, the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group Chair Gebru Jember Endalew expressed concern at "the lack of urgency" to move the negotiations forward, despite the fact that "it is time to look at the bigger picture, see the severe impacts that climate change is having across the world, and rise to the challenge."
By Jutta Wolf
BERLIN | BONN (IDN) – Land degradation has reached staggering proportions. If the current pace continues unabated, a gargantuan amount of $43,000,000,000,000 ($43 trillion) will be lost to the world economy by the year 2050, warns the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
But the anticipated colossal loss can be avoided by spending $4.6 trillion on addressing a combination of human-induced processes adversely affecting the biophysical environment and huge stretches of fertile lands.
By Jaya Ramachandran
BONN (IDN) – Over 700 leading businesses around the world, together representing 2.62 gigatons of emissions equivalent to the total annual emissions of India, have made strategic climate commitments through the 'We Mean Business' coalition’s Take Action campaign.
Organizers of the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) to be held in San Francisco from September 12-14, 2018 have provided new evidence of how cities, states, regions, businesses and investors are taking climate ambition to the next level. In doing so, they are helping to build momentum for a successful outcome for the UN Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland (COP24) from December 3-14.
By Rita Joshi
BONN | NAIROBI (IDN) – Africa has generated a distinct message for the next round of international climate negotiations in Poland from December 3 to 14, 2018, which states: Action on climate change and sustainable development together is the way forward for Africa.
This top-line message emerged from deliberations during the Africa Climate Week in Nairobi. Some 800 delegates from 59 countries, including ministers and other high-level government and international officials, together with non-state delegates, offered their insights into the challenges and possible responses to climate change, and "harvested" those insights for consideration in the official international climate negotiation process.
By Justus Wanzala
NAIROBI (ACP-IDN) – African countries are faced with the huge challenge of funding climate change mitigation and adaptation programmes to ensure sustainable development. Hard hit by the impacts of climate change manifested in persistent droughts, floods, storms, rising sea levels and other forms of disasters, they are linking actions on tackling climate change as key to attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
A joint project of the 79-nation African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States is providing support for the purpose as part of a joint project with the Global Climate Change Alliance+ (GCCA) by way of offering technical assistance, promoting knowledge sharing, initiating regional dialogue, and facilitating regional partnership on climate change issues.
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – More than 100 member states of the United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO) have adopted an initial strategy to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from international shipping and, as a matter of urgency, phasing them out.
The plan adopted by IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) during its 72nd session at the organization's headquarters in London on April 13, includes a specific reference to "a pathway of CO2 emissions reduction consistent with the Paris Agreement temperature goals".
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – Transparency International has criticised the United Nations shipping agency for delaying action on climate change. The global anti-corruption organization warns in a new study that the private shipping companies' concerns are impacting the policymaking process at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), undermining its ability to effectively regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from maritime trade.
IMO creates "a regulatory framework for the shipping industry that is fair, effective, universally adopted and implemented." According to a report by the European Parliament, the shipping industry could contribute up to 17 percent of global CO2 emissions by 2050 if left unregulated.
By Maurizio Fratta
ROME (IDN) – The data collected by climatologists speak clearly: since 1880 – when surveys began – the summer of 2017 in Italy was the second hottest ever; the month of August recorded an average thermal excess of 2.5°C, with the fourth day of the month the hottest in the last 60 years in many cities of the country's centre.
That 2017 turned out to be Italy’s second hottest year ever (after 2016) is full confirmation of global warming scenarios.
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