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News from Earthwatch - 2004
UNEP support echoes directly the requests from national authorities for environmental experts to assess and mitigate the urgent problems. UNEP Release: Environmental
Issues Emerging from Wreckage of Asian Tsunami Figures released at the international climate change conference, show that for the first 10 months of 2004 natural disasters cost the insurance industry just over $ 35 billion, up from $ 16 billion in 2003. In the face of growing evidence that climate change impacts can already be detected, the conference adopted the Buenos Aires Programme of Work on Adaptation and Response Measures. UNEP Release: Climate
Change Convention, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 6-17 Dec. 2004 The new report notes that the Tsiza river basin ecosystem is regenerating itself after the cyanide accident, with wildlife largely recovering. But, it says more concerted action is needed to address environmental threats or “insecurities”, and recommends an “Integrated Sustainable Development Strategy” for the entire catchment area of the river Tisza, which includes Romania, Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary and Serbia and Montenegro. UNEP Release: New
Environmental Assessment Launched at Danube Ministerial Meeting The international conference on protecting the ozone layer has ended with governments agreeing to a global survey of the amounts of a key chemical being used in so called quarantine and pre-shipment. The meeting also made other key decisions including one to grant essential use exemptions for CFCs used in metered dose inhalers. UNEP Release: International
Conference on Protecting the Ozone Layer Concludes Only four industrialized countries have not yet ratified the Kyoto Protocol: they are Australia, Liechtenstein, Monaco and the United States. Australia and the United States have stated that they do not plan to do so; together they account for over one third of the greenhouse gases emitted by the industrialized world. UNFCCC Release: Kyoto
Protocol to Enter into Force 16 February 2005 As long as wars have existed, the environment and natural resources have been their silent victims. Crops have been torched, water wells polluted, forests cut down, soils poisoned and animals killed. During the 1991 Gulf War, Kuwait’s oil wells were deliberately set on fire, and millions of gallons of crude oil were discharged in waterways. In Cambodia, 35 per cent of the forest cover was destroyed during two decades of civil war and unrest. During the conflict in Angola, the wildlife population dropped by 90 per cent. And during the Viet Nam War, millions of tons of Agent Orange were sprayed over that country’s jungles, stripping vast areas of vegetation, some of them still unsuitable, even today, for agricultural use. On a practical level, the United Nations is responding more and more actively when war-related environmental damage is occurring, so as to assess damage, clean up contamination and help countries build up their capacity for post-conflict environmental management. The United Nations Environment Programme has played such a role in the Balkans and is currently active in Afghanistan, Iraq, Liberia and the occupied Palestinian territory. UNEP Statement: International
Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War The Addis Ababa water conference was jointly organized by the governments of Ethiopia and the Netherlands, the African Union and FAO, to study promising approaches and actions in integrated water resource management. The results of the conference will be presented at the International Conference on Water for Food and Ecosystems, which will take place from 31 January to 5 February 2005 in The Hague, which in turn will provide an input to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-13). FAO Release: African
water meeting seeks to harmonize water for food and ecosystems UNEP Release: Companies
Fail to Identify Key Social and Environmental Risks “Vital Waste Graphics” aims to give policymakers, experts, media professionals, teachers and students an overview of relevant waste-related issues, causes, effects, as well as possible solutions. The report provides sound facts and figures on the broadest spectrum of issues relevant to waste today, based on clear and user-friendly graphics. These include definitions of waste, the generation of waste, different waste streams, including new problematic waste streams, the transport and trade of waste, cross-cutting themes linked to sustainable development such as climate change and poverty, among others, as well as hopes and solutions. UNEP Release: "Vital
Waste Graphics" released today “The fight against climate change has been under starters orders for far too long. But it is finally out of the blocks and running as a result of this very welcome decision to ratify by the Russian Parliament,” said Mr Toepfer, who earlier this year expressed confidence that Russia would finally come on board. UNFCC Release: Russian
decision on ratification – major step towards entry into force of
Kyoto Protocol The report, “Environment and Security: Transforming Risks into Cooperation - The Case of the Southern Caucasus,” was prepared by OSCE, UNDP and UNEP looks at both the negative impacts of conflict in the region as well as the opportunities environmental issues present for co-operation and confidence building. UNEP Release: Caucasus
- Transforming Risks into Co-Operation According to FAO, the launch of the Trust comes as plant diversity suffers record losses in both farmers' fields and the wild. Extreme hunger and poverty also contribute to diminished plant diversity in many parts of the world. Even the genebanks that are intended to be safe havens for crop diversity are under increasing threat from underfunding. FAO Release: Crop
Trust to conserve plant diversity The Living Planet Report 2004 shows that humans currently consume 20 per cent more natural resources than the earth can produce, and that populations of terrestrial, freshwater and marine species fell on average by 40 per cent between 1970 and 2000. WWF Release: WWF
update on alarming state of the world The Day seeks to promote increased awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and serves to remind all people that sustained and concerted effort is vital to achieve the millennium development goal (MDG) of halving the number of people living in poverty by 2015. UN: International
Day for
the Eradication of Poverty This year's World Food Day theme, "Biodiversity for Food Security", highlights the vital role of biodiversity in ensuring that all people have sustainable access to enough diversified food to lead active and healthy lives. FAO estimates that about three-quarters of the genetic diversity of agricultural crops have been lost over the last century. And of 6 300 animal breeds, 1 350 are endangered or already extinct. FAO Release: World
Food Day 2004 points to the vital role of biodiversity for food security Under the banner Women As the Voice for the Environment (WAVE), the first Global Women’s Assembly on the Environment will highlight the crucial roles women play in conservation and sustainable development. Participants will develop a Manifesto on Women and Environment with concrete policy recommendations and a portfolio of specific project ideas. UNEP Release: UNEP
Hosts First Women's Environment Assembly The first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, Professor Maathai is Deputy Environment and Natural Resources Minister in her country's Government and has been a lawmaker since December 2002. She also founded the Green Belt Movement, which has planted more than 20 million trees across Africa. For its part, UNEP announced that understanding is growing throughout the world of the close links between environmental protection and global security, so it is most fitting that the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded this year to Africa’s staunchest defender of the environment, Professor Wangari Maathai, for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace. UNEP Statement: Statement
of the United Nations Environment Programme regarding the Award of the
Nobel Peace Prize to Professor Wangari Maathai The number of children affected is unknown but, based on the experience of many countries, likely to be large. The report highlights both the magnitude of the problem and the need to put more efforts into better reaching and helping the rural, disadvantaged populations who are most affected by pesticide poisoning. Two key international conventions are aiming at reducing the adverse health and environmental aspects of pesticides: The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), created to reduce and eliminate 12 POPs of which nine are pesticides, and The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade. The Rotterdam Convention facilitates information exchange on a broad range of potentially hazardous chemicals and gives importing countries the power to decide whether or not they want to receive future imports of certain chemicals. UNEP Release: Children
face higher risks from pesticide poisoning The conference will decide on some 50 proposals for improving the conservation and sustainable use of the African elephant, the minke whale, the great white shark, the ramin timber tree, the Chinese yew and other medicinal plants, the yellow-crested cockatoo and the lilac-crowned parrot, five Asian turtles, the white rhinoceros, the Nile and American crocodiles, the European date mussel and many other species. UNEP Release: CITES
conference on wildlife trade considers new rules for high-value species Cities interact with rural areas in many ways. Migrants living and working in cities send money to families in rural areas. Cities absorb excess rural populations, and offer markets for farm produce and other rural products. They provide services and amenities -- such as universities and hospitals – that may not be available or feasible in rural areas. Cities are also the locus of most global investment, raising demand for goods, labour and other inputs from rural areas. UN-Habitat WHD website: www.unhabitat.org/whd/2004/ The Convention’s Prior Informed Consent procedure provides developing countries with an additional tool for managing hazardous chemicals and pesticides more effectively. It permits them to prevent shipments of certain hazardous chemicals from entering their territory unless they have explicitly agreed to their import. UNEP Release: Up
to 15 hazardous chemicals
and pesticides to be added to trade “watch list” Clean Up the World, held in conjunction with UNEP, mobilises over 30 million volunteers from more than 100 countries annually to clean up, fix up and conserve their local environment. In 2004 the campaign takes on a "Seas and Oceans" theme. It is estimated that half the world's population lives within 60 km of the coast causing increasing pressure on our marine environment. UNEP Info: Clean
Up the World Weekend, 17 - 19 September 2004 UNEP is helping countries by providing guidance and materials to support the 16 September celebrations. Principal among these is a new animated awareness video, Ozzy Ozone, in which the main character, an ozone molecule, takes viewers on a voyage of discovery to find out exactly what is attacking the Earth's protective ozone layer. It explains how children can protect themselves from the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation caused by ozone depletion. UNEP Release: International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer The State of the World’s Cities 2004/2005 looks at how this potential can be used to address current challenges and create dynamic, multicultural and inclusive urban settings. Using extensive examples and illustrations, and with contributions from many of the world’s leading urban scholars, it lays out the conditions for a new culture of planning, involving civil society as well as public authorities, to ensure participation of even the most marginalized sectors. The report was formally launched at the World Urban Forum in Barcelona on 14 September. The Forum held in Barcelona from 13-17 September, opened with warnings from world leaders and mayors that rapid urbanization was one of the greatest challenges facing humanity in the new Millennium. UN-Habitat Report: A
major new report on the state of the world's cities There are currently 40 legally binding instruments relevant to forests: 19 at the global level and 21 at the regional and subregional levels. These include international agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the International Tropical Timber Agreement, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Management of the world’s forests is essential for reducing poverty, as well as for maintenance and conservation of natural habitats. The UNFF and the Johannesburg World Summit have recognized that sustainable forest management and strong international, regional and national action to implement this principle are of paramount importance to eradicating poverty, reducing deforestation, halting the loss of biodiversity, improving food security, increasing access to safe drinking water and affordable energy, and in establishing sustainable land use practices. UN Release: INTERNATIONAL
EXPERTS MEET TO CONSIDER LEGAL OPTIONS FOR MANAGING WORLD’S FORESTS Obsolete pesticides are left over from pest control campaigns. Stockpiles have accumulated because a number of products have been banned for health or environmental reasons, but were never removed and disposed of. Stocks remain where they are stored and often deteriorate to contaminate the environment and put people at risk. FAO Release: FAO warns of pesticide waste time bomb in poor countries The State of the Environment report was produced in partnership with UNDP and was initiated following a visit by Executive Director Klaus Toepfer to DPR Korean capital Pyongyang in 2000. UNEP Report: DPR
KOREA : State of the Environment
2003 An absence of long-term planning and legislation are the main causes of these threats according to a new report prepared by UNEP Global International Waters Assessment (GIWA), and released on 24 August at the Offshore Northern Seas conference in Stavanger, Norway. UNEP Report: Barents
Sea FAO's report affirmed that fisheries and aquaculture are of vital importance for food security and the economies of the region, but cautioned that improved management of these activities is required in order to secure the sector's future. FAO Release: Overfishing on the increase in Asia-Pacific seas UNESCO Release: Research shows oceans becoming more acidic WWF Release: Mediterranean
water resources threatened by expanding tourism The review is drawn from studies commissioned by UN/ISDR and activities carried out by regional partner organizations, with inputs from various UN organizations, national governments and specialized institutions. It directly complements the UNDP report “Reducing Disaster Risk: A Challenge for Development” launched in early 2004. UN ISDR Release: LIVING
WITH RISK: A HUNDRED POSITIVE EXAMPLES OF HOW PEOPLE ARE MAKING THE WORLD
SAFER UNECE Release: Environmental
democracy clearing house launched
to highlight progress under the Aarhus Convention The three-year project, funded by GEF and the Government of Norway, will help eight countries devise action plans to curb sewage, chemicals and other pollutants coming from the land into the region’s rivers and coastal waters. UNEP Release: Pollution Busting Project Unveiled for the Western Indian Ocean Two major barriers to sustainable fisheries are excess fishing capacity and IUU fishing. Recent FAO surveys show that while world fishing capacity appears to have begun to stabilize, more needs to be done to manage it. Meanwhile, the problem of IUU fishing is getting worse. FAO Article: Excess
capacity and illegal fishing: challenges to sustainable fisheries The project, bringing together the biologically rich countries of Armenia, Bolivia, Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan, aims to improve key features of traditional crops ranging from their economic and nutritional value to their ability to naturally fight disease. UNEP Release: Every crop needs its wild relatives A key issue will be the protection of cold-water corals, little known in comparison to their tropical cousins. For many years, research has focused largely on tropical, shallow-water corals, found in areas such as the Maldives, which support entire island communities by providing fish as sustenance for families and vital tourism-generated revenues. Nonetheless, coral species building reefs in colder and usually deeper waters play an equally important role in sustaining the delicate balance of our marine ecosystems, and they must be kept alive. UNEP Release: Global
action to save deep-sea treasures Without bold steps taken now these issues will threaten long-term shareholder value concludes the summary report, "The Materiality of Social, Environmental and Corporate Governance Issues to Equity Pricing" which was launched on 24 June at the United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit in New York. UNEP Release: Protecting
pensions and the planet WWF Release: New
dams are threatening the world’s largest rivers UNECE Release: WATER
AND ENERGY IN CENTRAL ASIA - Preventing the slow death of the Aral Sea One fifth of the world’s population is threatened by the impacts of global desertification. Its effects can be seen all over the world, be it in Asia, the Sahel, Latin America, throughout North America or along the Mediterranean. Today, a third of the earth's surface is threatened by desertification, which adds up to an area of over 4 billion hectares of the planet. UNCCD Publication: Preserving
our common ground: UNCCD Ten years on Thousands of people every month have been using the Atlas, an encyclopaedic online resource containing news updates, data on the state of marine resources, analysis of policy issues, environmental studies, access to real-time maps, and more. UN Atlas of the Oceans: www.oceansatlas.org The Convention, which entered into force on 17 May 2004, gives governments until 2025 to phase out “in-place equipment” containing PCBs, as long as the equipment is maintained in a way that prevents leaks. It also grants another three years to ensure the environmentally sound management of PCB-contaminated wastes. UNEP Release: Global clean-up of toxic PCBs According to FAO, 52 of its member countries report having fisheries management plans in place that incorporate elements of the Code, including measures to promote use of selective fishing gear, to prohibit destructive practices and to ensure that permitted catch-levels reflect the state of stocks and allow depleted populations to recover. FAO's FISHCODE Programme: www.fao.org/fi/projects/fishcode/ The full report, "Cold-Water Coral Reefs: Out of Sight- No Longer Out of Mind", will be published at an International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) meeting taking place in Okinawa, Japan, between 3 and 4 July following the 10th International Coral Reef Symposium which opens on 28 June. UNEP Release: Cold-Water
Corals New Global Conservation Challenge UNEP also announced that it was establishing contact with the five cities short-listed for the Summer Olympic Games of 2012 to discuss how the environment can feature high in their proposals. UNEP Release: Agreement
to Boost Environmental Awareness at Summer Olympics On Friday, 4 June, government delegates from 154 countries adopted the Political Declaration of renewables 2004. The declaration contains definitions of common political objectives for promoting the role of renewable energies. In the International Action Programme, governments, international organisations and stakeholders have committed to a plethora of activities that are geared towards the increased use of renewable energies. So far, 165 of the proposals for voluntary measures have been endorsed while many further submissions for action are being screened at present. The Policy Recommendations give practical advice on how to promote the development of the market for renewable energies in the North and in the South. While holding great promise for developing countries, bioenergy is often neglected by policy-makers and needs to be urgently integrated into agricultural and forestry programmes -countries need to move towards more sustainable energy systems based on energy sources such as biomass, solar and wind energies, FAO said on this occasion. UNEP Speech: Opportunity,
Leadership and Commitment: Keys to a Sustainable Energy Future Some 130 countries adopted this unique international standard on how to assess the risks of LMOs to plants. The guidelines also cover other LMOs that may be harmful to plants, such as insects, fungi and bacteria. Guidelines: New
guidelines on risk analysis for LMOs As ministers meet at the International Conference on Renewable Energies in Bonn, Germany from 1–4 June, WWF and AEBIOM are calling for firm commitments towards increasing the share of renewable energy such as biomass at national and international levels. The EU, specifically, must show global leadership by setting a target to supply 25% of its primary energy demand from renewable energy sources by 2020. WWF report: Bioelectricity
Vision:
Achieving 15% of Electricity from Biomass
in OECD Countries by 2020 Turtle populations are in steep decline in many areas, as nesting beaches are converted to holiday resorts, turtles and their eggs are over-harvested for food, and turtles are accidentally caught and killed in fishing nets. Six of the world’s seven marine turtle species are endangered or critically endangered. The WWF researchers found that sea turtle populations were declining in areas where they are exploited and rising or stable where they are not. WWF report: Money
talks: Economic Aspects of Marine Turtle Use and Conservation Forests are important as a source of fuelwood and livestock fodder. Forests in the region also provide some 2 million cubic metres of wood products and more than $100 million worth of exported non-wood forest products such as gum arabic, cork, pistachios and honey. In a region that is the most water scarce in the world with only around 2.2 percent of global renewable water resources, the sustainable management of forests is key to improving water security and alleviating poverty. An increasing number of countries in the region, including Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Yemen, have begun using treated waste water to irrigate forest plantations and greenbelts. FAO Release: Afforestation in the Near East Women, especially in developing countries, are the farmers, the feeders and the carers in their communities relying on an intimate understanding of nature to fulfil their many and varied roles. They are also the primary providers of water. In the mountain areas of East Africa, women may expend close to a third of their calorie intake in collecting and supplying this precious resource. UNEP report: Women
and the Environment In the Statement of Principles and Values, the Forum makes a commitment to sustainability as one of its three core themes and takes on an active role to ensure consistency in its application:. Defense of biodiversity by means of the protection and improvement of environmental quality, together with the conservation and rational use of natural resources; The need for a social, economic and institutional network that is socially responsible and committed to equitable and technologically sustainable economic growth; Particular attention must be given to sustainable development of urban areas from an environmental, social, cultural and economic standpoint. UNESCO, the main partner of the Universal Forum, has contributed since the start of the project to advising the organizers and cooperating closely with them in the conceptualization of the programme and activities. Forum Website: www.barcelona2004.org The study, produced by INBAR (International Network for Bamboo and Rattan) and UNEP-WCMC uses novel analyses to combine data on the distributions of bamboo species and on existing forest cover. It shows that many bamboo species, including relatives of those cultivated commercially, have tiny amounts of forest remaining within their native ranges. UNEP Release: Forest
Loss Catastrophic for Wild Bamboo Warns Report The clean-up programme is being officially handed over to the Government of the Republic of Serbia. As an integral part of the handover, the environmental authorities in the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro worked together with UNEP on a joint final assessment of the environmental conditions at the four hot spot sites. The report, Assessment of Environmental Hot-spots Serbia and Montenegro April 2004, says that the conflict-related environmental consequences at Kragujevac and Bor have been largely dealt with. UNEP Release: Kosovo
conflict hot spots cleaned up Conservation of the world's oceans can only be achieved if larger problems of poverty, hunger and underdevelopment are adequately addressed, according to FAO. Millions of people depend on fishing for food and employment -- especially in the world's poorest countries. Globally, reports FAO, 25 percent of major marine fish stocks are underexploited or moderately exploited. Forty-seven percent are fully exploited and are therefore producing catches that have reached, or are very close to, their maximum sustainable limits. Another 18 percent of stocks or species groups are overexploited, while 10 percent of stocks have become significantly depleted, or are recovering from depletion. Fourth World Fisheries Congress Website: http://www.worldfisheries2004.org/ The United Nations Forum on Forests will hold its Fourth Session at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from 3 to 14 May. During the session, the Forum will consider implementation of the proposals for action of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests/Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IPF/IFF) in five areas: social and cultural aspects of forests; traditional forest-related knowledge; scientific forest-related knowledge; monitoring, assessment and reporting, concepts, terminology and definitions; and criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management. UNFF-4 website: www.un.org/esa/forests/session.html A joint EEA/UNEP report to support the process estimates that high nature value farmland covers 15-25 % of the EU countryside, with the largest areas being found in eastern and southern Europe and northern Britain. The situation outside the EU is not known as data are not easy to obtain. The report warns that high nature value farmland is under severe pressure from two contrasting trends: increasing intensity of agriculture in some areas and abandonment of farming in others. UNEP Release: Nature-rich
farmland areas need greater support to prevent species loss The project, formulated with the support of Switzerland and the participation of governments, non-governmental and other international organizations, follows an international conference on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development in Mountain Regions held in Adelboden, Switzerland, in 2002. FAO Release: The challenge of sustainable mountain development CSD-12 Website: www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csd/csd12/csd12.htm The report, Hamburger Connection Fuels Amazon Destruction-issued, suggests that the jump in the worldwide demand for Brazilian beef has been brought on by several factors, among them concerns regarding the threat of mad cow disease in several other cattle-producing countries. CIFOR media background in pdf format: Hamburger
Connection Fuels Amazon Destruction UNEP Governing Council Website: www.unep.org/GC/GCSS-VIII/
Urgent
international assistance is needed to help small island states deal with a rising
tide of rubbish and wastes
A booklet called UNEP and Small Island Developing States: 1994-2004 and Future Perspectives, estimates that since the early 1990s the SIDS levels of plastic wastes has increased five fold. It points out that problems of rubbish and litter are part of a wider waste crisis. The reports presented, some of which were released on 30 March at the international gathering of environment ministers taking place in Jeju have been compiled by UNEP’s Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities or GPA and UNEP’s Global International Waters Assessment (GIWA) UNEP SIDS Activities: www.gpa.unep.org/sids/ The Year Book was launched to governments attending the Global Ministerial Environment Forum (GMEF) taking place this week in Jeju, Korea. Issues covered also include the coming into force of the Cartagena Protocol, an international treaty covering trade in genetically modified organisms, the costs of mainly weather-related natural disasters and the challenges that remain in improving drinking water supplies for over 1 billion people. Global Environment Outlook Year Book: www.unep.org/geo/yearbook/ | |||||||||||||||
Global Environmental Headlines
UNEP
decided to create a Task Force in Geneva to coordinate all inputs from the
UNEP system
to identify and alleviate the environmental impacts
of the Asian Tsunami disaster and to support the efforts of the
affected countries and
the UN. Urgent environmental concerns that threaten
human health must be addressed, as announced on 30
December.
The
Tenth Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10), in Buenos Aires
on 6-17 December, marked the 10th
anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which served as a central theme for
the meeting. In addition to the accomplishments of the past ten years and
future challenges, discussions at COP 10 highlighted a range of climate-related
issues including, the impacts of climate change and adaptation measures,
mitigation policies and their impacts, and technology.
Despite
the lessons learned from the Baia Mare catastrophe in January 2000, the Tisza
river basin, its people and nature remain threatened by environmental insecurity,
in particular from floods and accidental pollution risks, according to a
new report from UNEP, released on 13 December.
The
report, Rapid Environmental Assessment of the Tisza River Basin, was presented
to the first Ministerial Meeting
of the Danube River Protection Convention, in Vienna .
A
ministerial meeting on the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the
Ozone Layer was held on 22-26 November,
and decided on how best to ensure that the stratospheric ozone layer returns
to health over the next several decades.
The
90-day countdown to the Kyoto Protocol’s entry into force was triggered
on 18 November by the receipt of the Russian Federation’s instrument
of ratification by the United Nations Secretary-General. The Protocol will
become
legally
binding on its 128 Parties on 16 February 2005.
The
General Assembly declared 6 November of each year as the International Day
for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict
(resolution 56/4).
A
major pan-African conference on water for food and ecosystems was held in
Addis Ababa on 4-6 November 2004. 
Boards
are failing to disclose to financial investors how environmental and social
issues pose strategic risks and opportunities for their businesses, according
to an international review of corporate sustainability reports by SustainAbility,
UNEP and Standard & Poor’s.
Risk & Opportunity: Best Practice in Non-Financial Reporting finds
that only three reports of the Top 50 assess the balance sheet implications
of
key environmental and social risks, despite this information being increasingly
important to analysts, investors, lenders, insurers and re-insurers. The
report was released in London on 1 November.
As
part of the
Seventh Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention,
held in Geneva at the Palais des Nations from 25 to 28 October 2004, a new
publication, “Vital
Waste Graphics”, was launched on 28
October.
Environmental
degradation and access to natural resources could deepen contention in areas
of existing conflicts in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent
regions of Azerbaijan. According
to a new report released in Tbilisi on 22 October,
the militarised situation also hampers waste management and disposal, and
the maintenance and renovation
of irrigation and hydroelectric dams, constraining economic growth. 
The
Global Crop Diversity Trust, an initiative to conserve in perpetuity
the Earth's most crucial agricultural biodiversity, entered into
force on 21
October as an independent international organization. 
The
human race is plundering the planet at a pace that outstrips its
capacity
to support life, according to a report by WWF, released on 21
October.
The
General Assembly declared 17 October as
the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. It noted that activities
undertaken
with respect to the Day will take into account those undertaken each 17 October
by certain non-governmental organizations and invited all States to devote
the Day to presenting and promoting, as appropriate in the national context,
concrete activities on the eradication of poverty and destitution. The General
Assembly also invited intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations
to assist States, at their request, in organizing national activities for
the observance of International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, paying
due attention to the specific problems of the destitute.
Each
year on 16 October, FAO celebrates World Food Day in commemoration of its
founding on that day in Quebec City in 1945.
More
than 140 prominent women environmentalists from 60 countries, including seven
environment ministers and other high level representatives, are meeting at
the headquarters of UNEP in Nairobi
between 11 and 13 October to express their concerns about the global environment.
Praising
her "pioneering struggle" against deforestation and for women's
rights and democracy, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on 8 October he was
delighted by the awarding of this year's Nobel Peace Prize to Professor
Wangari Maathai of Kenya.
Children
face higher risks from pesticides than adults and need greater protection
against these chemicals, particularly in developing countries, according
to a joint report published by FAO, UNEP and
WHO ("Child Pesticide Poisoning: Information for Advocacy and Action"),
as announced on 5 October. 
The
166 member governments of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meet in Bangkok from 2 – 14
October to update the trade rules governing some
of the world’s most
charismatic, exploited and economically valuable wildlife species.
The
theme of World Habitat Day on Monday 4 October this
year is, Cities – Engines
of Rural Development. The theme was chosen to
remind development policy-makers at every level not to think of “urban” and “rural” as
separate
entities, but rather as parts of an economic and social whole.
Ministers
and officials from over 100 countries will mark the debut of the Rotterdam
Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous
Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade at the first conference
of the parties, held in Geneva, from 20-24
September. One of the main tasks of the meeting is to take
decisions on whether to add up to 15 new chemicals and pesticides to the
list of substances subject to the Prior Informed Consent procedure.
The
2004 Clean Up the World Weekend, 17 -19 September,
is an opportunity for Members and volunteers from around the world to
celebrate year round
environmental achievements and will be a time of action as volunteers get
physical and clean up their local area.
Countries
were urged on 16 September to re-double efforts to assess the quantities
of an ozone damaging chemical being used to kill pests on shipments of rice,
maize,
nuts and other big commodity export crops.
As
towns and cities grow at unprecedented rates, sustainable urbanization
is one of the most pressing challenges facing the global community in the
21st
century. Cities are the hub of much national production and consumption – economic
and social processes that generate wealth and form urban culture. 
Dozens
of international experts on forests have gathered at UN Headquarters in New
York from 7-10 September to discuss
how best to manage the world's rapidly disappearing stock of forests so that their long-term health is protected.
High
quantities of toxic chemical waste from unused or obsolete pesticides are
posing a continuing and worsening threat to people and the environment in
Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, FAO warned
on 9 September.
The first
assessment of the state of the environment of the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea (DPRK) was launched on 30 August by UNEP and DPRK officials
at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi.
Overfishing
of cod and haddock, nuclear waste storage, the invasion of the Red King crab
and a projected six-fold increase in oil and gas transportation are some
of the issues threatening the unique Barents Sea Arctic ecosystem, scientists
are warning.
The
management of fishery resources in Asia-Pacific needs to be improved, as
overfishing is increasing and the abundance of more valuable species has
declined, according to an FAO report presented on 6 August to the Asia-Pacific
Fishery Commission during a meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The
world’s oceans are absorbing an unprecedented amount of carbon dioxide
(CO2), which is increasing their acidity and possibly threatening the long-term
survival of many marine species, especially calcifying organisms including
corals, shellfish and phytoplankton, UNESCO announced on 16 July. According
to research presented recently at a symposium organized by UNESCO’s
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and the International Council
for Science’s
Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), this in turn could disrupt marine food
chains and
alter ocean biogeochemistry in ways that are not yet understood or predictable.
The
expansion of the tourism industry in the Mediterranean is destroying
valuable wetlands and contributing to the depletion of the water resources that
local communities and the tourism industry depend on, warns a WWF report,
released on 15 July. It
says that the expected tourism boom over the next twenty years - with tourist
numbers expected to reach 655 million
people annually by 2025 - will strain water resources further as tourist
services such as golf courses and swimming pools continue to be built.
On
14 July,
the Inter-Agency Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
(UN/ISDR) launched its 2004 version of “Living with Risk: A
global review of disaster reduction initiatives.” The publication is an unprecedented
compilation of concrete examples of what people are doing to make the world
a safer place.
A
new “environmental democracy” clearing house – aarhusclearinghouse.unece.org – was
launched by UNECE to highlight and promote awareness of issues covered by
the Aarhus Convention on 13 July.
The clearing house showcases good practices in citizens’ environmental
rights and is expected to make implementation of the Convention more effective.
A
multi million dollar project aimed at cutting pollution in the Western
Indian Ocean was announced on 6 July at a meeting of environment ministers in the
Madagascan capital Antananarivo.
FAO
announced on 1 July that 84 FAO members have concluded a meeting
on how to strengthen international cooperation
on managing fishing capacity
and combating illegal,
underreported and unreported (IUU) fishing. 
A
project aimed at boosting the conservation and use of the wild relatives
of some of the world’s key crops is being launched on 28
June. Researchers believe the new project, which is co-funded
by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), will play its part in fighting hunger
and improving the livelihoods of farmers across the globe.
Representatives
from governments, NGOs, intergovernmental organisations and the world’s
leading coral reef experts met on 28 June in Okinawa, Japan,
for a week of discussions and activities on protecting the world’s
precious coral reefs.
In
a new report with UNEP, a group
of 12 fund managers representing USD 1.6 Trillion of assets under
management call on investors, government and business leaders to embed environmental,
social, and governance best practice at the heart of our markets. 
A
new WWF report warns that indiscriminate dam-building is threatening the
world’s largest and most important rivers, with the Yangtze in China,
the La Plata in South America, and the Tigris and Euphrates in the Middle
East likely to suffer most from dams, as announced on 22 June. The WWF report, Rivers
at Risk, identifies the top 21 rivers at risk from dams being planned
or
under
construction.
It shows that over 60 per cent of the world’s 227 largest rivers have
been fragmented by dams, which has led to the destruction of wetlands, a
decline in freshwater species - including river dolphins, fish, and birds
- and the forced displacement of tens of millions of people.
UNECE
announced on 18 June that as much as 90% of the water of the two rivers that
feed the Aral Sea – the
Syr Darya and the Amu Darya (total flow 116 km3 a year) – is used up
before reaching it. Most of this water is used for the irrigation of crops
such as cotton. If present trends continue, the Aral Sea will disappear
altogether in the not-so-distant future despite the many piecemeal efforts
to save it. These are some of the findings
of a recent study by UNECE and ESCAP. These two
United Nations regional commissions have recently concluded a project on
the links between water and energy in Central Asia and published the results.
The
World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is commemorated each year
on 17 June. It is part of a
UN led international campaign to increase awareness of land degradation.
This year's celebration carries special significance
as 2004 marks the tenth anniversary of the Convention’s implementation.
Its theme also highlights the Social Dimensions of Desertification:
Migration
and Poverty. To commemorate this special anniversary, the secretariat
has produced a publication highlighting the unique aspects and work of the Convention
since its inception.
FAO,
six other UN agencies and a group of leading international scientific organizations
marked on 15 June the second anniversary of the release of the UN
Atlas of
the Oceans.
Governments,
donor agencies and commercial firms from around the world met in
Geneva on 9-10 June to promote international efforts to rid the world
of PCBs, one
of 12 highly toxic chemicals targeted for elimination by the Stockholm Convention
on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).
A
growing number of countries are taking steps that will help conserve and
restore
the world's oceans by bringing their fishing sectors in line with the FAO
Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, FAO said on 8
June.
Cold-water
corals, mysterious and generally deeper living than their better known warm-water
cousins in the tropics, are far more widespread and numerous than had previously
been thought – and under serious threat. The new findings, released
to mark World Environment Day (WED), which hosted by City of Barcelona, on 5
June,
with the theme ‘Wanted!
Seas and Oceans: Dead or Alive?’, are likely to strengthen
calls for greater conservation of these curious habitats globally. 
An
agreement aiming at boosting the environmental profile of this year’s
summer Olympic Games has been made between UNEP and the Athens organizers. The
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed on 2 June in the Olympic Tennis
Centre in the Greek capital between the Organizing Committee for the Athens
2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games (ATHOC) and UNEP.
From
1-4 June Germany hosted
the International Conference for
Renewable
Energies Bonn 2004.
New
guidelines for determining if a living modified organism (LMO) poses a hazard
to plants have been published by FAO, as announced on 1
June. FAO published the guidelines two weeks after the release
of its annual report 'The State of Food and Agriculture 2003-04' which calls
for adequate biosafety regulations.
Carbon
dioxide emissions could be significantly cut if OECD countries used biomass — fuel
generated from agriculture and forest products — instead of coal to
generate electricity, according to a report by WWF and the European Biomass
Association (AEBIOM), released on 27 May. The report indicates that this
could reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main global warming gas,
by
about
1,000 million
tonnes each year — a figure equivalent to the combined annual emissions
of Canada and Italy.
Marine
turtle tourism brings in almost three times as much money as the sale of
turtle products such as meat, leather ,and eggs, according to a new economic
study Money talks: Economic Aspects of Marine Turtle Use and Conservation
by WWF, released on 25 May. It shows that the worldwide decline in
sea turtle populations jeopardizes jobs, tourism, and coastal economies,
especially in developing countries, two-thirds of which have sea turtles.
Around
20 countries discussed the role of forests in food and water security
at the FAO Near East Forestry Commission (24-27
May)
in Beirut. Countries
in the Near East are showing increasing interest in planting trees
to improve
water quality and increase food security, FAO said in that occasion. 
A
new book, Women and the Environment, released by UNEP on 20
May 2004, calls
for greater recognition of women's role in conservation and poverty
eradication. The book, drawing on observations and research by numerous
individuals and organizations including UNEP and the UN Food and Agricultural
Organization, contains numerous illuminating anecdotes and case studies that
reflect the crucial and all too often ignored role of women in the environment.
It also highlights programmes, often established by individual women or women’s
groups, to deal with environmental and development threats.
From
9 May to 26 September, the
Forum Barcelona 2004 will be a space where the citizens of the world
can gather, engage in dialogue, and debate the most urgent issues of the 21st
century. Three main themes define the Forum: cultural diversity, sustainable
development and conditions for peace.
Urgent
action is needed to protect one of the world’s most ancient life forms
and the species that depend on it. A new study estimates that as many as half
of the world’s 1200 woody bamboo species may be in danger of extinction
as a result of massive forest destruction, as announced on 11
May.
Established
in the aftermath of the Kosovo war, the $US 12.5 million UNEP clean-up
programme has successfully identified, assessed and completed the first
UN-led clean-up of environmental threats as a result of armed conflict, UNEP
announced on 7 May.
The
Fourth World Fisheries Congress was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada,
from 2-6 May 2004. The Congress
theme was Reconciling Fisheries with Conservation: The Challenge of
Managing Aquatic Ecosystems. 
The
European Union will not reach the goal of halting species loss by 2010
if it does not do more to prevent the decline of its most nature-rich areas
of farmland, EEA and UNEP warned on 29
April.
The
twelfth session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-12)
met at UN Headquarters in New York from 14-30
April 2004. For the first three days (14-16 April), CSD-12 served
as a preparatory meeting for the ten-year review of the Barbados Programme of
Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
The following two weeks (19-30 April) served as the CSD-12 Review Session. 
Brazil's
spectacular and growing success as a prime exporter of beef-volume of exports
abroad have increased more than fivefold in the last six years-is responsible
for much of the recent spike in the destruction of the Amazon rainforest,
according to a study released on 2 April
by by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).
Dust
and sand storms are plaguing North East Asia nearly five times as often as they
were in the 1950s. Scientists from Korean universities
and research institutes told participants in the 8th Special Session of UNEP
Governing Council (29-31 March) and Global Ministerial Environment Forum on
Jeju Island, Republic of Korea, they are concerned that the sand and dust is
binding with airborne pollutants such as soot contained within atmospheric brown
clouds, on 31 March. These are
forming over densely populated parts of the world as a result of the burning
of wood, charcoal and other so called biomass and the combustion of fossil fuels
and industrial processes.
UNEP
studies indicate that along with issues including rising sea levels, over-fishing,
water shortages and inadequate sanitation services, waste is fast becoming
another key problem. The wastes not only threaten public health but
also livelihoods. Many small island developing states (SIDS) are dependent on
income from tourists. 
The
new UNEP report, Global Environment Outlook Year Book, released
on 29 March, states that there
are nearly 150 oxygen-starved or “dead zones” in the world’s
oceans and seas. These ‘dead zones’ are linked to an excess of nutrients,
mainly nitrogen, that originate from agricultural fertilizers, vehicle and factory
emissions and wastes. Low levels of oxygen in the water make it difficult for
fish, oysters and other marine creatures to survive as well as important habitats
such as sea grass beds.