April 19, 2025
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J. Tuyet Nguyen, a journalist with years of experience, has covered major stories in New York City and the United Nations for United Press International, the German Press Agency dpa and various newspapers. His reports focused mostly on topics with international interests for readers worldwide. He was president of the United Nations Correspondents Association (2007 and 2008), which is composed of more than 250 journalists representing world media with influence over policy decision makers. He has chaired the organization of the annual UNCA Awards, which seeks to reward journalists around the world who have done the best broadcasts and written reports on the UN and its specialized agencies. He has traveled the world to cover events and write stories, from politics to the environment as well cultures of different regions. But his most important reporting work has been with the United Nations since the early 1980s. He was bureau chief of United Press International office at the UN headquarters before joining dpa in 1997. Prior to working at the UN, he was an editor on the International Desk of UPI World Headquarters in New York. He worked in Los Angeles and covered the final months of war in Vietnam for UPI.

UPDATE: WHO launches negotiations for legal, binding agreement to fight future pandemics

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Geneva/New York, December 1 – The World Health Organization has launched a global process to draft and negotiate an agreement under its constitution to strengthen world health systems against future crises of infectious diseases.

The decision to launch the negotiations was taken by the World Health Assembly in Geneva, which is the WHO’s decision-making body. In a press release, WHO said it was a consensus decision titled “The World Together,” which aims at protecting the world from future pandemics. The decision establishes “an intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) to draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement, or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, with a view to adoption under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution, or other provisions of the Constitution as may be deemed appropriate by the INB.”

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said the decision represented a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to strengthen the global health architecture to protect and promote the well-being of all people. The Covid-19 pandemic has shone a light on the many flaws in the global system to protect people from pandemics: the most vulnerable people going without vaccines; health workers without needed equipment to perform their life-saving work; and ‘me-first’ approaches that stymie the global solidarity needed to deal with a global threat.”

“But at the same time, we have seen inspiring demonstrations of scientific and political collaboration, from the rapid development of vaccines, to today’s commitment by countries to negotiate a global accord that will help to keep future generations safer from the impacts of pandemics.”

WHO said the INB will hold two meetings, in March and August 2022, to agree on working methods and will hold public hearings to inform its deliberations. The INB will deliver a progress report to the 76th WHA in 2023 and submit its outcome for consideration by the 77th WHA in 2024.

The WHA held a three-day special session starting on November 29 before deciding to establish the INB. Tedros said in remarks at the session that Covid-19 has exposed weaknesses in the global health systems to deal with crises such as a pandemic. The session was held after a new Covid-19 variant named Omicron was detected in southern Africa, prompting some countries to close borders and consider new lockdowns.

Tedros said the world should thank South Africa and Botswana for detecting, sequencing and reporting the new variant Omicron  instead of penalizing them. Some countries have closed borders to visitors from several southern African countries immediately after Omicron was discovered.

WHO has strongly criticized the world’s richest economies for monopolizing vaccines at the expenses of poor and vulnerable countries. The WHO chief pointed out that almost 8 billion vaccines were administered around the world in less than 12 months, making it the largest vaccination campaign in history. But he said more than 80 per cent of the vaccines have gone to the group of 20 richest countries (G20) while low-income countries, most of them in Africa, have received just 0.6 per cent of all vaccines.

He renewed a call for countries to support a program to vaccinate 40 per cent of the population of every country by the end 2021, and 70 per cent by mid-2022. He said a total of 103 countries still have not reached the 40-per-cent target, and more than half of them are at risk of missing it by the end of 2021, “simply because they cannot access the vaccines they need.”

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UN calls for resilient agri-food systems; warns 3-4 billion people cannot afford healthy diet

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Rome/New York, November 23 – The UN Food and Agriculture Organization is calling for agri-food systems that can withstand shocks and stresses such as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. It said about 3 billion out of the total world population of 7.8 billion currently cannot afford a healthy diet and another billion would be added to the group if they lose one-third of income due to those shocks.

 “Truly resilient agri-food systems must have a robust capacity to prevent, anticipate, absorb, adapt and transform in the face of any disruption, with the functional goal of ensuring food security and nutrition for all and decent livelihoods and incomes for agri-food systems’ actors,” the Rome-based UN agency said in its 2021 State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) report – Making agrifood systems more resilient to shocks and stresses.

 “Such resilience addresses all dimensions of food security, but focuses specifically on stability of access and sustainability, which ensure food security in both the short and the long term. Another dimension of food security – agency – is deeply connected to human rights, including the right to food, and underscores the need for inclusiveness in systems.”

The report defines shocks as” short-term events that have negative effects on a system, people’s well-being, assets, livelihoods, safety and ability to withstand future shocks.”

“The pandemic highlighted both the resilience and the weakness of our agri-food systems,” FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said at the virtual release of the report.

It defines the agri-food systems as “the web of activities involved in the production of food and non-food agricultural products and their storage, processing, transportation, distribution and consumption – produce 11 billion tonnes of food a year and employ billions of people, directly or indirectly.”

The report said that shocks have immediate impact while stresses are “slow processes that gradually undermine the capacity of systems to cope with change and which render them more vulnerable.”

“Agri-food systems’ components and actors are exposed to shocks and stresses of various types and intensity and, because components are interlinked, disruption in any of them can spread quickly throughout systems. The same shock or stress may have different impacts on different systems’ components and actors. Among producers, shocks are most likely to affect the livelihoods of low-income, small-scale operators; among food consumers, the poorest will be the most affected by rising food prices.”

The report said lockdowns under the pandemic caused labor shortages and exposed the vulnerability of small and medium agri-food enterprises

“The smooth functioning of food supply chains underpins the resilience of national agri-food systems. A food supply chain is composed of interconnected activities performed by various actors – farmers, processors, wholesalers and retailers – who, in turn, draw on lateral chains that supply inputs and logistic services. The capacity of a food supply chain to absorb shocks depends on the resilience of each of its segments. Diverse, redundant and well-connected food supply chains enhance agri-food systems’ resilience by providing multiple pathways for producing, sourcing and distributing food. This resilience is necessary not only for safeguarding and enhancing the livelihoods of farmers and businesses, but also for ensuring the physical availability of food to all.”

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A Clean Ocean by 2030: UN Experts Panel Charts the Most Direct Course

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The Clean Ocean International Expert Group of the UN Decade for Ocean Science for Sustainable Development will formally present its short list of activities and goals, and a strategy to reach them, in a “manifesto” at the outset of a three-day online conference on achieving a clean ocean, Weds. 17 to Fri. 19 Nov. (https://bit.ly/3EQHRfQ). 


(Leaders of the Clean Ocean International Expert Group are available for advance interviews.

The group’s “Manifesto for Clean Ocean 2030” is appended below in full.

They will also take part in an online UN conference, “A Clean Ocean, Where Sources of Pollution are Identified and Removed,” Weds. 17 to Fri. 19 Nov. (full program: bit.ly/3EQHRfQ; registration: bit.ly/3oo7NZH)

High-res images: www.oceandecade-conference.com/en/press.html

Contact: Terry Collins, tc@tca.tc, +1-416-878-8712)

Interim goals for 2025 and an integrated ocean debris observing system exemplify demands of experts’ “Clean Ocean Manifesto.”

Reducing marine debris by 50-90% and a globe circling, high-tech system of monitors are two essential aims among several championed today by nine distinguished international experts appointed to help the UN reach the goal of a clean ocean by 2030.

Co-Chaired by Angelika Brandt of Germany, a Southern Ocean / Antarctica biodiversity expert, and Elva Escobar Briones of Mexico, a deep sea biodiversity expert, the group concisely outlines “the challenges and some of the opportunities that the Ocean Decade can provide for a Clean Ocean.”

The statement charts the most direct route to a clean ocean citing these objectives for 2030: Enlarge understanding of pathways for spread and fates of pollutants; Reduce and remove top-priority forms of pollution (e.g., marine debris) by large amounts, as much as 50% to 90%

To prevent recurrence, reduce sources or emission of pollutants (e.g., anthropogenic noise, discarded plastic and harmful chemicals, farming practices adding harmful sediment outflow). Improve dramatically the outcomes of control measures (e.g., to decrease amounts of mercury in tuna, die-offs of marine life, eutrophication). Improve monitoring (often as part of the Global Ocean Observing System [GOOS]) for more accurate, precise, timely, comprehensive real-time tracing of spills and monitoring of ocean soundscapes; improve systems to provide timely warning of pollutants emerging and increasing.

Identify and accelerate development and adoption of technologies to promote a Clean Ocean. These could range from cleaner, more efficient motors and fuels to new forms of remediation and waste management; better ways to monitor, track, and map marine pollutants and progress toward a clean ocean (such as aerial remote sensing, genomics, and hydrophone arrays); and better technologies for emergency cleanup.

Improve national mechanisms (legal, regulatory) for control and prevention, better align financial incentives, and lift compliance with international treaties.

Lift public engagement and understanding with access to information associated with behavioral shifts favoring the motto of “reduce, reuse and recycle” and encourage participation in citizen science as part of events involving sailing, surfing, and other activities dependent on a Clean Ocean

With such a framework agreed and in place, specific objectives can be identified and efforts activated, with targets and timetables similar in scope and character to next spring’s anticipated world agreement to protect 30% of the marine environment by 2030, and the completion of high-resolution mapping of the seabed, also by 2030.

Interim objectives for 2025

The expert group underlined that, “This process should aim to define and attract financial and other support to meet an initial set of goals for 2025, followed by goals for the end of the Ocean Decade in 2030.”

And they set out examples of nearer term objectives for 2025: Quantify the global harm of marine pollution from all major sources on ecosystems and organisms and on human health; assessment methods need to take into account multiple stressors. Survey the totality of anthropogenic chemicals flowing into the oceans.

Define a Clean Ocean, including acceptable levels of pollution to set threshold values, and define ecological boundaries or maximal levels of pollutants as well as their rates of degradation to maintain well-functioning ecosystems; this includes understanding tolerances of species and ecosystems to pollutants.

Develop a widely shared vision of a Clean Ocean.

Identify high-priority geographic challenges such as polar regions and urban coasts. Identify barriers to action impeding scaling up solutions for regional and global impact; quantify possibilities for amelioration. Identify key partners, including those who might be left behind, and provide engagement strategies for early career ocean professionals, indigenous peoples, and island communities. Develop reference scenarios for industrialization of the oceans during the next decade, including tourism, seabed mining, windfarm development, for example, as they relate to a Clean Ocean.

Develop initial estimates of costs associated with transitions to a Clean Ocean.

Secure major financial commitments.

“By 2030 we want to achieve measurable improvement in monitoring and clear reduction of emissions and harm through a spectrum of technical and behavioral strategies,” the group says.

The three-day on-line conference Nov. 17-19 will highlight more than 30 activities in place or in development around the world that can make important contributions by 2030 to a Clean Ocean. 

These include initiatives to:

Successfully and consistently monitor marine debris from space as part of an Integrated Global Marine Debris Observing System; Operate deep sea observatories in the Atlantic that document and publicize multiple stressors; Observe the vast Southern Ocean to give early warnings of possible pollution hot spots in this relatively pristine ocean; Instrument 30% of coastal city ocean spaces to report on pollution changes including restoration; Identify and greatly reduce persistent organic pollutants globally.

The manifesto, which presents the signatories’ views and not official positions of their respective institutions, is also directed at other groups such as the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, the Economist magazine World Ocean Initiative, and the World Ocean Council. 

The group plans to share its manifesto with other expert groups, national committees, and with endorsed projects and programs of the UN Ocean Decade to speed development of a strong set of Clean Ocean activities.

Says lead author Jesse Ausubel, Director of the Program for the Human Environment at The Rockefeller University, New York City: “We want this decade to transition from increasing to decreasing the environmental problems of the oceans.”

Clean Ocean International Expert Group Co-Chairs

Angelika Brandt, biodiversity of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica; Germany

Elva Escobar Briones, biodiversity of the deep sea; Mexico

Members

Frida Armas-Pfirter, marine and coastal law; Argentina

Jesse Huntley Ausubel, technologies for ocean observing; USA, lead author

Gina Bonne, environment and climate, Seychelles

Saskia Brix-Elsig, polar seafloor biology; Germany

Angelique Songco, marine protected areas; Philippines

Kaveh Samimi-Namin, coral reef ecosystems; Iran

Sofia Fürstenberg Stott, maritime industry innovation; Sweden


Links

UN Decade for Ocean Science for Sustainable Development

www.oceandecade-conference.com/en/program.html

Creating the Ocean We Want

www.oceandecade-conference.com/en/creating-the-ocean-we-want.html

Clean Ocean Laboratory  

www.oceandecade-conference.com/en/a-clean-ocean.html

Ocean Decade Factsheet

www.oceandecade-conference.com/files/Factsheet%20Ocean%20Decade.pdf 

* * * * *

In full: Manifesto for Clean Ocean 2030

Clean Ocean International Expert Group, in anticipation of the Ocean Decade Laboratory

A Clean Ocean, 17-19 November 2021

A clean ocean where sources of pollution are identified and removed

Comprising 71% of Earth’s surface, the ocean encompasses remote trackless seas and heavily trafficked harbors. It spans the seafloor through the water column to the sea surface and extends from coastal zones to mid-ocean. The ocean spans habitats from beaches and rocky shores to reefs and canyons and polar and deep seas. A Clean Ocean benefits both humanity and the spectrum of other forms of life ranging from whales and fish to mollusks, corals, and seagrasses with which we share it. Our Manifesto for Clean Ocean 2030 aims to increase circularity of the economy in the face of increasing industrialization of the oceans and promote mobilization to manage ocean pollution at its sources in ways that enable both a profitable Blue Economy and a Clean Ocean.

Ocean Pollutants – Many forms of pollution threaten or already dirty the ocean:

Debris, including plastics; Oil and chemical spills and releases from seafloor extraction, pipelines, and shipping; Runoff of fertilizers, pesticides, and other chemicals from agriculture and both rural and suburban areas; Sewage and other coastal runoff, including pharmaceuticals, from urban areas and harbors, and associated harmful algal blooms; Contaminants that, although settled in sediments, can be remobilized by disturbances; Sewage and other improperly discarded wastes from vessels; Acute and chronic elevation of noise and light; Radiation from radioactive materials deposited or discharged into the oceans ; Invasive species and other harmful aspects of bilge and ballast water carelessly released; Construction debris from platform and island building, spoils from channel dredging and pipe-laying, and derelict facilities; Abandoned and discarded equipment from ocean navigation and research and military activities

Threats to a Clean Ocean

Pollution in the ocean comes from land-based and atmospheric sources and from the sea itself.

Land sources include agricultural fertilizers (causing deoxygenation or dead zones), herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, and other materials employed in the bioeconomy; micro- and macro-plastics from carelessly used and discarded products; non-metabolized medicines and other drugs from human consumption; detergents and many other chemicals that form parts of urban and industrial metabolism; heavy metals from mining; and brine from marine water desalination.

Atmospheric sources include greenhouse gases (primarily generated on land) associated with climate change and acidification; forms of sulfur, nitrogen, mercury, and other harmful pollutants generated both at sea and on land; noise from aviation and wind farms, and dust from anthropogenic fires.

Sea sources include spills from extraction, transport, and use of petroleum products; ship sources of waste, including discarded fishing gear and other forms of waste; untreated wastewater from recreational and commercial vessels; deep-sea tailing placements; lubricants and other chemicals from offshore facilities; underwater noise from shipping, mining, fishing, and pile driving; and night-time illumination of vessels and fleets.

Since 1969 the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP) has examined these and other threats to the Clean Ocean and provided authoritative, independent, interdisciplinary scientific advice to organizations and governments to support the protection and sustainable use of the marine environment.

The Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development

Launched in January 2021, the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), the “Ocean Decade,” is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for ocean actors across the world to come together to generate knowledge and foster the partnerships needed to support a well-functioning, productive, resilient, sustainable, and inspiring ocean. We propose that the leadership of the Ocean Decade organize Clean Ocean activities in the following way:

Collect the major Clean Ocean recommendations from the reports of GESAMP and other expert bodies, such as national academies of sciences.

Consolidate and reduce these and other inputs to a set of not more than ten global goals for a Clean Ocean. New targets and timetables should be similar in scope and character to the Endorsed Recommendations to protect 30% of the marine environment by 2030 and complete the high-resolution mapping of the seabed by 2030.

Work with the many concerned entities worldwide to coordinate and optimize roles and contributions so the Decade will achieve historic collaborative global objectives for a Clean Ocean.

This process should aim to define and attract financial and other support to meet an initial set of goals for 2025, followed by goals for the end of the Ocean Decade in 2030.

Examples of Clean Ocean objectives for 2025

Quantify the global harm of marine pollution from all major sources on ecosystems and organisms and on human health; assessment methods need to take into account multiple stressors.

Survey the totality of anthropogenic chemicals flowing into the oceans.

Define a Clean Ocean, including acceptable levels of pollution to set threshold values, and define ecological boundaries or maximal levels of pollutants as well as their rates of degradation to maintain well-functioning ecosystems; this includes understanding tolerances of species and ecosystems to pollutants.

Develop a widely shared vision of a Clean Ocean.

Identify high-priority geographic challenges such as polar regions and urban coasts.

Identify barriers to action impeding scaling up solutions for regional and global impact; quantify possibilities for amelioration.

Identify key partners, including those who might be left behind, and provide engagement strategies for early career ocean professionals, indigenous peoples, and island communities.

Develop reference scenarios for industrialization of the oceans during the next decade, including tourism, seabed mining, windfarm development, for example, as they relate to a Clean Ocean.

Develop initial estimates of costs associated with transitions to a Clean Ocean.

Secure major financial commitments.

By 2025 we aim to identify potential pathways toward solutions for knowing what is manageable. By 2030 we want to achieve measurable improvement in monitoring and clear reduction of emissions and harm through a spectrum of technical and behavioral strategies.

Examples of Clean Ocean objectives for 2030

Enlarge understanding of pathways for spread and fates of pollutants.

Reduce and remove top-priority forms of pollution (e.g., marine debris) by large amounts, as much as 50% to 90%.

To prevent recurrence, reduce sources or emission of pollutants (e.g., anthropogenic noise, discarded plastic and harmful chemicals, farming practices adding harmful sediment outflow).

Improve dramatically the outcomes of control measures (e.g., to decrease amounts of mercury in tuna, die-offs of marine life, eutrophication).

Improve monitoring (often as part of the Global Ocean Observing System [GOOS]) for more accurate, precise, timely, comprehensive real-time tracing of spills and monitoring of ocean soundscapes; improve systems to provide timely warning of pollutants emerging and increasing.

Identify and accelerate development and adoption of technologies to promote a Clean Ocean. These could range from cleaner, more efficient motors and fuels to new forms of remediation and waste management; better ways to monitor, track, and map marine pollutants and progress toward a clean ocean (such as aerial remote sensing, genomics, and hydrophone arrays); and better technologies for emergency cleanup.

Improve national mechanisms (legal, regulatory) for control and prevention, better align financial incentives, and lift compliance with international treaties.

Lift public engagement and understanding with access to information associated with behavioral shifts favoring the motto of “reduce, re-use and recycle” and encourage participation in citizen science as part of events involving sailing, surfing, and other activities dependent on a Clean Ocean.

Now is the time for ambitious targets and timetables to elicit the science for the Clean Ocean we want.

Contact: Terry Collins, tc@tca.tc, +1-416-878-8712

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UPDATE: Climate change summit adopts final document at closing, calls for phasing down coal

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Glasgow/New York, November 13 – The UN climate change conference in the Scottish city of Glasgow adopted a final outcome document, which for the first time ever mentioned cutting fossil fuels to tackle global climate change impacts before closing a two-week summit. The document, known as the Glasgow Climate Pact, is “an important document, but it is not enough,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“The approved texts are a compromise,” he said, reflecting the disappointment of many of the 197 governments and people attending the summit without getting concrete commitments for climate action. “They reflect the interests, the conditions, the contradictions and the state of political will in the world today.”

The deal provides important steps forward “but unfortunately the collective political will was not enough to overcome some deep contradictions. We must accelerate climate action to keep alive the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius,” Guterres said in a video statement released at the close of the two-week meeting that began on October 31.

Guterres said that it is time for the world to go “into emergency mode” that calls for ending fossil fuel subsidies, phasing out coal, putting a price on carbon, protecting poor and vulnerable countries and delivering the $100 billion a year on climate finance commitment.

“We did not achieve these goals at this conference. But we have some building blocks for progress,” he said.

The final document called for “phase down” use of coal rather than “phasing out” which climate activists had demanded, and for phasing down “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies.

Turning to young people who demonstrated to demand concrete climate action, indigenous and women leaders and others who attended the summit, Guterres said, “I know you are disappointed. But the path of progress is not always a straight line. Sometimes there are detours. Sometimes there are ditches. But I know we can get there. We are in the fight of our lives, and this fight must be won. Never give up. Never retreat. Keep pushing forward”.

The adopted document, after several revised versions, was hammered out following hours of negotiations that skipped deadline in Glasgow.  It expressed “alarm and utmost concern that human activities have caused around 1.1 °C of warming to date, that impacts are already being felt in every region, and that carbon budgets consistent with achieving the Paris Agreement temperature goal are now small and being rapidly depleted”

The document reaffirmed the 2015 Paris Agreement temperature goal of “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels,” and it

recognized that “the impacts of climate change will be much lower at the temperature increase of 1.5 °C compared with 2 °C and resolves to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C.”

It recognized that limiting global warming to 1.5 °C requires “rapid, deep and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions, including reducing global carbon dioxide emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 relative to the 2010 level and to net zero around mid-century, as well as deep reductions in other greenhouse gases.”

It called on the 197 countries that signed the UN convention on climate change to make stronger pledges to cut global-warming emissions in this decade at the 27th COP to be held Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. It asked countries that failed to implement emission cutting programs to renew efforts and called on wealthy nations to “at least double” by 2025 the climate-related funds. Developed countries had promised to donate $100 billion a year by 2020 to help poor and vulnerable countries cope with climate change impacts but that promise was not fulfilled under the pandemic.

The Glasgow summit was the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCC. The next COP in 2022 will be held in the Red Sea resort Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, and the 2023 COP will be hosted by the United Arab Emirates.

The final document did not fulfil all expectations but the summit produced some positive decisions. The United States and China, the world’s biggest emitters, made a surprise announcement that they will jointly work to cut more carbon emissions this decade while China said it will develop a first-time plan to reduce methane. More than 100 countries have agreed to cut methane emissions by 30 percent by the end of this decade, which is mainly a major program pushed forward by the Biden administration.

More than 100 countries, including the US, Brazil, China and Russia, pledged to end deforestation by 2030.

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UN urges real progress at Glasgow summit; US and China to cooperate on climate action

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Glasgow/New York, November 11 – The United Nations said some “progress” has been made at the Glasgow Climate Change Conference as countries and more than 1,000 cities around the world have committed to reach net zero emissions by 2050 while the global coal pipeline has decreased by 76 per cent since 2015. But the progress is “far from enough,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres one day before the conference is to adopt a final document before closing.

More than 100 countries have committed to halting and reversing forest loss and land degradation by 2030 and others have agreed to reducing methane emissions 30 per cent by 2030. The 197 countries attending the climate change conference have also formed a Net-Zero Asset Owners Alliance, which Guterres said is “the gold standard for credible commitments and transparent targets” and “is managing US $10 trillion in assets and catalyzing change across industries.”

“I encourage the much larger Glasgow Finance Alliance for Net Zero to follow the same path,” he said in an address to the high level of attendees to the conference. He also cited decisions by 28 new countries and members to join the Powering Past Coal Alliance, which raised the membership to 165 countries, cities, regions and businesses, and the 44 countries and 32 companies and regions that have committed to transition from coal to clean power.

“That’s why I have been calling for the formation of coalitions of countries, international financial institutions and private finance – as well as renewable energy companies – to support this momentous shift,” he said. “Some 30 member states and regional development banks have pledged immediate support for the clean energy transition in countries. I urge more financial institutions and investors to follow suit.”

“The announcements here in Glasgow are encouraging – but they are far from enough,” he said.

Guterres said he will establish a High-Level Expert Group to propose “clear standards to measure and analyze net zero commitments from non-state actors,” a decision he said is beyond the mechanisms already set out in the Paris Agreement. “This High-Level Expert group will build on existing work and submit a series of recommendations to me during the course of next year. They will work in a transparent and inclusive manner, and I invite you all to cooperate fully with them.”

US and China to cooperate on cutting emissions

The United States and China, the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, said in a surprise announcement at Glasgow on November 10 that they will take joint actions to fight climate change in the coming decade. The announcement stirred hope of climate action, but it failed to support a proposal by the United Kingdom to all countries to update their emissions-cutting plans by the end of 2021. Climate organizations said the UK proposal could help close the differences between how countries plan to cut emissions and what scientists believe what are needed to prevent climate disasters.

See joint statement at:

https://www.state.gov/u-s-china-joint-glasgow-declaration-on-enhancing-climate-action-in-the-2020s/

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Forty seven countries commit to develop climate-smart health care systems to counter climate change

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Glasgow/New York, November 9 – A group of 47 countries, a majority of them developing and climate-vulnerable countries, have committed to develop climate-resilient and low-carbon health systems as increasing evidence shows that climate change has impacted people’s health worldwide. The decision by these countries was announced by the World Health Organization at the 26th UN climate summit at the Scottish city attended by 197 member countries of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

WHO said most countries in the group have also committed to transform their health systems to be more sustainable and low-carbon while 12 countries have set a target date to reach net zero carbon emissions on or before 2050. The commitments were made as part of the COP26 Health Programme, which is a partnership between the UK government, WHO, the UNFCCC and health groups such as Health Care Without Harm.

“Commitments are anticipated to be implemented in the coming years and will allow countries to develop a roadmap for future investments in climate resilient and low carbon sustainable health systems and facilities,” the programme said.

WHO said countries that have committed to achieving low-carbon, sustainable health systems include Argentina, Fiji, Malawi, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and 36 others. Countries that have committed to enhance the climate resilience of their health systems include Bangladesh, Ethiopia, the Maldives, the Netherlands, and 42 others.

“The future of health must be built on health systems that are resilient to the impacts of epidemics, pandemics and other emergencies, but also to the impacts of climate change, including extreme weather events and the increasing burden of various diseases related to air pollution and our warming planet,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization.

“Health systems must also be part of the solution, by reducing carbon emissions. We applaud those countries that have committed to building climate-resilient and low-carbon health systems, and we hope to see many others following their lead in the near future.”

Countries that have joined the COP26 Health Programme are: Argentina, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize, Bhutan, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, Germany, Ghana, Ireland, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Lao PDR, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone ,Spain, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America and Yemen.

Island states are some of countries most vulnerable to climate change from the Caribbean to the South Pacific Ocean.  WHO pointed out Fiji where the government has built more climate-resilient health infrastructure, strengthened the health workforce and provided health care facilities with sustainable energy services to cope with cyclones, flash floods and rising sea levels.

Minister for Health and Medical Services Ifereimi Waqainabete of Fiji said, “In the midst of the pandemic, we had to recover from extreme weather events and manage the resulting health impacts. [It] has shown us that health systems and facilities are the main line of defense in protecting populations from emerging threats … and that now is the time to increase our commitment to a safer, and more sustainable and inclusive future for all.”

“The message from WHO and health professionals around the globe is clear: climate change is a huge health challenge and we need to act now. I’m really pleased to see so many countries prioritising this issue through the COP26 Health Programme and their level of ambition. Strong leadership from the health sector is vital to make sure we protect our populations from the impacts of climate change by enhancing the climate resilience of health systems, and by reducing emissions from the health sector,” said Wendy Morton, Minister for Europe and Americas, in the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

The COP26 Health Programme include:  Building climate resilient health systems; Developing low carbon sustainable health systems; Adaptation Research for Health; The inclusion of health priorities in Nationally Determined Contributions and Raising the voice of health professionals as advocates for stronger ambition on climate change.

Countries participating in the programme are committed to, first, conducting climate change and health vulnerability assessments, and to develop national adaptation plans for health, and second, high ambition-high emitter countries commit to setting a target date by which to achieve net zero emissions health systems and develop an action plan or roadmap to achieve sustainable, low carbon health systems.

The second commitment is significant to global mitigation efforts: the health sector accounts for 10 per cent of global GDP and is a substantial contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for around 4.6 per cent.

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Climate demonstrations go global, call for action and justice for all

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Glasgow/New York, November 5 – Thousands of young climate activists, so far the largest crowd of protesters in the Scottish city of Glasgow, took to the streets to demand actions against climate change. Headed by Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg, the young activists called the UN global climate summit “a failure” and brandished signs calling for an end of deforestation and for saving the planet from climate dangers.

But Glasgow is expecting a much larger protest Saturday November 6 as tens of thousands of climate activists are prepared to demonstrate as part of the “Global Day for Climate Justice” organized by Cop26 Coalition. The demonstrations demand that the 197 governments that are holding the 26th UN global climate summit work out effective and just measures against climate change.

More than 25,000 people have registered to attend the climate summit, which the UN considered its most important one as global warming is threatening the earth with more climate disasters such as flooding, severe draught and wildfires. The organizers said over 200 simultaneous events are set to take place around the world, with over 100 in the United Kingdom alone.

With such large crowds in Glasgow, COP26 Coalition has provided guidelines to all participants to take measures against Covid-19 including testing, wearing facial masks and social distancing.
“Public health and safety during the ongoing pandemic is our primary concern,” the guidelines said. “We have planned all activities over COP26 to minimise the risk of spreading Covid-19. We are fighting for climate justice at COP against the backdrop of global vaccine inequality and a need to keep everyone in our communities – both in Glasgow and abroad – safe.”

The Global Day for Climate Justice organization said in its website, which provided also details for the demonstrations, said:

“The Era of Injustice is Over: Our Time is Now”

“Justice won’t be handed to us by world leaders or delivered by corporations. So far, governments have done too little too late: colluding with corporations and hiding behind green washed ‘solutions’ that actually don’t exist yet, that don’t address the scale of the problem, and in many cases rely on more exploitation of people and the planet.

“The transformative solutions that we need to survive and build a more just and fair world can only be brought about through collective action, solidarity and coordination, from our local communities and international levels. We are bringing together movements from across the world to build power for system change – indigenous movements, frontline communities, trade unions, racial justice groups, youth strikers, land workers, peasants, NGOs, grassroots community campaigns, feminist movements, faith groups.”

“Wherever you are in the world, now is the time to join the fight for climate justice. We need all hands on deck: in workplaces, communities, schools, hospitals and across national borders.”

Asad Rehman, a spokesperson for the COP Coalition, told the 350.org, a climate organization present in Glasgow that civil society groups had little access to the climate summit.

“We are taking to the streets across the world this weekend to push governments from climate inaction to climate justice,” Rehman said.  “This has been the least accessible climate summit ever – with so many people sidelined at the talks or not able to make it in the first place. Today those people are having their voices heard.”

“The climate crisis has resulted from our broken, unequal societies and economies. We must transform our global economies into ones that protect both people and our planet instead of profit for a few.”

Brianna Fruean, a Samoan member of the Pacific Climate Warriors delegation and a speaker at the rally on Saturday, said:

“As someone from one of the regions most threatened by climate breakdown I know just how important this climate summit is, and how crucial it is that voices are heard on the streets as well as the corridors of power. For a decade now, the storms in the Pacific have been getting more violent, the droughts have been longer and the floods deeper. Fishers cannot feed their families. Family-owned shops that are flattened in a cyclone are rebuilt, only to be destroyed by rising water.”

“That’s why I’m marching today – with people right across the world – because it can’t go on like this. We refuse to be just victims to this crisis. We are not drowning, we are fighting and on Saturday the world will hear us.”

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UN issues new global roadmap to secure clean energy access for all by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050

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Following is a press release from the UN Department of Global Communications:

New York, November 3 – As pressure mounts for urgent climate action, UN Secretary-General António Guterres today issued a global roadmap to achieve a radical transformation of energy access and transition by 2030, while also contributing to net zero emissions by 2050. 

The roadmap sets an aggressive timeline to ensure that 500 million more people gain access to electricity in a mere four years’ time, by 2025, and 1 billion more people gain access to clean cooking solutions. This would require that annual investment in access to electricity and clean cooking increase to US$ 35 billion and US$ 25 billion, respectively. The required investment represents only a small fraction of the multi-trillion-dollar global energy investment needed overall, but would bring huge benefits to one-third of the world’s population.

“We face a moment of truth,” the Secretary-General said. “Close to 760 million people still lack access to electricity. Some 2.6 billion people lack access to clean cooking solutions. And how we produce and use energy is the main cause of the climate crisis. We must solve these challenges this decade. And we must start today. With the global roadmap at hand, we can together realize the potential of energy as a crucial enabler for the achievement of the SDGs and the objectives of the Paris Agreement, ensuring a more prosperous, equitable and sustainable future for people and the planet.”

The global roadmap is a major outcome of the UN High-level Dialogue on Energy held on 24 September, at which over 130 Heads of State and Government and global leaders from business and other sectors announced over $400 billion in new finance and investment for clean energy as part of voluntary commitments called Energy Compacts. These Compacts are examples of the concrete actions and partnerships required under the global roadmap, in order to achieve clean, affordable energy for all by 2030 – Sustainable Development Goal 7 – and net zero emissions by 2050, in support of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Targets and timelines for action

Also by 2025, the roadmap calls for: fossil fuel consumption subsidies to be re-directed towards renewable energy and energy efficiency; a 100% increase in modern renewables capacity globally; a doubling of annual investment in renewables and energy efficiency globally; and 30 million jobs to be created in renewable energy and energy efficiency. These will help ensure an inclusive, green recovery by investing in poverty reduction, health, education and social protection.

The most immediate target in the roadmap calls for no new coal power plans to be in the pipeline after 2021. This has been an area of mobilization in the lead-up to the energy summit, and a “No New Coal Power” Energy Compact was announced by the Powering Past Coal Alliance and UN-Energy with seven partner governments so far: Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Montenegro, Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom.

By 2030, the roadmap calls for tripling annual investment for renewable energy and energy efficiency globally as well as global renewable power capacity, and phasing out coal power plants altogether by 2030 for OECD countries and globally by 2040. At the same time, universal access to electricity and clean cooking solutions must be achieved, including electricity for all healthcare facilities and schools worldwide, and 60 million new jobs created in renewables and energy efficiency.

A just and inclusive energy transition

Acknowledging that no two national energy transition pathways will be identical, the roadmap urges that in achieving the milestones set out, the Sustainable Development Goals should be integrated as a guiding framework to ensure a just and inclusive energy transition where no one is left behind, especially vulnerable populations.

The Secretariat of the High-level Dialogue on Energy today also issued a report, which provides more details on the roadmap’s recommendations, as well as the statements and commitments made at the High-level Dialogue.

Spearheading partnerships

Looking ahead, the global roadmap urges governments, businesses and all stakeholders to step up and drive the global energy transition forward through transformational partnerships. Additional Energy Compacts should continue to be mobilized, including through a global energy compact action network, supported by UN-Energy, the coordinating body that brings together over 25 UN system and international organizations working on various aspects of sustainable energy.

The roadmap calls for the UN system to significantly scale up its efforts towards attaining SDG 7 and net zero emissions, and for strengthening UN-Energy, which will coordinate and monitor progress on the Energy Compacts and implementation of the roadmap through the 2030 target year.

Under the leadership of its Co-Chairs, Achim Steiner, Administrator of UNDP, and Damilola Ogunbiyi, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, who have also served as Co-Chairs of the High-level Dialogue, UN-Energy will continue to spearhead commitments and partnerships and sustain the momentum created by the Dialogue, including the Energy Compacts. Serving as the Secretariat for UN-Energy is UN DESA, under the leadership of Under-Secretary-General Liu Zhenmin, who also served as Dialogue Secretary-General.

Media Contacts

UN DGC: Dan Shepard, shepard@un.org; HLDE Secretariat, UN DESA: Pragati Pascale, pascale@un.org; Daniella Sussman, daniella.sussman@un.org. UNDP: Sarah Bel, sarah.bel@undp.org.  SEforAll: Divya Kottadiel, divya.kottidiel@seforall.org.

Read more news on Environment here

On the web: www.un.org/en/conferences/energy2021 | Twitter: @UN_Energy

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Climate magnifies hunger in Madagascar, forecasted poor rains bring dread and despair

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Following is a news release from the World Food Program:

Antananarivo, Madagascar, November 2 – As climate talks get underway in Glasgow, families in Southern Madagascar, where climate is driving famine-like conditions, brace themselves for yet another harsh year ahead as the ongoing drought shows no signs of abating, signaling deteriorating hunger.

Severe hunger has touched over 1.1 million people with 14,000 of them one step away from famine. The situation, already alarming, is set to worsen by the end of year with the number of people in famine-like conditions expected to double.

“The changing climate has meant that many families who were able to live off the land 15 years ago have now fallen into severe hunger. Families are scavenging for survival and many are living only on the food assistance they receive,” said Menghestab Haile, WFP Regional Director, Southern Africa.”I recently met a mother who told me that she had lost her 8-month-old to seeds from cactus fruit that had accumulated in his stomach. The face of hunger in Southern Madagascar is horrific.”

The drought has led to the complete disappearance of food sources leaving families visibly famished and resorting to survival measures such as eating locusts, wild leaves and cactus leaves which are usually fed to cattle. Vulnerable children are bearing the brunt of the crisis with malnutrition in under-fives expected to quadruple, crossing the half million mark by April 2022.

“The number of malnourished children coming to health centres in Southern Madagascar has doubled compared to this time last year. Many of them are too weak to laugh or cry, let alone play and learn,” said Anna Horner, WFP’s Chief of Nutrition Innovative Financing, who recently visited Southern Madagascar. “The physical and mental damage to children due to malnutrition can be irreversible. It is heart-wrenching to see so many young minds and bodies unnecessarily suffering from hunger and malnutrition.”

Amidst the hottest decade on record, Madagascar has suffered from exceptionally warm temperatures, deficits in rainfall and unexpected sandstorms that have covered fields, left crops wilted and harvests well below average.  By April 2021, 70 per cent of the Grand Sud was in drought with food production only a third of the last five-year average. The forecasted dry start to the upcoming planting season means families will not be able to sow their fields immediately and their access to food and an income hangs in the balance. Adding to an already dire situation, a recent upsurge of locusts is expected to affect an estimated 400,000 hectares of land.

WFP has been reaching around 700,000 people monthly with emergency life-saving food as well as supplementary nutrition products for pregnant and nursing women and children. Moving beyond emergency support, WFP together with the government, is implementing long-term resilience building activities that help communities adapt to the changing climate. These include access to water, reforestation, sand dune stabilization and economic support like access to microinsurance schemes in case of crop failure.

In September, 3,500 households received a payout of US$100 each to recover losses from the failed maize crop. The payout helped families sustain themselves despite a lost harvest.

WFP aims to scale up its response in Southern Madagascar and urgently needs US$69 million over the next six months to do so. WFP is increasingly concerned about the situation in Madagascar and has been ringing the alarm bells over the climate-induced hunger crisis, one of the potentially many in the world.

The United Nations World Food Program is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.  We are the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media @PamMadagascar

For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org)

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US and the European Union lead global pact at climate summit to cut methane emissions worldwide

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Glasgow/New York, November 2 – The United States and the European Union are calling for a global pact to cut methane emissions by 30 per cent and have received backing from dozens of governments, a move that would help the climate summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow to move forward as it badly needs a breakthrough in climate action to revert global warming.

Methane is one of greenhouse gases that cause global warming and its impact is over 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide (CO2) over a 20-year period. Scientists and environmentalists said cutting methane emissions could help the goal of slowing down global warming.

The US Environmental Protection Agency planned to issue strict rules limiting methane emissions from oil and natural gas production in the United States as part of President Joe Biden’s climate initiatives, it was announced in Washington.

Governments attending the climate summit have begun signing the Global Methane Pledge, which aims at cutting methane emissions to keep global temperature within 1.5 degrees Celsius. The pledge says participating countries agree to take “voluntary actions to contribute to a collective effort to reduce global methane emissions at least 30 per cent from 2020 levels to 2030, which could eliminate over 0.2 degree C warming by 2050.”

See climate summit’s schedule of meetings: https://unfccc.int/conference/glasgow-climate-change-conference-october-november-2021

The UN Environment Program, with support from the European Union, launched on October 31 an International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) at the G20 summit in Rome for the purpose of driving action on reducing methane emissions. UNEP said methane emissions are responsible for at least a quarter of the current climate warming.

It said IMEO will “improve the reporting accuracy and public transparency of human-caused methane emissions. IMEO will initially focus on methane emissions from the fossil fuel sector, and then expand to other major emitting sectors like agriculture and waste.”

“As highlighted by IPCC, if the world is serious about avoiding the worst effects of climate change, we need to cut methane emissions from the fossil fuel industry. But this is not a get-out-of-jail free card: methane reductions must go hand in hand with actions to decarbonize the energy system to limit warming to 1.5°C, as called for in the Paris Agreement,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP.

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