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.
Carbis Bay, England/Geneva/New York, June 13 – The World Health Organization welcomed the commitment by leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies to donate 870 million vaccine doses to low and low-middle income countries over the next year as part of efforts to end the pandemic.
The G7 under the United Kingdom leadership ended its three-day summit with a statement with calls for more investment in all tools to end the pandemic. The G7 said most of the 870 million new vaccine doses will be delivered through the ACT Accelerator partnership, WHO’s vaccine provider, which said the total funding committed to it remains US$ 15.1 billion with a gap of over US$ 16 billion.
The G7 countries are the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. The European Union, Australia, India, South Africa and Republic of Korea were invited as guests.
A statement by WHO said the G7 leaders confirmed their support for “all pillars of the ACT-Accelerator across treatments, tests and strengthening public health systems as well as vaccines.”
“Additionally, they indicated their intention to work together with the private sector, the G20 and other countries to increase their vaccine contribution over the months to come. Since their G7 Early Leaders’ Summit in February 2021, the G7 has committed one billion doses in total.”
The statement said WHO Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus addressed the G7 summit and urged “many other countries are now facing a surge in cases – and they are facing it without vaccines. We are in the race of our lives, but it’s not a fair race, and most countries have barely left the starting line. We welcome the generous announcements about donations of vaccines and thank leaders. But we need more, and we need them faster.”
WHO said over US$ 16 billion are still needed in 2021 to fully fund the work of ACT-Accelerator In order to deliver products where they are most needed, help establish testing for 500 million people in low- and middle-income countries by mid-2021 and help secure the necessary supply of oxygen as well as distribute 165 million doses of treatments including dexamethasone which can save lives of people critically ill with COVID.
Carl Bildt, WHO Special Envoy for the ACT Accelerator, said: “We welcome these commitments but there is still a significant funding gap that must be closed if we are to get the urgently needed treatments, including oxygen, and tests, to low and lower-middle income countries so we aren’t flying blind to where the virus is and how it’s changing. The time to act is now. We look to the G7 and G20 to fund the work of the ACT Accelerator, the global multilateral solution that can speed up an end to the pandemic. The world needs their political leadership because left to rage anywhere, the virus will remain a threat everywhere.”
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The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) launched on June 10, 2021, a peer-reviewed report based on a 4-day virtual workshop on addressing the biodiversity and climate crises together involving 50 jointly selected international experts.
IPBES/IPCC Workshop Report:
Tackling the Biodiversity and Climate Crises Together, and Their Combined Social Impacts
Global experts identify key options for solutions; First-ever collaboration between IPBES- and IPCC-selected scientists.
(Editor’s note: The media release from IPBES is published as is on this website to respect its integrity)
BONN, 10 June – Unprecedented changes in climate and biodiversity, driven by human activities, have combined and increasingly threaten nature, human lives, livelihoods and well-being around the world. Biodiversity loss and climate change are both driven by human economic activities and mutually reinforce each other. Neither will be successfully resolved unless both are tackled together.
This is the message of a workshop report, published today by 50 of the world’s leading biodiversity and climate experts
The peer-reviewed workshop report (available for media preview here) is the product of a four-day virtual workshop between experts selected by a 12-person Scientific Steering Committee assembled by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – the first-ever collaboration between these two intergovernmental bodies.
The report finds that previous policies have largely tackled biodiversity loss and climate change independently of each other, and that addressing the synergies between mitigating biodiversity loss and climate change, while considering their social impacts, offers the opportunity to maximize benefits and meet global development goals.
“Human-caused climate change is increasingly threatening nature and its contributions to people, including its ability to help mitigate climate change. The warmer the world gets, the less food, drinking water and other key contributions nature can make to our lives, in many regions” said Prof. Hans-Otto Pörtner, co-chair of the Scientific Steering Committee
“Changes in biodiversity, in turn, affect climate, especially through impacts on nitrogen, carbon and water cycles,” he said. “The evidence is clear: a sustainable global future for people and nature is still achievable, but it requires transformative change with rapid and far-reaching actions of a type never before attempted, building on ambitious emissions reductions. Solving some of the strong and apparently unavoidable trade-offs between climate and biodiversity will entail a profound collective shift of individual and shared values concerning nature – such as moving away from the conception of economic progress based solely on GDP growth, to one that balances human development with multiple values of nature for a good quality of life, while not overshooting biophysical and social limits.”
The authors also warn that narrowly focused actions to combat climate change can directly and indirectly harm nature and vice-versa, but many measures exist that can make significant positive contributions in both areas.
Among the most important available actions identified in the report are:
* Stopping the loss and degradation of carbon- and species-rich ecosystems on land and in the ocean, especially forests, wetlands, peatlands, grasslands and savannahs; coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, salt marshes, kelp forests and seagrass meadows; as well as deep water and polar blue carbon habitats. The report highlights that reducing deforestation and forest degradation can contribute to lowering human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, by a wide range from 0.4-5.8 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent every year.
* Restoring carbon- and species-rich ecosystems. The authors point to evidence that restoration is among the cheapest and quickest nature-based climate mitigation measures to implement – offering much-needed habitat for plants and animals, thus enhancing resilience of biodiversity in the face of climate change, with many other benefits such as flood regulation, coastal protection, enhanced water quality, reduced soil erosion and ensuring pollination. Ecosystem restoration can also create jobs and income, especially when taking into consideration the needs and access rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.
* Increasing sustainable agricultural and forestry practices to improve the capacity to adapt to climate change, enhance biodiversity, increase carbon storage and reduce emissions. These include measures such as diversification of planted crop and forest species, agroforestry and agroecology. Improved management of cropland and grazing systems, such as soil conservation and the reduction of fertilizer use, is jointly estimated by the report to offer annual climate change mitigation potential of 3-6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
* Enhancing and better-targeting conservation actions, coordinated with and supported by strong climate adaptation and innovation. Protected areas currently represent about 15% of land and 7.5% of the ocean. Positive outcomes are expected from substantially increasing intact and effectively protected areas. Global estimates of exact requirements for effectively protected and conserved areas to ensure a habitable climate, self-sustaining biodiversity and a good quality of life are not yet well established but range from 30 to 50 percent of all ocean and land surface areas. Options to improve the positive impacts of protected areas include greater resourcing, better management and enforcement, and improved distribution with increased inter-connectivity between these areas. Conservation measures beyond protected areas are also spotlighted – including migration corridors and planning for shifting climates, as well as better integration of people with nature to assure equity of access and use of nature’s contributions to people.
* Eliminating subsidies that support local and national activities harmful to biodiversity – such as deforestation, over-fertilization and over-fishing, can also support climate change mitigation and adaptation, together with changing individual consumption patterns, reducing loss and waste, and shifting diets, especially in rich countries, toward more plant-based options.
Some focused climate mitigation and adaptation measures identified by the report as harmful to biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people include:
* Planting bioenergy crops in monocultures over a very large share of land areas. Such crops are detrimental to ecosystems when deployed at very large scales, reducing nature’s contributions to people and impeding achievement of many of the Sustainable Development Goals. At small scales, alongside pronounced and rapid reductions in fossil-fuel emissions, dedicated bioenergy crops for electricity production or fuels may provide co-benefits for climate adaptation and biodiversity.
* Planting trees in ecosystems that have not historically been forests and reforestation with monocultures – especially with exotic tree species. This can contribute to climate change mitigation but is often damaging to biodiversity, food production and other nature’s contributions to people, has no clear benefits for climate adaptation, and may displace local people through competition for land.
* Increasing irrigation capacity. A common response to adapt agricultural systems to drought that often leads to water conflicts, dam building and long- term soil degradation from salinization.
* Any measures that focus too narrowly on climate change mitigation should be evaluated in terms of their overall benefits and risks, such as some renewable energies generating surges of mining activity or consuming large amounts of land. The same applies to some technical measures too narrowly focused on adaptation, such as building dams and sea walls. Although important options for mitigating and adapting to climate change exist, these can have large negative environmental and social impacts – such as interference with migratory species and habitat fragmentation. Such impacts can be minimized, for instance, by developing alternative batteries and long-lived products, efficient recycling systems for mineral resources, and approaches to mining that include strong considerations for environmental and social sustainability.
The report authors stress that while nature offers effective ways to help mitigate climate change, these solutions can only be effective if building on ambitious reductions in all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. “Land and ocean are already doing a lot – absorbing almost 50% of CO2 from human emissions – but nature cannot do everything,” said Ana María Hernández Salgar, Chair of IPBES. “Transformative change in all parts of society and our economy is needed to stabilize our climate, stop biodiversity loss and chart a path to the sustainable future we want. This will also require us to address both crises together, in complementary ways.”
Highlighting the significance of the co-sponsored workshop, Dr. Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC, said: “Climate change and biodiversity loss combine to threaten society – often magnifying and accelerating each other. By focusing on synergies and trade-offs between biodiversity protection and climate change mitigation and adaptation, this workshop advanced the debate on how to maximize benefits to people and the planet. It also represented an important step in collaboration between our two communities.”
“It may be impossible to achieve win-win synergies, or even manage the tradeoffs between climate and biodiversity actions in every single patch of a landscape or seascape,” said Prof. Pörtner, “But achieving sustainable outcomes becomes progressively easier when integrating a mix of actions at larger spatial scales, through cross-border collaboration and joint consultative spatial planning, which is why it is important to also address the lack of effective governance systems and mechanisms to improve integration between solutions for climate change and biodiversity.”
The Governments of the United Kingdom and of Norway co-hosted the virtual workshop. “This is an absolutely critical year for nature and climate,” said Lord Zac Goldsmith, UK Minister of State for Pacific and the Environment. “With the UN Biodiversity Conference in Kunming, and the Glasgow Climate Change Conference in the UK, we have an opportunity and responsibility to put the world on a path to recovery. This hugely valuable report by the experts of IPBES and IPCC makes it clear that addressing biodiversity loss and climate change together offers our best chance of doing so.”
Sveinung Rotevatn, Norwegian Minister for Climate and Environment added: “Policies, efforts and actions to solve the global biodiversity and climate crises will only succeed if they are based on the best knowledge and evidence, which is why Norway welcomes this expert workshop report. It is clear that we cannot solve these threats in isolation – we either solve both or we solve neither.”
Paying tribute to the work of all the authors and expert reviewers, the Executive Secretary of IPBES, Dr. Anne Larigauderie, also recalled the recent and tragic passing of Prof. Robert Scholes, the other Co-Chair of the workshop’s Scientific Steering Committee, and his many contributions to both the IPCC and IPBES.
It is important to note that the workshop report has not been subjected to IPBES or IPCC review, and that IPBES and IPCC co-sponsorship of the workshop does not imply IPBES or IPCC endorsement or approval of the workshop or its conclusions.
New York, June 8 – The United Nations Security Council formally nominated Antonio Guterres, the current UN chief, to serve another five-year term beginning in January 2022.
The 15-nation council, the highest political body in the UN system, took the decision in a closed-door session by adopting a resolution to nominate Guterres, a politician and former prime minister of Portugal. It plans to recommend that the 193-nation UN General Assembly formally approve the decision.
Under the UN process of electing its top leader, the council has the privilege to select a candidate and then recommend him/her to the assembly for a final approval.
The UN News reported that Guterres expressed in a statement his “great honor” to be selected, and thanked council members for placing their trust in him.
“My gratitude also extends to Portugal, for having nominated me again”, he added.
“It has been an immense privilege to be at the service of ‘we, the peoples’ and at the helm of the amazing women and men of this Organization for the past four and a half years, when we have been facing so many complex challenges.” said the UN chief.
“I would be deeply humbled if the General Assembly were to entrust me with the responsibilities of a second mandate.”
Before his nomination by the council, Guterres took part in an informal conversation with countries that members of the assembly in May as part of the selection process in the UN. He also made public his vision statement for a second five-year term in March, UN News said.
London/New York, June 8 – The United Nations is calling on the global insurance industry, which controls over US$ 35 trillion in assets under management, to align its investments and porfolios with programs aimed at achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The call by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was delivered to the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) as it closed its June 7-8 meeting in London. IDF is a public-private partnership led by the insurance industry and supported by international organizations.
The finance ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, the world’s seven most advanced countries known as G7 were also meeting in London. A summit of G7 leaders is to take place in London June 11.
“I am pleased to close this year’s Insurance Development Forum, which provides industry and development actors a platform to promote the transformation we need for a sustainable future for all on a healthy planet,” Guterres said in remarks to the concluding forum. “We are in a race against time to adapt to a rapidly changing climate.”
“Your investments should not be contributing to climate pollution but should be directed towards climate solutions,” he said. “Invest in renewables, low- and zero-carbon transport and climate resilient infrastructure.”
He said some 20 insurance companies that are asset owners have joined the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance in 2019. He said the Alliance is a gold standard setting credible and transparent targets and timelines to back the net zero pledges made by its members.
Guterres said the world is facing three imperatives to address the climate crisis: achieve global carbon neutrality by 2050, align global finance behind the Paris Agreement and deliver a breakthrough on adaptation to protect the world from climate impacts.
“We need net zero commitments to cover your underwriting portfolios, and this should include the underwriting of coal — and all fossil fuels,” Guterres said, adding that the upcoming international conference on climate change known as COP 26 in Glasgow in November “must signal the end of coal.”
“I support the G7 commitment to end all public international support for coal by the end of this year,” he said.
(Explanations provided by Wikipedia): Carbon neutrality refers to achieving net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be done by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the “post-carbon economy”). It is used in the context of carbon dioxide-releasing processes associated with transportation, energy production, agriculture, and industry.
Although the term “carbon neutral” is used, a carbon footprint also includes other greenhouse gases, usually carbon-based, measured in terms of their carbon dioxide equivalence. The term climate-neutral reflects the broader inclusiveness of other greenhouse gases in climate change, even if CO2 is the most abundant. The term “net zero” is increasingly used to describe a broader and more comprehensive commitment to decarbonization and climate action, moving beyond carbon neutrality by including more activities under the scope of indirect emissions, and often including a science-based target on emissions reduction, as opposed to relying solely on offsetting.
June 3 – Launching the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, UNEP and the FAO call on nations to meet by 2030 their collective commitments under multilateral environment agreements to restore at least 1 billion degraded hectares of land – an area roughly the size of China – and to add similar commitments for oceans.
A new joint report documents the urgent need for restoration, the financial investments required and their potential returns, and says conservation and protection are not enough to address the triple crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution: The world needs more nature.
Facing the triple threat of climate change, loss of nature and pollution, the world must deliver on its commitment to restore at least one billion degraded hectares of land in the next decade – an area about the size of China. Countries also need to add similar commitments for oceans, according to a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), launched as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 gets underway.
The report, #GenerationRestoration: Ecosystem restoration for People, Nature and Climate, highlights that humanity is using about 1.6 times the amount of services that nature can provide sustainably.
That means conservation efforts alone are insufficient to prevent large-scale ecosystem collapse and biodiversity loss. Global terrestrial restoration costs – not including costs of restoring marine ecosystems – are estimated to be at least US$200 billion per year by 2030. The report outlines that every US$ 1 invested in restoration creates up to US$30 in economic benefits.
Ecosystems requiring urgent restoration include farmlands, forests, grasslands and savannahs, mountains, peatlands, urban areas, freshwaters, and oceans.
Communities living across almost two billion of degraded hectares of land include some of the world’s poorest and marginalized.
“This report presents the case for why we must all throw our weight behind a global restoration effort. Drawing on the latest scientific evidence, it sets out the crucial role played by ecosystems, from forests and farmland to rivers and oceans, and it charts the losses that result from a poor stewardship of the planet,” UNEP Executive Director, Inger Andersen, and FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, wrote in the report’s foreword.
“Degradation is already affecting the well-being of an estimated 3.2 billion people – that is 40 percent of the world’s population. Every single year we lose ecosystem services worth more than 10 percent of our global economic output,” they added, stressing that “massive gains await us” by reversing these trends.
Ecosystem restoration is the process of halting and overturning degradation, resulting in cleaner air and water, extreme weather mitigation, better human health, and recovered biodiversity, including improved pollination of plants. Restoration encompasses a wide continuum of practices, from reforestation to re-wetting peatlands and coral rehabilitation.
It contributes to the realization of multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including health, clean water, and peace and security, and to the objectives of the three ‘Rio Conventions’ on Climate, Biodiversity, and Desertification.
Actions that prevent, halt and reverse degradation are necessary to meet the Paris Agreement target of keeping global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius.
Restoration, if combined with stopping further conversion of natural ecosystems, may help avoid 60 percent of expected biodiversity extinctions.
It can be highly efficient in producing multiple economic, social and ecological benefits concurrently – for example, agroforestry alone has the potential to increase food security for 1.3 billion people, while investments in agriculture, mangrove protection and water management will help adapt to climate change, with benefits around four times the original investment.
Reliable monitoring of restoration efforts is essential, both to track progress and to attract private and public investments. In support of this effort, FAO and UNEP also launch today the Digital Hub for the UN Decade, which includes the Framework for Ecosystem Restoration Monitoring.
The Framework enables countries and communities to measure the progress of restoration projects across key ecosystems, helping to build ownership and trust in restoration efforts. It also incorporates the Drylands Restoration Initiatives Platform, which collects and analyses data, shares lessons and assists in the design of drylands restoration projects, and an interactive geospatial mapping tool to assess the best locations for forest restoration.
Restoration must involve all stakeholders including individuals, businesses, associations, and governments. Crucially, it must respect the needs and rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and incorporate their knowledge, experience and capacities to ensure restoration plans are implemented and sustained.
* * * * *
The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 is a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, for the benefit of people and nature. It aims to halt the degradation of ecosystems and restore them to achieve global goals. The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed the UN Decade and it is led by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The UN Decade is building a strong, broad-based global movement to ramp up restoration and put the world on track for a sustainable future. That will include building political momentum for restoration as well as thousands of initiatives on the ground.
About the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
UNEP is the leading global voice on the environment. It provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
About the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO)
The FAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and transform agri-food systems, making them more resilient, sustainable and inclusive. Our goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. With over 194 Members, FAO works in over 130 countries worldwide.
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Geneva/Washington/New York, June 1 – Leaders of the world’s four largest health, finance and trade organizations are jointly urging governments to invest US$ 50 billion in order to generate US$ 9 trillion in global economic returns by 2025. They said such an investment would lead to an accelerated end of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the World Health Organization (WHO), Kristalina Georgieva of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), David Malpass of the World Bank Group and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of World Trade Organization (WTO) said In a statement published by newspapers around the world that the US $50 billion in new investment is needed to increase manufacturing capacity, supply, trade flows, and delivery, which would accelerate the equitable distribution of diagnostics, oxygen, treatments, medical supplies and vaccines. This injection would also give a major boost to economic growth around the world.
“By now it has become abundantly clear there will be no broad-based recovery without an end to the health crisis. Access to vaccination is key to both,” the leaders said.
“There has been impressive progress on the vaccination front. Scientists have come up with multiple vaccines in record time. Unprecedented public and private financing has supported vaccine research, development and manufacturing scale-up. But a dangerous gap between richer and poorer nations persists.”
“At an estimated $50 billion, it will bring the pandemic to an end faster in the developing world, reduce infections and loss of lives, accelerate the economic recovery, and generate some $9 trillion in additional global output by 2025. “
“Increasing our ambition and vaccinating more people faster: WHO and its COVAX partners have set a goal of vaccinating approximately 30 per cent of the population in all countries by the end of 2021,” said the four leaders. “But this can reach even 40 per cent through other agreements and surge investment, and at least 60 percent by the first half of 2022.”
The statement said US$ 35 billion of the US$ 50 billion could be in the form of grants as the G20 governments have shown willingness to provide about US$ 22 billion in additional funding for 2021 to the ACT-Accelerator, the WHO’s main program for vaccines.
The statement said an additional US$ 13 billion are needed to boost vaccine supply in 2022 and further scale up testing, therapeutics and surveillance. The remainder of the overall financing plan—around US$15 billion—could come from national governments supported by multilateral development banks, including the World Bank’s US$12 billion financial facility for vaccination.
“Investing US$ 50 billion to end the pandemic is potentially the best use of public money we will see in our lifetimes,” the statement said. “It will pay a huge development dividend and boost growth and well-being globally. But the window of opportunity is closing fast — the longer we wait, the costlier it becomes, in human suffering and in economic losses.”
“On behalf of our four organizations, today we announce a new commitment to work togetherto scale up needed financing, boost manufacturing and ensure the smooth flow of vaccines and raw materials across borders to dramatically increase vaccine access to support the health response and economic recovery, and to bring needed hope”.
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Geneva/New York, May 31 – The World Health Assembly decided to meet in November to work out an international treaty that would provide the organization all means necessary to confront future global health crises. The assembly, which is the decision-making body of the World Health Organization, scheduled the fall meeting and adopted scores of resolutions before closing its week-long annual session in Geneva.
“We need a generational commitment that outlives budgetary cycles, election cycles and media cycles, that creates an overarching framework for connecting the political, financial and technical mechanisms needed for strengthening global health security,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Such a treaty would “foster improved sharing, trust and accountability, and provide the solid foundation on which to build other mechanisms for global health security,” Dr Tedros said.
The WHA adopted more than 30 resolutions and decisions on various health issues including diabetes, disabilities, ending violence against children, eye care, HIV, hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections, local production of medicines, malaria, neglected tropical diseases, noncommunicable diseases, nursing and midwifery, oral health, social determinants of health and strategic directions for the health and care workforce.
Dr Tedros reminded delegates in his closing address that the WHA session aimed at “Ending this pandemic, preventing the next: building together a healthier, safer and fairer world.”
“We’re very encouraged that cases and deaths are continuing to decline globally, but it would be a monumental error for any country to think the danger has passed,” Dr Tedros said. He urged governments to vaccinate at least 10 per cent of the population of all countries by the end of September, and at least 30 per cent by the end of 2021.
“One day – hopefully soon – the pandemic will be behind us but we will still face the same vulnerabilities that allowed a small outbreak to become a global pandemic,” he said.
“That’s why the one recommendation that I believe will do most to strengthen both WHO and global health security is the recommendation for a treaty on pandemic preparedness and response.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world must “respond resolutely and in solidarity” to stop the virus, bolster primary health systems and universal health coverage and prepare for the next global health emergency.
Guterres and WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus denounced the lopsided situation in which rich countries piled up vaccine supplies while poor countries cannot afford them. Both leaders paid tribute to the millions of frontline health workers with Guterres calling the “heroes of this pandemic.”
“Millions of healthcare professionals continue to put themselves in harm’s way every day. We owe them our deepest appreciation,” Guterres said.
“The ongoing vaccine crisis is a scandalous inequity that is perpetuating the pandemic,” Dr Tedros said in opening the WHA, which is WHO’s decision-making body. “More than 75 per cent of all vaccines have been administered in just 10 countries.”
“There is no diplomatic way to say it: a small group of countries that make and buy the majority of the world’s vaccines control the fate of the rest of the world.”
“The number of doses administered globally so far would have been enough to cover all health workers and older people, if they had been distributed equitably. We could have been in a much better situation.”
The WHA’s May 24-June 1 session was focusing on ending the pandemic that has killed over 3.6 million people and infected 167 million others globally in the past 18 months. The week-long virtual meeting will be attended by delegations from all member countries, observers and non-governmental organizations.
The WHA ‘s agenda included discussion of its 2022-2023 budget and a host of health issues from non-communicable diseases, health emergencies to malaria and poliomyelitis. But the focus will remain on the current global response to and on ending the Covid-19 pandemic and ways to prevent the next one.
A high-level meeting will take place on May 24 with the participation from heads of state and governments and special guests.
WHO said the global response is still at a crucial phase, marked by deep contrasts in recovery between rich and poor countries and vaccine inequality. WHO said over 75 per cent of all vaccine doses have been administered in only 10 countries while the lowest income countries have administered less than 0.5 per cent of global doses.
New international expert panel on the emergence and spread of zoonotic disease
WHO has announced that international organizations has agreed to form a new expert panel called One Health High-Level Expert Panel to “improve understanding of how diseases with the potential to trigger pandemics, emerge and spread.”
The expert panel will advise the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE); the UN Environment Program (UNEP) and the WHO “on the development of a long-term global plan of action to avert outbreaks of diseases like H5N1 avian influenza; MERS; Ebola; Zika, and, possibly, COVID-19. Three quarters of all emerging infectious diseases originate in animals.”
“Human health does not exist in a vacuum, and nor can our efforts to protect and promote it,” Dr Tedros said. “The close links between human, animal and environmental health demand close collaboration, communication and coordination between the relevant sectors. The High-Level Expert Panel is a much-needed initiative to transform One Health from a concept to concrete policies that safeguard the health of the world’s people.”
WHO said the expert panel will “operate under the One Health Approach, which recognizes the links between the health of people, animals, and the environment and highlights the need for specialists in multiple sectors to address any health threats and prevent disruption to agri-food systems.”
“Key first steps will include systematic analyses of scientific knowledge about the factors that lead to transmission of a disease from animal to human and vice versa; development of risk assessment and surveillance frameworks; identification of capacity gaps as well as agreement on good practices to prevent and prepare for zoonotic outbreaks.”
New York, May 23 – At the height of the coronavirus explosion in mid-2020, experts warned that nature harbored 540,000 to 850,000 unknown viruses that could lead to more pandemics, infect and kill more people.
By mid-2021, the World Health Organization said the Covid-19 virus has killed over 3.3 million people and infected 162 million people and it is still rampant.
The warning to leave nature alone resounded as the planet’s biodiversity remains at risk. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and officials leading specialized agencies have pointed out the decline in the earth’s ecosystems despite decades of action to address the problems.
“Let me frank,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on May 22, 2021, which the UN designated as international biodiversity day. “Humanity is waging a war on nature. And the pressures are intensifying. We have failed to meet any of our international agreed biodiversity targets.”
“We’ll all be losers if we don‘t achieve peace with the planet,” he said.
Organizations warned humans are responsible for harms inflicted on nature, including deforestation for economic gains, overfishing and dumping of plastic waste in oceans, pollution of air quality, land and water resources.
The 2021 themes for the UN biodiversity day were “We’re part of the solution”, “Our solutions are in nature.” The slogans served as a reminder that biodiversity remains the answer to several sustainable development challenges.
Mother She-Bear and cubs in the summer pine forest. Family of Brown Bear. Scientific name: Ursus arctos. Natural habitat.
Experts from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) had warned that COVID-19 could cost US$8-16 trillion by July 2020 and “future pandemics will emerge more often, spread more rapidly, do more damage to the world economy and kill more people than COVID-19 unless there is a transformative change in the global approach to dealing with infectious diseases.” The warning was issued last year in a major new report on biodiversity and pandemics by 22 leading experts from around the world.
IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body of over 130 member governments to advice policymakers on matters regarding the planet’s biodiversity, ecosystems and the contributions they make to people, as well as the tools and methods to protect and sustainably use these vital natural assets.
Researchers from IBPES and the WHO projected a rise in pandemics that are “driven mainly by deforestation and biodiversity loss, much of it due to commercial activities like cattle raising, mining and commercial plantations.”
They said these activities enable the spillover of pathogens into new human populations, “as increasingly intimate associations between humans and wildlife disease reservoirs accelerate the potential for viruses to spread globally.”
“There is no great mystery about the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic – or of any modern pandemic”, said Dr. Peter Daszak, President of EcoHealth Alliance and Chair of the IPBES workshop.
“The same human activities that drive climate change and biodiversity loss also drive pandemic risk through their impacts on our environment. Changes in the way we use land; the expansion and intensification of agriculture; and unsustainable trade, production and consumption disrupt nature and increase contact between wildlife, livestock, pathogens and people. This is the path to pandemics.”
Northern Tamandua – Tamandua mexicana species of anteater, tropical and subtropical forests from southern Mexico, Central America to the edge of the northern Andes
Kunming biodiversity conference in October 2021
The UN is preparing to hold the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to review any achievements and delivery of a strategy for biodiversity in the past 10 years. The conference will take place in Kunming, in Yunnan province, China, October 11-24.
The UN explained that biological diversity is understood as a wide variety of plants, animals and microorganisms, which also includes genetic differences within each species, like between varieties of crops and breeds of livestock, and the variety of ecosystems (lakes, forest, deserts, agricultural landscapes) that host multiple kind of interactions among their members (humans, plants, animals).
Yunnan, the host for the conference, is known for its vast fields of tea cultivation and biodiversity is a major topic in the region. China has a particular interest to ensure success of the biodiversity conference, not only because it is taking place on its territory but because of the link between biodiversity and human life. China’s tea culture dated back to 5,000 years ago and the country is considered the largest producer of tea mostly centered in Yunnan. Other major tea producers include India, Kenya, Turkey, Indonesia, Japan and Vietnam.
Failures to achieve goals set in the convention will undermine progress towards 80 per cent of the assessed targets for eight of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals to transform the world into a more habitable place, the UN said. It said three-quarters of the global land-based environment and about 66 per cent of the marine environment have been significantly altered by human actions. And one million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction.
The Kunming conference will review implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, which calls on member countries to take measures that include reviewing and updating national biodiversity strategies and action plans and developing national targets among various other steps. The strategic plan is known also as “Living in Harmony with Nature.”
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Rome/New York, May 20 – United Nations organizations marked the annual International Tea Day for the second year under the coronavirus pandemic.
There are meaningful reasons, however, to celebrate tea as it is the world’s oldest beverage and most consumed drink, after water. Tea is proven for its health benefits on humans, from anti-inflammatory to antioxidant and weight loss effects.
The first International Tea Day happened on May 21, 2020, when the pandemic triggered deep fear and lockdown and the event was held in virtual conditions. The severe health crisis has somehow abated in 2021 in some countries but the overall situation has not changed much and any large gatherings to mark the day have been mostly curtailed.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which is tasked each year to celebrate the occasion, says the International Tea Day is an opportunity to celebrate tea’s cultural heritage. It says tea also bestows economic income and tea growers have continued to make tea production sustainable “from field to cup.”
The origins of tea drinking is said to have started some 5,000 years ago and the drink has solidly implanted itself in many cultures worldwide.
Tea cultivation and processing are a main source of livelihoods for millions of people and their families from small farms to large producers and stores. Tea is now grown in more than 35 countries. Those countries included China, India, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Kenya, Turkey and Vietnam.
Close-up of a traditional ceramic teapot with hot aromatic tea filling cups on a wooden tray. Blurry background
The FAO cites important facts about tea. It says tea cultivation demands specific agro-ecological conditions but unfortunately it exists in areas that are highly vulnerable to climate change. The FAO says the tea value chain must be sustainable at all stages of production and processing in order to ensure benefits for both people and the environment.
The FAO said small tea farms are responsible for 60 per cent of the world’s annual tea production worth over US$16 billion.
The FAO has most recently designated four tea cultivation sites as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems. Those sites represent “evolving systems of human communities in an intricate relationship with their territory, cultural and agricultural landscape.”
The four sites are situated in Yunnan and Fujian provinces in China, in Hadong region in South Korea and in Shizuoka prefecture in Japan.
Luo Daoyu, dean of China Tea Culture Study Institute, said China’s tea culture originated in the Yunnan and Sichuan provinces more than 5,000 years ago and bloomed during the Tang and Song dynasties.
The International Tea Day is a “beneficial resolution for the welfare of all mankind. We look forward to see the improvement of global health by improving the awareness of drinking tea appropriately through the international commemoration,” he said.
“Our world today is facing rising pollution of air quality, food and the environment,” he said. “Drinking tea correctly improves people’s health. There is a Chinese saying that ‘tea cures all toxins.’ We are profoundly glad that the tea culture can be spread and promoted in a largescale worldwide
Vview of two women in traditional kimono, kneeling on tatami having cup of tea which is in front of them on tatami. They are in traditional Japanese old house. This is in Toei studios in Kyoto with old buildings from Samurai times.
In Japan, the habit of tea drinking originated from China and has developed into a culture called Sado, also known as the Japanese tea ceremony. Sado emphasizes not only brewing a delicious cup of tea, but the spiritual exchange between the host and the guests.
The host of the tea ceremony begins by setting up the garden, hanging art scrolls, preparing mizusashi, or water jar and tea bowls, in preparation for hospitality. Then, in the small minimalist aesthetic tea room, the host and guests can create bonds with each other with respect, regardless of their social status or title.
The tea ceremony was developed during the Warring States Period more than 400 years ago when many samurais fought against each other in Japan. In contrast to the times of conflict, the tea ceremony, which respects peaceful communication of the hearts, became popular.
Projected growth of tea production, exports by 2027
The FAO’s International Group on Tea, composed of 19 countries, projected a significant increase in production of world black tea such as pu’er by an annual growth rate of 2.2 per cent to reach 4.42 million tons by 2027. China, Kenya and Sri Lanka are major black tea producers.
Major black tea exporting countries are expected to remain the same, with Kenya being the largest exporter followed by India, Sri Lanka, Argentina, Vietnam, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi, and China.
For green tea, the group projected production output at an even faster rate of 7.5 per cent annually to reach 3.65 million tons. World green tea exports are projected to grow by 5.0 per cent annually to reach 605 455 tons by 2027. China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Japan are leading green tea exporters.
“The expansion is expected to result from increased productivity rather than an expansion in area, through replanting of higher yielding varieties and better agricultural practices,” the group said in a report following its meeting in Hangzhou, China in 2018. “Vietnam is also expected to substantially increase its production of green tea with an average annual growth rate of 6.8 percent despite ongoing quality issues which affect the price and exports earning of the country.”
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New York, May 17 – While the world is still struggling to end the pandemic with massive vaccination campaigns, the United Nations called for advanced application of science, technology and innovation programs to boost post-Covid-19 pandemic recovery and close gaps in gender inequality and vaccine distribution.
The UN Conference on Trade and Technology (UNCTAD) provides the lead concept in the debate taking place at a the 24th conference of the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) from 17 to 21 May. The meeting is bringing together UN officials and experts under the leadership of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed to examine how new technologies can improve people’s lives while countries around the world are trying to recover from the pandemic.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the pressing need to prioritize science, technologies and innovation (STI) in terms of policymaking, resource allocation and international cooperation,” said Shamika N. Sirimanne, UNCTAD’s director of technology and logistics, who also heads the CSTD secretariat.
“But governments also need to make sure that the development benefits of STI translate directly into the daily lives of people all over the world,” Sirimanne said.
Moreover, Ms. Sirimanne added, it’s vital for all countries to have equal access to the benefits of life-saving treatments, not only for the pandemic but also for poverty-related diseases, future health emergencies and infectious disease outbreaks.
The UN conference will examine opportunities offered by frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and robotics, some of which have been used in fighting the pandemic. Developing countries can benefit from those technologies and transform their economies and societies, UNCTAD said
The report examines how frontier technologies may lead to the unwanted situation of widening existing inequalities and creating new ones. It also calls for strengthening government and international policies to create a more equal world of opportunity for all. The report says frontier technologies already represent a US$350 billion market which could grow to US$3.2 trillion by 2025.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has already highlighted many manifestations of profound digital inequalities within and among countries,” Sirimanne said.
She said proactive policy interventions, the mobilization of all stakeholders and international cooperation are needed to set the direction of STI advances towards a sustainable and resilient recovery from the pandemic.
Speakers at the 24th session of the CSTD will include the president of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Munir Akram; the president of the 75th UN General Assembly, Volkan Bozkır; the secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union, Houlin Zhao; a Nobel laureate in chemistry, Jennifer Doudna; and a senior vice president of BioNTech RNA Pharmaceuticals, Katalin Karikó.
