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Invisible e-waste is the focus of the 6th annual International E-Waste Day on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023 (weee-forum.org/iewd-about). 7.3 billion e-toys – car racing sets, electric trains, music toys, talking dolls, drones, etc. – now discarded annually, an average of ~1 per person on Earth. Almost 1/6th of all electronic waste by mass – 9 billion kg per year – goes largely unrecognized by consumers as e-waste: cables, e-toys, e-cigarettes, e-bikes, power tools, smoke detectors, USB sticks, wearable health devices, smart home gadgets, etc. Discarded vapes alone annually equal 3 Brooklyn Bridges in weight.

Images:www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/y2u5ea3544tv4d054wvrm/h?rlkey=4lz1b4p0avn4wlvnl09gpogyx&dl=0

Can you identify e-waste? Vox pop videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GyDVIEFuFY

Invisible e-waste animation: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pzAPi_gSkc

Industry voice on invisible e-waste: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU2L8aZwKdE&list=PL1HDAKbmZD5IIT4sSLiuax7ZB-U1o5avD&index=4

UNITAR datasets re. invisible e-waste: https://bit.ly/3PVFLnh

Every year, unused cables, electronic toys, LED-decorated novelty clothes, power tools, vaping devices, and countless other small consumer items often not recognized by consumers as e-waste amount to 9 billion kilograms of e-waste, one-sixth of all e-waste worldwide. 

This “invisible” category of e-waste in one place would equal the weight of almost half a million 40-tonne trucks, enough to form a 5,640 km bumper-to-bumper line of trucks from Rome to Nairobi.

Many of these devices, such as vapes, gaining in popularity in some societies, contain lithium, which makes their battery rechargeable but also causes serious fire risks when the device is discarded.

Moreover, the European Commission considers lithium a ‘strategic raw material’ crucial to Europe’s economy and green energy transition, but supplies are at risk. Most of these materials are thrown away in household bins and elsewhere.

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum, which organises International E-Waste Day, commissioned the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) to calculate the annual quantities of “invisible” e-waste items in millions of kilograms, in millions of pieces, and in kg and pieces per capita. 

Some 3.2 billion kg, 35%, of the roughly 9 billion kg of invisible e-waste are in the e-toy category: race car sets, electric trains, music toys, talking dolls and other robotic figures, biking computers, drones, etc. – in all, some 7.3 billion individual items discarded annually, an average of about 1 e-toy for every man, woman and child on Earth.

Meanwhile, the estimated 844 million vaping devices each year amount to a mountain of e-waste equal to three times the weight of New York’s Brooklyn Bridge or six Eiffel Towers.

The study also found that 950 million kg of cables containing precious, easily recyclable copper were discarded last year – enough cable to circle the Earth 107 times.

Many are stored in homes, perhaps put aside for potential future use.  And many people don’t realise they could be recycled – a huge sleeping resource at a time when demand for copper is forecast to rise 6 fold by 2030  in Europe alone to meet the needs of strategic sectors such as renewable energy, electric mobility, industry, communications, aerospace and defense.

The value of raw materials in the global e-waste generated in 2019 was estimated at US $57 billion, most of that attributed to iron, copper and gold components.  Of the overall total, 1/6th or $9.5 billion in material value each year, is in the invisible e-waste category.

Other examples of common, invisible e-waste items in households include toothbrushes, shavers, external drives and accessories, headphones and earbuds, remote controls, speakers, LED lights, power tools, household medical equipment, heat and smoke detectors and many others.

Says Pascal Leroy, Director-General of the WEEE Forum: “Invisible e-waste goes unnoticed due to its nature or appearance, leading consumers to overlook its recyclable potential.”

“People tend to recognise household electrical products as those they plug in and use regularly. But many people are confused about the waste category into which ancillary, peripheral, specialist, hobby, and leisure products fit and how to have them recycled.” (related videos:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-Qevtw0F5EPln2bPNiOhlPCNy6fEr28Z/view)

Adds Mr. Leroy: “Many people don’t recognize some battery-powered or wired-in products like a smoke detector or smart thermostat as an electrical product because they don’t have a plug. They are also unaware of the hazardous components e-waste contains. If not properly treated, substances like lead, mercury or cadmium can leach into and contaminate the soil and water.”

The WEEE Forum asks everybody to get their e-waste to the appropriate municipal collection facility.

“A significant amount of electronic waste is hidden in plain sight,” says Magdalena Charytanowicz of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum. “Sadly, invisible e-waste often falls under the recycling radar of those disposing of them because they are not seen as e-waste.  We need to change that and raising awareness is a large part of the answer. Much effort and progress was made around plastic pollution and people are now more conscious about it, especially with a UN treaty on plastics in the works by 2024. We hope the same will occur in the e-waste field.”

In Europe, thanks to 20 years of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation, 55% of e-waste generated is now officially collected and reported. Still, according to the United Nations global e-waste monitor,  other parts of the world show much slower growth rates in its collection, and globally, the reported average collection rate is just over 17%.

Says Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for the Environment: “This International E-Waste Day, the EU acknowledges the pressing e-waste challenge and is proactively setting a leadership example. The ongoing expansion in electronic device production and consumption has significant environmental and climate repercussions. Introducing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in e-waste legislation two decades

E-waste is the world’s fastest-growing waste stream.

Says Jan Vlak, the president of the WEEE Forum: “Not only producers but all relevant actors, including regulators, consumers, refurbishers, reuse outfits, scrap dealers, retailers and recyclers, must play a role in the EPR system to successfully increase the collection of e-waste. We need to update the EPR principle, make it congruent with circular economy principles and embed this new vision in EU legislation and in a global treaty to harmonise standards and define critical e-waste management obligations.

Background

According to the United Nations, 8 kg of e-waste per person will be produced worldwide in 2023. Only 17.4% of this waste, containing harmful substances and precious materials, will be recorded as properly collected, treated, and recycled globally.

The remaining tens of millions of tonnes will be placed in landfills, burned, illegally traded, improperly treated, or hoarded in households.

Even in Europe, which leads the world in e-waste recycling, only 55% of e-waste is officially reported as properly collected and recycled, and the lack of public awareness is among the factors preventing countries from developing circular economies for electronic equipment.

International E-waste Day – International E-waste Day (#ewasteday)is an annual awareness-raising campaign initiated by the WEEE Forum and its members. It takes place every year on the 14th of October. It aims to highlight the growing issue of electronic waste and promote responsible e-waste management.

According to a 2022 study developed by the UN Institute for Training & Resources (UNITAR) and WEEE Forum members in 6 countries (UK, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and The Netherlands), of the 74 e-products found in an average household, 13 are being hoarded (9 of them unused but working and 4 broken). Small consumer electronics and accessories (such as headphones or remote controls – often not recognised as electronic items) rank top of the list of hoarded products. If these gadgets remain in the drawers and cupboards, the valuable resources they contain do not re-enter the manufacturing cycle.

When electronic devices and components are disposed of improperly because they are not recognised as e-waste, they often end up in landfills or incinerators. Electronics contain various hazardous substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and flame retardants, which can leach into soil and water sources, pollute ecosystems and pose risks to human health.

These devices also contain valuable resources, including precious metals like gold, silver and copper, and Critical Raw Materials, which are crucial for the green transition and production of new electronic devices. When e-waste is not recycled correctly, these valuable materials go to waste.

The WEEE Forum – The WEEE Forum is a Brussels-based, impactful not-for-profit international association representing 52 producer responsibility organisations on all continents worldwide, all of them mandated by producers of electrical and electronic products to manage e-waste responsibly. Together with its members, they are at the forefront of turning the Extended Producer Responsibility principle into an effective electronic waste management policy approach through our combined knowledge of the technical, business and operational aspects of collection, logistics, de-pollution, processing, preparing for reuse and reporting of e-waste. It is the biggest organisation of its kind in the world.

Since their founding, the PROs in the WEEE Forum have collected, de-polluted and recycled or sent for preparation for re-use of more than 35 million tonnes of WEEE. In addition, our members operate over 114,000 WEEE collection points, and two-thirds of them are market leaders in their countries.

About: www.weee-forum.org

Contacts: Magdalena Charytanowicz, +32 494 23 28 83 (m), magdalena.charytanowicz@weee-forum.org 

Juliet Heller, +44-(0)7946-616-150; juliet@julietheller.co.uk

Terry Collins, +1-416-878-8712 (m), tc@tca.tc

Terry Collins & Assoc. inc | Twitter: @TerryCollinsTC, www.tca.tc, 295 Wright Ave.,

Toronto, M6R1L8 Canada

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U.N. calls for urgent action to enable opportunities, mitigate risks for information and digital technology. From Internet governance to digital governance, Forum pivots to UN Summit of the Future. Following is a press release from the U.N. Department of Global Communications.

Kyoto, Japan, 12 October 2023 – Recognizing both the opportunities and risks offered by rapid advancements in information and digital technology, the 18th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) wrapped up its series of high-level discussions and multistakeholder dialogues in Kyoto from 8 to 12 October.

In his closing message to the Forum, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Li Junhua reminded delegates of the 18-year contribution of the IGF, that is bottom-up, inclusive multistakeholder participation and engagement on information and digital technologies. He concluded with a call for collective action to “do more — empowering more countries and all stakeholders for an inclusive and equitable digital future for all — optimizing opportunities and managing risks.”

Key issues discussed during the week of rich exchanges, included the acceleration in artificial intelligence (AI) beyond generative AI. While AI offers opportunities to address the off-track SDGs, it also poses new risks, threatening to increase disinformation and exacerbate inequalities. Urgent action is needed to mitigate these risks, while maximizing its promise. The fact that a third of the world’s population is not yet online, and is losing out as a result, shows how digital divides can increase inequalities between developed and developing countries, men and women, young and elderly, rich and poor, urban and rural areas.

Other important themes covered during the week included data governance – how to ensure that the immense volume of data generated by digital technology can be used for the common good, while respecting individual privacy; cybersecurity – how to protect countries, communities and individuals from malicious use of the Internet and digital technology; and the environment – how to maximize the contribution that technology makes to environmental sustainability and the fight against climate change, while minimizing its own environmental footprint, for example, in e-consumption and e-waste.

This year’s IGF took place within the framework of wider discussions about the future role of information and communication technologies within the UN system including two UN processes to which the IGF brings its unique multistakeholder perspective. First, the Global Digital Compact  – a comprehensive new approach to digitalization’s impact on the world community which will form part of the UN’s Summit of the Future in 2024; and second, the 20-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20) that led to the establishment of the IGF. The renewal of the IGF’s mandate will be discussed by the UN General Assembly as part of the WSIS+20 review in 2025.

Highlights – As a key outcome, the Kyoto IGF Messages are sourced directly from Forum sessions and provide a high-level overview for decision-makers of the most current thinking on key Internet governance and digital policy issues.

‘The Internet We Want’ vision paper was released at the IGF by the UN Secretary-General appointed IGF Leadership Panel Chair, Vint Cerf and Vice-Chair Maria Ressa. The paper reiterated that digital governance is critical for economic, social and environmental development, and is a crucial enabler of sustainable development. It further elaborated what it means for the Internet to be whole and open, universal and inclusive, free-flowing and trustworthy, safe and secure and rights-respecting.

The U.N. Global Digital Compact, which aims to set out principles, objectives and actions to secure a human-centred digital future received robust discussion and review. The outcomes of the IGF, including from its High-level, Parliamentary and Youth tracks, will also serve as a concrete framework for the Compact that will be agreed on at the UN Summit of the Future next year.

The Government of Japan also announced their plans at the Forum for an Artificial Intelligence accord that would see G7 nations agree on international guidelines and codes of conduct for the developers of generative AI.

About the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) – The Internet Governance Forum, convened by the United Nations Secretary-General and hosted this year by the Government of Japan, is the global multistakeholder forum concerned with the Internet and the rapid transformation of society that results from digital development. Each year, the IGF annual meeting brings together stakeholders from around the world to discuss the most pressing Internet governance trends and challenges. The IGF meetings facilitate the exchange of information and the sharing of good policies and practices related to key elements of Internet governance in order to foster the sustainability, robustness, security, stability and development of the Internet.

Held from 8 to 12 October, this year’s IGF brought together close to 9,000 registered participants, from 178 countries (92% of UN Member States), with 5,500 joining on-site with others participating online in a fully hybrid interactive mode, making it the largest and most geographically diverse Forum to date. Representatives from governments, the private sector, civil society, the technical community and international organizations, gathered under the umbrella theme of ‘The Internet We Want – Empowering All People’. Over 160 national, regional, and youth IGF initiatives, and 35 IGF remote hubs also allowed hundreds if not thousands more online participants to contribute to the Forum.

The programme featured over 300 sessions, with eight sub-themes: (1) AI & Emerging Technologies; (2) Avoiding Internet Fragmentation; (3) Cybersecurity, Cybercrime & Online Safety; (4) Data Governance & Trust; (5) Digital Divides & Inclusion; (6) Global Digital Governance & Cooperation; (7) Human Rights & Freedoms; and (8) Sustainability & Environment.

For additional information, please visit: https://www.intgovforum.org/en

Media contacts: – Francyne Harrigan, UN Department of Global Communications, harriganf@un.org

Eleonora Mazzucchi, IGF Secretariat, eleonora.mazzucchi@un.org

***

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“The Holy Grail of Astrobiology” Machine learning technique reveals a sample’s biological or non-biological origin with 90% accuracy. Scientists have discovered a simple and reliable test for signs of past or present life on other planets – “the holy grail of astrobiology.”

In the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a seven-member team, funded by the John Templeton Foundation and led by Jim Cleaves and Robert Hazen of the Carnegie Institution for Science, reports that, with 90% accuracy, their artificial intelligence-based method distinguished modern and ancient biological samples from those of abiotic origin.

Simply put, the new test reliably determines whether the history of a sample under examination included something that was once alive – in other words, did it have a biotic or abiotic origin?

“This routine analytical method has the potential to revolutionize the search for extraterrestrial life and deepen our understanding of both the origin and chemistry of the earliest life on Earth,” says Dr. Hazen.  “It opens the way to using smart sensors on robotic spacecraft, landers and rovers to search for signs of life before the samples return to Earth.”

Most immediately, the new test could reveal the history of mysterious, ancient rocks on Earth, and possibly that of samples already collected by the Mars Curiosity rover’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument. The latter tests could be conducted using an onboard analytical instrument nicknamed “SAM” (for Sample Analysis at Mars. (NASA photos: https://bit.ly/3P8V8II).

“We’ll need to tweak our method to match SAM’s protocols, but it’s possible that we already have data in hand to determine if there are molecules on Mars from an organic Martian biosphere.”

“The search for extraterrestrial life remains one of the most tantalizing endeavors in modern science,” says lead author Jim Cleaves of the Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC. 

“The implications of this new research are many, but there are three big takeaways: First, at some deep level, biochemistry differs from abiotic organic chemistry; second, we can look at Mars and ancient Earth samples to tell if they were once alive; and third, it is likely this new method could distinguish alternative biospheres from those of Earth, with significant implications for future astrobiology missions.”

The innovative analytical method does not rely simply on identifying a specific molecule or group of compounds in a sample.

Instead, the researchers demonstrated that AI can differentiate biotic from abiotic samples by detecting subtle differences within a sample’s molecular patterns as revealed by pyrolysis gas chromatography analysis (which separates and identifies a sample’s component parts), followed by mass spectrometry (which determines the molecular weights of those components).

Vast multidimensional data from the molecular analyses of 134 known abiotic or biotic carbon-rich samples were used to train AI to predict a new sample’s origin. With approximately 90% accuracy, AI successfully identified samples that had originated from:

Living things, such as modern shells, teeth, bones, insects, leaves, rice, human hair, and cells preserved in fine-grained rock, Remnants of ancient life altered by geological processing (e.g. coal, oil, amber, and carbon-rich fossils), or Samples with abiotic origins, such as pure laboratory chemicals (e.g., amino acids) and carbon-rich meteorites.

The authors add that until now the origins of many ancient carbon-bearing samples have been difficult to determine because collections of organic molecules, whether biotic or abiotic, tend to degrade over time.

Surprisingly, in spite of significant decay and alteration, the new analytical method detected signs of biology preserved in some instances over hundreds of millions of years.

Says Dr. Hazen: “We began with the idea that the chemistry of life differs fundamentally from that of the inanimate world; that there are ‘chemical rules of life’ that influence the diversity and distribution of biomolecules. If we could deduce those rules, we can use them to guide our efforts to model life’s origins or to detect subtle signs of life on other worlds.”

“These results mean that we may be able to find a lifeform from another planet, another biosphere, even if it is very different from the life we know on Earth.  And, if we do find signs of life elsewhere, we can tell if life on Earth and other planets derived from a common or different origin.”

“Put another way, the method should be able to detect alien biochemistries, as well as Earth life. That is a big deal because it’s relatively easy to spot the molecular biomarkers of Earth life, but we cannot assume that alien life will use DNA, amino acids, etc. Our method looks for patterns in molecular distributions that arise from life’s demand for ‘functional’ molecules.”

“What really astonished us was that we trained our machine-learning model to predict only two sample types – biotic or abiotic – but the method discovered three distinct populations: abiotic, living biotic, and fossil biotic.  In other words, it could tell more recent biological samples from fossil samples – a newly plucked leaf or vegetable, say, versus something that died long ago. This surprising finding gives us optimism that other attributes such as photosynthetic life or eukaryotes (cells with a nucleus) might also be distinguished.”

To explain the role of AI, co-author Anirudh Prabhu of the Carnegie Institution for Science uses the idea of separating coins using different attributes – monetary value, metal, year, weight or radius, for example – then going further to find combinations of attributes that create more nuanced separations and groupings. “And when hundreds of such attributes are involved, AI algorithms are invaluable to collate the information and create highly nuanced insights.”

Adds Dr. Cleaves: “From a chemical standpoint, the differences between biotic and abiotic samples relate to things like water solubility, molecular weights, volatility and so on.”

“The simple way I would think about this is that a cell has a membrane and an interior, called the cytosol; the membrane is pretty water-insoluble, while the cell’s content is pretty water-soluble. That arrangement keeps the membrane assembled as it tries to minimize its components’ contacts with water and also keeps the ‘inside components’ from leaking across the membrane.”

“The inside components can also stay dissolved in water despite being extremely large molecules like chromosomes and proteins,” he says.

“So, if one breaks a living cell or tissue into its components, one gets a mix of very water-soluble molecules and very water-insoluble molecules spread across a spectrum. Things like petroleum and coal have lost most of the water-soluble material over their long histories.”

“Abiological samples can have unique distributions across this spectrum relative to each other, but they are also distinct from the biological distributions.”

The technique may soon resolve a number of scientific mysteries on Earth, including the origin of 3.5 billion-year-old black sediments from Western Australia (photo at https://bit.ly/3YWbZ4Z) — hotly debated rocks that some researchers contend hold Earth’s oldest fossil microbes, while others claim they are devoid of life signs.

Other samples from ancient rocks in Northern Canada, South Africa, and China evoke similar debates.

“We’re applying our methods right now to address these long-standing questions about the biogenicity of the organic material in these rocks,” Dr. Hazen says.

And new ideas have poured forth about the potential contributions of this new approach in other fields such as biology, paleontology and archaeology.

“If AI can easily distinguish biotic from abiotic, as well as modern from ancient life, then what other insights might we gain? For example, could we tease out whether an ancient fossil cell had a nucleus, or was photosynthetic?” says Dr. Hazen.

“Could it analyze charred remains and discriminate different kinds of wood from an archeological site? It’s as if we are just dipping our toes in the water of a vast ocean of possibilities.”

Comments “Cleaves and colleagues’ innovative method of distinguishing biological from abiotic organic matter is a gift for astrobiologists and, quite possibly, for students of Earth’s early history as well.  There is much still to be learned, but one day a next-generation version of their system may well fly to Mars, evaluating the possibility of life on the red planet, while its Earth-bound sisters illuminate life’s antiquity on our own planet.”

Andrew H. Knoll, Fisher Research Professor of Natural History and Research Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences Emeritus, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University

“I think this new study is very exciting! It is a new avenue of research to explore as it appears to discriminate abiotic from biotic organic matter based on its molecular complexity and could potentially be a fantastic tool for astrobiology missions. It would also be very interesting to test this new method on some of the oldest putative and debated traces of Earth life as well as on modern and fossil organisms from the three domains of life! This might help to solve some hot debates in our community!”

Emmanuelle J. Javaux, Head, Early Life Traces and Evolution-Astrobiology Lab, and Director, Astrobiology Research Unit, University of Liège, Belgium.

“We are in great need of biosignatures for life that don’t depend on looking for a specific type of biomolecule that may be universal to all life on Earth, but not universal to all life outside of Earth. This paper identifies a path forward for using a relatively easily measured chemical signature and determining whether it is likely to be indicative of life or not, without presuming that life outside of Earth will use the same biomolecules as life on Earth. This same statistical approach might be applicable to other types of measurements too, expanding the range of measurements that can be used to identify agnostic biosignatures of life.”

Karen Lloyd, Professor, Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. “This provides an important potential tool to identify life both on other planets and also in distant periods of Earth’s past. Importantly the technique can already be utilized on spacecraft that can travel to different parts of the solar system in our search for life elsewhere than Earth.

Daniel Gregory, Assistant Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto

Contacts:

Terry Collins, +1-416-878-8712 (m), tc@tca.tc

Natasha Metzler, nmetzler@carnegiescience.edu  

Juliet Heller, +44-16-2186-8083, juliet@julietheller.co.uk

Dr. Robert Hazen, Carnegie Science, rhazen@ciw.edu

Prof. Jim Cleaves, Howard University, henderson.cleaves@gmail.com

The paper: “A robust agnostic molecular biosignature based on machine learning”

Authors: Robert M. Hazen – Anirudh Prabhu – George D. Cody – Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC.

H. James Cleaves II. Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC. Department of Chemistry, Howard University, Washington, DC, Blue Marble Space Institute for Science, Seattle, WA, Michael L. Wong

Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC, NHFP Sagan Fellow, NASA Hubble Fellowship Program, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD

Grethe Hystad, Mathematics and Statistics, Purdue University Northwest, Hammond, IN

Sophia Economon, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.

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A carbon-rich black chert from Western Australia https://bit.ly/3YWbZ4Z

One of the most tantalizing applications of the new method is the resolution of a decades-old debate regarding the origins of organic molecules in the 3.5-billion-year-old Apex Chert from the wilds of Western Australia. 

This enigmatic black rock contains small quantities of carbon-rich residues–just enough to turn the chert a lustrous black. Some scientists have long argued that this formation holds the earliest record of cellular life in the form of tiny spheres and filaments – shapes that mimic modern microbes. 

Other researchers insist that the black residues formed from high-temperature processes that have nothing to do with life. Research now in progress will apply the new biosignature method to the Apex Chert, as well as many other similarly enigmatic ancient rocks from Greenland, South Africa, India, and China.

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Trilobites

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Despite being 400-500 million years old, carbonized trilobite exoskeletons similar to these were sampled and clearly distinguished as biotic using this new analytical method:

1) Metacanthina sp. from Morocco, Devonian Period (~400 million years old),

7 cm maximum dimension

https://bit.ly/3P20Qfr

2) Koneprussia sp. from Morocco, Devonian Period (~400 million years old),

3.5 cm across.

https://bit.ly/45zUUji

3) Olenoides sp., Utah, Cambrian Period (~500 million years old),

8 cm maximum dimension.

https://bit.ly/3OyYyTq

4) Apianurus rusti, New York, Ordovician Period (~450 million years old),

5 cm maximum dimension.

https://bit.ly/3OGWvwL

(photo credits: Hazen Collection, National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC) 

About

Carnegie Sciencehttps://carnegiescience.edu/about

* * * * *

Terry Collins & Assoc. | www.tca.tc | @TerryCollinsTC | LinkedIn.com/in/terrycollins | In the News 2021: https://adobe.ly/3FRijQA, Toronto, M6R1L8 Canada

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New York, September 20 – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lambasted the U.N. Security Council for its ineffectiveness in stopping the Russian war in his country, saying that the council should be reformed and enlarged to include more than the current 15 countries.

Zelenskyy, who appeared in person for the first time at U.N. annual meetings in New York since war broke out in his country on February 24, 2022, said, “Regardless of who you are, the current U.N. system still makes you less influential than the veto power possessed by a few and misused by one: Russia. That is to the detriment of all other U.N. members.”  

Two days after its military invasion of Ukraine, Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution that condemned and demanded an end to its invasion.

The 15-nation council is the highest authority in the U.N. system and is responsible for global peace and security issues. But it is dominated by five permanent members – the United States, Russia, France, United Kingdom and China – which have veto power over decisions. The 10 countries in the council are elected for a two-year term.

“We should recognize that the U.N. finds itself in a deadlock on the matters of aggression. Humankind no longer pins its hopes on the U.N. when it comes to the defense of the sovereign borders of nations,” Zelenskyy said, adding that the U.N. Charter can work effectively for the sake of peace and security globally.

“However, for this to happen, the years-long discussions and projects on U.N. reform must be translated into a viable process of UN reform,” he said. “And it should not be only about representation here in the Security Council.  The use of veto power, that is what requires the reform.”

He said the right to veto used by the council’s permanent members “should not serve those who are obsessed with hatred and war” and that the General Assembly – which comprises all U.N. Member States – “should be given real power to overcome the veto.”

“Ukraine considers it is unjust when billions of people do not have their permanent representation in the Security Council,” he said.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, who has condemned Russia for violating the U.N. Charter with its military aggression of Ukraine, called for renewed efforts to uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in clear violation of the United Nations Charter and international law, is aggravating geopolitical tensions and divisions, threatening regional stability, increasing the nuclear threat, and creating deep fissures in our increasingly multipolar world,” he said in opening the council meeting on the theme of peace and security, and the war in Ukraine.

“All this comes at a time when cooperation and compromise for multilateral solutions are needed more than ever, to tackle challenges from the climate crisis to unprecedented levels of inequality to disruptive technologies,” he said.

“This war is already causing limitless suffering. Its continuation risks further perilous escalation,” he warned.  “There is no alternative to dialogue, diplomacy, and a just peace.”

Russia fails stop Zelenskyy from speaking to the council

At the outset of the meeting, Russia’s Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya protested the decision by the council president, Foreign Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, to allow Zelenskyy to speak before the 15 council members. Albania holds the monthly rotating presidency of the council for the month of September.

“I want to assure our Russian colleagues and everyone here that this is not a special operation by the Albanian presidency,” Rama replied Nebenzia. “There is a solution for this. If you agree, you stop the war and President Zelenskiy will not take the floor.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the council that his country will stand by Ukraine and he denounced Russia for violating the U.N. Charter, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity on “an almost daily basis,” and engaging “in reckless nuclear saber-rattling.”

“In this war, there is an aggressor and there is a victim,” Blinken said.  “One side is attacking the core principles of the U.N. Charter; the other fights to defend them.  For over a year and half, Russia has shredded the major tenets of the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international humanitarian law, and flouted one Security Council resolution after another.”

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New York, September 19 – U.S. President Joe Biden called on government leaders attending the U.N. General Assembly annual session to defend the United Nations Charter, which stands against war and any breaches of the peace, and he asked them to remain united in their support of Ukraine’s military efforts against Russia’s aggression.

With Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appearing at the U.N. annual meeting for the first time, Biden said: “Russia believes that the world will grow weary and allow it to brutalize Ukraine without consequence.  But I ask you this: If we abandon the core principles of the U.N. Charter to appease an aggressor, can any member state feel confident that they are protected? If we allow Ukraine to be carved up, is the independence of any nation secure?”
 
“The answer is no. We must stand up to this naked aggression today to deter other would-be aggressors tomorrow. That is why the United States together with our Allies and partners around the world will continue to stand with the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their sovereignty and territorial integrity – and their freedom.”

Biden emphasized the importance of institutions such as the United Nations and international organizations devoted to providing humanitarian and health assistance to developing countries.

“We will not retreat from the values that make us strong,” Biden said. “We will defend democracy — our best tool to meet the challenges that we face around the world. And we’re working to show how democracy can deliver in ways that matter to people’s lives.”

“The United States seeks a more secure, more prosperous, more equitable world for all people, because we know our future is bound up with yours. And no nation can meet the challenges of today alone,” he said.
 Turning to climate disasters, Biden pointed to record breaking heatwaves in the United States and China, wildfires ravaging North America and Southern Europe, drought in the Horn of Africa and the tragic flooding in Libya that has killed thousands of people.

“Taken together these snapshots tell an urgent story of what awaits us if we fail to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and begin to climate-proof our world. From day one of my Administration the United States has treated this crisis as the existential threat that it is, not only to us, but to all of humanity,” he said.

Biden was one of dozens of heads of state addressing the 193-nation assembly’s political debate opening on September 19.  Biden was also the only government leader among the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to address the assembly while the other four leaders from the United Kingdom, France, China and Russia failed to show up.

Zelenskyy told the assembly session that Russia, in addition to threatening Ukraine with nuclear weapons, has been weaponizing global food and energy markets, and using them “not only against our country, but all of yours as well.” He said Russia has blocked Ukrainian ports in the Black and Azov seas since beginning of the war 19 months ago and also ports on the Danube River.

“It is a clear Russian attempt to weaponize the food shortage on the global market, in exchange for recognition of some, if not all, of the captured territories.”

“Nukes are not the scariest thing now. Mass destruction is gaining momentum. The aggressor is weaponizing many other things … things that are being used not only against our country but also yours as well,” he said. “There are many conventions against weapons but none against weaponization … of global food supplies and energy.”

The U.N. said 145 presidents and prime ministers are among the list of 196 speakers in the assembly session from September 19 to 26.

In his address opening the session, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

renewed a call for abiding by the U.N. Charter. “When countries break those pledges, they create a world of insecurity for everyone,” he said, stressing that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has serious implications for everyone worldwide.

“We must not relent in working for peace – a just peace in line with the UN Charter and international law. And even while fighting rages, we must pursue every avenue to ease the suffering of civilians in Ukraine and beyond,” he said.

Human suffering is at the highest point now with ongoing conflicts and natural disasters and while the needs are rising, funding is drying up, forcing the U.N. to make massive cuts in its humanitarian operations, Guterres said. (By J. Tuyet Nguyen)

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Responding to cascading global crises, the Sustainable Development Goals Summit launches a new phase of accelerated action on the Goals. Following is a press release from the U.N. Department of Global Communications on SDG Summit and Political Declaration

New York, 18 September – Gathering at the SDG Summit on 18 to 19 September, world leaders agreed today to urgently step up their efforts to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), our global roadmap out of crises, by 2030.

World leaders made an historic global promise to secure the rights and well-being of everyone on a healthy, thriving planet when they agreed to the 2030 Agenda and the 17 SDGs in 2015. However, at midpoint of SDG implementation, the SDGs are in peril. Tens of millions have fallen into poverty since 2020. Over 110 million people are forcibly displaced. Inequalities have worsened, strikingly so for women and girls. Many governments are forced to choose between debt payments and investing in healthcare and education. The climate emergency is wreaking havoc on lives and livelihoods. Developing countries and the world’s most vulnerable people continue to bear the brunt of these crises.

“The SDGs aren’t just a list of goals. They carry the hopes, dreams, rights and expectations of people everywhere,” said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. “Yet today, only 15 per cent of the targets are on track. Many are going in reverse. Instead of leaving no one behind, we risk leaving the SDGs behind.”

The Political Declaration. Leaders adopted a decisive, action-oriented  political declaration at the Summit, highlighting their collective commitment to build a sustainable, inclusive and prosperous world by 2030.

With a strong focus on the means of implementation, and in particular, on financing for development, the declaration acknowledges that without a quantum leap in investments to enable just and equitable energy, food, digital transitions, and a transformation in education and robust social protection in developing countries, the goals simply will not be met.

Additionally, the Declaration urges immediate action to deliver an  an SDG Stimulus proposed by the UN Secretary-General, which calls for a massive increase in financing for the achievement of the SDGs to the tune of $500 billion each year. It also conveys strong support from all countries for a much-needed reform of the international financial architecture to better reflect today’s global economy.

“I am deeply encouraged by the detailed and wide-ranging draft political declaration under consideration here today — especially its commitment to improving developing countries’ access to the fuel required for SDG progress: finance. This can be a game-changer in accelerating SDG progress,” stated the Secretary-General.

Global and National Commitments. Over 100 Countries will present national commitments to SDG Transformation that include priority transitions and areas for investment, setting national benchmarks for reducing poverty and inequalities by 2027 and strengthening institutional frameworks to support SDG progress. In addition to these national commitments, developed countries and other countries who have the capacity, are expected to make individual global commitments drawing on the Secretary-General’s proposal for an SDG Stimulus and broader means of implementation, such as fulfilling ODA commitments, suspending debt payments and agreeing on innovative finance mechanisms.

SDG Action Weekend. The SDGs cannot be delivered by governments alone. The SDG Action Weekend on 16 to 17 September gave an opportunity for over 3000 people from all sectors of society to outline their commitments to accelerate progress on the SDGs. The SDG Mobilization Day on Saturday 16 September saw business, civil society, science, local authorities and young people making meaningful contributions to SDG implementation.

The SDG Acceleration Day on 17 September highlighted UN High-Impact Initiatives that show that transformation is possible and will help to drive momentum for action on the ground in the coming years. The initiatives focus on six major transitions that will drive progress across the SDGs: i) Social Protection; ii) Energy; iii.) Education; iv) Food Systems; v) Digital Transformation; vi) Biodiversity and Nature, underpinned by greater financing and other supports, as well as action to advance gender equality.

About the Summit. The opening of the Summit featured statements by the President of the General Assembly Dennis Francis, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and President of the Economic and Social Council Paula Narvaéz.The 2-day Summit will feature a short plenary segment to hear the actions and commitments delivered on behalf of groups of States. Six Leaders’ Dialogues will allow Heads of State and Government to report on progress and set out concrete national commitments to SDG transformation.

SDG Media Zone, 18-22 September, 10:30 am – 4:30 pm. The SDG Media Zone is a key feature of the UN General Assembly’s High-Level Week, bringing together world leaders, influencers, activists, experts, content creators and media partners to highlight actions and solutions in support of the SDGs. Organized by the UN Department of Global Communications, in collaboration with the PVBLIC Foundation, the Zone takes the conversation on advancing the 2030 Agenda into the public discourse through impactful in-depth interviews and conversations on global issues that matter to people everywhere. All sessions will livestream on UN WebTV.

SDG Pavilion, 15-22 September. The SDG Pavilion is a beacon for the Sustainable Development Goals. It was created to mark the halfway point of the Goals. To use a sporting analogy, we are down at halftime.

However, the good news is that any given match is won in the second half. Organized by the UN Office for Partnerships, in collaboration with Project Everyone, the SDG Pavilion will host a series of Halftime Talks and a high level gathering of women leaders to mobilize the world to keep the promise of the SDGs. Sessions will be livestreamed on UN WebTV.

Please follow us on the SDG Summit, using the main hashtags: #GlobalGoals and #SDGs.

The SDG Summit 2023 website and SDG Summit Programme. The SDG Summit Media Corner. The SDG Action Weekend. High-Level Week of the UN General Assembly Snapshot. The Sustainable Development Goals Website

Media contacts (interviews available upon request):  Francyne Harrigan, UN Department of Global Communications, harriganf@un.org , Sharon Birch, UN Department of Global Communications, birchs@un.org

Copyright © 2023 UN Department of Global Communications, All rights reserved.

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New York, September 13 – Government leaders attending the U.N. General Assembly’s annual session next week are urged to act and get the world “out of this mess” caused by climate disasters, conflicts and rising poverty that are killing people while powerful countries are dividing the world.

Heads of states and governments will attend a series of high-level annual meetings of the 78^th UN General Assembly session starting on September 16. The tasks facing them are enormous: massive floodings, wildfires, record high temperatures, the on-going wars in Ukraine and Sudan, inflation, widespread poverty and the 360 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

“People are looking to their leaders for a way out of this mess,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said days before the annual meetings. “Yet in the face of all this and more, geopolitical divisions are undermining our capacity to respond.”

“A multipolar world is emerging. Multipolarity can be a factor of equilibrium, but it can also lead to escalating tensions, fragmentation and worse.”

“To cement this new and complex world order, there need to be strong and reformed institutions based around the U.N. Charter and international law.”

“I know reform is fundamentally about power – and there are many competing interests and agendas in our increasingly multipolar world.”

“This is not a time for posturing or positioning,” he said. “Action is what the world needs.” he said. “This is not a time for indifference or indecision”, António Guterres told reporters at UN Headquarters. “This is a time to come together for real, practical solutions.”

Compromise for a better tomorrow, Guterres said. “It is time for compromise for a better tomorrow. Politics is compromise. Diplomacy is compromise. Effective leadership is compromise,” he said after attending political meetings of the ASEAN in Jakarta, climate in Nairobi and the G20 summit in New Delhi as well as the G77 group plus China in Havana.

“The U.N. is mobilizing to support relief efforts” as thousands of people have been killed in Morocco a deadly earthquake and massive floodings in Libya. He cited the intensifying climate emergency, new conflicts, the cost of living, and soaring inequality.

“If we want a future of peace and prosperity based on equity and solidarity, leaders have a special responsibility to achieve compromise in designing our common future for our common good,” he said. “Next week here in New York is the place to start.”

The U.N. General Assembly session September 16 – 26 is under the theme “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all.” A general debate will allow all leaders and representatives of the 193 U.N. member states to speak.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Summit September 18 -19. The summit is convened every four years to review progress on implementing the 17 goals, a major enterprise adopted by the U.N. in 2015 and branded as a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.”  The U.N. said the summit is expected to work out a negotiated political declaration that will provide political guidance to speed up actions to meet the 2030 deadline.

During review meetings held in July this year, the U.N. said the SDGs are “in peril” because progress and efforts to achieve them have been eroded by climate disasters, the COVID pandemic, the Russian war in Ukraine and rising food prices.

It called on governments to redouble efforts to achieve the goals or else they should expect greater political instability, upended economics leading to irreversible damage and hundreds of millions of people hungry and poor.

The U.N. said if the current trends persist, by 2030, a staggering 575 million people will remain trapped in extreme poverty and an estimated 84 million children and young people will still be out of school.

Climate Ambition Summit September 20. The summit allows the opportunity to urge leaders of governments, business, local authorities, civil society and financial institutions to step up efforts for credible, new climate action and nature-based solutions to counter climate change, the U.N. said.

Preparatory Ministerial Meeting for the Summit of the Future September 21. The U.N. said government ministers will meet to prepare for the Summit of the Future to be held in September 2024, which will be “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to enhance global cooperation to tackle critical challenges, address gaps in global governance, reaffirm existing commitments, including to the SDGs and the United Nations Charter, and make a multilateral system better positioned to positively impact people’s lives.”

High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development September 20. The High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development, taking place on the heels of the SDG Summit, will provide political leadership and guidance on the implementation of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda – a UN framework for mobilizing resources to achieve the SDGs – as well as identify progress and emerging challenges and mobilize further action.

Three high-level meetings will focus on health issues: Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response September 20 – The U.N. said the President of the General Assembly, in collaboration with the World Health Organization, will convene Heads of State and Government for a one-day meeting to adopt a political declaration aimed at mobilizing political will at the national, regional and international levels for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

Universal Health Coverage September 21 – The meeting presents an opportunity for countries and stakeholders to renew efforts and accelerate progress toward achieving health for all. This will serve as the foundation for executing policies and ensuring responsibility for strengthening health systems for the future, building on the 2019 Political Declaration, the U.N. said.

Fight against Tuberculosis September 22 – The high-level meeting on the Fight against Tuberculosis will be under the theme, “Advancing science, finance and innovation, and their benefits, to urgently end the global tuberculosis epidemic, in particular, by ensuring equitable access to prevention, testing, treatment and care.” (By J. Tuyet Nguyen)

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New figures point to the need of an additional USD 360 billion in investment per year to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment by 2030. Following is a press release.  

New York, 7 September 2023—Despite global efforts, the world is falling short of achieving gender equality. This year’s edition of the U.N. Women and U.N. DESA “Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot 2023”, launched today, paints a worrisome picture halfway through the  2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The Gender Snapshot 2023 warns that, if current trends continue, more than 340 million women and girls—an estimated 8 per cent of the world’s female population—will live in extreme poverty by 2030, and close to one in four will experience moderate or severe food insecurity. The gender gap in power and leadership positions remains entrenched, and, at the current rate of progress, the next generation of women will still spend on average 2.3 more hours per day on unpaid care and domestic work than men. 

The annual publication provides a comprehensive analysis of the current state of gender equality across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and highlights prevailing trends, gaps, and recent setbacks on the journey towards achieving gender equality by 2030. 

This year’s report includes sex-disaggregated data on the intersections of gender and climate change for the first time, and projects that by mid-century, under a worst-case climate scenario, climate change may push up to 158.3 million more women and girls into poverty (16 million more than the total number of men and boys). 

Ms. Sarah Hendriks, UN Women Deputy Executive Director, ad interim, said: “In this critical midpoint moment for the SDGs, this year’s report is a resounding call to action. We must collectively and intentionally act now to course-correct for a world where every woman and girl has equal rights, opportunities, and representation. To achieve this, we need unwavering commitment, innovative solutions, and collaboration across all sectors and stakeholders.” 

With a special focus this year on older women, the report finds that older women face higher rates of poverty and violence than older men. In 28 of the 116 countries with data, fewer than half of older women have a pension; in 12 countries fewer than 10 per cent had access to a pension. Halfway to 2030, progress on SDG 5—gender equality—is clearly way off track. The report shows that the world is failing women and girls with a mere two Goal 5 indicators being “close to target” and no SDG 5 indicator at the “target met or almost met” level. 

The Gender Snapshot 2023 underscores the urgent need for concrete efforts to accelerate progress towards gender equality by 2030, revealing that an additional USD 360 billion per year is needed to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment across key global goals. The report also includes calls for an integrated and holistic approach, greater collaboration among stakeholders, sustained funding, and policy actions to address gender disparities and empower women and girls worldwide, concluding that failure to prioritize gender equality now could jeopardize the entire 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

“Gender equality is not just a goal within the 2030 Agenda,” said Maria-Francesca Spatolisano, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs of UN DESA. “It is the very foundation of a fair society, and a goal upon which all other goals must stand. By breaking down the barriers that have hindered the full participation of women and girls in every aspect of society, we unleash the untapped potential that can drive progress and prosperity for all.” 

Further facts and figures highlighted in the report include:  Under a worst-case climate scenario, food insecurity is projected to affect as many as 236 million more women and girls, compared to 131 million more men and boys, due to climate change.No country is within reach of eradicating intimate partner violence, and only 27 countries have comprehensive systems to track and make budgetary allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment. The number of women and girls in conflict-affected contexts has risen significantly, with catastrophic consequences. In 2022, the number of women and girls living in such contexts reached 614 million, 50 per cent higher than the number in 2017. Globally, at current rates of progress, an estimated 110 million girls and young women will be out of school in 2030. The labour and earnings gap remains persistently high. For each dollar men earn in labour income globally, women earn only 51 cents. Only 61.4 per cent of prime working age women are in the labour force, compared to 90 per cent of prime working age men.

Access the report here.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

· Janine Kandel, UN Women, janine.kandel@unwomen.org, media.team@unwomen.org 

· Inés Esteban González, UN Women, ines.esteban.gonzalez@unwomen.org 

· Kiri Jo Ginnerup, UN Women, kiri.ginnerup@unwomen.org 

· Francyne Harrigan, UN Department of Global Communications, harriganf@un.org 

· Predrag Vasic, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, vasicp@un.org 

Media inquiries:

media.team@unwomen.org

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Key Role in 60 % of Global Plant & Animal Extinctions. Annual Costs Now >$423 Billion – Have Quadrupled Every Decade Since 1970. Report Provides Evidence, Tools & Options to Help Governments Achieve Ambitious New Global Goal on Invasive Alien Species. (Following is the news release)

Bonn, Germany, September 4 – The severe global threat posed by invasive alien species is underappreciated, underestimated, and often unacknowledged. According to a major new report by  the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), more than 37,000 alien species have been introduced by many human activities to regions and biomes around the world. This conservative estimate is now rising at unprecedented rates. More than 3,500 of these are harmful invasive alien species – seriously threatening nature, nature’s contributions to people and good quality of life. Too often ignored until it is too late, invasive alien species are a significant challenge to people in all regions and in every country.

Approved on September 2, 2023 in Bonn by representatives of the 143 member States of IPBES, the Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control finds that alongside dramatic changes to biodiversity and ecosystems, the global economic cost of invasive alien species exceeded $423 billion annually in 2019, with costs having at least quadrupled every decade since 1970.

For more information: IPBES.

In 2019, the IPBES Global Assessment Report found that invasive alien species are one of the five most important direct drivers of biodiversity loss – alongside changes in land- and sea-use, direct exploitation of species, climate change and pollution. On the basis of this finding, Governments tasked IPBES to provide the best available evidence and policy options to deal with the challenges of biological invasions. The resulting report was produced by 86 experts from 49 countries, working for more than four and a half years. It draws on more than 13,000 references, including very significant contributions from Indigenous Peoples and local communities, making it the most comprehensive assessment ever carried out of invasive alien species around the world.

“Invasive alien species are a major threat to biodiversity and can cause irreversible damage to nature, including local and global species extinctions, and also threaten human wellbeing,” said Professor Helen Roy (United Kingdom), co-chair of the Assessment with Prof. Anibal Pauchard (Chile) and Prof. Peter Stoett (Canada).

The authors of the report emphasize that not all alien species become invasive – invasive alien species are the subset of alien species that are known to have become established and spread, which cause negative impacts on nature and often also on people. About 6% of alien plants; 22% of alien invertebrates; 14% of alien vertebrates; and 11% of alien microbes are known to be invasive, posing major risks to nature and to people. People with the greatest direct dependence on nature, such as Indigenous Peoples and local communities, are found to be at even greater risk. More than 2,300 invasive alien species are found on lands under the stewardship of Indigenous Peoples – threatening their quality of life and even cultural identities.   

While many alien species were historically introduced on purpose for their perceived benefits to people, the IPBES report finds that the negative impacts of those that do become invasive are enormous for nature and people. “Invasive alien species have been a major factor in 60% and the only driver in 16% of global animal and plant extinctions that we have recorded, and at least 218 invasive alien species have been responsible for more than 1,200 local extinctions . In fact, 85% of the impacts of biological invasions on native species are negative,” said Prof. Pauchard. Examples of such impacts include the ways that North American beavers (Castor canadensis) and Pacific Oysters (Magallana gigas) change ecosystems by transforming habitats – often with severe consequences for native species. 

Nearly 80% of the documented impacts of invasive alien species on nature’s contributions to people are also negative – especially through damage to food supplies – such as the impact of the European shore crab (Carcinus maenas) on commercial shellfish beds in New England and the damage caused by the Caribbean false mussel (Mytilopsis sallei) to locally important fishery resources in India.

Similarly, 85% of documented impacts negatively affect people’s quality of life – for instance through health impacts, including diseases such as malaria, Zika and West Nile Fever, spread by invasive alien mosquito species like Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegyptii. Invasive alien species also damage livelihoods, for example in Lake Victoria where fisheries have declined due to the depletion of tilapia, as a result of the spread of water hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes), which is the world’s most widespread terrestrial invasive alien species. Lantana (Lantana camara), a flowering shrub, and the black rat (Rattus rattus) are the second and third most widespread globally, with far-reaching impacts on people and nature.

“It would be an extremely costly mistake to regard biological invasions only as someone else’s problem,” said Pauchard. “Although the specific species that inflict damages vary from place to place, these are risks and challenges with global roots but very local impacts, facing people in every country, from all backgrounds and in every community – even Antarctica is being affected.”

The report shows that 34% of the impacts of biological invasions were reported from the Americas, 31% from Europe and Central Asia, 25% from Asia and the Pacific and about 7% from Africa. Most negative impacts are reported on land (about 75%) – especially in forests, woodlands and cultivated areas – with considerably fewer reported in freshwater (14%) and marine (10%) habitats . Invasive alien species are most damaging on islands, with numbers of alien plants now exceeding the number of native plants on more than 25% of all islands.

“The future threat from invasive alien species is a major concern,” said Prof. Roy. “37% of the 37,000 alien species known today have been reported since 1970 – largely caused by rising levels of global trade and human travel. Under ‘business-as-usual’ conditions, we project that total numbers of alien species will continue to increase in this way.”

“But business-as-usual is actually unlikely,” continues Roy. “With so many major drivers of change predicted to worsen, it is expected that the increase of invasive alien species and their negative impacts, are likely to be significantly greater. The accelerating global economy, intensified and expanded land- and sea-use change, as well as demographic changes are likely to lead to increases in invasive alien species worldwide. Even without the introduction of new alien species, already established alien species will continue to expand their ranges and spread to new countries and regions. Climate change will make the situation even worse.”

The report underscores that interactions between invasive alien species and other drivers of change will be likely to amplify their impacts – for example invasive alien plants can interact with climate change, often resulting in more intense and frequent fires, such as some of the devastating wildfires experienced recently around the world, releasing even more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

The IPBES experts point to the generally insufficient measures in place to tackle these challenges. While 80% of countries have targets related to managing invasive alien species in their national biodiversity plans, only 17% have national laws or regulations specifically addressing these issues. This also increases the risk of invasive alien species for neighbouring States. The report finds that 45% of all countries do not invest in the management of biological invasions.  

On a more positive note, the report highlights that future biological invasions, invasive alien species, and their impacts, can be prevented through effective management and more integrated approaches. “The good news is that, for almost every context and situation, there are management tools, governance options and targeted actions that really work,” said Prof. Pauchard.

“Prevention is absolutely the best, most cost-effective option – but eradication, containment and control are also effective in specific contexts. Ecosystem restoration can also improve the results of management actions and increase the resistance of ecosystems to future invasive alien species . Indeed, managing invasive alien species can help to mitigate the negative effects of other drivers of change.”

Prevention measures – such as border biosecurity and strictly enforced import controls – are identified by the report as having worked in many instances, such as the successes achieved in Australasia in reducing the spread of the brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys).

Preparedness, early detection and rapid response are shown to be effective at reducing rates of alien species establishment, and to be especially critical for marine and connected water systems . The PlantwisePlus programme, assisting smallholder farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America is spotlighted by the report as a good example of the importance of general surveillance strategies to detect new alien species.

Eradication has been successful and cost-effective for some invasive alien species, especially when their populations are small and slow-spreading, in isolated ecosystems such as islands. Some examples of this are in French Polynesia where the black rat (Rattus rattus) and rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) have been successfully eradicated. The report indicates that eradication of alien plants is more challenging due to the length of time that seeds may lie dormant in soil. The authors add that successful eradication programmes depend on, amongst other elements, the support and engagement of stakeholders and Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

When eradication is not possible for different reasons, invasive alien species can often be contained and controlled – especially in land-based and closed water systems, as well as in aquaculture – an example being the containment of the invasive alien Asian tunicate (Styela clava) in aqua-cultured blue mussels in Canada. Successful containment can be physical, chemical or biological – although the appropriateness and effectiveness of each option is dependent on local context.

The use of biological control for invasive alien plants and invertebrates, such as introducing a rust fungus (Puccinia spegazzinii) to control bitter vine (Mikania micrantha) in the Asia-Pacific region, has been effective – with success in more than 60% of known cases.

“One of the most important messages from the report is that ambitious progress in tackling invasive alien species is achievable,” said Prof. Stoett. “What is needed is a context-specific integrated approach, across and within countries and the various sectors involved in providing biosecurity, including trade and transportation; human and plant health; economic development and more. This will have far-reaching benefits for nature and people.”

Options explored in the report include considering coherent policies and codes of conduct across sectors and scales; commitment and resourcing; public awareness and engagement, such as citizen science campaigns like those promoting ‘check, clean and dry’; open and interoperable information systems; filling knowledge gaps (the authors identify more than 40 areas where research is needed); as well as inclusive and fair governance.

“The immediate urgency of invasive alien species, with extensive and growing harm to nature and people, makes this report so valuable and timely,” said Dr. Anne Larigauderie, the Executive Secretary of IPBES. “The Governments of the world agreed, in December last year, as part of the new Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, to reduce the introduction and establishment of priority invasive alien species by at least 50% by 2030. This is a vital, but also very ambitious commitment. The IPBES Invasive Alien Species Report provides the evidence, tools and options to help make this commitment more achievable.”

By the Numbers – Key Statistics and Facts from the Report Species

>37,000: alien species established worldwide 200: new alien species recorded every year.

>3,500: invasive alien species recorded globally, including 1,061 plants (6% of all alien plant species), 1,852 invertebrates (22%), 461 vertebrates (14%) and 141 microbes (11%)

37%: proportion of known alien species reported since 1970,

36%: anticipated increase in alien species by 2050 compared to 2005, under a “business-as-usual” scenario (assumes past trends in drivers of change continue)

>35%: proportion of alien freshwater fish in the Mediterranean basin that have arisen from aquaculture.

Impacts

34%: proportion of impacts reported in the Americas (31% Europe and Central Asia; 25% Asia Pacific; 7% Africa 75%: impacts reported in the terrestrial realm (mostly in temperate and boreal forests and woodlands and cultivated areas).

14%: proportion of impacts reported in freshwater ecosystems.

10%: proportion of impacts reported in the marine realm.

60%: proportion of recorded global extinctions to which invasive alien species have contributed.

16%: proportion of recorded global extinctions in which invasive alien species have been the sole driver.

1,215: local extinctions of native species caused by 218 invasive alien species (32.4% were invertebrates, 50.9% vertebrates, 15.4% plants, 1.2% microbes)

27%: invasive alien species impacts on native species through ecosystem properties changes (24% through interspecific competition; 18% through predation; 12% through herbivory).

90%: global extinctions on islands attributed mainly to invasive alien species.

>$423 billion: estimated annual economic cost of biological invasions, 2019.

92%: proportion of economic costs of biological invasions attributed to invasive alien species damaging nature’s contributions to people and good quality of life (with the remaining 8% of costs related to biological invasion management).

>2,300: invasive alien species documented on lands managed, used and/or owned by Indigenous Peoples.

400%: rise in the economic cost of biological invasions in every decade since 1970

Policy and management

80% (156 out of 196): countries with targets in national biodiversity strategies and action plans for managing biological invasions.

>200%: increase in the last decade in the number of countries with national invasive alien species checklists, including databases (196 countries in 2022)

83%: countries without specific national legislation or regulations on invasive alien species.

88%: success rate of eradication programmes (1,550) conducted on 998 islands

>60%: success rates of biological control programs for invasive alien plants and invertebrates.

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New York, September 3 – A treaty banning any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion has remained inactive since it was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1996 due to failure by eight countries to ratify it. The assembly will discuss the issue during its annual session starting on September 16.

The eight countries are: China, Egypt, Iran, Israel and the United States, which have signed the treaty, and India, North Korea and Pakistan, which have not signed. They eight belong to a group of 44 countries that took part in negotiations of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). They either possessed nuclear weapons, nuclear reactors or research reactors.

The treaty mandated that all 44 countries with nuclear capabilities must sign and ratify it, in addition to over 100 countries that have ratified, before the treaty can enter into force. The treaty bans all nuclear explosions, whether for military or peaceful purposes.

Efforts aimed at enforcing the CTBT have gained strength over the years and lately to counter Russia’s threats to use nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine and North Korea’s attempts to build its nuclear arsenal. The treaty received even more support recently when the U.N. marked the International Day against Nuclear Tests with calls for the eight countries to sign, if they haven’t done so, and ratify the CTBT.

The U.N. General Assembly adopted the treaty on September 19,1996 in a resolution and opened it for signatures. The United Nations Treaty Collection said 186 countries signed and 178 ratified. Despite the high number of ratifications, the treaty will enter into force only after all 44 countries have ratified it.

Security Council permanent members – Of the five recognized nuclear powers, France, the United Kingdom and Russia signed and ratified while China and the United States signed but their legislatures have not yet ratified it. The five countries also hold a prominent political position in the U.N. system as permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.

On the International Day Against Nuclear Tests on August 29, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for global action to end nuclear testing and for the eight countries that have yet to ratify the treaty to do so.

“This year, we face an alarming rise in global mistrust and division. At a time in which nearly 13,000 nuclear weapons are stockpiled around the world — and countries are working to improve their accuracy, reach and destructive power — this is a recipe for annihilation.” Guterres said.

“A legally binding prohibition on nuclear tests is a fundamental step in our quest for a world free of nuclear weapons. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, though not yet in force, remains a powerful testament to humanity’s will to lift the shadow of nuclear annihilation from our world, once and for all.”

“In the name of all victims of nuclear testing, I call on all countries that have not yet ratified the Treaty to do so immediately, without conditions.”

Csaba Kőrösi, president of the current 77th session of the General Assembly, said on the International Day against Nuclear that there is little reason to celebrate while the CTBT remains in limbo.

“Heightened distrust, geopolitical competition and a growing number of armed conflicts have only increased the dangers in our world. Particularly if we consider the regular threats of resorting to a nuclear strike in the on-going war against Ukraine,” he said. He pointed out that global military spending reached a record US$2.2 trillion in 2022 and there are signs that nuclear stockpiles and capabilities are growing, contravening the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

“We are closer than any other time in this century to global catastrophe,” he said, adding that it is a “serious loophole” that the CTBT has remained inactive 27 years after its adoption. He called on Annex 2 countries that have not signed and ratified the CTBT to do so.

Daryl G. Kimball, head of Arms Control Today, a Washington-based organization, said in a press release on the occasion of the International Day Against Nuclear Testing that the CTBT “is under threat due to inattention, diplomatic sclerosis, and worsening relations between nuclear-armed adversaries.”

“Although it has not entered into force, the CTBT is one of the most successful agreements in the long history of nuclear arms control and nonproliferation,” Kimball said. “Most of the nuclear-armed states that have not signed or not ratified the CTBT, including China, India, Israel, and Pakistan, are observing nuclear testing moratoria.”

But the CTBT and the de facto global nuclear testing moratorium cannot be taken for granted. “China, Russia, and the United States continue to engage in weapons-related activities at their former nuclear testing sites,” Kimball said. Meanwhile, “Russian officials acknowledge reports that they are considering the self-defeating option of ‘unratifying’ the CTBT,” he added.

“As diplomats from CTBT signatory states gather on Sept. 22 for the 13th conference on facilitating the CTBT’s entry into force, more energetic strategies must be considered not only to advance the treaty, but to strengthen the de facto norm against testing.”

Read the full text of the commentary Defending the De Facto Nuclear Test Ban. Further information: List of parties to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

(By J. Tuyet Nguyen)

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