Environment

US urged to lead fight against plastic pollution, support UN negotiations for a “global plastics treaty”

Washington/New York, April 10, 2024 – Ocean Conservancy and conservation groups have called on the United States to seize the “opportunity and responsibility to be a leader” in tackling global plastic wastes that are threatening the ocean, rivers, sea surface and sea floor as well as beaches and Artic sea ice.

The Washington DC-based organization published a letter to US President Joe Biden urging him to advance a “comprehensive approach across the federal government that will meaningfully address the plastic pollution crisis and the climate crisis it continues to fuel with the urgency these crises demand.” Signed by 29 organizations representing 15 US states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Washington DC, the letter called for work to keep the ocean and other waterways free from plastic pollution.

The United Nations is set to hold the fourth round of negotiations from April 23-29 in Ottawa, Canada, for an international, legally binding treaty to curb the global plastic pollution crisis.

Ocean Conservancy said in a press release that it and conservation groups “lay out a comprehensive plan for how the U.S. — currently the leading generator of plastic waste—can become a trailblazer in plastic reduction, reuse and recycling. Among their many suggestions for how the U.S. can achieve this goal, they call on the Biden Administration to put into motion policies that would establish a national single-use plastic reduction target, prevent microplastics in drinking water, step up efforts to prevent the loss of plastic fishing gear, and establish a national plastic pollution tsar in the White House.”

For more information, please contact:
Wanda Bautista, Whatsapp: +1 302 233 5438, wbautista@burness.com
Florence Wood, Whatsapp: +44 7491 147 576, fwood@burness.com

“Tackling the plastic pollution crisis won’t be easy to accomplish, but research shows that it’s possible with the right policies in place,” said Dr. Anja Brandon, Ocean Conservancy’s associate director of U.S. plastics policy, on the development of the letter. “Tackling plastic pollution is crucial to protecting wildlife, safeguarding human health and evening addressing the climate crisis–given that plastics are made from fossil fuels.”

“We have an unprecedented opportunity to address these urgent environmental threats. With 75% of Americans considering plastic pollution entering the ocean a pressing problem, the government must get on board.”

In addition to Ocean Conservancy, the letter’s signers represent organizations focused on ocean and river conservation and both upstream and downstream efforts to prevent plastic pollution such as reducing plastic production, product redesign for recallability, and cleanup efforts. They range from global and national groups to organizations focused on specific states and local areas.

They issued the letter in advance of the fourth round of United Nations negotiations (INC-4) for an international legally binding instrument (ILBI) on plastic pollution, widely known as the “global plastics treaty,” from April 23-29 in Ottawa, Canada. The treaty offers a historic opportunity to reduce the amount of plastic that enters the ocean.

“Right now, worldwide, 11 million metric tons of plastics enter the ocean each year from land-based sources—that’s equivalent to more than a garbage truck a minute, said Nicholas. People, the planet, and wildlife are paying the price. We need a strong plastics treaty now before it’s too late.”

One of the key solutions to tackling the crisis is reducing the amount of plastics we make and use in the first place, which would also contribute to a reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions feeding the climate crisis. Plastic production is currently responsible for 3–4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, roughly the same as the entire country of Germany, and projected to triple by 2050.

Reducing plastic production will also help safeguard human health. Recent studies have shown that humans are consuming an alarming amount of plastics, in the form of microplastics, through air, water and food. Ocean Conservancy recently found that Americans may be consuming as many as 3.8 million microplastics each year from protein consumption alone.

“To accomplish the interconnected goals of reducing plastic pollution, combating dangerous climate change, and protecting communities the solution is clear — we need to start by making less plastics, better reuse and recycle the plastics we do need, and continue targeted effective cleanups of plastics that do end up in the environment,” the letter asserts.

In brief, their eight-point plan calls on the U.S. to:

Establish a national reduction target for single-use plastics that would see an end to plastic pollution by 2040. This would include setting a national target to reduce the production and use of single-use plastics by at least 25% in 10 years, ramping that up over time. California’s 2022 legislation, SB54, provides a model for how this can work.

Support strong international agreement to end plastic pollution. Direct U.S. agencies to advocate and negotiate for an ambitious global plastics agreement that includes provisions across the full lifecycle of plastics, including reduction.

Support national policies to transition away from single-use plastics, making it easier to reuse or refill plastic. Data from Ocean Conservancy collected from four decades of beach cleanups shows single-use plastics are the most common items polluting beaches and waterways worldwide, including in the United States.

Harness plastic reduction to meet the nation’s commitment to fighting climate change and environmental justice harms. They suggest including plastic reduction targets and strategies in the U.S. government’s climate change action plans; ensuring that plastic production and waste facilities don’t pollute air or water; and eliminating federal subsidies for fossil fuel production, which leads to the production of new plastics.

Take action on microplastics to protect human health. This includes recognizing microplastics as hazardous and in need of regulation through, for example, the establishment of drinking water standards for microplastics.

Support targeted and effective cleanup efforts to reduce harm of plastics in the environment. This includes boosting funding of federal programs to remove debris from sensitive and economically important ecosystems.

Support the full life cycle management of abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear (ALDFG, commonly known as ghost gear). Ghost gear is the single most deadly form of plastic pollution to marine life and as such requires specific dedicated actions to prevent and manage.

For more information, please contact:
Wanda Bautista, Whatsapp: +1 302 233 5438, wbautista@burness.com
Florence Wood, Whatsapp: +44 7491 147 576, fwood@burness.com

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Sand and Dust Storm Frequency Increasing in Many World Regions, UN Warns

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Two billion tons of sand and dust, equal in weight to 350 Great Pyramids of Giza, enter the atmosphere every year. UNCCD experts attribute over 25% of the problem to human activities. Wreaks havoc from Northern and Central Asia to sub-Saharan Africa.

Health impacts poorly understood. Sand and dust storms are an under-appreciated problem now “dramatically” more frequent in some places worldwide, with at least 25% of the phenomenon attributed to human activities, according to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

Accompanied by policy recommendations, the warning comes as a five-day meeting takes place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan to take stock of global progress in the Convention’s implementation. The UNCCD is one of three Conventions originated at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The other two address climate change (UNFCCC) and biodiversity (UN CBD).

The meeting, 13-17 November (www.unccd.int/cric21), includes a high-level session on 15 November hosted by the Government of Uzbekistan on ways to address the impacts of sand and dust storms on global agriculture, industry, transportation , water and air quality, and human health.

Says Ibrahim Thiaw, UNCCD’s Executive Secretary: “The sight of rolling dark clouds of sand and dust engulfing everything in their path and turning day into night is one of nature’s most intimidating spectacles. “It is a costly phenomenon that wreaks havoc everywhere from Northern and Central Asia to sub-Saharan Africa.”

“Sand and dust storms present a formidable challenge to achieving sustainable development. However, just as sand and dust storms are exacerbated by human activities, they can also be reduced through human actions,” adds Thiaw.

While sand and dust storms (SDS) are a regionally common and seasonal natural phenomenon, the problem is exacerbated by poor land and water management, droughts, and climate change, according to UNCCD experts. And fluctuations in their intensity, magnitude, or duration “can make SDS unpredictable and dangerous.” With impacts far beyond the source regions, an estimated 2 billion tons of sand and dust now enters the atmosphere every year, an amount equal in weight to 350 Great Pyramids of Giza. In some areas, desert dust doubled in the last century.

“Sand and dust storms (SDS) have become increasingly frequent and severe having substantial transboundary impacts, affecting various aspects of the environment, climate, health, agriculture, livelihoods and the socioeconomic well-being of individuals. The accumulation of impacts from sand and dust storms can be significant,” says Feras Ziadat, Technical Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), Chair of the UN Coalition on Combating Sand and Dust Storms.

“In source areas, they damage crops, affect livestock, and strip topsoil. In depositional areas atmospheric dust, especially in combination with local industrial pollution, can cause or worsen human health problems such as respiratory diseases. Communications, power generation, transportation, and supply chains can also be disrupted by low visibility and dust-induced mechanical failures. The United Nations Coalition on Combating Sand and Dust Storms, chaired by FAO, was created in 2019 to lead global efforts to address SDS.”

In their Sand and Dust Storms Compendium (https://bit.ly/3slJ6mE) and accompanying SDS Toolbox (https://bit.ly/3QSPWcI), the UNCCD, FAO and partners offer guidance on approaches and methodologies for collecting and assessing SDS data, monitoring and early warning, impact mitigation and preparedness, and source mapping and anthropogenic source mitigation at sub-national, national, regional and global levels.

The SDS discussion forms part of the agenda of this year’s meeting in Uzbekistan of the UNCCD’s Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 21) and global progress in delivering the Convention’s strategic objectives. It marks the first time since its establishment that UNCCD has agreed to one of its most significant meetings in Central Asia.

The meeting comes at a critical juncture, as recent statistics published via UNCCD’s new data dashboard (https://data.unccd.int) shows the world now losing nearly 1 million square kilometers of healthy and productive land every year – some 4.2 million square kilometers between 2015-2019, or roughly the combined area of five Central Asian nations: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

During the meeting (at 18:00 local time / 13:00 GMT, Tuesday 14 November) UNCCD and FAO experts will launch three reports: Background reference document: Compendium on Sand and Dust Storms : https://bit.ly/3slJ6mE –

For additional information, including accreditation to the CRIC21 closing news conference 17 Nov. in Samarkand: https://www.unccd.int/cric21 . Photos: https://bit.ly/3snqYJh

Media contacts: Xenya Scanlon, +49 152 5454 0492, xscanlon@unccd.int and press@unccd.int

Terry Collins, +1-416-878-8712 (m), terrycollins1@gmail.com

Sand and dust storms. A guide to mitigation, adaptation, policy and risk management measures in agriculture (https://bit.ly/40zSEad) Contingency planning process for catalysing investments and actions to enhance resilience against sand and dust storms in agriculture in the Islamic Republic of Iran (https://bit.ly/3QP8pqF). Preparing for sand and dust storm contingency planning with herding communities: a case study on Mongolia (https://bit.ly/3swg8Rd).

Other items on the CRIC 21 agenda include promoting sustainable land management, ensuring fair land rights for women, and tackling droughts and wildfires exacerbated by climate change and environmental degradation.

* * * * *

Background: Sand and dust storms – Sand and dust storms (SDS) are known by many local names: the sirocco, haboob, yellow dust, white storms, or the harmattan. While SDS can fertilize both land and marine ecosystems, they also present a range of hazards to human health, livelihoods and the environment. SDS events typically originate in low-latitude drylands and sub-humid areas where vegetation cover is sparse or absent.

They can also occur in other environments, including agricultural and high-latitude areas in humid regions, when specific wind and atmospheric conditions coincide. SDS events can have substantial transboundary impacts, over thousands of kilometers. Unified and coherent global and regional policy responses are needed, especially to address source mitigation, early warning systems, and monitoring.

SDS often have significant economic impacts: for example, they cost the oil sector in Kuwait an estimated US$ 190 million annually, while a single SDS event in 2009 resulted in damage estimated at US$ 229 – 243 million in Australia.

The major global sources of mineral dust are in the northern hemisphere across North Africa, the Middle East and East Asia. In the southern hemisphere, Australia, South America and Southern Africa are the main dust sources. More than 80% of Central Asia is covered by deserts and steppes which, coupled with climate change and lasting droughts, represent a major natural source of sand and dust storms.

The dried-up Aral Sea is a major source of SDS, emitting more than 100 million tons of dust and poisonous salts every year, impacting the health not just of the people living in the vicinity, but far beyond and generating annual losses of US$ 44 million.

Recognition of SDS as a disaster risk appears to be high in North-East Asia, parts of West Asia and North America but less prominent elsewhere. Low recognition of SDS as a disaster risk is likely due to the lack (in many cases) of significant immediate direct human fatalities or injuries from individual SDS events, and limited consolidated documentation on their long-term health, economic or other impacts.

SDS and health – SDS can be life-threatening for individuals with adverse health conditions. Fine dust particles are carried to high tropospheric levels (up to a few kilometers high) where winds can transport them over long distances. The health implications of SDS have been under increased research for decades, with most studies conducted in East Asia, Europe and the Middle East. There has been a lack of studies in West Africa. A particular focus of this research has been SDS modification of air pollution.

The cause-and-effect between sand and dust in the atmosphere and health outcomes remains unclear and requires more extensive study. What can be said is that at-risk members of a population, especially those with pre-existing cardiopulmonary issues, including childhood asthma, may have a higher mortality or morbidity rate during a dust storm.

SDS can also impose major costs on the agricultural sector through crop destruction or reduced yield, animal death or lower yields of milk or meat, and damage to infrastructure. For annual crops, losses are due to burial of seedlings or crops under sand deposits, loss of plant tissue and reduced photosynthetic activity as a result of sandblasting. This can lead to complete crop loss in a region or reduced yield.

There may also be a longer-term effect on some perennial crops due to tree or crop damage (such as lucerne/alfalfa crowns being damaged). On a positive note, SDS dust can contain soil nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, as well as organic carbon. Some places benefit from this nutrient deposition on land, and mineral and nutrient deposition on water, particularly ocean bodies. When deposited, these can provide nutrients to downwind crop or pasture areas. These limited benefits, however, are far outweighed by the harms done.

Globally, the main large dust sources are dried lakes; Local sources include glacial outwash plains, volcanic ash zones and recently plowed fields. The multi-faceted, cross-sectoral and transnational impacts of SDS directly affect 11 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals yet global recognition of SDS as a hazard is generally low due in part to the complexity and seasonally cumulative impact of SDS, coupled with limited data .

Insufficient information and impact assessments hinder effective decision-making and planning to effectively address SDS sources and impacts. UNCCD helps governments create policies to promote the scaling-up of sustainable land management practices and to find and use the latest science to develop and implement effective mitigation policies.

Working with The Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia https://bit.ly/46aAhKq UNCCD assists countries vulnerable to drought and sand and dust storms in Central Asia to develop and implement risk reduction strategies at national and regional level. UNCCD encourages countries to adopt a comprehensive risk reduction strategy with monitoring and early warning systems to improve preparedness and resilience to these environmental disasters.

Among the measures most needed are: A multi-sector approach bolstered by information-sharing, short- and long-term interventions, engaging multiple stakeholders, and raising awareness of SDS.

Land restoration, using soil and water management practices to protect soils and increase vegetative cover, which have been shown to significantly reduce the extent and vulnerability of source areas, and reduce the intensity of typical SDS events. Early warning and monitoring, building on up-to-date risk knowledge, and forecasting, with all stakeholders (including at-risk populations) participating to ensure that warnings are provided in a timely and targeted manner. Impact mitigation, through preparedness to reduce vulnerability, increase resilience, and enables a timely, effective response to SDS events.

* * * * *

Terry Collins & Assoc. | www.tca.tc | @TerryCollinsTC | LinkedIn.com/in/terrycollins, Toronto, M6R1L8 CanadaUpdate Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice

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UN: Accelerate action to fight climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution

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Stockholm/New York, June 2 – The United Nations has called for accelerating progress made in the past 50 years to protect planet earth’s environment as promises have not been kept and nations now face the triple crises of climate change, biodiversity degradation and pollution.

At the June 2-3 international conference in Sweden’s capital titled, “Stockholm+50 : A healthy planet for the prosperity of all – our responsibility, our opportunity,” and co-hosted by Sweden and Kenya, thousands of participants are attending, including UN and government officials as well representatives from civil society. They planned to hammer out an effective program to achieve a set of Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

The UN said the conference will be organized around plenary segments , three leadership dialogues and side events that will focus on the importance of multilateralism in tackling the triple planetary crisis. It will also reinforce the outcomes of the fifth UN Environment Assembly , which took place earlier this year in Nairobi.

In 1972, Sweden organized the first-ever Conference on the Human Environment and launched UN efforts to promote a green and healthy environment. The UN then created an environmental program agency to support those efforts. Organizers said the current conference took place at a time the world needs effective action to save the environment while it is dealing conflict, the pandemic, food prices and persistent inequalities.

The 113 countries that attended the 1972 conference adopted the Stockholm Declaration and Action Plan for the Human Environment , which placed environmental issues at the forefront of international concerns.

“The crisis for our environment and climate affects people all around the world. The developed countries are the ones who pollute and have polluted the most. But the poorest are hit the hardest,” Prime Minister Andersson said in her opening remarks. “We must ensure that no country is left behind. And we must ensure that no person is left behind. The climate transition can only be done if it’s made in a social and inclusive way. This is not just an option. This is our moral obligation.”

Speakers stressed the need for decisive action to transform the global economy and humanity’s relationship with nature for people and planet to thrive. They included His Majesty the King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, President Azali Assoumani of Comoros, President Mohamed al-Menfi of Libya, Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa of Nigeria and John Kerry, United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.

“We have an exceptional opportunity to turn climate and environmental commitments into action, if we work together as a community of nations. Heightened ambition in financing and implementation should be at the core of these actions,” said Kenyatta whose country is host to the UN Environment Program (UNEP) since it was established in the 1972 Stockholm Conference.

“Today, I call on G20 governments to dismantle coal infrastructure, with a full phase-out by 2030 for OECD countries and 2040 for all others,” Guterres said in address opening the conference.

“And I call on all financial actors to abandon fossil fuel finance and invest in renewable energy. Renewable energy technologies should be seen as a global public good. The necessary raw materials should be available to all. We must scale up and diversify supply chains.”

“We face a triple planetary crisis,” Guterres said. He said a climate emergency is displacing populations around the world while the ecosystem degradation has escalated biodiversity loss that is affecting the well-being of 3 billion people and pollution and waste costs 9 million lives a year.

“We know what to do. And, increasingly, we have the tools to do it. But we still lack leadership and cooperation, He said. “So today, I appeal to leaders in all sectors: Lead us out of this mess.”

On climate change, Guterres said scientists have warned that there is a 50:50 chance that global warming could breach the Paris Agreement limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius in the next five years.

“We cannot let that happen. We must cut greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 to reach net-zero by 2050. And developed nations must at least double support to developing countries so they can adapt and build resilience to the climate disruption that is already happening.”

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Financial institutions urged to engage in reversing biodiversity loss, which impacts on people and eco-systems

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New York, July 12 – Backed by strong evidence gathered over past decades that human activities caused the loss of the planet’s biological diversity, the United Nations and international organizations have been urging financial institutions to join the global fight to reverse the loss, which is putting economies at risk and negatively affecting humanity and the environment it is living in.

The call is coming before an international conference will meet October 11-24 in Kunming, China, to adopt a convention on protecting biodiversity for the future and an action plan on reversing biodiversity loss. Preparations for the conference, which started before the pandemic struck the world early in 2020, have intensified with a focus on including financial institutions that are holding some of the answers to biodiversity loss.

“The financial community has a critical leveraging role to pivot economic sectors towards more positive impacts on nature,” said Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). “The call for the financial community to act will become ever louder—as the world strengthens its nature goals and builds new techniques to measure nature loss.”

A document published by the CBD Secretariat, Financial Sector Guide for the Convention on Biological Diversity, seeks to mobilize financial institutions because businesses they are financing and investing in depend on nature and a safe climate.

CBD said the financial sector has a great influence in curbing nature’s biodiversity loss by making responsible investment and aligning funds to businesses and projects that could result in positive nature outcomes. The guide advocates and calls for ambitious and transformative post-2020 global biodiversity framework, which includes taking steps that support the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the UN Environment Program’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and Business for Nature and Finance for Biodiversity Pledge.

The guide calls for reporting publicly on positive and negative contributions to biodiversity by using the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures or similar approaches.

“Raising awareness on nature’s importance for the financial sector is becoming increasingly crucial “ CBD said. “Continued biodiversity loss puts global economies at risk, and the financial sector, significantly exposed to nature, has a critical role to play to transform the current financial system, with a view to aligning financial flows for a nature positive world.”

“We are losing nature”

A global assessment made by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) in 2019 warned that human activities have resulted in putting nearly 1 million species at risk of extinction and have significantly altered 75 per cent of the land surface, which could have severe impacts on people’s livelihoods, the economy, food security, health and quality of life worldwide.

The guide also cited a study by the World Economic Forum, whish said over half the world’s total GDP – US$44 trillion – is moderately or highly dependent on nature and its benefits or services and, as a result, exposed to risks from nature loss (World Economic Forum, 2020). At the same time, a nature-based transition could generate US$10 trillion in business opportunity and create 395 million jobs by 2030 (Future of Nature and Business Report, 2020).

The guide defines biological diversity as follows:

“Biodiversity means the variability among living organisms from all sources; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems. Biodiversity underpins ecosystem functioning and the provision of ecosystem services that are essential for human well-being. From an economic perspective, biodiversity and ecosystems constitute valuable assets and are therefore frequently characterized as natural capital. Conserving biodiversity and using its components in a sustainable manner will ensure that natural capital assets remain resilient and secure for the future. However, biodiversity loss impacts the security of investments in many sectors and affect their value (Dasgupta, 2021).”

The Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to be held in Kunming, Yunnan province, China, will be the 15^th meeting and will be attended by 196 parties. Since its first meeting at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the CBD has been expanding and refining the issues of preserving nature and advocating the theme of human beings living in harmony with nature.

The convention expected to be adopted in Kunming, now in the form of a draft framework, would set goals on reversing biodiversity loss and meeting people’s needs to be achieved in 2030 and 2050 as part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Beauty and biodiversity

Fashion and beauty industries have a close relationship with biodiversity as they depend on nature’s resources such as plants, species and animals for their products. But those industries are also drivers for biodiversity loss, according to the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT) which has set standards for sourcing with respect.

Forbes and Business Insider estimated that the global beauty business was worth over US$ 500 billion and its annual growth rate is increasing every year. The United States, China and Japan are among top countries with the largest beauty markets.

UEBT said over 50 companies, including all biggest names in fashion, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals in the world such as Guerlain, Cosmo, Christian Dior, LVMH and Kenzo have joined the campaign against biodiversity loss and have committed “to cultivate, collect or procure ingredients sustainably and to address biodiversity loss as their contribution to the Sharm El-Sheikh to Kunming Action Agenda for Nature and People.”

“Consumers are increasingly demanding that businesses demonstrate a genuine commitment to ethical sourcing,” said Rik Kutsch Lojenga, Executive Director at UEBT. “We at UEBT are so pleased to see more than 50 companies stand up for nature with this shared commitment. In the coming years we will be supporting these businesses in reaching their time-bound targets on the ground in farms and wild plant collection sites all over the world.”

UEBT said The commitment sets “time-bound targets for companies to improve their policies and practices – from on-the-ground action in farms and wild plant collection sites, to processing, research and development, manufacturing and procurement practices. They have come together to stand for transformative change in business practices and inspire others to show their leadership and help resolve the biodiversity crisis. “

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New Global Framework for Managing Nature Through 2030: First Detailed Draft Agreement Debuts

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(Editor’s note: this press release dated July 12, 2021, from the UN Convention on Biodiversity is published in full on this website for the benefits of media organizations and readers)

Still a work in progress, the Global Biodiversity Framework will ultimately advance to

UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s COP15 for consideration by 196 member parties

“The 1st Draft Of The Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework” is available for media preview at https://bit.ly/3hFgz2e

Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, CBD Executive Secretary, Basile van Havre and Francis Ogwal, co-chairs of the Open-Ended Working Group on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, and other officials are available for interviews.

21 targets, 10 ‘milestones’ proposed for 2030 en route to ‘living in harmony with nature’

by 2050; Include conserving and protecting at least 30% of Earth’s lands and oceans

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat released (July 12, 2021) the first official draft of a new Global Biodiversity Framework to guide actions worldwide through 2030 to preserve and protect Nature and its essential services to people.

The framework includes 21 targets for 2030 that call for, among other things:

At least 30% of land and sea areas global (especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and its contributions to people) conserved through effective, equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas (and other effective area-based conservation measures)

A 50% of greater reduction in the rate of introduction of invasive alien species, and controls or eradication of such species to eliminate or reduce their impacts

Reducing nutrients lost to the environment by at least half, and pesticides by at least two thirds, and eliminating the discharge of plastic waste

Nature-based contributions to global climate change mitigation efforts of least 10 GtCO2e per year, and that all mitigation and adaptation efforts avoid negative impacts on biodiversity

Redirecting, repurposing, reforming or eliminating incentives harmful for biodiversity, in a just and equitable way, reducing them by at least $US 500 billion per year

A $US 200 billion increase in international financial flows from all sources to developing countries

More than two years in development, the Framework will undergo further refinement during online negotiations in late summer before being presented for consideration at CBD’s next meeting of its 196 parties at COP15, scheduled for Kunming, China October 11-24.

The Four Goals for 2050:

The draft framework proposes four goals to achieve, by 2050, humanity “living in harmony with nature,” a vision adopted by the CBD’s 196 member parties in 2010.

Goal A: The integrity of all ecosystems is enhanced, with an increase of at least 15% in the area, connectivity and integrity of natural ecosystems, supporting healthy and resilient populations of all species, the rate of extinctions has been reduced at least tenfold, and the risk of species extinctions across all taxonomic and functional groups, is halved, and genetic diversity of wild and domesticated species is safeguarded, with at least 90% of genetic diversity within all species maintained.

Goal B: Nature’s contributions to people have been valued, maintained or enhanced through conservation and sustainable use supporting the global development agenda for the benefit of all;

Goal C: The benefits from the utilization of genetic resources are shared fairly and equitably, with a substantial increase in both monetary and non-monetary benefits shared, including for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Goal D: The gap between available financial and other means of implementation, and those necessary to achieve the 2050 Vision, is closed.

Milestones to be reached by 2030

The four goals each have 2-3 broad milestones to be reached by 2030 (10 milestones in all):

Goal A:

Milestone A.1 Net gain in the area, connectivity and integrity of natural systems of at least 5%.

Milestone A.2 The increase in the extinction rate is halted or reversed, and the extinction risk is reduced by at least 10%, with a decrease in the proportion of species that are threatened, and the abundance and distribution of populations of species is enhanced or at least maintained.

Milestone A.3 Genetic diversity of wild and domesticated species is safeguarded, with an increase in the proportion of species that have at least 90% of their genetic diversity maintained.

Goal B:

Milestone B.1 Nature and its contributions to people are fully accounted and inform all relevant public and private decisions.

Milestone B.2 The long-term sustainability of all categories of nature’s contributions to people is ensured, with those currently in decline restored, contributing to each of the relevant Sustainable Development Goals.

Goal C:

Milestone C.1 The share of monetary benefits received by providers, including holders of traditional knowledge, has increased.

Milestone C.2 Non-monetary benefits, such as the participation of providers, including holders of traditional knowledge, in research and development, has increased.

Goal D:

Milestone D.1 Adequate financial resources to implement the framework are available and deployed, progressively closing the financing gap up to at least US $700 billion per year by 2030.

Milestone D.2 Adequate other means, including capacity-building and development, technical and scientific cooperation and technology transfer to implement the framework to 2030 are available and deployed.

Milestone D.3 Adequate financial and other resources for the period 2030 to 2040 are planned or committed by 2030.

21 “Action Targets” for 2030

The framework then lists 21 associated “action targets” for 2030:

Reducing threats to biodiversity

Target 1

Ensure that all land and sea areas globally are under integrated biodiversity-inclusive spatial planning addressing land- and sea-use change, retaining existing intact and wilderness areas.

Target 2

Ensure that at least 20 per cent of degraded freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecosystems are under restoration, ensuring connectivity among them and focusing on priority ecosystems.

Target 3

Ensure that at least 30 per cent globally of land areas and of sea areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and its contributions to people, are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, and integrated into the wider landscapes and seascapes.

Target 4

Ensure active management actions to enable the recovery and conservation of species and the genetic diversity of wild and domesticated species, including through ex situ conservation, and effectively manage human-wildlife interactions to avoid or reduce human-wildlife conflict.

Target 5

Ensure that the harvesting, trade and use of wild species is sustainable, legal, and safe for human health.

Target 6

Manage pathways for the introduction of invasive alien species, preventing, or reducing their rate of introduction and establishment by at least 50 per cent, and control or eradicate invasive alien species to eliminate or reduce their impacts, focusing on priority species and priority sites.

Target 7

Reduce pollution from all sources to levels that are not harmful to biodiversity and ecosystem functions and human health, including by reducing nutrients lost to the environment by at least half, and pesticides by at least two thirds and eliminating the discharge of plastic waste.

Target 8

Minimize the impact of climate change on biodiversity, contribute to mitigation and adaptation through ecosystem-based approaches, contributing at least 10 GtCO2e per year to global mitigation efforts, and ensure that all mitigation and adaptation efforts avoid negative impacts on biodiversity.

Meeting people’s needs through sustainable use and benefit-sharing

Target 9

Ensure benefits, including nutrition, food security, medicines, and livelihoods for people especially for the most vulnerable through sustainable management of wild terrestrial, freshwater and marine species and protecting customary sustainable use by indigenous peoples and local communities.

Target 10

Ensure all areas under agriculture, aquaculture and forestry are managed sustainably, in particular through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, increasing the productivity and resilience of these production systems.

Target 11

Maintain and enhance nature’s contributions to regulation of air quality, quality and quantity of water, and protection from hazards and extreme events for all people.

Target 12

Increase the area of, access to, and benefits from green and blue spaces, for human health and well-being in urban areas and other densely populated areas.

Target 13

Implement measures at global level and in all countries to facilitate access to genetic resources and to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources, and as relevant, of associated traditional knowledge, including through mutually agreed terms and prior and informed consent.

Tools and solutions for implementation and mainstreaming

Target 14

Fully integrate biodiversity values into policies, regulations, planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies, accounts, and assessments of environmental impacts at all levels of government and across all sectors of the economy, ensuring that all activities and financial flows are aligned with biodiversity values.

Target 15

All businesses (public and private, large, medium and small) assess and report on their dependencies and impacts on biodiversity, from local to global, and progressively reduce negative impacts, by at least half and increase positive impacts, reducing biodiversity-related risks to businesses and moving towards the full sustainability of extraction and production practices, sourcing and supply chains, and use and disposal.

Target 16

Ensure that people are encouraged and enabled to make responsible choices and have access to relevant information and alternatives, taking into account cultural preferences, to reduce by at least half the waste and, where relevant the overconsumption, of food and other materials.

Target 17

Establish, strengthen capacity for, and implement measures in all countries to prevent, manage or control potential adverse impacts of biotechnology on biodiversity and human health, reducing the risk of these impacts.

Target 18

Redirect, repurpose, reform or eliminate incentives harmful for biodiversity, in a just and equitable way, reducing them by at least US$ 500 billion per year, including all of the most harmful subsidies, and ensure that incentives, including public and private economic and regulatory incentives, are either positive or neutral for biodiversity.

Target 19

Increase financial resources from all sources to at least US$ 200 billion per year, including new, additional and effective financial resources, increasing by at least US$ 10 billion per year international financial flows to developing countries, leveraging private finance, and increasing domestic resource mobilization, taking into account national biodiversity finance planning, and strengthen capacity-building and technology transfer and scientific cooperation, to meet the needs for implementation, commensurate with the ambition of the goals and targets of the framework.

Target 20

Ensure that relevant knowledge, including the traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities with their free, prior, and informed consent, guides decision‑making for the effective management of biodiversity, enabling monitoring, and by promoting awareness, education and research.

Target 21

Ensure equitable and effective participation in decision-making related to biodiversity by indigenous peoples and local communities, and respect their rights over lands, territories and resources, as well as by women and girls, and youth.

* * * * *

Says CBD Executive Secretary Elizabeth Maruma Mrema: “Urgent policy action globally, regionally and nationally is required to transform economic, social and financial models so that the trends that have exacerbated biodiversity loss will stabilize by 2030 and allow for the recovery of natural ecosystems in the following 20 years, with net improvements by 2050.”

“The framework aims to galvanize this urgent and transformative action by Governments and all of society, including indigenous peoples and local communities, civil society, youth and businesses and financial institutions. It will be implemented primarily through national-level activities, supported by subnational, regional and global-level actions.”

“This is a global, outcome-oriented framework for the Convention’s 196 Parties to develop national and regional goals and targets, to update national strategies and action plans as needed, and to facilitate regular monitoring and review of progress at the global level.”

Implementation

The draft Global Biodiversity Framework notes that effective implementation requires mobilizing resources from both the public and private finance sectors, ongoing identification of risk associated with biodiversity loss capacity development, technical and scientific cooperation, technology transfer and innovation.

It also calls for integration with relevant multilateral environmental agreements and other relevant international processes, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and strengthening cooperation.

Successful implementation will also depend on effective outreach, awareness and uptake by all stakeholders, a comprehensive system for planning, monitoring, reporting and review that allows for transparent communication of progress, rapid course correction, and timely input in the preparation of a post-2030 Global Biodiversity Framework.

* * * * *

Background

Biodiversity and its benefits are fundamental to human well-being and a healthy planet. Despite ongoing efforts, biodiversity is deteriorating worldwide and this decline is projected to continue or worsen under business-as-usual scenarios.

The post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework builds on the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and sets out an ambitious plan to implement broad-based action to bring about a transformation in society’s relationship with biodiversity and to ensure that, by 2050, the shared vision of living in harmony with nature is fulfilled.

The draft framework reflects input from the second meeting of a Working Group managing the framework’s creation, as well as submissions received. The draft will be further updated in late summer with the benefit of input from the 24th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice and the 3rd meeting of the Subsidiary Body in Implementation, as well as the advice from thematic consultations.

Relationship with 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

The framework will contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At the same time, progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals will help to provide the conditions necessary to implement the framework.

Theory of change

The framework’s theory of change assumes that transformative actions are taken to (a) put in place tools and solutions for implementation and mainstreaming, (b) reduce the threats to biodiversity and (c) ensure that biodiversity is used sustainably in order to meet people’s needs and that these actions are supported by (i) enabling conditions, and (ii) adequate means of implementation, including financial resources, capacity and technology. It also assumes that progress is monitored in a transparent and accountable manner with adequate stocktaking exercises to ensure that, by 2030, the world is on a path to reach the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity.

The theory of change for the framework acknowledges the need for appropriate recognition of gender equality, women’s empowerment, youth, gender-responsive approaches and the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples and local communities in the implementation of this framework. Further, it is built upon the recognition that its implementation will be done in partnership with many organizations at the global, national and local levels to leverage ways to build a momentum for success. It will be implemented taking a rights-based approach and recognizing the principle of intergenerational equity.

The theory of change is complementary to and supportive of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It also takes into account the long-term strategies and targets of other multilateral environment agreements, including the biodiversity-related and Rio conventions, to ensure synergistic delivery of benefits from all the agreements for the planet and people.

* * * * *

About the UN Convention on Biological Diversity

Opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and entering into force in December 1993, the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international treaty for the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of the components of biodiversity and the equitable sharing of the benefits derived from the use of genetic resources.

With 196 Parties, the Convention has near universal participation.

The Convention seeks to address all threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services, including threats from climate change, through scientific assessments, the development of tools, incentives and processes, the transfer of technologies and good practices and the full and active involvement of relevant stakeholders including indigenous and local communities, youth, NGOs, women and the business community.

The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing are supplementary agreements to the Convention. The Cartagena Protocol, which entered into force on 11 September 2003, seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology.

The Nagoya Protocol aims at sharing the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way, including by appropriate access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer of relevant technologies. It entered into force on 12 October 2014.

Website: cbd.int

Twitter: @UNBiodiversity

Facebook: facebook.com/UNBiodiversity

Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/unbiodiversity

* * * * *

Terry Collins & Assoc. | www.tca.tc | @TerryCollinsTC | LinkedIn.com/in/terrycollins, Toronto, M6R1L8 Canada

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UN Urges Intense Restoration of Nature to Address Climate and Biodiversity Crises

Leave a Comment / Environment / admin

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.

###

Contacts:

Terry Collins & Assoc. / tca.tc / linkedin.com/in/terrycollins | 295 Wright Ave., Toronto, ON M6R1L8 Canada

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

Keisha Rukikaire, rukikaire@un.org 254-722-677-747

Moses Osani, moses.osani@un.org

Peter Mayer, +39 06 570 53304, peter.mayer@fao.org

News feature: World ignores warnings to leave nature alone to prevent future pandemics, UN says

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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 15^th 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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UN: Virus clobbers global tourism, millions of jobs at risk, Asia-Pacific hit hard

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New York, August 25 – Lockdowns and border closures across the world to contain the spread of coronavirus had resulted in the loss of 300 million tourist arrivals and $320 billion in receipts in the first five months of 2020 and the economic losses for the whole year could surpass $1 trillion unless governments reopen their borders, the UN World Tourism Organization said in a survey on the Covid-19 impacts on one of the world’s most lucrative industries.

While it is calling for the return of tourism in an effort to revive local economies, particularly in the least developed countries that depend much on international tourism for their development, the WTO said such a decision should be taken only if Covid-19 cases and deaths are declining.

“The crisis is an opportunity to rethink how tourism interacts with our societies, other economic sectors and our natural resources; to measure and manage it better; to ensure a fair distribution of its benefits and to advance the transition towards a carbon neutral and resilient tourism economy,” said a policy brief issued by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The UN chief joined WTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili in reviewing the state of global tourism under the pandemic.

Surveys made by WTO showed that lockdowns imposed in response to the pandemic resulted in a 97-per cent fall of international tourist arrivals by May 2020 when compared to the same period in 2019.

From January to May 2020, the surveys said Asia-Pacific suffered a 60-percent fall in tourist arrivals; 58 percent in Europe; 52 percent in the Middle East; 47 percent in the Americas and 47 percent in Africa.

The policy brief provided scenarios on the pandemic’s economic impacts painting a grim picture of tourism in 2020. It said international tourist numbers could decline by 58 per cent to 78 per cent in 2020, which could translate into a sharp drop in visitor spending from $1.5 trillion in 2019 to between $310 billion and $570 billion in 2020.

It said as many as 100 million direct tourism jobs are at risk because of the sharp decline in global tourism. In addition, global tourism’s labor-intensive hotels and food services employ some 144 million people, who will be also affected by the decline. Women make up about 54 percent of the total workers in tourism.

Tourism represented 20 percent of gross domestic products (GDP) in some developing countries. But for Small Island Development States (SIDS), tourism accounted for up to 80 percent of incomes.

The policy brief said the fall of international tourism and related revenues have cut off funding for biodiversity conservation, including wildlife, resulting in a rise in poaching, looting and consumption of bushmeat. Other programs that depended on tourism like cultural activities, festivals and handicraft products and goods are also affected.

“As countries gradually lift travel restrictions and tourism slowly restarts in many parts of the world, health continues to be a priority and coordinated health protocols that protect workers, communities and travellers, while supporting companies and workers, must be firmly in place,” the brief said.

Pololikashvili said before the policy brief was launched that it is important to restart tourism “as soon as it is safe to do so.”

“The dramatic fall in international tourism places many millions of livelihoods at risk, including in developing countries. Governments in every world region have a dual responsibility: to prioritize public health while also protecting jobs and businesses. They also need to maintain the spirit of cooperation and solidarity that has defined our response to this shared challenge and refrain from making unilateral decisions that may undermine the trust and confidence we have been working so hard to build.”

Responsible restart is possible

“The restart of tourism can be undertaken responsibly and in a way that safeguards public health while also supporting businesses and livelihoods,” Pololikashvili said.

“As destinations continue to ease restrictions on travel, international cooperation is of paramount importance. This way, global tourism can gain people’s trust and confidence, essential foundations as we work together to adapt to the new reality we now face.”

Tourism is slowly returning, more than 80 destinations lifted travel bans, but confidence is low

WTO noted, however, that there have been attempts to revive tourism in many countries but they have been gradual and cautious, particularly in the Schengen Zone of the European Union starting in July. By the end of July more than 80 destinations, including 20 small islands, have eased travel restrictions and it can be confirmed that the reopening is slow but in a continuous adaptation and responsible manner.

WTO warned that confidence in the tourist revival has dropped to record lows because of the ongoing pandemic when it evaluated tourism during the period of January-May 2020 and prospects for the May-August this year.

“Most members of the UNWTO Panel of Tourism Experts expect international tourism to recover by the second half of 2021, followed by those who expect a rebound in the first part of next year,” WTO said. adding that the experts

It said the group of global experts reminded that a series of downside risks still remain in place such as travel restrictions and border shutdowns in most destinations. It said travels between many countries are still clamped down, including between the United States and China, and by other reasons like safety concerns, the resurgence of Covid-19 and risks of new lockdowns.

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Start of ITER assembly paves ways for fusion energy era

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UN sets strict rules for annual meetings; blames Covid-19 for reinforcing inequalities

Leave a Comment / Climate, Environment, Health, News feature / admin

By J. Tuyet Nguyen

New York – The United Nations was supposed to mark its 75th anniversary this year with an elaborate forward looking program for more achievements and a brighter future. But it found instead that the coronavirus pandemic has mostly gutted progress made in areas like living standards and has worsened social injustice.

The UN was established on June 26, 1945 when victorious World War II allies and scores of governments signed the UN Charter in San Francisco.

The pandemic has severely upended scheduled UN meetings, one of which is the important annual UN General Assembly session taking place in September. Under normal times in the past 74 years the sessions were attended scrupulously by presidents, ministers and leaders of international organizations at UN headquarters in New York, packing the assembly hall that can have 2,000 delegates.

But the UN has told presidents and prime ministers to stay home this year when the session opens on September 21st. Each of the 193 countries that are UN members can send only one or if possible two delegates rather than a delegation of more than a dozen officials. All meetings will be held virtually, with pre-recorded speeches aired in a mostly empty General Assembly. Attendees will have to wear facial masks and keep social distancing.

“We have been brought to our knees – by a microscopic virus,” UN Secretary General Antonio said in a speech delivered remotely on July 18 to the annual Nelson Mandela Lecture in Johannesburg, South Africa, which was titled “Tackling the inequality pandemic: A new social contract for a new era.”

“The pandemic has demonstrated the fragility of our world. It has laid bare risks we have ignored for decades: inadequate health systems; gaps in social protection; structural inequalities; environment degradation; the climate crisis.”

He said progress made in eradicating poverty and narrowing inequality have been set back years “in a matter of months,” warning that some 100 million more people could be pushed into extreme poverty because of the pandemic.

“The virus poses the greatest risk to the most vulnerable: those living in poverty, elder people and people with disabilities and pre-existing conditions,” he said, adding that coronavirus has shone the light on inequalities.

“Covid-19 has been likened to an X-ray, revealing fractures in the fragile skeleton of the societies we have built.”

“Because while we are all floating on the same sea, it’s clear that some are in super yachts while others are clinging to floating debris,” he said.

Latin America and the Caribbean

A policy brief on Latin America and the Caribbean issued by Guterres said the region has become a hotspot of the pandemic while it is torn with “profound inequalities” because of high levels of informal labor and fragmented health services. The brief said that the region will suffer a 9.1-percent contraction in gross domestic product (GDP), the largest in a century.

“The social impacts of pandemic will be felt acutely, with sharp rise in unemployment, poverty, extreme poverty and inequality,” it said.

The region, which has a total population of 230 million, will have more than 44 million unemployed people under the pandemic, 45 million people will live in poverty and 28 million in extreme poverty.
The brief said people disproportionately affected by the pandemic are indigenous and those of African descent because they live in “worse economic conditions and have limited access to social protection compared to the rest of the population, in addition to high levels of discrimination in the labour market.”

Pandemic disrupts 15-year UN Sustainable Development Goals

In another study issued in July the UN said its 15-year global efforts to improve the lives of people everywhere under the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were disrupted by the fast spreading coronavirus within a few months in the first part of 2020

The study said progress had been made to advance the goals even though it was not even and sufficient in areas such as improving maternal and child health, increasing women’s representation in government and access to electricity in developing countries.

“As Member States recognized at the SDG Summit held last September, global efforts to date have been insufficient to deliver the change we need, jeopardizing the agenda’s promise to current and future generations,” Guterres said. “Now, due to COVID-19, an unprecedented health, economic and social crisis is threatening lives and livelihoods, making the achievement of goals even more challenging.”

Other findings in the study said the over 1 billion people living in slums around the world are vulnerable to Covid-19 because of the lack of water, housing, shared toilets, crowded space and limited access to health care facilities.
It said women and children are among those suffering the most from the pandemic due to the disruption of health and vaccination services. School closure has kept 90 percent of the 1.57 billion students worldwide out of schools, causing millions of them to miss out school meals they depended on and health services provided schools.

Adopted in 2015, the SDGs targeted 17 goals to be achieved by 2030 with ending poverty at the top of the list. It is followed by hunger, maternal and child mortality, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, decent work, reduction of inequalities, sustainable cities and responsible consumption.

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