Worrying insights from assessment of water security in Africa
6/4/2022: Only 29 African countries have made progress in water security over the past three to five years. Twenty-five have made none. The UN’s concept of water security encompasses various criteria and more effort is needed to establish global standards for data and assessment.
Source: The Conversation
Sharing cross-border water resources: Cooperation or conflict?
6/4/2022: From the Euphrates to the Mekong, dams that ensure one country's water supply risk leaving others parched. With 40% of the global population dependent on rivers that cross international borders, climate change is aggravating tensions.
Source: DW
What really happened at Geneva’s crucial biodiversity negotiations?
2/4/2022: Talks ahead of the key Cop15 summit on halting mass extinction of life were slow – and much has been asked of the developing world. Little progress was made on the targets and goals due for approval at the major biodiversity summit in Kunming, China, later this year.
Source: The Guardian
US backs away from Green Climate Fund obligations
29/3/2022: The Director of the Green Climate Fund has warned that the pipeline of carbon-cutting projects in developing countries is at risk. President Biden had requested Congress to approve $1.25bn for the Green Climate Fund but negotiations brought the amount down to zero.
Source: Climate Home News
UN talks fail to finalize a treaty to manage the high seas
21/3/2022: UN member states have failed to reach consensus on several key points of a treaty governing the high seas, including how to establish marine protected areas. This was the last of four diplomatic sessions planned since 2017. There is now pressure to complete a treaty in 2022.
Source: Mongabay
Amazon deforestation map shows devastating impact of ranching
22/3/2022: Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project has found that forest loss in 2021 was mostly the result of cattle ranching and other agricultural activities. Most of the deforestation took place in Brazil and Bolivia.
Source: Mongabay
UN report looks underfoot, to solve global water crises
21/3/2022: While groundwater accounts for 99 per cent of all running freshwater on Earth, it is often undervalued, mismanaged, and overexploited, according to a new report by UNESCO. Water use is projected to grow by roughly one per cent annually over the next 30 years, and dependency on groundwater is expected to rise.
Source: UN News
Activists vow to take EU to court over forest biomass policies
14/3/2022: International NGOs and their lawyers contend that the European Union is burning forest biomass to produce energy, a policy science has shown to be climate destabilizing, destructive to forests and biodiversity.
Source: Mongabay
Amazon deforestation starts 2022 at fastest pace in 14 years
15/3/2022: According to data from Brazil’s national space research institute, forest clearing in the Amazon through the first two months of 2022 has amounted to 430 square kilometers, more than twice the average over the past ten years. The data suggests that the Brazilian government is falling short of its pledge at last year’s UN climate conference.
Source: Mongabay
NGOs call for $60bn increase in annual biodiversity funding
13/3/2022: The UN Convention on Biological Diversity has started preparatory negotiations on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework in advance of the full conference of parties scheduled for May. International conservation groups are calling on richer countries to increase funding to protect the world's biodiversity.
Source: Mongabay