Environment: What’s Up in GENeva | 10 – 16 January 2022

The Geneva Environment Network’s weekly newsletter includes the latest information on the global environmental agenda, main events, job vacancies, as well as other useful resources and updates. Stay tuned and follow us also on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, or visit our website regularly for additional updates.

Due to the developments in the sanitary situation, various institutions in Geneva continue operating virtually. Our update on COVID-19 and the environment lists relevant information, research, data, and press releases on the environmental origins and impacts of the pandemic.

Image of the week | Borealis, an installation by Swiss artivist Dan Acher, brought northern lights in the Geneva sky on New Year’s Eve. The art piece invites us to contemplate the forces of nature and reflect on how we treat our environment.

UN System Tackling Plastic Pollution

In the run-up to the second segment of the 5th session of the United Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2) in February 2022, expected to be a turning point towards a stronger global response to plastic polluion, international attention is growing on the existing and potential mechanisms to address this global issue. To contribute to these discussions, the upcoming session of the Geneva Beat Plastic Pollution Dialogues will focus on the UN System Response to Marine Litter and Plastic Pollution. This session, organized in partnership with the United Nations Environment Management Group (UN-EMG) and GRID-Arendal, will see the launch of the UN-EMG report on mapping the UN response to marine litter and plastic pollution, mandated by UNEA-4.

The event will showcase how UN Agencies are working collaboratively to help countries address the issue systemically across the lifecycle. Experts will discuss how this collaboration could be further strengthened vertically and horizontally, to help institutionalize innovative and circular approaches to the management of plastics in a more sustainable way. Register on Webex and join us online on Thursday 13 January at 14.00 CET.

GEF-8: Finance for a Pollution-Free Planet

2022 is an important year with regard to the financing of action for climate, nature and a pollution-free planet, as countries are expected to decide on the size and ambition of the 8th Replenishment of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Trust Fund. The GEF is the largest multilateral trust fund focused on enabling developing countries to invest in environmental protection and nature, and supports the implementation of major international environmental conventions. As highlighted in the report “Reflecting on 30 Years of the GEF” published on 10 December on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the GEF, the fund has a vital role to play in global efforts to make the world nature positive, carbon neutral, and pollution free by 2030.

The GEF-8 investment period, which will span from July 2022 to June 2026, aligns with a crucial time for the world to recover sustainably from the COVID-19 pandemic, tackle the root causes of challenges to nature and human health, and make large strides toward the 2030 international environmental goals. In this context, the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions and the Minamata Convention Secretariats, in collaboration with the Geneva Environment Network, are hosting the high-level virtual event 8th Replenishment of the GEF Trust Fund – Ambitions for the Chemicals and Waste Cluster. Register on Webex and join us on 14 January at 13.00 CET.

On the Road to Stockholm+50

In May 2021, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to bring the global environmental community together in Stockholm, Sweden, for a major international environmental meeting on 2-3 June 2022, the week of World Environment Day. Under the theme “Stockholm+50: a healthy planet for the prosperity of all – our responsibility, our opportunity”, this high-level meeting will take place five decades after the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. The event will provide leaders with an opportunity to draw on 50 years of multilateral environmental action to achieve the bold and urgent action needed to secure a better future on a healthy planet. Find more information about the content of the meeting and its importance here.

A call for side-events is now open until 1 March 2022. The call is addressed to UN Member States, UN entities and relevant stakeholders, including organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, intergovernmental organizations, international financial institutions, other interested international bodies and non-governmental organizations, including those that have an interest in the field of the environment, civil society organizations, indigenous peoples’ organizations, academic institutions, the scientific community, the private sector and philanthropic organizations.

2022 and the Global Environmental Agenda

Various key events for the future of our planet are scheduled to take place around the world this year virtually or physically. However, due to the current pandemic, most institutions in Geneva and around the world continue operating virtually, and major negotiations on the agenda might still be subject to changes. Consult our constantly updated page on the International Environmental Negotiations Agenda.

Among the international meetings planned this year of particular interest for international Geneva:

GEF-8 Replenishment (Third Meeting) | Virtual | 2-4 February 2022
2nd International Conference on Environmental Peacebuilding | Virtual | 1-4 February 2022
One Ocean Summit | Brest, France | 9-11 February 2022
2nd part of the 5th UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2) | Nairobi, Kenya | 28 February – 2 March 2022
UNEP@50 | Nairobi, Kenya | 3-4 March 2022
74th meeting of the CITES Standing Committee (CITES SC74) | Lyon, France | 7-11 March 2022
Subsidiary Bodies of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SBSTTA 24, SBI 3 and WG2020-3) | Geneva | 13-29 March 2022
2nd part of the 4th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention (COP4) | Bali, Indonesia | 21-25 March 2022
9th World Water Forum | Dakar, Senegal | 21-26 March 2022
2nd part of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) | Kunming, China | April-May 2022
Our Ocean Conference | Palau | 13-14 April 2022
15th UN Conference on Desertification | Côte d’Ivoire | May 2022
Stockholm+50 | Stockholm, Sweden | 2-3 June 2022
2nd part of the Meetings of the Conferences of Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam & Stockholm Conventions | Geneva | 6-17 June 2022
UN Ocean Conference | Lisbon, Portugal | 27 June – 1 July 2022
IPCC AR6 Reports Launch | WGII 21 February 2022, WGIII 28 March 2022, Synthesis Report 3 October 2022
UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) | Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt | 7-18 November 2022
19th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (COP19) | Panama City, Panama | 14-25 November 2022
14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Wetlands (COP14) | Wuhan, China | 21-29 November 2022

Ongoing decades:

United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration | 2021-2030
United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development | 2021-2030
International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development” | 2018-2028
United Nations Decade of Sustainable Energy for All | 2014-2024

2022 is also the

What (Else) Should I Read Next?

Nazhat Shameem Khan: UN’s outgoing rights chief on Covid, climate and the might of small states | Geneva Solutions | 22 December 2021
As we just concluded one of the busiest years in the history of the Human Rights Council, its outgoing president Nazhat Shameem Khan looks back on the successes and challenges of the past 12 months, from fighting for vaccine equity to tackling climate change, and fighting for the voices of smaller states to be heard.
Friends of Ocean Action supports call for adoption of WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies no later than February 2022 | Friends of Ocean Action | 20 December 2021
Following the postponement of the WTO 12th Ministerial Conference, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has called on members to reach an agreement on fisheries subsidies by the end of February. The draft agreement is gathering increasing support as it could provide a balanced basis to advance the implementation of SDG 14 Target 6.
Appel à candidatures pour un prix en faveur de l’agriculture en transition écologique | Grand Genève | 3 December 2021 | In French
Afin de mettre en valeur les bonnes pratiques en matière d’agriculture durable, l’agglomération du Grand Genève invite les agriculteurs et de leurs organisations professionnelles à présenter leurs projets ou réalisations participant à la transition écologique et atténuant les effets du changement climatique.