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Newsletter 12 May 2025

Environment: What’s Up in GENeva | 12 – 18 May 2025

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 on X (Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Bluesky, and Youtube, or visit our website regularly for additional updates.

Image of the week | The Presidents and Executive Secretaries of the Conventions discussing with the Secretariat at the closing plenary of the 2025 Meetings of the Conference of the Parties of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions. © BRS Conventions, Kiara Worth | CICG | 9 May 2025

Addressing Health Concerns in the Future Plastics Treaty

With scientific studies continuously making the headlines, the link between health and plastic across its lifecycle is undeniable. The presence of toxic chemical additives, including chemicals of concern, is a threat to human health globally, as highlighted in various recent articles and statements:

Building momentum ahead of upcoming key discussions on this link at the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly and the resumed fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution (INC-5.2), a Geneva Beat Plastic Pollution Dialogue “Health on the Negotiating Table: Stakeholder Reflections on the Plastics Treaty Draft” taking place this week will highlight perspectives from INC members and stakeholders on what improvements are needed in the Chair’s Text to ensure that the plastics treaty will protect human health. While WHO has been calling for pursuing the highest attainable standard of human and environmental health as a core objective of the treaty, in preparation of INC-5.2, an informal Core Group co-chaired by Mexico and Switzerland has been exploring options to shape an effective Article 3 to protect human health and the environment from plastic pollution and enhance a circular plastics economy. → Register and join on Webex on Thursday, 15 May 2025 from 15:00 CEST.

The countdown continues for World Environment Day, calling this year for collective action to tackle plastic pollution, exactly two months before delegates meet in Geneva for the resumed negotiations towards a global treaty to end plastic pollution. Important to note that the deadline for registration to attend INC-5.2 is 6 June 2025, 23:59 EAT (22:59 CEST), whiled the INC Secretariat has announced that there will be no on-site registration.

Additional news on plastics include:

Strengthened Action on Chemicals and Wastes | Making Visible the Invisible at BRS COPs

At the end of two weeks of intensive negotiations, the 2025 meetings of the Conference of Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions (2025 BRS COPs), held under the theme “Make visible the invisible: sound management of chemicals and wastes”, gaveled to a close on 10 May 2025 at 00:02 CEST (Basel Convention COP at 23:55, Rotterdam Convention COP at 23:59, and the Stockholm Convention COP at 00:02 CEST). More than 2,200 participants, including 1,284 representatives from governments from 191 countries and 500 observer organisations, came together for the two-week long meetings advancing the agenda to strengthen global efforts to protect human health and the environment from the harmful effects of hazardous chemicals and waste. They adopted a series of bold decisions to advance the sound management of chemicals and wastes. → Watch press conference and read final press release.

 “These landmark decisions arising from intense multilateral negotiations have a profound impact on how we can address pollution, and its interconnectedness with climate change and biodiversity.”
— Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions

Advancing the progress of the sound management of chemicals and waste, significant outcomes of the 2025 BRS COPs include:

  • Listing of chemicals | The Stockholm and Rotterdam Conventions have listed chemicals in their respective annexes in the past two weeks. Such listings in the Annexes. as Stockholm Convention President Maya Berci highlighted, “signify our collective resolve to address even the most complex pollutants to protect human health and the environment.”
    • Following the listing by the Parties to the Stockholm Convention of chlorpyriphos and LC-PFCAs in the first week, the Parties also agreed to eliminate the production and use of medium-chain chlorinated paraffins. They also adopted the decision on adding a specific exemption for the UV-328 listing — a chemical used in plastic, but is also found in aircraft adhesives. Though an unprecedented decision of the COP, Parties ensured this would not set a precedent for future listings.
    • The Parties to the Rotterdam Convention have also decided to subject harmful pesticides carbosulfan, eight years after the Convention’s Chemical Review Committee had recommended its listing, as well as fenthion, ten years after.
  • Technical guidelines | The Basel Convention has adopted decisions on various technical guidelines: on lead acid batteries, on pneumatic tyres, and on the environmentally sound management of wastes containing various POPs, including a new guideline specifically on UV-328 (a chemical used in plastics).
  • Disposal operations amendments | After six years of negotiations, BC adopted the decision amending Annex IV on disposal operations, to be effective in 1 January 2030, which are aimed at improving/updating descriptions, improving environmental controls, and clarifying descriptions, towards providing enhanced clarity as to what is defined as waste under the Convention.
  • Textiles and textile waste | A new area of work was launched on used textiles and textile wastes, exploring the impact of such trade and the challenges faced by Parties, with a view to preparing recommendations on possible options offered by the Convention to address these challenges.
  • International cooperation and coordination | Throughout the COPs, whether in plenary, contact groups or at side events, synergies and interlinkages were prominently highlighted as an effective way to tackle the sound management of chemicals and waste.
    • A decision on international cooperation and coordination with other organizations was also adopted by the joint sessions, which welcomes cooperation and requests the Secretariat to continue such cooperation with other other Multilateral Environmental Agreements and processes, including the Montreal Protocol, the Minamata Convention on Mercury, the Global Framework on Chemicals, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the Bern process, the ongoing Plastics Treaty negotiations, the Open-ended Working Group on a science-policy panel to contribute further to the sound management of chemicals and waste and to prevent pollution, the Bamako Convention, the Hong Kong Convention, and more.
    • The joint sessions also adopted a decision on synergies in preventing and combating illegal traffic and trade in hazardous chemicals and wastes, which aims to, among others, further coordination among Parties and international organizations to work on strengthening capacities for reporting illegal traffic and trade.
  • Resource mobilization | The joint sessions have also adopted a decision on a resource mobilization strategy from non-State actors for Africa, Latin America and Carribean regions, towards developing guidance for such a framework.
  • BRS Conventions Advocate for Clean Mountains and Glaciers | German alpine ski champion and long-standing environmental advocate Felix Neureuther was named the BRS Conventions Advocate for Clean Mountains and Glaciers. Felix will collaborate with the BRS Conventions to promote prevention, support clean-up initiatives and engage youth — towards amplifying the Conventions’ mission to protect human health and the environment from the harmful impacts of hazardous chemicals and waste.
  • Venue and dates of the next meetings | The COPs adopted the decision accepting Panama’s offer to host the next meeting in Panama City, Panama, tentatively from 19 to 30 April 2027.

Reactions and related articles include:

Advancing the Human Rights and Environment Agenda

This week, the interlinkages between human rights and the environment will be explored through various events taking place in Geneva:

  • 26th session of the Intergovernmental Working Group on Right to Development | The Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development will hold its 26th session from 12 to 15 May 2025 in Tempus, Palais des Nations. At this session, the Working Group will continue to monitor and review progress made in the promotion and implementation of the right to development. → Register for the session. Various discussions related to the environment are expected to take place:
    • Children, Future Generations and the Right to Development | This panel discussion will share insights and recommendations on how to effectively integrate the right to development into policies, including those on the environment, that will affect children and future generations.
    • Debt crisis and the right to development | The panel discussion will aim to have enhanced understanding of the relationship between the debt crisis and the right to development. It will also share insights and recommendations from experts and practitioners on how to address the debt crisis while promoting sustainable development and human rights.
  • Multilateralism, Democracy and Human Rights | Taking place in the context of the project Understanding the Links between Multilateralism and Democracy to Tackle Global Challenges More Effectively, a policy dialogue, organized by Kofi Annan Foundation, Costa Rica, Switzerland, and the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy, strengthening democratic resilience through UN Human Rights mechanisms. The dialogue aims to consider, empirically, the argument that all the key pillars or tenets of democracy are built upon the foundation of international human rights obligations and commitments. → Register to participate in-person at Palais des Nations, Room XXIV on 14 May 2025, from 15:00 to 17:30 CEST.
  • International Human Rights Law and the Protection of the Environment | An event organized by Czechia. → Register to participate in-person at Palais des Nations, Room XXII on 12 May 2025, from 15:00 to 16:00 CEST.

In preparation for the 59th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC59) taking place from 16 June to 11 July 2025 at Palais des Nations, various moments in the coming weeks are to be noted:

  • NGO HRC59 Side Events Registration | Registration of requests for NGO Side Events at HRC59 will open from 12 May 2025, 12:00 CEST, until 19 May 2025, 12:00 CEST. NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC may submit requests for NGO Side Events through the online registration platform.
  • HRC59 Info Session | The Geneva Environment Network, the Geneva Climate Change Consultation Group (GeCCco), and its partners are convening an information-sharing session on activities and events related to the environment to develop more synergies among stakeholders and a better outreach. This event will discuss and share information on planned environment-related activities at and around HRC59, such as in-person and online events, publications or exhibitions, among others, and exchange on possible synergies. They will feed the GEN page on HRC59 which will provide an updated calendar of these environment-related events. → Register to participate in-person at the International Environment House I or online via Webex on 27 May 2025, from 10:00 to 11:00 CEST. Share as well information on your activity!

In preparation of the 80th Session of the UN General Assemby, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and climate change, Elisa Morgera, is organizing an Expert Conversation on Human Rights in the Life Cycle of Renewable Energy and Critical Minerals on Wednesday 21 April 2025, from 10:30 – 12:30 CEST, at Palais des Nations, Room V. The Consultation will build on a call for inputs which was issued in December 2024 in order to inform her upcoming thematic report to the UN General Assembly. This conversation will gather all interested experts, including from Member States, UN agencies, civil society organisations, Indigenous Peoples, peasants, academia and the private sector to participate. → Register on Indico.

Other relevant news and upcoming events on human rights and the environment include:

Fisheries Agreement Negotiations | A Step Closer to the Entry into Force

At almost the mark of the third anniversary of the adoption of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies in June 2022, the entry into force is closer, with only 14 acceptances still needed. During last week’s WTO’s Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC), H.E. Ambassador Einar Gunnarsson of Iceland, Chair of the fisheries subsidies negotiations, reported that he led a series of bilateral consultations in late March /early April to hear views on the next steps and will organize meetings over the coming weeks to exchange views on the “second wave” negotiations as well as the entry into force and implementation of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies. The Negotiating Group on Rules on Fisheries Subsidies Small group meetings are taking place on 15 and 16 May 2025. → Global Response to Overfishing and the Role of Geneva

Recent news have highlighted the environmental importance of the agreement by presenting the current status of depletion of the world’s fish stocks.

  • An EIA report Catch of the Day – The deadly impacts of cetacean bycatch in European waters reveals that the degree of bycatch is so serious that there are cetacean populations where fisheries bycatch thresholds have been exceeded in European waters, including five that are critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable.
  • Following President Trump’s order to loosen fishing regulations across the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine national monument, a federally protected area in the central Pacific Ocean spanning nearly 500,000 sq miles, environmental conservation groups and experts have been warning about major risks related the granted permission US-flagged vessels to fish commercially within 50 to 200 nautical miles of the monument’s boundaries.
  • The newest film by 99-year-old naturalist David Attenborough – Ocean – speaks out against industrial fishing, focusing specifically on the destructive practice of bottom trawling. → Read more in The Guardian’s article.

This week, FAO Geneva Liaison Office is organizing a FAO in Geneva Fisheries Trade Talks Information Session on FAO Sub-Committee on Fish Trade in the run up to he 20th session of COFI Sub-Committee on Fish Trade (COFI:FT), taking place in September 2025. Join the event in room H.307.1 at Palais des Nations or online from 15 May 2025 15:00 to 16:00 CEST.

Call for Submissions and Contests | Upcoming Deadlines

With the environment high on the agenda of International Geneva and beyond, different international processes, negotiations, and fora regularly call for inputs in preparation for future reports and guidelines, as well as contests. → Find here calls for submissions related to the environment, find here information on ongoing environmental contests, and here calls for submissions from Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council and other human rights bodies and instruments.

  • Global Alliance on Highly Hazardous Pesticides (GAHHPs) Operational framework – Stakeholder Feedback | Following a webinar on “Establishing a Global Alliance on Highly Hazardous Pesticides (GAHHPs)”, a draft operational framework for the Global Alliance on Highly Hazardous Pesticides (GAHHPs) has been prepared for comments and suggestions. If you wish to provide feedback, you can send your comments/suggestions by 16 May 2025 using this form.
  • UN Secretary-General / Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights | Topics to be discussed during the fifth session of the Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law on the theme “Democracy and climate change: focusing on solutions” | In resolution 28/14, adopted on 26 March 2015, the Human Rights Council decided to establish a forum on human rights, democracy and rule of law, the purpose of which is “to provide a platform for promoting dialogue and cooperation on issues pertaining to the relationship between these areas” and to “identify and analyse best practices, challenges and opportunities for States in their efforts to secure respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law.” The forum takes place every two years. Human Rights Council resolution 52/22, decided that the theme of the fifth session of the Forum would be “Democracy and climate change: focusing on solutions”. The deadline for submission is 16 May 2025. → Submit your input

Enjoying a Green Spring in Geneva

Suggestions to enjoy a Green Spring in Geneva this week include:

  • Conférence: Les maladies dues à l’environnement | Ville de Genève – Site officiel | 14 May 2025 | Cité Seniors
    From the cycle “Medical information: Can we disentangle the true from the false?”. Join a series of conferences with Paolo Meda, former professor at the University of Geneva’s Faculty of Medicine.
  • Animation famille – Herbiers sous-lacustres : des plantes essentielles pour l’écosystème du Léman | 14 May 2025 | Espace Léman
    Discover the fascinating world of aquatic plants in Lake Geneva with your family. This animation invites you to explore the sub lacustrine herbariums, veritable submerged forests that play an essential role in the lake’s ecosystem. Discover the emblematic species of Lake Geneva, why they are so important to the ecosystem and their role as indicators of the lake’s health. Finally, a hands-on identification workshop will enable you to better recognize these plants essential to lake biodiversity.
  • Atelier p’tits jardiniers: Ramène Ta Fraise | 14 May 2025 | Réserve naturelle du Moulin de Vert
    Spring rhymes with rebirth, and this season is ideal for painting a fresco of our food, from its seasonality to its local cultures. The vegetable garden is full of secrets that it’s essential to know and understand, so that we can eat well for our health and respect our local environment. Karine Croquelois will put on her gardener’s clothes and get to work with the day’s little gardeners on this season’s berries and discover the good vegetables of May. A great opportunity to plant seedlings for next season too!
  • 14e Cineglobe – Festival du film au CERN | 14 – 18 May 2025 | CERN
    The theme of this 14th edition, “Intertwined”, offers inspiring, philosophical and historical edutainment content for a multi-sensory immersion experience with lasting impact.
  • Nuit des bains | 15 May 2025 | Quartier des Bains
    Come and visit one of the third annual “Nuit des bains”, named after the eponymous central street rue des Bains, to admire the art of a few gallerists who are opening their new exhibitions simultaneously to attract a wider public. 
  • Castor – dans ma Nature | 16 May 2025 | Centre nature de la libellule
    Reintroduced to Geneva over 70 years ago, the beaver is a giant rodent and builder. Several families live in our rivers. Join to explore the beaver’s habitat before setting out to observe it.
  • Les oiseaux du Moulin de Vert | 17 May 2025 | Réserve naturelle du Moulin de Vert
    Enjoy a morning in search of the inhabitants of the Moulin de Vert! You will set off to discover the biodiversity of this unspoilt environment. Between migratory and nesting birds, between forest, ponds and rivers, diversity will be the order of the day!
  • Fabrication de peintures naturelles | 17 May 2025 | Centre Nature de la Pointe à la Bise
    Come and discover the diversity of plant pigments and how to extract them from plants and transfer them to paper. Once you have made these beautiful natural paints, you can use them to draw what you see around you.
  • Cueillette sauvage pour mes rouleaux d’été | 17 May 2025 | Centre Nature du Vallon de l’Allondon
    Cooking with wild plants isn’t just about treating your taste buds, it’s also an opportunity to (re)discover the sometimes unloved plants that line our paths and inhabit our gardens. Glean, in moderation, these crunchy beauties on your doorstep to concoct tasty summer rolls!
  • Fête du printemps 2025 | 17 May 2025 | La Fermette, Vernier
    While the usual seedling and geranium market is one of the highlights of the event, other activities will be on offer to you. There will be stalls from various craftspeople, local honey for sale, the Genthod ornithological center, chick sales, a bicycle repair workshop, food stalls featuring local produce, local brewers and winemakers, and concerts by Genevan music groups. 
  • Festival Explore Demain 2025 | 17 May to 25 May 2025 | Various locations
    This immersive and participatory festival will offer opportunities to visit urban nature spots, learning opportunities to get to know the nature around us and many cultural experiences and debates to reflect on climate challenges.

Happening Abroad

State of the Climate in Africa 2024 Report Launch | The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) will release its flagship State of the Climate in Africa in 2024 report on 12 May 2025 with an official launch event in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This annual publication provides authoritative information on climate patterns and their impacts across the African continent. The launch event will bring together high-level representatives from African governments, UN agencies, scientific institutions, and development partners. Participants will explore key findings from the report and engage in discussions on strengthening resilience, supporting early warning systems, and accelerating climate-smart investment and adaptation efforts in Africa.

What (Else) To Read Next?

  • From Waste to Opportunity: UNRMS and the Road to 100% Phosphogypsum Utilization | UNECE | 9 May 2025
    The newly released 2025 International Fertilizer Association (IFA) report titled “Phosphogypsum: From Waste to Inventory ” presents compelling evidence that phosphogypsum (PG) can be reclassified as a secondary raw material, exhibiting a multitude of potential applications. These analyses were undertaken with the support of the United Nations Resource Management System (UNRMS), which provides a structured framework for sustainable resource classification and reuse.
  • Comment le géant de la mode Shein déguise son greenwashing en militantisme | Public Eye | 9 May 2025
    Contrairement aux mensonges proférés en grosses lettres sur son site de propagande à but ultra-lucratif, la mode estampillée Shein n’est pas plus « durable », « sûre » ou « responsable » qu’un sac en plastique enfoncé dans la gorge d’une tortue. 
  • ILO to hold its 113th annual International Labour Conference | ILO | 8 May 2025
    ILO will hold its annual International Labour Conference (ILC) from 2–13 June 2025. Government, worker, and employer delegates from the ILO’s 187 Member States will tackle a wide range of issues that have a long-term impact on the world of work, including protection against biological hazards at work.
  • Cardinal Prevost on Focusing on Climate Change | Vatican News | 8 May 2025
    Prevost is outspoken about the need for urgent action on climate change. He recently stressed that the Church must move “from words to action,” warning against the “harmful” consequences of unchecked technological development and advocating for a reciprocal, non-tyrannical relationship with the environment. He aligns closely with Pope Francis’ environmental priorities.
  • WMO issues guidelines on verification of hydrological forecasts | WMO | 7 May 2025
    The World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) has issued 2025 Guidelines on the Verification of Hydrological Forecasts (WMO-No. 1364), offering straightforward, scientifically grounded methods to help assess and improve the accuracy of forecasts, improve systems and better serve communities.
  • High-income groups disproportionately contribute to climate extremes worldwide | Sarah Schöngart, Zebedee Nicholls, Roman Hoffmann et al. | Nature Climate Change | 7 May 2025
    Climate injustice persists as those least responsible often bear the greatest impacts, both between and within countries. […] Emissions from the wealthiest 10% in the United States and China led to a two- to threefold increase in heat extremes across vulnerable regions. Quantifying the link between wealth disparities and climate impacts can assist in the discourse on climate equity and justice.
  • Greater attention to boreal forests needed, says UN Study | UNECE | 5 May 2025
    The comprehensive study on boreal forests and accompanying series of national overviews (for Canada, Finland, Norway, Russian Federation, Sweden, USA) finds that despite the importance of the boreal biome, there are significant gaps in knowledge about its forests, their role in sustainable development, and their future. This can be attributed to fragmented research, based on national, site-specific conditions, and the lack of a harmonized and agreed definition and monitoring framework across the boreal region. 
  • Global Trade Update (May 2025): Focus on critical minerals – copper in the new green and digital economy | UNCTAD | May 2025
    Copper – the new strategic raw material at the heart of the global energy transition and digital transformation is essential for electric vehicles, renewable energy systems, data centers, AI infrastructure and smart grids. Global copper demand is expected to grow by over 40% by 2040, but supply isn’t keeping pace. Meeting this demand may require 80 new mines and $250 billion in investment by 2030.
  • Global Methane Tracker 2025 | IEA | May 2025
    The annually updated Global Methane Tracker is an essential tool for raising awareness about methane emissions across the energy sector and the opportunities to bring them down.

Events

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Afterwork

Festival Explore Demain

17 – 25 May 2025

Various Locations

Republic and State of Geneva

Climate | Green Economy | Nature

SDG3 | SDG11 | SDG12 | SDG13

Conference

Geneva Health Week 2025

18 – 21 May 2025

Maison de la Paix & Online

Geneva Global Health Platform

Health and Environment

SDG3

Jobs

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Updates

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23 Aug 2026

Ongoing Contests

Climate | Nature | Chemicals and Pollution

SDG11 | SDG12

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