Environment: What’s Up in GENeva | 13 – 19 February 2023

The Geneva Environment Network’s weekly newsletter includes the latest information on the global environmental agenda, main events, job vacancies, learning opportunities, 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.

Image of the week | Meetings convened or co-convened by the Geneva Environment Network on 8, 9 and 10 February 2023 – The UN System’s Environmental Footprint | Presenting the findings of the UN Greening the Blue Report 2022 | Info Session | Human Rights and the Environment: Meeting on Activities Related to 52nd Session of the Human Rights Council | Geneva Beat Plastic Pollution Experts Meeting.

Ending Plastic Pollution Agenda

Intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) to develop a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution | The secretariat continues to collect inputs to prepare a document with potential options for elements towards an international legally binding instrument. The statements received are being compiled and made available the INC website. As of 10 February, over 200 written submissions from member states and other stakeholders were already available. Members of the Committee can still send their inputs to unep-incplastic.secretariat@un.org, the deadline has been extended to Monday 13 February.

Other recent plastic-related news include:

Scaling up plastic substitutes is key to tackling pollution | UNCTAD | 3 February
Nature abounds in sustainable alternatives to plastics, but companies and countries must work across borders to boost their production and tackle barriers.
Microplastics Are Filling the Skies. Will They Affect the Climate? | Nicola Jones | Yale Environment 360 | 1 February 2023
Recent studies reveal that tiny pieces of plastic are constantly lofted into the atmosphere. These particles can travel thousands of miles and affect the formation of clouds, which means they have the potential to impact temperature, rainfall, and even climate change.

Human Rights and the Environment

52nd Session of the Human Rights Council | With the 52nd regular session of the Human Rights Council (HRC52) taking place in Geneva and online from 27 February to 4 April 2023 fast approaching, environmental issues remain high on the agenda of the Human Rights Council and their side events. The right to a clean, healthy and sustainable is the usual main environmental theme of the Council’s March sessions, with the Special Rapporteur’s annual Report to the HRC. → Stay up to date with environment-related events through our dedicated page for HRC52, and share information on your activities.

Call for Comments: Children’s rights, the environment, and climate change | The Committee on the Rights of the Child is currently drafting a general comment on children’s rights and the environment with a special focus on climate change. The Committee now invites all interested stakeholders to comment on its draft general comment. After due consideration of inputs provided, the Committee will decide on the contents of the final version of the general comment. The deadline for all comments and submissions is 15 February 2023. → Consult all environment-related calls for submissions from the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council and other bodies.

Five Years Later Niloufar Bayani Awaiting to Be Released

Tuesday 24 January 2023 marked the fifth anniversary of the detainment of eight Iranian scientists of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, including Niloufar Bayani, who worked at the UN Environment Programme in Geneva as a consultant. The group was expecting to be pardoned as part of last week’s prisoner amnesty. However, Niloufar is still in jail and has announced a sit-in within Evin prison to protest the exclusion of her case under this amnesty. → Join in person or online the Call for Release for Niloufar Bayani and her Fellow Environmental Conservationists event, on Tuesday 14 February from 15:00 to 14:45 CET.

Find out more on Niloufar in the article: Five Years Later, McGill Alum Niloufar Bayani Remains Detained in Iran | Nikki Bozinoff, Daniel Hoops, Jamie Lundine and E. Magda Price | 6 February 2023
24 January 2023 marked the fifth anniversary of the detainment of eight Iranian scientists, among them McGill alumnus and former UNEP consultant, Niloufar Bayani.

Upcoming Geneva Environment Network Events

Upcoming events convened or co-convened by the Geneva Environment Network include:

Briefing on the Implementation of UNEA Resolution 5/12 on Environmental Aspects of Minerals and Metals Management | 28 Feb 2023, 11:30 – 13:00 CET
Diálogo sobre Plásticos (português) | A caminho do tratado internacional | 1 Mar 2023, 12:00 – 13:30 CET
Geneva World Wildlife Day Celebration | 50 Years of Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation and Sustainability | 3 Mar 2023, 12:00 – 13:30 CET
Briefing on the 2023 Meetings of the Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions | 7 Mar 2023, 10:00 – 12:00 CET

What (Else) to Read Next?

Antimicrobial Resistance Death Toll Could Catch Up to Cancer by 2050, and Pollution is Fuelling its Spread | Stefan Anderson | Health Policy Watch | 7 February 2023
A new UN Environment report calls for more attention to be focused on the environmental factors fostering the development of strains of drug-resistant bacteria immune to all known antibiotics, known as “superbugs”.
Secretary-General’s briefing to the General Assembly on Priorities for 2023 | UN Secretary-General António Guterres | 6 February 2023
The UN Secretary-General in his address to the General Assembly presents his priorities for 2023, including climate action and the “clean, healthy and sustainable environment [as] a right we must make real for all.”
The Global Biodiversity Framework – what’s next for financial policy and regulation? | UNEP FI | 2 February 2023
The role of finance in both sustaining and finding solutions that address biodiversity loss is becoming clearer. UNEP FI examines what the new GBF means for the financial sector, providing some tangible examples of sustainable finance policy and regulation necessary to accelerate action on nature and biodiversity.
Status of climate applications before the European Court | European Court of Human Rights | 9 February 2023
Between September 2022 and February 2023 the European Court of Human Rights held a series of procedural meetings in respect of climate change applications other than those pending before its Grand Chamber, decided to adjourn its examination of six cases until such time as the Grand Chamber has ruled in the climate change cases before it, and declared two other cases inadmissible.