Environment: What’s Up in GENeva this Week | 30 March – 5 April 2020

All United to End the COVID-19 Pandemic

The #COVID19 pandemic is a crisis that affects everyone.

Last week, UN Secretary General delivered a message to leaders attending the G20 virtual meeting, urging concerted action to suppress the virus and to minimize the social and economic impact of the pandemic. “We must work together now to set the stage for a recovery that builds a more sustainable, inclusive and equitable economy, guided by our shared promise — the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, he concluded.

For general reliable information on COVID-19 visit:

• WHO updates on COVID-19
• United Nations COVID-19 Information Portal
• Geneva State Council recommendations & information on COVID-19
• Swiss Confederation updates on COVID-19 in Switzerland

United to end the pandemic, get information from additional reliable sources:

• Launch of $2 billion global humanitarian response plan to fund the fight against COVID-19 in the world’s most fragile countries (25 March 2020)
• OHCHR: COVID-19 and its human rights dimensions
• ILO: COVID-19 and the world of work
• UNECE: Launch of the Observatory on Border Crossings Status due to COVID-19
• UNCTAD: monitoring the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on manufacturing, trade, foreign direct investment and economic growth
• ITU: ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Policy and Regulatory experiences and best practices that can improve COVID-19 responses

COVID-19 & the Environment

Numerous articles have been published in the past weeks on the environmental origins and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our “Latest updates on COVID-19 and the environment” page, lists relevant information, research, data and/or press releases issued by our partners in Geneva and other institutions around the world.

The topics covered include: the origins of COVID-19, waste management, use of reusable plastic, air pollution, climate change, impacts on wildlife, greening economies after COVID-19, and the push back on environmental laws.

Among the numerous press releases and articles issued last week:

• Coronavirus: ‘Nature is sending us a message’, says UN environment chief. Damian Carrington in The Guardian, 25 March 2020.
• Waste management an essential public service in the fight to beat COVID-19. UNEP, 24 March 2020.
• Plastic Pollution, Reuse, and COVID-19. UPSTREAM Team, Break Free from Plastic Blog, 26 March 2020.
• Virus which causes COVID-19 threatens great ape conservation. UNEP, 25 March 2020.
• 5 Lessons From Coronavirus That Will Help Us Tackle Climate Change. Christiana Figueres, Time Magazine, 24 March 2020.
• Open Letter to Global Leaders – A Healthy Planet for Healthy People. Call to Action from the Planetary Emergency Partnership*: Emerging from the Planetary Emergency and partnering between People and Nature, 26 March 2020.
• USA: Immediately revoke COVID-19 suspension of environmental protections. Richard Pearshouse, Amnesty International, 27 March 2020.
• Global COVID-19 response has slashed CO2 emissions – here’s how to keep them low. Simone Abram, the World Economic Forum in collaboration with The Conversation, 26 March 2020.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) also launched its resource page on COVID-19.

Going live

The international community in Geneva is teleworking. Various meetings that were initially planned at this period of the year are going live (check the boxes in the agenda section). Interesting webinars are being proposed by partners this week:

• The EU Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities: Climate Adaptation on 31 March (organized by UNEP-FI)
• Using the UN Biodiversity Lab to Support National Conservation and SDGs on 31 March (organized by NASA ARSET: UNDP, UNEP and CBD launched the UN Biodiversity Lab, with funding from the GEF and support from MapX, UNEP WCMC, GRID-Geneva, and NASA).
• Launch of UNEP FI Corporate Impact Analysis Tool & Portfolio Impact Analysis Tool for Banks on 2 April (organized by UNEP-FI)
• Legislative Framework for Waste Inspections, Penalties and Reporting of Waste Crimes on 2 April (organized by UNITAR and IGAMAOT)
• Tackling plastic pollution: science-driven guidelines to address plastic leakage on 2 April (organized by Quantis, IUCN and others)

If you still have some free time, don’t forget to have a look at online learning opportunities:

• The United Nations Information Portal on Multilateral Environmental Agreements (InforMEA) offers free online courses on various topics .
• E-waste Challenge Massive Open Online Course (Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions, the EIT Climate-KIC, the University of Leuven)
• Environmental Security and Sustaining Peace
• The One UN Climate Change Learning Partnership (UN CC:Learn) provided various learning materials online.
• UN SDG:Learn
• UNITAR Training Courses for our Planet (fees for various courses)
• EPFL MOOCs Catalogue
• University of Geneva MOOCs

Check the tips to help you enjoying this largest teleworking experiment ever we shared in our previous weekly newsletters.

Data and the Environment

Four Working Groups have been established as part of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Work Programme, focusing on the key issues related to Capacity Development, Climate Change, Disaster Risk Reduction, and Data. Individuals with relevant expertise are invited to join these by 30 April.

What should I read next?

• Huge East Antarctic Glacier Especially Susceptible to Climate Impacts. Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 25 March 2020.
• New dates and venue announced for two critical UN Biodiversity Convention meetings. CBD, 23 March 2020.
• In Negotiations, Givers Are Smarter Than Takers. Adam Grant, The New York Time, 27 March 2020.

Stay tuned

Please note that the list of events and vacancies provided in our weekly newsletter is non-exhaustive. Stay tuned and follow us also on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or visit our website regularly for additional updates.