UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme)

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Description: "Although Africa is among the regions contributing the least to global warming, the continent is one of the hardest hit by the impact of climate change on agriculture, health and water. Convening in New York at the Dec. 11-13 Religions for Peace summit, African leaders called on the organization and its members to do more to help address the crisis. Spiritual leaders and delegates from across the globe discussed joint action on climate conservation at a Dec. 11 session on "Partnership for Environmental Stewardship and Climate Protection." A delegate from Senegal told panelist Charles McNeill of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) that Africans are "the least responsible and the least informed" when it comes to combating climate change, due to larger issues like "putting food on the table." He called for greater involvement of religious leaders in persuading more people to do their bit to counter climate change. McNeill, UNEP's senior adviser on forests and climate, pointed to the work being done in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where people are taking steps to protect the Congo Rainforest — the second largest after the Amazon in Brazil. "I really appreciate the comment that the African people are, in spite of the fact that they're hurting the most… they are engaging and turning it around," said McNeill. Since 70% of the population in Congo depends on the forest for day-to-day resources, a delegate from Kenya said there's an urgent need to find sustainable alternatives to fuel, so that there's less cutting of trees. With the alarming deforestation in the Amazon, environmental and religious groups also fear large-scale deforestation in Congo..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The National Catholic Reporter" (USA)
2019-12-19
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Climate change, Resource efficiency, Environment under review
Topic: Climate change, Resource efficiency, Environment under review
Description: "As the world strives to cut greenhouse gas emissions and limit climate change, it is crucial to track progress towards globally agreed climate goals. For a decade, UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report has compared where greenhouse gas emissions are heading against where they need to be, and highlighted the best ways to close the gap. What’s new in this year’s report? Update on emissions gap The report presents the latest data on the expected gap in 2030 for the 1.5°C and 2°C temperature targets of the Paris Agreement. It considers different scenarios, from no new climate policies since 2005 to full implementation of all national commitments under the Paris Agreement. For the first time, it looks at how large annual cuts would need to be from 2020 to 2030 to stay on track to meeting the Paris goals..."
Source/publisher: UN Environment Programme (UNEP) (Nairobi)
2019-11-26
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 4.04 MB (108 pages)
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Topic: Oceans & seas, Climate change, Ecosystems
Topic: Oceans & seas, Climate change, Ecosystems
Description: "Ocean lovers are often left out of the bigger environmental discussions and so struggle to see how they can do their part to stop climate change. But one organization, Sustainable Surf, is committed to changing all that by directly engaging the global surfing community to save and restore threatened mangrove forest ecosystems. Mangroves are five times more effective at sequestering carbon emissions than land-based trees. “Many people, including most ocean-minded individuals, inherently understand the real value of restoring coastal ecosystems as a way to protect our oceans, and ourselves. But they need an easier and more engaging pathway to get involved, and that’s why we’re launching project SeaTrees,” said Michael Stewart, co-founder of Sustainable Surf. The ocean-health innovation lab uses surf culture to sell a sustainable lifestyle to an audience all around the world. With SeaTrees, it will provide an online portal to surfers worldwide to calculate and offset their carbon footprint, then become ‘carbon positive’ by funding new mangrove trees. “The goal is to plant one million trees on behalf of the global surfing community in 2019,” said Stewart, who plans to ride the same wave that advertisers have used for years to sell products using surf culture, celebrities and events, but to promote conservation rather than consumption. “Every corporation in the world that you can think of … They all use the imagery of surf and surf culture and coastal ecosystems to sell their products,” he said..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
2019-02-06
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Government of Myanmar today announced its vision for the country’s environmental protection and climate action, launching two new policies that will guide Myanmar’s environmental management and climate change strategy. Myanmar is widely considered one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the impacts of climate change, and its renowned biodiversity and natural resources are under increasing pressure as the country develops. More intense and more frequent floods, cyclones and droughts have caused immense loss of life and damage to infrastructure and the economy. President U Win Myint announced the two new policies – the National Environmental Policy and the Myanmar Climate Change Policy – at an event marking World Environment Day in the capital. More than 400 attended the announcement, including senior government officials from Union ministries, states and regions and representatives from civil society, academic institutions, businesses and the international community, including the acting UN Resident Coordinator and EU Ambassador..."
Source/publisher: "UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme)"
2019-06-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Andrea Dekrout is Senior Environmental Coordinator for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. Based in Geneva, Dekrout is responsible for ensuring sustainable environmental management in UNHCR operations and refugee camps. In her work, she helps refugees and their host communities maintain a clean and healthy environment. We sat down with her to discuss the situation in Cox’s Bazar, a coastal city that has recently seen an enormous influx of refugees. The refugee settlements on southern Bangladesh’s Teknaf Peninsula have existed for a number of years. Before August 2017 they hosted about 200,000 refugees, mainly Rohingyas from Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Since then almost 700,000 more have arrived, after making a perilous journey via land, river or sea. The refugee influx into the Cox’s Bazar district has caused a significant impact on local forests and amplified human-wildlife conflict. It is estimated that the equivalent of 3-5 football fields of forest are felled every day in the area. Important national and community forestry areas, which were already under significant pressure before the influx, have been further degraded, limiting opportunities for local communities depending on forestry projects to supplement their livelihoods..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme)
2018-05-14
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Pinsalu Island, Myanmar – Eight years after experiencing the devastating Cyclone Nargis, Myanmar’s worst natural disaster to date in the country, rural communities, especially women, in the Ayeyarwady River Delta, live in constant dread of another monster sea storm. Although better prepared with improved early warning systems and ready to quickly pack essentials before taking refuge in the village cyclone shelters with their families, the women of Pinsalu in Labutta district in the Delta face a higher risk to their lives during a natural disaster and are more exposed to the growing ravages of climate change. In case of emergency, the women have to take care of the children, sick and elderly at home as the men are often away at work on the farms or fishing in the river. During community consultations for a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) climate change gender vulnerability assessment, the women of Pinsalu and Labutta villages which were worst affected by the May 2008 Cyclone Nargis, said they need to be better prepared for natural disasters as they are primarily responsible for the safety of vulnerable family members. They are trying to procure lifejackets and supplies of safe drinking water, food, medicine and electric lights. They also need to improve their preparedness to cope with the worsening impact of the changing climate on their daily lives. Although women are actively engaged in farming and fisheries, their role in these main livelihood sectors is still not recognized and, as a result, they are often excluded from government-run climate change adaptation training for farmers and fishers. The findings of the UNEP gender assessment, underscore how climate change is affecting rural women and men in Myanmar, especially in a country where 15.1 per cent of agricultural landowning households are headed by women. The women of Labutta lack access to information and other resources needed to adapt to the changing climate. As a result, these women who play pivotal social and economic roles in their communities and often are breadwinners, are the most vulnerable. Over the past decade in Pinsalu, where the main source of livelihoods is fishing, the fish catch has been reduced dramatically because of rising temperatures and damage to mangroves..."
Source/publisher: UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme)
2016-10-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-06-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Eight years after experiencing the devastating Cyclone Nargis, Myanmar’s worst natural disaster to date in the country, rural communities, especially women, in the Ayeyarwady River Delta, live in constant dread of another monster sea storm. Although better prepared with improved early warning systems and ready to quickly pack essentials before taking refuge in the village cyclone shelters with their families, the women of Pinsalu in Labutta district in the Delta face a higher risk to their lives during a natural disaster and are more exposed to the growing ravages of climate change. In case of emergency, the women have to take care of the children, sick and elderly at home as the men are often away at work on the farms or fishing in the river. During community consultations for a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) climate change gender vulnerability assessment, the women of Pinsalu and Labutta villages which were worst affected by the May 2008 Cyclone Nargis, said they need to be better prepared for natural disasters as they are primarily responsible for the safety of vulnerable family members. They are trying to procure lifejackets and supplies of safe drinking water, food, medicine and electric lights. They also need to improve their preparedness to cope with the worsening impact of the changing climate on their daily lives. Although women are actively engaged in farming and fisheries, their role in these main livelihood sectors is still not recognized and, as a result, they are often excluded from government-run climate change adaptation training for farmers and fishers. The findings of the UNEP gender assessment, underscore how climate change is affecting rural women and men in Myanmar, especially in a country where 15.1 per cent of agricultural landowning households are headed by women. The women of Labutta lack access to information and other resources needed to adapt to the changing climate. As a result, these women who play pivotal social and economic roles in their communities and often are breadwinners, are the most vulnerable. Over the past decade in Pinsalu, where the main source of livelihoods is fishing, the fish catch has been reduced dramatically because of rising temperatures and damage to mangroves. In the village of Kyauk Hmaw, river bank erosion damages roads, houses and the rice that is stored by the river side, while floods are harming the paddy crop. During heavy rains and floods, women cannot travel to Labutta to sell their crop, fish catch and home-made snacks. On the other hand, erratic rainfall in Bit Tut village sometimes destroys the once-in-a-year rice harvest. Salt water intrusion in the coastal villages has increased salinity in drinking water with severe health implications, especially for pregnant women..."
Source/publisher: UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme)
2016-08-23
Date of entry/update: 2019-06-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "I have often said that Myanmar is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change on the planet. Numerous natural disasters befall the country every year, which stand to be exacerbated by a warming planet. Myanmar’s infrastructure to deal with these impacts is extremely limited, leaving millions of lives and livelihoods exposed to serious danger. My visit to both Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon was to understand how we can support efforts in the current political environment. I discussed these issues with senior government representatives, including the State Counsellor, Aung Sang Suu Kyi and the Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, Ohn Win. Business leaders and NGOs in Myanmar will play a critical role in tackling environmental issues, and so I also held talks with executives in Yangon and witnessed drone technology used by an NGO for mangrove replanting. Needless to say, the broader UN family is also hard at work across a number of priorities in Myanmar. I took the opportunity to be briefed by the UN country team on the current issues, and discussed how UN Environment can play a strategic role in building confidence in the UN with the Myanmar government and population..."
Creator/author: Erik Solheim
Source/publisher: United Nations Environment Programme
2018-02-08
Date of entry/update: 2019-06-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Maung Maung, 46, in his home garden where he grows leafy vegetables using hydroponics in Shwe Bon Thar village, Myingyan Township, part of Myanmar's Dry Zone on Feb 22, 2017. TRF/Thin Lei Win PAKOKKU, Myanmar, March 10 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Myo Myint fondly remembers when his one-acre farm regularly produced 100 baskets of rice. But as rainfall became erratic in this arid region, he started growing betel leaves, a less thirsty cash crop. This summer, the 50-year-old is considering leaving fallow his land in Myanmar's central "Dry Zone" because when the stream behind his house dries up in March, the cost of irrigation outstrips the income from any crop. A 2016 drought followed by heavy rains already battered his farm. "Water is becoming more scarce every year. I want to keep growing the crops but there's not much I can do without water," he said, sitting beneath the ground floor of his stilt house. His village of Myay Ni Twin, in Pakokku township, is around two hours' drive from Bagan, Myanmar's top tourist destination known for its ancient Buddhist temples. "When I was growing up, the stream didn't go dry. Now there's less rain, and it's very hard to plant things," he said. Myanmar recently emerged from decades of military dictatorship only to face a bigger existential threat. The Southeast Asian nation of 50 million people is the world's second most vulnerable country to climate change, according to the Global Climate Risk Index from research group Germanwatch. Studies have shown the onset of the monsoon is becoming more variable, increasing the risk of drought. The Dry Zone, an area comprising 58 townships in Mandalay, Magwe and Sagaing, is home to around 10 million people, who mostly rely on rain-fed agriculture. It suffers from year-round water shortages. A recent assessment by the Myanmar Climate Change Alliance (MCCA), an initiative funded by the European Union and United Nations, predicted a temperature increase of up to 3 degrees Celsius and a shorter monsoon in Pakokku by 2050. Farmers like Myo Myint - already struggling to make ends meet - will bear the brunt of those changes. His village has a well, but pumping water costs too much, he said. So he was intrigued by the prototypes of soil moisture sensors in the hands of Tayzar Lin, a product designer with Proximity Designs, a Myanmar-based social enterprise that develops affordable products for farmers. "I've been curious since I saw something similar on Facebook," said the farmer, as Tayzar Lin plunged into the soil a boxy contraption with a dial at the top and an alloy-tipped brass rod at the bottom. The hand on the dial moved to green, showing the soil still held water. Red means dry, and blue means too much water. Myo Myint dreams of watering only when needed, instead of every two days as he now does, to save the precious resource..."
Creator/author: Thin Lei Win, Maung Maung
Source/publisher: UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme)
2017-03-15
Date of entry/update: 2019-06-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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