Guinea-Bissau has acceded to the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention), bringing the total number of Parties to 47.
Countries are increasingly facing multiple interlinked environmental, social, economic and health challenges – climate change, pollution from chemicals and wastes, biodiversity loss and species extinction, deforestation, land degradation, emerging zoonotic diseases, and the impact of armed conflicts on the lives and well-being of people and on the environment. The complexity of addressing these challenges is compounded by the urgent need for regulatory measures, legislative changes and good environmental governance at all levels.
The massive use of fertilizers and the production and use of manure in agriculture over the past 100 years have led to significant reactive nitrogen emissions to air and releases to water and land. Burning of fossil fuels (in vehicles, power plants and industry) is another source of reactive nitrogen emissions. Air, soil and water pollution are among the dire consequences of these nitrogen emissions, with knock-on damages to human health, and biodiversity of forests and rivers. In soils and water bodies, too much nitrogen can lead to nutrient overloads or eutrophication.
Prevention of and preparedness for industrial accidents require special attention in Tajikistan, a country with a strong mining industry. The mountainous terrain of mining sites makes them highly susceptible to earthquakes, mudflows and floods, which can provoke Natech events (natural hazards triggering technological disasters). In these circumstances, coordinated work by government authorities is key to preventing industrial accidents and minimizing their consequences.
Iraq today made history as the first country in the Middle East to join the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (known as the UN Water Convention). It becomes the 49th Party to this unique international legal and intergovernmental framework, which aims to ensure the sustainable use of transboundary water resources by facilitating cooperation across borders.
Italy and Kazakhstan have committed to reinforce action to uphold human rights to water and sanitation for all by joining the UNECE/WHO Europe Protocol on Water and Health, at the milestone UN Water Conference in New York.
As leaders gather in New York for the milestone UN Water Conference, Nigeria has taken a decisive step for cooperative water action by officially becoming the 48th Party to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (known as the UN Water Convention).
In an unprecedented political push for cross-border water cooperation, Ministers from Africa, Latin America and the Middle East have declared at the UN Water Conference their country’s resolve to join a key United Nations accord known as the Water Convention.
In what could constitute a major long-term outcome of the summit, governments are seizing the UN Water Convention to support practical cooperation measures – urgently needed as 153 states worldwide share water resources – as a precondition to tackle the global water crisis.
40 countries, regional integration and international organizations, international financial institutions, NGOs, academic and research centers have made a united call at the United Nations 2023 Water Conference to step up global efforts for transboundary water cooperation.
While many of us have taken pain relievers, we do not always remember that one of the most extensively used medicines in the world – with an estimated annual consumption of 40,000 tons – salicylic acid, commonly known as aspirin, is based on a tree-derived ingredient.