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Preventing accidental water pollution remains a key challenge for many countries within and beyond the UNECE region. Approximately 60% of the world’s freshwater flows occur in transboundary river basins where 40% of the world’s population live. Countries rely increasingly on transboundary water…
Air pollution levels in Georgia are considered unhealthy with annual average of fine particles PM2.5 exceeding the World Health Organization's air quality guideline by at least three times.
To support Georgia in further improving its air quality management system, a new EU-funded project,…
The impact of different air pollutants on vegetation and crops has been studied for over 35 years in the framework of the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, through its International Cooperative Programme on Effects of Air Pollution on Natural Vegetation and Crops (ICP…
The transport sector is responsible for 23% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with road transport accounting for around 77% of these emissions. As populations, economies, and the need for mobility grow, the World Bank estimates that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transport could increase by…
Ensuring the principles of environmental democracy are upheld in relation to modified organisms/genetically modified organisms (LMOs/GMOs) can help countries to address biodiversity loss and support progress on a number of Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goals 2 (zero hunger), 15 (life…
Cooperation and management of transboundary waters, which span over 45% of the world's surface and serve as vital resources for nearly half of the global population, face the imminent threat of underfunding. The last reporting exercise on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator 6.5.2 (2020),…
In the UNECE region, the Fourth Cycle of Environmental Performance Reviews (EPR) kicks off with the review of Tajikistan, carried out for the fourth time under the leadership of UNECE.
A large, multidisciplinary team of international experts worked in Dushanbe from 6 to 15 November 2023,…
The European Commission has proposed a new legislation, the European Critical Raw Materials Act, to ensure a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials for the EU. The Act, on which the European Parliament and the European Council reached a provisional agreement on 13 November,…
Taking up some of the main results of the recent review report, which assessed the effectiveness of the amended Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-Level Ozone (Gothenburg Protocol) under the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, experts discussed…
The building industry currently accounts for 39% of global energy-related CO2 emissions, 11% of which result from manufacturing building materials and products such as steel, cement, and glass. And yet, to date, emission reduction efforts have not really focused on decarbonizing the construction…
Over two-thirds of Togo’s water resources are shared, notably through the Mono River basin (shared with Benin) and Volta River basin (shared with Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Mali), as well as aquifers in the coastal sedimentary basin (shared with Ghana, Benin and Nigeria).
In a…
To address the conclusions of the review of the amended Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-Level Ozone (Gothenburg Protocol), as adopted by the Executive Body to the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution in December 2022, further work is currently being…
How can regional and international cooperation be fostered in a region that faces unprecedented water scarcity? How can the benefits of this vital resource be shared to increase resilience to climate change?
The Third Baghdad International Water Conference titled "Water Scarcity, the Mesopotamian…
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.
The theme of this year’s…
A UNECE working paper released today, Population and migration statistics in Armenia: current situation, future plans and ways to improve describes how Armenia is improving its statistics on population and migration by combining administrative data with sample surveys. The study reviews innovations…
Participants in the motor industry’s complex supply chains, regulators as well as investors seeking to invest sustainably are increasingly interested in considering the carbon footprint of vehicles over their entire lifetime - from material extraction and production to manufacturing, use and…
In the past years, Central Asia has been facing major climate-change related challenges – drought, floods, desertification, sandstorms, extreme cold and heat spells – and many more. Not only have these affected rural areas, but cities have been suffering, too. Accentuated by increased traffic…
All too often we take the air we breathe and share for granted. Only when we breathe very polluted air, when we can smell and see the pollution, do we realize that the air around us is a precious good that needs to be protected, much like the water we drink. On the International Day of Clean Air…
July is a month to start enjoying the harvest of fruits and vegetables for many in Europe and the topic of reducing food loss and waste becomes very urgent. In Serbia, agriculture is an important sector of the economy, contributing around 6% of GDP. In March 2022 food production accounted for 10.4…
Cities, which are already responsible for around 75% of global CO2 emissions, are also at the forefront of fighting climate change and simultaneously are particularly vulnerable to its impacts. Urban trees and forests have been highlighted as a solution that can help to achieve the SDGs and make…
As guests of the planet, we human beings can thrive only if our host environment is thriving. We are strongly connected to it, more than we probably understand and more than we probably dare to admit.
Conversely, the ways humans treat the environment has clear negative effects on our health and…
Policymakers looking for innovative solutions to global problems are increasingly recognizing that the answers have been around for a long time even before the earth got populated by humans. Trees can help achieve pressing global objectives for sustainable development, biodiversity conservation,…
UNECE’s Expert Forum for Producers and Users of Climate Change-related Statistics took place in Geneva and online from 31 August to 3 September, in the run-up to COP26 later this autumn.
The annual UNECE expert forums bring together not only producers but also users of climate change-related…
The heads of national statistical offices of 59 countries and 24 international organizations are gathering this week in Geneva and around the globe for the 69th plenary session of the Conference of European Statisticians, the decision-making body for statistical matters in the UNECE region and…
A team of expert labour statisticians is to be convened by UNECE for the Conference of European Statisticians, to investigate how to reflect new ways of working in the employment figures we use every day.
Over the past year the work-from-home orders and business closure rules issued by many…