The meeting was held at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya on 23-27 May and saw 25 resolutions adopted on issues ranging from sustainable consumption and production, the sound management of chemicals and waste and fighting the illegal trade in wildlife.

UNEA is the world’s highest-level decision-making body on the environment while a majority of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted last year are directly related to the environment. The second session of UNEA featured a high level plenary on how the environment community will set out to achieve the SDGs, a ministerial policy review session to identify policies on air quality and chemicals and waste and the launch of a report on Healthy Environment, Healthy People with recommendations for a strong economy with a healthy environment and good human health.

The meeting, which also set out UNEP’s work for the coming years, was attended by some 2,500 delegates from 174 countries.

Side events organised by UNEP bodies based in Europe included a high-level event on partnerships for sustainable development in the Himalayas, one on how migratory species and green energy can co-exist and the launch of a marine litter assessment. Important technical and legal steps were also taken by two subsidiary bodies of the Basel Convention during meetings held back-to-back with UNEA-2.

For more information please contact isabelle.valentiny@unep.org

Air pollution and climate change are now the greatest threats to human health in the pan-European region, finds the European assessment of the sixth UNEP Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6).

The report, launched at the Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference attended by over 800 participants, also finds that unhealthy lifestyles and the disconnection between people and the environment are increasingly affecting human health in the region.

Environmental challenges in the pan-European region are also becoming more complex and systematic, it stresses, while resilience to these will be affected by megatrends largely beyond the region’s control.

“Greater cooperation and a more integrated approach are needed to tackle these transboundary challenges, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals," he underlined.

Air pollution is now the greatest health risk in the region. The proportion of the population living in areas exceeding WHO air quality guideline values varies by pollutant, with between 87-93 per cent of the EU population exposed to high levels of fine particles (PM2.5), 61-83 per cent to PM10, and 97-98 per cent to high levels of ozone (O3). Over 500,000 premature deaths in the pan-European region were attributable to outdoor air quality and 100,000 to indoor air quality in 2012.

Climate change is one of the largest threats to human and ecosystem health and to achieving sustainable development in the pan-European region. It is also an accelerator for most other environmental risks. Impacts of climate change affect health through floods, heat waves, droughts, reduced agricultural productivity, exacerbated air pollution and allergies and vector, food and water-borne diseases.

Biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation is continuing in the region and is mainly caused by increased land-use change, particularly agricultural intensification, urbanization and habitat fragmentation.

Greater investments are needed in environmental accounting systems to ensure external costs are addressed, the report notes. There is also a need to pay close attention to early signals from science and society and invest in foresight processes to identify possible future risks, opportunities and conflicts, it finds.

To read a full version of the paper in English click here and note the Errata here. For Russian please click here and note the Errata here.

For More information please contact matthew.billot@unep.org

A medley of events have taken place in the pan-European region to celebrate the 2016 edition of World Environment Day (WED).

The theme to the 2016 edition of WED – celebrated annually on 5 June – was the fight against the illegal wildlife trade under the slogan ‘Go wild for life’. Events marking the day in the region ranged from high-level conferences, an environment-themed quiz, awareness-raising on endangered species and work to restore a botanical garden.

One set of questions was dedicated to invasive species as part of an environment-themed quiz organised by the Geneva Environment Network (GEN) attended by over twenty teams from the city on 2 June. The following day, a GEN roundtable prepared for major upcoming meetings dealing with conservation and biodiversity governance this year, while the Eldora catering service put on a special menu for clients across the city.

The ‘Naledi: A Baby Elephant's Tale’ film was also screened in the city, telling the incredible, true-life story of a baby elephant born into a rescue camp in the wilderness of Botswana. The screening was organised by GEN and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

UNEP was meanwhile present at Brussels’ Fete de l’environnement - attended by tens of thousands - with a stand promoting the #NotWasting campaign on food, as well as numerous activities for children and information on the global WED theme as well as other aspects of UNEP’s work. UNEP, UNODC, UNRIC and WWF also screened the 2015 documentary ‘Racing Extinction’ as a CinéONU event. The film focuses on the human-induced loss of biodiversity and illegal wildlife trade and was followed by a panel discussion including Pierre-Yves Cousteau.

UNEP’s Almaty office celebrated WED by joining partners at the city's UN House to hold a conference titled 'From awareness to action for Central Asian endangered species'. The event explored the illegal wildlife trade through a Central Asian lens by focusing on issues such as poaching and illegal fishing and species such as the Caspian Seal and snow leopard. Participants also heard key results from the recent UN Environment Assembly, where a resolution was adopted by all UN member states on the illegal trade in wildlife.

In Moscow, around 40 grass carp fish were released into the ponds of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Main Botanic Garden in a natural effort to prevent their eutrophication in the most environmentally-friendly way. An accompanying roundtable saw NGOs, business, educational institutions and the media all represented.

An uplifting video produced by UNEP’s Regional Office for Europe Vienna branch meanwhile conveys how youths are involved in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals and can be viewed here. It was launched at an event exploring the political processes for and discussing the challenges to doing so organised by the office, which featured numerous youth organisations and the planting of trees by high-level guests including including Karmenu Vella, EU Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Andrä Rupprechter, Austrian Minister of the Environment.

Further afield in countries UNEP works with from Europe, high level officials planted tree seedlings to mark the day in South Sudan, where five tons of ivory and 50 kg of rhino horns as well as confiscated elephant tusks were burnt in a sign of commitment to fight the illegal wildlife trade. Awareness on marine ecosystems was meanwhile raised during events involving school children and town mayors in Haiti, where UNEP is partnering with the Government of Norway and others for the sound management of a national park containing numerous endemic species. Celebrations involving national and international organisations in Afghanistan lasted an entire week and marked the country’s significant progress in environmental protection while raising awareness of the challenges ahead.

Films on air quality, climate change and the environment will furthermore be screened as part of the Sarajevo Film Festival in August, thanks to a renewed collaboration with UNEP announced on the occasion of WED.

The day aims to attract the international community’s attention to environmental issues and stimulate political interest and appropriate actions needed to solve them. For more information on WED click here and for further details on celebrations in the pan-European region please contact isabelle.valentiny@unep.org

World Environment Day celebrations kicked off in Geneva with the fourth edition of a World Environment Day quiz on 2 June organised by the Geneva Environment Network.

Some 25 teams took part in the event, which included a set of questions on invasive species and a competition for recycling odds and ends into a model linked to the environment.

A roundtable for around 120 environmental stakeholders took place the next day on preparations for major upcoming meetings dealing with conservation and biodiversity governance this year. The meetings involve the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Convention on Biological Diversity and related Protocols. A recording of the event can be watched here.

Organised with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, a premiere screening followed of the Naledi: A Baby Elephant's Tale, which tells the true-life story of a baby elephant born into a rescue camp in the wilderness of Botswana.

All UN buildings and hundreds of local companies in the city were furthermore provided with a total of around 30 000 special menus prepared by the Eldora catering service.

For more information on WED, whose 2016 edition sought to raise awareness on the fight against the illegal wildlife trade, click here.

For more information please contact diana.rizzolio@unep.org