ISSUE 01 January 2016 |
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UNEP ON THE GROUND | |
Bosnia boosted to fight silent killer | |
UNEP has opened two new air monitoring stations in Bosnia Herzegovina and brought two existing ones back to full function, in a move designed to help the country fight the silent killer of air pollution.
The two new stations are located in the cities of Prijedor and Gorazde. The locations were chosen by the country's Federal Hydro-meteorological Institute and the Republic Hydro-meteorological Service of the Republika Srpska so as to provide continuous monitoring in both urban and sub-urban environments.
The new and refurbished stations mean that accurate data will be available to monitor climate changes and announce pollution alerts to the general public. The country will also be able to gauge the impact of policy measures to improve air quality.
The move was announced at an event organised by UNEP with the Bosnian Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations at the country's Parliamentary Assembly on 19 January.
“These new devices form part of the first comprehensive network of air quality monitoring stations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and offer a real example of how human health and environment are intrinsically linked,” said Jan Dusik, Director of UNEP’s Regional Office for Europe.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is now set to monitor climate and air quality in line with national and EU law after signing a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the bloc last year.
Together with policy measures, the move will significantly help the country and prevent further illnesses and deaths from outdoor pollution, which is estimated to have caused over 3500 premature deaths in the country during 2014.
For more information please click here or write to amina.omicevic@unep.org |
ISSUE 01 January 2016 |
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Bold decisions against illegal wildlife trade | |
Significant decisions concerning elephants, cheetahs, rhinos, pangolins, sharks, tigers, high value timber and other species have been taken at the 66th meeting of the CITES Standing Committee in Geneva.
A record number of representatives from government and non-governmental organisations attended the event between 11 and 15 January. It concluded with a vast array of outcomes to further strengthen the conservation of these precious species through the regulation of legal trade and the prevention of illegal trade.
Decisions adopted by the Standing Committee addressed enhanced legislation, enforcement, regulatory measures, better science and new and innovative approaches to traceability, as well as livelihoods.
“It was a good week for wildlife with the Committee taking well focused decisions on compliance, enforcement, financing, legislation, livelihoods and sustainability,” said CITES Secretary-General, John E. Scanlon. “We are seeing an unprecedented level of cooperation in implementing CITES both as it affects strictly regulating legal trade and combating illegal trade,” he underlined.
Substantial progress has been made under CITES to combat the illegal trade in ivory, particularly through the preparation and implementation of National Ivory Action Plans (NIAPs) by 19 key countries implicated in the trade.
The Standing Committee agreed that the NIAPs of China (including that of Hong Kong SAR), Kenya, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam had been substantially achieved. It commended these Parties for their efforts and encouraged them to continue.
However, in the face of ongoing high levels of poaching of African elephants, the body agreed that the massive collective effort underway to reverse this trend must be maintained. The 14 Parties still implementing NIAPs were thus urged to enhance their efforts towards delivery.
For more details please get in touch with yuan.liu@cites.org |
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