Forests cover one third of the Earth's land mass and host more than 80% of the animals, insects and plants on land. They perform vital functions, providing food, shelter, energy, medicines, oxygen and so much more to us.

On the International Day of Forests held every year on 21 March, we celebrate how forests protect and sustain us.

For this year’s edition, a stunning forest photo display was opened in Brussels city centre as part of the #ForestCityProject by Revolve Media, to whom UN Environment is a knowledge partner.

A young tree was planted in the middle of the photo exhibition cubes as part of a ceremony organised by UN Environment and the United Nations Regional Information Centre (UNRIC).

The tree invites people passing by to ‘connect with nature’ - the theme of World Environment Day 2017. The exhibition - which includes images from UN Environment - will therefore be on display in the Brussels’ Parc du Cinquantennaire until World Environment Day on 5 June, inspiring people to find trees and forests and rediscover what nature brings to us.  

Trees and forests are important for our physical and mental health, for biodiversity and for the livelihoods of millions of people around the word, stressed Carlos Jimenez, UNRIC Desk Officer for Spain and Andorra, and Thierry Lucas, coordinating UN Environment’s work on ecosystems in Europe.

The ceremony took place in the margins of a conference on wood and energy organised by Revolve media and hosted by Member of European Parliament Paul Brannen. It brought together over 150 policymakers, representatives from civil society and private sector and academia to discuss the value of wood as a source of innovation and boost to the bio-economy.

Presentations made at the Value of Wood forum, as well as more blogs and photos on these events, can be found here.

Read a blog on forests by Tim Christophersen, Senior Programme Officer for Forests and Climate Change at UN Environment here, and an article by Mette Wilkie, UN Environment Director of the Ecosystem Division, in the spring issue of Revolve Magazine here.

For more information contact alexa.froger@unep.org

The Arctic can and must be a land of ecology, UN Environment Head Erik Solheim has said at a major forum on the region held in Arkhangelsk, Russia.

The Arctic is a litmus test for climate change as it is the region of the world that heats up the fastest. The habitats of the four million people and numerous species living there are already being disrupted as a result.

At the event, the UN Environment Executive Director spoke during a panel session on the Arctic’s biodiversity, ways of preventing damage to the region caused by economic activity and corporate environmental responsibility.

The Arctic “is one of the most vulnerable and the least protected regions on Earth,” Mr Solheim underlined, with impacts on the region affecting the entire world. For example, smog is Beijing is being made worse because of stagnant winter weather caused by melting in the Arctic, he noted.

Yet change is within our grasp, he added, pointing to the example of the Ross Sea protected area being created for Antarctica thanks to a political commitment by Russia and dozens of countries.

Sessions were also held on cutting-edge technology and the Arctic as a territory of modern energy, among others.

Mr Solheim furthermore met with the advisor to the Russian President on Environment, Ecology and Transport, Sergey Ivanov, and Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Sergey Donskoi on 30 March.

There, he urged Russia to ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change, which entered into force on 4 November last year. Together they discussed protecting Russia’s natural heritage in the Arctic and beyond, as well as the work on the transition to a Green Economy – such as on green finance – during the 2017 Russian Year of Ecology.

Finland has made environmental protection the top priority for its chairmanship of the Arctic Council from May 2017.

For more information contact isabelle.valentiny@unep.org

Some of the world’s leading economists have joined around 40 ministers, over 340 CEOs and about 300 sustainable development experts to find ways of fighting inequalities and environmental degradation by improving our economic systems.

The second conference of the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) – an alliance of five UN agencies and 11 countries – was hosted by the German Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety in Berlin on 27-28 March.

“We don't have to choose between a healthy environment and a healthy economy: we can have both,” said UN Environment head, Erik Solheim. “What we need now is a great acceleration – a new green revolution – to make sure we achieve inclusive green economy while there is still enough green to go around.”

“Our current economic practices are destroying our planet and hence the resources on which our lives depend… the time has come to reconsider our economic practices and our lifestyles. We need a different kind of growth – one which does not create social divides and which respects planetary boundaries,” said Barbara Hendricks, Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety of Germany.

South Africa’s Environment Minister Edna Molewa, the renowned economist Pavan Sukhdev and Winnie Byanyima – Head of Oxfam International – were among speakers discussing the root economic causes of the growing exploitation of natural resources, climate change and pollution. They also discussed how increasing inequalities are giving rise to radical populism in many parts of the world.

Donations from the European Commission, Germany, Finland, Republic of Korea, Norway and Sweden announced at the event will add close to €15 million to the PAGE budget and step-up UN Environment’s support to developing countries.

UN Environment will later this year issue a report on Inclusive Wealth measuring the wealth of nations in terms of progress, well-being and long-term sustainability rather than only GDP. Countries are drawing down their natural wealth to create short term gains in wealth, it finds - to download a preview click here.

For more details please contact chiara.moroni@unep.org

No more than 500 harbour porpoises are left in the Baltic Sea. The survival of this species – one of the smallest marine mammals - is in no small part linked to a global treaty supported by UN Environment.

The international Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans in the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas (ASCOBANS) celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. The agreement was negotiated under the Convention on Migratory Species, whose secretariat is hosted by UN Environment.

Dolphins and all toothed whales other than the sperm whale are covered by the agreement. The mammals cross international borders and depend therefore on transboundary protection measures.

Numerous dangers threaten individual animals and even entire populations of marine mammals. Bycatch and accidental capture in fishing nets - in which animals are entangled and suffocate - are the foremost dangers. Thousands end up in fishing nets every year. In the long term, the aim is to reduce the mortality rate to zero.

Marine litter causes fatal injuries, while heavy metals and chemical compounds such as polychlorinated biphenyls enter the food chain and accumulate in the animals' bodies. Overfishing makes it a challenge for them to find enough food every day. Dwindling habitats and climate change also make life difficult for the animals - with unpredictable consequences. Noise pollution, also caused by shipping traffic and the construction of offshore installations, deprives marine mammals from their natural habitats and can lead to behavioral changes, physical damage and even death.

Scientific data are a precondition for targeted conservation measures. Over the past 25 years, ASCOBANS has supported many research projects, including a conservation plan for the Baltic harbour porpoise.

Ten European countries have joined ASCOBANS since the agreement was opened for signature at the UN Headquarters in New York on 17 March 1992.  ASCOBANS is now developing strategies to tackle increasing threats to marine mammals off the coasts of Europe. Additional Member States may contribute to this in future.

For more details please contact veronika.lenarz@cms.int