On 15 December, 12 journalists from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan embarked on a long journey to reach Geneva and its Palais des Nations where UNEP senior officials and experts welcomed them, eager to brief Central Asian media on key environmental topics.

During two days, the journalists were given presentations by John Scanlon, Secretary General of CITES, Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary of the Chemicals Conventions, Sylvie Motard, Deputy Director of UNEP’s Regional Office for Europe, Ben Simmons, Coordinator of the Green Growth Knowledge Platform and many others. They also had the opportunity to ask questions and exchange views with the presenters. Excellent UNEP experts briefed the participants on the work we do in post conflict and post disasters situations and the role we play to improve the environment of the Caspian Sea; the very recent treaty on Mercury was another flagship discussed with the group.

On the second day, British journalist Richard Black - who worked for 10 years at the BBC as an environmental reporter - trained the participants on how to best report environmental stories. Everyone shared the difficulties of telling their compatriots about environmental threats or the not-so-easy task of convincing their editors.

Richard Black shared his wonderful experience with the journalists from Central Asia. They debated with passion about what makes a great green story...”What is key", concluded Mr Black, “is to connect the dots between global and local issues. Find a local story about how mercury has affected people in your community”, he said, “and then explain why the new treaty may help…”. The 12 journalists went back home with a slightly bigger knowledge of the state of our planet that we hope will be useful to them, daily.

More information: isabelle.valentiny@unep.org

From 3-9 January 2015, Mr. Pekka Haavisto, Finland's former Minister for International Development and current parliamentarian, visited Afghanistan to review progress in the country's environmental sector over the last ten years. Mr. Haavisto headed UNEP’s Afghanistan task force from 2002-2005, which conducted the country’s first post-conflict environment assessment. This trip marks his first return to Afghanistan since the completion of the assessment and inception of UNEP's programme in 2003.

In 2003, UNEP helped to establish Afghanistan's National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA), now the country's leading environmental policymaking and regulatory institution. Formally recognized under national legislation in 2007, today NEPA employs over 850 staff and is active in all 34 provinces across Afghanistan. With NEPA as a close partner, UNEP's $12.5M programme tackles a diverse range of environmental challenges from climate change to strengthening environmental laws and policy in the country.

As part of his visit, Mr. Haavisto also met with the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Dr. Ashraf Ghani, to discuss bilateral issues with Finland as well as new opportunities in the environment sector. Notably, President Ashraf Ghani emphasized the importance of investing in sustainable water management and forest protection.

For the past several years, UNEP and partners have been working in the mountainous central highlands of Afghanistan to address these issues. The construction of new storage ponds, and the implementation of community-led, ecosystem-based approaches to reduce disaster risk and build climate resilience are a few examples of these efforts. Results from these pilot projects are expected to help inform the development of national environmental policies.

Supported by the Global Environmental Facility, the UK Department for International Development and the Government of Estonia, UNEP, in partnership with the Government of Afghanistan aims to advance the sustainable environmental management of Afghanistan.

More information: Cassidy.travis@unep.org

The Geneva Environment Network Secretariat organized a briefing to Permanent Missions on the activities of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions Secretariat, and the Interim Secretariat of the Minamata Convention, on 29 January 2015.

This event was the occasion to introduce Rolph Payet, the new Executive Secretary of the three conventions, to the Permanent Missions in Geneva. The event targeted the preparations of the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention (BC COP-12), the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention (RC COP-7) and the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention (SC COP-7). All three COPs will be held back-to-back in Geneva from 4 to 15 May 2015. The theme of the triple COPs will be ‘From Science to Action, Working for a Safer Tomorrow’. To highlight the crucial role that science plays in the policymaking of the conventions, a three day science fair will be organized from 7 to 9 May 2015.

In preparation for the triple COPs, four regional meetings will be held to provide parties to the three conventions with an opportunity to consult each other in advance, identify regional priorities and challenges, consider meeting documents and discuss substantive matters; for the Asia-Pacific Region from 17-20 March 2015 in Jakarta, Indonesia; for the African Region from 24-27 March 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya; for Central and Eastern Europe from 7-10 April 2015 in Bratislava, Slovakia; and for the Latin American and Caribbean Region, from 14-17 April 2015 in Montevideo, Uruguay. The Interim Secretariat of the Minamata Convention on Mercury will be organizing regional workshops to support ratification and early implementation of the Minamata Convention in 2015, back-to-back with the BRS regional meetings.

Recent and current activities of the three conventions presented during this briefing includes, inter alia, the joint meeting of the bureaux of the conferences of the parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions (11-12 November 2014), the tenth meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (27-30 October 2014), the tenth meeting of the Chemical Review Committee (22-24 October 2014), the eleventh meeting of the Basel Convention Implementation and Compliance Committee (22-24 September 2014) and the ninth meeting of the Open-ended Working Group (16-19 September 2014).

During this event, Switzerland presented its perspectives on the upcoming COPs.

More information: Diana.rizzolio@unep.org

To close out 2014, UNEP hosted the Executive Director of the Water Research Commission in South Africa to share lessons learned from more than twenty years of IWRM experience in South Africa with stakeholders in North Darfur. This visit supports UNEP efforts to demonstrate Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) in practice.

Over two weeks, multiple events brought together various stakeholders responsible for natural resource and water infrastructure management in North Darfur to discuss IWRM, how to apply it in practice, and to learn from the South African experience. Discussions around water and its uses were held with women’s groups, traditional leaders, and other community-based organizations. A series of technical training sessions on the science, policy and institutional foundations for comprehensive catchment management also took place.

Together, these events allowed collective knowledge and shared ideas and insights to surface. Similarly, they also helped to facilitate relationships between different stakeholders around the issue of water, including a visioning of how each group sees the future of water and water management in Wadi El Ku, the largest seasonal river course in North Darfur. Important feedback from participants and a better sense of the value of water was generated.

Supported by the European Union, the overall aim of UNEP’s work in the Wadi El Ku region is to create a model, based on UNEP’s experience in Sudan, of how improved natural resource management can enhance livelihoods, and contribute to peace and stability by strengthening resilience in agriculture and agriculture-related activities. This project seeks to support communities to better manage their soil, water and forest resources, and to address environmental degradation in the area.

More information: Cassidy.travis@unep.org