UN Environment
Year in Review 2017

Clean air for all in Bosnia and Herzegovina

In the run-up to the third UN Environment Assembly on pollution, 2017 was a breakthrough year for improving air quality in Bosnia and Herzegovina – including through major awareness-raising and projects on the ground.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is estimated to have the highest mortality rate attributed to air pollution in Europe.

In response, UN Environment led the creation of the UN Air Quality Initiative and Response to mobilise political action and improve air quality in Bosnia and Herzegovina - in line with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3, 11 and others. A kick-off meeting took place in October with major national and international stakeholders and led to numerous new projects taking shape.

A new collaboration was formed with the Swedish Environment Protection Agency on a feasibility study for building urban air quality monitoring stations, among other initiatives. These would complement the stations UN Environment had already installed or renovated around Sarajevo. AirQ+ software is also now to be introduced in Bosnia and Herzegovina, so that the health risks caused by air pollution in the country can be analysed in more depth.

The event coincided with a media field trip organised by the Europe Office, which led to the issue of poor air quality being brought to screens across the world. The news coverage was viewed over 300,000 times on BBC World, Italian national television and numerous local media. Some 40 regional media also covered the issue.

2017 was furthermore a landmark year for changes in favour of air quality for people living and working in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s second-largest city, Banja Luka.

Thanks to the support of the UN Environment Europe Office and other partners, more than twenty thousand homes and businesses in Banja Luka are to be heated with 10 biomass boilers instead of oil.

The city’s transition comes about thanks to loans worth €8.4 million, which the city secured from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development with the support of UN Environment under the District Energy in Cities Initiative.

UN Environment contributed to a city-wide analysis on the status of the current district heating network, as well as a further study on the supply of renewable energy and investment plan – vital for the project to progress.

Banja Luka’s switch to renewables will cut C02 emissions by 91% and sulphur dioxide emissions by 94%. The transition also means that the amount of heavy fuel oil used to heat the city will plummet from 16,548 tonnes a year to less than 1,100 tonnes in 2018 and 900 tonnes by 2033, saving up to €900,000 in 2018 alone.

Look out for many new exciting developments to boost air quality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where we are represented by our Sarajevo Office, and throughout the region in 2018. These include the possibility of more countries joining the #BreatheLife campaign to bring pollution down to safe levels by 2030.

New work to help save mountain species

UN Environment Europe’s Office took up the fight to protect the habitats of major iconic species and fight climate change and illegal poaching in 2017.

A Snow Leopard Forum – the biggest ever meeting of its kind – gathered 12 countries, NGOs and researchers in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in August.

There, UN Environment Head Erik Solheim called on the international community to protect the iconic species, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. Climate change, together with human development, is driving the loss of snow leopard’s habitats. In some countries, 80% of their habitats are expected to be lost by 2070.

In response, a new ‘Vanishing Treasures’ programme led by UN Environment and the Government of Luxembourg will now address direct pressures from climate change as well as indirect ones posed by how local communities react to it.

A pledge of €9 million from Luxembourg for the project was announced at the third United Nations Environment Assembly. The new programme led by UN Environment and Luxembourg will focus on improving and sharing knowledge for innovative ecosystem-based approaches to climate adaptation in three regions. It will last four years and target various mountain regions, including Virunga (Uganda and Rwanda), the Himalayas (Bhutan) and Central Asia.

Ecosystem-based approaches help species and ecosystems adapt to potentially harmful change. This could include creating movement corridors for species and restoring fauna.

The overall aim is therefore to better understand the animals’ vulnerability to climate change and the ecosystem services being affected. In the long term, by working with local communities the programme also aims to promote alternative land-use practices that can contribute to climate change mitigation and reduce pressure on species living close to the communities. A wildlife inquiry is furthermore being launched to better understand links between climate change and the conservation of those species, to enhance management of protected areas and better address climate change adaptation of the animals.

The project will be carried out by UN Environment’s Vienna Office in collaboration with the Great Apes Partnership Survival and the Climate Change Adaptation Unit.

Partners include GRID-Arendal, the World Conservation Society, Panthera, the World Wildlife Fund, the Royal Society for the Protection of Nature and the Ministry of Environment of Bhutan. Watch a teaser trailer for the work here.

Combating wildlife and forest crime from the region

UN Environment offices in Europe combined forces to help power the fight against the illegal wildlife trade in the Danube-Carpathian region in 2017.

A report launched with partners at the European Parliament in November warned that illegal logging, illegal caviar trade, mass-killing of wild birds and poaching of bears, wolves and lynx threatened biodiversity and livelihoods in the region, which covers over 15 European countries.

The Carpathian forests are home to Europe’s largest remaining populations of brown bears, wolves and lynx which, despite being protected by EU and international laws and conventions, are frequently exposed to poaching.

The Danube river basin also sustains Europe’s last remaining viable populations of sturgeons. Illegally harvested caviar (sturgeon roe) reaches prices of up to 6,000 euros per kilogram on the black market – a trade worth at least 22 million euros per year to the EU.

The report was prepared by UN Environment together with WWF and Eurac Research and supported by experts from across Europe.

The event was well-timed, with Poland facing daily fines for continued illegal logging in the Białowieża forest. Environmental crime is “not a distant problem of some far-away developing countries”, the Head of UN Environment Erik Solheim said in a video message. The reality is that “many people are still unaware of what is happening on their own doorstep”, he told a packed room.

The EU has a strategy on fighting the illegal wildlife trade, but there is a need for financial support, participants noted.

The report finds that the main obstacle for combating illegal wildlife and forest crime is the “lack of adequate implementation and enforcement of national legislation”.

“We don’t need more data, but rather action,” a LIFE project member underlined. This event opened up the way for numerous stakeholders to work together more closely in future, including with UN Environment’s Brussels and Vienna Offices.

Connecting Europeans with nature on World Environment Day

Europeans kindled their deep-held love for nature for the 2017 edition of World Environment Day, while political commitments helped ensure this can be passed on for generations to come.

Celebrated on 5 June each year, World Environment Day is the UN’s largest global day for positive environmental action. For 2017, the theme of ‘connecting people to nature’ highlighted the vast benefits - from food security and improved health to water supply and climatic stability - that a clean environment provides to humanity.

“You only have to do the slightest thing to connect to nature”, said the legendary naturalist Sir David Attenborough, joining our call for schools across the region to hold a lesson outdoors to celebrate the Day – with close to 100 joining in.

Thanks to UN Environment’s Moscow Office, around 30 children visited an Elk farm in Russia’s Kostroma region, taking part in animal feedings, an eco-quest and education session. Most of the children had previously “only seen dogs and cats,” said Nadezhda Stepanova, one of their teachers. “Yet here they came into contact with the forest, listened to nightingales sing and could feed elks and their calves. I think that this connection to nature will live in their hearts for a long time,” she enthused.

National parks in the Canton of Sarajevo were opened for free across Bosnia on 5 June, while over 30 schools held lessons in nature. Bosnia and Herzegovina doubled the proportion of land area to be classified as protected from 2% of its territory to at least 4%.

Tens of thousands of Europeans were also mobilized by the Brussels Office. Events organised on the ground included an exhibition, a film screening followed by a panel discussion and participation in a major public event in one of the largest parks in Brussels.

Meanwhile, in order to secure political commitments for a connection with nature to be kept in future, a video campaign was launched with key European Union policymakers and politicians. They committed to step-up their engagement for the environment and shared their personal experiences.

The Vienna Office meanwhile rolled up its sleeves and joined the Alpenverein Association and ‘Almdudler’ soft drink company to organise an awareness-raising and clean-up event to celebrate the Day. The event aimed to alert tourists ahead of the holiday season and show how waste management in mountain regions is a serious issue of global concern. The team came across drink cans, banana peels, cigarette ends, plastic bottles and other sorts of trash during their ascent of Mt. Großvenediger, which viewers could follow live on Facebook.

The Geneva Environment Network led a wide variety of events connecting the general public to nature for World Environment Day. These included visits to an organic farm and green energy sites, recycling workshops, an awareness-raising film screening and a discussion to reflect on what nature conservation should look like in the 21st century. A line-up of Protected Areas - Emeraude sites in Switzerland and Natura 2000 sites in neighbouring France – were also visited and promoted to encourage people to connect with nature. The award-winning author and activist Joni Seager was among those attending a breakfast on gender and the environment, which was co-organised by the Europe Office and focused on the Global Gender and Environment Outlook.

"The whole life of the Turkmen people is permeated with love for nature,” said the President of Turkmenistan, lauding World Environment Day when opening a regional meeting of environment ministers in Ashgabat. UN Environment’s Mountain Outlook for Central Asia was launched at the meeting. Without adaptation measures, crop yields in Uzbekistan could fall 20-50% by 2050 while population levels continue to rise, according to the report.

Across Europe, numerous landmarks also lit up green to show that people stand with nature, including the Sava River bridge in Belgrade, the Old Bridge of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Mole Antoneliana in Turin and municipal halls in Milan and Venice.

The rhythm of sustainability on show at EXPO 2017

UN Environment invited countries, companies and citizens to join the clean energy movement at EXPO 2017 by organising a high-level dialogue, media event and sustainable dance floor.

EXPO 2017 was held in Astana, Kazakhstan under the theme of Future Energy. There, the Europe Office partnered with Solar Impulse pioneer Prof Bertrand Piccard and the Government of Switzerland to showcase options and solutions for a clean energy future.

The high-level dialogue explored the health, environment and economic benefits of renewables and ways of speeding up the transition on the ground through the government and private sector.

The event was moderated by Natalia Alexeeva, Head of UN Environment’s Central Asia Office, and the panel included the Kazakh Deputy Energy Minister, Gani Sadibekov, and the Chief Executive Officer of the Renewable Energy Association of Kazakhstan, Arman Kashkinbekov. More than fifty influencers from across the region attended.

Journalists also had the chance to quiz UN Environment Head Erik Solheim and Prof Piccard on local and global environmental challenges during a Q&A lunch.

Visitors at the UN pavilion discovered a hands-on example of how doing something good for the environment could also be fun.

At the pavilion, a Sustainable Dance Floor produced by Energy Floors converted kinetic energy into electricity. This powered a camera taking the dancers’ photo, allowing users to see the results of their green actions before their eyes. Mr Solheim and Prof. Piccard were among hundreds of visitors to use the floor, spurring media coverage.

The floor can be used as part of a microgrid with other green technology solutions. If used in a nightclub, 1000 people dancing energetically for an hour could produce 20 kWh of electricity – roughly equivalent to powering a television for 60 hours for example.

Our Central Asia office has already taken up work on climate change in 2018, including by participating in a major regional conference on 24-25 January.

Powering a response to environmental emergencies

Building skills and awareness on the ground is key to enhance prevention, preparedness, and emergency response.

In October, UN Environment’s Europe Office provided training for 25 representatives from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and the Central Asia Centre for Emergency Situations and Disaster Risk Reduction, which hosted the training in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Coaches were trained on using the Flash Environmental Assessment Tool and others. The coaches were then able to share the knowledge and skills they had gained with a larger group of national and regional experts.

The new trainers will now continue to deliver similar courses to relevant national and regional authorities and public organizations. The event included a field visit and analysis of case studies and scenarios of possible disasters that may affect the region.

The ‘training of trainers’ event was co-organised by UN Environment’s Europe Office, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for the Caucasus, Central Asia and Ukraine, the UN Environment/OCHA Joint Unit, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Central Asia Centre for Emergency Situations and Disaster Risk Reduction.

E-Learning modules on industrial accidents prevention, preparedness and response and flash environmental assessment are available at the UN Environment/OCHA Joint Unit’s Environmental Emergencies Centre.

Look out for more developed online training tools to be available in 2018 – including in Russian.

Peace after conflict

Meanwhile, changing and deteriorating environments and ecosystems are a threat to global and local security. In North-Darfur, for instance, climate change reduces rainfall, causing friction between farmers and herders who all depend on limited tracts of land.

UN Environment and the International Centre for Parliamentary Studies co-organised a course on security and the environment named “Peace and Security in the 21st Century: Understanding the Environment-Security Nexus.”

The course was structured around themes like water security, climate change, legal and institutional frameworks and private sector involvement. Participants acquired knowledge on the environmental aspects of the international security regime. The training aimed at improving the participants’ analytical skills and teaching them to create solutions to environmental security problems.

UN Environment and the Munich Security Conference have also agreed on the implications of environmental deterioration on security, paving the way for future work on the topic in 2018. At the next such conference in February, Mr. Solheim is scheduled to open and chair a roundtable on environment and security issues.

A Year of Ecology in Russia

UN Environment’s Europe Office supported the Russian Year of Ecology, which saw the country introduce seven new national parks among other measures.

The first ever International Baikal Environmental Water Forum took place in September in Irkutsk, Russia, and was attended by governments, businesses and civil society from over 20 countries. A resolution passed by participants called for cooperation between littoral states and UN Environment on Green Economy and pollution prevention.

In the margins of the event, the Europe Office Director Jan Dusik held meetings with the governor of Irkutsk and partners, where it was decided that UN Environment’s work would focus on Green Economy for the Lake – including agriculture, tourism, water and fishing regulations.

At the Forum, the Head of UN Environment’s Russia Office Vladimir Moshkalo also delivered presentations dedicated to the involvement of civil society in the environmental protection and possible ways of international cooperation for preserving the lake.

Environmental monitoring of Lake Baikal has revealed the lake is facing a three-pronged assault on its natural territory. Accumulated waste from a pulp-and-paper plant, poaching of Baikal omul, the lake's iconic fish, and the chaotic construction of private housing and recreation centers are all affecting the lake's ecology. Threats faced by the Lake furthermore featured in a 3-D documentary screened at December’s Environment Assembly.

Meanwhile, a roundtable organised in Astrakhan as part of Caspian Day in August was attended by over 70 participants from littoral states, including environment and foreign affairs ministries. Discussions took place on the environmental risks linked with energy development, priority areas for environmental protection and how citizens could be involved. More than a decade after the Tehran Convention was established, its work is consistent with the Sustainable Development Goals, it was recognised.

On the ground, hundreds of volunteers gathered for three plastic pollution clean-ups in the Russian Arctic during the summer of 2017.

Norwegian and Russian youths took part in the event in the Murmansk Sea area together with Mahir Aliyev, Regional Coordinator at UN Environment's Europe Office.

More than eight million tonnes of plastic leaks into the oceans each year - equivalent to one rubbish truck of plastic per minute. This wreaks havoc on wildlife, marine fisheries and tourism. Currents bring much of this waste to the Arctic, which is already highly sensitive to climate change, among other environmental threats.

"I have seen plastic bottles that could have been thrown away from as far away as Europe. We can all take action - no matter how local - to take care of our planet and make a difference," Mr Aliyev underlined at the event, which was initiated by the Slava Foundation.

During the previous two such events at Monchegorsk Lake and Nikel City river, two tons of plastic were taken from what is one of the most remote and pristine parts of the world.

The clean-ups and related efforts are in line with UN Environment's Clean Seas campaign, which is working with governments and businesses to eliminate microplastics by 2020 and to tackle production and use of other single-use plastics.

Also in the Arctic, the Europe Office Director took part in an energy policy debate during a major Arctic Frontiers conference, sharing UN Environment’s expertise in a region gravely threatened by climate change, ocean acidification and sea level rise. A new UN Environment Arctic Strategy is being rolled out in 2018.

Towards the end of 2017, the Russian adventurer Fyodor Konyukhov wasdesignated by Erik Solheim as a UN Environment National Goodwill Ambassador, paving the way for further work and awareness-raising in the region. During his visit to Moscow, Mr. Solheim attended the closing event of the Year of Ecology and the international fair of environmental technologies Ecotech, and agreed with the Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Sergey Donskoy, on a new roadmap of bilateral cooperation.

Helping shield the Carpathians from climate change

Signatories to the Carpathian Convention administered by UN Environment’s Vienna Office adopted a major new Article on climate change in 2017, and were handed a new Outlook report as the basis for policy action.

Under the Convention’s Climate Change Protocol, states are to “pursue climate change adaptation by promoting research and scientific cooperation, cross sectoral integration, transnational cooperation, awareness raising, public participation and fostering local adaptation planning and implementation, especially in the most vulnerable areas and sectors.”

A further Protocol on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development, developed in cooperation with Eurac Research, calls on the countries to work together to realise a climate-smart circular rural economy and promote agro-tourism, local products, organic production and rural innovation.

The two Protocols were adopted in October at the Fifth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP5) of the Convention, at Lillafüred castle.

At the meeting, UN Environment also launched its Outlook on Climate Change Adaptation in the Carpathians, providing the scientific basis for policy action and offering best practices.

The Outlook is part of a series covering major mountain ranges worldwide. According to the research, mountains in the region are expected to experience a temperature increase of about 3.0-4.5˚C by the end of the century, leading to profound consequences on the environment, economy and human wellbeing, such as tree species becoming extinct. Regional cooperation is therefore highlighted as being essential to protect ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration and groundwater.

More than half of the Carpathians is covered in forest and the region is a refuge for brown bears, wolves, eagles and some 200 plant species found nowhere else in the world. The mountains also act as the main drinking water supply for the surrounding region.

Meanwhile, a project led on the ground by the Vienna Office in 2017 is expected to help ensure ratification of a further protocol on sustainable transport under the Convention.

TRANSGREEN – sponsored by the EU - aims to ensure that road and rail networks respect the environment and fauna in mountainous regions. Between 1997 and 2012, 27 brown bears were killed on roads and railways around Malá Fatra National Park - Illustrating the threat being addressed.

A roadkill registration system and database are now being set up under the project for a site between Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Existing ecological corridors passing over road and train lines are also being assessed to see if they can be upgraded.

The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, the Slovak Republic and Ukraine are signatories to the Carpathian Convention, which is only the second sub-regional treaty in the world to protect a mountain region.

Health is wealth – 3rd UN Environment Assembly

Ahead of the third Environment Assembly, the Europe Office convened the regional Ministerial Consultation meeting in Ostrava, Czech Republic, under the title “Europe's call for a Pollution-Free Planet”.

The event brought together 52 participants from 25 countries, including representatives from the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Health, the World Health Organisation and the UN Economic Commission for Europe. The consultation took place alongside the sixth Ministerial Conference for Environment and Health.

Taking action for the environment makes sense for business, health and society, UN Environment Deputy Director Ibrahim Thiaw argued before ministers. He pointed to the resource value of electronic waste, for example, noting that illegally dumped e-waste was estimated to be worth $50 billion a year.

During the meeting, the UN Environment Europe Office stimulated countries in forming a regional approach for December's UN Environment Assembly, which saw 13 resolutions adopted on fighting pollution – including that from chemicals and air, where work in Europe plays a vital role. Siim Valmar Kiisler, Minister of the Environment of Estonia, was also elected as the new President of the United Nations Environmental Assembly.

At the environment and health ministerial conference, countries pledged to come up with a 'portfolio of actions' by the end of 2018 in the following areas: water use, sanitation and hygiene; improved air quality; sustainable and healthy cities; waste and contaminated sites; climate change adaptation and resilience; chemical safety; and environmentally sustainable health systems. Look out for major developments in these fields this year as UN Environment supports their design and action on the ground.

Supporting the green economy transition

The Europe Office continued to support countries in laying major building blocks for transition through the European Union’s Greening Economies in the Eastern Neighborhood (EaP GREEN) project in 2017.

One breakthrough made was the launch of the first ever Sustainable Procurement Policies for Moldova and Ukraine, covering organic food and window insulation, for example.

The former aims for 15% of all public purchases to fall under Sustainable Procurement by 2020. UN Environment helped draw up sustainability criteria for products and assessed the potential social, environmental and economic benefits of the move.

A media workshop organised by the Europe Office in Kiev in November underlined the role that journalists play in the green economy transition. The event allowed journalists to learn about the theoretical basis to a green economy from a leading UN Environment expert, Fulai Sheng. They also had a hands-on opportunity to meet pioneers leading the transition in Ukraine, such as representatives from the Passivdom company, which designs 3-D printed energy self-sufficient homes.

The journalists could furthermore interact with high-level decision-makers, such as Ukraine's Deputy Minister for European Integration, leading to national TV coverage. The workshop, organised with support from the Ministry of Ecology of Ukraine, was moderated by Elena Gladskikh, editor at the economic on-line journal delo.ua.EaP GREEN is delivered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, UN Environment, the UN Economic Commission for Europe and the UN Industrial Development Organisation. It assists Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine in their transition towards a green economy.

UN Environment at G7

UN Environment was at the table when environment ministers from the seven most industrialised countries on Earth met to discuss priorities for the coming years. This is based on a partnership with the government of Italy to support their G7 presidency through a dedicated presence and in a number of substantive files.

Topics discussed at the June meeting included environmental tax reform, environmentally harmful subsidies, the role of multilateral development banks, green and sustainable finance, marine litter and resource efficiency.

The ministers launched a 5-year 'Bologna roadmap’ on resource efficiency, which includes a pledge to fully participate in the 10-year framework of programmes on sustainable consumption and production, where UN Environment carries out several actions to promote best practices among governments and the private sector.

A joint communiqué issued following the meeting lauded UN Environment’s work towards a sustainable financial system.

The meeting was also attended by the Commissioners of the European Union for Environment and Climate and the environment ministers of four emerging economies that had pursued a series of successful environmental policies - Chile, Maldives, Ethiopia and Rwanda.

Helping our soil to heal

Soil is at the centre of many natural processes and is a litmus test for the health of our environment.

However, soil contamination is a major issue of concern in the pan-European region, with many countries not keeping full track of contaminated areas and even fewer remediating them.

As part of our response, UN Environment is leading the first nationwide clean-up of soil contaminated by industry in the Republic of Serbia.

Ahead of the Environment Assembly, a media field organised by the Europe Office trip in October 2017 visited the Zorka former industrial plant in the Serbian city of Šabac – one of the places where we are helping identify and remediate soil contaminated by the country’s industrial legacy.

Cyanides and heavy metals are among the harmful substances suspected of remaining in the ground at the site, which now stands abandoned.

Journalists witnessed a field mission to collect suspect soil samples for analysis. The aim is to narrow down the list of 30 sites for remediation, and eventually restore locations for sustainable industrial production, or other uses like safe housing or schools.

The media also had the chance to interview local mayors and officials from the Serbian Environmental Protection Agency and the Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research. Watch the subsequent news coverage by Italian state broadcaster RAI here.

The project is carried out by UN Environment with the Serbian Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection and the country’s Environmental Protection Agency. The work is supported by the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea, providing capacity building and funding, while the Global Environment Facility is covering broader costs.

UN Environment furthermore co-led World Soil Day celebrations in Serbia in December. Hands-on awareness-raising activities were organised at the Serbian Science festival - one of the top festivals of its kind in the region, with 30 000 visitors over four days.

There, interactive lectures on how soil is formed, its importance, degradation and protection were delivered by UN Environment’s Project Coordination Specialist Aleksandra Šiljić Tomić. Workshops were further organised for families to discover the importance of healthy soil through games and presentations.

Work to protect and restore soil is in line with UN Sustainable Development Goal 15 'Life on land,' which aims to halt and reverse land degradation.