Environment and Climate Change

This publication is prepared in the framework of the United Nations Development Account project “Promoting Energy Efficiency Investments for Climate Change Mitigation and Sustainable Development”, which is implemented jointly by all five UN Regional Commissions with UNECE as the lead agency. This publication highlights the best policy practices for promoting energy efficiency in UNECE region and beyond. The objective of the publication is to present a structured framework of policies and measures to promote energy efficiency investments for climate change mitigation and sustainable development, as well as to develop a menu of energy efficiency policies and measures. Governments, business community, experts, project developers, and other stakeholders will find this publication to be a useful companion for understanding and applying the best policy practices in improving energy efficiency.

This edition of The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets focuses on the complex and underexplored intersection between agricultural trade, climate change and food security. The report makes an important contribution to the policy debates on climate change adaptation and mitigation under the Paris Agreement and the multilateral agricultural trade rules. The report discusses policies – both domestic support and trade measures – that can promote food security, adaptation and mitigation, and improve the livelihoods of family farmers around the world. Given both the slow- and rapid-onset impacts of climate change, policies that can significantly promote climate change adaptation and mitigation would benefit from deeper discussions in international fora on how to strengthen the mutually supportive role of trade rules and climate interventions.

This guide collects and summarizes good practices on the successful mediation of resource conflicts. It draws on the field experiences of mediators and mediation experts, specifically those with natural resource expertise. It also features lessons learned from UNEP’s work on environmental diplomacy in different conflict-affected countries, with a particular focus on how to use impartial technical knowledge to equalize stakeholder information in a mediation process.

(Russian language)The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) addresses classification and labelling of chemicals by types of hazards. It provides the basis for worldwide harmonization of rules and regulations on chemicals and aims at enhancing the protection of human health and the environment during their handling, transport and use by ensuring that the information about their physical, health and environmental hazards is available. The eighth revised edition of the GHS includes: • new classification criteria, hazard communication elements, decision logics and guidance for chemicals under pressure; • new provisions for the use of in vitro/ex vivo data and non-test methods to assess skin corrosion and skin irritation; • miscellaneous amendments to clarify the classification criteria for Specific Target Organ Toxicity; • revised and further rationalized precautionary statements and an editorial revision of Sections 2 and 3 of Annex 3; • new examples of precautionary pictograms to convey the precautionary statement “Keep out reach of children”; • a new example in Annex 7 addressing labelling of sets or kits; • guidance on the identification of dust explosion hazards and the need for risk assessment, prevention, mitigation, and hazard communication.

The Regional State of Coast Report for the western Indian Ocean (WIO) is the first comprehensive regional synthesis to provide insights into the enormous economic potential around the WIO, the consequential demand for marine ecosystem goods and services to match the increasing human population, the pace and scale of environmental changes taking place in the region and the opportunities to avoid serious degradation in one of the world’s unique and highly biodiverse oceans.

South-East Asia is regularly hit by droughts. Though starting slowly, droughts can have devastating cumulative impacts – striking hardest at the poor and heightening inequality, as well as degrading land and increasing the prospects of violent conflict. There will be many more dry years ahead, and the area affected by drought is likely to shift and expand. Ready for the Dry Years offers a clear analysis of this subject, assessing prospects for the decades ahead and highlighting the principal risks. Building resilience will be fundamental for the continued development of ASEAN countries. issued jointly by the ESCAP and ASEAN secretariats, the Report identifies the priorities for increasing resilience to drought and helping countries adapt. The primary audience of this report are policymakers in South-East Asia who are responsible for disaster risk reduction and development issues.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) regional Global Tracking Framework report is part of a series of multi-agency assessments that monitor progress towards the three Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) objectives. This first edition of the report builds upon the 2017 Global Tracking Framework report, by tracking the indicators of each SDG 7 objective within the UNECE sub-regions. The report then goes further to identify the current status of sustainable energy across a broader set of energy indicators, identifies key issues along the energy value chain, and highlights UNECE country responses to initiate change. The report further argues that this broader set of energy indicators is required to comprehensively track energy for sustainable development.

This publication provides a timely synthesis of the importance of mangroves to people. It highlights that in spite of the mounting evidence in support of the multitude of benefits derived from mangroves, they remain one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet, being lost at a rate greater than coral reefs and tropical rain forests. This has potentially devastating effects to mangrove biodiversity and in turn, the food security, protection and livelihoods of some of the most marginalized coastal communities in developing countries, where more than 90 percent of the world’s mangroves are found.