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Our Planet - Volume 2016, Issue 2, 2018
Volume 2016, Issue 2, 2018
In this issue of Our Planet, policy-makers, civil society leaders and distinguished stakeholders explore the environmental dimension of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
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Our planet, final reflections
Author: Achim SteinerThis is the final time I will contribute to Our Planet as Executive Director of UNEP. It’s a bittersweet moment. I am sad to leave behind such a tremendous team of colleagues and friends who work so passionately to protect our planet and improve the well-being of its peoples. But I am also very fortunate to have been able to lead, work with and learn from that team over the last ten years. It’s a decade that has seen environmental tragedy, turnaround and triumph. UNEP, as the global authority on the environment, has been integral to those stories and successes. So, for my last contribution to Our Planet, I would like to reflect on why three stories give me hope for the future. They stand for countless others I have encountered during these years.
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Time to deliver
Author: Ban Ki-moonTwo years ago, I was honoured to participate in the inaugural United Nations Environment Assembly, the world’s highest-level decision-making body on the environment, comprising all 193 United Nations Member States, and involving major stakeholders from business and civil society. The establishment of the UNEA by the 2012 Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development marked a coming of age for both UNEP and global environmental governance. It was testimony to the growing recognition that without careful management of the environment we will not succeed in our efforts to reduce poverty, improve global health and secure enduring peace and stability.
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The environmental dimension of peace
Author: Juan Manuel Santos CalderónIt is not by coincidence that Colombia is placing the protection and sustainable use of our biodiversity at the centre of our long-term development plans. Our natural endowment is among the most diverse in the world: with only 1 per cent of the planet’s surface, our territory harbours 10 per cent of all known species and a forest area comparable to the size of Kenya.
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Scoring a goal
Author: Peter M. ChristianLast autumn in Dubai, the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, representing every country in the world, agreed to work to amend the treaty in 2016 to phase down the highly potent greenhouse gases called HFCs. With negotiations having started in Geneva in April and expected to be completed later this year, the nations of the world are now on the verge of scoring a major goal for the climate system and for sustainable development worldwide.
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UNEP at work. Women, water and peace
The Darfur region of Sudan is no stranger to violence. More than a decade of conflict has driven millions of people from their homes, and many have settled in North Darfur’s Wadi El Ku, one of the region’s largest seasonal riverbeds.
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The Africa we want
Author: Amina J. Mohammed“Go softly in the world: if it is harmed, it cannot return.” This traditional African proverb reflects an awakening understanding in the continent that the environment is key to unlocking its great potential. So far, despite being filled with vast natural resources, Africa has been unable to harness them to bring about long-lasting peace, prosperity and good governance. But this is beginning to change.
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A new era
Author: Manuel Pulgar-VidalPeople are used to celebrating the start of a new year with resolutions for change; with goals for improvement, welfare and progress; with optimism and a constructive and proactive spirit. We do so from our past experiences – evaluating achievements, learning from failures and overcoming frustrations. We assume the present from the achievements and lessons learned, and aim for a better future.
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Innovation 01. The air we breathe
Every year, nearly 4 million people die from outdoor air pollution – that’s more than are killed by AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Nearly 90 per cent of those deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, which typically lack the capacity to monitor the quality of their air.
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Green innovation
Author: Madius TangauThe need to strike a balance between increasing demand for natural resources and environmental sustainability has opened new opportunities for Malaysia to grow economically. Under its eleventh economic plan 2016-2020, a green economy – one that aims to reduce ecological risks and address resource scarcities – has been identified as one of the main drivers for development. In line with this new approach, emphasis is given to innovation for creating more environmentally friendly industries to enable the growth to take place. Thus eco-innovation is to be nurtured, in the spirit of this green economy, to support attaining the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), especially those related to responsible consumption and production, and action on climate change.
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Catching crime
Author: Susi PudjiastutiIndonesia, the world’s largest archipelago – consisting of approximately 17,000 islands spread across nearly 2 million square kilometres – also holds, at over 80,000 km, its second longest coastline. Sixty per cent of its population lives in the coastal area. So it is no surprise that fishing is one of our biggest economic activities. And soon after Joko Widodo was elected as the President of the Republic of Indonesia, he made a political commitment to reclaim the nation's status as a global maritime axis.
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Lighting the way
Authors: Bautista Rojas Gómez, Pedro García Brito and Nathalie M. FloresThe Dominican Republic emits less than 0.1% of global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), but, as part of an island, the country is very vulnerable to the impacts of climate change through increased temperatures, sea level rise and rainfall variability. Studies have shown that the country is already experiencing the effects of climate change through the increased intensity and frequency of tropical storms. The Dominican Republic has been classified as the eighth country in the world that was most affected by extreme weather events between 1993 and 2012. In view of the above, the country has come up with a set of policies aimed at preserving existing resources, achieving the objectives of sustainable development and increasing the resilience of ecosystems and human communities to the adverse effects of climate change. In all of these policies, consensus and the participation of all sectors of society has been critical.
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UNEP at work. The big picture
Everyone in the environmental community recognizes the urgent challenges facing the planet – but how do you spread the word to a truly global audience?
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Go circular
Author: Karmenu VellaThe circular economy is a tangible set of solutions – and our best chance of reaching sustainable patterns of production and consumption. The implications are enormous, not just for the way we do business, but also for the jobs of the future and for the natural world that surrounds us.
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The opportunity of the commons
Author: Naoko IshiiWe know about the “tragedy of the commons”. But how about the opportunity they present? The crisis facing the ultimate global commons – the very conditions that make human civilization and economic prosperity possible – confronts us with the necessity of making our societies and economies more sustainable and less inequitable
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Transforming work
Author: Guy RyderB The last twelve months have seen the beginning of a profoundly significant evolution in the way economic and social policies are made.
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Refashioning the future
Author: Rachel Kyte2015 marked a remarkable moment in governance for sustainable development. The world gained a set of universally agreed goals, an agreement on how they would be paid for, and another agreement, again universal, that we would manage the global economy so as to limit warming to well below 2°C.
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Protecting people through nature
Author: Marco LambertiniFor too long we have been told that conserving the environment comes at the expense of economic opportunities for people. But the world’s new commitment to sustainable development clearly shows that humanity is waking up to the fact that social, economic and environmental agendas are intrinsically linked.
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Environmental champion
Author: Leonardo DiCaprioWe have reached an essential turning point in our journey to save the planet as we know it. More than 175 global leaders have now signed onto the historic climate agreement reached in Paris last December. Having been at the UN for the signing event on April 22nd, I am filled with hope – but I’m also fighting a growing sense of dread.
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