'Unseen' News and Views
Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is one of the biggest threats to our oceans. ©Cristiano Minichiello
IUU fishing is one of the biggest threats to our oceans, impacting the sustainability of fisheries, the livelihoods of fishers and coastal communities and the protection of aquatic ecosystems. It also impacts consumers who could be cheated in terms of what fish they are buying, where it comes from or how it is caught.
Image from Greenpeace International.
Sounds like the premise of a brand new Netflix series, but instead this is the reality of what happens in one of the world’s most lucrative industries. And the secret activity worth billions of dollars? Fish.
ROME (FAO)* – Worsening soil pollution and waste proliferation threaten the future of global food production, human health and the environment, and require an urgent global response, according to a joint report released on 4 June 2021 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Environment Programme.
KEY MESSAGE 1
Countries need to deliver on their existing commitments to restore 1 billion hectares of degraded land and make similar commitments for marine and coastal areas.
The fulfilment of these commitments is not simply something that is ‘nice to have’.
Restoration is essential for keeping global temperature rise below 2°C, ensuring food security for a growing population and slowing the rate of species extinctions.
– The United Nations has been in the forefront of an ongoing battle against the growing hazards of climate change, including the destruction of different species of plants and animals, the danger of rising sea-levels threatening the very existence of small island developing states (SIDS), and the risks of oceans reaching record temperatures endangering aquatic resources.
Restoring natural habitats as pictured here in Cuba will help to slow down climate change. A new UN-backed study released May 27 says annual investments in nature-based solutions will have to triple by 2030, and increase four-fold by 2050, if the world is to successfully tackle the triple threat of climate, biodiversity and land degradation crises. Credit: UNDP
3 June 2021 (UNEP)* — When African Ministers of Environment voted to adopt a green stimulus initiative in December 2020 that tied environmental incentives to economic and social recovery in a post-COVID-19 world, the mandate to build back better following the pandemic sprang to life.
The African Green Stimulus Programme that was agreed by 54 ministers at the eighth special session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) reaffirmed the continent’s commitment to protect and sustainably use natural resources.
The ambitious project- which is supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – sets out to plant ten billion trees by 2023. Launched in 2019, the project has just reached a new milestone – planting of the billionth tree.
This year also sees the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 and projects such as the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami are key to preventing, halting and reversing the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean.
4 June 2021 (UNEP)* — With the world beginning to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, there is increasing recognition that healing from the pandemic is linked to healing the planet.
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Resetting humanity’s relationship with nature will be the focus of World Environment Day on June 5, which also marks the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, a ten-year global push to prevent, halt and reverse ecosystem degradation.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 