'Unseen' News and Views
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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.
4 June 2021 (UNEP)* — To launch the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, UNEP has released this synthesis report as a call to action for anyone and everyone to join the #GenerationRestoration movement to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide.
– 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.
ROME (FAO)* – Global food prices rose in May at their fastest monthly rate in more than a decade, even as world cereal production is on course to reach a new record high, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on 3 June 2021 reported.
The FAO Food Price Index averaged 127.1 points in May, 4.8 percent higher than in April and 39.7 percent higher than in May 2020.
Rome (FAO)* – Due to the impact of climate change, plant pests that ravage economically important crops are becoming more destructive and posing an increasing threat to food security and the environment, finds a scientific review released on 2 June 2021.
Countries also need to add similar commitments for oceans, according to a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), launched as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 gets underway.
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