Latest news with #COPs
Euronews
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Euronews
European Commission chief unveils EU ocean pact at UN conference
The EU has struck a new ocean pact meant to protect Europe's coasts and "life in and around the sea", European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday at the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice. The EU's goal is to bring 20% of Europe's marine ecosystems back to life by 2030, she explained. 'We will strive to cut plastic and nutrient pollution by half within five years,' von der Leyen announced, adding: 'We will restore natural habitats and shelter our coasts more effectively from the impact of climate change.' The European Commission adopted the pact last Thursday. The strategy aims to enhance ocean protection and restoration by supporting member states and revising several European laws related to maritime areas. The EU's executive also wants to boost the competitiveness of the maritime industry with a new strategy for the sector and a strategy for EU ports. 'Our fishers work tirelessly to feed us, day and night, in all conditions. Yet extreme weather and unfair competition are pushing too many of them out of business,' the Commission president said, announcing some grants to support small-scale fisheries. Von der Leyen also promised that €1 billion would be allocated for 50 projects around the world for scientists and conservationists, a third of which is due to finance research and scientific projects. The pact should lead to specific legislation that will be proposed by 2027, the Commission said. Eight years after the inaugural edition in New York, France is hosting the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice from Monday to Friday. Around 60 countries are coming together to support the protection and restoration of ocean spaces damaged by human activity. Unlike the United Nations' climate change conferences, or COPs, no formal agreement can be negotiated during the UNOC3. However, France hopes to secure as many signatures as possible for the High Seas Treaty, which requires 60 countries to ratify it for it to enter into force. The treaty aims to enable the creation of protected marine areas in international waters. 'Today, we are inches away from the 60 signatures for ratification,' von der Leyen said, announcing €40 million for the Global Ocean programme designed to strengthen protection of oceans in least developed countries. 'Please speed up ratification. Because our ocean needs us to play its part,' she added. In yet another massive overnight attack, Russia launched a total of 499 drones and missiles at Ukraine on Monday. According to the official statement by Ukraine's Air Defence forces, 479 of them have been downed. In a record wave of strikes, Moscow launched 479 Shahed‑type attack drones and various decoy UAVs, four Kh‑47M2 "Kinzhal" air-launched ballistic missiles, 10 Kh‑101 cruise missiles, three Kh‑22 cruise missiles, two Kh‑31P anti‑radar missiles and one Kh‑35 cruise missile. Ukraine reportedly neutralised 479 of the incoming targets, shooting down 292 and jamming 187 via electronic warfare. Head of the Communications Department of the Ukrainian Air Force Command Colonel Yurii Ihnat stated the Russian attack overnight mainly targeted one of Ukraine's operational airfields. Ukraine's Air Force issued aerial alerts throughout the overnight on Monday, warning multiple regions of the threat of ballistic missiles and Shahed-type attack drones. In the evening address on Sunday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also urged Ukrainians to pay attention to air raid warnings in the coming days. He said Kyiv continues to work on strengthening Ukraine's air defence. 'We urgently need positive signals from the United States regarding air defence systems — we are still waiting for a response to our request to purchase systems that can help.' Apart from Kyiv, Russia's latest attacks have specifically targeted western Ukraine. At least one person was reported injured in the city of Rivne in northwestern Ukraine, near the border with Belarus. The Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces said it scrambled fighter jets in response to the Russian aerial attacks in western Ukraine.
Indian Express
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
In Pune on May 9, man with a green funnybone and a wake-up call
'Ever wondered why Valentine's Day and World Pangolin Day are celebrated back to back?' asks one pangolin to another. 'No, but we're endangered and I love where this is going,' replies the second pangolin as a full moon glows on them. Elsewhere, there is Donald Trump in a MAGA cap. 'Today, this great nation stands at par with Iran, Libya and Yemen…,' says the US President. Ripping open the jacket of his suit to reveal a heart inscribed with 'Drill Baby Drill', he adds, 'in being the only countries outside the Paris climate agreement.' The cartoons, with a playful mix of tongue-in-cheek wit and edgy artwork, are by Nagpur-based Rohan Chakravarty. Chakravarty might not be a familiar name, but that is because his fans know him as Green Humour. Green Humour is considered the world's largest online collection of cartoons, comics and illustrations on wildlife and the environment. In December 2013, it was picked up by the international comics platform Gocomics and became the first series of cartoons and comic strips from India to be distributed globally. Green Humour has received awards from the United Nations Development Programme, WWF International and the Royal Bank of Scotland, among others. Chakravarty has been invited to make live art at COPs 26 to 29, the United Nations climate change conferences. On May 9, the cartoonist and illustrator will make a rare trip to Pune, at Pagdandi Bookstore, to discuss Bird Business, his new book that delves into the surprising lives of birds. More than 100 birds have been covered in the book as the author highlights the many peculiarities among birds that laymen and even bird watchers often overlook. The Nicobar megapode, for instance, is only found in the Great Nicobar, and it is from the only family of birds known to compost. There are greater racket-tailed drongo, which is an accomplished mimic and can reproduce metallic jingling sounds, and birds that dance, mimic and flirt. 'I've been bird watching for around 20 years, and everything I've learnt on this journey has gone into creating the book. When I started Green Humour, it was a sort of distraction for me from the rut of animation because I used to do a lot of corporate projects as an animator. I needed something to challenge myself more creatively. Over time, as I started to secure columns and spaces for Green Humour in the media, I began to realise that it comes with responsibility,' says Chakravarty, who is trained as a dentist. 'Initially, it would only be the science and the conservation community that would engage with my work. Later, people from all walks of life started to engage with it. That was when even my narrative started to get longer and more complex, and include a lot of not just wildlife conservation but also the politics around it. I tried to show that this is not just an environmental matter but also a social and a political one,' says Chakravarty. Bird Business has resulted from Chakravarty's conviction that field guides that are available on birds and bird watching only tell you how to identify some birds and never go beyond that. 'This book tries to bridge the communication gap in a visual and entertaining manner,' he says. Chakravarty himself goes out every morning, usually in the company of his two dogs, to observe birds. As he speaks about his fascination for the Greater Painted Snipe, a bird in which the gender roles are starkly reversed, so that it is the female that indulges in courtship displays, courts one mate after another and leaves her eggs to the care of mates. Chakravarty is afraid that a climate disaster is looming closer, and many species are on borrowed time. 'I am not a very optimistic person in this matter. Though I try to project as much optimism as I can through my art and my cartoons because I think I owe it to my readers, especially younger ones, I don't have much hope left anymore. Ever since I started out, it has just gotten consistently worse year after year,' he says. Chakravarty is a pioneer in making art exclusively on the environment and climate change, but several artists across forms are now making their voices heard on the issue. He, however, is worried as the days get hotter every year. As an artist, though, he is fighting on. 'I am at a stage where I research hard and put everything I can into a comic or a piece. I put it out there and let viewers decide how to interpret it and apply it to their lives,' he says. Dipanita Nath is interested in the climate crisis and sustainability. She has written extensively on social trends, heritage, theatre and startups. She has worked with major news organizations such as Hindustan Times, The Times of India and Mint. ... Read More
Business Times
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Times
Climate agenda reset ahead of Brazil's COP 30
THE climate diplomacy agenda has been badly on the backfoot since at least November's US presidential ballot which saw the re-election of Donald Trump. However, this Wednesday and Thursday (May 7-8), Europe hosts what may be the biggest meeting of climate ministers before November's Conference of the Parties (COP) 30 in Brazil to try to kickstart this key business and political agenda. The Brazilian president-designate of COP 30, Andre Correa do Lago, will co-host this week's event in Copenhagen. This is an inauspicious geographical backdrop given that almost two decades ago, the same city hosted one of the worst ever organised COPs. So much so that the then-US secretary of state Hillary Clinton told then-US president Barack Obama, upon his arrival at the-then COP 15 in Denmark, that it was 'the worst meeting I've been to since eighth grade student council' of 13-14 years olds. Fast-forward to 2025, and with their backs to the wall, Correa do Lago and Danish counterpart Lars Aagaard will seek to energise the summit of more than 40 climate ministers – ahead of COP 30. The latter is the most important annual climate event since at least Glasgow's COP 26 in 2021, and possibly even the landmark Paris COP 21 in 2015. It is not just the developments on the political right, including the re-election of Trump, that are helping shatter the previous political consensus on tackling climate change. There is wider alarm as highlighted by a report last week by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Diplomacy. As much as ex-UK prime minister Blair was a champion of climate diplomacy in office from 1997 to 2007 as leader of the left-of-centre Labour Party, he warns in the study that 'today's policy strategies have become disconnected from political, public and economic reality', and the debate is 'riven with irrationality'. While climate activism has succeeded in raising awareness, Blair argues that the result is a widening credibility gap between policy and delivery. He highlights that global trends that undermine today's Western climate approach include that fossil fuel use is set to rise further up to 2030, airline travel is projected to double over the next 20 years, and by 2030 almost two-thirds of emissions will come from China, India and South-east Asia. Add to this too the setback of COP 29 in Azerbaijan, widely seen as the worst annual climate conference since Copenhagen in 2009. The event was widely seen as kicking the can down the road, if not going backwards, with the summit threatening to collapse several times. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up As former US vice-president Al Gore highlighted about the Azerbaijan event, 'we cannot continue to rely on last-minute half measures. Leaders today shirk their responsibility by focusing on long-term, aspirational goals that extend far beyond their own terms in office. To meet the challenge of our time, we need real action at the scale of months and years, not decades and quarter-centuries.' So, with the entire COP process now in growing jeopardy, Brazil has the diplomatic challenge of a lifetime seeking to make its event later this year one that helps ensure long-lasting and transformative climate outcomes. With Trump having already started the clock on a four-year US withdrawal process from the 2015 Paris treaty, as he did during his first presidency from 2017 to 2021, other major nations will probably dust down the playbook they used during that period. This saw other powers including Europe, Japan and China seeking to advance climate diplomacy, and hoping that the next US president from 2021 to 2025 would recommit to the Paris process. Fortunately, this happened upon the election of Joe Biden as US president. However, whether it happens a second time will depend upon whether a Democrat can win the 2028 election against the Republican who becomes Trump's successor as the Republican standard-bearer. At the same time, world powers will be aware that US corporations, states and cities will continue with the clean energy revolution that has been underway for many years now across the world's largest national economy. Trump's policies may blunt this tide of investment in the short to medium term, but it is likely to prove unstoppable in the longer term. It is not just many US liberal and centrist politicians who favour remaining in Paris, but also much of the nation's business community too. Many US multinationals – including in the energy sector – argue that it is better for Washington to keep a seat at the table and influence an accord that big US-headquartered businesses may ultimately have to abide by after the Trump presidency ends anyway. The business community is aware that the Paris deal retains significant support across the world. In addition, it intentionally has a flexible, 'bottom-up' approach and this greater decentralisation and suppleness provides resilience, as was shown from 2017 to 2021. While the wisdom of this flexible architecture appears obvious, it represents a breakthrough from the more rigid, top-down Kyoto framework. While Kyoto worked in 1997 for the 37 developed countries and the European Union states which agreed to it, a different way of working was needed for the much more complex Paris deal, which includes more than 170 diverse developing and developed states that agreed in 2015 to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. By design, the agreement allows countries to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach to develop bespoke plans to realise emissions targets with national and sub-national governments in cities and regions working in partnership with business. In other words, while Paris created a global architecture for tackling global warming, it recognises that diverse, often decentralised policies are required by different types of economies to meet climate commitments, including in US states and cities. That this approach makes sense is reflected in the diversity of climate actions that countries have made in response to global warming. As the Grantham Institute at the London School of Economics has highlighted, these thousands of measures (legislative, executive actions and policies) globally range from economy wide measures to reduce emissions through to specific targets for renewable energy, energy demand, transportation or land-use, land-use change and forestry. So as deeply damaging as Trump's presidency will be to the climate agenda, the Paris framework could still provide a resilient, flexible framework for action that remains a lasting foundation stone of future sustainable development across the world. The best way to tackle climate change, going forward, will continue to be a flexible, bottom-up approach to meet targets in innovative ways. The writer is an associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics
Time of India
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Global agreement reached to eliminate hazardous pesticide chlorpyrifos with exemptions for India and other countries
. NEW DELHI: In a significant decision, countries across the globe on Saturday struck a major deal to eliminate the use of one of the most hazardous pesticides , Chlorpyrifos, with certain exemptions, under the Stockholm Convention at the ongoing meet in Geneva. India, which opposed its complete elimination at this stage, will continue to use it for another five years as per its registered uses for 12 crops, including rice, wheat, gram, sugarcane, beans, cotton, mustard, brinjal, onion, apple, barley, and groundnut, to deal with certain pests and termites. Over 40 countries, including all 27 European Union (EU) nations, the UK, and the US, have already banned the use of Chlorpyrifos on food crops. India, during the negotiation, pitched for exemptions, arguing the need for its use in certain crops in the absence of alternatives. The country, along with other nations, including Russia, Kenya, Zambia, and Costa Rica, also favoured exemptions for ensuring food security . Though India and many countries will continue to use it for select exempted purposes in the cultivation of certain crops while dealing with pests, the decision will ultimately push the users to look for alternatives in the final goal of complete elimination of the use of Chlorpyrifos, a highly toxic organophosphate pesticide with harmful effects on health and the environment. The decision was taken at the ongoing Conference of the Parties (COPs) to the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm (BRS) Convention in Geneva, being held to galvanise global efforts to manage hazardous chemicals and waste in an environmentally sound manner. Experts who have been tracking the development at the Convention welcome the listing of Chlorpyrifos in Annex A (meant for elimination) of the Convention but expressed their concerns at the long list of exemptions. 'The world can no longer turn a blind eye to the overwhelming scientific evidence on Chlorpyrifos. Its global elimination is a critical step toward safeguarding public health, environmental integrity, and the rights of future generations,' said Dileep Kumar of the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) India. "We support a broad spectrum evaluation and speeding up the separation of highly hazardous chemicals for elimination. The survival of life, including biodiversity, is at stake. Also, national govts have to take up their own independent physico-chemical and ecotoxicological evaluation to propose such chemicals for elimination,' said Narasimha Reddy Donthi, a public policy expert. The specific exemptions allowed under the decision include 18 crop-pest complexes (rice, maize, wheat, sugarcane, onion, peanut, barley, cabbage, chickpea, cotton, pineapple, and rapeseed, among others); control of leaf-cutting ants for agricultural use; control of locusts; control of ticks in cattle; and wood preservation against borers and termites in building foundations.
Time of India
02-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
At global meet, India, others discuss progressive taxation, carbon levies to deal with hazardous waste
BRS COPs 2025 held in Geneva NEW DELHI: Many countries, including India, at an ongoing global convention in Geneva have discussed the importance of predictable international financing mechanisms and the mobilization of domestic resources through tools such as 'progressive taxation and carbon levies' to deal with the often-unseen threats of hazardous chemicals and waste, particularly in nations with constrained fiscal capacity. The summary of their discussion — ministerial roundtable on 'means of implementation' — was presented by environment minister Bhupender Yadav at the Conference of the Parties (COPs) to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions in Geneva on Thursday. The COPs, being held from April 28 to May 9, is a joint meeting of countries that focus on global efforts to manage hazardous chemicals and waste in an environmentally sound manner. The roundtable also discussed the need for innovative financing solutions, including 'green bonds, debt-for-nature swaps , chemical certificates, and green loans', as critical tools to attract private investment to deal with the issues of hazardous chemicals and waste. Yadav at the roundtable highlighted that the effective execution of the BRS Conventions relies significantly on access to finance, technology transfer, capacity-building and technical assistance, and strengthened international cooperation. He outlined India's integrated approach to implementing the conventions through national legislation such as the Environment (Protection) Act, the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, and the E-Waste Management Rules, 2016, which are supported by sustained investments in institutional and technical infrastructure. 'The necessity of coherent and transparent regulatory frameworks that incentivize private sector engagement through supportive policies such as bans on single-use plastics and tax incentives for green technologies was suggested,' said a statement released by the environment ministry on Friday. It said, 'Ministers also agreed on the importance of regional cooperation, including the strengthening of regional centres to enable technical exchange, shared infrastructure, and capacity development.'
