(The Gist of Science Reporter) International Environment Conferences 2019

International Environment Conferences 2019

1. Climate Action Summit:

• At the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addressed the United Nations Climate Action Summit and the Universal Health Coverage Meeting, held in New York on 23 September 2019.
• Leadership Group: India and Sweden together with other countries, announced a new ‘Leadership Group for Industry Transition’ to help guide the world’s heaviest greenhouse gas emitting industries towards a low-carbon economy.
• Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI): PM announced global Coalition for CDRI, an international partnership that will support both developed and developing countries to build climate and disaster-resilient infrastructure. The coalition’s secretariat is based in Delhi.
• PM called for a “Global People’s Movement” to bring about behavioural change to deal with climate change and made a pledge to more than double India’s non-fossil fuel target to 400 gigawatts.

2. United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD): COP 14

• For the first time ever, India hosted the 14th session of the conference of Parties (COP 14) of the UNCCD, held at India Expo Mart Limited, Greater Noida from 2 to 13 September 2019.
• The theme of the Conference was “Restore land, Sustain future”.
• The Conference adopted the Delhi Declaration in which parties expressed commitment for a range of issues, including gender and health, ecosystem restoration, taking action on climate change, private sector engagement, Peace Forest Initiative and recovery of five million hectares of degraded land in India.
• India, the global host for COP 14, has taken over the COP Presidency from China for the next two years until the next COP is hosted in 2021.

3. International Conference on Augmenting Nature

• An International Conference on Augmenting Nature by Green Affordable New-Habitat (ANGAN) was held from 9 to 11 September 2019 in New Delhi.
• The conference focused primarily on achieving Energy Efficiency in the building sector. It was organised by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Ministry of Power in collaboration with GIZ under the INDO German Technical Cooperation Initiative.

4. BRS Conventions COP in Geneva

• The 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention (BC COP 14), the 9th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention (RC COP 9), and the 9th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention (SC COP 9) held from 29 April to 10 May 2019, in Geneva.
• The theme of the meeting was “Clean Planet, Healthy People: Sound Management of Chemicals and waste”.

5. Basel Convention in Geneva

• The 14th meeting of the Basel Convention, which laid down guidelines on the movement of hazardous waste, concluded in Geneva on 10 May 2019.
• A key outcome of the meeting was an amendment to the Convention that includes plastic waste in a legally-binding framework, which would make global trade in plastic waste more transparent and better regulated, whilst also ensuring that its management is safer for human health and the environment. However, it does not bar countries from exporting various categories of plastic waste.

6. International Stocktaking Conference on Tiger Conservation

• The 3rd International Stocktaking Conference on Tiger Conservation, relating to the Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP) implementation was held in New Delhi on 28 January 2019.
• The conference was hosted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, Ministry of Environment, forest and Climate Change in close collaboration with the Global Tiger Forum.

7. COP 24

• The 24th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 24) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was concluded in Katowice, Poland.
• The conference finalised a rulebook for implementation of the Paris Agreement termed as “Katowice rule”. The Paris climate pact will come into effect in 2020 and will replace the existing Kyoto Protocol.
• The 25th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 25) will be held in Chile.

8. BASIC Meeting on Climate Change

• The BASIC countries held their 28th ministerial meeting on Climate Change from 14 to 16August 2019 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
• The BASIC Ministers urged developed countries to fulfil their climate finance commitments of mobilizing USD 100 billion annually by 2020 for developing countries in a transparent manner and on a grant basis.
• The BASIC group was formed as the result of an agreement signed by the four countries (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) on 28 November2009.

9. World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS), 2019

• The three-day World Sustainable Development Summit 2019 was inaugurated by the Vice President of India in New Delhi from 11-13 February 2019. The theme of the summit was “Attaining the 2030 Agenda: Delivering on our Promise”.
• The WSDS is the annual flagship event of the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

10. UN Environment Assembly

• The 4th session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-4) took place in Nairobi, Kenya. The theme of UNEA-4 was “Innovative Solutions for Environmental Challenges and Sustainable Consumption and Production”.
• Nations unanimously agreed to significantly cut down on single-use plastic products like cups, cutlery and bags by 2030.
• Along with the summit, the United Nation Environment Program has also launched the Global Environment Outlook Report.

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Courtesy: Science Reporter