Countries must curb production now and tackle plastic’s full life cycle, says Norwegian minister Anne Beathe Tvinnereim ahead of key UN talks this week
The world will be “unable to cope” with the sheer volume of plastic waste a decade from now unless countries agree to curbs on production, the co-chair of a coalition of key countries has warned ahead of crunch talks on curbing global plastic pollution.
Speaking before the final, critical round of UN talks on the first global treaty to end plastic waste, in Busan, South Korea, this week, Norway’s minister for international development, Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, acknowledged the split that had developed between plastic-producing countries and others. She represents more than 60 “high ambition” nations, led by Rwanda and Norway, who want plastic pollution tackled over its full life cycle. Crucially, this means clamping down heavily on production.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
11/24/2024 - 04:00
11/24/2024 - 03:00
Despite its imperfections the process of tackling the climate crisis will not be derailed, even in the face of US backtracking
It was never an indication of great things to come when the chief executive of Cop29, Elnur Soltanov, was filmed attempting to broker gas and oil deals for Azerbaijan in the slipstream of the past fortnight’s UN climate summit in Baku.
More than 1,700 fossil fuel lobbyists have been operating in and around Cop29, outnumbering delegates from the 10 most climate-vulnerable countries combined. Many, including Greta Thunberg, now argue that the UN climate process has been entirely hijacked by corporate interests, reduced to a global stage for greenwash.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk
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11/24/2024 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 24 November 2024; doi:10.1038/s44183-024-00096-0
A global assessment of preferential access areas for small-scale fisheries
11/23/2024 - 18:47
Deep divisions remain after high-stakes talks end with agreement to help developing world shift to low-carbon economy
Rich and poor countries concluded a trillion-dollar deal on the climate crisis in the early hours of Sunday morning, after marathon talks and days of bitter recriminations ended in what campaigners said was a “betrayal”.
The developing world will receive at least $1.3tn (£1tn) a year in funds to help them shift to a low-carbon economy and cope with the impacts of extreme weather, by 2035.
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11/23/2024 - 14:00
Careful management including weed control and a burn laid the groundwork for floral abundance in Boorhaman reserve
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Thousands of native daisies, aromatic lilies, milkmaids, billy buttons and rare orchids have blossomed in a pocket of north-east Victorian grassland in one of the best wildflower displays in years.
Glen Johnson, an ecologist at Wild Research, said Boorhaman reserve, located north of Wangaratta, was “an amazingly diverse environment from the knees down”.
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11/23/2024 - 13:53
Rich countries resist increasing their contributions to poor countries that are bearing the brunt of global heating
Talks on a new trillion-dollar global deal to tackle the climate crisis dragged on late into Saturday night, as rich and poor countries fought over how much cash was needed, and who should pay.
Rich countries want to offer only about $300bn out of the $1.3tn a year needed from their own coffers, with the rest to come from other sources including potential new taxes and private investors.
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11/23/2024 - 10:00
‘Forever chemicals’ pose health threat to developing children and linked with preterm birth, shorter lactation
Higher usage of personal care products among pregnant or nursing women leads to higher levels of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” in their blood and breast milk, new research shows, presenting a serious health threat to developing children.
The new study helps connect the dots among previous papers that have found concerning levels of PFAS in personal care products, umbilical cord blood, breast milk and shown health risks for developing children.
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11/23/2024 - 09:49
Exclusive: News of changes to usually non-editable document ‘risks placing climate summit in jeopardy'
A Saudi Arabian delegate has been accused of directly making changes to an official Cop29 negotiating text, it can be revealed.
Cop presidencies usually circulate negotiating texts as non-editable PDF documents to all countries simultaneously, and they are then discussed. Giving one party editing access “risks placing this entire Cop in jeopardy”, one expert said.
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11/23/2024 - 07:00
Targeted research must be launched urgently to save sea creatures and plant life, oceanography centre warns
Britain is facing a future of increasingly catastrophic marine heatwaves that could destroy shellfish colonies and fisheries and have devastating impacts on communities around the coast of the UK.
That is the stark conclusion of a new report by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), based in Southampton, which is pressing for the launch of a targeted research programme as a matter of urgency to investigate how sudden temperature rises in coastal seawater could affect marine habitats and seafood production in the UK.
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11/23/2024 - 06:00
Among sweeping rightwing electoral victories across the globe, the ‘big loser of the elections has been climate’
An unprecedented year of elections around the world has underscored a sobering trend – in many countries the commitment to act on the climate crisis has either stalled or is eroding, even as disasters and record temperatures continue to mount.
So far 2024, called the “biggest election year in human history” by the United Nations with around half the world’s population heading to the polls, there have been major wins for Donald Trump, the US president-elect who calls the climate crisis “a big hoax”; the climate-skeptic right in European Union elections; and Vladimir Putin, who won another term and has endured sanctions to maintain Russia’s robust oil and gas exports.
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