The survey reveals consistent support for ambitious action on plastics across all countries. PHOTO/GREENPEACE. By SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT newshub@eyewitness.africa Ahead of the fourth Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC4) meeting for a Global Plastics Treaty to be held in Ottawa, Canada from April 23 to 29, 2024, a new Greenpeace International report revealed that 8 out of 10 people in South Africa support cutting plastic production. The survey which was conducted across 19 countries indicates overwhelming public backing for measures aimed at ending single-use plastics and promoting re ..read more

Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya termed the meeting as a new dawn for the mining sector in the country. PHOTO/KNA By SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT newshub@eyewitness.africa Mining experts from Indonesia and Kenya met in Nairobi to draft a joint work plan that will see the establishment of the first International Standard Mineral Testing and Certification Laboratory in Kenya. A joint committee has been formed to work on the technical details of the collaboration that will also include capacity building of laboratory technicians, skills transfer, and strengthening ..read more

From 2019 to 2023, growth in clean energy was twice as large as that of fossil fuels. PHOTO/UGC/SCREENSHOT By PATRICK MAYOYO newshub@eyewitness.africa Global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions rose less strongly in 2023 than the year before even as total energy demand growth accelerated, a new analysis by International Energy Agency (IEA) (IEA)I shows. This was helped with continued expansion of solar PV, wind, nuclear power and electric cars helping the world avoid greater use of fossil fuels. Without clean energy technologies, the global increase in CO2 emissions in the last ..read more

The accreditation panel will be ready to start accrediting auditors to verify and validate projects from April 2024. PHOTO/UNSPLASH/Melissa Bradley By PATRICK MAYOYO newshub@eyewitness.africa The United Nations Body charged with implementing a new carbon crediting mechanism under the Paris Agreement has expedited plans for action at their first meeting since COP28. The Supervisory Body of the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism took a firm step to set out a direction for the year. The Body has stepped up the pace of implementation by simultaneously launching work to develop methodological too ..read more

Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, and Leila Benali, President of UNEA-6, during the closing plenary at the sixth session of UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) in Nairobi, Kenya. PHOTO/ UNEP/Natalia Mroz. By PATRICK MAYOYO newshub@eyewitness.africa The UN Environment Assembly adopted a ministerial declaration as it wrapped up on Friday in the Kenyan capital, together with 17 resolutions and decisions aimed at redefining the way humankind interacts with nature. With more than 7,000 delegates from 182 UN Member States and more than 170 ministers participating in Nairobi, UN ..read more

UNEA-6 President Leila Benali, from Morocco, gaveling the adoption of a resolution. PHOTO/ IISD/ENB – Mike Muzurakis. By SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT newshub@eyewitness.africa Nairobi, 1 March 2024 – As the 6th session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) concludes, Greenpeace renews calls for member states to push for an ambitious Global Plastics Treaty and stresses the urgency of ratifying the Global Oceans Treaty. Amid concern over attempts to limit the mandate of the plastics treaty during the week, Hellen Kahaso Dena, Project Lead of the Pan-Africa Plastics Project at Greenpe ..read more

U.S. Army Cpt. Lori August, checks the ears of a hearing impaired girl from the school for special needs children in Rumaythuh, Iraq, Dec. 11, 2008. PHOTO/ WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/Staff Sgt. Brendan Stephens. By SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS newshub@eyewitness.africa Experts have long debated the most common cause of tinnitus — a ringing, whooshing, roaring, or hissing in the ears without an external sound source. Some have maintained that tinnitus is triggered by hearing loss: with less sound coming in, the brain compensates by becoming hyperactive and generating a phantom noise. But that theory hasn’t ex ..read more

Portrait of the members of the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers group, who participated in launching the International Year of Indigenous Peoples at UN Headquarters in 1993. PHOTO/UN/John Isaac/File By SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTnewshub@eyewitness.africa From expanding indigenous peoples’ seats at the UN table to appointing an Israeli-Palestinian orchestra co-founded by renowned scholar Edward Said as a UN Global Advocate for Cultural Understanding, here is a peek at some of what happened on this day across the decades. 1964: Zanzibar signs on to World Health Organization The UN World Health Orga ..read more

UNEA-6 President Leila Benali, from Morocco. PHOTO/ IISD/ENB/Mike Muzurakis. By PATRICK MAYOYO newshub@eyewitness.africa On Wednesday, high-level dignitaries joined exhausted delegates, driving home the fact that declarations and diplomacy are built on the hard work of dedicated but often faceless individuals. The Multilateral Environmental Agreement Day celebrated the interconnectedness between environmental issues. The negotiations on draft resolutions were far from celebratory but marched on. Halfway through the Sixth Session of the United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA-6), the m ..read more

View of the dais during Contact Group I: Cluster A. PHOTO/IISD/ENB/Mike Muzurakis. By PATRICK MAYOYO newshub@eyewitness.africa The second day of the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) was marked by an intense workload in back-to-back contact group sessions trying to beat the clock and deliver 19 resolutions and two decisions by tonight’s (Wednesday) deadline. Delegates worked in parallel contact groups to reach agreement on all the draft resolutions in clusters on abating pollution, halting and reversing loss of nature and ecosystems, international environmental ..read more