Tag Archives: United Nations

Environment

Canada’s Environment Minister says the federal government will take a ‘long, hard look’ at upping its climate target following IPCC report

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

As the world stares down an ongoing and rapidly worsening climate crisis, wealthy countries like Canada must hit the “fast-forward button” and push up their net-zero emissions deadlines to 2040, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said Monday.

Guterres’ remarks accompanied the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — the last of this decade — which shows the goal of keeping global warming under 1.5 C “is achievable,” he said. “But it will take a quantum leap in climate action.”

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Rivers & Oceans

Activists call on UN delegates to move fast on high seas treaty

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

After a sluggish first week, activists took to the streets of New York City to push delegates negotiating a United Nations high seas treaty to act with urgency.

The “high seas” — waters that aren’t managed by a nation — account for roughly two-thirds of the world’s oceans. The vast majority are unprotected. A UN high seas treaty would be the first legally binding conservation framework for these waters, and would enable protection from overfishing, industry, resource extraction — like deep sea mining — and other activities. The treaty is key if the world is to protect 30 per cent of oceans by 2030, something more than 100 countries, including Canada, have called for.

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