WasteWise.be

Recording – Oct 2020

Circulate Capital commissioned a study carried out by GA Circular to understand challenges faced by the plastics recycling industry in South and Southeast Asia during this time and the interventions needed to sustain it. Based on more than 100 interviews (recyclers, processors, aggregators, junk shops and informal sector workers), this study highlights six key COVID-19 impacts on the recycling value chain in India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines. The study also lays out a three-phase plan to prevent lasting damage to the sector, protect the environment and local communities’ livelihoods.

Swati Singh Sambyal, Waste Management Specialist with UNHABITAT India, moderates this discussion where GA Circular and Circulate Capital share insights from the study and highlight opportunities to support and strengthen the industry for the long term. The panel also includes three participants of the study who share their challenges and experiences during COVID-19.

Watch the recording here.

Comics Uniting Nations have released a new aid for teaching and raising awareness of climate change. Santa Claus gives a deeply personal account of his struggle to recognize, understand and take action against the widespread global impacts of rising temperatures and extreme weather events, and the rapid Arctic ice melting that is threatening the very foundations of his fabled Workshop and Village.

The comic, entitled, Santa’s Green Christmas Father Christmas Battles Climate Change, is freely downloadable and provides a different approach and background to explaining some of the issues linked to climate change. Comic United Nations has invited schools, churches, NGOs and businesses to print and utilize the comic as a teaching tool, or to distribute as a holiday gift to students, members, employees or customers. The text is written to appeal to a range of age and education levels.

The NGO, Conservation International, has prepared a series of short videos (1 – 2 minutes each) which encapsulate many of the reasons why Nature and our environment are important to us. The series opens with a video narrated by actress, Julia Roberts, as “Mother Nature”. She points out that Nature has been around for 4.5 billion years, 22,500 times longer than humankind and doesn’t really need humankind. Her stark statements put into perspective human dependence on Nature. Other celebrities such as Penelope Cruz, Robert Redford, Harrison Ford, Kevin Spacey, Rees Witherspoon, Liam Neeson, and Joan Chen tackle issues such as Water, Ice, Rain Forests, Coral Reef, Redwoods, the Soil and the Ocean in a simple and powerful manner which brings home some of the extreme  environmental crises that are being faced at the moment. This communication is critical and should be viewed by as many people as possible.

To honour World Students Day (October 15th), Earth Day Network India has launched an e-book, “Pathways to Green India, Innovative Ideas for Students.” Featuring 22 case studies from across the country, this ambitious learning tool aims to inspire youth of all ages and backgrounds to take a leadership role in solving pressing environmental challenges, while at the same time providing replicable models for addressing problems, such as e-waste, noise pollution, water shortages and more. The e-book can be viewed on-line or downloaded as a pdf here.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) has launched a new, searchable, SDG Knowledge Hub to provide information and articles on national and internal efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Hub consolidates IISD’s nine Policy & Practice knowledge bases, and the tens of thousands of articles that have been published within them since 2008.

The Hub is currently functioning and will be presented at an event in Geneva, Switzerland on October 26^th 2016 and on an explanatory webinar on November 3^rd 2016. Register for the Geneva event here and the webinar here.

The EPA Sustainability In Action Video Series is a page of links to short videos focusing upon US sustainability case studies. The videos can all be found on the EPA’s  You Tube page. The You Tube Channel is inspiring but a casual visit may result in many distractions ans it has many topics and directions to lead you on!

Sometimes it make sense to go back to basics and revisit issues and concepts from a base level. The Learn about Greener Living page is simple in design and layout and is a useful memory jog. It has an American target audience in mind but many of the principles apply in any context. Worth a visit.

The UNEPLive data searchable website was launched in January 2014. As yet, it is still to be fully populated although it is already searchable, and country data is available.

According to UNEP, UNEPLive aims to support the growing demand for substantiated, contextualised knowledge about the environment, and to this end, UNEP has developed rich sets of data and knowledge flows and communities of networks.

The website will provide a system-wide data-knowledge service, a consistent approach to community networking and knowledge synthesis, an Information Communications Technology governance strategy and a comprehensive data policy for external and internal use. It will achieve this by:

• enlarging the      knowledge base for global environmental policy through community      networking
• encouraging and      supporting greater community networking;
• embracing new      developments in information and communication technologies and enhancing      knowledge service delivery through improved translation and search      functions; improving access to its information and knowledge services      using distributed computing
• widening the use of      its services through clear strategies for governance and data use that      reflects the general principles of streamlining, sharing and access
• involving staff and      experts from across UNEP, the MEAs and other UN organisations and national      institutions, plus regional and global environmental change programmes and      assessments.

In order to build the site’s range of data, countries who would like UNEP to support the further development of Country Portals and experts who would like to contribute content to UNEPLive, are encouraged to email UNEPLive at [email protected]

UNEP Green Economy Initiative

UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) has developed a working definition of a green economy as one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. In its simplest expression, a green economy can be thought of as one which is low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive. (more…)