The 5^th United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) session will take place in Nairobi on 28 February 2022. This event will address the development of a legally binding international treaty on plastic pollution between UN countries. The objective of the treaty is to reduce the discharge of plastics into the environment by covering all stages of the plastic life cycle and by adopting a circular economy approach to plastics.

Chemical pollution is an urgent, critical issue with harmful effects such as biodiversity loss and climate change. A recent study has shown that chemical pollution has crossed a planetary boundary, which means that chemicals are a serious problem disturbing the Earth’s systems, and large scale or irreversible environmental changes could arise. the management of chemicals and plastic pollution is poor and because of this, it is threatening critical systems that we depend on.

The study shows that plastics and pesticides production trends have grown, and it is expected that this production will continue to rise. The UNEA-5 is expected to tackle plastic pollution over its entire lifetime, so that the system so it becomes more sustainable and less likely to threaten the planet.

We invite you to read more on the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2) here and more about the recent study on chemical pollution here.

The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) and the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) have recently held a joint public hearing on “The impact of the Farm to Fork Strategy on agriculture and food systems.” The aim of the hearing, which was comprised of two panels, was to discuss the actual impact of the Strategy, its links to other policies and the way forward to a sustainable food system.

The first panel focused on the general impacts of the Strategy as assessed by the American Economic Research Services and the Wageningen University and Research Centre. Some of the conclusions of their assessment are that achieving the EU’s Green Deal objectives may lead to a reduction of livestock production in the order of 10 to 15% and that fertilizer surplus reduction and climate measures are likely to become main constraining factors to EU agricultural production.

The second panel, led by members from the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) and the European Agriculture Initiative at the “Institut du Développement Durable et des Relations Internationales” (IDDRI), looked at adaptation strategies. They stated that there is an urgent need to redirect policies to serve long-term sustainability goals, building a robust and strategic framework for food system resilience and a deeper accountability and engagement for change from stakeholders.

We invite you to watch the recording of this hearing here.

Two new initiatives have recently been presented by the European Commission with the aim of increasing the contribution of universities and other higher education institutions to face Europe’s major challenges such as climate change, the digital transformation, and aging population. The Commission believes that the entire higher education sector has a unique position at the crossroads of education, research, and innovation, in shaping sustainable and resilient economies, and supporting universities on the provision of high-quality life-long learning opportunities with a focus on the most needed skills and competences to face today’s economic and societal demands.

The first proposal, the European strategy for universities, proposes a set of actions to support Europe’s universities towards achieving four objectives: strengthen the European dimension of higher education and research, consolidate universities as lighthouses of our European way of life, empower universities as key actors of change in the green and digital transition and reinforce universities as drivers of EU’s global role and leadership.

The second proposal focuses on building bridges for effective European higher education cooperation, by facilitating the implementation of joint transnational educational programmes and activities, pooling capacity, and resources, or awarding joint degrees. Member states are invited to act and create appropriate conditions at national level for enabling such closer and sustainable transnational cooperation.

Read more on the next steps for both strategies here