Product Service Systems and Sustainability: Opportunities for Sustainable Solutions

Given that the concept of PSS is beginning to 'catch on' and gain attention, it is time for UNEP to contribute to, and influence the progress of PSS, to ensure that in concept and application it incorporates the idea of sustainability. In this context its potential is not generally understood by the public and private sectors or civil society. This booklet is intended to contribute to the dissemination and the discussion of the PSS concept as a promising approach to sustainability. The ultimate goal must be to achieve Sustainable Product-Service Systems. This UNEP publication is targeted at industry and government, academia and civil society to explain PSS – their potential benefits and limitations – in the sustainability context – using real company examples. To prepare this booklet, UNEP has drawn on the knowledge and experience of PSS experts to flesh out the concept of a sustainable PSS, to collect case studies of PSS in practice, to begin to document both its benefits and the hurdles which need to be overcome in its application, and to suggest ways forward in its development

Foreword: mycotoxins in a changing world

This special issue arose because of the changes in the global landscape in relation to the impact and implications of our changing climate on food security and quality, consumer habits, trade and economics, regulations and scientific thinking. The EU green paper (EC, 2007) on climate change (CC) has suggested significant hot spots in different regions where food production will be considerably affected both in quality and quantity. Indeed, a recent UNEP report on ‘Emerging Issues of Environmental Concern’ (UNEP, 2016) has included a section entitled ‘Poisoned chalice: Toxin accumulation in crops in an era of climate change’ which refers to the impact that aflatoxin contamination is having in low and middle income countries (LMICs)

African Environmental Information Network: Improving Enforcement and Compliance Within Africa

AEIN is a multi-stake holder capacity building network dedicated to supporting sustainable development planning in Africa. AEIN is spearheaded by the United Nations Environment Program (“UNEP”) Regional Office for Africa and UNEP Division of Early Warning and Assessment (“UNEP-DEWA”), located in Nairobi, Kenya. UNEP-DEWA focuses on building capacity for early warning and environmental assessment, thereby ensuring that proper mechanisms are in place for sustainable development. The AEIN is intended to bolster Africa’s inadequate institutional capacity by addressing the following problems: the lack of harmonized efforts for environmental assessment and reporting; poor compliance and enforcement; and the lack of integrated environmental information into decision making and sustainable development processes

Urban UNEP Proposal

The general objectives of this project, and of the succeeding stages for which it forms a logical first step, are to expand the criteria governing the design (in the largest sense) of urban regions, adding explicit concerns for resource conservation and resilience. Typically overlooked, these criteria aim respectively at ameliorating the impact of urban development on the environment through more efficient and interlinked use of scarce energy and material resources in urban regions, and at minimizing the net costs to the concerned society of the inevitable system or subsystem failures

Needed now: a world environment and development organization

Global environmental policy certainly could gain strength if the management of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) or of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) were made more efficient. However, such a minimalist strategy of efficiency improvement is no panacea: it can only be an element, not the core of a new global environmental policy. Therefore, instead of merely calling for improved efficiency and coordination, in this paper a proposal is made to establish a World Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) as a new specialized agency of the United Nations. At the very least, such an Organization should integrate UNEP, the CSD and the relevant Convention Secretariats (climate, biodiversity, desertification conventions); close cooperation with the Bretton Woods institutions - the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization (WTO) - and the existing UN specialized agencies would need to be ensured. Also, ideas are being presented on the decision-making procedures, the participation of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and on the financing of such a World Environment and Development Organization. --

Building capacities for transformative change towards sustainability: Imagination in Intergovernmental Science-Policy Scenario Processes

Scenario development has been recognized as a potential method to explore future change and stimulate a reflective process that can contribute to more informed decision-making. The assessment process under IPBES (the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) has however shown that the current predominantly biophysical and economic models and scenario processes for exploring the future of biodiversity, ecosystem services and their contributions to human wellbeing are insufficient to capture the complexity and context-specific nature of the problems facing these sectors. Several important challenges have been identified that require a more in-depth analysis of where more imaginative scenario efforts can be undertaken to address this gap. In this paper, we identify six key characteristics necessary for scenario processes: adaptability across diverse contexts, inclusion of diverse knowledge and value systems, legitimate stakeholder engagement that foregrounds the role of power and politics, an ability to grapple with uncertainty, individual and collective thinking mechanisms and relevance to policy making. We compared four cases of imaginative, arts-based scenario processes that each offer aspects of meeting these criteria. These approaches emphasise the importance of engaging the imagination of those involved in a process and harnessing it as a tool for identifying and conceptualising more transformative future trajectories. Drawing on the existing literature, we argue that there is value in fostering more inclusive and creative participatory processes that acknowledge the importance of understanding multiple value systems and relationships in order to reimagine a more inclusive and just future. Based on this, we reflect on future research to understand the transformative role that imagination can play in altering and enhancing knowledge-making for global assessments, including IPBES. We conclude that creative scenario co-development processes that promote imagination and create an opening for more empathetic responses should be considered as complementary tools within the suite of methodologies used for future IPBES scenario development

Pollution in the open oceans: 2009-2013

This review of pollution in the open oceans updates a report on this topic prepared by GESAMP five years previously (Reports and Studies No. 79, GESAMP, 2009). The latter report, the first from GESAMP focusing specifically on the oceans beyond the 200 m depth contour, was prepared for purposes of the Assessment of Assessments, the preparatory phase of a regular process for assessing the state of the marine environment, led jointly by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO-IOC)

An Appraisal of Goal 7 of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations VIS-À-VIS the Implementation of the 2011 United Nations Environment Programme Report on the Environmental Assessment of Ogoni Land in Nigeria and the Activities of the Hydro

The paper is an appraisal of goal 7 of the millennium development goals of the United Nations (MDGs) in the light of the purported ongoing implementation of the 2011 United Nations Environment Programme Report (UNEP) on the environmental assessment of Ogoni land in Nigeria being carried out by the Hydrocarbon Remediation Project (HYPREP). The paper argues that there exists a nexus between the particulars of the UNEP report, goal 7 of the MDGs and the urgent need on the part of HYPREP to timeously and properly work on the findings contained in the UNEP report on Ogoni land to avert further environmental degradations, massive deaths and other health challenges on the indigenous peoples of Ogoni land in Nigeria, west Africa.  In achieving its aim, this paper adopts an admixture of the historical, comparative, empirical, the law and development approaches, in relevant areas. The paper is concluded and a set of recommendations made. Keywords: Appraisal, Goal 7 of the Millennium Development Goals, United Nations, Implementation, United Nations Environment Programme Report (UNEP), Assessment, Ogoni land, Nigeria, Hydrocarbon Remediation Project (HYPREP). DOI: 10.7176/CER/12-2-04 Publication date: February 29th 202