13 February 2012: The European Commission and the European Energy Agency (EEA) have released two reports on soil degradation, titled "Implementation of the Soil Thematic Strategy and Ongoing Activities" and "The State of Soil in Europe," which underscore threats to soil and actions taken by the EU to address those challenges.
23 February 2012: According to a new International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) study, 12% of marine species surveyed in the Gulf of California, the coasts of Panama and Costa Rica, and the five offshore oceanic islands and archipelagos in the tropical eastern Pacific are threatened with extinction.
13 February 2012: The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has teamed with the Department of Science and Technology (DST)-Climate Change Programme, Indian Ministry of Science and Technology to launch a Center of Excellence on Climate Change Research for Plant Protection.
20 February 2012: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has released the Global Environment Outlook-5 (GEO-5) Summary for Policy Makers, which was negotiated and endorsed by governments on 31 January 2012. The summary was released as a prelude to the full report, which will be released in June, in advance of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20).
The Ministry of Environment of Japan will hold an Informal Pre-Plenary Scientific International Workshop on Assessment and the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), in cooperation with the UN University Institute for Sustainability and Peace (UNU-ISP) and UN University International Human Dimension Programme on Global Environmental Change (UNU-IHDP). This workshop will seek to help develop an IPBES and bridge the gap between scientific dialogue and international policy. The outcomes of this workshop will be proposed to the second session of a plenary meeting on IPBES, to be held in April 2012.
This workshop will convene under the auspices of the UN in support of the Regular Process for global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment, including socio-economic aspects. Participants will discuss, inter alia: the outline of the first global integrated marine assessment; the process of drafting the first global integrated marine assessment; the existing assessments in the region (based on the Assessment of Assessments findings and information submitted by States or regional organizations); and capacity building needs. Participants will also visit the National Nature Reserve of Sanya Coral Reef.
9 February 2012: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has released the UNEP Year Book 2012, which presents important events and developments from 2011 on key environmental indicators. The Year Book details two emerging issues, the benefits of soil carbon, and the decommissioning of nuclear power plants.
9 February 2012: Tara Oceans, a mission carried out under the auspices of the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), has arrived in New York, US, to raise awareness of the impacts of climate change on oceans. The scientific expedition has been travelling the world's oceans for almost three years, investigating the effects of climate change on biodiversity and marine ecosystems, with a particular focus on plankton.
8 February 2012: The UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) has released the February 2012 iisue of its newsletter, which includes articles on: the Natural Capital Declaration, intended to demonstrate the commitment of financial institutions at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20); UNEP FI's activities at the Durban Climate Change Conference; and the release of a report on insurance, drawing on lessons from the Southern Cape of South Africa.
February 2012: The latest edition of the newsletter of the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), Tropical Forest Update, summarizes the findings of the 2010 World Atlas of Mangroves, a comprehensive worldwide study on mangrove ecosystems.
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