As African cities grow, pollution increases. In Tanzania, half of the city’s 6.4 million residents rely on minibuses to get around, these are often major pollutants that emit trails of soot.

Ahead of World Environment Day 2022, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has written an article on Africa’s bid to ‘green’ their buses in the fight against pollution. The story can be read here.

Sustainable Energy for All are holding a forum in Kigali from 17-19 May ahead of World Environment Day.

The Forum will look to accelerate progress towards the delivery of Sustainable Development Goal 7, affordable and clean energy. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the official Cooling and Efficiency partner of the Forum.

Register to attend the Forum virtually here.

Germany will be launching a postage stamp to commemorate Stockholm+50 and 50 years of environmental action.

Stockholm+50 will be held just ahead of World Environment Day 2022, on 2 and 3 June, and will commemorate 50 years since the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment.

The 1972 conference was the first global conference to make the environment a major issue, 113 countries participated and adopted a declaration with 26 principles on environmental policy. The 1972 Stockholm Conference led to the formation of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1972.

A new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) comic has been released to raise awareness of chemicals and waste.

Keepers of the Land: The Curious Case of the Contaminated River is targeted at young adults and looks at the serious issue of waste and chemical mismanagement.

The issues of waste and chemical mismanagement are often highly technical and difficult for a non-technical audience to understand. The comic book breaks the issues down into a language that is easily accessible to anyone.

The comic can be downloaded, read and shared here.

If you would like to upskill your knowledge on Ecosystem Restoration the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Convention on Biological Diversity are offering a free online course.

Registration is now open, just in time for World Environment Day 2022.

The course, which will start on 19 September, will teach participants about preventing, halting and reversing ecosystem degradation. The course is available in English, French and Spanish.

You can sign up here for the English, here for the French and here for the Spanish.

Fashion can be a toxic industry, it accounts for up to eight per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions, is the second largest polluter of water globally and consumes 215 trillion litres of water a year, but globally there is a move towards more sustainable production.

For more about the global move towards sustainability see the work of the UN Fashion Alliance.

The full article can be found here.

Ahead of Stockholm+50, held on 2 and 3 June, and just ahead of World Environment Day 2022 on 5 June, the Swedish mission at the United Nations has launched a 30-day environmental challenge.

The challenge sets out daily tasks that individuals can take to help fight the environmental crisis and lead an eco-friendly lifestyle.

Recommended actions include taking a shorter shower, changing normal light bulbs to LED, ditching plastic, educating a friend about recycling and reading an environmental focused article. You can find the full list of recommended actions here.

As we approach World Environment Day 2022 cities across the world race to adapt to the climate emergency.

In Tanzania, 5 June will represent four years since a sea wall was built to protect a collapsing coastline in Dar es Salaam. Violent waves, fed by climate change, eroded the coastline and killed trees. Today trees grow and the seawall has allowed residents to reclaim the area. For the full story read the article here.

Pexels, the stock photography website, has teamed up with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to issue a photo challenge.

Ahead of World Environment Day 2022, Pexels are offering $2,000 in cash prizes for the best environment-themed photo.

For more information on the challenge and how to enter follow this link.

Ahead of World Environment Day 2022 the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has released Enabling Sustainable Lifestyles in a Climate Emergency, a new policy brief, that highlights the forces that shape our lifestyles.

The brief breaks down the impact government regulations, physical infrastructure, values, norms and economic factors have on the sustainability of our lifestyle.

It also introduces a policy tool on choice-editing, that shows policy makers how they can edit carbon intensive and harmful consumption options and edit in more sustainable and desirable ones while allowing everyone access to life necessities.

The brief offers policy strategies in response to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that tells us for the first time that demand-side mitigation strategies have the potential to reduce emissions in end use sectors by 40 to 70 per cent with the right changes in infrastructure, technology and behaviour.