INTRODUCTION
“Global problems are moving faster than the institutions designed to solve them”.
Poverty, unemployment, hunger, inequality, environmental degradation, and climate change are but a few of the complex issues challenging the world today. While there are several international frameworks, such as the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the implementation thereof is not in harmony with the speed and efficiency that is required to effectively address these challenges. Environmental protection, ecosystem restoration, and climate change mitigation and adaptation, however, can serve as key solutions in addressing several of these challenges. The impacts of biodiversity loss, pollution, soil erosion, ecosystem degradation, and the interlinkages with the severe impacts of climate change have rippled across the globe, affecting fauna and flora, livelihoods, and vital ecosystem services to people.
The ECSWG will broadly focus on the following five key priorities:
- Biodiversity and Conservation
- Land Degradation, Desertification and Drought
- Chemicals and Waste Management
- Climate Change and Air Quality
- Oceans and Coasts
PRIORITIES
PRIORITY 1: BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION
Expected outcomes:
- Sharing of experiences in updating NBSAPs and national reports to incorporate key elements, goals and targets of the GBF.
- Piloting Biodiversity Economy Voluntary Sustainability Standards.
- Mainstreaming of Biodiversity CSU in ongoing efforts under the AfCFTA Agreement.
- Developing national models for Biodiversity Accounts.
- Establishing and operationalising technical and scientific cooperation support centres in G20 countries for the implementation of the GBF.
PRIORITY 2: LAND DEGRADATION, DESERTIFICATION AND DROUGHT
Expected Outcomes:
- Financial commitments from G20 countries mobilised to combat land degradation, desertification and drought.
- Review of lessons learnt from large-scale restoration initiatives, including the Great Green Wall and the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100), producing a compendium of case studies of restoration initiatives from G20 Members and relevant partners.
- G20 countries support for investment plans through technical and financial assistance towards attaining LDN.
- The capacity of government institutions, non-governmental organisations and civil society to support efforts and initiatives aimed at mitigating desertification, land degradation and drought is strengthened.
- Funding mechanisms to support landowners, communities, and conservation entities to implement sustainable land use management have been established and are functioning.
- To ensure that degraded ecosystems are restored while contributing to ecosystem services delivery, climate change adaptation, and mitigation.
PRIORITY 3: CHEMICALS AND WASTE MANAGEMENT
Sub-Priority: Sustainable Chemicals Management
Expected Outcomes:
To develop an Action Plan on Sustainable Chemicals Management:
- to end double standards in hazardous chemical production, trade, and use
- to improve access to safer, affordable, and adequate chemicals and non-chemicals alternatives
- to transition the chemicals industry towards sustainable production and operations
- to improve chemicals value chain transparency and accountability
- to share best practices to detoxify and enable safe recycling and circular economy and increased environmental job creation in the chemicals and waste sector
- to share best practices to reduce environmental pollution, land degradation, biodiversity loss, and disease burden.
Sub-Priority: Circular Economy and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Implementation
Expected Outcomes:
- Enhanced commitment towards the development and implementation of Circular Economy Action Plans, Regional, Sub-regional and National Plans and Roadmaps, including EPR.
- Collaboration on circular economy and EPR policies and legislative instruments development at regional and sub-regional levels.
- Capacity building and awareness raising for circular economy and EPR implementation.
- Investigating funding and other support opportunities for small enterprise support and identification of programmes for circular economy and EPR implementation.
- Enhanced collaboration and sharing of best practices on implementing circular economy and EPR in G20 countries.
- Promotion and implementation of regional and sub-regional initiatives linked to the resource efficiency, the circular economy and EPR.
- Promotion of compliance to policies and legislation and monitoring and evaluating the effects of EPR implementation.
Sub-Priority: Waste Management and Waste-to-Energy (WtE)
Expected Outcomes:
- Commitment to the development of sustainable waste management practices.
- Enhanced commitment towards the implementation of National Waste Management Plans, Regional, Sub-regional and National Plans, factoring in WtE.
- Enhanced collaboration on waste management, WtE policies and legislative instruments development.
- Capacity building and awareness raising for waste management, WtE implementation and its benefits.
- Commitment towards the implementation of WtE pilot projects that can be scaled-up.
- Commitment to sharing best practice examples on technology and other means of implementing WtE initiatives.
PRIORITY 4: CLIMATE CHANGE AND AIR QUALITY
Sub-Priority: Adaptation – Climate Resilient Development and Loss, and Damage
Expected Outcomes:
- Enhanced resource mobilisation and technical partnerships to support the implementation of strategies to achieve adaptation and resilience, particularly in the global South.
- Enhanced collaboration in addressing loss and damage in developing countries, including technical support, capacity building, and sharing of experiences and best practices.
Sub-Priority: Climate Finance and a Just Transition for All
Expected Outcomes:
- Enhanced climate finance mobilised for and by G20 countries, particularly for adaptation and building climate resilience for developing countries.
- Enhanced collaboration and sharing of experiences and best practices, as well as resource mobilisation opportunities to support the Just Transition within G20 countries.
- Advancing proposals for a new financial model to mobilise climate finance for a Just Transition for all.
Sub-Priority: Air Quality
Expected outcomes:
- Best practices on the development of integrated air quality information systems for decision-making.
- Identifying capacity gaps or needs and interventions to improve implementation of legislation.
- Harnessing synergies to climate action programs with air quality co-benefits.
- Developing programmes and sharing best practices that address air pollution from all sources (ambient as well as indoor settings in rural and urban areas). Policy and regulatory reforms that can drive air pollution reduction in the highest-emitting sectors (industries, transport, waste burning and household cooking and heating).
- Recommendations to support the development of air quality monitoring data sets and tools.
- Understand the equity dimensions of air pollution and how to support the most affected communities.
- Emerging technologies and technical solutions for air pollution reduction.
- Mobilising financing to deal with air pollution.
PRIORITY 4: OCEANS AND COASTS
Sub-Priority: Marine Spatial Planning – Ocean Governance
Expected Outcomes:
- Best practices on the development of comprehensive MSP processes.
- Identify capacity gaps or needs and interventions to improve implementation of MSP
- Development of a guidance tool for the approach to spatial management system for marine areas planning.
Sub-Priority: Addressing Marine Plastic Pollution
Expected outcomes:
- Sharing best practices, scientific research, and technologies on management of marine plastic pollution.
- Improved understanding of plastic losses and leakage from Abandoned, Discarded & Lost Fishing Gear (ADLFG) and measures (practical and policy-based) to address ADLFG.
- Improved management of plastic waste from ships, especially in commercial harbours
- Strengthened implementation of the International Maritime Organisation Strategy to Address Marine Litter from Ships.
