Early last year a dhow – a traditional East African sailing vessel – travelled over 500km south down the coasts of Kenya and Tanzania, calling in at nearly a half-dozen ports along the way.

It’s a trip made by many boats. However, the Flipflopi was a dhow with a difference. Rather than the traditional wooden construction, the 10-metre, seven-tonne vessel was made entirely from waste plastic collected on Kenya’s beaches.

Every 16 September, World Ozone Day reminds us of the need to protect the ozone – a thin, protective layer of gas that absorbs most of the sun's harmful ultraviolet light. In doing so, the ozone layer helps protect humans from skin cancer and cataracts, and shields plants, crops and ecosystems from damage. The year 2020 marks more than three decades of global efforts to conserve and restore the ozone – which have paid off.

Many people think the area around the Chernobyl nuclear plant is a place of post-apocalyptic desolation. But more than 30 years after one of the facility’s reactors exploded, sparking the worst nuclear accident in human history, science tells us something very different.

On 26 June, individuals, governments, companies and other organizations celebrate World Refrigeration Day, which raises awareness about the significant role that refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pumps play in modern life.

The Share the Road Programme supports governments and other stakeholders in developing countries to move towards investing in infrastructure for those who walk and cycle.

In 2019, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) made recommendations for Kazakhstan to improve how it raises awareness on air pollution and alerts the public of high pollution levels, including by involving citizen science. Since, 50 LED screens have lit up across Almaty, displaying air quality data drawing from citizens.

Every year, the world generates more than two billion tonnes of trash.  Even against the backdrop of a global pandemic, there is much being bought and sold, things are used and discarded.

Late last year, flights were diverted from Delhi, thousands of schools were closed and people in the Indian capital were advised to stay indoors or wear masks. 

You might assume that these precautions were related to some kind of viral outbreak. But, in fact, they were a response to a spike in air pollution, which imperiled residents and decreased visibility so dramatically that airline travel became hazardous.

As bush fires were raging across Australia in December 2019, players of Space Ape video games reached out to the company and asked what they could do to help.

9 July 2020 – Niigata, Japan: The Task Force on Soil and Vegetation Monitoring of EANET has published a review on air pollution and tree and forest decline in East Asia.