Geneva

WNAM MONITORING: Plastic waste leakage to the environment in Southeast Asian countries, plus China, Japan, and South Korea, could increase by nearly 70% if effective measures are not taken, warned a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

“Driven by rising incomes and living standards, plastics use in the region is projected to almost double in the absence of more ambitious policies,” the Regional Plastics Outlook report said, comparing the figures to 2022 levels.

The member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are “expected to see a near tripling,” it added.

Plastic waste is projected to more than double, while plastic leakage to the environment is projected to increase by 68%, primarily originating from ASEAN lower-middle-income countries and China, the report also said.

Describing the region as a “hotspot for plastic pollution,” it noted that 8.4 million tons of mismanaged plastic waste leaked to the environment in 2022.

Regional plastic waste rose from 10 million tons in 1990 to 113 million tons in 2022, the report also noted.

“Informal and unsafe practices, such as open burning and dumping, persist in most ASEAN countries and China, especially in rural areas,” it added.

Plastic waste is a major environmental issue, polluting rivers and oceans and posing health risks to wildlife and humans as microplastics also enter the body.

The report projects that annual leakage into the environment in the region could reach 14.1 million tons in 2050, of which 5.1 million tons could reach rivers, coastal areas, and oceans.

The countries in the region differ widely in waste management capabilities, with plastic use in 13 countries surging almost ninefold from 17 million tons in 1990 to 152 million tons in 2022.

As over half of the plastic used in the region has a lifespan of less than five years, much of it quickly becomes waste.

Plastic use in the region may drop by 28% through ambitious actions, including bans on single-use plastics and taxes, which could also raise the recycling rate to 54%, and reduce mismanaged waste by 97%, the report also noted.

In a related development, talks for an international legally binding treaty on plastics pollution resumed on Tuesday in Geneva, after the previous talks last year in South Korea collapsed as countries split over measures on plastic output curbs and plastic waste management.

GENEVA  ( WNAM MOINITORING): The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Thursday raised alarm over escalating violence and deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the occupied West Bank, pointing to a rise in deaths, injuries, and disruptions to daily life.

In a statement on X, the organization said it is “concerned about recurrent violence in the West Bank that is resulting in deaths and injuries among local communities.”

The ICRC highlighted that “Palestinians in the West Bank continue to suffer from ongoing settler violence and destruction of property,” which is contributing to the worsening humanitarian situation.

It also criticized arbitrary movement restrictions, noting that “checkpoints and gates at the entrances of villages and towns are regularly closed without warning.” According to the post, these closures “disrupt emergency services and restrict access to health care and other essential services such as water and sanitation.”

In addition to cutting off vital services, the ICRC said these restrictions “contribute to fuel shortages, disruption of supplies of basic goods, and separate families from their loved ones.”

“Even under occupation, local communities must be enabled to live as normal a life as possible,” the ICRC stated. “They must have access to food, water, medical care, and other essentials. Their rights, dignity, and daily needs must be respected.”

GENEVA ( WNAM MONITORING ): Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Saturday in Geneva, marking a tentative step toward easing a trade war that has disrupted global markets and strained diplomatic ties, according to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency.

The talks follow weeks of rising tensions, with both countries imposing steep tariffs on each other’s goods. Since January, US President Donald Trump has raised duties on Chinese imports to 145%, which China responded with 125% tariffs.

Although the location of the meeting had not been publicly disclosed, both delegations have been spotted while entering the Swiss ambassador to the UN’s residence.

Trump hinted at a possible softening on Friday, saying an 80% tariff on Chinese goods “seems right,” marking the first time he publicly suggested an alternative to the current levels.

Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter and Swiss Federal Councilor for Economic Affairs Guy Parmelin met with both sides on Friday.

Swiss authorities have also played a behind-the-scenes role in bringing the US and China together, as the government confirmed that “during its recent contacts in Washington and Beijing, Switzerland expressed to the US and Chinese authorities its willingness to organize a meeting between the two parties.”

It is not yet clear when the discussions will conclude or whether they will spill over into Sunday. Neither side has made a public statement so far.

Geneva ( WNAM REPORT): : Covid-19 is still killing around 1,700 people a week around the world, the World Health Organization said Thursday, as it urged at-risk populations to keep up with their vaccinations against the disease.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus sounded a warning on declining vaccine coverage.
Despite the continued death toll, “data show that vaccine coverage has declined among health workers and people over 60, which are two of the most at-risk groups,” the UN health agency’s chief told a press conference.
“WHO recommends that people in the highest-risk groups receive a Covid-19 vaccine within 12 months of their last dose.”
More than seven million Covid deaths have been reported to the WHO, though the true toll of the pandemic is thought to be far higher.
Covid-19 also shredded economies and crippled health systems.
Tedros declared an end to Covid-19 as an international public health emergency in May 2023, more than three years on from when the virus was first detected in Wuhan, China, in late 2019.
The WHO has urged governments to maintain virus surveillance and sequencing, and to ensure access to affordable and reliable tests, treatments and vaccines.

GENEVA: Global tobacco users have decreased by around 19 million globally in the last two years, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

“Globally there are 1.25 billion adult tobacco users worldwide, according to the latest estimates in the WHO global tobacco trends report released today. This is welcome news, particularly as the number is projected to keep going down as more and more people quit using tobacco or do not get started,” Ruediger Krech, WHO director of health promotion, told a UN press briefing in Geneva.

“This is despite the continuing growth of the world’s population, which added approximately 149 million adults over the same period,” he added.

Tobacco use rates have globally continued to decline, with only about one in five adults consuming tobacco in 2022, a significant decrease from one in three in 2000, the report underlined.

Krech said that 150 countries are now on a downward trend in tobacco use, with 56 of them already tracking toward the global target of a 30% reduction by 2025.

The report showed that the world collectively will only make a 25% relative reduction in tobacco use unless more concerted efforts are made to adopt stronger tobacco control measures, he noted.

The lower-middle-income group of countries is currently experiencing the fastest decreases in tobacco use, despite having the highest rates of tobacco use two decades ago, he said and added that this success demonstrates the effectiveness of tobacco control efforts even in challenging environments and low-resource settings.

According to the report, the highest prevalence of tobacco users is in the WHO South-East Asian Region, while the current lowest is in the African Region.

Krech urged countries to continue implementing tobacco control policies and the “fight against tobacco industry interference.”

He added that countries are set to meet in Panama next month for the 10th Session of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Conference of Parties.

GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) said it had been compelled to cancel a mission to bring medical supplies to northern Gaza on Sunday after failing to receive security guarantees.
It was the fourth time WHO had had to call off a planned mission to bring urgently needed medical supplies to Al-Awda Hospital and the central drug store in northern Gaza since Dec. 26, it said.
“It has now been 12 days since we were last able to reach northern Gaza,” the WHO office in the occupied Palestinian territories wrote on the X social media platform.
“Heavy bombardment, movement restrictions, and interrupted communications are making it nearly impossible to deliver medical supplies regularly and safely across Gaza, particularly in the north.”
The delivery planned on Sunday, WHO said, had been designed to sustain the operations of five hospitals in the northern part of the enclave.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “shocked by the scale of health needs and devastation in northern Gaza.”
“Further delays will lead to more death and suffering for far too many people,” he wrote on X.
In separate comments, the International Rescue Committee aid group said its emergency medical team and the Medical Aid for Palestinians charity had been forced to withdraw and cease its activities at the Al Aqsa Hospital in Gaza’s Middle Area due to increasing Israel military activity in the area.

GENEVA: The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies elected a US candidate on Monday as its new president after an acrimonious meeting that nearly saw the vote postponed amid a controversy involving a rival candidate.
Kate Forbes, an existing IFRC board member, became the second woman to ever hold the top job at the world’s largest humanitarian network after two rounds of votes.
“Now is the time to lean into our fundamental principles to deliver on our mission and make communities stronger,” she said, vowing to address the impacts of climate change, geopolitical tensions and health emergencies.
Forbes who began working with the IFRC four decades ago, as a local volunteer at the Phoenix, Arizona, branch of the American Red Cross will replace outgoing chief Francesco Rocca who is also president of Italy’s Lazio region.
Rocca announced his departure after his regional government pulled its support from an annual LGBT parade, drawing criticism from some rights activists and opposition politicians.
He said at the time in a letter to the IFRC that his decision to leave was a “very difficult one” that was “driven by my desire to protect our organization and the people we serve.”
Monday’s extraordinary General Assembly meeting in Geneva to choose his successor was marked by heavy sparring between Rocca and representatives of the national organizations after he announced a delay to voting.