2016 has been a crucial year in the development of sustainability of our environment. While Climate change and energy issues were fundamental to the sustainability agenda, but main focus was on the challenges of implementing the Paris Agreement.

The year started on positive note about the course of climate action to be followed in future. With global interconnection there was a need for more collaborative and universal responses to array of issues like poverty, inequality, terrorist threats, falling of oil prices, migrant crisis and funding of renewable energy.  The burning issue is now about the best way to achieve the goals and the speed at which it can be done.

The huge refugee crisis and the influx of migrants in Europe and falling of oil prices impacted the investment in renewable energy to a greater extent. Securing funding for low-carbon initiatives and introducing robust new carbon policies are new challenges for the year 2017.

There was a scale of human challenges in the year 2016 along with environmental challenges. http://radar.sustainability.com/

Appointment of new Secretary General

On 13th October, 2016 the former Prime Minister of Portugal Mr. Antonio Guterres has been appointed as the new Secretary General of United Nations by UN General Assembly. He succeeds Mr Ban Ki Moon. Mr.Antonio Guterres, reiterated his belief in peace, solidarity and compassion. He aims to mitigate  the suffering of the vulnerable people, especially the refugees and those in conflict zones, and gender equality would be his key priorities for him during his tenure.

 Cop22 Marrakech

Trump during his campaign promised to slash Obama's Clean Power Plan and pull out US from a global pact to curb warming of the planet.

At a meeting of almost 200 nations in Morocco to work out ways to implement the 2015 Paris agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions, UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon said that action on climate change has become ?unstoppable?, and he expressed hopes that US president-elect, Donald Trump, would drop plans to quit a global accord aimed at weaning the world off fossil fuels.

?What was once unthinkable has become unstoppable,? he told a news conference of the Paris agreement. http://www.reuters.com/
Ban said that he hoped that Republican Trump, elected last Tuesday, would drop his view that man-made climate change is a hoax and his pledge to withdraw from the Paris agreement. http://www.cop22-morocco.com/

The 2016 Fuller Symposium

 The 2016 Fuller Symposium held on November 15, 2016 declared Resilience as the most useful structure that will bring sustainability and conservation in the face of climate change, poverty and food security problems in the world. Countries have to march together under the banner of humanity in order to achieve a lasting equilibrium with our planet and with each other. 

Carbon Tax in Bangladesh

Due to high cost of fuel in Bangladesh, World Bank has proposed to Bangladesh to slash the carbon emissions in factories.  The country is weighing the Bank?s proposal to introduce the carbon tax initially only on petroleum products. The government will keep the market price of fuel unchanged by slashing its own profits.

The UAE Vision 2021

UAE Vision 2021 aims to  improve the quality of air, preserving water resources, increasing the contribution of clean energy and implementing green growth plans.

Also, the National Agenda highlights the importance of infrastructure and aims for the UAE to be among the best in the world in the quality of airports, ports, road infrastructure, and electricity. And leading telecommunications infrastructure will allow the UAE to become a forerunner in the provision of Smart services.

2016 saw the celebration of UAE Green Festival, designed to educate people across the seven emirates about a better way of life under the theme ?Live, learn and have fun in a low-carbon world?.

To boost contribution of the private sector and guide private companies to be aligned with the government's environmental strategies, the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, launched the "Environment and Business Majlis". The majlis will also help create new investment opportunities between the ministry and the private sector.

2016 saw the emergence of many revolutionized events all over the world, not to forget BREXIT that impacted the social, economic and trading sectors of the whole Europe. The after effects of BREXIT  on the business sectors will be there for many years to come.

2017 has been declared the YEAR OF GIVING by UAE government. The emphasis will be on lots of voluntary work by the community, youth and various agencies.

The Environment challenges for 2017 are manifold. But the good news is that stake holders are much more aware of the climate change issues. The global transition to a low carbon economy is happening but it is still slow. However, few countries are still performing below the mark.  The need of the hour is that countries must convert its objectives into determined national policies and long-term plans to reduce carbon emissions.

The challenge to limit global warming to 1.5C will be very much prevalent in 2017.  The world needs to bring profound changes to societies, economies and the environment where we live and we care for. To do this, countries must clinch a new method towards conservation and work in unison with full support to the developing countries who are still reeling under the stress of economic stability.

http://www.uaeinteract.com/, https://germanwatch.org https://abudhabievents http://www.worldwildlife.org/ globalissues.org