As 2025 begins, the world faces converging crises and opportunities. On the one hand, conflicts, climate change and growing inequalities challenge global stability, while on the other hand some landmark treaties and agreements on health, plastics, chemicals biodiversity and marine conservation are expected to be finalised this year. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will also be reviewed at a high-level political forum. If kept, these treaties, agreements and goals will reshape governance and play a key role in bringing back balance to the planet.
The Global Pandemic Treaty is set to be finalised in May during the 78th WHO Health Assembly in Geneva. Focusing on five key areas: prevention, equity measures, health systems, financing, and governance, the treaty aims to address the weaknesses exposed by COVID-19 and ensure equitable global health security.
After missing its initial deadline of 2024, the world is now expected to finalise a plastics treaty later this year. While there is a consensus on the fundamental framework, disagreements persist between oil producers and other nations over whether it should impose limits on plastics production or focus on waste management alone.
The 7th session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-7), under the theme “Advancing sustainable solutions for a resilient planet,” will take place in December 2025. The year will also see the Open-ended Working Group, established by UNEA in 2022 to create a science-policy panel for the environmentally sound management of chemicals and waste, finalise its proposals.
On April 25, the amendments adopted at the 5th Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention (COP-5) in 2023 will come into force. These include the elimination of the mercury threshold of 1 part per million (ppm) in cosmetics and phasing out mercury-added batteries, switches and relays (except for research and development) by 2025. COP-6 is scheduled in November 2025.
Building on the success of the previous two conferences in 2017 and 2022, the 3rd UN Ocean Conference in June will bring together UN member states and other stakeholders to advance Sustainable Development Goal 14 on ocean protection, one of the least funded SDGs. It will conclude with the adoption of voluntary commitments under the Nice Ocean Action Plan.
The 20th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) will take place in Uzbekistan from November 24 to December 5, commemorating 50 years since the Convention’s inception. In October, Abu Dhabi will host the 8th World Conservation Congress, a quadrennial event by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
This was first published in the 1-15 January, 2025 Print edition of Down To Earth