Welcome to 2025!
It’s hard to believe it but we’re now in the year 2025, a quarter of the way through the 21st century!
2025 marks the International Year for Peace and Trust, International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, International Year of Cooperatives, and International Year of Quantum Science and Technology as well as kicks off the United Nations Decade on Combating Sand and Dust Storms, Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences, and Second International Decade for People of African Descent.
1 January is also the start of Veganuary, your annual opportunity to make plant-based food a bigger part of your diet (which is beneficial to both you and the planet).
I wrote yesterday about how environmental issues are not top of mind for voters when they enter the ballot box, in the Western world at least. However that does not mean the climate and biodiversity crises do not loom large in 2025 - 2024 is set to become the hottest year on record and the Worldwide Fund for Nature’s 2024 Living Planet Report found that wildlife populations had decreased on average 73% since 1970.
International efforts to achieve a breakthrough in climate negotiations will continue in 2025, with COP 30 set to take place in the Amazonian city of Belém, Brazil in November. The International Court of Justice is also expected to deliver an advisory opinion on a case brought by Vanuatu to clarify states’ responsibilities with regard to climate change. Biodiversity negotiations will also continue, as will efforts to conclude a Global Plastics Treaty.
In 2025 I plan to spend a lot more time working on this website, and in particular devoting time to exploring the link between environmental and social issues. I’m firmly of the view that no single environmental or social issue can be truly solved in isolation, instead systems thinking is required. The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) published a report that “found governments are underestimating or ignoring the links between five key areas - biodiversity, water, food, health and climate change.” At the same time, policy makers should be cognisant of a just transition and reducing inequality when forming solutions.