Environment | WPN World People News

Thomas Greminger, OSCE Secretary General (l) receiving certificate from Michael Strebl, Wien Energie-CEO, Vienna, 11 October 2017.

On October 12, Mexico’s government, with the support of Mexican and international experts and scientists, will begin an unprecedented effort to save the vaquita, the world’s most critically endangered marine mammal. This project, known as Vaquita CPR (Conservation, Protection, and Recovery), seeks to rescue and temporarily relocate the remaining vaquitas to an ocean sanctuary in the Upper Gulf of California, with the end goal of returning the vaquitas to their natural habitat once the primary threat to their survival – drowning in gillnets – has been eliminated.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) connects educators and parents with the materials they need to help kids explore and understand the natural world around them with a new educational resource, Wild Classroom. Wild Classroom is a growing library of species-focused toolkits that can be used to enhance children’s learning inside or outside of a traditional learning environment.

The Colorado Water Quality Control Commission was kick off a multi-year rulemaking process on October 10, that could result in heightened water quality protections for Grand Lake. At the scoping hearing, the Outstanding Grand Lake Foundation will propose the designation of Grand Lake as an “Outstanding Water” under the Clean Water Act and state law.

A four-by-four meter dragon spitting single-use plastic was installed in front of the 'Our Ocean 2017' conference to highlight the global crisis of plastic pollution. The Break Free From Plastic movement is demanding that the main culprits, including fast-moving consumer goods companies such as Nestlé, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo, stop producing single-use plastic and that policy-makers legislate against it.

Armando, 12, and his grandfather (not pictured) are now homeless after their house was reduced to rubble by the one of the Mexican earthquakes.

Climate change has very direct consequences for the oceans, with rising sea levels and increasing acidification among the most alarming.

At the ongoing EU-hosted Our Ocean conference in Malta (5-6 October), the European Union has committed to 36 tangible actions to foster healthier, cleaner, safer and more secure seas.

Cybersecurity, climate change and the importance of education as a guarantee of stability were the focus of debate among some 180 parliamentarians taking part in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s 2017 Autumn Meeting in Andorra this week.