News and Events for Policymakers

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Extensive cooperation project towards a sustainable circular economy for plastics in Finland by 2035

An extensive cooperation project to promote the circular economy of plastics was launched in Finland. Led by the Ministry of the Environment and the Finnish Environment Institute (Syke), the PlastLIFE SIP project is part of the EU’s LIFE programme...

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Webinar: Recent EU perspectives on soil

Three presentations by speakers linked to the EU Soil Observatory, who will cover complementary perspectives on soil.

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New data reveal challenges for zooplankton as Arctic Sea ice declines

Letizia Tedesco, a polar biological oceanographer at the Finnish Environment Institute, recently wrote a piece “Zooplankton dilemma in the twilight” for the News & Views section of the Nature Climate Change journal. She was invited to report and...

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Biodiversity restoration in European freshwaters stagnates after decades of progress

Biodiversity in European river systems increased significantly between 1968 and 2020, but this recovery has stagnated since 2010. Many river systems have not fully recovered, according to an international team of researchers. The study of...

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The onset of flowering varies dramatically from year to year in the high-Arctic -- but overall, flowering is not getting earlier. Photo by Niels Martin Schmidt.

Huge fluctuations in onset of spring in the high-Arctic

The original, extreme rates of phenological change have been replaced by large year-to-year variation in the timing of events, pushing phenological limits of species.

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Addressing Global Biodiversity Loss: Experts Convene at Science Summit at the UN General Assembly to Drive International Standardization for Effective Biodiversity Monitoring

In response to the urgent and far-reaching challenges posed by global biodiversity loss, an assembly of leading experts is set to gather for a pivotal session at the Science Summit at the 78th UN General Assembly on September 14th. This initiative...

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Underwater noise in the Baltic needs reviewing

Sources of impulsive noise include pile driving, seismic surveys involving airguns, underwater explosions and low-frequency sonars and all of these sources are known to cause negative effects in marine mammals and fish.

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persistant, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Image: Francesco-Scatena / AdobeStock Image: Francesco-Scatena / AdobeStock

PFAS reduce the activity of immune cells

PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) can not only lead to liver damage, thyroid disease, obesity, and cancer but also reduce the activity of human immune cells. This has been shown by a team of environmental immunologists from the UFZ in a...

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Thanks to innovative EU policy measures, valuable parts and materials in end-of-life vehicles could be reused and recycled. © Thomas Reimer - stock.adobe.com 2023

Innovative requirements could boost circular economy of plastics and critical raw materials in vehicles

New vehicles make up around 10% of plastic demand in the EU and the automotive sector consumes around half of the overall EU use share of some critical raw materials. Innovative policy measures may enhance circular economy of these materials.

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Kick-off soon! Nature-Based Solutions for climate resilience in Europe’s Atlantic region

A consortium of 30 partners (along the Atlantic coastline, from Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal) will soon kick off the project ‘Nature-Based Solutions for Atlantic Regional Climate Resilience’: a new € 18 million European...

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