Strategic issues - European union

The 17th Conference of the Parties, UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES COP 17), which tool place from 24 September to 5th October 2016, witnessed the EU participating for the first time as a full member. A key part of COP 17 centered on the ivory trade and elephant protection. It was reported that on 3rd October the parties voted against proposals from Namibia and Zimbabwe that would have opened up the ivory trade from these countries and adopted a resolution recommending the global closure of domestic ivory markets. On 30 September and 4th October, EU ministers at a meeting of the Environment Council followed by the European Parliament approved the ratification of the Paris Agreement building on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Council will now formally adopt the decision and Member States will ratify the agreement in accordance with their individual national parliamentary processes. On 6th October, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) passed a resolution to create a global market-based measure through which airlines will offset their CO2 emissions after 2000. Under the system, airlines will buy emission units generated by projects reducing CO2 emissions in other sectors. The EU has also agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with India in respect of water cooperation. On 15th October, the 197 parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer agreed on a global phase down of hydrofluorocarbon gases which are used mainly in refrigeration and air conditioning equipment and are the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions.