This year has been a year of substantial growth and development of WAN’s work and role in the animal protection movement. At the beginning of the year we assessed and refined our strategy, which includes three main Pillars:

The third session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-3) took place from 4-6 December 2017 at the United Nations Office in Nairobi, Kenya, under the overall theme “Towards a Pollution-Free Planet”. Over 4,300 delegates participated in UNEA-3 and its related events, including 1,197 delegates from more than 170 Member States, 711 representatives of Major Groups and other stakeholders, and 94 intergovernmental organisations.

This is a guest post prepared by Caroline Wimberly of Brighter Green. She attended the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP)23 in Bonn, Germany last month and reports on various civil society activities which brought attention to the link between animal agriculture and climate change. For more information on outcomes of COP23 and emerging advocacy opportunities for animal protection organizations see Janice Cox’s blog on COP23.

This blog analyses reports on the outcomes of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP)23, and outlines opportunities for animal protection organizations that have emerged as a result. For more information on activities at the conference from an on-the-ground perspective, please see this guest post from Caroline Wimberly of Brighter Green, who attended the COP23 in Bonn, Germany.

One important, yet low-profile, outcome from this year’s climate change conference was the end of a deadlock on agriculture which has lasted for years.

What is it?

The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) is an opportunity for decision-makers, stakeholders and civil society organizations to convene in Nairobi, Kenya, with the aim of taking policy action for the environment. This year’s UNEA is taking place from 4-6 December under the theme of “Towards a pollution free future.” You can read more about UNEA in our recent blogs.

WAN is now making final preparations for our attendance next week of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) in Nairobi, Kenya. United Nations Environment, which hosts UNEA, is the leading environmental policymaking body globally. The theme of this year’s UNEA is pollution, and so WAN is looking to use this opportunity to raise awareness of the significant contribution to pollution of animal agriculture.

What, When, Where, Who?

At the moment, World Animal Net (WAN) is busy preparing to attend the United Nations Environment Assembly 3 (UNEA 3), which takes place in Nairobi, Kenya from 4-6 December. This year’s UNEA, which is the biennial event convened by UN Environment, is themed “Towards a Pollution-Free Planet” and brings together environmental ministers from member states around the world to find consensus on actions to globally solve the issue of pollution. In addition, this forum is a great opportunity for animal advocates to raise the issue of industrial animal agriculture, which is a major contributor to pollution of air, soil, and water, as well as being one of the major drivers of climate change.

An Event Not to Have Missed

The first week of October was an eventful one—on Monday I had a knee operation, and thankfully it went well. A planned public transit strike was called off, and so on Thursday, the 5th and Friday, the 6th I attended the Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) Conference on Extinction and Livestock, which was held at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London. It was worth the hobble to London, and the indignity of looking aged … leaning on a walking stick!

At World Animal Net we are proud supporters of World Animal Day, a holiday that recognizes animals of all kinds and challenges us to do our best to improve their lives. This year, WAN volunteers, staff and board have gotten in the spirit and joined the “Global Wave,” a social media campaign by World Animal Day organizers asking participants to take a selfie and share on social media in order to spread the word about World Animal Day.

We would like to also take this opportunity to thank all those who support our work, particularly our volunteers, and to encourage others to join the World Animal Day celebration.

World Animal Net believes that to create lasting change for animals it is necessary to engage policy processes at the national, regional and international levels. We work to influence policies for animals on an international level, primarily at the United Nations, World Bank, and at the World Organisation for Animal Health as a member of the International Coalition for Animal Welfare (ICFAW, a forum for international organizations to collaborate on OIE advocacy). At the same time, we provide resources to help national animal protection organizations leverage international policy frameworks to push animal welfare policy forward in their own country.