MOP37 Held in Nairobi; UNESCO Adopts Neuroethics Framework

The MOP37 of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol was held from 3 to 7 November 2025 at the headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya.

The MOP37 of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol was held from 3 to 7 November 2025 at the headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya. Earlier, on 2 November 2025, an informal meeting was held to facilitate the implementation of the Montreal Protocol.

Recalling this important milestone, all parties are preparing to build on the success of the Convention to make further progress in protecting both the ozone layer and the climate.

In 1985 and 1987, the Vienna Convention and its Montreal Protocol were adopted respectively to protect the stratospheric ozone layer.

For this, the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), halons, methyl chloroform, and methyl bromide, were to be phased out.

Previous Montreal Protocol Conferences (MOP)

The 36th Meeting of the Parties (MOP36) to the Montreal Protocol was held from 28 October to 1 November 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand.

The first meeting on the Montreal Protocol was held from 2–5 May 1989 in Helsinki, Finland.

The thirty-eighth Meeting of the Parties (MOP38) to the Montreal Protocol will be held from 2–6 November 2026 in Kigali, Rwanda. MOP38 aims to mark the tenth anniversary of the Kigali Amendment, which was adopted during the 28th Meeting of the Parties in 2016. The year 2025 marks the 40th anniversary of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer.

 Montreal Protocol

With the adoption of the Kigali Amendment in 2016, all parties also agreed to phase down the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are powerful greenhouse gases that had replaced some ozone-depleting substances in refrigeration and air-conditioning systems.

Without the successful implementation of these multilateral environmental agreements, the concentration of ozone in the stratosphere would have dropped so low that the Earth's ozone layer would no longer protect humans and the environment from the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation, resulting in widespread skin cancer, eye cataracts, immune deficiencies, and damage to terrestrial and aquatic life.

The World Meteorological Organization's September 2025 Ozone Bulletin reported that the Earth's protective ozone layer is recovering and that the ozone hole in 2024 was smaller than in recent years.

If current policies remain in place, the ozone layer over Antarctica is expected to recover to 1980 levels (before the appearance of the ozone hole) by around 2066, over the Arctic by 2045, and over the rest of the world by 2040, according to the most recent quadrennial scientific assessment of ozone depletion from 2022. The next assessment will take place in 2026.

UNFCCC COP32 - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Ethiopia has been selected to host UNFCCC COP32 in Addis Ababa (2027).

However, the choice of host for next year's COP31 remains contentious, as both Australia and Turkey are competing to host the 2026 event.

Ethiopia presented its bid in September, competing with Nigeria. But the Bureau of African States unanimously decided to advance Ethiopia as the host candidate.

Ethiopia

A landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa; it lost access to the sea after Eritrea separated in 1993. It lies entirely within tropical latitudes.

Neighboring countries: Eritrea (north), Djibouti (northeast), Somalia (east), Kenya (south), South Sudan and Sudan (west).

UNESCO adopted the world's first global ethical framework for neurotechnology

In November 2025, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), during its 43rd General Conference held in Paris, France, adopted the world’s first global ethical framework for neurotechnology, the “Recommendation on the Ethics of Neurotechnology.”

This framework will take effect from 12 November 2025.

The adoption of this standard-setting instrument marks the culmination of a comprehensive process initiated in 2019 by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, and is closely linked to UNESCO’s work on the ethics of artificial intelligence launched in 2018.

The adoption of this recommendation is the result of a broad consultation process initiated in 2021. An international group of experts, co-chaired by French scientist Hervé Chneiweiss and American professor Nita Farahany, was tasked with developing the standard framework using more than 8,000 contributions from civil society, the private sector, academia, and member states.

Neurotechnology includes tools that can measure, control, or stimulate the nervous system by directly interacting with it.

It offers particularly promising benefits in the field of medicine: deep brain stimulation alleviates symptoms of disorders such as depression and Parkinson’s disease, and brain-computer interfaces enable people with disabilities to control prosthetic limbs or communicate through thoughts.