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The seventh session of the UNEA will happen from December 8-12 in Nairobi, Kenya.
NAIROBI, Kenya, December 3 (IPS) – As geopolitical challenges and tensions escalate globally, one factor is obvious: fragmented politics won’t repair a fractured planet. Because of this the United Nations Surroundings Meeting (UNEA) – the world’s highest decision-making physique on the atmosphere – is so vital to handle our shared and rising environmental threats.
The seventh session of the Meeting, happening on the headquarters of the UN Surroundings Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya, subsequent month, will carry collectively ministers, intergovernmental organizations, multilateral environmental agreements, the broader UN system, civil society teams, scientists, activists and the non-public sector to form world environmental coverage.
Current UNEP information present emissions proceed to rise because the impacts of world atmosphere and local weather challenges are accelerating and rising ever extra excessive. We see it in document heatwaves, disappearing ecosystems, and toxins in our air, water and soil. These are world threats that demand world options.
Even in turbulent instances, environmental multilateralism continues to ship. Since nations met at UNEA final 12 months, this multilateralism has delivered vital progress.
Governments agreed to determine the Intergovernmental Science-Coverage Panel on Chemical compounds, Waste and Air pollution – lastly finishing the “trifecta” of science our bodies alongside the Intergovernmental Panel on Local weather Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Coverage Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Providers (IPBES). The BBNJ Settlement on the sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas past nationwide jurisdiction got here into pressure, a significant win for the governance of our oceans.
Importantly, throughout such a difficult political local weather, the Paris Settlement is displaying that it’s working. Nevertheless, it’s clear we have to transfer a lot quicker with better willpower. However change is afoot: The worldwide shift to low-emission and local weather resilient improvement is irreversible. Renewable vitality is outcompeting fossil fuels pricewise. Local weather sensible investments are driving tomorrow’s vibrant economies and societies.
Whereas we should acknowledge that many have been hoping COP30 would come with specific reference to phasing out fossil fuels within the resolution textual content, this was to not be. Nevertheless, the COP President dedicated to creating two roadmaps throughout his one-year tenure, one to halt and reverse deforestation and one other to transition away from fossil fuels – a transfer that was backed by greater than 80 nations in the course of the talks.
These aren’t small steps – nor are they sufficient to handle the threats we face in full. However they do reinforce that multilateralism can nonetheless carry science and coverage collectively to handle our world challenges.
In fact, progress is just not at all times straight ahead. Since UNEA’s historic decision in 2022 on a legally binding instrument to finish plastic air pollution, together with within the marine atmosphere, negotiations have continued to advance. Whereas we don’t but have a full treaty textual content agreed, the newest talks in Geneva earlier this 12 months made exhausting fought progress and nations stay on the desk, sustaining momentum towards an settlement that ends plastic air pollution as soon as and for all.
This 12 months, underneath the theme “Advancing sustainable options for a resilient planet,” UNEA will construct on these wins to set the stage for even better progress.
The seventh version of UNEP’s flagship report, the International Environmental Outlook, will likely be key to informing how we ship this future. Launched throughout UNEA, the report will assist transfer us past diagnoses of our widespread challenges to figuring out actual options throughout 5 interconnected areas: economics and finance; circularity and waste; atmosphere; vitality; and meals techniques. Drawing on contributions from tons of of specialists worldwide, the Outlook will assist nations prioritize the simplest options to ship our world targets.
To ship on the velocity and scale required, the United Nations system should act collectively – with the total household of Multilateral Environmental Agreements coming collectively to assist nations. UNEP is proud to host 17 conventions and panels that span the environmental spectrum, from poisonous chemical compounds to safety of the ozone layer. Bringing this household of agreements nearer collectively presents alternatives to raised align priorities.
Because of this UNEA will put a central concentrate on how these agreements can higher work collectively for accelerated, extra focused assist to nations as they implement commitments. As a result of motion on local weather is motion on biodiversity and land; as a result of motion on land is motion on local weather; as a result of motion on chemical compounds, air pollution and waste is motion on nature and on local weather.
Inaction now carries a clearer value than ever. At UNEA-7 in Nairobi – the environmental capital of the world – the “Nairobi Spirit” can convert shared challenges into shared motion and, finally, shared prosperity on a secure, resilient planet that advantages all.
IPS UN Bureau
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