Briefing to UN permanent missions in New York

Esteemed delegates and colleagues, My thanks for the opportunity to brief you on the outcomes of the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly, or UNEA-6, which concluded in Nairobi just under two weeks’ ago.   Let me at the outset recognize the leadership of Leila Benali, Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development for the Kingdom of Morocco. She was the President of UNEA-6 and did an outstanding job. Let me also recognize the strong support UNEP always counts on from our host country, the Government of Kenya. We were honoured to have President Ruto open our High-Level segment and are always grateful for the wonderful support we receive from our Kenyan hosts. This gathering of the highest decision-making body on environmental matters came at a time of urgent environmental issues on the global agenda. We often speak at UNEP about living with these three environmental crises: the crisis of climate change, which is well understood; the crisis of nature loss, land loss, desertification and biodiversity loss; and the crisis of pollution and waste.   These three crises are having a huge impact on prosperity, equity and human health. We must tackle them so that we can land what this General Assembly has endorsed, namely the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Obviously, dealing with these crises is critical so that we can reach the Sustainable Development Goals, which we all understand are not where they should be at the midpoint to 2030. So UNEA-6 really showed, beyond any doubt, that the world is committed to multilateralism. It wasn’t easy, and I will explain some of the challenges we had, but we did see the world come together around these environmental priorities.   UNEA-6: bigger and more inclusive than ever Let me start by looking at some of the top-level numbers from UNEA-6. As I said at the opening plenary in Nairobi, the world wasn’t just watching. The world came to Nairobi. The world was there.   This is the sixth UNEA. We broke the record number of participants, with nearly 6,000 people in attendance. We were honoured to have the President of the UN General-Assembly and President of the UN Economic and Social Council. We had representation from 190 countries. We had 12 heads of state and government. We had 130 Ministers and Vice-Ministers. We had a massive contingent from major groups, with over 1,000 people. And I was honoured to have a number of my colleagues how head up funds and programmes in attendance. We had voices from the younger generation. The Youth Environment Assembly – which was held just prior to UNEA and saw 500 or so youth come together from across the world – issued a very strong declaration informing UNEA what they, as youth, want to see in terms of intergenerational equity. We had strong voices from civil society, from Indigenous People, from women, from businesses and many others from the major groups and stakeholders. That took place largely through the Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum, but also throughout UNEA. And, for the first time, the UNEA President Leila Benali decided, in cooperation with the Bureau and with strong support from Member States, to create real space for the Multilateral Environmental Agreements, or the MEAs. We created a day, MEA day, to have high-level dialogues between the MEAs. Not just those executive secretaries who work for the MEA secretariats, but also the presidents of a host of COPs. It was really important to have these MEAs under the same roof to discuss priorities and intersections. There were over 100 parallel events, including the 31st meeting of the International Resource Panel, the Annual Climate and Clean Air conference, the Cities and Regions Summit, and the Science-Policy Business Forum. We held the meeting of the One Health Quadripartite, which is composed of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) and UNEP. During UNEA, UNEP also launched a number of important new science publications related to sustainable consumption and production of resources, is critical in terms of equity and in terms of addressing the triple planetary crisis. The Global Resources Outlook from the International Resource Panel was very well received, as was UNEP’s Global Waste Management Outlook. They drew the world’s attention to the need to move to sustainable consumption and production and towards circular models in our economies instead of depleting non-renewable resources and polluting the planet. The outcomes of UNEA-6. So, what did this gathering of the world achieve? Member States adopted 15 resolutions. It was not simple. But these resolutions target some of the planet’s most-pressing environmental challenges – with a clear focus on addressing issues that affect the world’s most vulnerable and hamper sustainable development. We saw a resolution that can help speed the transition to net-zero – and provide economic opportunities for developing nations – by asking Member States and stakeholders to align the extraction and management of minerals and waste within the 2030 Agenda. This included a request for UNEP to establish a digital knowledge hub to compile environmental best practices of minerals and metals, develop capacity-building opportunities, and support enhanced cooperation amongst Member States. We saw a resolution on environmental assistance and recovery in areas that are impacted by armed conflict. That resolution asked UNEP to identify and develop technical guidance on the collection of data and environmental damage that is associated with armed conflict. We also saw resolutions aimed at improving air quality – through regional cooperation on air pollution and tackling sand and dust storms. We saw a resolution that highlighted efforts to combat desertification and land degradation and asked UNEP to step in and support Member States in this regard. We saw important resolutions on tackling highly hazardous pesticides, improving water quality and strengthening ocean governance – recalling, of course, that some ten ocean conventions sit with UNEP under the Regional Seas Programme.