Environment forum set to start in Nairobi today

Kenya is set to host the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (Unea-5.2), which starts today and ends on Wednesday.

The event’s theme is “Strengthening Actions for Nature to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals”. Last week, Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Macharia Kamau announced that the 50th anniversary of the creation of UN Environment Programme (Unep@50) will also take place at the Unep headquarters in Gigiri, Nairobi, thereafter.

“The assembly, this time round, shall address itself to three planetary crises; climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste,” the PS said in a statement read on his behalf by the Director of International Conferences and Events (Dice), Ambassador Isaiya Kabira.

The government added that the two conferences will bring together at least 2,000 delegates from 193 UN member states. 

The two conferences will be attended by high-level delegates among them, four Presidents, from the Republic of Botswana, Maldives, Nigeria and South Sudan, the vice President of Tanzania and of Iran, the Prime Minister of Srilanka and Namibia, the UN Deputy Secretary General, the president of the General Assembly as well as several ministers of Foreign Affairs and of environmental ministries.

“Kenya is a strong advocate for the environment and holds steadfast to its pledge of 1972 to support UNEP in the execution of its mandate. We have taken this commitment to the environment with us into the UN Security Council where during our term, Climate Change and the Environment is one of our priority areas,” said Environment and Forestry Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo.

Dr Kiptoo said Kenya has partnered with Unep to implement various activities that have overseen improvements in socio-economic spheres, particularly in forest conservation, a ban on single-use plastics, environmental management legislation, including the Waste Management Bill that currently being discussed in parliament.

Unep Acting Deputy Executive Director Sonja Leighton-Kone expressed concern over global environmental challenges and what she described as “the daily abuse of mother earth” and how this has adversely affected humanity over time.

Sustainable recovery plans

“We now experience unpredictable weather patterns leading to droughts and floods; our water sources are choking with pollution and threatening life underwater; countries face near extinction as a result of climate change; briefly stated, humanity is facing a challenge of enormous proportions,” said.

According to the UN, the forum provides an opportunity for member states and stakeholders to share best practices for sustainability and create momentum for governments “to build back better” through green and sustainable recovery plans, following the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Substantive matters that require in-depth negotiations including a Ministerial Declaration under the Unea-5 theme, were deferred to a resumed session of Unea-5, which will take in person and online [from February 28 to March 2],” the UN states on its official website.

While addressing Covid-19 preparedness during the two global conferences, Ambassador Makena Muchiri, who is Kenya’s Permanent Representative to Unep and the United Nations Office in Nairobi (UNON) asked everyone, including journalists covering the events, to download a self-reporting application on their smart-phones then be ready to share their Covid-19 statuses on a daily basis after taking self-administered rapid antigen testing given by the UN free of charge.

“During the conferences, delegates will be supplied with a Covid-19 self-administered rapid antigen testing kits for the duration they are attending either or all the events at the Unep Complex,” the ambassador said.

The Environment Assembly meets every two years to identify and dissect global environmental policies as well as developing international environmental law and, through its resolutions and calls to action, Unea ensures intergovernmental action on the environment.

There are a number of anticipated outcomes from Unep@50 commemoration.

These include the promotion of a more systematic approach to environmental challenges experienced in the world currently, strengthening Unep through a renewed long-term vision building on the Rio+20 outcome document, strengthening of environmental integration as well as a reflection on the historic achievements, impacts and importance of international law.

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