Inputs to the Ministerial Declaration: UNEA-5

Inputs and comments received from the Member States and Stakeholders on the ministerial declaration

Ministerial Declaration – UNEA-5

Preparations for the UNEA-5 Ministerial Declaration were initiated through a letter from the UNEA President, dated 24 April 2020. In the letter, the UNEA President invited Member States and Stakeholders to share initial ideas and inputs on a Ministerial Declaration by 12 May 2020, in order to address the overarching theme of the high-level segment of UNEA "Strengthening Actions for Nature to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals".

On the basis of these initial inputs, the President developed an "Outline Document" for the Ministerial Declaration, which was submitted for a second round of comments in a letter addressed to all Member States and Stakeholders dated 29 June 2020:       

On 16 September 2020, the President issued a note on the Ministerial Declaration, in which he provided an overview of the two rounds of input and proposed a timeline for the continued preparation of a Declaration. A Zero Draft was presented to the UNEA Bureau at its meeting on 8 October 2020. At the same meeting, the Bureau took a decision on the timing and format of UNEA-5 in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, to the effect that UNEA-5 will be convened with a two-step approach, starting with a short virtual Assembly on 22 February 2021, which will then be adjourned and reconvened for an in-person meeting in February 2022.

To this end, the President issued a letter dated 6 November 2020 in which he recommends to defer the ongoing consultations on the zero draft Ministerial Declaration until preparations for the resumed session of UNEA in February 2022, and to work for a political message that may be considered for adoption at the virtual session of UNEA-5 in February 2021, through an open-ended online consultation. An initial draft of such political messages will be considered at the joint meeting of the Bureau of UNEA and of the CPR scheduled for 1 December 2020, followed by open-ended informal consultations scheduled for 8 December 2020.

Looking ahead to the resumed session of UNEA.5, the President has re-initiated the consultations process on a ministerial declaration. In his letter dated 6 October 2021, the President presents an updated version of the zero draft declaration that considers what has already been achieved during previous consultations. The letter also proposes a consultation timeline before final consideration and adoption of the draft at the upcoming resumed session of the fifth UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5), scheduled for 28 February – 2 March 2022.

On 13 December 2021, the President shared a first full draft ministerial declaration to all Member States and Stakeholders, in view of a consultation meeting on 15 December 2021. Then, on 11 February 2022, the Presidency issued a final draft ministerial declaration to all Member States and Stakeholders, ahead of the consultation meeting scheduled for 14 February 2022 in a hybrid format.

Letter from the UNEA-5 President letter calling for inputs on a draft outline document by 6 October 2021:  

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Zero draft Ministerial Declaration 8 October 2021:  

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Inputs in writing received from Member States and Stakeholders in response to the invitations from the UNEA-5 President as referred to above

All written inputs from Member States and Stakeholders in response to the previous invitations from the UNEA-5 President dated on 14 August 2020, which demonstrate a high level of engagement to ensure a relevant and ambitious declaration, are made available through the links listed below.

Letter from the UNEA-5 President letter calling for inputs on a draft outline document by 14 August 2020:  

Arabic  Chinese   English   French   Russian  Spanish   

Outline document for the Ministerial Declaration:  

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