Each session of the Environment Assembly has a theme, which is chosen following broad consultations with Member States and a wide cross-section of stakeholders and endorsed by the Bureau at least one year ahead of the session. The consultations take place under the auspices of the Presidency of the Environment Assembly and are initiated on the basis of a document prepared by the secretariat.
The President of UNEA-7 in its letter of 24 July 2024 thanked all delegations for their comments and inputs to the Secretariat proposal (UNEP/CPR/ASC/11/7) for a UNEA-7 theme made during the 11th Annual Sub-committee meeting held on the 08-12 July 2024. A second consultation is scheduled on Thursday, 26 September 2024.
UNEA-6, in its decision 6/7, requested the UNEA Bureau, in consultation with members of the CPR to define the theme no later than 12 months in advance of UNEA-7.
A final decision on the theme will be taken by the UNEA Bureau during the joint meeting of the Bureaux of UNEA and the CPR scheduled for 11 December 2024.
Themes of previous sessions of the Environment Assembly:
- First session (2014): “Sustainable development goals and the post-2015 development agenda, including sustainable consumption and production” and “Illegal trade in wildlife”.
- Second session (2016): “Delivering on the environmental dimension of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.
- Third session (2017): “Towards a pollution-free planet”.
- Fourth session (2019): “Innovative solutions for environmental challenges and sustainable consumption and production”.
- Fifth session (2021 and 2022): “Strengthening actions for nature to achieve the sustainable development goals”.
- First special session (2022): “Strengthening UNEP for the implementation of the environmental dimension of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.
- Sixth session (2024): "Effective, inclusive and sustainable multilateral actions to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution".