Excellencies,
Last year, UNEP marked 50 years since its establishment at the 1972 Stockholm conference. Back in 1972, the environmental movement was just awakening. Discussions on environment centred largely around pollution, as this was the time of bubbling rivers and acid rain. The concepts of a changing climate or of biological diversity loss and the threat that these posed had yet to take root. And amongst some, environmental protection was seen as an impediment to development. But we have come a long way since then. Environment is no longer the sole responsibility of environment ministries that were often side-lined and underfunded. Today, a healthy environment is seen as the bedrock upon which all development is built, and key for the enjoyment of all human rights.
The triple planetary crisis – the crisis of climate change, of nature and biodiversity loss, and of pollution and waste – is front and centre on the global stage. Humanity now understands that we must transform societies and economies to protect planet Earth, our only home, so that this small blue vibrant planet, alone in the universe, may sustain everyone, everywhere.
We have arrived at this realization because of our collective environmental journey. It was through this journey that UNEP, scientists, environmental activists and many others helped to weave the tapestry of Multilateral Environment Agreements and scientific bodies, which provides the guardrails for a sustainable future. The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The Convention on Biological Diversity. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The UN Convention to Combat Desertification. The three chemical conventions, the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions. The Minamata Convention on Mercury. And so much more.
Throughout the decades – Member States have, through UNEP and the multilateral environmental agreements and bodies, many of which were born in UNEP and hosted in UNEP – have helped to deliver real change, through environmental standards, through science and, through programmatic engagement that pulls the levers on environmental change. The international community has repaired the ozone hole, phased out lead in petrol and started to act on everything from climate change to biodiversity loss.
UNEP itself has also changed over the years. At the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in 2012, world leaders committed to improving the institutional framework for sustainable development. As a follow-up the next year, the UN General Assembly decided to strengthen and upgrade UNEP by establishing universal membership for its governing body, the UN Environment Assembly. Today, the UN Environment Assembly brings together all the nations of the world to address the triple planetary crisis. Key decisions are taken. Key challenges discussed. Key commitments negotiated under this, the only global governance platform for the environment.
When it comes to the financing of UNEP, let me state that I am very grateful to those Member States that contribute to our voluntary Environment Fund. But our resources are woefully inadequate. With only 3 per cent of UNEP’s budget originating from the UN’s Regular Budget and the remainder from voluntary sources, and with 85 per cent of UNEP’s financing being provided in earmarked project finance, the reality is that UNEP’s ability to address Member State priorities with flexibility and in a demand-responsive manner is limited.
A significant point regarding UNEP is that we are the first UN body with a headquarters in the Global South – in Nairobi, Kenya. This fact is a source of immense pride to everyone who works at UNEP. UNEP enjoys a superb relationship with our host country, Kenya. I would venture to say that over the 50 years, Kenya has influenced UNEP as much as UNEP has influenced Kenya. Being located in the global south enables UNEP to live up close to the environmental challenges and complexities that countries in the global south face, and thereby get a deeper understanding of challenges that are often both more intense, and of the environmental solutions that the global south offers.
Therefore, as UNEP grows and strengthens, it is critical that our presence in our headquarters, Nairobi, strengthens along with it. Therefore, I urge Member States, in your negotiations for new environmental agreements and platforms, to consider the wins from placing such entities at UNEP’s global headquarters in Nairobi. The de-fragmentation of the global environmental agenda is critical to establish a more coherent and integrated environmental pathway.
Having simplified the global environmental narrative with the clarity that the triple planetary crisis notion offers, we can now see that this has stood the stress test as a framing, as it speaks to a variety of global constituencies. But it is clear, however, that the focus must be on solutions – because development progress made is being outpaced by the triple crisis.
Distinguished ambassadors, friends, 2022, as a great year for reinvigorated multilateralism, gives us something to build on.
In February last year, at the fifth resumed session of the UN Environment Assembly, (UNEA 5.2), Member States passed 14 powerful resolutions. Member States established an international negotiating committee to thrash out a deal on ending plastic pollution. Member States approved the creation of a Science-Policy Panel on chemicals and waste. Member States passed a resolution on the sustainable management of lakes and freshwater. A resolution on strengthening the links between biodiversity and health. A resolution aimed at reducing nitrogen waste by 2030. And so much more.
The UNEP@50 Political Declaration committed to strengthening international environmental governance and inclusive networked multilateralism. Stockholm+50 recommended “intergenerational responsibility as a cornerstone of sound policy-making”. The General Assembly delivered a historic resolution recognizing the universal human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. The climate COP delivered a game-changing decision on Loss and Damage. The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on plastics, which held its first session in Uruguay, provides us a real opportunity to work towards what the Secretary-General has called for, that is, “inclusive networked multilateralism.”
And of course, we saw the end of a long and complex pandemic-delayed journey that landed the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Here, allow me to pay special thanks to China’s leadership on holding the presidency for COP15 and to Canada who stepped in to host this COP. Under the Chinese presidency, and with Canadian support, Member States agreed and delivered a strong blueprint that breathes new life into the Convention on Biological Diversity. In Montreal, big commitments were made to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. These commitments fall into three buckets: financing; new biodiversity goals, and a new package on Digital Sequencing Information (DSI).
So, what was agreed in Montreal and why is this important?
Well, firstly three commitments on “30 by 30”: Member States committed to restore 30 per cent of degraded ecosystems by 2030. Member states committed to protect 30 per cent of their terrestrial and marine ecosystems by 2030. And Member States committed to provide US$30 billion per year for biodiversity by 2030.
But there is more. Member States committed to halt human-induced species extinction. To reduce risk of pathogen spillover. To reduce by at least 50 per cent rates of introduction of invasive species. To reduce by at least half pollution nutrients in the environment. Reduce by half risk from pesticides and hazardous chemicals. With respect to the digital sequencing information, the COP agreed to establish a multilateral mechanism to share the benefits derived from the genetic sequencing of flora and fauna. Taken all together, this agreement is a massive step forward for protecting the planet, which sustains all live on Earth.
Now, as we look to 2023 and beyond, the international community must turn its attention to delivering on those many goals and targets. And there is only one way to deliver: action. Action that embeds environmental concerns in every ministry, in every industry, in every investment portfolio and in every household as the key to development, peace, health and progress. UNEP will be there every step of the way, backing Member States to deliver across the whole of the triple planetary crisis.
On climate, there will be a stronger focus on adaptation, resilience, and loss and damage – the latter of which needs more analytics to begin to understand where and when adaptation can no longer keep pace with the lack of action on the emissions side, and thus the associated loss and damage.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 2023 Global Stocktake will tell the world what progress has been made. And, clearly, as our emissions load continues to increase, it will be critical that COP28 focuses on the fossil fuel phase down, with a view to peaking emissions by 2025, which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says is critical if we are to have a chance of avoiding 1.5 degree overshoot.
In this space, UNEP’s Ecosystem-based adaptation portfolio is supporting countries across the world by, for example, restoring nature’s defences against storm surges and other extreme weather.
UNEP will continue to provide strong climate science and analysis, through key spotlight and institutional reports – such as the Emissions Gap and the Adaptation Gap. In addition to 2023 updates, UNEP will also release an analysis on sustainable cooling – which is important to bring down emissions in a warming world and expand access to all who need it.
To help bring down emissions, UNEP is mobilized on electric mobility. Mobilized on reducing methane emissions – through the Methane Pledge, the Climate and Clean Air Coalition and the International Methane Emissions Observatory. Mobilized on the transfer of vital climate technology through the UNEP-hosted UNFCCC technology mechanism, the Climate Technology Centre and Network.
UNEP is also working with the finance sector through our platform, the “UNEP Finance Initiative” or UNEP-FI. This platform works with the banking, insurance and asset-holding sectors to support the shift to a nature-positive and low-carbon future. This includes developing a common understanding of and yardsticks for what such nature related investments should be composed of, as well as how to shift the ratio of low carbon/high carbon investments and investment opportunities for reducing coal dependency – including Just Energy Transition Partnership countries.
On biodiversity and nature, the 2023 focus will be on operationalizing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework through the UN Common Approach to biodiversity, and a whole-of-society approach.
With respect to the 30 by 30 restoration goal, the good news is that there are already commitments in place to restore one billion hectares of land by 2030, which UNEP and FAO are backing through the jointly supported UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. In 2022, the Decade awarded the first 10 World Restoration Flagships, which seek to restore more than 68 million hectares and create nearly 15 million jobs. The Decade will support these initiatives with promotion, networking, monitoring and funding.
And with financing from the Global Environment Facility, UNEP is now supporting Member States to align their National Biodiversity Strategies with the new agreement.
The work throughout the year also must focus on the next biodiversity COP, which will be held in Türkiye in last half of 2024. It is of particular importance to unpack the multilateral mechanism on benefit-sharing from the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources and strengthen resource mobilization.
On pollution, chemicals and waste, the agenda is just as packed.
Given the UNEA5 resolution, plastics will remain a big focus. World Environment Day, on 5 June, is themed under Beat Plastic Pollution. This day, hosted by the Côte d'Ivoire in partnership with the Netherlands, is a chance to focus minds on the plastics challenge. UNEP will also release a new report on plastics to help the process of putting solutions in place.
Strong Member State engagement on the delivery of three critical intergovernmental processes will be mission critical. The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastics holds it second and third meetings this year, in France in May and Kenya in the fall. In September, The Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) Beyond 2020 is up for adoption In Bonn. And work will advance on the Science-Policy Panel on pollution prevention, established at UNEA5, with an ad hoc open-ended working group preparing proposals and the next round of negotiations set for Jordan.
This is all framed within work to change industry practice standards around pollution issues. In particular, UNEP will focus on sectors with higher pollution footprints, such as energy, transport, buildings and construction, infrastructure, extractives, electronics, agriculture and food and textiles.
There are, of course, streams of work that heavily influence all three prongs of the triple planetary crisis.
Circularity is central to reducing the burden of resource use on the planet, and we will see work on circularity advance through the 10YFP global strategy on Sustainable Consumption and Production and the Global Alliance on Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency. Nature-based solutions are high on the agenda, as nature is indeed our biggest ally in dampening the waves of damage the triple planetary crisis is causing.
We are further strengthening our “One Health’ work – and here let me draw your attention to a recent UNEP report to highlight this message. Superbugs: Strengthening environmental action in the One Health response to antimicrobial resistance, found that stopping environmental pollution will be essential to avoid 10 million annual deaths by 2050. This is a critical issue, and I hope you will look at the findings of this report.
The issues of equity and justice also remain firmly a UNEP priority, as I highlighted at the recent Least-Developed Countries conference. At this conference, I committed UNEP to working with other UN agencies and partners contributing to the Doha Programme of Action on three key areas: one, harnessing Critical Energy Transition Minerals for sustainable development ; two, supporting the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and three, advancing sustainable waste management through lifecycle and circular approaches.
Friends, throughout 2023, other critical environmental negotiations will continue.
We have the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions meeting in May. The Convention on Migratory Species in October. The Minamata Convention, also in October. And, of course, we have the SDG Summit and the SG’s Climate Ambition summit in September, which UNEP are fully behind.
On the environmental agenda, this then leads us up to UNEA-6, scheduled for February 2024. Under the Presidency of Morocco, UNEA-6’s theme is: “Effective, inclusive and sustainable multilateral actions to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.” UNEA-6 has one simple goal: to deliver effective and inclusive solutions that can turbocharge the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
Ambassadors and distinguished representatives,
In short, UNEP is busy, and UNEP is focused. The triple planetary crisis is pausing for nobody, and only gathering strength and creating futhther inequities . At UNEP, we are gathering and deploying our collective strength to face this crisis. Environmental sustainability – that critical dimension to sustainable development – is understood to encompass an action agenda that covers every part of every society and economy. An action agenda that is everyone’s responsibility.
UNEP will play its part from Nairobi, the headquarters for the global environmental agenda. In this regard, allow me to extend my thanks to the New York PRs for their support to enhance the Nairobi facilities so that we can serve Member States from our global headquarters in Nairobi. We at UNEP look will continue to work with every Member State to create a brighter, more just future for everyone on this planet.
