Minister Espen Barth Eide, President of the 5th UN Environment Assembly and Minister of Climate and the Environment, Norway
Mr. Keriako Tobiko, Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Forest, Kenya
My dear friend Zainab Bangura, Director-General of the UN Office in Nairobi
Excellencies, distinguished guests, and friends
We meet at a time of great turmoil. At a time that shows us the importance of coming together as a global community for peace and for a healthy environment. At a time when peaceful solutions are urgently needed. But this is also a time when multilateralism is more important than ever.
And so, a huge responsibility sits on our shoulders at this resumed session of the fifth UN Environment Assembly. A responsibility to deliver solutions to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. A responsibility to provide the stewardship that will maintain the planet’s capacity to sustain humanity. A responsibility to safeguard the one thing that props up the whole sustainable development agenda: the environment.
This is a responsibility that we must all fulfil.
Friends, climate change is a growing threat. In a few hours, the world will hear from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which will present its new report on how shifts in the climate system are impacting life in every corner of our planet. Nature and biodiversity loss are eroding the natural systems that keep us alive. Pollution and waste are poisoning our oceans, waterways, soil and air – most visibly through plastic pollution.
This triple planetary crisis is what brings us here today. It is what the resolutions before you will tackle, by charting a course for action in the years to come.
Through the tireless work of the Open-Ended Committee of the Permanent Representatives, several resolutions and decisions are on the table. This would have not been possible without the dedication of the Chair of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR), Ambassador Luisa Fragoso, and Ambassador Erasmo Roberto Martinez, Vice-Chair of the CPR. I extend my sincere appreciation to them and to the co-facilitators of the five clusters of resolutions debated during the Open-Ended Committee who worked tirelessly into the early morning hours for the last 7 days. My huge thanks to our host country Kenya for their unwavering support of this critical process underway.
Notwithstanding the progress made last week, we have much work, much negotiation to come. But remember that success is not measured in the number of resolutions. Initial success is measured in the focus, quality and vision of each resolution. Lasting success comes from following up on these resolutions to bring real-world impact. Not within decades, because we do not have decades. Within months and years.
Friends, the world is watching to see what Member States will do over the next few days.
All the resolutions before you have value, from proposals on nature to chemicals and minerals. I do not wish to downplay any of them, but please allow me to as did our President, to focus on one matter that has gathered a massive groundswell of global support and expectation. I am, course, talking about plastic pollution.
In the space of one human lifetime, we have created a massive plastic pollution problem. We built an entirely new economy based on the convenience of single-use plastic. It is ridiculous to think of it now, but early plastic industry players ran adverts teaching people to throw away plastic containers instead of reusing them, as they had been doing with glass bottles and containers. They literally educated people out of the very practices that are best for the planet, and best for us.
Decades later, we are paying the price of this decision in ocean, soil and groundwater pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The industry is paying the price by throwing away a versatile, durable resource instead of retaining its value.
This is the moment to roll back this era – by launching negotiations on an international agreement to ensure plastics keep circulating in the economy, rather than in ocean gyres. Businesses, a broad coalition of nations, civil society and youth are demanding this. We must deliver.
As updated by the Secretariat, the informal consultations that took place over the weekend in the spirit of complete transparency and inclusivity, yielded very significant progress on multiple resolutions, including, on plastic pollution. I have complete faith that once endorsed by the Assembly, we will have something truly historic on our hands. Because we all know such an agreement will only count if it is legally binding. If it adopts a full life-cycle approach, stretching from extraction to production to waste. If it includes strong monitoring mechanisms. If it provides support for national action. If it is backed with real financing. If it provides incentives for all stakeholders. If, and this is crucial, we agree and start implementing this agreement in record time. If we can achieve all of this, we will indeed have the most important international multilateral environmental deal since Paris.
Excellencies, all of this starts with the decisions you will make over the next few days. It is only by coming together and finding common ground, a common agenda, that we can shoulder this responsibility – by passing the resolutions and acting on them. I wish you every success and look forward to throwing the full weight of UNEP behind putting the decisions you make into action.
Before I end my remarks, allow me to take a moment to commemorate those who passed away in the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 on March 10th, 2019. On that day, we lost so many bright lights. Youth delegates. UNEA delegates, interpreters, UNEP and UN personnel. Dozens of travellers from our host country, Kenya, and from many other nations.
We will have an opportunity to celebrate their memory in a few days. But as we embark on UNEA 5.2, let us honour their memory by delivering the ambitious action that they fought for – so that we can build a secure, peaceful and healthy future for all on this planet.
Thank you.
