Her Excellency Ms. Mona Juul, Permanent Representative of Norway to the UN
His Excellency Mr. Omar Hilale, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Morocco,
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The resumed fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) came at a difficult time for the planet and for the international community.
The triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste is intensifying. It is threatening to pull the rug out from under the Sustainable Development Goals. It is hampering our plans to end hunger and poverty and deliver peace and equity.
Meanwhile, the echoes of the conflict in Ukraine – which has caused so much death, suffering and global impacts – resonated within the walls of UNEP’s headquarters in Kenya.
But the Nairobi spirit showed that the international community can unite on pressing issues even in times of crisis. Through the participation, online and in-person, of around 5,000 delegates, nations came together to agree on 14 resolutions and one decision – from plastic pollution to a new science-policy panel on chemicals and waste to an inter-governmentally agreed definition of Nature-based Solutions.
All the resolutions matter but I would like to focus on just a few to show how the work done at UNEA 5.2 cuts across the triple planetary crisis, accelerates the implementation of the 2030 agenda and helps the world to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The biggest-ticket item was undoubtedly the resolution on plastic pollution.
This resolution delivered the first step in answering the world’s demand that we act on plastic pollution. It agreed to establish an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on a legally binding international treaty.
This was a historic moment. But a lot of work lies ahead to deal with the sheer scale of plastic pollution. The deal must be completed before the end of 2024. It must adopt a full life-cycle approach – stretching from design to production to circularity to reducing, managing and preventing waste. It needs to engage with business. It needs to be innovative and build on decades of lessons learned from other environmental conventions. And it needs real political support at the highest level – to agree on the deal in record time and start implementing it.
Getting the agreement right will kickstart a circular economy that delivers huge benefits: from reducing the volume of plastics entering our oceans by over 80 per cent by 2040 to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent. It could also create a model for a much-needed move to circularity in other sectors – particularly in energy, transport and construction.
It could be a real game changer. And the road will begin in the coming months when Member States roll up their sleeves at a preparatory Open Ended Working Group.
The resolution to establish a science-policy panel on chemicals, waste and pollution was also a big step.
Why is this important? In answer, I need only point to the success of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. These two bodies have helped to bring climate change and biodiversity loss to the front and centre of public discourse. They have begun to shift the needle on both issues. Chemicals, waste and pollution have lacked such a body – even though those issues kill millions each year and are destroying the natural world.
The new panel will look not just at identifying problems in the highest priority areas. It will look to provide evidence-based options that trigger effective policy change that is relevant to the social, political and economic issues being faced by people around the world. The plan is for an ad hoc open-ended working group to complete its work by the end of 2024. This group should allow member states and other stakeholders to put issues on the table that they would expect to be dealt with by a science policy panel. It should allow different communities of knowledge to put their ideas on the table. And it should set the parameters for panel that is credible, useful and something member states want to see.
The resolution on Nature-based Solutions, gave us an agreed multilateral definition of nature-based solutions.
This matters because it nails down exactly what Nature-based Solutions are: actions to protect, conserve, restore, sustainably use and manage ecosystems for the benefit of people, economies and the planet. Nature-based Solutions are a large part of the strategy to move humanity back into harmony with nature: essentially restoring and nurturing nature so it can restore and nurture us. This is why the resolution also called on UNEP to support the implementation of, and prompt investments in Nature-based Solutions.
The last resolution I want to mention is that on the environmental aspects of minerals and metals management.
This resolution, in essence, calls on member states and relevant stakeholders along the full lifecycle of minerals and metals to align mining practices and investments with the 2030 Agenda. It empowers UNEP to convene consultations that will feed into a global intergovernmental meeting to develop proposals on enhancing the environmental sustainability of metals and minerals. Again, this is a critical issue – given the massive environmental impact of mining virgin metals and minerals.
Friends,
As I said at UNEA 5.2, these and the other resolutions have built a platform from which we can take a great leap towards our lofty ambition of building a sustainable world. I expect that we can raise this platform even higher at Stockholm+50 in June – and on this note, my thanks to the permanent missions for their constructive engagement in Stockholm+50 consultations earlier this week.
Yes, we do still have a lot of work to do. But we can take inspiration from the first fifty years of UNEP, which we celebrated immediately after UNEA 5.2. During those celebrations, we remembered how UNEP, and the environmental movement, has carried the environment from the fringes to the mainstream. We recalled many successes, from the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer to the phase-out of lead in petrol. We acknowledged that UNEP is now at the heart of protecting the asset upon which we all rely: the environment.
Through the UNEP@50 political declaration, member states issued a strong message by backing increased action on the triple planetary crisis. By committing to the strengthening of international environmental governance and to a more inclusive and effective environmental multilateralism. By backing the reinforcement of UNEP’s role as the global organization through which nations can safeguard this planet. UNEP is grateful for this trust and will throw everything it has at sparking the transformations needed to set our planet back on the right course.
Again, though, our journey is far from over. History ultimately will not judge us on resolutions agreed, or plans made, or successes remembered. It will judge us on actions delivered. Yes, UNEA 5.2 and UNEP@50 were undoubtedly roaring successes. But now we – in every international organization, in every government office, in every boardroom – must put the work in to deliver on the resolutions passed and promises made at these events.
The next UNEA comes around in February 2024. When Member States reconvene at this meeting, we must have made some serious progress. On creating a stable climate. On safeguarding and restoring nature and biodiversity. On lessening the burden of chemicals, pollution and waste. Because our future depends on it.
Thank you.
