The world needs to "sprint" if it's to head off the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and waste, the head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warned last week during a weeklong annual meeting with over 400 environmental officials and stakeholders participating from all corners of the world.
"The environmental emergency is no longer something to be tackled in the near future – but is very much here and now," said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen. "Many encouraging steps are already being taken. But this needs to turn into a sprint for people and planet because the sum total of our actions till date is simply not enough."
Andersen made the remarks at the 8th annual subcommittee meeting of UNEP's Committee of Permanent Representatives. The committee oversees the implementation of UNEP´s Programme of Work and initiates preparations for the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5), the world's highest-level decision-making body on the environment. UNEA-5 will run from 28 February to 1 March 2022 in Nairobi, Kenya.
During the subcommittee meeting last week, delegates consulted on a zero draft ministerial declaration and presented several new drafts on a wide range of topics including plastic pollution, green recovery, climate adaptation, nitrogen pollution, mineral resources governance, biodiversity and health.
The meeting also examined the state of preparations for a UNEA special session to commemorate the 50th anniversary of UNEP, dubbed UNEP@50, which will held back-to-back with UNEA-5.
Andersen said the celebration, set for 3-4 March 2022 in Nairobi, will be an important moment to "elevate and strengthen" UNEP, allowing it to play an even bigger role in addressing climate change, pollution and the looming extinction of 1 million species.” Those environmental threats have combined into a "triple planetary crisis" that Andersen said threatens to undermine all life on Earth.
The year 2022 also marks another environmental milestone – the 50th anniversary of the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, which culminated in the adoption of the Stockholm Declaration and Action Plan for the Human Environment, and led to the creation of UNEP by the UN General Assembly later that year, will be commemorated in June 2022 at a “Stockholm+50 International Meeting”. Sweden and Kenya will co-host the anniversary celebrations which are designed to accelerate environmental action.
In her closing remarks, Mrs. Luisa Fragoso, Chair of the meeting, expressed her gratitude to all delegates Member States for their constructive contributions and described it as a very rich and exciting week, setting out a milestone towards a successful UNEA-5 and UNEP@50. A full read-out of the outcome of the meeting is available here.
The environmental emergency is no longer something to be tackled in the near future – but is very much here and now.
Andersen also welcomed the fact that many countries have upped their financial support for the Environment Fund, UNEP's core source of capital, and encourage others to do the same. Contributions to the fund, the bedrock of UNEP's work around the world, reached their highest level in five years, but still falls far short of reaching the agreed budget level.
"This in a sense is indicative of the reality of our times,” said Andersen. “No matter where we sit in the world, environmental threats are a clear and present danger to people and countries everywhere."
“The growing chorus of understanding on the triple planetary crisis must now be accompanied by action,” she said. The world must “reimagine environmental governance so that we can deliver on a multitude of environmental challenges.”
