In addition to the tragic loss of life, COVID-19 has rolled back decades of progress on poverty, gender and health. It has exposed social and economic inequalities and the inextricable link between human and planetary health.
The pandemic is just one symptom of the damage that human activity has caused. The extraction and consumption of nature’s resources have also resulted in crises of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and growing volumes of pollution and waste.
Pandemic recovery plans offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to chart a new path. On 22 – 23 February 2021, the UN Environmental Assembly (UNEA) will virtually unite Member States and stakeholders to take action to build a greener, more sustainable and inclusive post-pandemic world.
The fifth session of UNEA will provide leadership, catalyze intergovernmental actions on the environment and contribute to advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It provides a platform for Member States to put in place policies and practices for a net-zero future; commit to reducing ocean pollution, and take steps to restore degraded land.
Under the theme, Strengthening Actions for Nature to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the assembly will host virtual sessions on critical environmental issues. Please click on the following links to register for the sessions on ocean pollution, plastic waste, agroecology, sustainable production and consumption, climate finance, a high-level Science-Policy Business Forum and a Global Youth Environmental Assembly, among others. The full programme can be accessed here.
UNEA aims to mark the beginning of an era of action and inspire urgency on environmental issues in the months ahead of the Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November. The online session will be followed by an in-person meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, in February 2022, to discuss issues requiring more substantive negotiation.
For more information and to register for sessions, please click here.
