Police in Nairobi may next week face a logistics problem as they try to contain the expected anti-IEBC demonstrations and provide security to the 2,500 delegates coming for the second United Nations Environmental Assembly in Gigiri.
Unea is the world’s environment Parliament and has this year attracted double the number of the delegates, compared to the first assembly in 2014.Outgoing Unep director general Achim Steiner (pictured) said government ministers, civil society and private sector leaders from the 193 Unep-member countries have confirmed attendance. The meeting begins on Monday and ends on Friday next week.
“Nairobi has played host to Unep for 44 years and has embraced its status as the environment capital of the world,” Steiner said at City Hall yesterday when he briefed Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero of the preparations. The meeting will culminate in resolutions and a global call to action to address the critical environmental challenges facing the world today. “With more than 2,300 participants expected next week, Unea-two is a testament to the strong role Nairobi and Kenya play in the history and future of sustainable development,” Steiner said. He will leave Nairobi next month, after 10 years, to become a professor in Oxford University, UK. During his term, Steiner supported Kenya when France led a few European countries to demand that Unep relocate to Europe in 2007. “It is sad we have to leave the city we had come to love,” he said yesterday. He will be succeeded by former Norwegian environment minister Erik Solheim.