• Collective action to address the interdependent planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution can reinvigorate and give new meaning to the global multilateral system.
• Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, floods and tropical cyclones
Image: OZONE
UNEA-5 was held on February 28 –March 2 at the Unep headquarters in Nairobi, a session, that was also referred as Unep@50.
This was to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Unep. This special session was held under the overall theme of "Strengthening Unep for the implementation of the environmental dimension of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”
Unep@50 is a time to reflect on the past and envision the future. It provides an opportunity to reinvigorate international cooperation and spur collective action to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste.
No country or continent can solve these global crises alone. But each nation has a crucial role to play in protecting our people and planet. It is also a time to promote sustainable development goals, especially on climate action
Global collective action to address the three interdependent planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution can reinvigorate and give new meaning to the global multilateral system.
It is imperative to note that urgent and bold steps are needed to address the triple planetary crisis. This opportunity to celebrate Unep@50 offers the opportunity to inject a new mission for international cooperation, a mission that can spur collective engagement towards common solutions.
To effectively tackle the three planetary crises and achieve the objectives of Agenda 2030 and the Decade of Action, a more effective and transformative multilateral system is required.
There is need for a system that bears greater appeal and vibrancy and that grounds the relationship between people and planet on greater inclusivity, equity, and solidarity. Environmental multilateralism can rejuvenate the global environmental movement for change, where everybody’s voice and action from world leaders to the youth bears weight.
Building on the vision outlined in its approved Medium-Term Strategy 2022-25, Unep will be at the forefront of this transformation, combining the best of its past achievements from the last 50 years with a creative and adaptable approach to the future of environmental multilateralism for the next 50 years.
Unep@50 is also a celebration to aimed at strengthening its foundation science and governance by enhancing its work to promote the environmental science policy interface and its role as a catalyst for environmental action, including providing support to members and their implementation of existing multilateral environment agreements.
It also helps in promoting a more networked, inclusive and effective multilateral system anchored within the UN as called for in ‘Our Common Agenda’, where the power to change is apportioned across all segments, sectors and levels of society.
It further aims at enhancing Unep’s role as the global environmental authority and further elevating the Nairobi Headquarters as the global hub for environment. Additionally, it strengthens Unep’s financial capacity to fulfill its mandate and carry out its approved Medium Term Strategy.
Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, floods and tropical cyclones, aggravating water management problems, reducing agricultural production and food security, increasing health risks, damaging critical infrastructure and interrupting the provision of basic services such water and sanitation, education, energy and transport.
Marine litter and plastic pollution risk altering habitats and natural processes, reducing ecosystems’ ability to adapt to the climate crisis, according to Unep’s “From Pollution to Solution” report.
This affects millions of people’s livelihoods, food security and social well being. Urgent, multilateral action is needed to identify where plastic waste enters waterways and how to mitigate it. To optimise policy changes to plastic production and use, it is important to identify how plastic pollution makes its way into the sea.
Of the estimated, 11 million tonnes of plastic pollution that enter the ocean every year, up 2.7 million tonnes come from rivers. The main agenda in UNEA-5 was for Unep to lead the two key initiatives to study and address these inputs.
In North America, through the Mississippi River Plastic Pollution Initiative, Unep has engaged citizen science by working with thousands of community volunteers to track upstream and coastal plastic pollution data along the river. This data is collected using a free, open-source mobile app called the Marine Debris Tracker.
In South-East Asia, Unep’s counter measure project identifies sources and pathways of plastic pollution in river systems, particularly the Mekong and the Ganges. With the use of technologies and innovative approaches such as GIS, machine learning and drones, the project has developed plastic leakage models for localities in six countries that can be scaled and replicated across continents.
Data and statistics that have been done overtime have shown that from 1880 to 2012, average global temperature increased by 0.85°C. Oceans have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished and sea level has risen. From 1901 to 2010, the global average sea level rose by 19 cm as oceans expanded.
The Arctic’s sea ice extent has shrunk in every successive decade since 1979. Global emissions of Carbon Dioxide have increased by almost 50 per cent since 1990. Emissions grew more quickly between 2000 and 2010 than in each of the three previous decades
The targets linked to the environment is to strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries to integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning. This is to improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning.
Also the goal is to implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilising jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and operationalise the Green Climate Fund through its capitalisation as soon as possible.
They also seek to promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed countries and small island developing states, including focusing on women, youth and local and marginalised communities.
The main issues that came out of the UNEA conference include the progress on halting plastic pollution, stopping harmful chemicals in agriculture and deploying nature to find sustainable development solutions. These were the main concerns that were raised by the parties in the UN Assembly. There is need for commitment by parties to prioritise this, failure to which the resolution will just but a pipe dream.
Secretary, National Environmental Complaints Committee [email protected]