UN Environment Assembly ends with protection pledges

The fourth session of United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) concluded with a strong commitment and pledge by delegates who attended it to speed up their actions toward protecting the Earth's degraded resources.

Despite starting under the shadow of the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people, including at least 21 UN staff, the five-day event that ended on March 15 saw successful discussions and commitments by the delegates to a more sustainable path.

Joyce Msuya, acting executive director of the UN Environment Program, said the week was productive, with governments agreeing on the way forward on a range of issues, from marine litter, micro-plastics, gender and environment, to sustainable consumption.

Noting that the assembly brought together almost 5,000 delegates from countries that widely vary in economic circumstances, ecosystem, cultural, resources, history and politics, she said reaching the agreement was not an easy process.

"Having achieved consensus on so much this week is something to celebrate and I congratulate member states for this accomplishment," Msuya said.

The commitments were made under the backdrop of the sixth edition of the Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6), launched during the assembly and termed as the most comprehensive and rigorous assessment on the state of the planet.

Msuya said the UNEA-4 resolutions demonstrated global political will to tackle the challenges highlighted by the GEO-6.

"I'm hopeful about the future, because I see passion and engagement on environmental issues like never before. The transformative innovations presented during the week, showed that we have the economic interest, the policies and technologies to accelerate forward," Msuya said.

Ministers from more than 170 UN member states acknowledged their concern by mounting evidence that the Earth is increasingly polluted, rapidly warming and dangerously depleted.

They therefore pledged to address environmental challenges through advancing innovative solutions and adopting sustainable consumption and production patterns.

"We reaffirm that poverty eradication, changing unsustainable, promoting sustainable patterns of consumption and production, are the overarching objectives of and essential requirements for sustainable development. This is in addition to protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development," the ministers said in a final declaration.

Siim Kiisler, president of UNEA-4, said 23 resolutions and 3 decisions were adopted at the conclusion of the assembly.

He said the resolutions touched on innovative solutions for sustainable production and consumption, waste management through sustainable practices, marine litter, single-plastic use, clean and electric mobility and mineral resources among others.

Delegates also adopted a series of non-binding resolutions, covering the logistics of shifting to a business-unusual model of development.

They included recognition that a more circular global economy, in which goods can be reused or repurposed and kept in circulation for as long as possible, can significantly contribute to sustainable consumption and production.

Resolutions also addressed using incentives, including financial measures, to promote sustainable consumption while encouraging member states to end incentives for unsustainable consumption and production where appropriate.

Kiisler said attendance at the assembly of about 5,000 delegates was a record and demonstrated growing interest and concern on environmental issues.

The first assembly held on June 2014, brought together about 1,500 delegates. UNEA-2 that took place in May 2016, had more than 2,500 delegates, while UNEA-3 held in December 2017, had 4,300 delegates.

For the future of UNEA, Kiisler suggested a need to strengthen the legal basis of the resolutions.

"Everyone should have the right to demand for common principles for environmental governance across the globe,'' he said.

Similar sentiments were echoed by Emmanuel Macron, the president of France. He said on March 14 that there is need to formulate an international environment law, lack of which has left loopholes leading to degradation with complete impunity.

"We believe that what we need, given the situation we live in, are real laws and rules that are binding and adopted internationally. Our biosphere faces total devastation. Humanity itself is threatened. We cannot simply respond with some nice-sounding principles without any real impact," Macron said.

Ola Elvestuen, Norway's minister of climate and environment, was appointed a president of UNEA-5. Elvestuen said he was committed to building on the UNEA-4 resolutions as well as working with the member states to make the next assembly a successful one.

Kiisler said he was happy that two of his main priorities as UNEA-4 president had been reflected in the GEO-6 report.

"I express my gratitude and happiness that comparable environmental data strategy for the whole world is reflected in the GEO-6 report and that significant reduction of single-use plastic products is strongly echoed in the adopted declarations," he said.