The state of the planet is a key agenda item for the United Nations General Assembly. This page features related updates from UNEP and its partners, including key moments of the year such as July’s High-level Political Forum and September’s High-Level Week which in 2024 will include the Summit of the Future.
04 Sep
2024
13:00
UN Secretary-General calls for AI that works for everyone ahead of Summit of the Future
On 2 September 2024, UN Secretary-General António Guterres addressed the participants of the workshop on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and capacity building that took place in Shanghai, China. In his speech, Guterres discussed the global potentials and risks of AI.
“To truly harness AI’s potential, we need international cooperation – and solidarity. And we must urgently bridge the AI gap for developing countries. The risks posed by AI are equally uneven. Without adequate guardrails, AI could further exacerbate inequalities and digital divides and disproportionately affect the most vulnerable.”
The Secretary-General also emphasized that the High-Level Advisory Body on AI will issue a report in September with a series of recommendations, including:
- Creating an AI Capacity Development Network that will connect AI centres and provide expertise and training data, especially for developing countries
- Establishing a Global Fund on AI for the SDGs
- Developing a Global Data Framework, so that local AI ecosystems can flourish
02 Sep
2024
10:00
High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance: 26 September 2024
On 26 September 2024, the UN General Assembly will convene a high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) during its 79th session (UNGA 79) in New York. The theme of the meeting is “Investing in the present and securing our future together: Accelerating multi-sectoral global, regional and national actions to address Antimicrobial Resistance”.
Drug-resistant infections know no borders, meaning no single country can respond to AMR alone. Taking place shortly after the Summit of the Future, this meeting is an important opportunity for world leaders to collectively address the looming threat AMR poses to global health, food security, and achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
29 Aug
2024
11:48
Summit of the Future Side Event on 20 September: "Empowering Youth for Sustainable Futures: Intergenerational Responsibility and Skills for a Just Transition"
With young people at the heart of the discussion, this event brings partners together to explore what changes are needed in education and across society to build the green skills and green jobs to deliver a just and sustainable transition.
Co-organised with UNEP and the Government of Cyprus, this side-event will host an intergenerational dialogue between youth, UN leaders, Government ministers and experts in green skills and education. It will explore the intersection of green jobs, education and sustainable lifestyles, highlighting how these elements can converge to create a just and equitable future for all.
New commitments to the Green Jobs for Youth Pact will be unveiled at the event, with the outcomes contributing to the Summit of the Future, informing the SDG review process, and supporting the implementation of the UNEA-6 resolution on sustainable lifestyles.
26 Aug
2024
12:29
High-Level Meeting on Sea Level Rise: 25 September 2024
On 25 September 2024, the President of the UN General Assembly will convene a high-level plenary meeting on “Addressing the existential threats posed by sea-level rise” at the UN headquarters in New York.
Taking place on the heels of the Summit of the Future, the meeting will focus on building common understanding, mobilizing political leadership, and promoting multisectoral, multi-stakeholder collaboration and international cooperation towards addressing the threats posed by sea-level rise.
Participants will work towards developing comprehensive solutions and actionable commitments to combat sea-level rise, ensuring a resilient and sustainable future including for small island developing states and low-lying coastal areas.
19 Aug
2024
10:00
From Chile to China: The global effort to halt desertification
In the run-up to the Summit of the Future, we recall key historical moments when nations worked together in multilateral efforts to tackle global environmental problems. First identified as a looming crisis in the 1960s, desertification is now commonly accepted as one of the most pressing environmental issues. “Land degradation and desertification negatively affects 3.2 billion people around the world today,” said Johan Robinson, a Senior Programme Management Officer with UNEP. To make matters worse, desertification “disproportionately harms those who are least able to do anything about it: rural communities, smallholder farmers and the extremely poor,” he added.
UNEP has played a key role in the global effort to slow the process of desertification taking place everywhere from northern Chile to China’s Taklamakan Desert. This effort has been underpinned by the notion that as devastating as desertification can be, it can also be halted and reversed.
To this end, UNEP has provided scientific data, financed land restoration projects, and built global political consensus on The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Adopted in 1994, the UNCCD is the world’s sole legally binding international agreement that explicitly links the environment and development to sustainable land management.
12 Aug
2024
10:00
World leaders promise to end and reverse deforestation by 2030
Leading up to the Summit of the Future, we are highlighting key historical moments when nations joined forces to address global environmental problems through multilateral solutions. At the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in 2021, more than 100 world leaders promised to end and reverse deforestation by 2030. The pledge, which includes almost USD 19.2 billion of public and private funds, is a landmark move for nature.
Research shows that a forest the size of Portugal is ripped from the earth each year, driving climate change and other environmental crises, including wildfires, species extinction, and food insecurity. As a convener and catalyst, UNEP has played an important role in supporting the global movement to slow deforestation.
“The growing enthusiasm for forests and trees is a good thing,” said Tim Christophersen, former Head of UNEP’s Nature for Climate branch. “Ecosystem restoration will be critical in turning the tide against climate change and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
05 Aug
2024
10:00
End of leaded petrol a milestone for human and planetary health: UNEP Executive Director
“Leaded petrol was a huge mistake from the start, even if people may not have known it at the time,” said Rob De Jong, the head of sustainable mobility at UNEP. “The world would be dealing with the consequences for a century.”
In anticipation of the Summit of the Future, we are reflecting on key historical moments when countries united in multilateral efforts to address global environmental problems. Following a 19-year campaign led by UNEP and global partners, that toxic legacy officially came to an end on 30 August 2021. At a press conference in Nairobi, Kenya, UNEP announced the last country to use leaded petrol, Algeria, had phased out the fuel. For the first time since 1923, no driver on the planet will be legally able to fill their tank with lead-infused petrol.
“The successful enforcement of the ban on leaded petrol is a huge milestone for global health and our environment,” said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen. The official end of use of leaded petrol has been estimated to prevent more than 1.2 million premature deaths and save USD 2.45 trillion for the global economy per year.
29 Jul
2024
10:00
UNEP Executive Director calls for forward-thinking multilateralism ahead of Summit of the Future
On 8 July 2024, UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen addressed the Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR) ahead of the Summit of the Future in September 2024. In her speech, she called for more agile and adaptive multilateral cooperation, that responds faster to emerging challenges.
“The Summit of the Future can nudge the UN into a more responsive and united global force for good,” Inger Andersen said. The Summit at the United Nations in New York is a high-level event, bringing together world leaders to forge a new international consensus on how to deliver a better present and safeguard the future.
“Looking forward, the world will need strong science and knowledge, delivered in a timely and accessible manner to inform decision-making,” Inger Andersen noted. “UNEP is doing its part through stronger engagement with UN country teams, providing scientific expertise for environmental action,” she added.
23 Jul
2024
15:52
Rebuilding the ozone layer: how the world came together for the ultimate repair job
As far as decades go, the 1980s were nothing if not tumultuous. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 reshaped the future, heralding the dawn of a new world order. In the run-up to the Summit of the Future, we recall another significant, but lesser known, event of that decade which took place two years earlier when governments came together to tackle a key global environmental challenge: to reverse damage to the ozone layer and ensure we had a viable future to reshape.
The adoption of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer on September 16, 1987 marked a turning point in environmental history and became one of the biggest success stories of multilateral cooperation. It also showed that when science and political willpower join forces, the results can change the world.
“In the face of a triple planetary crisis – climate, nature and pollution - the Montreal Protocol is one of the best examples we have of the positive and powerful outcome of multilateralism,” said Meg Seki, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP’s) Ozone Secretariat. “When sound science is the basis for universal action, we can overcome what may seem insurmountable global environmental challenges.”
Watch a film on the Montreal Protocol, narrated by Sir David Attenborough.
17 Jul
2024
20:20
Messages from the UN Environment Assembly
In week two, the HLPF was addressed by H. E. Abdullah Bin Ali Amri, President of the seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA).
"We gather at this Forum not only as Member States but as stewards of our planet, united by a common purpose: to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda with the aim of eradicating poverty and deliver sustainable, resilient, and innovative solutions for a sustainable future in a healthy planet," Bin Ali Amri of Oman said.
"Enhancing sustainable consumption, and production is imperative. UNEA has called on Member States to adopt policies that decouple economic growth from environmental harm," he noted.
In his statement, Bin Ali Amri urged world leaders to use every piece of knowledge and engage scientists, Indigenous peoples, and the youth who are not afraid to try something new, and to leverage solutions that ensure a future where sustainable development is a reality for all, leaving no one behind.
