Background
The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) is the world’s highest-level decision-making body on the environment. Created in 2012, UNEA embodies a new era in which the environment is given the same level of prominence as issues such as peace, poverty, health and security.
The establishment of the Assembly was the result of decades of international efforts – initiated at the UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972 – aimed at creating an effective system of international environmental governance. It was set up to be a sort of “world’s parliament on the environment.”
What does it do?
UNEA usually meets biennially to set priorities for global environmental policies and develop international environmental law. The biannual sessions of UNEA are where Member States table resolutions and decisions on environmental issues. Decisions and resolutions taken by Member States at the Assembly define UNEP’s Programme of Work. UNEA resolutions are important instruments negotiated and agreed upon by Member States. They represent current collective thinking on prevailing environmental issues, build consensus and are a vital first step in the need for action. These sessions serve as both a forum and a decision-making body, where the world’s governments, civil society groups, the scientific community and the private sector gather to highlight the most pressing global environmental issues and ultimately create the architecture for future environmental governance.
Why is UNEA important?
UNEA is the highest-level meeting on the state of the environment. One major strength of UNEA is that it does not just focus on one aspect of the environment – it cuts across issues, sectors and regions, and aims towards broader, more holistic solutions. Many of the topics discussed at UNEA are emerging issues that may not previously have received significant coverage. UNEA-5.2 comes at a crucial time for the environment as the first global meeting on the environment after the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26). The world is facing a triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss and pollution and waste, which makes the decisions taken at UNEA-5.2 particularly important.
Why is the event being held in two parts?
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed challenges for multilateralism, restricting in-person meetings. Many international meetings – UN meetings as well as others – have been postponed or reshaped. In the case of UNEA, Member States agreed to organize it in two steps. The first step – UNEA-5.1 – was an online-only meeting, which took place from 22 to 23 February 2021. The second step – UNEA-5.2 – will be held in-person and online in Nairobi from 28 February to 2 March 2022.
What about COVID?
For the in-person meetings in Nairobi during UNEA-5.2, a number of COVID-19 protocols will be put in place, including socially-distant seating arrangements, mandatory mask-wearing and daily rapid testing.
What is a resolution and how does it get passed?
A resolution is a formal expression of the opinion or will of UNEA. The Committee of Permanent Representatives considers and prepares the draft resolutions and decisions for adoption by UNEA, without prejudice to the rules of procedure, and based on a presentation by the initiator(s) of the draft resolution. Final negotiations of the draft resolutions take place during the Open-ended Meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives and, if needed, at UNEA itself. Resolutions are adopted at UNEA by consensus (adoption of a decision without a vote), however, proposals can be adopted with a vote (which shall normally be done by show of hands but any representative may request for a roll call). The adoption of a resolution is the formal act (e.g., the strike of gavel) by which the form and content of a proposed resolution is approved by delegations representing Member States.
How is the event structured?
Central to UNEA-5.2 are the negotiations, which are focused on the draft resolutions tabled by different Member States. All participating Member States will discuss and ultimately adopt or reject these draft resolutions. Outside the main negotiations, there will be a series of side events, which will feature participation from NGOs, civil society, the private sector and other UN agencies. These side events will focus on everything from plastic pollution and sustainable agriculture to ocean governance and Africa’s circular economy.
What’s the theme?
UNEA will be held under the theme “Strengthening Actions for Nature to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,” and will focus on critical issues, such as plastic pollution, green recovery and chemical waste management. This highlights the pivotal role nature plays in the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.
Who will be at the event?
Representatives from Member States, including Ministers, will be in Nairobi. Many delegations will be joining negotiations online. Delegates from major groups and stakeholders will also be present in Nairobi, as well as representatives from the UN, NGOs, IGOs, Multilateral Environmental Agreement (MEAs), and the media.
What is the expected outcome?
One of the most newsworthy aspects of this Assembly will be the deliberations by Member States on the possible establishment of an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to kick-start work towards a global and legally binding agreement to address plastic pollution. Given the scale and challenge of the global plastic pollution crisis, the discussions between Member States, as well as with the private sector, civil society and other participants, could represent the most important development on the global environmental agenda since the Paris Agreement on climate change in 2015. The Assembly will consider other critical issues, including ecosystem-based approaches and biodiversity, green recovery and circular economy, and chemical waste and nitrogen management. See the full list of the Resolutions being tabled.
What publications are being launched?
UNEP releases several publications before and during UNEA 5.2, including the fourth edition of its Frontiers report – which covers emerging issues of environmental concern – and a report on the growing global threat of wildfires. UNEP will also release a summary brief on the environmental dimension of antimicrobial resistance in anticipation of a full publication later this year.
What has been achieved so far?
UNEA-5.1 saw Ministers of environment and other leaders from more than 150 nations take part in the two-day online meeting. The Assembly agreed to a new Medium-Term Strategy, Programme of Work and budget for UNEP. The new Strategy – which will take UNEP from 2022-2025 – sets out a vision for UNEP’s role in delivering the promises of the 2030 Agenda. This Strategy is vital so that the worst effects of the triple planetary crisis can be avoided.
UNEP@50
The UNEP@50 Special Session
Directly after UNEA-5.2, from 3 to 4 March 2022, representatives of governments and environmental ministries from around the world will come together, alongside civil society, youth, and the media, for the two-day UNEP@50 Special Session of UNEA to commemorate UNEP’s 50th anniversary.
What is the purpose of the event?
UNEP@50 is being held under the overall theme of "Strengthening UNEP for the implementation of the environmental dimension of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” This highlights the central role nature has to play in meeting the ambitions of the 2030 Agenda adopted by all UN Member States in 2015. The 2030 Agenda aims to end poverty and conflict, build just and inclusive societies and ensure the lasting protection of the planet and its natural resources.
The hybrid session held online and in-person in Nairobi will highlight the considerable progress made on global environmental matters. The event will also reaffirm how UNEP and Member States stand ready to address the triple planetary crisis.
UNEP@50 is an opportunity to strengthen its headquarters in Nairobi as the global hub for the environment. A key part of the UNEP@50 event is the two Leadership Dialogues focusing on the past 50 years as well as on the future of environmental action, global environmental multilateralism, and international environmental cooperation. These high-level conversations will explore the best way to strengthen UNEP for the next five decades, particularly in regards to implementing the environmental dimension of sustainable development.
What is expected to be achieved at UNEP@50?
Two reports will be presented as part of the commemoration: Reflecting on the past and imagining the future: a contribution to the dialogue on the science-policy interface, by UNEP and The UNEP We Want, by the UNEP@50 Task Force of Major Groups and Stakeholders.
UNEP@50 has also been selected as the high-level meeting for the adoption of the political declaration pursuant to UN General Assembly resolution 73/333 of 30 August 2019, with a view to strengthening the implementation of international environmental law and international environmental governance.
This story was updated on 1 March 2024
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