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KEPSA
7th Floor, South Tower, Two Rivers, Limuru Rd, Nairobi.
info@kepsa.or.ke
Last week, KEPSA participated in the resumed session of the 5th United National Environmental Assembly (UNEA 5.2) that took place in Gigiri, Nairobi. The United Nations Environment Assembly is the world’s highest-level decision-making body on the environment and convenes to address critical environmental challenges facing the world today. The overall theme was strengthening actions for nature to achieve sustainable development goals. The Assembly addressed chemicals, marine plastics, green recovery among the 16 resolutions in the establishment of a binding global treaty on plastics in order to curb plastic pollution.
Day one proceedings took place on 28th February 2022. During the opening remarks, Mr. Espen Barth Eide, the UNEA 5 President and Minister of Climate and the Environment, Norway, “The air we breathe is not the property of any nation, we share it.” He called upon members to demonstrate that multilateral diplomacy can deliver and that there are things that work in this world.
The Executive Director of UNEP, Inger Andersen said, a huge responsibility sits on our shoulders at this resumed session of the fifth UN Environment Assembly. A responsibility to deliver solutions to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. A responsibility to provide the stewardship that will maintain the planet’s capacity to sustain humanity. A responsibility to safeguard the one thing that props up the whole sustainable development agenda: the environment.
Ms. Zainab Hawa Bangura, Director-General, UN Office at Nairobi (UNON), called for a sustainable and inclusive COVID-19 recovery setting, that sets the world on a path towards prosperity. She stressed the opportunity to reflect on the past and envision the future, she underscored that unity is required to address the triple planetary crisis.
Mr. Keriako Tobiko, the Kenya Cabinet Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, warned that the consequences of our actions in destroying, commoditizing, and privatizing nature have a profoundly negative effect on our lives. He underscored the principles of stewardship and intergenerational equity and urged for action on the ground for the benefit of communities worldwide.