A wide range of global stakeholders have been having their say on priorities to be addressed ahead of the second session of the UN Environment Assembly that guides UNEP’s work worldwide.

At the 'Parliament of the Environment’, which takes place in UNEP’s headquarters Nairobi on 23-27 May, the UN’s 193 member states will aim for an agreement on clusters of resolutions, including on sustainable production and consumption and the sound management of chemicals.

Briefings and video messages preparing global stakeholders for the event have been held in Geneva, London and New York while videos encouraging them to join have meanwhile been produced across the globe.

In London, civil society took centre stage at a briefing organised by UNEP and longstanding partner Stakeholder Forum, with speakers from the UN, academia, health bodies and the private sector (see next article).

Stakeholder Forum and UNEP also partnered to organise a webinar preparing global stakeholders for the Assembly, with speakers including the Secretary of UNEP’s governing bodies Jorge Laguna-Celis and Alexander Juras, Chief of UNEP’s Major Groups and Stakeholders branch.

The Geneva Environment Network meanwhile on 4 April briefed permanent missions on UNEA-2 after UNEP ROE held a dinner briefing for West Balkan ministers on the assembly and supporting them in forming a common approach to the meeting.

As a result, registrations for the Assembly are rocketing and close to 80% of delegations confirmed to attend so far are of ministerial level.

EU Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella is furthermore among European personalities to have produced a videos message supporting the meeting.

“We have been making real progress since the last Assembly. The political will to make the better place is clearly there, but the world needs actions, as well as good intentions,” he urged. In order to view his please click here, while those from other personalities can be watched here.

In order to read more on #UNEA-2 and view a schedule for the event, click here. For more information get in touch with isabelle.valentiny@unep.org

As national representatives gathered to pen to paper on the Paris Agreement to fight climate change, Earth Day was on 22 April celebrated in Geneva with a medley of activities and statements cheering on the signatory countries.

The Paris climate deal was signed by 171 countries in New York and is the first ever universal and legally-binding accord to limit and deal with the harmful impacts of climate change. Earth Day has existed internationally since 2009 and been celebrated in the United States since 1970.

In Geneva, a dialogue on the Paris Agreement and implications for the world of work was organised by the International Labour Organisation and Geneva Environment Network. The event was convened at the ILO under the Green Centenary Initiative and considered the implications of the climate deal on the world of work and discussed ways in which the ILO can support its constituents in carrying out their commitments. The celebrations continued with an exhibition of paintings by Bolivian artist Mamani Mamani held at the Palais des Nations. The paintings of suns, indigenous mothers and other images and vibrant colours drew from his Aymaran heritage and remind us to remain in harmony with the Earth.

Throughout the day, a range of activities were also organised by the City of Geneva celebrating our planet.

During his speech at the 'Genève fête la Terre' celebration at the city’s Plainpalais, the Director of UNEP’s Regional Office for Europe Jan Dusik said that in order to reach a global objective, “we must start from as close to citizens as possible”.

In line with this year’s Earth Day objective of planting 7.8 billion trees worldwide by 2021, Mr Dusik praised the City of Geneva for pledging to plant 260 in 2016.

Indeed, "Geneva is already a leader on green initiatives", said the city’s Mayor Esther Alder, while welcoming the “very encouraging signs” resulting from the Paris Agreement. "Some 20% of Geneva’s communal space is taken up by parks, and the city has pledged to not use any chemicals to maintain these spaces by 2021", noted incoming Mayor Guillaume Barazzone for example.

Given that we risk leaving future generations with our mistakes that will be difficult to correct, Earth Day is about showing our love of nature, underlined the agro-ecologist and philosopher Pierre Rabhi.

The speeches were made as part of a festive atmosphere, where stands, composting activities and a concert were held. A conference also took place on access to water organised by the UN in Geneva and a talk with Mr Rabhi held at the Théâtre du Léman as part of the celebrations.

Photo and video messages were meanwhile issued by UNEP offices in Geneva supporting the signing of the Paris deal as part of the #Sign4climate initiative. You can watch Mr Dusik’s statement by clicking here.

For more details please write to isabelle.valentiny@unep.org

Three international events and a global webinar organised by Stakeholder Forum with UNEP and other partners have ramped up civil society interest in the run-up to UNEA-2.

The London event formed part of a series of stakeholder engagement sessions, including meetings in Geneva and New York, where participants gathered to build their knowledge about UNEA-2, identify the best means for stakeholder participation, and explore its most prominent themes.

UNEP’s Regional Director for Europe Jan Dusik kicked off the morning with a video message in which he provided the background to this year’s UNEA and shared his support for Stakeholder Forum’s event and webinar series.

Stakeholder Forum’s Executive Director Farooq Ullah followed and detailed the structure and expected outcomes of UNEA-2, informed stakeholders of the reasons why they should attend and advised on how to influence the UNEA agenda most effectively.

Trevor Hutchings, Head of UK and EU advocacy at WWF, then distilled the challenges and opportunities for implementing the environmental aspect of the sustainable development agenda, the overarching theme for UNEA-2, in an impassioned and informative presentation.

A panel was then held on the subject of this year’s multi-stakeholder dialogue: building partnerships to jointly deliver on the environmental dimension of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

Sue Riddlestone, Bioregional Chief Executive, shared her organisation’s positive experiences of partnering with the private sector and reaching an influential role with the UN as the focal point for SDG 12 on Sustainable Consumption and Production. Meanwhile, Steve Kenzie of UN Global Compact argued that the public and private sectors need to work together on an equal footing. Using his perspective as Chief Responsible Investment Officer at Aviva Investors, Steve Waygood advised that a much larger change was needed within investment flows to make the private sector work in favour of sustainable development.

The second panel reflected the topic of this year’s Global Thematic Report and Ministerial Policy Review, ‘Healthy People, Healthy Planet,’ and boasted three highly regarded speakers. Anthony Kessel, Director of International Health at Public Health England, set out the philosophical history behind the report’s topic which has led society to value the individual over nature.

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s Andy Haines then shared the findings of the Lancet’s report on Planetary Health. The paper identified some of the main challenges - dysfunctional financial and food systems - and opportunities - cities and economic savings - resulting from solving linked health and environment-related problems. Finally, Laurence Carmichael of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Healthy Environments put forward several practical solutions for alleviating health and environmental issues, including intersectoral partnerships and obligatory Health Impact Assessments for new planning developments.

For more details please write to acoopman@stakeholderforum.org

The environment is for the first time successfully being mainstreamed into decision-making, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner has asserted at an event reflecting on his decade at the helm of the organisation.

During a special session organised by the Geneva Environment Network on 26 April, Mr Steiner looked back at his legacy with UNEP ahead of the end of his tenure in June and laid out what he sees as the biggest challenges for the future. The Executive Director was interviewed by Claude Martin, former Director General of WWF International; and Liliana Andanova, Professor at the Graduate Institute in Geneva.

Whereas the Millennium Development Goals only included a specific goal on the environment at the last minute – Mr Steiner revealed - the format and content of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted last year demonstrate how an integrated approach is now being taken to the topic, he underlined.

A majority of the 17 goals are directly related to the environment and over 90 specific targets relate to the topic throughout the goals. The SDGs “respond to how the world has become more complex,” said Mr Steiner, and show how the UN is now “the universally accepted body for fostering an integrated approach,” he noted.

Crucial to achieving this, the outgoing Executive Director said he sees his main legacy as being the creation of the UN Environment Assembly, which broadened and increased membership of UNEP’s governing body from 58 members to all UN member states and the full spectrum of civil society. During his tenure, the UNEP head also oversaw several multilateral environmental agreements and conjured the Green Economy concept which states are now using as a tool for sustainable development across sectors without degrading the environment.

Looking ahead, Mr Steiner believes that the biggest challenge the next Executive Director will face may be the question of how to ensure that a global population of 10 billion people can be fed sustainably by the end of the century.

Meanwhile, If there was one issue UNEP could have focused on to a greater extent in the past it would be governance of oceans, he observed. Furthermore, science is not being used to support policymaking to a sufficient degree, Mr Steiner believes. If it were, the planet would not be losing species at such a high rate, he reflected.

For more information and to watch a recording of the event please click here or write to diana.rizzolio@unep.org