UN environmental group calls for making peace with nature

The Fifth Session of the UN Environment Assembly was held online on Feb 22 and 23 under exceptional circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The meeting was kicked off by Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya's president, who said the United Nations Environment Program's mandate is fundamental if the world is to achieve its aspirations for the environment and sustainable development.

"As a start, we can recognize that persistent droughts, constant sea level rises, and increasingly frequent extreme weather patterns are reversing economic growth and development gains achieved over decades," Kenyatta said in his opening remarks.

The event, which was hosted at the program's headquarters in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that human health and well-being are dependent upon nature and the solutions it provides.

Speaking at the meeting, Sveinung Rotevatn, the assembly's president and Norway's minister for Environment, said the fact that 151 countries registered and connected online, along with civil society and other stakeholders, showed how important member states thought it was to meet and discuss the environment. 

"Everyone gathered at the Environment Assembly today is deeply concerned about how the pandemic causes new and serious health, socio-economic and environmental challenges and how it exacerbates existing ones all over the world. Development gains have been set back, undermining our common efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals," Rotevatn said. 

Rotevatn also hailed the approval of the program's Medium-Term Strategy, a program of work and budget by the assembly, as these will ensure the program is well placed to help member states respond to environmental crises. 

Inger Andersen, the UN program's executive director, said the program has set the world on the right path to tackle the triple planetary crises of climate change, nature loss and pollution in this critical year for the future of our fragile planet.

"2021 can be the year when we make peace with nature. It's up to us to make it happen and (the assembly) was a big step in this direction. Now is the time to put words into action," Andersen said.

Samuel Omare, a leader of a youth group involved in environmental conservation in Nairobi, was able to attend the online sessions and expressed his gratitude to the organizers for their inclusivity.

"The fact that COVID-19 has forced people to move online meant that more people could be accommodated for the meetings, and that enabled small groups like ours to participate. We were able to learn more and also show others what we do in our bid to fight climate change," Omare said.

The two-day meeting featured a number of plenary sessions, including a high-level leadership dialogue convening ministers and other senior government representatives. They outlined their respective country's contributions to the environmental dimension of sustainable development to build a resilient and inclusive post-pandemic world, and also communicated their vision for united work under the UN program.

During the closing plenary session, member states launched the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the program's creation by the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972 and adopted the provisional meeting's report.

In her closing remarks, Andersen applauded the success of the first virtual session of this UN program and saluted member states for recognizing that "we can no longer wait to make peace with nature".