Your Excellency Leila Benali, President of UNEA-6 and Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development of Morocco,
Your Excellency Soipan Tuya, Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry of Kenya,
Your Excellency Firas Khouri, Chair of the Committee of Permanent Representatives,
Ms. Zainab Hawa Bangura, Director-General of UNON,
Elizabeth Mrema, Deputy Director of UNEP,
Ministers, delegates, distinguished guests and friends.
Welcome to the Sixth United Nations Environment Assembly, taking place here in Nairobi, the environmental capital of the world, as we like to say. My thanks go, as ever, to the government of Kenya for decades of commitment to UNEP and international environmental governance. My thanks also to you, Minister Benali, for your excellent leadership over the last two years.
This assembly knows all too well that we are living through an intensifying triple planetary crisis: the crisis of climate change, the crisis of nature and land loss, and the crisis of pollution and waste. This crisis casts its shadow over every person on this planet, regardless of nationality, colour, faith or gender.
This forum, which we like to think is the world’s most-influential decision-making body on the environment, has consistently shown the unity we need to overcome this crisis. We will need that unity to safeguard Earth as we know it. And this year, the assembly is more powerful and more united than ever. I often say at these assemblies that the world is watching. In fact, this year, the world isn’t just watching. The world is here. We have a record number of delegates, a record number of countries represented, and a record number of ministers. Thank you for coming.
We have the voices of the younger generation – who, at the Youth Environment Assembly, issued a declaration asking for intergenerational equity and strong backing for environmental multilateralism. We have the voices of civil society, Indigenous People, women, businesses and many more feeding in through the Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum. And we have the Multilateral Environmental Agreements here in Nairobi to reimagine how to work together for greater impact and accelerated action.
So, as you, the Member States, negotiate, I ask you to face squarely and tackle environmental crises and challenges. Challenges that are new. That are urgent. That are still on the horizon, way out in the ocean, but which will soon crash on our environmental shores if we do not act. This is the impactful, nimble and foresightful environmentalism that we seek.
Excellencies, colleagues and friends,
Through the tireless work of the Open-Ended Committee of the Permanent Representatives, 19 resolutions and two decisions are on the table. This would have not been possible without the dedication of the Chair and Bureau of the Committee, and the co-facilitators of resolution clusters debated during last week’s Open-Ended Committee. My deep thanks to all.
Before you are resolutions that can speed the transition to net-zero. Improve the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink. Equip ocean and sea governance to tackle the threats ahead. Build the resilience of people to drought. Support international efforts to restore degraded land.
There are resolutions that will boost multilateral actions to address climate injustice. Spark a global conversation on emerging technologies that will equip nations with the science and wisdom to make the right choices for people and planet. Help to usher out the culture of take, make and waste that is the twisted heart of the triple planetary crisis – as highlighted in the 2024 Global Resources Outlook from the International Resource Panel, which is being launched this week.
This past week you have dedicated much time to negotiations. You have come early. You have stayed late. You have worked hard. For that, I am deeply grateful. But now it is time to lay political differences aside. Time to focus on this little blue planet, teeming with life. Time to lift our sights to our common goal: a pathway to a sustainable and safe future, in which we can make sound and safe decisions. And we can do this by agreeing on the resolutions before you to boost multilateral action for today and tomorrow, and secure intergenerational justice and equity.
Friends,
Time and again, the Nairobi spirit has delivered on environmental multilateralism. Two years ago, this Assembly gavelled a historic decision to launch negotiations towards a global instrument on plastic pollution, a process that should conclude this year. You gave the world a much-needed dose of hope. And you showed the world environmental multilateralism is alive. It works. And it is here to stay.
So, I ask you today to be united once more and craft strong resolutions. Resolutions that can bring real impact. That address the needs of many people already struggling under the burden of the triple planetary crisis. And that shore up the environmental foundations upon which a peaceful, equitable and sustainable future will rest.
Thank you.
