Environmentalists Gather In Kenya To Tackle Planetary Crisis.

By Jean Pierre Afadhali

Thousands of environment policymakers, experts, scientists, activists, business people have gathered in Nairobi, Kenya in the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) to discuss climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.

The six-day assembly on environment is organised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the world’s highest decision-making body on environment under the theme “Effective, inclusive and sustainablemultilateral actions to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.” UNEA is expected to offer a platform to global environment stakeholders to share their views and solutions on key ecological issues the planet faces.

According to UNEP, the world has an environmental must-do list. This is a must-do list for tackling, UNEP calls it the triple planetary crisis: the crisis of climate change, the crisis of nature and biodiversity loss, and the crisis of pollution and waste.

This crisis disproportionately impacts the African continent, including Kenya, says the UN Environment agency. The UN is pushing for multilateralism to tackle global environment issues, but conflicts and geopolitical tensions are hindering diplomacy and turning away from crucial earth’s conservation issues.

“It is very important for UNEA to restore the credibility of multilateralism,” said Leila Benali, President of UNEA-6 and Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development of Morocco at a news conference.

Commenting on the possible impact of upcoming elections on environmental diplomacy Benali said: “Whoever is elected, we hope they will take into account that we are all in this together.”

Species under massive pressure, forests are falling and soils are turning infertile. Millions of people are dying each year from exposure to pollution and chemicals, says the UN, as delegates hope to use the UNEA-6 platform to raise awareness and find solutions to some of the pressing environmental challenges.

Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Environment Soipan Tuya called for increased efforts to tackle environmental challenges. Speaking during UNEA’s opening plenary, she said: “We must do more to address the environment crisis,” adding “nature is declining globally at an unpreceded pace in human history.”

According to Tuya, the global community is not doing enough to conserve the environment. Kenya, last year, hosted the inaugural Africa Climate Summit that resulted in the Nairobi Declaration, an African blue print for climate change.

Tuya further said, Kenya is set to share with the global community potential solutions to plastic pollution as part of the UNEA Assembly.

Meanwhile, Inger Anderson, the executive director of UNEP has called for unity to solve environmental problems. Speaking during the opening plenary, she said “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.”  Anderson added: “We will need that unity to safeguard Earth as we know it.”

Ahead of UNEA-6, 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, said the head of UN Environment agency, stressing the assembly’s emphasis on diplomacy and inclusion to tackle earth’s triple planetary crisis.

As part of the UN assembly agenda, 19 resolutions are on the docket.

Anderson further said: “We have the Multilateral Environmental Agreements here in Nairobi to reimagine how to work together for greater impact and accelerated action.”