It is an honor to speak in a session reflecting on our nearly 50-year long journey. It is a special honor to speak in a session during which we will also have the pleasure of listening to the statement of His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya, our generous host country. Indeed, the participation of President Kenyatta is symbolic of the deep and unique bond that the UN Environment Programme shares with our host government. Because Excellencies, UNEP has in many ways grown along with Kenya, ours is a shared history.
As UNEP stepped up action on decarbonization, Kenya was making significant strides on renewable energy. As UNEP sought to galvanize global action on plastic pollution, Kenya led the way with one of the most comprehensive bans on plastic bags. As UNEP sounded the alarm on biodiversity loss, Kenya was already an innovator in biodiversity conservation and sustainable tourism. And as UNEP looked to deepen environmental governance – Kenya hosted the first UN Environment Assembly in 2014 – representing a coming-of-age for the global environment movement.
So it is only fitting that we are here together to set the ball rolling in commemorating a milestone that is so absolutely vital for us. UNEP at 50 is a time to reflect on the past and envision the future.
The 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden, was the first-ever UN conference with the word “environment” in its title. The creation of UNEP was one of the most visible outcomes of this conference of many firsts. UNEP was created quite simply to be the environmental conscience of the UN and the world.
And we have made significant progress. Environmental rule of law in countries has expanded exponentially. We have consistently shepherded scientific knowledge as an important tool in policymaking through our role as the convening agency (along with WMO) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and, later on, of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. We have played a critical role in the successes of environmental governance, particularly with regards to the Multilateral Agreements we are proud to host under the UNEP tent including the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer based here in Kenya. And we, along with many others, have propelled the environmental conversation into classrooms, the media, dinner tables, voting booths and the financial and economic space.
None of this would have been possible without the men and women that shaped, and that continue to shape, UNEP. And it would have not been possible without the many visionaries that brought UNEP to life such as Ambassador Joseph Odero-Jowi of Kenya and Ambassador John W. McDonald of the United States.
Over the next year, we should learn from these visionaries and seek this valuable time in history to reflect – on lessons from the past – to chart a path to strengthen UNEP. And it would be fair to say that this path is peppered with questions. How does UNEP move from “an” authority to “the” authority? How do we craft meaningful relationship with the Multilateral Agreements that dock at UNEP, to weave a tapestry of synergies and shared goals? How do we re-invigorate multilateralism and carve a space for the voices of the youth, who so eloquently last week reminded us that there should be “nothing about us, without us”? How do we use digital technologies to deliver faster and in real-time, solutions to environmental crises? How do we deepen environmental engagement in every step the UN system takes? And finally, how do we keep scanning the horizon for environmental change?
Excellencies, UNEP’s next medium-term strategy endorsed at UNEA-5 is a first step in this journey to make UNEP stronger and fit-for-purpose because it sounds the alarm on the three planetary crises: the climate crisis, the crisis of nature loss, and the pollution and waste loss. I thank you for your vote of confidence.
To paraphrase Maria Ivanova, author of a unique new book on UNEP@50, UNEP’s strength and mandate is that it is the only institution in the world that can provide the “30,000 foot view of the 3000 piece puzzle.” I look forward to our work this year and beyond, as we continue to enhance and renew this unique and impactful UN organization, and together act for a healthy planet and healthy people.
Asante Sana.
Thank you.
Executive Director
