MEA Dialogue 1: Strengthening the science policy interface for effective implementation of environmental commitments

 

Wednesday, 28 February, from 10:00 am to 1:00 p.m.

Languages: AR, ZH, EN, FR, RU, ES

Modality: fully in-person, webcasted

MEA Dialogue 1 concept note PDF

Moderator: Axel Threlfall

Key messages

  1. Increased cooperation amongst MEAs, UNEP and science-policy panels and platforms is essential. This is imperative to pave the way for integrated approaches and strengthened decision-making to address environmental challenges at large.  

  1. Science is evolving rapidly, as evidenced by assessments and reports, and securing political visibility and coherence of messaging remains a challenge. Ensuring science-policy-society links are iterative and continue to evolve with changing socio-political, economic, and environmental changes.   

  1. It is critical that the timing and outreach of outcomes of the scientific work transmitted to policymakers are responsive to the needs of countries.  The communication on scientific outcomes should be tailored to the different target groups to ensure effective uptake.  

  1. For national action to be effective, scientific information serving various processes need to be connected.  Opportunities for better exchange of outcomes, implementation experiences, and impacts, are sometimes beyond the mandates of individual panels and MEAs. However, more coordination is needed on that front.  

  1. National political structures, election cycles, and political periods may affect the timing and political will to uptake of scientific knowledge and information.  

  1. The role of traditional knowledge and science is key to strengthening science policy interfaces at local and national levels. 

Speakers

Mr. Axel Threlfall

Mr. Axel Threlfall

Editor-at-large, Reuters - Moderator

Axel has over 20 years of high-level experience in text and television journalism in London and New York. He is currently Editor-at-Large with Reuters, representing Reuters and Thomson Reuters at both external and internal events. Previously, he was a leading European presenter for Reuters. Before that, a presenter for CNBC, reporter/editor for The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. Axel has advised business leaders, politicians, and NGOs on their dealings with the international media and has hosted and moderated numerous high-level dialogues and events in intergovernmental processes.

 

Mrs. Maya Berci

Mrs. Maya Berci

Executive Director of the Chemicals Management Division at Environment and Climate Change Canada, ​​​​​​​President of the Twelfth Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

Maya Berci leads on the risk management of chemicals domestically and internationally for Canada, including leading negotiations and domestic implementation of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Minamata Convention on Mercury. Since 1998, Maya has held several positions within Health Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada related to the risk assessment and risk management of new and existing substances.

Maya holds a B.Sc. in Environmental Sciences from McGill University, an M.Sc. in Environmental Sanitation from the University of Gent, and a Certificate in Public Management and Governance from the University of Ottawa.

H.E. Andreas Bjelland Eriksen

H.E. Andreas Bjelland Eriksen

Minister of Climate and Environment, Norway

Andreas Bjelland Eriksen was appointed Minister of Climate and Environment in October 2023. Prior to this, he served as State Secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and as State Secretary for Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

In 2020, he worked as a political advisor to The Standing Committee on Business and Industry for the Labour Party parliamentary group and an advisor at The Norwegian Energy Regulatory Authority (2017-2020).

Mr. Bjelland Eriksen has a Master of Science in Business from the Norwegian School of Economics and Università Bocconi.

Dr. Anita Breyer

Dr. Anita Breyer

Director-General for Emission Control and Transport, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, Germany

Dr. Anita Breyer was appointed Director-General in 2020 and has served at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection holding several positions in Nature Conservation, in Nuclear Safety and Emission Control directorate since 1990. From 2018 to 2020 she was a Deputy Director-General responsible for Emission Control, Transport and Safety of Installations.

Dr Breyer holds a Ph.D. in Economics and studied Economics at the University of Kiel (Germany) and University of Illinois (Urbana-Campaign, USA) and holds a MA degree (USA). She also studied at the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium) and the University of Bonn (Germany) as part of the European Doctoral Programme.

Ms. Tatiana Molcean

Mrs. Tatiana Molcean

United Nations Under-Secretary-General & Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE)

Tatiana Molcean of Moldova was appointed as Executive Secretary of the UNECE in July 2023. Ms. Molcean brings to the position twenty years of experience in the public sector with extensive focus on international cooperation and development. She was the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Moldova to the United Nations in Geneva until 31 August 2023.

Prior to this, she served as State Secretary and Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Bilateral Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (2017-2020).

Ms. Molcean holds a Law degree from the Faculty of International Law Moldova and completed the Multilateral Diplomacy Program of the Graduate Institute of Geneva.

Dr. Musonda Mumba

Dr. Musonda Mumba

Secretary General, Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

Dr. Mumba is the Secretary General of the Convention on Wetlands and is a Zambian-born environmentalist with over 25 years of global experience in environmental management and Sustainable Development. She joined the Convention on Wetlands at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), where she served as the Director for the Rome Centre for Sustainable Development with a focus on climate change, sustainable development and nature protection.

Prior to joining UNDP, Dr Mumba worked at the global headquarters of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) for 12 years in different functions, including as Head of the UNEP Terrestrial Ecosystems Programme for the agency.

Dr. David O. Obura

Dr. David O. Obura

Chair, Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

David Obura is a Founding Director of CORDIO East Africa and chairs the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). David’s primary research has been on coral reef resilience, biogeography and climate change impacts. David’s work fosters innovative action to promote sustainability from local through regional to global scales. David is a member of the Earth Commission (2019-2026), was a Co-Chair of IPBES’s Nexus Assessment and was active in compiling science inputs into the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. David was awarded Kenya’s national honour, Moran of the Burning Spear in December 2021, and the Coral Reef Conservation Award of the International Coral Reef Society in 2022.

WHEN:
26 Feb 2024 - 1 Mar 2024
WHERE:
Nairobi, Kenya

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