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My deepest thanks to Mr. Kim Hong Kyun, President of the Korea Environment Institute (KEI), for inviting me to this important forum on bridging science and policy for environmental sustainability.
My thanks also for the KEI’s strong engagement in the seventh edition of the Global Environment Outlook report. The KEI has served as a collaborating centre on the report, contributed an author and is currently hosting the meetings for the Summary for Policy Makers Drafting and the Multidisciplinary Expert Scientific Advisory Group Validation Opinion.
You are indeed an important partner to UNEP, one that has shown real commitment to enhancing the science-policy interface.
Friends,
Strong, timely and relevant science is, of course, the foundation for policies and action on the triple planetary crisis: the crisis of climate change; the crisis of nature, biodiversity and land loss; and the crisis of pollution and waste.
Producing, amplifying and disseminating such science is at the heart of what UNEP does. We put out over 100 publications a year to build the evidence base and assist decision-making. But we at UNEP are always looking to improve. On our 50th anniversary, we reviewed how to strengthen science-policy interfaces.
UNEP now aims to engage more and diverse stakeholders, to ensure that the science comes from and speaks to all peoples. UNEP aims to provide open, accessible, forward-looking and solutions-focused science. And UNEP aims to integrate science across all disciplines to ensure whole-of-society actions that bring benefits for the environment, for people and for economies.
This is the approach being taken in the Global Environment Outlook (GEO). Over 280 experts from the natural, social, political and behavioural sciences have contributed to GEO-7, which is very much focused on providing policymakers with solutions.
Friends,
As you know, today is World Environment Day, which this year seeks to mobilize action on beating plastic pollution. I am deeply grateful to the Republic of Korea for hosting us this year, and for being a global leader on many environmental issues.
The focus on plastic pollution today started with science, which tells us that the millions of tonnes of plastic leaking into the environment each year harm species, ecosystems and economies. Which tells us that microplastics are being found in the arteries, lungs, brains, placenta and breast milk of people – where they do not belong.
Nations have listened to the science. They are acting. Over 90 countries have put in place restrictions on, for example, single-use plastic bags. Multiple reuse pilots around the world are building a more circular future. Many nations are looking at regulations to incentivize the design of reusable products and packaging.
And, of course, resolution 5/14 at the UN Environment Assembly in 2022 kick-started negotiations on an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. The last round of negotiations in Busan, Republic of Korea, made progress. Negotiators are preparing for the resumed fifth session of talks to begin in Geneva, Switzerland, this August. Science remains front and centre, keeping negotiators informed on challenges and solutions.
This is science to policy in action. But there remains the need to fill in gaps in science and reduce the time from science to policy to action. This is why nations, again at the UN Environment Assembly in March 2022, adopted a resolution calling for a science-policy panel on chemicals, waste and pollution prevention.
Policies and action on the climate crisis are informed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Policies and action on the nature, biodiversity and land loss crisis are informed by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. The aim is to complete the trio of panels and provide stronger science that backs the Global Framework on Chemicals, the instrument on plastic pollution, once passed, and more.
So, I look forward to the resumed third session of the ad hoc open-ended working group later this month in Punta del Este, Uruguay, which will be decisive in finalizing the foundations of the panel for the Intergovernmental Meeting to adopt.
Friends,
The future depends on inclusive, incisive and insightful science that provides real, actionable solutions to environmental challenges, old and new. And the future depends on policymakers, businesses and many others shaping their practices based on this science.
This is why this forum today is so important, and why UNEP is pleased to work with global think tanks like the KEI. Together, we can strive to ensure that the right science gets to the right people at the right time. And play our part in ending the triple planetary crisis.
