k254 Nairobi News

Shielding the vulnerable and pushing back 

against the triple planetary crisis

Statement by Inger Andersen at the Opening of High-level Segment of UNEA-6

Your Excellency William Samoei Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya,

Your Excellency Leila Benali, President of UNEA-6 and Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development of Morocco,

Your Excellency Dennis Francis, President of the 78th UN General Assembly,

Her Excellency Paula Narváez, President of the Economic and Social Council,

Excellencies, distinguished guests and friends.

Welcome to the opening of the High-Level Segment of the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi. The environmental capital of the world, as we like to call it. My thanks to you, President Ruto, for continuing and strengthening Kenya's commitment to UNEP and indeed to global environmental action.

Excellencies,

We are here because the environmental crises facing the world are spreading and intensifying. We are living in an age of climate emergency; the warning lights on the planetary dashboard are glowing red hot. We are living in an age of withering nature, dying lands and vanishing species. We are living in an age of a planet and people poisoned by chemicals, by plastic, by waste and pollution of all kinds. Our high-carbon, resource-hungry growth has sent some planetary systems teetering to the edge of tipping points. Once these systems fall, they may never rise again. And humanity might also find itself floored.

But we cannot and must not despair. Because the power to change lies with us. With you. With the members of this Assembly, the governments they represent and all who make up the wider UNEA and UNEP family – from Multilateral Environmental Agreements to scientists, from civil society to youth, from Indigenous Peoples to the businesses and financiers who know they must do things differently.

We, this global family, must stand shoulder-to-shoulder and push back, as one, against the triple planetary crisis to create space for the climate to stabilize, nature to recover and pollution to recede, in so doing providing the basis for economies and societies to flourish sustainably.

We must push back against this crisis in lockstep to create space for those who follow, in so doing creating intergenerational equity and helping youth to grow stronger and wiser than those whose who went before.

Excellencies,

We cannot push back with the force required if we are divided. True strength comes from unity. So, I ask this Assembly to do what it does best. I ask this Assembly to put aside national and regional differences and remember that we all live on this little blue planet called Earth. Think of planetary cycles, not electoral cycles. Think long term. Look beyond the horizon. Remember that if my air is dirty, if my climate is changing, if my shores are awash with plastic, yours are too. We stand together or we fall together. That is inclusive environmental multilateralism.

I ask this Assembly to once again show the Nairobi Spirit that fills these rolling hills. The Spirit that, two years' ago, put us on a path to ending plastic pollution. To conclude the hard work that has gone on over the past weeks and months by passing the resolutions and decisions on the table in the strongest form possible. Show the world that the Nairobi Spirit is alive. And, of course, implement the resolutions with speed and determination.

But I also ask you to recall that this Assembly is much more than one set of resolutions or decisions. This is where the global community gathers to think big and dream bigger. To reimagine how we can work better, smarter, harder and faster – together. To hold the future that we want in our mind's eye and make it happen.

We saw that vision yesterday, when many of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements that set the global guardrails on the environment came together in Nairobi for the first time. It was a bit of a family reunion. They sought ways to lift each other up, unite and become more than the sum of their parts. These agreements have already delivered many results. Protected the ozone layer, many species and huge areas of land and sea. Slowed the rate of climate change. Raised the profile of desertification and land degradation action. Eliminated toxic substances dangerous to human and planetary health. And more. Made in UNEP, they are making massive progress and delivering on environmental multilateralism. If they can do more by unifying their efforts, and if we can all follow suit, the future we all want will become a reality.

Excellencies,

As I said, we are living in an age of intensifying environmental threats. But we are also living in an age of cascading commitments, hope and action. The environmental movement, as embodied in this Assembly, is bigger than ever. Stronger than ever. More united than ever.

We can push back against the triple planetary crisis if we show unity of purpose, at this Assembly and beyond. Purpose to shun fossil fuels and look to renewable energy sources. Purpose to conserve and restore the natural world and our lands, which give us life. Purpose to keep harmful chemicals, pollution and waste out of our ecosystems and yes, out of our bodies.

This is our great task, the most important one we will ever undertake. Billions of people are depending on us to succeed. Let us not let them down.

Thank you.