our Sustainable times
ONLY ONE EARTH: UNEP@50 COMMEMORATIONS
Mary Muia, Soroptimist International UNEA Representative at the UNEP@50 Commemoration Meeting, Nairobi Kenya
4/5/2022
By Mary Muia, SI UN Rep Nairobi Center
The first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment gave birth to United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) during the 1972 Sweden, Stockholm meeting. The Stockholm declaration emphasized right to protect environment by all nations. There is only one earth, was the buzz word during the Stockholm conference. Since then, UNEP has continued to provide global coordination for member states in renewing commitments towards a healthy environment. United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm 1972 | United Nations
Within the fifth session of UNEA 5.2 gathering held in Nairobi Kenya, the Assembly held a Special Session on 3-4 March 2022, which was devoted to the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the creation of UN Environment Programme in 1972 (UNEP@50). Within the fifth session of UNEA 5.2 and UNEP@50 celebrations, the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC) launched the sixth assessment report titled; Climate Change 2022: Impact, Adaptations and Vulnerability that outlines the complex interactions between climate change and risks for nature and people, how species and ecosystems respond to climate change, challenges faced by people living in cities and rural areas, how communities around the globe can be strengthened and notably, how to reduce high risks and losses for the most vulnerable. Clearly, our future climate depends on what we do, how we live our lives and how we can safeguard nature and people.
Your legacy; Your choice remarked a young speaker reminding leaders present those decisions they take at the commemoration of UNEP@50 will shape the destiny for a healthy and sustainable planet in the future.
An intergenerational panel discussion at the Leadership Dialogue forum raised the young voices calling on leaders’ involvement to commit and act on decisions to preserve the earth for future generations. In her insights, the UNEP Executive Director observed that; - “The world has realized that we cannot pollute our way to development and clean up after. We have a human right to a healthy environment. Youth are demanding change. Governments, cities and regions are acting. Businesses are acting. Investors are acting”, Ms Inger Andersen. A detailed commitment and interventions by members states can be found this this link; UNEP@50: Statements from Member states | UNEP - UN Environment Programme
Looking at UNEP@100, the Global Major Groups and stakeholders added their voice to the UNEA looking forward stated; that UNEP could achieve most in the future through education and public awareness; stakeholder engagement; evidence-based assessments and outlooks; strengthening multilateral environmental law and governance; strengthening the sciencepolicy interface; capacity building of environmental policy implementation on the national level; supporting the development of open source citizen science platforms including funding and capacity building; and developing policy guidance and global standards, all in collaboration and cooperation with the MGS. Microsoft Word - Final Unedited Draft "The UNEP We Want".docx
BUILDING A COALITION FOR THE UN WE NEED
It is in this spirit that the Coalition for the UN We Need (C4UN), formerly UN2020, is advancing a host of efforts, in partnership with all well-wishers of the global community, towards a new kind of multilateralism
Volunteers of America 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award
From U.S. President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
COP24 & Youth Leadership for Climate Action
The COP24 negotiations commenced in Katowice, Poland under the grim shadow of the IPCC 2018 report which spelt out, in no uncertain terms, the fact that we were losing the race to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
A Cry for Freedom
On 22nd April 2003 – an 18 year old girl has acid poured on her face in an act of sexual violence. Her name is Sonali Mukherjee and she is an icon in India today for her bravery.
Youth for COP23 & Beyond
History will either remember our generation as one that was bold enough to look beyond short-term economic gains or one which put our planet firmly on the course of self-destruction.
The Outlook for Youth Leadership
Our world today has the highest number of children and young people more than ever before. The future, ostensibly, belongs to us, but we are helpless to change or influence the present that will determine the way we live.
A Ray of Hope
The Rann of Kutch in the Indian state of Gujrat is one of the most desolate and arid regions in the world. It’s a vast, barren land of salt marshes with very little vegetation and means of subsistence. This arid landscape is one of the major sources of salt not just for India but globally.
GLOBAL COMMON GOODS: SECURITY AND REALISM BY JONATHAN GRANOFF
The winter 2015 edition of International Law News, the publication of the American Bar Association's International Law Section, focuses on the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, the successor to the Millennium Development Goals, which were to be developed between 2000 and 2015.