Why the UN Environment Assembly is essential to a safer, more resilient planet

As geopolitical challenges and tensions escalate globally, one thing is clear: fragmented politics will not fix a fractured planet.

- By INGER ANDERSEN

This is why the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) - the world’s highest decision-making body on the environment —is so critical to address our shared and emerging environmental threats.

The seventh session of the Assembly, currently taking place at the headquarters of the UN Environment Program (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya from Dec. 8 to 12, will bring together ministers, intergovernmental organizations, multilateral environmental agreements, the broader UN system, civil society groups, scientists, activists and the private sector to shape global environmental policy.

Recent UNEP data show emissions continue to rise as the impacts of global environment and climate challenges are accelerating and growing ever more extreme. We see it in record heatwaves, disappearing ecosystems and toxins in our air, water and soil. These are global threats that demand global solutions.

Even in turbulent times, environmental multilateralism continues to deliver. Since countries met at UNEA last year, this multilateralism has delivered important progress.