The fifth session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) to be held virtually for the first time will focus on strengthened action to protect and restore nature and the nature-based solutions to achieve the Social Development Goals (SDGs).
Frank Turyatunga, Deputy Regional Director of the Africa Office of the UN Environment Programme, said that UNEA-5 will provide an opportunity for countries to take ambitious steps towards building back better and greener by ensuring that investments in economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic contribute to sustainable development.
“The delegates will also share successful approaches that could contribute to the achievement of the environmental dimension of the 2030 Agenda,” Turyatunga told journalists in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
Turyatunga said the UNEA-5 whose theme is “strengthening actions for nature to achieve the sustainable development goals” will also discuss SDGs relating to the eradication of poverty and sustainable patterns of consumption and production.
He said due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event will be conducted virtually while substantive matters that require in-depth negotiations will be deferred to a resumed in-person session of UNEA-5 in February 2022. The next meeting of the Assembly (UNEA-5) takes place on February 22-26, 2021, according to a statement on the Assembly’s website.
