COUNTRIES are expected to make measurable commitments toward stimulating innovation and implementing circular economy systems at the fourth United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), taking place in Nairobi, Kenya.
The UNEA is the highest-level environmental forum globally. Heads of State, environment ministers, CEOs of multinational companies, NGOs, environmental activists, are expected to discuss and make global commitments to environmental protection at the event, holding March 11 to 15, 2019.
NigeriaDecides2019 | Buhari wins massively in Borno, clears all 17 LGAs declared so far
The fourth Assembly, according to UN Environment, will focus on two themes: “innovative solutions for environmental challenges” and “sustainable consumption and production.”
“For all the progress inspired by the Global Goals, one barrier impedes them all: the choices we make in our everyday lives continue to fuel consumption and production habits that are increasingly extending beyond the limits of our planet,” said Siim Kiisler President of the 2019 UN Environment Assembly.
“We have grown at the expense of our planet. To guarantee a sustainable future, we all need to work together to transform our patterns of consumption and production,” Joyce Msuya, Acting Head of UN Environment said. “The 2019 UN Environment Assembly will provide a platform for game-changing innovations and ensure that we have a roadmap for these bold ideas to flourish.”
Sustainable consumption and production addresses the life cycle of economic activities: the extraction of resources, their processing into materials and products, and the subsequent use and discarding of those products. They can also be broken down into specific economic activities in order to do more and better with less and identify priorities according to their environmental impacts and resource demands. These are the elements of a circular economy.
Participants will be urged to “Think Beyond, Live Within”, even as member states are expected to call for bold resolutions to stimulate sustainable consumption and production patterns across the world, through: policy interventions; environmentally sound technologies; sustainable financing schemes; education, research and development; sharing of best practices; capacity-building and awareness-raising; and private and public partnerships.
The Assembly will also witness the launch of the sixth Global Environmental Outlook (GEO), UN Environment’s flagship report that provides a periodic review of the status of the three major economic and social systems, namely energy, food and waste systems. The GEO report outlines not only areas of most concern but also sheds light on the options that policymakers have to achieve environmental progress.
and then