The resumed session of the fifth meeting of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2) opened on Monday 28, February 2022, with good news and bad news. Delegates welcomed the good news of the clean text on the resolution establishing an intergovernmental committee to negotiate a plastic pollution treaty. Consulting informally through the weekend, and into the early hours of Monday morning, delegates had been able to reach consensus on the text of the resolution.
The bad news was two-fold: the state of the global environment, and the number of resolutions to be completed in a day and half. During the opening plenary, the call to address the triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution was loud and clear. UNEA 5.2 President Espen Barth Eide (Norway) reflected on progress achieved in environmental protection in the half century since the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, citing UNEP’s role in combatting ozone depletion, pollution, climate and other crises. Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Environment and Forestry Keriako Tobiko, warned of the dire consequences of “destroying, commoditizing, and privatizing nature.” In her speech, Zainab Hawa Bangura, Director-General, UN Office at Nairobi (UNON), called for a sustainable and inclusive COVID-19 recovery strategy, setting the world on a path towards prosperity. Highlighting the urgency to deliver for the environment, UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen stressed the need to address plastic pollution in order to celebrate a historic environmental agreement.
To dive deeper, read the full daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin report.
Opening the Committee of the Whole (COW) to finalize consideration of outstanding resolutions, COW Chair Andrea Meza Murillo, Minister of Environment and Energy, Costa Rica, set the pace for the negotiations when she announced that the Committee had only one day to consider all the resolutions before them. The COW then broke into three contact groups to make progress on the resolutions, which include proposals on sustainable lake management, the science-policy panel on chemicals, waste and pollution, and circular economy. In a stocktaking plenary, the COW approved the Political Declaration of the Special Session of UNEP@50, which will be presented to UNEA for adoption.
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All ENB photos are free to use with attribution. For UNEA-5.2, OECPR-5.2, and UNEP@50, please use: Photo by IISD/ENB Kiara Worth.
UNEA5.2 Opening Plenary
Delegates gather for the opening plenary of UNEA-5.2
UNEA President Espen Barth Eide, Norway
Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme
Zainab Hawa Bangura, Director-General, UN Office at Nairobi (UNON)
Keriako Tobiko, Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Kenya
Abdou Karim Sall, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Senegal, on behalf of African States
Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries
Monica de Greiff Lindo, Colombia, on behalf of the G-77/China
Saleh Bin Sulaiman Al-Harthi, Oman, on behalf of Asia-Pacific States
Maria Alejandra Guerra, Chile, on behalf of the Latin American and Caribbean States (GRULAC)
Ingrid Rostad, NGO Major Group
Representative from the Farmers Major Group
Solidad Mella, Workers Unions
Skw'akw'as (Sunshine) Dunsten-Moore, Major Group for Children and Youth
CPR Chair Luísa Fragoso, Portugal
Dragan Žiupanjevac, Serbia
Dmitry Maximychev, Russian Federation
National Statements
Bérangère Abba, Secretary of State for Biodiversity, France, and UNEA Vice-President
Andrea Meza Murillo, Minister of Environment and Energy, Costa Rica, and UNEA Vice President
Barbara Creecy, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, South Africa, and UNEA Vice President
Mohamed bin Mubarak bin Daina, Chief Executive, Supreme Council for Environment, Bahrain, and UNEA Vice President
Siti Nurbaya, Minister of Environment and Forestry, Indonesia
Jasim Abdulazeez Hammadi Al-Mohammedi, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Environment, Iraq
Khattabi Zakia, Minister of Climate, Environment, Sustainable Development and Green Deal, Belgium
Gustavo Rafael Manrique Miranda, Minister of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition, Ecuador
Ivete Joaquim Maibaze, Minister of Land and Environment, Mozambique
Committee of the Whole
COW Chair Andrea Meza Murillo, Costa Rica
Sonja Leighton-Kone, Acting Deputy Executive Director, UN Environment Programme
Bernardo Roca-Rey Ross, Peru
Yutaka Shoda, Vice-Minister, Global Environmental Affairs, Japan
Damptey Bediako Asare, Ghana
Contact Group I
Delegates during Contact Group I
Danny Rahdiansyah, Indonesia
Ebrahim Gora, UNEP Secretariat
Co-Chairs Sergio Salazar Alzate, Colombia, and Marek Rohr-Garztecki, Poland
Julien Beuken, the Netherlands
Contact Group II
Delegates gather to discuss issues under Contact Group II
Chair Ana Elena Campos Jiménez, Costa Rica
Brianna Besch, US
Luca Marmo, EU
Lucianaro Fonseca, Brazil
Contact Group III
Delegates discuss matters under Contact Group III
Co-Chairs Gudi Alkemade, the Netherlands, and Mapopa Kaunda, Malawi
Matheus Bastos, Brazil
Elizabeth Nichols, US
Valentina Sierra, Uruguay
Evening Reception
Delegates attend a reception hosted by the Government of Kenya
UNEA President Espen Barth Eide, Norway
Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UNEP
Around the Venue
Delegates gather for the first day of UNEA-5.2
CPR Chair Luísa Fragoso, Portugal, speaks with Peter Thomson, UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Ocean
Simon Stiell, Minister of Climate Resilience, the Environment, Forestry, Fisheries, Disaster Management and Information, Grenada
Delegates from Tunisia
Jorge Laguna-Celis, Secretary, Secretariat of Governing Bodies, UNEP, and Selma Malika Haddadi, Algeria
Firas Khouri and Mohammed Khashashneh, Jordan
Sonja Leighton-Kone, Acting Deputy Executive Director, UNEP
