UN Environment Assembly starts in Nairobi to drive sustainable development

Hundreds of key decision-makers from around the world met in Nairobi on Monday for the start of the second United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2) and the meeting will focus on implementing the Paris Agreement on climate action and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Hosted at the headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in the Kenyan capital, the biennial UNEA is the world's most powerful decision-making body on the environment.

The meeting runs from 23-27 May and leaders are aiming to pass a range of resolutions that address challenges including food waste, the world’s oceans, natural capital, and sustainable consumption and production.

Heads of state, ministers, UN leaders and development bank executives are holding high-level discussions to address critical issues including air pollution, climate finance and the illegal trade in wildlife.

A series of landmark UNEP reports that assess the state of the environment will also be released during the assembly, offering solutions to overcome these challenges.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, said: "The world must seize this opportunity - the first global decision-making platform since the 2030 Agenda and Paris Agreement - to review and accelerate progress towards a greener, better future for all.”

Mr Steiner (pictured fourth from the left) added: "UNEA provides the world with a chance to unite in a common struggle against the forces of hunger, poverty, climate change and environmental damage. We must use UNEA-2 to show we can move fast enough and hard enough to create a healthy planet, with healthy people, which leaves no one behind."

An estimated 1,200 delegates from governments, businesses and civil society will attend UNEA-2 including Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Iran's vice president, Ireland's Former President Mary Robinson, the director-general of the World Wildlife Fund, the political director of Greenpeace, the and French Ecology Minister Ségolène Royal.

Leaders from clean technology companies are participating at UNEA-2 as part of the Sustainable Innovation Expo 2016 (SIE16) and are showcasing the latest innovative cleantech solutions to help drive the transition to a green economy.

Participants include the CEO of the Ugandan solar power bus firm Kiira Motors, Paul Isaac Musasizi (pictured fourth from the right); the co-founder of Carbon Wealth, Carol Pendragon; the Head of Global Public and Government Affairs at Philips Lighting, Harry Verhaar; and the Vice President of the GIS company Planet Labs, John Ahlrichs.

SIE16, organised by Climate Action and the UN Environment Programme, will run alongside UNEA and is mandated to engage the private sector in the international environmental agenda.