Nigerian group joins UN assembly’s marine litter

PREPARATIONS have begun for the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) scheduled for May next year in Nairobi, Kenya, with the conclusion of a three-day meeting of the Advisory Group for the UNEA-II Marine Litter Study.

Nigerian group – Pan African Vision for the Environment (PAVE) participated in the meeting and represented by its President, Mr. Anthony Akpan as a member, Gender and Water Alliance (GWA) in the Netherlands.

The meeting held early this month was hosted by UNEP at its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. The meeting was co-chaired by Nigeria (Dr. Felicia Chinwe Mogo from the Nigeria Maritime Management and Safety Agency) and France (Ms. Marion Gust from the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy).

The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the highest level of governance of global environmental affairs in the UN system. UNEA-II will be one of the first High-Level Intergovernmental Fora following the UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York (September 2015) and the UN Climate Change Conference ( COP 21 and CMP 11) taking place from end of November 2015, in Paris, France. UNEA-II will be held under the overarching theme, “Delivering on the Environmental Dimension of the Post-2015 Development Agenda”and will take place in May 23-27,2016 at the UNEP’s Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, with the High-Level Segment taking place in May 26-27, 2016. UNEA II will be preceded by the Global Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum (GMGSF) to be held in May 21-22, 2016, Nairobi, Kenya.

The UNEA II High-Level Segment will bring together Ministers from all UN Member States and will include a multi-stakeholder dialogue involving also heads of inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations including the private sector under the call of “Healthy Environment – Healthy People”. This thematic focus will allow all relevant actors to identify concrete tools available to take an integrated and universal approach to the implementation of the SDGs, including those related to critical areas such as air quality, healthy ecosystems, chemicals, waste and others that may emerge in the preparatory process as well as do develop strategic, multi-stakeholder partnerships to address ongoing and emerging environmental issues.

For UNEP, it is of utmost importance to ensure the participation of leaders of Civil Society organizations, alongside heads of United Nations sister organizations, programmes and treaty bodies. Only with their active involvement and participation can UNEA become the major platform for international environmental governance, as envisaged at the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD).

Major Groups and Stakeholders (MGS) are invited to contribute to the development of Global Thematic Report on Healthy Planet and Healthy People through a planned E-discussion as well as during the multi-stakeholder and regional consultative meetings on the way to UNEA2. Of particular interest to MGS will be the planned adoption of the draft Stakeholder Engagement Policy during UNEA-II.
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