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United Nations Environment Programme
  • Overview
  • Regional civil society meetings

Towards a Pollution Free Planet: The 2017 Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly

The United Nations Environment Assembly is not only the highest authority on the Environment within the United Nations. It is also an ideal platform for bringing together different stakeholders: Governments, Civil Society/Major Groups, Science and the Private Sector to enable them to work together to tackle the shared and unprecedented challenges the world is facing. Ministers of Environment of all countries around the world will gather to discuss the status, trends and actions needed to be taken to address pollution in all its forms: air, marine, freshwater, soil and land, including chemicals and waste. They will be joined by private sector representatives, civil society organizations and other stakeholders. Civil Society, represented by Major Groups and Stakeholders (MGS) have a critical role in supporting the decision making process at the 2017 Environment Assembly, by engaging with governments, sharing their expert knowledge and by ensuring that the voice of those who might be effected by decisions taken, is heard. Furthermore, Major Groups and Stakeholders are partners of UN Environment in implementing most of the decisions taken at the United Nations Environment Assembly.

Major Groups and Stakeholders are also invited to contribute to the preparatory process of the Assembly during regional consultative multi-stakeholder meetings, that will be held in all regions.  . In addition, representatives of accredited organisations may participate in all public meetings of the Committee of Permanent Representatives, including through electronic links.

Furthermore, Civil Society Organisations are invited to:

In order to make change happen, Member States, businesses, individuals, mayors, local governments, partnerships, civil society organizations are invited to make voluntary commitments of actions in support of a “Pollution Free Planet”. The commitments of actions consist of concrete targets or actions designed to avoid, reduce, mitigate, measure, monitor, report, and/or manage pollution.

The commitments of action should be communicated to the UN Environment Secretariat in the months preceding or at the Assembly itself, through the UN Environment web platform from mid-June onwards. The commitments will be made public throughout the period; early announcements are encouraged with a view to keep up the momentum.

A standard questionnaire to record the commitment will be made available on line through the the UN Environment Assembly web platform by mid-June.

  1. Contribute to a thematic report on the theme of pollution:

    A background document is being developed to guide discussions, to provide the latest scientific information on current pollution impacts on ecosystems and human health and well-being, as well as state and trends, and to identify key principles and transformative actions. The draft report will be made publicly available for comments for 3 weeks, at the end of June and beginning of July, on the UN Environment Assembly web platform www.unep.org/environmentassembly.

  2. Committing to act

    In order to make change happen, Member States, businesses, individuals, mayors, local governments, partnerships, civil society organizations are invited to make voluntary commitments of actions in support of a “Pollution Free Planet”. The commitments of actions consist of concrete targets or actions designed to avoid, reduce, mitigate, measure, monitor, report, and/or manage pollution. The commitments of action should be communicated to the UN Environment Secretariat in the months preceding or at the Assembly itself, through the UN Environment web platform from mid-June onwards. The commitments will be made public throughout the period; early announcements are encouraged with a view to keep up the momentum.  A standard questionnaire to record the commitment is available on line through the UN Environment Assembly web platform here: https://goo.gl/b2ciLh.

Prior to the 2017 Assembly the following meetings will take place, allowing all stakeholders to get prepared:

 

All regional Offices of UN Environment are co-organising with relevant civil society partners preparatory meetings on the way to the 2017 UN Environment Assembly.

OPEN-ENDED MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE OF PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVES TO UNEP

The third Open-ended Meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (OECPR 3) will be held on 29 November to 1 December 2017 – in Nairobi, Kenya, in preparation for the 2017 UN Environment Assembly scheduled for 4-6 December 2017. The meeting will bring together delegates from UN member states, Non-member states, Observers, Major Groups & Stakeholders and international non-governmental organizations that are formally accredited to UN Environment. Arrangements will be made to enable participants to follow the meeting via webcast, GoToMeeting and social media.

17TH GLOBAL MAJOR GROUPS AND STAKEHOLDER FORUM

The 17th Global Major groups and stakeholder Forum will be held on 27 - 28 November 2017, in preparation for the 2017 Environment Assembly.. The Global Major Groups and Stakeholder Forum 2017 aims at facilitating the preparations of Major Groups and Stakeholders towards the 2017 Environment Assembly, allowing them to discuss the main UNEA themes in a multi-stakeholder setting and to prepare their input to the 2017 Environment Assembly. Furthermore the Forum aims at initiating a climate that fosters multi-stakeholder partnerships and cooperation. The Forum is self-organized by Major Groups and Stakeholders, with the assistance of UN Environment.

Participation in the 2017 Global Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum is open to representatives of Major Groups organizations accredited to UNEP, non-accredited organizations, member states and representatives of international organizations.

With oversight from the Major Group Facilitating Committee  and assistance from UN Environment, the 2017 Forum will be self-organized by Major Groups. Please download the Terms of Reference for the 2017 Forum here:

Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue (5 December 2017)

The Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue will be organized under the theme “People  and Pollution”. The Dialogue will complement the process of collecting  voluntary commitments by providing an opportunity for people to present  how pollution affects them and what initiatives they have taken to beat  pollution. The Dialogue will also build on the four Leadership Dialogues and incorporate the voice of Major Groups and Stakeholders. The  Multistakeholder Dialogue will be an interactive and informal meeting,  and an opportunity to celebrate lifestyle champions. Non-governmental  and governmental participants will share how pollution affects their  communities and how they have successfully fought pollution.\

The 2017 UN Environment Assembly

The 2017 Environment Assembly itself will take place on December 4 – 6, 2017 at UN Environment’s headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya under the overarching theme, “Towards a Pollution Free Planet”. The Assembly which represents the world’s highest-level of decision-making body on the environment will culminate in resolutions and a global call to action to address the critical environmental challenges facing the world today.

For UN Environment, It is of utmost importance to ensure the participation of leaders of Civil Society, including from all major groups but in particular encouraging youth, women, farmers and indigenous peoples representatives to join us on this path alongside heads of United Nations sister organizations, programmes and treaty bodies. Only with your active involvement and participation the Environment Assembly can become the major platform for international environmental governance that it is meant to be.

For more information on 2017 Environment Assembly, please click here

To participate in the third session of the United Nations Environment, the Civil Society organization must be accredited with UN Environment. Please find more information on how your organization can get accredited by visiting unep.org/about/majorgroups/modalities/accreditation. You can also find this information by downloading the Accreditation Flyer below.

Civil society will have a tent for daily meetings, bi-laterals or other events that are self-organised on the grounds of UNON- to be announced later. No Greenroom events are planned this year nor do we encourage exhibitions due to this year being a short and intense week.

For any further questions please do write to us: civil.society@unep.org

Food Production
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Each year one third of global food production is lost or wasted.

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