UNEP is the global authority responsible for setting the environmental agenda, promoting implementation of environmental considerations within sustainable development and the UN system, and serves as an advocate for the global environment. As an accredited NGO, WAN is now collaborating with other NGOs through the UNEP Major Groups and Stakeholders system in order to influence outcomes of the 2018 UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) which takes place under UNEP.
UNEA is a biennial event which provides the platform for environmental decision-making on a global scale. UNEA will take place in Nairobi, Kenya from 4-6 December, and is bookended by several other key events, including the Global Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum which facilitates participation by Major Groups and Stakeholders (like WAN) in the UNEA process. The outcomes of UNEA will feed into the 2018 High Level Political Forum, which is the annual forum on sustainable development that WAN attended and advocated at this past July.
Additionally, this year’s UNEA is focused on pollution, a key issue for animal advocates concerned with the increasing prevalence of intensive animal agriculture, which contributes significantly to air, soil and water pollution, in addition to being a leading emitter of greenhouse gases and contributor to climate change. The outcomes of UNEA will include a political declaration on pollution which will be linked to the Sustainable Development Goals; resolutions and decisions adopted by Member States addressing pollution; voluntary commitments by governments, the private sector and civil society; and a public awareness campaign aimed to encourage individual action to decrease pollution.
WAN is already working hard to ensure that the waste and pollution produced by the livestock sector is not ignored in the preparatory documents being produced ahead of UNEA, and we are looking forward to attending and influencing UNEA this coming December.
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