New Publication: Decisions Taken at United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) 5.1, With Consequences for UNEA 5.2 and the Final Outcome of UNEA 5 – A Synthesis Paper

Commissioned by the Civil Society Unit of the United Nations Environment Programme, Stakeholder Forum Senior Adviser on Governance Jan-Gustav Strandenaes explains what happened at UNEA 5.1, the first of the two UNEA 5 sessions, offers a summary of all decisions taken during that February 2021 session, and explains how the UNEA 5.1 decisions will affect the resumed session of UNEA 5, UNEA 5.2, in February 2002.

Mr. Strandenaes concludes with a critical analysis of why some of the decisions anticipated during UNEA 5.1 did not materialise in the way they were originally expected to. And with all this, the paper connects the two sessions of UNEA in a readable and informative way and shows how national politics resulted in giving UNEA 5 three different Presidents from the same ministry.

Background: The United Nations Environment Programme and stakeholders of the world have, for nearly 50 years, engaged in a joint battle to save the global environment. The UN Environment Assembly, UNEA, is the general assembly for UNEP and the global environment, and the Fifth UNEA was to have taken place in February 2021. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and because no such international in-person conference has been allowed to take place, UNEA 5 was divided into two sessions, one year apart. The first session, with preparatory meetings, was held online and culminated in UNEA 5.1 in February 2021. UNEA 5.2, to be held in February 2022, is expected to be a ‘hybrid’ session that will include some in-person participation.

Stakeholder Forum is grateful to UNEP for the opportunity to prepare and present this timely document, and thanks Jan-Gustav Strandenaes for his efforts.

Download the report here.

Further information about the Fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly, UNEA 5, can be found here.

Care to register for Stakeholder Forum’s upcoming series of webinars on the run-up to UNEA 5.2, UNEP@50, and Stockholm+50 for UNEP stakeholders in the 6 UNEP Regions?  If so, please take a look here.