Highlights for Monday, 11 March 2019
A moment of silence in memory of the people lost after the Ethiopian Airlines 302 crash.
The fourth session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-4) opened in Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday. Delegates established a Committee of the Whole (COW), which convened in the afternoon to continue negotiations on draft resolutions that had not been agreed by the end of the fourth Open-Ended Committee of Permanent Representatives (OECPR-4).Opening the Assembly, UNEA-4 President Siim Valmar Kiisler (Estonia) invited delegates to observe a minute of silence in honor of the 157 people who perished in the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash on Sunday, while en route to Nairobi.The meeting established two working groups and three contact groups to complete negotiation of all outstanding resolutions that had not been finalized at the OECPR the previous week, and delegates proceeded to continue their discussions on issues including sustainable consumption and production (SCP), deforestation, biodiversity, gender equality, deforestation, and marine litter and microplastics.Key highlights:
A keynote address by Keriako Tobiko, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Forestry and the Environment, Kenya, describing Kenya’s various initiatives to move towards a more sustainable economy, including efforts to eliminate single-use plastics;
An address by Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary, Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, marking the 30th anniversary of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal;
Agreement on a draft resolution on rangelands and pastoralism, proposed by the African Group; and
Discussion on improving work processes around the organization of future UNEA conferences.
For more details on the day’s negotiations and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin.
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage, daily reports, and a summary and analysis report from OECPR-4 and UNEA-4, which is available in HTML and PDF.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Mike Muzurakis
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Plenary Session
View of the dais during the opening session
UNEA-4 President Siim Valmar Kiisler, Estonia
Keriako Tobiko, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Kenya
Joyce Msuya, Acting Executive Director, UNEP
Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director, UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)
Fekadu Beyene, Minister, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Ethiopia
Ion Cimpeanu, State Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Romania
Mariela Chervin, Argentina
Ambassador Saleh Sulaiman Al-Harthi, Oman
Joyce Msuya, Acting Executive Director, UNEP, and UNEA-4 President Siim Valmar Kiisler, Estonia
OECPR-4 Chair Francisca Ashietey-Odunton, Ghana
Giovanni Brunelli and Paolo Soprano, Italy
Khawla Al-Muhannadi, speaking on behalf of the Major Groups and other Stakeholders
Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary, Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions
Joyce Msuya, Acting Executive Director, UNEP, Ellyanne Chlystun-Githae, Children With Nature, and Elizabeth Taylor, Colombia
UNEA-4 President Siim Valmar Kiisler, Estonia, Erik Grigoryan, Minister, Ministry of Nature Protection, Armenia, and Committee of the Whole (COW) Chair Fernando Coimbra, Brazil
Committee of the Whole
View of the dais during the Committee of the Whole
Lori Dando, US
Agus Justianto, Indonesia
Elizabeth Taylor, Colombia
Erik Lundberg, Finland
Working Groups and Contact Groups
Contact Group 1
Co-Chairs consulting with the secretariat in Working Group 1
Delegates in Contact Group 2 during negotiations
Abdelmoneim Mabrouk, Sudan, during deliberations with Noluzuko Gwayi, South Africa
Contact Group 2 Chair Martin Gronda, Argentina
Erasmo Martínez, Mexico, and Nathan Ndoboli, Uganda, during negotiations in Contact Group 3
Working Group 2 during negotiations
Around the Venue
