Report of the United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme

A/RES/79/209View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 18g Report of the United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme, published in 2024.

What other versions does this mandate have?

7 versions · 2015–2024

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2024	A/RES/79/209	Report of the United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme	3,784	73%Compare
2022	A/RES/77/168	Report of the United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme	3,435	50%Compare
2022	A/RES/76/208	Report of the United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme	2,685	70%Compare
2020	A/RES/74/222	Report of the United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme	2,034	72%Compare
2019	A/RES/73/260	Report of the United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme	1,516	60%Compare

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

3 entities

(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited
Programme 1	General assembly and economic and social council affairs and conference management	52
Subprogramme 7	Sustainable development and human settlements	11
Programme 11	Environment	151

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

3 entities

(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
Programme 1	General assembly and economic and social council affairs and conference management	52	—
Subprogramme 7	Sustainable development and human settlements	11	—
Programme 11	Environment	151	—

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

What subjects does this mandate have?

3 subjects

Capacity Building Environment Sustainable Development

What’s in this document?

31 operative paragraphs

Welcomes the holding of the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme in Nairobi from 26 February to 1 March 2024, takes note of the report on the sixth session¹⁵ and welcomes the resolutions and decisions contained therein, and calls for their full implementation;

¹⁵Ibid., Seventy-ninth Session, Supplement No. 25 (A/79/25).

Looks forward to the seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly, to be held in Nairobi from 8 to 12 December 2025 and to be chaired by Oman, and recommends the participation of the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Economic and Social Council at the seventh session, in line with the spirit of integration and universality of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;¹⁶

¹⁶Resolution 70/1.

Takes note of the ministerial declaration entitled “Effective, inclusive and sustainable multilateral actions to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution”,¹⁷ adopted by the United Nations Environment Assembly at its sixth session, in which the world’s ministers for the environment acknowledged with a sense of great urgency the threats posed to sustainable development by global environmental challenges and crises including climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, as well as desertification, land and soil degradation, drought and deforestation, and their impacts on human health and the environment, which are further aggravated by persistent levels of poverty, inequality and food insecurity;

¹⁷UNEP/EA.6/HLS.1.

Welcomes the decision by the United Nations Environment Assembly at its resumed fifth session, in resolution 5/14 of 2 March 2022,¹⁸ to convene an intergovernmental negotiating committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, which could include both binding and voluntary approaches, based on a comprehensive approach that addresses the full life cycle of plastic, taking into account, among other things, the principles of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, as well as national circumstances and capabilities, and underscores the importance of securing an ambitious international legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, while acknowledging that some legal obligations arising out of a new instrument will require capacity-building and technical and financial assistance in order to be effectively implemented by developing countries and countries with economies in transition, and in this regard welcomes the commitment made by Heads of State and Government in the political declaration adopted during the high-level political forum on sustainable development convened under the auspices of the General Assembly to support the work of the intergovernmental negotiating committee, with the ambition of completing its work by the end of 2024;

¹⁸UNEP/EA.5/Res.14.

Looks forward to the fifth session of the intergovernmental negotiating committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, to be held in Busan, Republic of Korea, from 25 November to 1 December 2024;

Recalls the decision by the United Nations Environment Assembly at its resumed fifth session, in its resolution 5/8 of 2 March 2022,¹⁹ to establish a science-policy panel to contribute further to the sound management of chemicals and waste and to prevent pollution, and looks forward to the successful conclusion of the work of the ad hoc open-ended working group;

¹⁹UNEP/EA.5/Res.8.

Acknowledges the Global Framework on Chemicals – For a Planet Free of Harm from Chemicals and Waste, including its strategic objectives and targets;

Recalls the adoption of United Nations Environment Assembly resolution 5/5 of 2 March 2022, entitled “Nature-based solutions for supporting sustainable development”,²⁰ which provides a multilaterally agreed definition of nature-based solutions as actions to protect, conserve, restore, sustainably use and manage natural or modified terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems which address social, economic and environmental challenges effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing human well-being, ecosystem services, resilience and biodiversity benefits, and recalls that this concept is cognizant of and in harmony with the concept of ecosystem-based approaches identified under the Convention on Biological Diversity²¹ and other management and conservation approaches carried out under existing national policy and legislative frameworks and established under relevant multilateral environmental agreements;

²⁰UNEP/EA.5/Res.5.

²¹United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1760, No. 30619.

Welcomes the adoption of United Nations Environment Assembly resolution 6/5 of 1 March 2024, entitled “Environmental aspects of minerals and metals”;²²

²²UNEP/EA.6/Res.5.

Reiterates the political declaration adopted by the United Nations Environment Assembly at its first special session for the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme²³ and pursuant to General Assembly resolution 73/333 of 30 August 2019, and acknowledges the 50-year contribution of the Programme in supporting a worldwide effort to overcome the planet’s biggest environmental challenges;

²³Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-seventh Session, Supplement No. 25, addendum (A/77/25/Add.1), annex.

Welcomes the adoption of United Nations Environment Assembly resolutions 6/4 of 1 March 2024, entitled “Promoting synergies, cooperation or collaboration for national implementation of multilateral environmental agreements and other relevant environmental instruments”,²⁴ and 6/6 of 1 March 2024, entitled “Fostering national action to address global environmental challenges through increased cooperation between the United Nations Environment Assembly, the United Nations Environment Programme and multilateral environmental agreements”;²⁵

²⁴UNEP/EA.6/Res.4.

²⁵UNEP/EA.6/Res.6.

Welcomes the adoption of United Nations Environment Assembly resolution 6/10 of 1 March 2024 entitled “Promoting regional cooperation on air pollution to improve air quality globally”;²⁶

²⁶UNEP/EA.6/Res.10.

Reaffirms the importance of enhanced coordination within the United Nations system to promote a balanced integration of the environmental, economic and social dimensions of sustainable development;

Encourages Member States to identify in their voluntary national reviews to the high-level political forum on sustainable development, where applicable, the contributions of multilateral environmental agreements to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

Recognizes the growing demand for stronger and more coherent environmental support at the country level, including with regard to United Nations Environment Programme engagement with United Nations resident coordinators and country teams, and calls for the reinforcement of the Programme and its catalytic role, both at its headquarters and at its regional offices, for the mainstreaming of environmental issues into planning, programming and operations, and inclusion of the environmental dimension of sustainable development at all levels, including in the common country analysis and the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks;

Takes note of the call to the United Nations Environment Programme to intensify its support and assistance to Member States, including at the country level and in cooperation with secretariats of relevant multilateral environmental agreements, in the implementation of the multilateral environmental agreements and the environmental dimension of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals;

Reiterates the importance for the United Nations Environment Programme, in accordance with its mandate, working with the wider United Nations development system, to adopt and mainstream a more climate- and environment-responsive approach into its programmes and strategic plans, where appropriate, as well as in cooperation frameworks, or equivalent planning frameworks, and its policy advice to programme countries, in accordance with national development policies, plans, priorities and needs, including supporting programme countries that are parties to the Paris Agreement in its implementation;

Calls upon Member States to mainstream the environmental dimension of sustainable development into national policies, strategies and planning, including but not limited to supporting the capacity-building of relevant authorities, taking into account national circumstances, in order to achieve the 2030 Agenda;

Encourages Member States and other stakeholders to advance transformative and systemic changes and policies that address several environmental, economic and social challenges simultaneously, rechannelling financial flows to serve the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals through innovative, holistic approaches that truly value nature;

Calls upon Member States to continue to pursue the ambition to support environmental protection and the means of its implementation, including through global partnerships and by enabling a sustainable future for our planet and addressing urgent social, economic and environmental challenges;

Welcomes the continued commitment of the United Nations Environment Assembly to contributing to the effective implementation of the environmental dimension of the 2030 Agenda in an integrated manner, as reflected in its resolutions 2/5 of 27 May 2016²⁷ and 3/3 of 6 December 2017²⁸ on the contributions of the United Nations Environment Assembly to the high-level political forum on sustainable development;

²⁷Official Records of the General Assembly Seventy-first Session, Supplement No. 25 (A/71/25), annex.

²⁸UNEP/EA.3/Res.3.

Commends the President and the Bureau of the Economic and Social Council for supporting and facilitating the effective integration of the contributions of the United Nations Environment Assembly into the preparation, work and proceedings of, and the participation of the President of the Environment Assembly in, the high-level political forum on sustainable development under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council;

Encourages the President of the United Nations Environment Assembly to continue to convey the main messages agreed upon by the Environment Assembly at its sessions during the high-level political forum on sustainable development under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council, as appropriate, taking into account the integrated nature of the 2030 Agenda, as well as General Assembly resolutions 67/290 of 9 July 2013 and 70/299 of 29 July 2016;

Welcomes the contributions of the United Nations Environment Assembly to the lead-up and inputs to, and meetings of, the high-level political forum on sustainable development under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council in 2023 and 2024, and looks forward to further contributions to the high-level political forum under the auspices of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council in 2025;

Reiterates that capacity-building and technology support for developing countries in environment-related fields are important components of the work of the United Nations Environment Programme, and in this regard calls for the continued and focused implementation of the Bali Strategic Plan for Technology Support and Capacity-building adopted by the Programme;

Welcomes the adoption of United Nations Environmental Assembly resolution 5/3 of 2 March 2022,²⁹ in which the United Nations Environment Assembly reaffirmed that the objective of the Global Environment Outlook process is to keep the world environmental situation under review in order to periodically inform and support collective and individual action by Member States and by stakeholders, while strengthening the science-policy interface of the United Nations Environment Programme, and looks forward to the seventh edition of the Global Environment Outlook as an intergovernmental expert-led assessment;

²⁹UNEP/EA.5/Res.3.

Recognizes the devastating global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has created new and serious health, socioeconomic and environmental challenges, compounded existing ones, especially in developing countries, and undermined our common efforts to eradicate poverty and achieve the 2030 Agenda, and urges support for a sustainable, resilient and inclusive recovery that protects the planet, stimulates sustainable consumption and production patterns, including through sustainable economic models and the promotion of life cycle approaches, promotes the One Health approach, among other holistic approaches, revitalizes our economies and creates decent and sustainable jobs and makes real progress in eradicating poverty, while enhancing our future resilience to similar challenges;

Underlines the importance of universal membership in the governing body of the United Nations Environment Programme, and invites all Member States and members of specialized agencies that have not yet done so to become accredited to the United Nations Environment Programme;

Reaffirms the need to ensure sustainability, predictability and stability of the funding of the United Nations Environment Programme governing body, and reiterates its request to the Secretary-General to make proposals, as appropriate, and takes note of the invitation to consider the level of regular budget funding required to help the United Nations Environment Programme to fulfil its mandate, taking into account the Programme’s approved work programme and General Assembly resolution 2997 (XXVII);

Recalls the request by the United Nations Environment Assembly to the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme to provide options to secure the participation of developing countries in the Environment Assembly;³⁰

³⁰See Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 25 (A/69/25), annex, resolution 1/15.

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its eighty-first session, under the item entitled “Sustainable development”, the sub-item entitled “Report of the United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme”.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

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Who cites this mandate in the budget?

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What’s in this document?

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Who cites this mandate in the budget?