UNEP stresses efforts to tackle environmental health risks

Ministers of environment, permanent representatives from U.N. member states and scientists agreed on a plan to deal with environmental health risks and disasters, a U.N. agency said on Friday at the end of a week-long meeting in Nairobi.

The UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner said the landmark declaration in Nairobi by the governments and other key actors set the stage for key decisions on the implementation of the environmental dimension of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a new poverty blueprint.

"Keeping the global environment under review through science and policy dialogue enables governments to build the international agreements that will result in improvements for both the environment and human development," Steiner said at the close of the meeting.

"When ministers gather here for UNEA-II, the decisions they take will again set the global environmental agenda," he added.

Some 14 ministers in charge of the environment, delegations from 120 UNEP member states, 41 civil society organisations and 29 international organisations attended the U.N. Environment Assembly's (UNEA) Open-Ended Committee of Permanent Representatives meeting to discuss how to address new environmental challenges.

The next UNEA meeting will take place in Nairobi from May 23-27 with the main objective of pushing for action on how to address the environmental aspects of global humanitarian crises and human health risks.

Steiner said during the Nairobi preparatory conference, every nation took a seat at the table to outline a series of health commitments ahead of UNEA's Ministerial Summit.

The environment ministers and experts laid emphasis on two of the key focal issues under discussion--humanitarian crises and human health.

Research by the World Health Organization and others shows that a poorly-managed environment leads to human health issues, which have wide-ranging negative impacts on sustainable development. Enditem