Roundup: Ecological renewal realized in last decade but challenges remain: UNEP

Governments across the world have made bold policy, funding and regulatory choices that have accelerated ecological transformation in the last decade, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Achim Steiner said Friday.

During a press briefing ahead of the closing ceremony of a UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, Steiner said that the last decade saw monumental strides in the global green and sustainability agenda.

"In the last decade, UNEP and partners launched initiatives that pointed at a bright future of resource efficient growth. We also published authoritative reports that informed global discourse on environmental sustainability," Steiner said.

Steiner told journalists that UNEP's clout grew tremendously in the last decade as evidenced by a robust financial and human resource base.

Launched in 2008, UNEP's pioneering green economy initiative has resonated with many countries that have hastened its implementation.

Steiner was emphatic that environmental sustainability has acquired a central place in global discourse similar to economy, conflicts and virulent epidemics.

"We succeeded in demystifying green economy and its role in promoting a sustainable future for the last decade," said Steiner, adding that the creation of a universal assembly for environment was a critical milestone.

The global green agenda has a promising future if governments and their corporate and civil society partners sustain this momentum through improved collaboration, funding and capacity development, according to the UNEP.

"We must strengthen the capacity of states to develop while reducing gross inequality. The price we pay for unsustainable development pathways is huge," said Steiner.

Steiner said that greening of the transport sector should be the next priority for governments and business entities.

"There is need to adopt electric mobility to spur transformation in the transport sector," Steiner remarked.

As his tenure at the global environmental body comes to an end, Steiner said he was proud to leave behind a revamped institution.

"UNEP is now a well functioning institution that is admired globally. It has entrenched the economic dimension of environment," Steiner said, adding that construction of a zero emission building at the United Nations Offices in Nairobi redefined the global green agenda. Endit