STORY: Preparations for global environment assembly in top gear: UNEP
SHOOTING TIME: Feb. 8, 2024
DATELINE: Feb. 9, 2024
LENGTH: 00:02:52
LOCATION: Nairobi
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of UNEP headquarters
2. various of press conference
3. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): INGER ANDERSEN, UNEP's executive director
4. various of Press conference
5. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): INGER ANDERSEN, UNEP's executive director
6. various of press conference
7. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): SOIPAN TUYA, Cabinet secretary for environment, climate change and forestry

STORYLINE:

Preparations for the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6), to be held in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi from Feb. 26 to March 1, have entered the home stretch.
   
Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), said on Thursday that more than 3,000 delegates from government, industry, civil society, and academia have already confirmed participation at the biennial event that seeks to shape the global environmental agenda.
   
She told a media briefing in Nairobi that more than 70 ministers are expected at UNEA-6, which will run under the theme of "Effective, inclusive and sustainable multilateral actions to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution."
   
According to Andersen, 20 resolutions will be discussed, negotiated, and adopted at the assembly, injecting fresh momentum into the global quest to secure a resilient, green, and inclusive future for humanity.
   
SOUNDBITE 1 (English): INGER ANDERSEN, UNEP's executive director
"This is why this year, UNEA-6 will place particular focus on how we can strengthen environmental multilateralism, and how environmental multilateralism can help us do this. UNEA-6 will seek to drive united, inclusive and multilateral action that addresses every strand of the triple planetary crisis as one indivisible challenge."
   
The UNEP official said preceding the five-day global environment assembly will be a meeting of the open-ended committee of permanent representatives that will fine-tune key topics for discussions.
   
SOUNDBITE 2 (English): INGER ANDERSEN, UNEP's executive director
"We will have a day that is dedicated to bringing together the various multilateral environmental agreements that global governments have signed up to, with a view of creating a unified vision for amplification of action."
   
Other major topics set for discussion at the assembly include reforming the international financial system and aligning it with the green agenda, water security, mining, ocean governance, and solar radiation modification, Andersen said.
   
The UNEA is the world's highest-level decision-making body for matters related to the environment, which is also tasked with designing policies that underpin the global environmental agenda.
   
The host country, Kenya, has been granted a pavilion to showcase its pioneering climate actions, rich cultural heritage, and scenic attractions, according to Soipan Tuya, Kenya's cabinet secretary for environment, climate change and forestry.
   
SOUNDBITE 3 (English): SOIPAN TUYA, Cabinet secretary for environment, climate change and forestry
"One of our biggest programs is known the world over is our ecosystem restoration program, and we will be keenly looking to participate and negotiate to make sure that the resolutions we see coming out of UNEA-6 will really capitalize on the nature-based solutions."

Radhika Ochalik, director of the Governance Affairs Office at the UNEP, said a science-policy-business forum and launch of new champions of the earth will be key highlights of the assembly.
   
Ochalik added that some of the resolutions that will be discussed at the assembly focus on pollution control, nature, and climate action, chemicals and waste management, air pollution, pesticides, and land degradation.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Nairobi.
(XHTV)