Literature Review

Coastal resilience is critical for soft-sediment ecosystems vulnerable to climate change and human-induced pressures (O'Leary et al., 2023). Current engineering approaches fall short, prompting a shift toward Nature-based Solutions (NbS), which mimic natural ecosystem features and processes (Faivre et al., 2017; Seddon et al., 2020). NbS, defined by the United Nations Environment Program, offers a holistic approach by simultaneously addressing social, economic, and environmental challenges (UNEP, 2022). The European Commission aligns NbS with EU policies, emphasizing the need for legislative frameworks and international standards for effective implementation. EU Legislative frameworks, such as the EU Biodiversity Strategy, the Habitat and Birds Directives, and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, as well as the Marine Spatial Planning Directive, play crucial roles in guiding NbS implementation. The DAPSI(W)R(M) framework (Drivers-Activities-Pressures-State change-Impacts (on human Welfare)-Responses (using Measures)) (Patrício et al., 2016) can be employed to assess NbS in the context of the EU legislative landscapes, as explored by this study (Semeraro et al., submitted). The framework connects human pressures (referring to the drivers e.g. coastal defence and the activities e.g. aquaculture coastal infrastructure, which enhances pressures on the environment), state changes in marine ecosystems (through criteria and indicators), impacts on human welfare (through ecosystem service indicators), and responses or measures to prevent or mitigate impacts for deploying a NbS. The application of this framework is illustrated for Nbs on sandy coastlines, with the Coastbusters project as a pioneering example (Goedefroo et al., 2022; Coastbusters (2020); Coastbusters 2.0 (2023)). The Coastbusters concept exemplifies NbS application in the Belgian Part of the North Sea (BPNS), focusing on mussel beds and tube-worm aggregations. This public-private partnership induced mussel biogenic bed formation through innovative reef-facilitating systems. The DAPSI(W)R(M) framework allows us to illustrate the multifaceted challenges related to the integration of seaward NbS in sandy coastlines, as the Coastbusters concepts. The novelty here is that it also emphasizes the importance of integrating social concerns into environmental assessments, highlighting the scarcity of recent information on public perceptions of NbS.

Let me begin by offering my condolences to everyone affected by the tragic gas explosion in Embakasi. My thanks to Soipan Tuya, Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change & Forestry of the Republic of Kenya for the government’s support and partnership in hosting the sixth UN Environment Assembly, known as UNEA-6. As the world’s top decision-making body on the environment, UNEA-6 will bring together ministers, intergovernmental organizations, the broader UN system, civil society groups, the scientific community and private sector to shape global environmental policy. This year, we’re expecting more than 70 Ministers and 3,000 delegates to join us in Nairobi. We currently have 20 draft resolutions and two draft decisions submitted for countries to discuss. Ms. Ochalik will share more on this. I will talk about the wider context of UNEA-6, and what it means. As we prepare for this assembly, it is clear that the world has an environmental must-do list. This is a must-do list for tackling what we at UNEP call the triple planetary crisis: the crisis of climate change, the crisis of nature and biodiversity loss, and the crisis of pollution and waste. This crisis disproportionately impacts the African continent, including Kenya. The impacts are here and growing. Last year was the hottest on record, bringing more intense storms, droughts and wildfires. Species are under massive pressure, forests are falling and soils are turning infertile. Millions of people are dying each year from exposure to pollution and chemicals. There is a global response to the crisis. Last year’s climate talks signalled the end of fossil fuels and the Loss and Damage fund become operational, with US$700+ million pledges. We saw a new Global Framework on Chemicals and the first full year of operation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. We’re in the final stages of negotiations on a global instrument on plastic pollution – a key outcome of UNEA-5. There are dozens of other global and regional multilateral environmental agreements, many of them hosted by UNEP. So, we have the commitments. We know the solutions. There is more than enough finance in the world to get the job done, if redirected to the right places. The job now is to go further and faster in efforts to end the triple planetary crisis. That is why this year, UNEA-6 will place particular focus on how stronger multilateralism can help us to do this. UNEA-6 will drive united, inclusive and multilateral action that addresses every strand of the triple planetary crisis as one indivisible challenge. In addition to the core resolutions, we will have a Youth Environment Assembly, convened by youth, for youth. We will have leadership dialogues on finance, on science, data and digitalization, and on multilateralism. We will have a day dedicated to bringing together the many multilateral environmental agreements that global governments have signed up to, with a view to creating united and amplified action. UNEA-6 won’t solve the world’s problems overnight. What it will do is unite nations under the banner of environmental action, focus minds and energies on key solutions to the triple planetary crisis and guide the work of UNEP in this critical period for people and planet

Your Excellency Leila Benali, President of UNEA-6 and Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development of Morocco, CBD COP15 President, Your Excellency Mr Huang Runqiu, Minister of Environment, China, Cheikh Ndiaye Sylla, COP 12 President of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, Ibrahim Thiaw, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Dr. Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary, Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, Dr. David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Dr. Susan Gardner, Director, Ecosystems Division, UNEP on behalf of the Regional Seas Conventions. Colleagues and friends. Welcome to the first Multilateral Environmental Agreement (MEA) Day to take place during a United Nations Environment Assembly. It is fitting that we have gathered here in Nairobi during the sixth assembly, or UNEA-6. In a fragmented and divided world, UNEA is where environmental diplomacy brings unity. The Assembly is where we deliver inclusive multilateral solutions across the full triple planetary crisis: the crisis of climate change, the crisis of biodiversity loss and land loss, and the crisis of pollution and waste. Most existing Multilateral Environmental Agreements have their genesis somehow in UNEP or UNEA’s predecessor, the Governing Council. UNEA and the resolutions and decisions it passes this week will help add impetus to the work of every global and regional deal on the environment. UNEA is here to lift you up. The unity of environmental diplomacy in Nairobi goes beyond UNEA itself. This compound last year hosted important multilateral gatherings on climate science, on biodiversity, on plastics, and on ozone and climate-warming refrigerants. The growing movement to make important decisions in Nairobi also flows very much in line with the Rio+20 outcome, the Future We Want. This outcome committed to strengthening the role of UNEP as, and here I quote, “the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment”. These are powerful words that were given by Member States to UNEP and us. As such, UNEA and UNEP offer up the platform for coherence that was sought at Rio+20. So, it is indeed inspiring to look around this room and see so many Multilateral Environmental Agreements here seeking greater coherence. Friends, I would like to say this is a family reunion, but the truth is that, over 50 years of environmental multilateralism, we have been fragmented. Scattered across the world. We have never been together. While we are obviously deeply grateful to the gracious hosts of members of the UNEP and environmental MEA family, distance in time and space does make achieving policy coherence more difficult. Then again, they also say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. It is therefore with great fondness that today we welcome all members of the environmental MEA family. Because we are still a family, regardless of where we are based. A family that, when standing together, weaves the tapestry for a future that works for everyone, everywhere, on a healthy planet. This family has grown since 1972. A year in which the World Heritage Convention was born. And the year in which UNEP was created. Shortly after, we saw the creation of the Convention on Migratory Species and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna. In quick succession thereafter followed the Vienna Convention, the Montreal Protocol, and the Basel Convention – soon to be joined by the three Rio Conventions on climate, desertification and biodiversity. The arrival of the Rotterdam, Stockholm and Minamata Conventions significantly strengthened the chemicals and waste dimension. In tandem with these developments, we saw a large number of regional conventions being framed, the Regional Seas Conventions amongst them. UNEP is privileged to host and administer the secretariats of over two dozen agreements, regional conventions and scientific panels. And more multilateral agreements, frameworks and initiatives keep coming online, whether hosted by UNEP or not. Last year, for example, saw the Global Framework on Chemicals and a deal on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. And, of course, negotiations on the plastics instrument are moving closer to the finishing line. We are a big family. We are a growing family. This is, of course, a good thing. Each agreement has delivered successes. We have protected the ozone layer. Slowed the rate of climate change. Protected many species and huge areas of land and sea. Raised the profile of desertification and land degradation action. Eliminated toxic substances dangerous to human and planetary health. I thank you all for your efforts and commitment. But, Dear siblings and cousins, we know that the triple planetary crisis is still accelerating. We must do more. And we can only do more if we act as one. Because action on climate is action on biodiversity and land; because action on land is action on climate; because action on chemicals, pollution and waste is action on nature and on climate. These conventions are, without a doubt, indivisible. As indivisible as the earth’s systems are indivisible. Look, you have, I am sure, heard me compare Multilateral Environmental Agreements to threads in a tapestry, woven together to create the big picture of a stable climate, of healthy nature, of thriving lands and of a pollution-free planet. This is true. Each thread is, in and of itself, strong. But it is my view that the threads are not bound together as tightly they should be. In some places, they fret a little against each other. In others they are knotted. The result is that the big picture of our common tapestry does not stand out as sharply as it could. I invited you to this UNEA so that we may bind ourselves closer together, bring the big picture into a focus and make it a reality. And this is a standing invitation for future UNEAs. As I said earlier, time apart ignites passion anew. Because indeed, as Shakespeare writes so beautifully in Sonnet 98, “From you I have been absent in the spring”. We have been absent. Now we are together, in the Nairobi summer. Let us not just be together here, but present here. Passionate for something new and better. Let us exchange ideas and find ways to be more than the sum of our parts – as all great and close families do. So, be inspired by the nature that surrounds you here at the UNEP Headquarters. Be blessed by the rains you saw yesterday. Let the Nairobi spirit that has filled these rolling hills so many times over the past five decades swell inside you. See each other as allies and confidantes. Lift each other up. And become one family, so that we may all live together on a healthy and thriving planet that serves everyone’s needs.

Check against delivery Your Excellency Leila Benali, President of UNEA-6 and Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development of Morocco, Ambassador of Colombia, Mr. Pedro Leon Cortes Ruiz, Deputy Permanent Representative of Portugal, Mr. Miguel Antonio Luis, Colleagues and friends. Thank you for the invitation to speak at the Global Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum. We at UNEP hold this well-established platform in high esteem and consider it an integral part of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA). My thanks to the Major Groups Facilitating Committee and to all who worked hard to prepare inputs to the draft resolutions and decisions, which will be going in front of the sixth assembly when it begins tomorrow. I am pleased that you have organized your meeting into groupings that align with the UNEA-6 resolution clusters – which will allow you to deliver focused and relevant recommendations. Today, I am not going to talk about specific resolutions. After all, I am not here to guide you. You are here to guide us. And your guidance is incredibly important. The triple planetary crisis – the crisis of climate change, the crisis of nature and biodiversity loss, and the crisis of pollution and waste – affects every single person and group on this planet. And every single person and group on this planet has the power to affect the triple planetary crisis, positively or negatively. So, we need to hear from non-governmental organizations. From indigenous peoples. From children and youth. From women. From local authorities, scientists, business, farmers and trade unions. You all have your own lived experiences, expertise and knowledge. When Member States take your diverse ideas onboard, the policies they set and actions they take will take account for your realities. They will be more effective. But this is not a one-way street. UNEP and Members States also rely on you to take the international environmental agenda to grassroots level. When we listen to each other, when we respect each other and when each of us adjusts our actions accordingly, this is real inclusive multilateralism. So, I am pleased that the number of Major Groups and Stakeholders organizations accredited to UNEP has swelled from a few hundred to well over one thousand. Your voices are louder now than ever before. I encourage organizations here today but not yet accredited to seize the opportunity to add to this chorus by getting accredited. That way, you will have access to meaningful participation, inclusiveness and transparency in intergovernmental decision-making processes supported by UNEP. I am also pleased that this forum will shortly host an informal dialogue between Major Groups and Stakeholders and Member States to decide on new ways to cooperate after UNEA-6. I look forward to engaging in this discussion. Such initiatives, like UNEA-6 itself, are clear signs that environmental space is where we can all transcend geopolitical strife. Where we can find common ground between competing interests. Where we can be a single community that delivers climate action, nature action and pollution action – all in the interests of a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable future. UNEA-6 is an opportunity for the UN, Member States, multi-stakeholder organizations and partners to coordinate their efforts. I encourage you, the Major Groups and Stakeholders, to advocate for ambitious outcomes. To advocate for effective implementation of resolutions. And, of course, to play your part in implementing action on the ground.

Solar ultraviolet radiation is a contributing factor in the environmental fate of toxic chemicals and other contaminants, with consequences that may be either beneficial or detrimental for the health of humans and the environment. This Assessment Update (2023) by the Environmental Effects Assessment Panel (EEAP) focusses on the role and significance of UV radiation and associated drivers on the breakdown of plastic waste in the environment. Plastic is a ubiquitous pollutant. UV radiation and mechanical stress drive the degradation and fragmentation of larger plastic waste into smaller micro- and nanoplastics. The Assessment Update considers the interactive effects of UV radiation and climate change on plastic durability, weathering, longevity, and ultimately the fate of plastic debris.

Your Excellency Mehmet Özhaseki, Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change of Turkiye, Dr. Jim Skea, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Dr. Celeste Saulo, Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Mr. Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), Mr Abdalah Mokssit, Secretary of the IPCC, Colleagues and friends. Welcome to the 60th session of the IPCC. Let me begin by congratulating Celeste Saulo on taking over the reins at the WMO. We at UNEP look forward to deepening our collaboration further with our friends at WMO under her leadership. And my congratulations again to the new IPCC Chair, Vice-Chairs and Bureau. Indeed, with this new chapter beginning, I very much look forward to strengthening the collaboration among our three entities as we embark on the seventh assessment cycle. Every assessment of the IPCC so far has been critical. Indeed, this body has, cycle by cycle, grown into the absolute authority on climate science. As I have said before, the science that IPCC has produced has helped to spark a global focus on and global pressure for urgent climate action, especially by those most-responsible for the climate emergency. However, as I see it, the seventh cycle may be the most important yet. The world is being battered, buffeted and, quite frankly, broken by the climate emergency. And we all know that greenhouse gas emissions must plummet by 2030 to keep 1.5 alive. Time is a commodity in increasingly short supply. But we must remain both hopeful and focused. We must remain hopeful, because there is a clear global appetite for a stable climate, shown most recently in COP28 delivering the first-ever call at climate talks for a transition away from fossil fuels. This was not as strong an outcome from the first Global Stocktake as many of us had hoped for. Yet it was still as significant moment, brought about and informed in large part by the IPCC’s science. And we must remain focused, because whether this becomes a definitive moment for climate change depends on what happens next. The IPCC, through the seventh assessment cycle, will play a central role in providing the science to back the work that must be done, as requested by the Global Stocktake. I welcome the vision set forth by Dr. Skea on the seventh assessment cycle to achieve this goal. Promoting inclusivity by addressing gender and geographical balance, which is critical to address a global challenge that affects everyone. Maintaining policy relevance, which is critical to ensure science translates into real change. And advancing interdisciplinarity and scientific integration, which is critical to ensure interventions in all sectors that affect the climate and are affected by climate change. This 60th session is centered around planning the next cycle, with a keen eye on the types and topics of special reports. Whatever subject area you decide to delve into, I ask that you focus your minds on providing a wide menu of flexible and actionable solutions that every nation, every business, every investor and every community can draw on. You have already demonstrated that a net-zero world is required and, more importantly, that it is possible. Now, in the seventh cycle, you can stake out clear signposts that will lead us all to this better world.

The impending biodiversity crises demands urgent, effective action. The transboundary nature of many marine species at risk makes international law a necessary tool in this endeavour. The United Nations Environment Programme and its Regional Seas Programme consists of 18 individual progammes spanning the globe and bringing together 143 countries in regional collaborations. This research project evaluates potential effectiveness of four programmes within the Regional Seas Programme relative to each other on twelve elements looking at legal and institutional structure, as well as regional implementation. The four case studies cover the North-East Atlantic, Mediterranean, East Africa, and Caribbean regions. These programmes were selected because they are geographically diverse, and they include binding legal obligations to protect marine biodiversity. In order to provide context, the discussion starts with a brief overview of the threats facing marine species, as well as scientific tools used to evaluate extinction risk. It then traces the historical development of international law related to species at risk. This overview shows that international law has a relatively long history of protecting some species, especially marine mammals. In order to position conservation of marine species within international law, a review of fisheries-related instruments, conservation and international trade in wildlife conventions, habitat protection conventions, and instruments addressing sustainable development follows. Research on the effectiveness of international environmental agreements indicates that these instruments positively contribute to the achievement of their objectives, although there is room for improvement. This overview demonstrates that marine species at risk are subject to a complex mosaic of legal frameworks outlining state obligations and commitments. The analysis of the four case studies completes this research project. The results show that all four of the reviewed programmes have the legal and institutional structures needed to protect and recover marine species at risk. However, regional implementation is lagging in particular in areas such as recovery planning and compliance review. Proposed future directions include improved transparency and accountability, integration of social, economic, and environmental concerns, and establishment of regional ocean governance networks.

Let’s start by talking about where we are with climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions and the global average temperature are hitting new highs. Extreme weather events are occurring more often, developing faster and becoming more intense. We all know who suffers the most, and it isn’t those who caused the problem in the first place.

This paper discusses the contribution of domestic courts in jurisdictions formerly submitted to colonial domination to the renewal of jurisprudence and legal theory and the bottom-up decolonisation of public international law. In so doing, its main argument engages with the diffusion of legal norms and legal transplants through judicial dialogues within the broader debates about the tensions between constitutionalism and pluralism within the global realm.

The research paper entitled "Blue Economy Coastal Resources its Economic Valuation and Governance for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals" is an attempt to define and analyze the concept of Blue Economy, Coastal Resources, its Economic Valuation and Governance and its implications for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) slated by United Nations. The research study covers aspects such as development of coastal resources for building a blue economy to achieve SDGs, economic valuation of coastal resources to develop appropriate and suitable mechanisms for achieving healthy ocean and its importance for current and future generations, sustainability of coastal resources and coastal management policies, coastal communities and sustainable blue economy among other aspects. The other aspects covered in the research paper include a detailed literature review on blue and coastal economy, research questions and concluding observations. The United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP) and the United Nations(UN) are the major multilateral organizations working for development of coastal resources and coastal communities. It is observed that economic valuation of coastal resources is required to assess and determine the development of the coastal communities and their governance for achieving the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

Based on the latest developments in ecological law in Latin America, including the recognition of the rights of nature, this article examines emerging climate-related cases that, challenging Western anthropocentric legal paradigms, address the climate crisis from an ecocentric perspective to protect both human and nature rights. Through novel arguments based on ecological law counter-narratives and a rights of nature perspective, these cases are giving way to the emergence of a new typology of climate litigation in which the intrinsic value and interests of all life forms and the legal status of nature are recognized. First, this article analyses the experience and current trends in the emerging field of ecological law in the region, including ecological and intergenerational dimensions of human rights and the legal and jurisprudential recognition of the rights of nature. Second, it reviews and compares some of the most relevant climate-related cases as well as recent, less known—some still pending—claims that incorporate an ecocentric approach, combining the protection of the rights of present and future generations and the rights of nature or exploring other arguments in the field of ecological law. These cases have the potential to contribute to the development of climate litigation with an ecocentric profile. Attention is given to the main arguments, characteristics, strengths, and shortcomings of these cases, as well as to potential barriers to the development of an ecocentric angle to climate litigation and the implementation of judicial decisions.

Plastics are everywhere. They are in many goods that we use every day. However, they are also a source of pollution. In 2022, at the resumed fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly, a historic resolution was adopted with the aim of convening an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, with the intention to focus on the entire life cycle of plastics. Plastics, in essence, are composed of chemicals. According to a recent report from the secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm conventions, around 13 000 chemicals are associated with plastics and plastic pollution. Many of these chemicals are endocrine-disrupting chemicals and, according to reports by members of the Endocrine Society and others, exposure to some of these chemicals causes enormous costs due to the development of preventable diseases. The global plastics treaty brings the opportunity for harmonized, international regulation of chemicals with endocrine disrupting properties present in plastic products