The 6th UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) wrapped up with the approval of 15 resolutions – including the first-ever on land degradation – and calls for expediting efforts towards achieving global biodiversity targets, though disagreements frustrated hopes for bolder commitments.

The two-yearly summit – focusing on joined-up approaches for addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution – took place from Feb. 26 to Mar. 1 in Nairobi, Kenya, bringing together over 5,600 participants, including representatives of 193 countries, intergovernmental organisations, the broader UN system, civil society groups, the scientific community, and the private sector.

The world’s top decision-making body on the environment gathered for the first time since the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was agreed upon in 2022, and ecosystem and species protection took centre stage during the talks.

“The meeting convened groups and governments from across a broad spectrum of important areas,” Fiona Napier, senior advisor at NatureFinance, told Carbon Pulse after the summit.

“It’s clear that without broad structural reform at national and global levels to embed change in every organisation’s mission to create a nature economy – one that protects and values nature on land and at sea, we will fail in our ability to protect nature and everything we depend upon.”

The ministerial declaration approved by the Assembly stressed the need to “halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, in line with the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), by ensuring swift, inclusive, and effective implementation” of the GBF.

As well, almost half of the 19 resolutions discussed in Nairobi were related to biodiversity issues, including strengthening water policies, enhancing high seas governance, and restoring degraded lands.

WATERED DOWN

“Land is the only common denominator among the three Rio conventions, and it is only through land restoration that we can achieve their objectives,” said UNEA-6 president and Morocco’s minister of energy transition and sustainable development, Leila Benali.

A resolution submitted by Saudi Arabia called on governments to contribute to implementing the GBF while also urging the private sector to ramp up investments in developing technologies for tackling desertification and land degradation.

Negotiations hit a snag over including a clause on “respecting and protecting” the knowledge of Indigenous peoples, which was dropped in the final draft.

A resolution on strengthening ocean governance was also watered down during the talks.

The first draft – submitted by Costa Rica and the EU – called on “all member states” to “sign and ratify the BBNJ Agreement, with an aim of having 60 ratifications by the 3rd UN Ocean Conference”, scheduled for June 2025.

The final version went no further than “encouraging” countries to “consider” signing the agreement, without mentioning the threshold of the 60 ratifications required for the treaty to come into force or setting a precise deadline.

Algeria and Brazil were among the countries that pushed for a softer wording, as shown by the comments submitted during the talks.

A resolution submitted by Cameroon to develop criteria, standards, and guidelines for sustainable nature-based solutions was not approved by the Assembly.

COOPERATION DAY

“UNEA-6 has delivered an extra boost to help us deliver this change and to ensure every person on this planet enjoys the right to a safe and healthy environment,” said UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Inger Andersen.

“UNEP will now take forward the responsibilities you have entrusted to us in these new resolutions.”

A full day of the summit focused on enhancing cooperation between biodiversity-related conventions and other multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), such as the CBD, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).

“UNEA-6 highlighted the valuable contributions to the goals and targets of the GBF of many MEAs, including those on chemicals and waste, climate change and land degradation, as well as the biodiversity-related convention,” David Cooper, executive secretary of the Secretariat of the CBD, told Carbon Pulse.

Cooper said that the summit also addressed a number of newly announced initiatives to strengthen country-level support for the implementation of the GBF through National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), including the GEF Early Action Support Project, the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership, and the National Monitoring Initiative.

“This provides further momentum towards a successful COP16 under the theme Peace with Nature, as announced by Colombia,” he said.

SCALING THE MARKET

On the sidelines of the summit, the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits (IAPB) launched its first research highlighting the key challenges to scaling the emerging biodiversity credits market, such as the need for independent verification, robust regulation, and fair engagement with Indigenous peoples.

The initiative – led by France and the UK – will launch two more calls for views by the end of this summer, with responses to be presented at the COP16 UN biodiversity summit in Colombia in October.

“Biodiversity credits have been identified as instruments that can help close a significant nature financing gap,” Manesh Lacoul, global coordinator of the Biodiversity Credit Alliance (BCA), told Carbon Pulse.

“If deployed within the framework of a scalable, transparent, and efficient market underpinned by inclusivity and innovation, biodiversity credits have the potential to convert intention into much-needed action.”

The summit also saw the presentation of the 2024 Global Resource Outlook. The report, compiled by UNEP, warned that the extraction of natural resources, including crops, wood, and minerals, is set to increase by 60% by 2060, with shattering effects on biodiversity.

“In order to deliver on … the targets and obligations under multilateral environmental agreements, resource use and management need to be explicitly integrated at the core of efforts to fight climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution,” concluded the report.

Governments at UNEA agreed to hold the next Assembly from Dec. 8-12, 2025. Abdullah Bin Ali Amri, chairman of Oman’s Environment Authority, will preside over the summit.

By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com

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