UN backs strong multilateral environmental agreements to boost planetary health

NAIROBI, March 1 (Xinhua) -- The international community has an obligation to inject vitality into multilateral environmental agreements in order to boost action on threats to planetary health, including chemical waste, habitat loss, climate change and land degradation, senior UN officials said Tuesday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the resumed fifth session of UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) underway in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, the officials underscored the role of strong multilateral legal instruments in advancing the green agenda.

Elizabeth Mrema, the executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, said that strengthening multilateral environmental agreements should inform efforts to tackle emerging threats to the planet and its inhabitants, including plastic waste, uncontrolled carbon emissions and loss of rare species.

"Having robust and legally binding multilateral environmental agreements will inspire action on ecological threats like biodiversity loss, pollution while helping us to stabilize climate," said Mrema, emphasizing that it was possible to have a plastic-free future once governments and industry agree on a global treaty to facilitate large-scale uptake of eco-friendly alternatives.

Rolph Payet, the executive secretary of Basel/Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, noted that robust multilateral treaties combined with policy coherence will be key to tackling future environmental challenges.

According to Payet, there was an urgency to realign multilateral environmental agreements with the quest to eliminate plastic and chemical waste, achieve carbon neutrality and restore degraded landscapes.

Payet challenged governments to domesticate international legal instruments on managing hazardous waste that has escalated pollution of watersheds, to the detriment of human health.

Martha Rojas Urrego, the secretary-general of Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, said that enforcing multilateral environmental treaties is key to protecting ecosystems that underpin livelihoods.

Urrego called on governments to raise awareness on the multilateral agreements on protecting biodiversity, managing chemical waste and limiting carbon emissions targeting civilians in order to maximize positive outcomes.

In particular, she noted that when grassroots communities appreciate the role of multilateral environmental treaties, countries will reap benefits associated with improved natural resources management, recycling of waste and curbs on wildlife trade.