This text was taken from United Nations Environment.
This year’s Assembly will be sustainable and climate-neutral, and it will feature side events that confront pollution in its various forms. The Assembly aims to deliver a number of tangible commitments to end the pollution of our air, land, waterways, and oceans, and to safely manage our chemicals and waste. These will include the following:
- A political declaration on pollution, linked to the Sustainable Development Goals, to signal that humanity can work together to eliminate the threat of pollution and the destruction of our planet
- Resolutions and decisions adopted by Member States to address specific dimensions of pollution
- Voluntary commitments by Governments, private sector entities and civil society organizations to clean up the planet
- The Clean Planet Pledge, a collection of individual commitments to take personal action to end pollution in all its forms
The Assembly is led by its President and a Bureau. They are elected by all member states and represent Ministers of Environment from around the world. The Assembly is prepared throughout the year by a Committee of Permanent Representatives which is based in Nairobi.
Four events will take place in Nairobi in the week ahead of the Assembly:
- 27-28 November: Civil society will host the Global Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum, which facilitates the participation of civil society in the Environment Assembly and associated meetings.
- 29 November – 1 December: The Committee of Permanent Representatives will hold its third open-ended meeting.
- 2-3 December: The Science Policy Forum will engage policymakers, scientists, researchers, and civil society stakeholders in a discussion on the science required to deliver on the environmental dimensions of sustainable development.
- 4-6 December 2017: The Sustainable Innovation Expo will take place on the margins of the Assembly and will complement the high-profile Leadership Dialogues. The Expo will showcase that science teaches problem solving; it will also encourage critical thinking in how important, though small, our world is. In addition to providing the science, innovation and technology, the Expo will also uniquely engage participants in the oldest science of all—astronomy.
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