Women’s Major Group developed a response to the Letter from the UN Environment Assembly President on the
Ministerial Declaration, which was sent on April 24.
You may find our complete response letter here and attached to this post. You may also find a summary of our key messages and recommendations below:
WMG KEY MESSAGES & RECOMMENDATIONS
1. What would you welcome as the most important elements and/or key messages from the Ministers in the UNEA Ministerial Declaration to address the theme in an impactful manner?
– Support meaningful real solutions that address root causes of environmental degradation while respecting human rights
– Outline methods and enable support for initiatives that respect nature and restore natural ecosystems including women, indigenous peoples and local communities’ initiatives
– Support People-responsive transformational change leading to sustainable agriculture and healthy food systems leading to healthier diets while exerting climate action
– Uphold People’s rights and justice in genuine solutions for climate change while calling for reduced consumption and sustainable production
– Urge action to governments for the implementation of UNEP’s environmental defenders’ policy
2. How can the Environment Assembly make a significant contribution to Strengthening Actions for Nature to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals at a global scale? In doing so, you may take into account the preparation for the meeting, its conduct and follow-up, as well as its relationship to other meetings and processes.
Our key suggestions include the following:
– Adopt a “nexus” approach that tackles interconnected issues in a systemic and holistic way thus re-thinking solutions that
lead to systemic transformation for genuine ‘harmony with nature’
– Ensure full and inclusive and meaningful stakeholder participation in the preparation for UNEA5, including through regional
consultations and dialogue between Ministers and stakeholders
– Inform other intergovernmental meetings to ensure policy coherence, and strengthen multilateral systems
– Apply the principle of non-regression
