Your Excellency, Sultan Hajiyev, Chair of the Committee of Permanent Representatives,
Ambassadors and colleagues. Welcome to the Thirteenth Annual Subcommittee meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR).
Let me begin today by sending my thoughts to all those affected by the catastrophic flooding in Nepal and China, which has claimed hundreds of lives and left many more without homes. We at UNEP stand with the communities and nations so deeply damaged by this tragic event. My thoughts also go to the people of Colombia, Indonesia and Venezuela as they deal with the heartbreaking aftermath of earthquakes, and the people of Japan as they cope with extreme flooding.
Excellencies,
Over the last seven years, we have delivered an ambitious agenda of change for this organization. We have improved performance by addressing issues of accountability, transparency and clarity around budgetary and programmatic matters. This week will provide an opportunity to illustrate, in practice, how these shifts have helped build a stronger organization.
The UN80 Initiative is an opportunity to accelerate some of these shifts, and there has been good progress across all three workstreams. As the Secretary-General has said, the goal is to make the UN system nimbler, more coordinated and fit to face the challenges of today and the future. This is a goal we all share.
Later this week, you will have the opportunity to discuss the many moving parts of UN80 beyond the environment space with Under-Secretary-General for Policy, Guy Ryder, online. There will also be the opportunity to discuss Work Package 27 (WP27). I appreciate that many delegations were expecting a written report at this stage. UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Simon Stiell and I, as Co-Chairs of the Work Package, worked hard towards this deadline. However, meeting it has not proven possible given the many variables involved in the 31 Work Packages under Workstream Three, the links between them and the need for each of these reports to highlight clear implementation pathways. I am confident that this delay will ultimately prove useful, and we stand ready to organize briefings as soon as the Secretary-General releases the material.
Nonetheless, I am pleased that the CPR Bureau maintained the WP27 agenda item to provide a space for sharing details on the recommendations and actions, as well as the current thinking on the pathways, while recognizing that they are still in draft form. Whilst we will not be able to present the final package, we hope that this will be close enough to the Secretary-General's proposals to provide delegations with a sense of what might be considered in terms of structural changes and programme realignments on environmental issues and how to get there.
There will also be a separate agenda item on coordination within the United Nations system on the environment, including through the Environment Management Group, which will provide a further opportunity to discuss how to bring greater environmental impact throughout the UN system.
Excellencies,
This week, we will also discuss UNEPs One Impact Framework, which is aimed at ensuring all of UNEPs divisions and offices work together to deliver in three key impact areas and five organization-wide impact indicators. This framework and approach signals UNEPs commitment to science, rigour, learning and implementation. You will receive an in-depth presentation on this framework and how it is being integrated into the roll out and implementation of the 2026-2029 Medium Term Strategy & 2026-2027 Programme of Work.
At this Annual Subcommittee, I also welcome the opportunity to engage with the Chairs of the regional ministerial fora, whose regional priorities and perspectives have helped to shape the current Medium-Term Strategy and Programme of Work. We at UNEP look forward to strengthening this connection between regional priorities and implementation.
I would also like to highlight UNEPs commitment to strengthening institutional learning and ensuring that the findings and recommendations of our oversight bodies translate into improvements in how we deliver. For this Annual Subcommittee meeting, key findings and recommendations from relevant oversight reports have been integrated into the discussions on management and administration and programme performance. This will allow us to consider the findings of these assessments and how they can inform our policies, programme implementation, management practices and institutional effectiveness. Further consideration of oversight reports will be scheduled at subsequent meetings of the subcommittee.
Excellencies,
I cannot, of course, talk about such efforts without talking about the unprecedented financial challenges facing the UN system, which have themselves led to a series of reform measures.
UNEP has stayed ahead of the curve by undertaking prudent budgetary management measures last year, followed by concrete, and at times very painful and difficult, measures involving workforce reductions in areas funded by the Regular Budget and the Environment Fund, both of which saw reductions in Member State contributions in 2025. We met these challenges through the organization-wide Functional Review, in early 2025, and the associated reductions. We now need to continue strengthening our delivery capacity with reduced resources to ensure your continued trust and confidence in UNEP. And we are ready. Thus, we are conducting further internal reviews, including streamlining our administrative framework wherever applicable.
This past year has focused on delivering our mandated activities, supported by closer monitoring on our budget, process simplification and streamlining so that we can deliver with reduced resources. Under the guidance of Member States, UNEP has also worked to sharpen its focus as the global environmental authority and invested in areas that would result in maximum impact for the countries that we serve.
With your valuable feedback, we at UNEP developed the updated Resource Mobilization Strategy, which aims to diversify funding and innovate in response to the geopolitical context. Let me be clear: your contributions to the Environment Fund remain essential, as these resources enable us to fulfil our core functions and mandates.
The new Resource Mobilization Strategy also places emphasis on responding to the changing priorities of our key partner organizations, namely the Global Environment Facility and the Green Climate Fund. I look forward to Member States commitment to providing predictable, stable and flexible funding so that we at UNEP can deliver on the mandate you have given us in a world enduring more- sustained environmental impacts.
Excellencies,
Returning to the tragic events in Nepal and China, there is a clear need to understand what different data and monitoring may be needed in the future to help prepare for any similar catastrophes. UNEPs Asia and Pacific Regional Office and the Crisis and Response and Recovery team in the Disasters and Conflicts Branch remain closely engaged with the Resident Coordinator, the UN Country Team, OCHA and partners through humanitarian coordination mechanisms and are ready to support when called upon.
This terrible flood alongside devastating wildfires across the world and other deeply destructive flooding, for example in Japan came just ahead of the launch of UNEPs latest report, Limiting Overshoot. I am pleased to announce that there will be a briefing on the report from 13h15 to 14h45 on September 9th, in Conference Room Three. While the report does acknowledge that global temperature rise will cross 1.5C, likely within the next few years, it also makes it clear that the world can still limit peak temperatures, step up adaptation efforts and return to 1.5C by the end of the century. That is our task.
Let me be clear: there are no good outcomes in remaining above 1.5C. The deadly heatwaves and floods that many people have suffered will intensify. Tipping points will become more likely. Human health, food security, water supplies, nature, cities, infrastructure and more: these vital systems would be hit hard. The world must urgently step up efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate impacts. So, I ask you all to attend the special session to find out where the climate is headed and, most importantly, what we can do.
There will, of course, be a chance to boost climate action at the upcoming UN Framework Convention on Climate Change COP31 in Antalya, Trkiye, and to boost action on the closely linked issue of protecting biodiversity at the Convention on Biological Diversity COP17 in Yerevan, Armenia both of which you will be briefed on later this week.
Excellencies,
Just as important, and just as linked, is the issue of land degradation, drought and desertification. I have just returned from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where the UN Convention to Combat Desertification COP-17 gathered under the theme, Restoring Land, Restoring Hope. This COP moved the agenda forward, but much progress is needed to tackle drought, finance and implementation of agreed goals.
With drought occurring more frequently and with greater intensity, this COP sought to place a clear focus on drought, particularly in Africa. While COP-17 decided to continue deliberations on a drought protocol at COP-18, it is clear that countries dealing with droughts need financial and technical support to build resilience before disaster strikes, rather than scrambling to respond to a crisis. Drought brings global challenge that demand global responses.
During the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, it is also very welcome to see progress on rangelands. Because protecting and restoring rangelands through inclusive governance, pastoral stewardship and targeted finance can boost resilience and livelihoods. Visiting with some of those who live on the Mongolian steppes and seeing how they seek to live as herders was very impressive, moved us all and helped us learn a lot about how people live in these marginal and difficult conditions.
There was also progress on tackling Sand and Dust Storms, the importance of continuing to champion Indigenous Peoples environmental leadership, and growing recognition of how healthy land is connected to peace, security and stabilizing migration. Overall, this COP reinforced the importance of UNEP supporting progress across implementation, science and anti-desertification, dryland management and drought resilience all key areas in the Medium-Term Strategy.
The challenge now, with resources on this priority meagre, is for UNEP to programme smartly, drawing on existing climate and biodiversity funds to deliver adaptation and biodiversity benefits, while also delivering anti-desertification and drought resilience action. If additional resources become available to UNEP, and we hope that you will consider this, we at UNEP will bring on board deeper dryland and desertification expertise to respond to the clear call from Member States to build a robust and strong desertification and drought resilience programme. To this end, I ask for financial support to sustain and expand and deepen this critical priority.
Excellencies,
Please allow me to also mention key processes in the chemicals, waste and pollution space.
The work of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution is ongoing under the mandate established by UNEA resolution 5/14. Noting his emphasis on transparency, inclusivity and predictability, I commend strongly the INC Chair, Ambassador Julio Cordano of Chile, for facilitating the work of the Committee, including through the roadmap of informal activities he has set out in the lead-up to INC-5.4, scheduled for March 2027. An informal in-person heads-of-delegation meeting, held from 30 June to 3 July 2026, brought Members together in person after more than ten months for a productive discussion. Further virtual and in-person informal meetings will carry this momentum forward. UNEP continues to support the Committee, including through Secretariat support to the negotiating process, and appreciates the constructive and sustained commitment of Members to advancing this work.
The full operationalization of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste and Pollution (ISP-CWP) is also a priority. Members must now finalize the rules of procedure, establish the Secretariat, including its location, define the financial architecture, and agree on intersessional work at a resumed session of the first plenary. To advance on the draft rules of procedure, the Chair of the ISP-CWP is convening an informal meeting on the outstanding provisions of the rules of procedure. This will take place in Bangkok, Thailand, from 1 to 3 October 2026, preceded by regional meetings on the afternoon of 30 September 2026.
I hope that Member States will continue to push forward with these two important agendas.
Finally, demand for UNEP assistance to address the environmental impacts of conflict has, unfortunately, increased. This is in line with changing global trends: 2025 saw the highest number of armed conflicts since the Second World War. Many of these existing conflicts have persisted in 2026, while new conflicts have erupted.
In September 2025, UNEP issued a report on the Environmental Impact of the Escalation of Conflict in the Gaza Strip. Prepared at the request of the State of Palestine, this was the second such report in as many years. UNEP also worked closely with UN sister entities, the World Bank and the European Union on a Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment for Gaza; supported management of conflict-related debris; and engaged Palestinian officials and stakeholders on approaches to understand and address environmental risks linked to the conflict. In addition, UNEP has continued efforts to protect the environment and build resilience in other conflict-affected settings, including Haiti, Lebanon, Sudan and Ukraine.
Environmental damage arising from the broader conflict in the Middle East remains a concern. Pollution has increased, in a context in which both terrestrial and marine ecosystems were already under heavy pressure. UNEP continues to work with the UN system to keep the environmental situation in the region under review, and will report on environmental issues of regional significance emerging from the conflict. UNEP will also provide recommendations for recovery, aiming to help affected states to restore the natural resources and ecosystems on which societies and economies depend.
Excellencies,
This Annual Subcommittee is my last, as my term is scheduled to end in June 2027. It is also the last for my colleague Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Deputy Executive Director of UNEP. It has been an enormous honour for me, and I am sure for her, to hold this job for the last seven and a half years. So, I echo the commitment of the UN Secretary-General, who has stated that he will work until his last day on the job. So will I. Because ours is a critical mandate.
We are entrusted with protecting the environmental sustainability upon which we all depend. And with helping to shape a more sustainable future for generations to come. We have some of the finest staff you could find anywhere. We are effective and accountable. We deliver. And though we may be modest in size, our impact is far greater than our size would suggest. And despite the financial headwinds in 2025, I am proud to say that UNEP is stronger than ever.
Over the past seven and a half years it has been a privilege to work with this amazing group of colleagues, with Member States, with partners and with this committee and the CPR. Together, we have made great strides. But the journey is far from over. The challenges ahead demand that we remain ambitious. That we remain united. And that we never lose sight of the vision, the mandate and the purpose that brought us here.
We at UNEP might be small in numbers but we are not small in purpose. The environmental dimensions of sustainable development and our impact on them reach far beyond these walls: across borders, across ecosystems, across disciplines and across generations.
So let us finish this work that we have begun. Let us leave behind an organization that is stronger, a planet that is better protected, and a future that is more sustainable than the one we inherited. That is our responsibility. That is our opportunity. And that is the work that I will remain committed to until my very last day.
