Strengthening UNEP

December 16, 2025

The seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7), held in Nairobi from December 8 to December 12, 2025, has quietly dropped a draft resolution aimed at strengthening the role of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) headquarters in Kenya, triggering concern among several delegations and civil society groups.

Draft Resolution 14, initially listed among the 15 key resolutions scheduled for discussion, was removed from the official agenda midway through the assembly without any formal explanation. While the draft remained visible on the UNEP website until the final day, it was absent from official documents circulated to delegates, prompting criticism from those who viewed it as a setback to global environmental governance.

The resolution was considered particularly significant by delegates from developing countries, who argued that reinforcing UNEP’s authority would enhance coordination of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). Currently, the secretariats of major MEAs are spread across different global cities, limiting coherence and efficiency. Supporters saw the draft as an opportunity to strengthen UNEP’s mandate as the custodian of global environmental policy and elevate Nairobi’s status as a central hub within the international environmental framework.

Resolution 14 proposed encouraging member states to establish future MEA secretariats in Nairobi and to hold negotiations and meetings there. It aimed to improve policy coherence, foster synergies, and enhance the visibility and effectiveness of environmental multilateralism. The draft also sought a progress report from the UNEP Executive Director and proposed continued discussion at the eighth session of the Environment Assembly in 2026. Ken Mwathe, Policy, Climate and Communications Coordinator at BirdLife International–Africa, described the decision as disappointing but said it was not unexpected. He noted that the proposal was politically ambitious but necessary.

According to him, consolidating MEA secretariats in Nairobi could reduce administrative costs, lower carbon emissions from international travel, and improve coordination. Currently, while UNEP administers several global environmental treaties, many key agreements remain headquartered elsewhere, particularly in Switzerland. These include the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions, the Minamata Convention on Mercury, and the Vienna Convention and Montreal Protocol on ozone protection, among others