Urgent negotiations intensify at UNEA-7 as deadline looms

Kanako Okano, Japan, Co-Chair of Cluster A. PHOTO/ ENB-IISD/Anastasia Rodopoulou.

By PATRICK MAYOYO

newshub@eyewitness.africa

As the seventh session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) enters its final hours, delegates are racing against time to reach agreement on 15 resolutions and two critical decisions.

With just hours remaining to finalise discussions, the atmosphere at the assembly is charged with a sense of urgency, as multiple complex environmental issues hang in the balance.

Throughout the day and into the night, the Committee of the Whole (CoW) worked tirelessly across two parallel contact groups, addressing four major thematic areas: nature and climate; governance and law; circular economy, chemicals, waste and pollution; and strategic, budgetary, and governance issues.

One of the day’s most contentious debates centred around the protection of karst ecosystems, which play a vital role in global water supply, biodiversity, climate resilience, and economic development. A proposal to strengthen cooperation with the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands – due to the interconnectedness of karst, wetlands, and groundwater – failed to secure consensus among delegates.

Karst ecosystems are landscapes shaped by the dissolution of soluble bedrock, typically limestone, dolomite, or gypsum. This process, known as Karstification, creates distinctive geographical features such as caves, sinkholes, underground rivers, and limestone pavements. Karst ecosystems are found all over the world, particularly in regions with abundant limestone formations.

Key features of Karst ecosystems includes; cave systems, sinkholes and depressions, springs and underground rivers, unique biodiversity and water filtration and groundwater.

Delegates from Cook Islands. PHOTO/ ENB-IISD/Anastasia Rodopoulou.

Karst ecosystems are important for various purposes like water supply where many large aquifers are located in karst regions, providing drinking water for millions of people. Karst areas support unique ecosystems, including rare species of flora and fauna that are often found nowhere else.

Karst regions, provide climate resilience due to their natural water storage abilities, help in climate resilience, particularly in times of drought or changing weather patterns are also important for carbon sequestration as the process of Karstification is linked to the long-term storage of carbon in the form of limestone and other carbonate rocks, contributing to the global carbon cycle.

However, Karst ecosystems are also highly vulnerable to human activities like mining, urban development, and pollution, which can threaten their delicate balance and degrade the water systems they support. This makes them a crucial focus for conservation efforts.

Another hotly debated issue was the meaningful inclusion of children and youth in environmental governance. Delegates clashed over whether the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director should be mandated to involve youth in science-policy processes and environmental assessments, with some delegations expressing concern over the impact on existing scientific and policy frameworks.

The session also saw significant division over proposals to enhance coherence and synergies in multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). Some states advocated for streamlining reporting requirements to reduce bureaucratic burdens, while others firmly opposed any alteration of MEA mandates.

Disagreements also arose on the mobilization of resources for coral reef conservation, with diverging views on whether funding should be sourced from all countries, or specifically target developing nations, including Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Sara Elkhouly, Egypt, Co-Chair of Cluster B, discusses with delegates. PHOTO/ ENB-IISD/Anastasia Rodopoulou.

In a particularly tense but “hopeful” session, delegates discussed the 2026-2029 Medium-Term Strategy (MTS). While some expressed concerns over the non-intergovernmental nature of the draft, particularly in relation to the proposed role of UNEP in influencing the UN Security Council and UN Human Rights Council, others reiterated that the MTS should reaffirm UNEP’s role as the global environmental authority, as agreed at the Rio+20 summit.

Further discussions focused on the management of minerals, metals, and chemicals, with diverging opinions on whether the proposed dialogue on these issues should be expanded to include negotiations on new tracks, and whether UNEP’s mandate should limit its involvement to pollution-related concerns.

As midnight approaches, CoW Chair Joyelle Clarke (Saint Kitts and Nevis) presented an amended proposal to extend the working hours of the contact groups, a move that was met with mixed reactions. Delegates ultimately agreed to continue discussions until midnight, rejecting the idea of a “take it or leave it” approach to contentious resolutions.

In the midst of these intense negotiations, delegates also attended the launch of the *Global Environment Outlook* (GEO-7) report, which outlines transformative solutions for systemic environmental and economic reform. The report suggests that implementing these strategies could yield economic benefits of up to USD 20 trillion annually from 2050 to 2070, and up to USD 100 trillion per year thereafter.

Meanwhile, side events across the conference venue covered a wide range of urgent environmental issues, including the environmental risks posed by artificial intelligence, the drying of seas and lakes, and the critical role of rangelands in tackling climate change and biodiversity loss.

As UNEA-7 heads towards its conclusion, the outcome of these discussions will be pivotal in shaping the global environmental agenda for years to come. Delegates remain locked in tense negotiations, aware that the clock is ticking on securing agreements that could define the future of global environmental governance.