In line with ACT’s commitment to Putting People First, ACT celebrates its accreditation as an observer organisation to the Governing Body of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA).
ACT Alliance joins world leaders, policy experts, environmental justice allies, and other stakeholders at its fourth meeting (UNEA-4). The conference, hosted in Nairobi, Kenya from 11-15 March 2019 is exploring Innovative Solutions for Environmental Challenges and Sustainable Consumption and Production.
Isaiah Toroitich, ACT’s Head of Advocacy and Development Policy highlights the significance of the accreditation for the alliance. “As the world’s largest Orthodox and Protestant network engaged in humanitarian, development and advocacy work, this accreditation is another opportunity for us to engage with state and non-state actors as we progress our work for climate and environmental justice, sustainable development and enhancing the role of faith actors in multilateral policy making and implementation.”
UNEA-4 is covering various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of Agenda 2030, including SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG 13 (climate action) and other goals that the Alliance works on.
ACT’s commitment to lifting faith voices and evidence-based lessons in the discussions on the SDG’s and other global processes including the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction will continue to ensure that faith voices are recognised as constructive and reliable voices that hold decision-makers to account.
ACT’s engagement in UNEA puts the alliance further in the forefront of environmental policy design and development.
“ACT Alliance is engaging with the Faith for Earth initiative of the UN Environment Programme and has joined other faith actors in an urgent call to address environmental issues. Our accreditation has enabled advocacy, dialogue and contributions with ACT members, churches, UN partners, and other environmentally conscious organisations,” said Toroitich.
UNEA-4 is focusing on some of the most critical issues of our time from tackling environmental challenges related to poverty and natural resource management to sustainable business development and technological change. The session is also expected to adopt a ministerial declaration and to streamline UNEA’s contribution to the 2019 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development which takes place in July.
The United Nations Environment Assembly was established during the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, (commonly known as RIO+20). More information on UNEA 4 is available here.
