Member Nations Put Foot Down For Sustainability

The world needs to speed up initiatives towards a new model of development to achieve the vision set out in the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. following five days of talks at the Fourth United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi, ministers from more than 170 UN member states delivered a bold blueprint for change. The ministers expressed their deep concerns about the mounting evidence that the planet is increasingly polluted, rapidly warming and dangerously depleted.

"We affirm that poverty eradication, changing unsustainable and promoting sustainable patterns of consumption and production and protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development are the overarching objectives of, and essential requirements for sustainable development," the ministers said in a declaration. "We will improve national resource management strategies with integrated fill lifestyle approaches and analysis to achieve resource-efficient and low-carbon economies."

The members pledged to promote sustainable food systems by encouraging resilient agricultural practices and tackling poverty through sustainable management of natural resources. "We will address the damage to our ecosystems caused by the unsustainable use and disposal of plastic products, by significantly reducing single-use plastic products by 2030 and we will work with the private sector to find affordable and environmentally friendly products," said the ministers.

They also decided to transform their economies through sustainable public procurement.