President Ruto urges UN to boost UNEP budget

President William Ruto at the sixth United Nations Environment Assembly on February 29.[PSC,Standard]

President William Ruto has made a plea for more funding for the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) at the sixth UN Environmental Assembly on February 29.

The President said that UNEP, which sets the global environmental agenda, needs more resources to coordinate and implement its policies effectively.

"I therefore urge the UN General Assembly to secure new, substantial, and reliable funding from its regular budget to provide consistent and sustainable support for UNEP's crucial work," Ruto said.

He added that UNEP should also facilitate regular and robust dialogue and collaboration among Multilateral Environmental Agreements and stakeholders, to foster consensus and enhance the science-policy connection.

Ruto appealed to relevant donors to increase their voluntary contributions to address critical environmental challenges, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.

He also highlighted the efforts made by his country to ban single-use plastic and to adopt a circular economy approach to waste management, to protect the blue economy and its ecosystems.

The president further urged the global community to support the establishment of a global Plastic Treaty Secretariat at the UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, to address the governance fragmentation that hampers the effective implementation of environmental agreements.

"This governance fragmentation leads to policy inconsistencies, overlaps, inefficiency, and wastage in the administration and implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements. Addressing environmental issues in this manner diminishes efficiency and effectiveness, undermining our ability to make meaningful change," he said.