MPs' body backs Unep upgrade

Parliamentarians worldwide have called for the elevation Unep in Nairobi to a global environment body.

The Kenya delegation to the 18th Session of the African Caribbean and Pacific European Union Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) rallied the JPA membership to call for the elevation.

The delegation, which comprised Eldoret East MP Margaret Kamar and nominated MP Musikari Kombo, explained that dealing with environment issues at various United Nations agencies and international organisations did not forge the requisite coherency and cohesion in tackling environmental problems.

As a result, it was necessary to come up with one global body quoting the World Trade Organisation and World Tourism Organisations as cases in point.

The JPA on Thursday adopted a resolution calling for the upgrading of the Unep in Nairobi, a statement from Kenya’s National Assembly said.

The resolution in part reads: “calls for the upgrading of the United Nations Environment Programme into a fully fledged World Environment Organization to be based in Nairobi enhanced with adequate capacity to address the severity of the environmental catastrophe and related challenges in the world."

In doing so, the delegation has echoed the call by President Kibaki who urged his fellow Africa leaders to join hands in pushing for the upgrading of the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) into a fully fledged World Environment Organisation to be based in Nairobi.

President Kibaki made the call during his participation at the African Summit of the Group of Ten on Climate Change in Addis Ababa Ethiopia last month.

The resolution was unanimously adopted.

The JPA has just ended its session which took place from November 25 to December 3 in Luanda, Angola.

Among other subjects discussed, the JPA adopted resolutions on the impact of the financial crisis on ACP States; Social and Cultural Integration and Participation of Young People; and Global Governance and the Reform of International Institutions.

The JPA also discussed matters of trade, the revision of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) of the Cotonou Agreement and the effects of the Lisbon Treat on the ACP states.

The ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly was created out of a common desire to bring together the elected representatives of the European Community - the Members of the European Parliament - and the elected representatives of the African, Caribbean and Pacific states (“ACP countries”) that have signed the Cotonou Agreement.

It is the only international assembly in which the representatives of various countries sit together regularly with the aim of promoting the interdependence of North and South.

The JPA brings together over 400 delegates from the ACP and the EU parliaments.

At the Assembly, Kenya was nominated to be the 1st vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Affairs and the Environment for the next two years.