The Minister of State for Environment, Beatrice Anywar has rallied Parliament to support Uganda’s bid in the forthcoming election of the President of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA).
The elections of the sixth President of the UNEA are scheduled to take place between 28 February to 02 March 2022 in Nairobi where Anywar will on Uganda’s behalf tussle it out with Morocco, Algeria and Malawi.
Anywar urged the House in the plenary sitting on Wednesday, 09 February 2022, to approve funds to support Uganda’s bid for the presidency saying the country stands to enjoy enormous benefits at the helm such as promotion of Uganda’s tourism among UN member states, enhancing Uganda’s profile and image in the international scene among others.
“The presidency of UNEA is a strategic position which Uganda should rightly aspire to. Our international profile and image will significantly improve since Uganda will be the global torch bearer for sustainable development and greening of the global economy,” Anywar said.
She added that the UNEA presidency seat will boost Uganda’s leadership in environmental diplomacy and increase her access to the global decision making process on issues of Environment and Development.
“Uganda is the second largest host of refugees in the world and they impact the environment in many ways. The presidency will enable us to use the UNEA platform to shed light on the refugee issue and work out ways in which refugee populations in the world can be integrated into the environment management loop within a sustainable framework,” she said.
Deputy Speaker Anita Among assured the minister of Parliament’s support to help the country ascend to the UNEA top seat and asked her to present the budget before parliament for debate. The United Nations Environment Assembly is the world’s highest-level decision making body on the environment, with a universal membership of all 193 Member States.
The Assembly meets biennially in Nairobi, Kenya, to set priorities for global environmental policy. The Assembly has a Bureau, composed of 10 Ministers of Environment from Member States representing each of the five UN Regions.
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