The United Nations Environment Assembly,
Recalling decision 4/2 of the United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme, entitled “Provisional agenda, date and venue of the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly”, by which the Environment Assembly decided to hold the fifth session of the Assembly at its headquarters in Nairobi from 22 to 26 February 2021,
Recalling also the theme of the fifth session of the Environment Assembly, namely “Strengthening actions for nature to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals”,
Conscious of the fact that the restrictions related to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic have not allowed for representatives of Member States and stakeholders to meet in person at the online meeting of its fifth session, in February 2021,
Deeply committed to fulfilling the mandate of the Environment Assembly as the highest-level decision-making body of the United Nations on the environment, Reaffirming that the Committee of Permanent Representatives is the subsidiary, intersessional and open-ended body of the governing body of the United Nations Environment Programme, and also reaffirming its mandate and functions as set out in Governing Council decisions 19/32 and 27/2,
1. Decides to adjourn the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly, and to resume the session by convening at its headquarters in Nairobi from 28 February to 2 March 2022 to conclude the consideration of its agenda;
2. Decides that the Open-ended Committee of Permanent Representatives will resume its fifth session from 21 to 25 February 2022, and requests the Committee of Permanent Representatives to decide on the format and agenda of that meeting;
3. Calls upon Member States, with the support of the secretariat as appropriate, to continue joint efforts to strengthen actions for nature to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, and to follow up on relevant mandates emanating from the outcomes of previous sessions of the United Nations Environment Assembly;
4. Takes note of the reports of the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme submitted to the United Nations Environment Assembly at its fifth session on progress achieved in the implementation of resolutions of the Assembly, as listed in the annex to the present decision, and decides to review those reports at the eighth annual subcommittee meeting in 2021 and defer taking action thereon until the resumed meeting of the fifth session of the Environment Assembly in February and March 2022;
5. Decides that the United Nations Environment Assembly shall, at the resumed meeting of its fifth session, finalize implementation of the mandate entrusted to it by General Assembly resolution 73/333 of 30 August 2019 to prepare a political declaration for a United Nations high-level meeting and invites the General Assembly to consider the appropriate event for the adoption of such a declaration, including the option of adopting it as one of the outcomes of the special session of the Environment Assembly to be held to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme, taking into account the result of further consultations on the followup to General Assembly resolution 73/333;
6. Also decides that the Committee of Permanent Representatives, in accordance with its mandate, shall continue to review the implementation of resolutions adopted by the Environment Assembly;
7. Recommends that the Committee of Permanent Representatives, at its 154th meeting, consider, in view of systemic problems and in a comprehensive manner, the cycle of the term of office of the Bureau of the Committee of Permanent Representatives in relation to that of the Bureau of the Environment Assembly;
8. Decides that the resumed meeting of the fifth session of the Environment Assembly shall consist of plenary meetings, a sessional committee of the whole and a high-level segment, including leadership dialogues and a multi-stakeholder dialogue;
9. Strongly encourages Member States, without prejudice to the rules of procedure, in particular rule 44, to submit draft resolutions for consideration by the Environment Assembly at the resumed meeting of the fifth session at an early stage, preferably at least eight weeks in advance of the resumed meeting of the fifth session of the Open-ended Committee of Permanent Representatives, to allow for a productive period between the online and resumed meetings of the fifth session of the Environment Assembly, taking into account the limited time and resources available for the negotiation of such draft resolutions;