The seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) ended on Friday, with Member States adopting 11 resolutions, three decisions and a ministerial declaration aimed at advancing solutions to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, land degradation, and pollution and waste.
The resolutions focus on international cooperation to combat wildfires, strengthen action on the environmental dimension of antimicrobial resistance, protect glaciers, and address sargassum seaweed blooms.
Other areas covered include safeguarding coral reefs, managing minerals and metals needed for the energy transition, improving the management of chemicals and waste, promoting the sustainable use of artificial intelligence, and finding sustainable solutions through sport.
“What has been achieved here proves that this bridge is indeed capable of carrying the world’s ambitions towards a better future,” said Abdullah bin Ali Al-Amri, President of Oman’s Environment Authority and President of UNEA-7.
He said the end of the session does not mean the end of the work, explaining that success will not be measured only by what has been agreed on paper, but by real change in people’s lives.
“The measure of our success will not be limited to what we’ve adopted on paper, no matter how important and strategic, but by what we will see on the ground in terms of cleaner air, cleaner water, restored ecosystems, sustainable ecosystems, green job opportunities, and more resilient societies capable of facing the challenges of the future,” he said.
Over 6,000 participants from 186 countries registered for the week-long Assembly, which was held at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) headquarters in Nairobi.
The Assembly also approved UNEP’s Medium-Term Strategy (MTS) for the next four years, as well as the Programme of Work for the next two years.
UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen urged Member States to provide full support to UNEP so it can deliver results and real impact.
“You will now return to the world outside the negotiation halls—a world in which, let us not forget amid our euphoria, people are dying, homes and livelihoods are being destroyed, economies are being damaged, and inequity is growing because action on environmental challenges has not been fast or strong enough,” Ms. Andersen said.
She added, “Yes, you have brightened the beacon and better lit the path forward. But we must now, together, hurry down this path to make good on our collective promise to deliver real solutions for a resilient planet and resilient people.”
UNEA-7 also marked the second Multilateral Environmental Agreements Day, which focused on international agreements that address major environmental challenges and guide global environmental governance and environmental law.
During the Assembly, the seventh edition of the Global Environment Outlook was released. The report, the most comprehensive assessment of the global environment ever undertaken, found that investing in a stable climate, healthy nature and land, and a pollution-free planet can generate trillions of dollars in global economic growth, prevent millions of deaths, and lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and hunger.
The Assembly was preceded by a Youth Environment Assembly that brought together over 1,000 young delegates to push for the inclusion and meaningful participation of young people in global environmental decision-making. A Cities and Regions Summit was also held, highlighting the important role of local and regional governments in delivering environmental solutions from the ground up.
Civil society groups also engaged through the 21st Global Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum, where they shared views with Member States and UNEP on key environmental issues.
The 2025 UN Champions of the Earth Awards and the latest UN World Restoration Flagships were celebrated at a Gala of Hope. UNEP Goodwill Ambassadors joined the Assembly to highlight global environmental challenges.
UNEA-7 elected Jamaica’s Minister of Water, Environment and Climate Change, Matthew Samuda, as President of the next Assembly, UNEA-8.
“Our voices carry the weight of communities on the frontlines of climate impacts—communities that cannot afford delay and do not have the luxury of indifference,” Mr. Samuda said.
He pledged to lead an Assembly focused on inclusion, transparency and practical action. “We must work to strengthen the science-policy interface, scale up financing for adaptation and resilience, and accelerate the transition to sustainable production and consumption systems. And we must do so while ensuring that no state—large or small—feels excluded from the solutions we craft,” he said.
Member States have set the next United Nations Environment Assembly, UNEA-8, for 6 to 10 December 2027 at the UNEP headquarters in Nairobi.