Foreseeing the Future of Our Responsibility and Opportunity

The UN Environment Management Group organised Stockholm+50: A 2-part Nexus Dialogue Roundtable Series, on 23 and 30 November 2021. The Stockholm+50 meeting on 2-3 June next year will be an opportunity to highlight the environmental dimension of sustainable development and accelerate the implementation of international commitments in the context of the Decade of Action, the Multilateral Environmental Agreements, the Sustainable Development Goals as well as other UN initiatives, such as the Decades for Ocean Science and Ecosystem Restoration, including in the context of a sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The international meeting will also provide a platform to: take stock of the system-wide efforts undertaken by the United Nations in addressing the environmental agenda since the 1972 Stockholm Conference; reflect on related achievements and results; and develop future perspectives for coherent, coordinated action in going beyond planetary crises for the prosperity of a healthy planet, for all.

Among other institutions, the United Nations Environment Management Group (EMG) has promoted programmatic collaboration and advanced the implementation of environmental activities through system-wide engagement of UN entities.

The Nexus Dialogues on Stockholm+50 encouraged consideration and reflection within the UN system on:

• Achievements and challenges encountered by the UN system in addressing the environmental agenda since the 1972 Stockholm Conference;

• Lessons learned and recommendations to impart on the future implementation of the environmental agenda, to benefit all levels of its stakeholders and leave no one behind;

• How the environmental agenda has been integrated into, and implemented within, the 2030 Agenda, the SDGs, and other related initiatives and frameworks; and

• The UN system’s aspirations and commitments towards accelerating programmatic mandates and actions that seek to ensure the best possible outcomes in going beyond the planetary crises for the prosperity of a healthy planet, for all.

In the online Nexus Dialogues, representatives from the UN system, civil society, academia and Member States were invited to engage in the discussion organized over two sessions:

1. Taking Stock of Our Responsibility & Opportunity: 23 November 2021

Participants reflected on the journey over the past fifty years – on successes, lessons learned and gaps in mainstreaming and implementing the environmental dimension of sustainable development by the UN. The full recording is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOKwj_FEwIU.

2. Foreseeing the Future of Our Responsibility and Opportunity: 30 November 2021

This dialogue engaged participants in aspiring towards a shared future where we are living in harmony with nature, honoring current and future generation’s Right to a Healthy Environment, envisaging a sustainable recovery from COVID-19, and proposing specific and actionable plans to accelerate achievement of the environmental dimension of the SDGs to achieve a healthy planet for the prosperity of all. IEF President Arthur Dahl was one of the panelists.
The full recording is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si0G1ftGAdc&t=6s

For more information, see https://unemg.org/stockholm50-nexus-dialogue-series/.