The seventh session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) concluded on Friday, December 12, 2025, with Member States delivering 11 resolutions, three decisions and a Ministerial Declaration aiming to advance solutions for a more resilient planet.
More than 6,000 people – representing 186 countries – registered for the week-long Assembly held at the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) headquarters in Nairobi, focused on advancing solutions to tackle the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature, biodiversity loss and land degradation, and pollution and waste.
The UNEA-7 resolutions move forward the work of Member States on safeguarding coral reefs, on the sound management of the minerals and metals essential to the energy transition, on the sound management of chemicals and waste, on the sustainable use of Artificial Intelligence, and on finding sustainable solutions through sport. Other resolutions adopted focus on international cooperation to combat wildfires, strengthening work on the environmental dimension of antimicrobial resistance, protecting glaciers, and addressing sargassum seaweed blooms and more.
“What has been achieved here proves that this bridge is indeed capable of carrying the world’s ambitions towards a better future,” said bdullah bin Ali Al-Amri, President of Oman’s Environment Authority and President of UNEA-7.
“The conclusion of this session doesn’t mean the end of our mission. 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 added.
The UNEA-7 Ministerial Declaration commits to bold actions that drive sustainable solutions, to implementing obligations under multilateral environmental agreements and frameworks, and to advancing equitable and inclusive participation in all efforts.
The Assembly also approved UNEP’s Medium-Term Strategy (MTS) for the next four years, and the associated Programme of Work for the next two years.
In her UNEA-7 closing remarks, Inger Andersen, UNEP’s Executive Director, called on Member States to make their full contributions so that UNEP can deliver results and 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.
“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,” she added.
UNEA-7 held the second Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEA) Day, dedicated to the international agreements addressing the most pressing environmental issues of global or regional concern, which are critical instruments of international environmental governance and international environmental law.
The seventh edition of the Global Environment Outlook was also released at UNEA-7; the report is the most comprehensive assessment of the global environment ever undertaken. The assessment found that investing in a stable climate, healthy nature and land, and a pollution-free planet can deliver trillions in additional global GDP, avoid millions of deaths and lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and hunger.
The Assembly was preceded by a Youth Environment Assembly – bringing together more than 1,000 young delegates to advocate for the inclusion, empowerment, and meaningful participation of young people in global environmental governance – and by a Cities and Regions Summit that highlighted the critical role of local and regional governments in delivering integrated solutions and driving transformative environmental change from the ground up.
At the 21st Global Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum, members of civil society exchanged perspectives on addressing significant environmental issues among themselves, with representatives from Member States, and with UNEP.
The 2025 UN Champions of the Earth, this year awarded to five individuals for their exceptional work on climate change, and the latest UN World Restoration Flagships, were both celebrated at a Gala of Hope.
A host of UNEP’s Goodwill Ambassadors joined UNEA-7 to reinforce messages on solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues – UNEP’s Patron of the Oceans and endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh climbed Mount Kenya, which holds one of the last three glacier sites in Africa – and is expected to lose all of its ice within the next five years, while Tanzanian hip hop artist Frida Amani, UNEP’s Advocate for Ecosystem Restoration – performed a new song, Resilience, at the High-Level Segment alongside the Kenya Boys Choir.
UNEA-7 also elected a new President to preside over UNEA-8: Matthew Samuda, Minister of Water, Environment and Climate Change.
“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,” Samuda said. “As President, I pledge to foster an Assembly marked by inclusivity, 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.”
Member states set the date for the next UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-8) from December 6 to 10, 2027, at the UNEP Headquarters in Nairobi.
