High Level Panel and UN Environment Executive Director Erik Solheim

Photo f.l.t.r. at the opening session of GMGSF: Calvin James, Major Group Facilitating Committee Co-Chair; Susana Rivero Baughman, Major Group Facilitating Committee Co-Chair; Elenita Dano, ETC Group; Prof. Dr. Oliver Ruppel, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) Climate Policy and Energy Security Programme for Sub-Saharan Africa; Jorge Laguna-Celis, Secretary of the Governing Bodies of UN Environment; Helena Hakena, Leitana Nehan Women Development Agency.

UNEA 3 / Global Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum, United Nations Gigiri Complex, Nairobi, Kenya

The third United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-3) gives Major Groups and Stakeholders the unique opportunity to come together prior to UNEA and to actively engage with the two-day Global Major Groups and Stakeholder Forum 2017 (GMGSF-2017).

GMGSF 2017 mobilized Major Groups and other Stakeholders to engage in a multi-stakeholders setting that will also include policymakers, learning from each other, developing partnerships and creating their constructive input into UNEA-3.

GMGSF kick-started the series of important activities leading to the 2017 UN Environment Assembly that will take place on 4-6 December. The Forum preceded the third session of the Open-Ended Meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (OECPR) on 29 November to 1 December and the Science-Policy-Business Forum on 2-3 December.

GMGSF is a crucial opportunity for civil society organizations and major groups to collectively engage on the agenda and influence the outcomes of UNEA. GMGSF this year had a special focus on various forms of pollution, which is not only closely related to climate change, but also to the question of achieving energy security – especially in Africa.