Minister Tiilikainen a candidate to the Bureau of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA)

Next Monday the Assembly will gather together under an overarching theme “Towards a Pollution Free Planet”  

Minister of the Environment, Energy and Housing of Finland Kimmo Tiilikainen has been nominated as the candidate of the EU and other western countries to the Bureau of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA).

The Bureau, composed of ten Ministers of the Environment, is responsible for matters of high policy relevance, including the themes to be addressed by the Environment Assembly and cooperation between the UN Environment Programme (UN Environment) and the UN General Assembly. The term of the Bureau spans to the fourth Environment Assembly to be held in early spring 2019.

“I am delighted and honoured by the trust placed in me. I see the candidacy as recognition of our long-term efforts to integrate the environmental issues to the international policy agenda. The aim for Finland is to build the UN Environment Programme into an equal player with the other key UN bodies”, Minister Tiilikainen says.

The third UN Environment Assembly (UNEA3) will start in Nairobi on Monday 4 December. The overarching theme of the Assembly is pollution. The Assembly is expected to agree on resolutions related to topics such as air pollution, marine plastic waste and environmental health. The new Bureau will be elected on the last day of the meeting on 6 December 2017.

Inquiries:

Taru Savolainen, Special Adviser to Minister Tiilikainen, Ministry of the Environment, tel. +358 40 535 8622, [email protected]

Tuulia Toikka, Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of the Environment, tel. +358 40 552 4054, [email protected]