Director-General and UNEP Executive Director agree to step up action to address climate change

6 November 2019, Rome - FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu met today with Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), to discuss ways to work more closely together, especially on biodiversity-related issues. 

It was the second meeting between the Director-General and the UNEP Executive Director - together, in September on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, they signed a renewed Memorandum of Understanding between the two Organizations. 

The FAO Director-General and UNEP Executive Director both applauded each other’s achievements and discussed the pressing issue of climate change and the multi-faceted actions required to achieve the commitments made during the Conference of the Parties (COP) 21 in December 2015.

In their talks, the parties stressed the importance of joint actions; FAO and UNEP will co-lead the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and are co-leading a United Nations High-level event on Sustainable Development Goal 15, which consists in promoting work on forest restoration. 

They also exchanged views on the next UN Biodiversity Conference, to be held in Kunming, Yunnan, China, 5-10 October 2020, and agreed on joint efforts such as the role of biodiversity in food and agriculture, land use, as well as developing nature and biodiversity positive actions.