On March 2, United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) adopted the Animal Welfare Environment – Sustainable Development Nexus resolution here

This was the first-ever resolution to be tabled and adopted at UNEA with explicit reference to animal welfare and its genesis is from the courage and foresight, of the delegates of the Africa Animal Welfare Conference 2019, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, who mandated the conference secretariat through a resolution, to reach out to member states to support and sponsor a resolution to bring Animal Welfare in the global Environmental agenda.

This pioneering and historic resolution recognizing the link between animal welfare, environment, and sustainable development, was adopted with the overwhelming support of all Member States, at UNEA 5.2

The resolution, available here, as sponsored by seven Member states, namely Ghana, Burkina Faso, Senegal, South Sudan, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, calls on the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to produce a report in close collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Health Organization (WHO), World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the One-Health High-Level Expert Panel and other stakeholders on the nexus between animal welfare, environment, and sustainable development..

This resolution matters. The Sustainable Development Agenda set out in UN General Assembly Resolution 70/1 envisaged a world in which “humanity lives in harmony with nature and in which wildlife and other living species are protected”. However, dedicated action to protect animals and their welfare in the UN policy process has been insufficient to date, with devastating consequences for biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, and global public and environmental health. With this resolution, the Assembly provides the much-needed leadership to catalyse intergovernmental action for the environment.

The support to member states was coordinated by Africa Network for Animal Welfare (ANAW), African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) and the World Federation for Animals (WFA) in regional and global collaboration with their partners and member organizations in Africa, Asia, Europe and USA and was supported (alphabetically) by Africa Network for Animal Welfare-USA, American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS), Animal People, Animal Welfare Trust, Animals Australia, Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), Four Paws, Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), The Donkey Sanctuary, WellBeing International and World Horse Welfare.

The outreach engagement was steered by steering and technical committees that comprised of (alphabetically) ANAW, Animal People, AU-IBAR, Brooke International, CIWF, Eurogroup for Animals, Four Paws, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), RSPCA, The Donkey Sanctuary, UNEP as an advisor, World Horse Welfare, WFA and World Animal Protection.

The team collaborated with the Red Latinoamericana de Protección Animal (Red-LAPA), Mercy for Animals, Proveg, Catholic Concern, and many other animal welfare, wildlife and environmental conservation NGOs to support the sponsoring States in raising awareness of and garnering support for the resolution.

"We are proud of this watershed moment for the animal protection movement. It is a massive collective success for our members and partners and proves the impact of a worldwide coalition of animal NGOs. A holistic understanding of the links between animal suffering and environmental harm and greater inter-agency collaboration with shared aims are critical stepping stones for improving the well-being of animals across the globe." James Yeates, Chief Executive Officer for WFA.

"Today, the world's highest-level decision-making body on the environment acknowledged the strong body of science supporting animal welfare and its contribution to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Today, we took a bigger step forward to protect humans, animals, and the planet. And we showed how we are better together" Josphat Ngonyo, Founder and Executive Director for ANAW.

NOTE

The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) brings together representatives of the 193 Member States of the UN, businesses, civil society and other stakeholders to agree on policies to address the world's most pressing environmental challenges.

The resumed Fifth Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2) took place online and in-person in Nairobi between 28th February and 2nd March 2022.