Kenya’s Permanent Representative to UN-Habitat Amb. Jean Kimani joined the UN-Habitat Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sheriff, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden & Crown Prince Haakon of Norway at the launch of the report 'Leave No One Behind.' A global instrument on plastic pollution. The launch of the report took place at the ongoing second session of the UN-Habitat Executive Board 2022. Kenya banned the use of single-use plastic bags in 2017. This was the world’s toughest ban on single-use plastic bags, helping to establish the country’s position as a leader in sustainable urban waste management and environmental conservation.
The ‘Leaving No-one Behind’ report is a great addition to the understanding of the work of waste-pickers and the wider informal waste and recycling sector as it provides comprehensive definitions of various actors, descriptions of processes, and stages of value addition in plastic waste recovery and recycling. The report also discusses how engaging with the Informal waste and recovery sector (IWRS) has the potential to achieve the broader Sustainable Development Goals of reducing poverty and inequality.
It is estimated that municipal solid waste generation globally will double by 2050.Two billion people globally don't have access to waste management services. The support from Norway and Sweden will go a long way in assisting communities & local governments in Kenya have enhanced waste management while creating livelihoods for waste collectors. This will be critical in the long-term.
This is also in line with UN-Habitat’s ‘waste wise cities’ initiative that targets to address the increasing global waste management crisis. Through this, UN-Habitat continues to support Member States cities that want to become Waste Wise in the following action areas: Waste Data & Monitoring, Knowledge & Good Practices Sharing, Advocacy & Education, Project Finance & Bankability Support.
UN-Habitat has partnered with Kenya in the Nairobi River regeneration project which aims to reclaim Nairobi River as a shared public good that supports a better urban and environmental performance for a better quality of life in the city. Similar efforts are also underway with the recent launch of ‘Go Blue Project’, an initiative that aims to unlock the potential of sea-land opportunities in coastal urban centers while conserving and sustainably using the coastal and marine environment.