By Kepher Otieno - Reporter
Kenya, 5 December 2025 - Kenya’s confirmation that it is fully prepared to host the Seventh Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) in Nairobi from Monday to Friday next week comes at a moment when the country is redefining its environmental trajectory.
With the theme “Advancing sustainable solutions for a resilient planet,”UNEA-7 offers Kenya a powerful platform to position itself not only as a logistical host, but as a leading voice shaping global conversations on climate action, biodiversity, and green economic transformation.
Environment Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa underscored this when she declared that Kenya stands “fully ready, secure, and honoured to welcome the world,” emphasising that all security, logistical and programme preparations are complete.
“We look forward to productive deliberations by delegates,” she said in a candid media interview in one of the leading broadcasting stations.
“May their discussions chart new pathways for a greener future that benefits every corner of our planet," the CS said.
For Kenya, the timing of UNEA-7 heightens its symbolic significance.
The gathering comes against the backdrop of President William Ruto’s expansive environmental agenda, particularly the nationwide tree-planting campaign that aims to restore degraded ecosystems and strengthen climate resilience.
CS Barasa directly linked the Assembly to this domestic momentum, noting that Kenya’s readiness reflects a country actively transforming its landscapes and policy frameworks.
Hosting UNEA-7, she said, is happening “at a moment when environmental stewardship has become a national rallying point,” driven by a vision in which every citizen plays a role in safeguarding the planet.
This tree-planting drive has quickly evolved into one of the most far-reaching environmental programmes in the country’s history.
Its goal—restoring forests, rehabilitating watersheds, anchoring biodiversity recovery, and stimulating green jobs—aligns closely with the global priorities expected to dominate UNEA-7 deliberations. It also mirrors Kenya’s broader pivot toward a green economy, where renewable energy, sustainable manufacturing, waste-to-value systems and climate-smart agriculture are increasingly central to economic policy. In this sense, the environmental momentum unfolding across Kenya is not an isolated initiative but part of a holistic national transformation.
CS Barasa’s remarks highlight this intersection between national ambition and international responsibility.
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In praising Kenya’s preparedness and encouraging delegates to engage thoughtfully on green-future solutions, she framed UNEA-7 as both a global forum and a national showcase.
The government hopes the Assembly will cast a spotlight on Kenya’s efforts to scale nature-based solutions, deepen community-led conservation, and embed climate resilience in economic planning.
Her message carries an implicit invitation to the international community: to see Kenya not just as host, but as a laboratory for the kinds of innovations and partnerships the world urgently needs.
Yet the event also serves as a moment of reflection on the challenges ahead. The push for environmental restoration demands continuity, investment, and deep coordination across agencies and communities.
Planting billions of trees, for example, requires consistent maintenance, adequate water access, and long-term monitoring—factors that could complicate the bold national targets if not managed effectively. Similarly, transitioning to a green economy necessitates financing, regulatory reforms, and private-sector participation on a scale never before attempted in the region.
Still, the overall mood surrounding UNEA-7 is one of optimism and purpose. Kenya’s preparations, as described by the CS, are an assertion of capability: a statement that the country can host a global environmental summit with professionalism, security and logistical excellence.
More importantly, they reflect Kenya’s conviction that environmental renewal is inseparable from economic progress. The Assembly offers an opportunity to demonstrate that this conviction is not theoretical—it is unfolding daily in forests, communities, innovation hubs and policy corridors across the nation.
As delegates from across the world converge at United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) offices in Gigiri, Nairobi, UNEA-7 will become a space where local action meets global dialogue.
Kenya’s readiness, paired with an administration committed to green transformation, ensures that the country enters the Assembly not as a passive participant, but as a proactive voice shaping the discourse on planetary resilience.
In this moment, Kenya’s environmental agenda aligns with its global role, affirming a path where environmental responsibility is not just aspiration, but an organising principle of national progress.
