Kenyan president calls for environment sustainability

By Magdalene Mukami

NAIROBI (AA) - Kenyan leader Uhuru Kenyatta and the UN deputy secretary-general, Jan Eliasson, on Thursday officially opened the high-level segment of the UN environment assembly in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

Speaking to over 170 ministers from all over the world, Kenyatta reiterated that the forum was part of a rapidly growing global consensus on the pre-eminence of environmental issues.

“That consensus has become increasingly evident through the sustainable development goals, about half of which have a direct link to the issue of environmental sustainability, the Addis Ababa action agenda, the 2030 agenda on sustainable development, and the Paris agreement on climate change,” Kenyatta said.

President Kenyatta also vowed that he will continue to support the ban on ivory trade to South Africa during the 17th meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) set to be held in South Africa later this year.

In April, Kenyatta in the capital Nairobi set ablaze 10 pyres of ivory, which consisted of 16,000 elephant tusks and 343 rhino horns as well as products manufactured from endangered species of flora and fauna.

Jan Eliasson later on Thursday launched the Kenya Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) stamps along with Kenya Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Amina Mohammed. The stamps are meant to create awareness on climate change.