By Madi Zanardelli
We have a lot of environmental issues in today’s face-paced world. And while we might be aware of some of the topics, it’s hard to solve them, especially ones that involve multiple countries. To help combat global environmental problems the U.N. created the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) in 1972, which is the highest organization to handle and discuss environmental statutes. The UNEP meets biennially in Nairobi, Kenya, to set priorities for global environmental policies and develop international environmental law. The UNEP consists of 607 different sub-committees and organizations to deal with specific, national topics, but under the authority of the global organization. They last met in 2019 at a conference in March to discuss environmental changes, a more sustainable business method, and resource disposal systems. In the end, the UNEP created 23 new resolutions ranging from ways to eliminate micro-plastics in the ocean to sustainable food waste programs. The resolutions are extensive and provide innovative ideas to solve these global issues, but they will only be effective if every country does its part. Other conferences were scheduled to take place in 2020, but due to the current global pandemic, most plans were postponed and will hopefully reconvene in 2021.