AFED Secretary General Najib Saab met at the European Headquarters of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in Geneva officials from UNEP's Green Economy, Finance Initiative and Disaster Management branches. Saab said that AFED will be executing joint regional programs on green economy in 2016, involving the financial and banking sectors. Those will be designed to help adapt to new realities that emerged after the Paris climate agreement combined with low oil prices. These necessitate the streamlining and diversifying of economies by adopting strict efficiency standards which attach realistic prices to resources.

 

Saab was in Geneva to participate in the meeting of the High-Level Group (HLG) which advises UNEP on its flagship report, Global Environment Outlook (GEO 6), which traces environmental trends and prospects. The report, which is due in second half of 2017, will be preceded by six regional reports in May 2016. They cover air, biodiversity, land, fresh water and marine, with cross-cutting issues such as climate change, food, energy, human health, chemicals, waste and education.

 

The Secretary General also met the Executive Secretary of Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, Rolph Payet, at the Secretariat's office in Geneva.