9 December 2025 – Nairobi , Kenya – Artificial intelligence is creating new possibilities for interpreting complex texts, synthesizing knowledge, and generating tailored insights at scale. For Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), these tools can expand access to treaty language, decisions, scientific assessments, and national reporting—helping Parties navigate growing information demands with greater speed and clarity. Yet their deployment must uphold treaty sovereignty, safeguard data integrity, and ensure inclusivity.
This side event contributes to UNEA-7’s theme, “Advancing sustainable solutions for a resilient planet,” by demonstrating how AI and large language models (LLMs) can transform the way environmental knowledge is accessed and used within multilateral processes. As AI becomes embedded in governance, it is critical that these technologies support, rather than bypass, established MEA mechanisms.
The event builds on UNEA Resolution 4/23 on environmental data and aligns with the Global Environmental Data Strategy (GEDS), which promotes interoperable, accessible, and AI-ready data ecosystems. Responsible and transparent application of AI can strengthen the science–policy interface, streamline national reporting, and enhance transparency and compliance across agreements. At the same time, it brings forward essential questions on data governance, sovereignty, and ethics -issues that require collective leadership and cooperation across the MEA community.
Event objectives:
- Enhance understanding of how artificial intelligence (AI) can be responsibly harnessed to support the mandates and implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs).
- Facilitate shared learning across MEAs and partners on the deployment of digital innovation and AI for environmental monitoring, assessment, and policy support.
- Showcase innovative tools developed by UNEP and MEAs that leverage AI to strengthen the science–policy interface and enable data-driven decision-making.
- Promote recognition of the Global Environmental Data Strategy (GEDS) as a foundational enabler for trusted, interoperable, and AI-ready environmental data.
- Identify capacity-building needs, governance gaps, and collaborative opportunities to ensure the equitable and sustainable application of AI in multilateral and national environmental processes.
Clara Wegenast – clara.wegenast@un.org – 0712437842
Source : UNEP
Ruth First (South Africa – historical)
Most Impactful Work: Her extensive coverage of anti-apartheid movements and her books like 117 Days.
Short Bio: A formidable anti-apartheid activist and journalist, Ruth First was a prominent figure in South African media during the 1940s and 1950s. She edited several progressive newspapers and her work consistently exposed the injustices of the apartheid system. She was assassinated by South African government forces in 1982.
Chicago Blackout
Elon Musk was born in South Africa, and made an electric car. What if he had been born in Madagascar?
He would have made a gas car
intimidating presence
Fun South African Fact: The only manufacturer of the Mercedes Benz C Class right hand drive cars is none other than South Africa.