Nairobi, Kenya
On 13-19 September, I flew to Nairobi to participate in a "book sprint" at
UNEP headquarters in the United Nations Office in Nairobi. UNEP is preparing
its 6th Global Environment Outlook
(GEO6) report, starting this time with 6 regional reports from which the
global report will be assembled. I was invited to be a coordinating lead
author for part of the European report, specifically exploring Europe's role
in the UN 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. After some
preparatory drafting before coming to Nairobi, all the coordinating lead
authors for the six reports were given one week to write the full first
draft of each report together. It was a very intensive week, since the
report is intended first to be an e-book with limited text, infographics,
videos and animations. Producing short, clear text was a challenge.
Fortunately the parts of my draft that did not fit into my section were
taken up by other authors for their sections.
I stayed with the European UNEP team and the lead authors in a guest house
not far from UNEP. I crossed paths with some old colleagues from my days in
Nairobi (1987-1991), had lunch with the Director of Communications and
Public Information (a Baha'i), and dinner with some Baha'i friends including
Jan Duchac, whom I have know since our times together in Washington, D.C.
(1970) and others advising the new Baha'i International Community office for
Africa in Addis Abeba.
The United Nations Office in Nairobi
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The UNON campus is set in extensive gardens, with a curving road from
the entrance lined with UN flags
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The many buildings are separated by lawns and trees, and now house
different UN offices, although when I worked there it was mostly UNEP
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The main conference rooms are around a central courtyard
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UNEP has a new building with an indoor garden path between its two
wings
The GEO6 book sprint
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Opening plenary with Jacqueline McGlade, Director of the UNEP
Division of Early Warning and Assessment (of which I used to be Deputy
Director)
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The leaders of the European report and UNEP support from Tomas
Marquez (my former student); authors from all the regions
The European GEO6 team
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The European GEO team (minus two); the lead coordinating authors and
UNEP staff; part of the team at work
