From 8–12 December 2025, governments gathered in Nairobi for the seventh United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7), the world’s highest-level forum for environmental decision-making. The Assembly sets global priorities and guides the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) work on climate, nature, and pollution.
For animals, UNEA-7 matters because its decisions shape how environmental policies are designed, funded, and implemented worldwide. Yet despite growing recognition of the links between environment, health, and food systems, animal welfare remains largely absent from global environmental governance. Even when debates address food systems, biodiversity, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), or environmental harm, animals are often addressed only indirectly.
During UNEA-7, the World Federation for Animals worked to ensure that issues affecting animals were not overlooked. WFA was represented by its delegation and member organisations, including Brooke Action for Working Donkeys and Horses, Compassion in World Farming, RSPCA, World Animal Protection, and the Africa Network for Animal Welfare.
What did UNEA-7 deliver for animals?
While UNEA outcomes rarely centre on animals explicitly, several developments at UNEA-7 were relevant for advancing animal welfare through environmental policy frameworks.
- UNEA-7 adopted a resolution on the environmental dimensions of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), recognising how pollution, intensive animal farming, and environmental mismanagement contribute to the spread of antimicrobial resistance. This matters for animal welfare because it strengthens the case for preventing disease at source, reducing reliance on antibiotics, and improving welfare in food systems where animal, human, and ecosystem health are closely connected.
- The One Health approach, which recognises the connections between the health of people, animals, and the environment, gained broader political recognition at UNEA-7. In the UNEA-7 Ministerial Declaration, Member States referenced the Quadripartite Alliance on One Health, signalling support for stronger coordination between environmental and health agendas. In parallel, the inclusion of the One Health principle in UNEP’s Medium-Term Strategy and Programme of Work for 2026–2029 creates space for more integrated action in the years ahead. Because these documents guide what UNEP prioritises, funds, and delivers, they open the door for animal health and welfare to be considered alongside human and environmental health, rather than treated as an afterthought.
- Sustainable food systems were increasingly recognised as essential to environmental policy, including through the launch of UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook (GEO-7) at UNEA-7. GEO-7 reinforces the need for prevention-focused approaches that address environmental pressures linked to current food production models. However, more work is needed to ensure animals are explicitly integrated into this framing.
Another important highlight of the week was the launch of a new report by the Stockholm Environment Institute and New York University: “Integrating animal health and welfare into the 2030 Agenda and beyond.” at an evening reception organised by WFA and hosted by the Government of Cameroon. The report generated interest among country representatives and reinforced a key message: animal welfare is not a niche issue, but an indispensable lever for sustainable development.
Where UNEA-7 fell short for animals
Despite these openings, significant gaps remain in how animals are addressed within global environmental policy.
- Animals remain peripheral. Even in discussions on issues that directly affect animals, such as pollution, food systems, land use, or environmental crimes, animals were rarely addressed directly. As a result, environmental goals continue to be pursued without fully considering the animal welfare drivers and impacts embedded in current production and consumption patterns, including intensive production systems and low welfare standards.
- Challenges around scientific evidence. In several negotiations, countries showed limited agreement on how scientific evidence should be integrated into policy. This made it harder to advance stronger protections for animals, particularly where evidence would imply the need for meaningful shifts in existing practices.
- Global geopolitical dynamics shaped outcomes. Wider global tensions shaped UNEA-7 outcomes. In some cases, polarisation slowed progress or led to proposals being diluted or set aside, including those that could have contributed to stronger outcomes for animals and biodiversity.
As highlighted in an article with Animal Protection Denmark, without a more integrated and synergistic approach across institutions and policy streams, action on the triple planetary crisis risks remaining fragmented and incomplete.
Turning openings into action for animals
A clear takeaway from UNEA-7 is that short-term compromises are becoming the norm. Some outcomes were narrower than necessary, and certain ambitions were diluted.
At the same time, there are reasons for cautious optimism. Countries continue to engage in multilateral processes, even in difficult political conditions, and space remains to build coalitions, develop shared narratives, and move issues forward.
UNEA-7 delivered important openings, particularly through One Health and AMR. But it also confirmed that animals are not yet integrated into environmental governance at the scale the triple planetary crisis demands.
Between now and the next UNEA cycle, WFA’s priority is to turn growing recognition of One Health and the role of animal welfare in addressing AMR into practical change, and to promote coordinated approaches across UN agencies and partners to tackle the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental pollution.
UNEA-7 showed that progress for animals is possible, but not automatic. The work between conferences is where the next breakthroughs for animals will be made.
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